If you haven’t heard of Yoga Vibes by now, you have certainly been missing out and you have GOT to get your vibe on.

Yoga Vibes is a hot, relatively new yoga web site (it launched in August) with live recorded yoga classes of all types, levels, from all over. The classes you buy stream live directly to your computer while you practice making you feel like you are in the class and with the energy of the class.

So far, my favorites are:

• Kathryn Budig
• Laura Schneider
• Shala Worsley
• Rolf Gates

Soon, you’ll have your favorites too, what are they?

I have blogged about them before. Click here to see that post. But this time, is different. I really, really, really want you to try Yoga Vibes. Here are all the reasons why:

1. You have never done yoga and are a little skeptical about going to a studio as a newbie. Not that you should worry because any studio would welcome you with open arms.
2. Let’s say you are a hard core yogi and the classes you can go to during the time you can practice are not quite hard enough or challenging enough for you in the areas you are working on in your practice.
3. Let’s say you planned to go to yoga, but got stuck at work and couldn’t leave and didn’t want to miss a practice all together.
4. Or maybe you want a type or style of class that is not found in your area.
5. Humm…maybe you want something different than the teachers you have been taking classes from have been teaching.
6. You want to practice with a teacher that lives across the nation and of course, we all know, travel ain’t cheap.
7. Ahh…yes, you are a yoga teacher, looking for some creative new sequences to use in classes, new tricks, new cutting edge vibes of energy.
8. You want a quickie class – 30 min. or an hour.
9. You want to save some money be it, travel, class pricing.

Can you think of any more reasons to take a Yoga Vibes class?

So, if you haven’t had the opportunity to take a Yoga Vibes class yet, I am offering –>

to the best, most creative, fun, freestyle reason to a take a Yoga Vibes class for yourself.

Get your vibe on and show me what you got!

Tiffany Uncategorized Kathryn Budig, Laura Schneider, Shala Worsely, streaming videos, yoga, yoga classes, yoga online, Yoga Vibes

I decided to skip my regular Friday night yoga class in the studio. Mainly because I was tired of running all week and wanted to be home some. Of course, I still practiced, but used my favorite online, streaming yoga class site, Yoga Vibes.

I ended up taking Denise Payne’s Power Yoga class. I take Power yoga all the time, so it was like signing up for what I always do when I chose it. Little did I realize what I had gotten myself into. You see, I was beginning to feel that I was mastering my yoga practice, working on handstands, is my newest challenge and I am practicing it each and every day, getting better and better each and every day. So, I was feeling, sort of like, “Once I get this pose, I will be complete in my practice.” Of course, that was all ego, and I had to remind myself that I already have everything I need in my practice.

The class began with Surya Namaskar A and then B. No biggie!

Then began the journey-

Downward Facing Dog jumping into Bakasana (Crow/Crane) pose

- 5 times back and forth.

If that didn’t already poop me out on a Friday night when I was already tired, but then came the following poses of course taught in a flowing, nice, charismatic sequence:

Astavakrasana

Eka Hasta Bhujasana

Bhujapidasana

Titibasana

Kurmasana – Sleeping Tortoise

Eka Pada Sirsasana

Bhairavasana

Kasvapasana

Salamba Sirsasana II – by way of Sirasana (Headstead)
Try this one at home for fun!

Eka Pada Koundinyasana

And I saved the best for two last, of course!

Dwi Pada Sirsasana

Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana

Headstand and then you keep your head on the floor and walk your feet around your body.

Try that one on a Friday night for fun.

I love a good challenge and although I have to admit at times during the practice, my eyes almost popped out of my head and my mouth out loud said, What?! (I was practicing at home). I still managed to at least try each and every one of the shapes.  Some obviously turned out better than others. I am sure many of you can do some or even all of the shapes, but it was indeed a deep challenge for me, but one that I loved and will cherish for some time to come.

Thanks to Densie for a great class! I especially loved your humor as you taught and my eyes bugged out.

