I just had an amazing yoga class with Emily Horning! It left me feeling so inspired that I decided to create a new format to my blogging. I think I’ll start writing class reviews! Studios get reviewed all the time. Why not individual classes? Who hasn’t gone to a studio’s website and read a teacher bio to try to figure out what kind of class they teach. Often, bios are helpful, but not a great indicator of what each teacher’s class will really feel like. And if you have a yoga budget, taking a class from a new teacher can feel a little risky. Perhaps class reviews will help bring teachers new students, and help students to expand their practice without the hesitation that comes from that risky feeling. So without further ado… my humble opinion follows.

My teacher, John Salisbury says, Astanga is like school, and Vinyasa flow is like recess. I have been neglecting my recess; believing that through more discipline, I would become a better student of yoga. After an especially moving class with Emily Horning, I think I’ve developed a refined analogy to describe the difference between Vinyasa flow and Astanga yoga. Astanga is science, Vinyasa flow is poetry. Both are a study, but each challenges a different hemisphere of the brain. One stimulates creativity; the other builds a strong foundation to support the flow of creativity. Together they blend into balance.

Tonight I worked tremendously hard physically, while still flowing freely to beautiful music (Omg, mantra AND G Love in the same playlist!! I’m impressed!!)! It was the perfect blend of Astanga’s strengthening characteristics and Vinyasa’s fluid movement, with the added benefit of gentle reminders to breathe deeply and listen to my body. Did I mention the heavenly adjustments?

Emily embodies grace in her demonstrations and timing, and yet makes her students feel comfortable taking pose variations that feel best for them. She keeps students in each posture long enough to actually feel the benefits of the pose at work. Her sequencing and transitions are designed to really teach. As the class unfolds, you can see that she’s not randomly throwing out poses, she has given lots of thought as to why each pose should come in the order it’s given. The student learns how it feels to unfurl the body, one group of muscles at a time.

I think disciplined practitioners seek out an Astanga asana practice because it’s so instructive and really concentrated in improving the student’s strength and flexibility through practicing an exact science. If they stick around for a while, they start to learn about tradition and the eight limbs of Astanga. If you’re still around and loving the intensity of Astanga, Vinyasa flow starts to appear obsolete- it’s an asana practice only. Little bits of wisdom and cheer crammed between poses are no substitute for instruction of the Yoga Sutras. And, sorry flow junkies, we Astangis are a strong bunch. Most of your flow classes feel like a breeze. Yes, that’s a pretty bold challenge to many flow teachers… Encourage us work to our fullest potential please!

Emily has set the bar, teaching a class that is intense like Astanga, but fluid like Vinyasa flow. What a combination! Oh- and don’t be surprised if you feel challenged all the way through savasana. Emily is one of very few teachers who aren’t afraid to hold the space for a long, silent savasana. And when your work is done, you are rewarded with Om in the rounds, a beautiful sound worth all of the effort it took to get there.

Where can you take Emily’s class? Visit her website at www.emilyhorning.com  to find out!

So there you have my first yoga class review. Let me offer a small disclaimer here. I am no master of yoga. I don’t have any special credentials (other than maybe my yoga teaching certificate) that qualify me to claim that any one class is better than another. I am offering my personal experience and opinions in the hope that it will benefit my readers and the teachers that move me to write about their classes. I should also note that I believe if you don’t have anything nice to say, you should say nothing at all. So there will be no bad reviews posted here, only great classes will make it to my blog. I would also like to welcome your input. Please feel free to add your two cents or suggest classes that deserve a review. Together we can give back to the teachers that give so much to us.

Much Love and Light!

Amanda Manfredi

Sanskrit Counting/Poses for Surya Namaskar A

Sanskrit Counting/Poses for Surya Namaskar B

Created with love by Astanga Vinyasa student and teacher, Amanda Manfredi.  Namaste!

Update! The lovely and brilliant Cheryl Oliver was kind enough to provide me with the diacriticals (those funky markings around the letters that help us figure out how to pronounce this stuff!) and reminds us:
“Remember — all “e”s sound like “ay” & get 2 beats, and all “o”s also get 2 beats (even though they don’t have aline over them! ”
Cheryl is a phenomenal teacher of Sanskrit, chanting, and yoga. To catch up with her, visit www.davesastangayoga.com

Lately, Ashtanga yoga seems to be popping up around every corner, or at least at the fringes of every yoga studio’s regular class schedule. Maybe the buzz has piqued your interest, and you’re wondering if you should give it a try. For some reason, there seem to be a great number of yogic wallflowers hovering about the sidelines, flirting with the idea of discovering Ashtanga yoga, but afraid to jump in and participate. My theory on this puzzling phenomenon is that the unfamiliar is almost always intimidating. Since I happen to be passionately in love with both Vinyasa and Ashtanga yoga, I thought a little casual introduction might help hesitant yogis find a bridge between the two styles and encourage some healthy exploration.

