The Meditation Revolution

Meditation is often viewed as more of a mental obstacle than a cushion; a challenging practice that you never seem to have time or patience for, instead of an exercise that helps you relax and center yourself. As I said in my first Reading List post, a decent selection of the books I have been reading deal mostly with the mind (specifically the ego), and its inherent aversions to simplicity, acceptance, and presence in your life, moment by moment, breath by breath. The ego thrives on stories, validating itself through its memory-based knowledge and the judgements it has accumulated that seem to form the idea of "You". This person that the ego shapes, thought after thought, can be vastly different from person to person, and forfeiting your actual, calm self to these prejudices acts as a valve which limits your capacity for happiness. Meditation, in turn, works as a means to open that valve up, through self-analysis, and understand what prevents you from accessing this happiness.

That being said, I have two recommendations for you kind folks. First off, Yoga Journal has started a 28 day program called The Meditation Revolution. Each day, you are sent an email with links to both videos of short asana sequences designed to help open your hips and calm your mind, and to guided meditations given by Sally Kempton (the designer of the program, who also has a lovely, calming voice). Its a great way to get you into the habit of meditating daily, and I definitely recommend signing up and getting on board.

Next, theres a great book called One Moment Meditation by Martin Boroson, which is not only a great introduction to meditation for beginners, but also explains a breathing technique that, over time and practice, helps you to center and relax yourself whenever your mind takes control of your emotions (in good or bad ways). Heres a nice little video that sums up One Moment Meditation, narrated by the author himself:

Digital Wax- My Music Page

Instead of a real post, this is a short introductory paragraph to tell you about Digital Wax. All of my music posts will be placed here; I felt like I should give it its own space so that it wouldn't distract me from what I set out here to do. Music is a huge part of my life though, and I love to share the artists that excite me with my friends, so check it out: the first entry in Digital Wax- Frank Ocean, Passion Pit, and Purity Ring. And below the link, a little ditty by Frank Ocean for your listening pleasure.

Digital Wax

The Reading List- An Introduction

Since I graduated from my teacher training through Edge Power Yoga, my personal practice and views on the benefits of yoga has changed immensely: as most people who start practicing seriously do (whether as a dedicated student or in becoming a teacher), you start to realize ways to relax in the poses that give you the most difficulty, or how to use your breath to deepen your twists, or how to balance where you used to falter. In my case, I realized who my favorite teachers were and became friends with them, and the advice they gave me as well as in-class adjustments and cuing were giant stepping stones in bringing me further in my understanding of the art form.

Before I decided to take a 200 hour teacher training course, the only book on yoga that I had read was Baron Baptistes Journey Into Power, as I was recommended it from a friend at my studio. This book certainly is a great place to start: my favorite Vinyasa teachers follow a flow in the Baptiste tradition, and Baron does an outstanding job at breaking down the poses and their benefits, and how each pose fits into the flow of a 90 minute class. He also briefly explains ujjayi breathing and the core lock of uddiyana bandha, and dedicates a decent section of the intro to the mental aspects of yoga. All in all, it is a great reference to have as a student that is beginning to grasp the foundations of the vinyasa flow style while consistently going to classes and interacting with your teachers. I cannot imagine starting to study yoga without the help of a classroom and a teacher to answer your questions, and I quickly wore out the binding of my copy as I used it at home when I started to practice on my own.

My teacher training opened a lot of doors for me, the biggest door being my voracious appetite for more information. We read and used five great books as reference in our training: Barons Journey Into Power; The Yamas and Niyamas; The Bhagavad Gita; Yoga Anatomy; and last but certainly not least, Michael Singers incredible book, The Untethered Soul. The classic texts of the Yamas and Niyamas and Bhagavad Gita were intriguing and profound, dealing with how a humans thoughts, judgements and actions ultimately reflect back to themselves the things in life that prevent them from experiencing the kind of happiness and wonder that children and animals feel; Journey Into Power and Yoga Anatomy deal with the proper practice and execution of yoga, and explain its physical benefits very well but do not go as deeply into the mental benefits of yoga; but it was Michael Singers book that really opened my eyes to what is behind this veil of ego and judgement that clouds our perception of what life truly is.

This post has gone wildy out of control: I set out to make a brief article about how I plan on reviewing the books I have been reading, since my teacher training began and up through my recent birthday, when I received 5 more wonderful books as presents. I was inspired to write this by a fellow student at my studio, who will soon be entering teacher training herself and was asking for a book recommendation; I had one for her, and I believe I have one for you as well. This post now serves as an introduction to my Reading List column. It will take some time for me to get through this stack I have been collecting over the past 8 months, so please be patient. Soon: a review of The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. Do yourself a favor and check it out in the link provided, you will not be disappointed. Namaste.

Welcome

Hello. I am Ninko/ Dave, and I love yoga. I practice it every day, I teach vinyasa power flow, I read and write about it, and I can not help myself in talking about it often, be it with friends, family, or random people I meet. I had a blog called High Stakes Headstands but I neglected it for too long, and decided I should start a new one that coincides with my other artistic endeavors under my Ninko moniker. I will mainly use this blog as a place for me to share what I have been learning about yoga, in my personal experiences with my practice, the books I am reading, and in life.

I will also use this blog as a place to air personal opinions about other things in my life. I am a media fiend; I post as Ninko on a wonderful collaborative music blog (plentyofswords), and often times I use that place to talk about movies, books, music-inspired memories, etc. I will be migrating those kind of articles to this blog. And that there is the skinny.