So the moral of the story is that the journey of yoga is one of a lifetime. Just when we think we have mastered something, one pose, twenty, met our goals, calmed our mind, shined our spirit our yoga practice will show us something new, something more magnificent and something worth returning to the mat for each and every time we practice and with that I say, “Practice, practice all is coming” (Pattabhi Jois). Namaste!

What is your hardest, most challenging element of yoga that you are working on in your practice?

Pictures courtesy of Yoga Journal.

Tiffany Uncategorized asana, Astavakrasana, bakasana, Bhairavasana, Bhujapidasana, crane, crow, Denise Payne, downward facing dog, Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, Eka Hasta Bhujasana, Eka Pada Koundinyasana, Eka Pada Sirsasana, Kasvapasana, Kurmasana, Salamba Sirsasana II, Sleeping Tortoise, Titibasana, yoga, yoga poses, Yoga Vibes

First and foremost for today’s blog is the winner of the Light on Eyes Giveaway post.

May I have a drum roll please, the winner is……..Tina Herbst! Congratulations Tina!

Believe it or not, since I knew so many of you it would not have been possible for me to make a fair and impartial choice so I  asked my 6th Period Web Design students to read my post, then each of the comments and then chose the winner. This was a great reading comprehension tool for them, but also provided them experience in the world of web design and blogging. They were excited to be a part of choosing the real life winner.  Thanks to my students for all your help!

As usual, I have been really busy lately, taught a Yin class last week at Serenity Stream in Brandon and it was amazing. Thanks to all of you who came and enjoyed the juiciness of a Yin practice. Even though I didn’t practice, but taught it, I was on cloud nine for a little while afterwards, just the aurora of yoga makes me relaxed and sharing what I love with others of course.

If you want to come, I am teaching another one this Sunday 2/21 at 2 at Asana Yoga of Brandon!

I had the day off from work yesterday and headed over to Yogani, to take Ashley’s Shakti Flow class. She returned a few weeks ago from a long trip in California where she beefed up her tool bag with new teaching skills while there. I have always enjoyed her classes.

I am reading several books now. I just can’t read one at a time, I am a little bit ADHD if you hadn’t already noticed, or if I hadn’t already told you. The ones I am reading now are:

My Stroke of Insight- by Jill Bolte Taylor	Meditations from the Mat - by Rolf Gates
This book is about a lady who just happened to be a brain surgeon that had a stroke and she documented her experience from the time the stroke happened, through her recovery. It is amazing and I really love reading about how much our brain sides have so much to do with the way with think and do.	This book is a daily guide to Sutra based meditations for one year. I wasn’t expecting this when I bought it but I have since fallen in love with it. So, far I am reading one meditation each day and trying not to read ahead so as just to digest the current days meditation.

Are you reading any great books now? If so please share, what are they about?

What are your favorite studios in your area?

Tiffany Uncategorized books, books about yoga, Brandon Yoga, eye bags, eyes, giveaway, light on eyes, mat spray, Meditations from the Mat, organic mat spray, Serenity Stream, Shakti Flow, Yoga Asana of Brandon, yoga studios, Yogani

You may recall the book, Light on Yoga, but today’s post is about light on our eyes.

One of my favorite things to spoil my students with in class is an eye pillow during Savasana. In my own practice, it just seems to settle me in to my relaxation a bit deeper, but it also assists in resting my hard working eyes.

Our eyes work really hard for us on a daily basis. They are small but mighty organs! Here is a list of things our eyes do for us each and every day, all day while they are open that you might not even think about:

• Work with our brains to tell us the size, shape, color and texture of an object
• Tell us how close the object is, whether it is still or moving
• They work with each other, but also with the brain, muscles, and nerves to provide us visual images and messages
• They constantly adapt to our changing environment; i.e. light or darkness

When you place an eye bag on your eyes, either during Savasana or any other time, you are helping your eyes rest with ease, helping to relax the muscles of the eyes and activating your parasympathetic nervous system. It’s a Win-Win!