Okay, first, what the heck is the difference between Vinyasa and Ashtanga? Simply put, Ashtanga yoga is a traditional series of postures done in the same order every
time. Also very simply put, Vinyasa is like freestyle Ashtanga. The yoga you do when you walk into a “flow” class is Vinyasa. It can be characterized by flowing movements, coordinated with deep focused breathing, and it’s often accompanied by music. Ninety percent or more of the poses you do in a flow class are the same ones you’ll find in an Ashtanga class. The major difference is the creative license that the Vinyasa teacher takes in building the sequences and varying the pace between poses.

So what should you expect in an Ashtanga class? Well, let’s call it structure. You know exactly what to expect from every Ashtanga class. Here’s a link to the: Ashtanga Asana Sequence. Sound repetitive? Yep. It is. Sound boring? Ah, now that’s where you’d be wrong. Maybe the reason the Ashtanga yoga has come to be intimidating to yogis who haven’t tried it is because it is known as a very intense and powerful practice. Let me clarify here. If you are physically capable of taking a Vinyasa flow class, you are physically capable of taking an Ashtanga class. You may, however, find the Ashtanga class to be more intense because it has a way of bringing you deeper within yourself. With no music in the background, you hear your own breath and the instructions of your teacher more clearly. There are fewer distractions, and a more singularly focused energy flows through the room. You’ll also notice some traditional accoutrements such as a chanting the Vande Gurunam at the beginning of class and some Sanskrit counting- neither of which are you required to know.

Essentially, those are the most noticeable differences between an Ashtanga class and a Vinyasa class. There are some other differences beneath the surface that tend to create a personal gravitational pull toward either Vinyasa or Ashtanga yoga styles. Generally speaking (and in my humble opinion), those who practice yoga for the sheer fun of it, or for an occasional stress reliever may find everything they’re looking for in a Vinyasa yoga class. Practitioners who seek a transformative experience or who wish to integrate yoga into their lifestyle often find Ashtanga to be a more satisfying practice. Why? Well, in the interest of keeping it simple, Vinyasa is about breathing and flowing. It is often referred to as a moving meditation. Ashtanga yoga means eight-limb yoga. Only one of those limbs is asana (the physical postures). The other seven limbs are about living life in a kind, pure manner, breathing, focusing, meditating, and essentially attaining a persistent state of bliss. Again- way simplified, but you can probably imagine how a person who seeks to learn how to bring yoga into their life off the mat might find more fulfillment through Ashtanga.

My teacher, John Salisbury, says Ashtanga is like school, and Vinyasa is like recess. I love this analogy! Practiced in combination, you achieve balance. So if you want to know which style of yoga is better, or which style you should be practicing, you are really the only one who knows the answer. What are you looking to gain from your practice? Your answer may vary from day to day. In that case, do what both styles teach you- do what feels good.

I practice and teach both Vinyasa yoga and Ashtanga yoga in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona. I’d be honored to see you in my class. Please visit my schedule to find a class that works for you. I update often, and am expecting to add a few classes this fall, so please check back often!

Namaste!

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.” ~Paramahansa Yogananda

“Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent.” ~Rumi

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” ~Lao Tzu

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.” ~Oscar Wilde

“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”  ~Mother Teresa

“The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.”  ~Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”  ~Author Unknown

“The happiness of one’s own heart alone cannot satisfy the soul; one must try to include, as necessary to one’s own happiness, the happiness of others.” ~Paramahansa Yogananda

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

“God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.” ~Rumi

“The willingness to share does not make one charitable; it makes one free.”  ~Robert Brault

“Only the shallow know themselves.” ~Oscar Wilde

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” ~Albert Einstein

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” ~Lao Tzu

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” ~Mother Teresa

“There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.” ~Paramahansa Yogananda

“A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad.” ~Bodhidharma

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” ~Mark Twain

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ” ~Dalai Lama

“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.” ~Muhammad Ali

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” ~Albert Einstein

Recently I was honored to be a featured artist on the Karma Counsil website, a wonderful organization founded by a yogi friend of mine. His organization connects people who cannot afford legal representation with legal professionals who are willing to work for donations. We talked about displaying my artwork on KarmaCounsel.org, but I was pleasantly surprised to find quotations from some of my blog posts accompanying my artwork. It was actually a bit shocking to see my words quoted. Of all the quotes I have shared with my students, I never thought to share my own! I am grateful to have discovered a new appreciation of my own expressions. Just for kicks, I’ll share the quotes that were posted on KarmaCounsel.org here.

“We usually resist change out of fear or stubbornness, so to embrace a practice of accepting and even welcoming change is to liberate one’s self from a form of suffering.” ~Amanda Manfredi

“I’ve begun to learn that I can trust myself, which is a little like waking up one day and finding that you have an extra limb.” ~Amanda Manfredi

“Nothing in this world is permanent. Everything is constantly changing. The community we’ve created together is changing today, but I invite you to see it as an evolution into something greater.” ~Amanda Manfredi

“Had I called upon my breath to wash away my clamoring thoughts, I would have been left with just my voice. Breathe. Everything else will unfold exactly as is should.” ~Amanda Manfredi

I hope you find some inspiration in this small sample of my favorite quotes! Again, I would LOVE it if you’d share some of your favorites with me!

Presently, our modern western culture promotes a social divide which we hardly notice, but are sorely suffering from. A vital source of natural learning was removed from our lives while we were busy searching for an institution that would offer us a certificate, a degree, or some other proof that we know more than the other guy competing for the same job. Look around you. How many of your elders would you consider an integral part of your daily life? Retirement communities and nursing homes have replaced the family hearth as the dwelling place of our eldest citizens. The most experienced students of life are absent in our cultural classroom as a whole. This deficit parallels in our western yoga communities. So where are we getting our information? To whom are we entrusting our education? How do we know that the information they are passing on to us is pure,  free of  personal interpretation or miscommunication?

The truth is, no one who teaches yoga can be entirely impartial. We love our students. We endeavor to give them the healing and liberating gift that yoga has been for us. But intertwined in that gift is our own experience and perception, the shaping and molding influence our own teachers have had on us. Aha! Now the matter of lineage becomes very clearly relevant.

The teacher directly above your branch was/is a student of someone. Whose? Have you given that much thought? How does your yoga teacher help you to grow your practice? Are you getting stronger abs or stronger focus? The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but ask yourself if what you’re gaining from your teacher is asana practice or the foundational knowledge of all 8 limbs of yoga. If you’re looking for the whole shebang, then you might want to know the primary source of the stream of knowledge that flows from your guru to you. Who is your guru’s guru? And once you know that, why not look up his guru? If you’re reading this from anywhere in the western world, and you practice Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, there is a surprisingly short chain of lineage back to the one teacher who’s responsible for passing on all we westerners know about yoga, the beloved Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.

I won’t list a bunch of names and years here to help you trace your personal yoga family tree. It is not the purpose of this post to present a history lesson. Rather, it’s purpose is to inspire you to seek the knowledge for yourself. Just as you take your asana practice a little further by attempting a new pose, try deepening your yoga practice off the mat by investing some time considering the source of your yoga education. Just giving it your attention may lead your practice in more purposeful and fulfilling directions.

*Thanks for entertaining my ideas! I’m honored that you came here to read my ramblings! If you’d like to hear more in person, please attend my classes. Currently I teach a 90 minute “Subtle Body Energetic Flow” every Friday morning at 9 AM at Second Heart Yoga (44th St and Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ). Check my Facebook page or Twitter to see where you can catch me subbing. I hope to add a few more regular weekly classes to my weekly schedule soon. I’ll keep you posted!