So, now the big, fun news! Many of you ask me where do I get the eye bags I use in class from. And (drum roll please)…..the answer is Deb Smith in Memphis, TN. A couple of years ago, I was traveling to see my mom in Memphis and of course, checked out a yoga studio that I hadn’t been to while I was there. I was on the major look out for a new eye bag because I lost my other one, but I am very picky. They can’t be too big, have to have a great, relaxing smell, the whole package. While at Better Bodies Yoga I found a wonderful, amazing eye bag and of course bought it. When I returned to Florida, I loved it so much that I called the studio and asked them where they got it from and they gave me Deb’s contact information.

I called her and she was so excited, I ended up buying 15 eye bags to use when I teach yoga. Just for each of you.

She calls her eye bags The Repose Healing Eye Pillow and describes it as a sensory relaxation tool used for easing stress and tension, while allowing you to rest, recharge or sleep. Filled with flaxseed, lavender, pineapple, sage, thyme, mint, eucalyptus and/or rosemary. This pillow applies gentle acupressure to tired eyes and facial muscles, while the aromatherapy induces an aura of comfort and calm. The luxurious fabric is cool to the touch allowing the Eye Pillow to drape and conform to the contours of your face, providing welcome relief for headaches, sleeping difficulties and stress or eye puffiness.  Deb actually really grows all of her herbs she uses to make the eye pillows in her own garden. You can’t get any fresher than that.

Take a peek —>

If you want to buy an eye bag from her you can contact her at: dsmith@wkno.org

Or Facebook – Deb E. Smith or call her @ 901-413-9572 Here is a list of her prices as well:

Eye Pillow

$12 – each

$10 – for two or more

$9 – for five or more

$8.50- for ten or more

Spray Cleaner

$9.00 each

Note – She has even recently added mat spray cleaner. Yippee!!!

Don’t you wish you had a new Repose Eye Pillow? Don’t you wish you had some great (non-toxic) mat spray too?

Well you can, and guess what you may not even have to buy it.

You could win a free eye pillow and free bottle of mat spray. All you  have to do is respond with a comment to this post, by February 14th (Valentine’s Day) and tell me why and how you will use and appreciate an eye pillow of your very own as much as I  do and of course, how new, fresh mat spray is just what you need to clean your yoga mat. May the most creative post win! I will announce the winner as soon as they are chosen and award them with their prize.

Thanks to Deb for making the best eye pillows ever, creating and adding great new mat spray to your inventory too, and for giving one of each away for free. You Rock!

Tiffany Uncategorized Better Bodies Yoga, Deb, Deb E Smith, eucalyptus, eye pillows, eyes and darkness, eyes and light, eyes and yoga, flaxseed, lavender, mat spray, Memphis, mint, organic eye pillows, organic gardens, organic herbs, pineapple, Repose, Repose Eye Pillow, Repose mat spray, rosemary, sage, satin eye pillows, soft eye pillows, the eye organ, thyme, TN

My newest yogini adventure consisted of a Restorative Teacher Training at where?, of course, the Asheville Yoga Center, with who?, of course, Stephanie Keach.

I specifically decided to attend this training because she was teaching at. As I progress further in my teacher trainings, not only do I have fewer and fewer trainings to take, but fewer and fewer are with her or Shala Worsely. Bummer. I love them both!

I decided to drive up, like a crazy person, but really because the flights were just out of control expensive and since half the time when I go I end up getting stuck in ATL for one reason or another I decided in mid- Jan. this might be a better choice. I actually was looking for to the stillness of the drive (at least inside the car) after being so busy lately. Quiet time, just me and the road.

As soon as I arrived, I headed into the studio for Candra’s Hot Flow class at 4:00 PM (yeah, I got up bright and early to head to NC from FL) why? because I wanted to take a class with Candra. She also completed her teacher training at the Asheville Yoga Center and she is a massage therapist (trained at Shala’s school). I love her easy going voice and style, but rock solid, powerful class. What a great combination. After class ended, I chatted with her about some of her philosphies regarding Ayruveda and she replied, that she followed some of the principles, like scraping her tongue each morning. Interesting…. I love to her what people take and leave from Ayruveda.