I made a beeline to my beloved shrink after I taught, no, more like recited aloud my yoga teacher training final class. I was in need of a quick fix for my public speaking phobia. A pill would be great. Maybe some hypnotherapy would do the trick. I might have been willing to explore a little shock therapy if it would cure this communication obstacle of mine.
You see, I had carefully crafted a beautiful script for my class. I had so many inspiring words and insightful alignment cues I wanted to share. I wrote them down in an effort to commit them to memory. That way, I brilliantly hypothesized, I could share them aloud as eloquently as they sounded in my mind. The plan was to throw away the script as soon as I memorized it, and  improvise during the actual class. That was the plan.
What actually happened was a much different scenario. The studio door shut, the lights dimmed, and 20 eager students all looked at me to tell them what to do next. What occurred in my mind in that very instant was the equivalent of a rush hour traffic jam. A million thoughts, intentions, expectations, judgments, hopes, doubts, and nerves collided into one big mess, and my plan disintegrated in the epicenter. I opened my mouth and no sound came out. All of my finely woven words deserted me. In a panic, I resorted to reading my script aloud. That’s just about the biggest no-no you can commit during your YTT final, second only to actually breaking someone in a bad adjustment.
My grand visions of becoming the headliner of the next Yoga Journal conference were dashed. Okay, so maybe my visions weren’t that grand. But my failure to deliver the graceful, epic final class I’d envisioned left me wondering if I was capable of teaching well at all.
After refusing my request for a simple frontal lobotomy, the Doc asked me to walk him through the event as it unfolded. It took him all of about 30 seconds to identify a critical detail that I had completely overlooked. I had ceased to breathe. I love it when he points this out. Apparently I do it all the time and hardly ever notice. As it turns out, I get to skip the brain surgery and just inhale.
What is so powerful about a breath? We take an average of about 20,000 of them every day without even thinking about it. We sigh when we’re bored. We gasp when we’re frightened. Outside of yoga class, we hardly ever give breathing a second thought, let alone our full attention. And yet, if we don’t take a breath the effects are immediate and undeniable.
How is this going to help me carry out my plans for a class? It’s very simple. Take a deep breath. Really. Inhale fully, expanding your ribs, filling your lungs opening your heart. Are you doing it? Okay- now do it again, and this time try to plan your next hour at the same time. Didn’t work, did it? That’s the trick. All of that energy washes over you like a tide and when it washes back out again it takes the chaos with it. The problem with my plan is that it was a plan.
I put so much pressure on my brain to make me sound knowledgeable, look graceful, and feel confident that by the time I tried to speak I had overloaded the circuits and effectively blown a fuse. Had I called upon my breath to wash away my clamoring thoughts, I would have been left with just my voice.
Because the universe has such a great sense of humor, I recently had the opportunity to test this theory. I was recently called to substitute a class at local studio. It was to be my first class. I was was thrilled, but cautious. I told myself not to make it into a big deal. I put some note cards together with a brief class outline, and tried to ignore the building anticipation. When I arrived I discovered that the flow class I had been planning to sub was actually a yin class. It might be helpful to note here that I had never taught a yin class, nor had I even attempted to put one together. My note cards crutches were perfectly useless. There was no planning for this one.
What could I do but breathe? In with the prana, out with the jitters. And when my voice came, it sounded surprisingly assured. I named one yin pose that I knew, took a breath, and cued my unsuspecting students into it. After a while, I cued another that felt like the right way to follow the first. The next thing I knew an hour had passed and I was at least as relaxed as my students. Speaking of the students, the feedback I got was fantastic!
So, the moral of my story is pretty simple. Breathe. Everything else will unfold exactly as it should.

My focus on teacher training turned into a manifestation. Against some pretty unfavorable odds, I was able to gather the money I needed for tuition. My family rallied to support me, and over the last few months they even managed to hold down the fort while I was in classes 2 nights a week and all day Saturday for 11 weeks in a row! Needless to say, with my day job still intact, life has been a whirlwind of activity. Now I’m standing at the starting line of what feels like a new phase of my life- I’m a yoga teacher. Oh my, that’s fun to say!

It’s a little scary and very exciting to find myself here. If Me a year ago met Me today, we’d be shocked at how little we have in common. This is new territory. I’ve begun to learn that I can trust myself, which is a little like waking up one day and finding that you have an extra limb. There are sure to be many uses for it, but initially it takes some practice to use it gracefully, and those who are used to seeing the old you seem to it find it even harder to adjust.

So here I am, just me and all my limbs, catching you up. I told you it would be a nutshell version! Thanks for reading, and if you’re looking for a yoga teacher I would be honored if you choose me!

Between helping my kindergartener and his 8th grade brother, I must admit… the kindergarten help is by far the more enjoyable experience. While reliving the 8th grade academically can be interesting (mostly because I’m not staring out the window this time around) I find that it requires patience and the finely tuned art  of asking questions in a way that makes my student produce, understand, and remember his own answers. Given that he comes to the learning game with some extra challenges, we take extra time, extra effort, and extra appreciation for each others dedication. Our tutoring begins at 6:30 every morning and we strive to end it by 7:40 so that he can walk into his classroom on time. Strive as we may, he’s usually late, but thanks to the wonderful teachers who help me tutor by providing me with an answer key, the homework is done, and correct, and at the end of the week the test scores reflect our hard work.