After  a quick snack to refresh my body, I headed back for the beginning of the weekend training. Restoration is surely what I needed. I have to admit, I wasn’t too thrilled with the fact that I was going to be restoring all weekend, what I really wanted was some serious vinyasa. It is interesting what our mind wants  and what our body really needs, thus our mind does too. Stephanie immediately talked about why we are always in such a hurry, when what we really need is to slow down, take our time, really breathe. Even though I know this, I get swept up in all the activities of life. As soon as we began to practice my whole body and mind were like Ahhhhhhhhhhhh………..sigh……………..Ahhhhhhhhhhhh……….and then of course……thanks! That is pretty much the just of it.

I was also reminded about how great eye bags are for us to use regularly…I am so glad I share this with my students after I teach, as I tote my little eye basket for of bags like Little Red Riding Hood to all of my classes. Eye bags are great for the brain, relaxing it, taking pressure off the eyes – allowing them to rest, stimulating more of the parasympathetic nervous systems actions to kick in. I so love an eye bag.

In addition, to all of the restorartive poses I learned about and participated in doing over the weekend, my favorite other concept I learned was about the Lymph System. In case you didn’t know, the Lymph System is a 1 valved system, the valves move one direction. We want to move and twist and turn and take deeper breaths and get all of that lymph fluid pushed around our body so that it can do it job, cleanse!  By the way, did you know that the right lung has 3 nodes and that the left lung has 2 since our tummy takes up more room on that side? (I was reminded of that from my 200 hour tt).  We want to breathe deeper and bigger and exercise those nodes.

All in all, my favorite poses of the weekend were reclining big toe with some new tricks, modified shoulder stand with a block to activate the nadis in the sacrum (a great option if you are on ladies holiday too), and the serious shoulder openers we did. So come to my classes and make sure I include those poses in the class.

As I left to drive back home, on Sunday, I was completly refreshed. A little sad as one of my last trainings (maybe the last) with Stephanie herself was done, but so excited to share all of my knowledge with each of you!

Tiffany Uncategorized 500 hour, ayruveda, Candra, hot flow, lymphatic system, north carolina yoga, restoration, restorative yoga, shala rain, shala worsley, teacher training, tongue scraping, workshops, yoga, yoga workshops

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted, hasn’t it? I have got to get more on my blogging game.  Times are busy, boy is 2010 already flying by, with work and teaching yoga, practicing yoga, hosting and attending workshops there is not enough time in the day to do all the things I love.

With that said, last weekend I had the ultimate pleasure of attending Shala Rain’s Detoxification & Pranification workshop in Tampa, FL at Yogani Studios. As you know, from my previous posts, I love her! She has this solid, well rounded, but so much knowledge in her brain you wonder how it all works, way about her. What a grounded girl she is.

Friday nights practice began with a Kapha dosha practice and we began by choosing an oil that coincided the most with what dosha we felt we were at the time. Of course, I chose vata because I am so vata, running around all the time. 
We then proceeded into a more firey practice with lots of heat building pranayama – Agni Sari (breath of fire) and hip openers.
Saturday mornings class was a vata style class, the class was a slow flow as I like to describe it. Slow but stimulating enough for a vata girl like me. Shayla’s smooth way of teaching just glides you through the poses and it just flows right  together smooth and easy.

I was fortunate enough to squeeze into my tight schedule, the Saturday afternoon discussion session all about Ayurveda. We did a dosha test to see what our constitution was and mine came out:

1. Vata
2. Pitta
3. Kapha – although I am really close in all of them (not close enough for a Tri Dosha – 1 point apart in each dosha)

I am mostly a Vata then Pitta.

Then we talked about what to eat for your dosha, attributes of each that affect your daily life, how to be more balanced and eat in a more balanced way for your constitution, and she gave us some really interesting recipes that are great for certain seasons and for our dosha.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the Sunday morning Pitta practice due to my Introduction to Yoga Series workshop at Yoga Asana of Brandon, but it was well worth it, another great group of 18 students (pics to follow soon).  I did hear that the Pitta practice was done by yogis blindfolded. Eeekkk… a challenge for the Pittas in the world.

If you want to learn more about Ayurveda, visit either of the following web sites (Blue Lotus Ayurveda or Holistic Online) or conduct a fun search of your own and take a dosha test to see what constitution you are.

For more follow up come to my Spring Detox workshop just before spring begins on March 14th at Yoga Asana of Brandon.

Tiffany Uncategorized Asheville, asheville yoga center, ayurveda, Blue Lotus Ayurveda, constitutions, detox, detox workshops, detoxification, doshas, Holistic health, holistic online, introduction to yoga series, kapha, pitta, pranification, shala rain, shala worsley, Shayla Worsely, Spring detox, vata, Yoga Asana of Brandon, yoga practice

I am the type of person that never gets sick. I always tell people at work, especially those that are ill a lot, that I squeeze all my toxins out when I practice yoga through the peace of mind, sweat, twisting and balance that is achieved and practiced through yoga. And, I truly believe that this is entirely true.

In fact, I can’t even remember when the last time I got sick was, but I got sick yesterday. I had a great day, took Shakti Flow with Ashley at Yogani Studios,  photo shoot with photographer Kerry Travilla-Brown, then taught my own yoga class at Serenity Stream, came home made dinner, ate and oh what a feeling.

My tummy began to hurt like a knife was sticking in it and then twirlling around. I thought it was something I ate, but when I only had lentil soup and a salad what on earth could it have been? Even though I am still not entirely convinced that it wasn’t something I ate – maybe the soup was bad (it was from a can, but an organic soup – even so).

So the next day when I woke up and will still really sick, I realized, I can’t do yoga. I couldn’t teach my class last night either, oh no reality set in! I am defiantly not good at sitting around either, even though being sick you don’t have much choice, but beyond watching boring tv, sitting in silence, and talking to friends on the phone there isn’t much else to do. I couldn’t even be on the computer as I couldn’t sit up for very long. And the Blackberry was not working out either while trying to type laying down.

But, there was one thing I could do that is one of the eight limbs of yoga and that is – Dhyana- Meditation! I could do this lying down, I could keep my blanket on me,  and I could be in peace and get my mind off the pain of my topsy turvy tummy.

A good friend of mine, Loraine, gave me a bunch of CD’s from my favorite author, Jon Kabet Zen. You have heard me mention his book before in an older blog post. Inside the batch of CD’s there was one with Lying Down Meditations. Right up my alley!

As I meditated, it was interesting because although I was supposed to revisit the sound of my breath if my mind drifted, it seemed during that particular present time to refocus through the sound of my own tummy grumbling.

So, the moral of the story is, Yoga is something that you can still practice, even when you are sick! And even if you don’t have any meditation cd’s, or lying down mediations, you can do your own meditative practice, or even listen to one from Itunes (Meditation Oasis, etc.)

Tiffany Uncategorized John Kabet Zen, KB Photography, Kerry Travilla- Brown, lying down meditations, meditations, Serenity Stream, yoga, yoga when you're sick, Yogani Studios

I wanted to get a Christmas present for a good friend of mine who has been coming to my yoga classes for over a year now and I wanted something to do with yoga, but not on a really deep level that might freak him out.

I remembered this book that I heard about somewhere called, “Real Men Do Yoga”, by John Capouya.

I thought, humm let me check that out. So I headed to the local bookstore so that I could get my hands on it and I loved it. Simple, easy to read, not too basic, but not too crazy hard either. It is a book written about yoga for real men! Men who work and travel a lot, men that have kids, men that participate in a variety of other athletic activities, Golf, Football, Tennis, Basketball, Weight Training, etc. There are tons of stories inside it from real live men (mostly more famous athletes – like Eddie George, etc.). I was impressed when I looked it up on Amazon.com to preview it before buying and it received 4.5/5 stars. Wow! I was impressed.