In sharp contrast, there’s the kindergarten homework. Today we drew 4 carrots to illustrate that 2+4=6. Ahhhh, that was living. Then we cut and pasted a moose, a mailbox, and a mop because they all start with M. The joy of it! No answer key necessary. Even more satisfying was the fact that all I had to do to assist in this process was say things like, “That’s right!” and, “Exactly, you’ve got it!”. When we got up from the table I took his face in my hands, looked him in the eye, and said, “I’m so proud of you!”, to which he replied through his mile-wide grin, “I do it all the time!”.

Hmmm, why does the 8th grade version of this exchange lack so much enthusiasm? Could it be because by the end of the intricate dance of encouragement, discipline, and actual learning that is our tutoring session we are both just relieved to relax? Maybe it’s because exchanges between teenagers and their parents naturally restructure themselves to allow space for the child to grow into a young adult and the parent to let them. But perhaps what is lacking is the pride, the “I do it all the time!” factor.

I never forget to tell my 8th grade student that I’m proud when he gets a B on a test, but I tend to very quickly move into “how could we have made it an A” mode. I guess I let my fear of missing a chance to help him improve get in my way of celebrating the success he has already achieved.  Today my easy and relaxed kindergarten homework session was punctuated with a valuable reminder for me. Understanding concepts, memorizing definitions, improving your grade are all just ways of going through the motions. Academic achievement is of course extremely important, but it is empty if it doesn’t accompany personal achievement. And common sense tells us that having one’s need for personal achievement met leaves more energy available to apply to the academic side of things.

The power of personal achievement isn’t just valuable for the student. When is the last time you commended yourself for making a good decision, for helping someone, for learning something? I don’t mean to suggest that you live in your ego. One can certainly have too much of a good thing. But perhaps when taking care to live in gratitude, we might include ourselves in the equation. By acknowledging our progress, we build momentum in our efforts. And what a gift it would be to hear yourself say, “I do it all the time!”

I think day 312 might just be my favorite. I love the sentiment, and it seems to rattle around in my head whenever I need it. The quote for Day 312 is:

I recently ran across a story about a Native American tribal leader describing his own inner struggles. He said, “There are two dogs inside of me. One dog is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” Someone asked him which dog usually wins, and after a moment’s reflection, he answered, “The one I feed the most.” ~Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

In the essay that follows, Rolf shares that he’s found that “…the greatest motivator for consistent application of spiritual principles is pain. The memory of some recent failure, embarrassment, or anxiety supports me in my efforts to to apply some forgotten truth to my life.” Unfortunately, it often takes feeding the evil dog for most of us to remember when we’ve been neglecting the good dog. Luckily, if we’re paying attention, there is always a lesson to be found in our mistakes. Maintaining our spiritual health and tapping into the peace and happiness that exists within ourselves requires us not to be afraid of the evil dog, but to consistently and consciously love and nurture the good dog. Over time, the practice of avoiding pain becomes a habit of cultivating happiness.

So how do you feed the good dog? Well, I think every individual has to look inward to find the answer that feels true to them, but I can share at least one golden opportunity to toss the old good dog a juicy bone.

I don’t know about you, but for me, rush hour traffic is a prime time to practice patience, restraint, and love. Hey, I didn’t say it was an easy practice, just a readily available opportunity to practice. The evil dog in me begins to invent new and more effective swear words and gestures to direct through glass, across lanes, and at the back of the head of whatever idiotic driver has obviously purposely decided to make my commute unpleasant. While this ugly form of venting may offer me momentary satisfaction, it doesn’t change my level anxiety or pull me into a positive direction. The good dog, when I choose to call upon her, turns up the radio, starts breathing calmly and rhythmically, and begins to list all of the things I am grateful for. It’s hard to be angry and grateful at the same time. Before I know it, I remember that we are all just trying to get to a better place, and if I can just relax and accept that I can’t change the pace, I might even get to enjoy the ride. Bingo. Score one for the good dog, and as an added bonus I have taught my kids (the ever observant sponges in the back seat) to react to a stressful situation with love and gratitude.

How else can you feed the good dog? If you’re looking for an opportunity, you can always contribute to my yoga teacher training fund by making a donation via PayPal, shopping in my boutique, buying my prints, or booking a photo session with me! See you next time. Namaste!

Bob Schneider “Live” – Let the Light In from Session 7 Media on Vimeo.