So if you are still looking for a Christmas gift for a friend or even a loved one that you wished would “GET” the whole yoga thing, this might just do the trick.

Tiffany Uncategorized Eddie George, men, real men do yoga, yoga, yoga for men

For as long as I have practicing yoga (seven years now) I have enjoyed taking classes that play fun, different energy related music . For me, it really gets me in a flowing groove with my poses and gets me out of my own head.

Recently since I have become a  yoga teacher, I have found that finding and choreographing good playlists is not an easy task and can take a lot of time if you are picky and want a good theme or to flow the music with the class flow.  Actually it can take more time than I have on my hands to spend on music, especially as much as I teach and work. Of course a good playlist can be used over and over, especially if you teach at different studios, but after a while I get bored with them as a teacher and I would think  that my consistent students get bored with them too, hearing the same songs over and over even if the practice is different every time.  

So when I want a new playlist, what do I do, where do I go to begin? I first, keep track of songs I read about other yoga teachers using in their playlists through Yoga Journal magazine or I will read about songs on blogs like Kimberly Wilson’s or The Hungry Yogini,  even video links through Facebook sometimes helps.  ITunes is always awesome, but when you search Yoga music you get mostly relaxing, massage types of music and not a lot of variety. Then the question arises, what types of music, what artists and boy that can get expensive at $1.29. Other teachers will also give me good ideas, but in all honestly most teachers that teach at the same studios would rather not hand over their entire playlists to be used by multiple teachers in the studio as for some teachers the music flow they create is a huge part of the success of their class.

This past weekend, I was joanzing for a new playlist and I tried once again to Google – yoga playlists, yoga music, yoga flow music, etc. then.  I stumbled along this blogpost.  In short, it was written by a yoga teacher who played music in his classes and then decided to stop playing any music as he decided that the music was pulling students away from the actual yoga of it all. He said as soon as he stopped playing music his class attendance dropped off a lot. I really agree with a lot of what he said, even though I still like to listen to and play yoga music during practices.

It is also true that when I practice, the classes that play the best music are the more popular classes with higher numbers.

I know there are some of you out there who would rather soft music play in the background while you practice, and there are some that say play music but play the non lyrical music, and there are some that say don’t play music at all, but based on my experiences  it seems to most of us we want a jammin’ musical playlist to flow while we practice.

What are your thoughts, preferences and please, please, by all means give me some of your favorite songs to add to my playlist (you can view mine here although it is not as updated as I would like it to be)!

Tiffany Uncategorized flow music, Itunes, music in yoga, playlists, yoga music, yoga playlists, yoga songs

Every time, I think I am going to begin slowing down in doesn’t happen. The true of the matter is that I have a little bit of the ADHD bug in me. I don’t really like to sit still (unless I am in a Yummy Yin class- that is). But, when I first began teaching yoga, I just craved teaching and wanted to get as much experience as I could as fast as I could. I was successful in accomplishing that goal, then opportunities to teach just started falling in my lap. As the holiday season and all of its demands (temporary, but yes demands regardless), I realized just how little time of my own I really have. And I keep getting opportunities to teach more yoga (my real passion in life)!

You see, I already teach full time (high school & middle school), then I teach at HCC (community college), then I teach yoga  – now 5-6 days a week, am a Yoga Vibes Ambassador, work out at the gym, and practice yoga for myself.  Crazy schedule, so scheduled that I have to schedule everything else because it is so tight. As the new year approaches, I am in a pickle, do a lessen my schedule by teaching less yoga (my true passion), I just don’t know what to do.

My good friend Loraine says, “Tiffany you have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others. Honor yourself first.” Although the more I think about teaching yoga is something I enjoy so much, it isn’t really not like work at all and I get so many great benefits from it.

Humm…in time the answer to the question will be revealed, do I keep it tight or make it loose?

Tiffany Uncategorized adjunct teacher, ambassador, gym, HCC, Serenity Stream, teacher, teaching, work out, yoga, Yoga Asana of Brandon, yoga teacher, Yoga Vibes, Yogani Studios