This is a post by Colleen Rogers, current Stafford Street Hot Yoga student and experienced challenger...

My Experience During the Stafford Street Hot Yoga Challenge

I’ve been a yogi for a couple years now and I want to share with you my personal experiences during my Bikram yoga challenge.

When I began my journey I wanted to be prepared. Unfortunately, there really is no way to be prepared! I, however, would like to share some of my personal tips with fellow yogis that are gearing up for their first challenge...

1)    Stock up on coconut water. You will be sweating out water, impurities, and electrolytes (sodium, potassium).  I look for the “no sugar added” variety. I found this to be helpful to drink after class. Especially when it’s nice and cold!

2)    One word: GOMASIO. Ever heard of it? It’s a macrobiotic condiment in which sea salt is cooked with sesame seeds. During the first week I noticed that I was sweating so much during class and, despite how much water I drank, I didn’t seem to retain the fluids that I was drinking. Also, I had extreme salt cravings. So I purchased a bundle of gomasio from SSHY (it’s made on site) and noticed immediate differences. The amount of sweat lessened and the salt cravings decreased as well. My favourite way to eat gomasio is sprinkled on avocado - amazing! I made a habit of putting it on my lunchtime meals in order to allow my body to retain fluid in my body prior to class.

3)    Take it easy on the garlic and raw onions prior to your Bikram yoga class. This one explains itself. What you eat WILL come out in your sweat. Be mindful for others around you. Odours can be quite strong! Because I tend to go to the classes in the evenings, I found that eating a nice salad with chickpeas or hard boiled eggs, avocado (I used half for each meal), bell peppers and gomasio was delicious.

4)    Treat yourself to some nice yoga outfits. Yoga will pretty much become your life. (Or maybe yoga IS life hmmm), so you might as well look and feel good. You deserve it! The studio has a great selection of clothes.

5)    I personally do not enjoy hauling a smelly mat and soaking wet towels around with me. I took advantage of the towel and mat service rental and enjoyed it!

6)    Set your intentions! Every day I set my intentions for the class that I was planning to go to. Once we make up our mind it’s actually quite easy to do what we want to do.

7)    Focus on small improvements. You will struggle during the class. But that’s ok. Yoga is a practice. I found it helpful on those days to just focus on one thing. For example, flexing my toes, the sit-ups or just staying in the room!

8)    Expect challenges to happen. That is normal and completely OK. You know when the teachers say during Camel Pose “you might notice some emotions, dizziness occurring” ? There was one class about halfway through that I had injured my back and felt so emotional during and after class that I completely broke down. The teacher was kind and understanding afterwards and talked about it with me. I’m not sure what happened but perhaps something had opened up and my emotions were set free. Set free from expectations, fear, anxiety, worry. I was mad at myself that I couldn’t just perform “at my best” that day. So now I try to roll with the punches. If you have a bad day, you have a bad day. There’s always tomorrow.

9)    Visualize yourself in correct alignment. This is very useful because if we visualize us doing something we will eventually get there. So I did this during the postures. It helped me keep my focus and balance during class.

10)     Mix it up. Take classes with different teachers if you can. Although the dialogue is the same, each teacher is different. I found that I was able to pick up tips on postures and words of encouragement from each teacher.

I noticed that during my challenge my life had become yoga. I lived and breathed like a yogi. I purchased the book Bikram Yoga and read about Bikram’s life and the different postures. I am much more mindful of my breathing and grounded to the earth - meaning that I am much more peaceful and who doesn’t want more peace in their life?

In short...
The challenge changed me from the inside out; affecting all areas of my well-being.
As my strength and flexibility improved I realized how unbalanced my body was.
As my balance improved I realized how mindful I needed to be to notice this.
As my mindfulness improved I realized how much I need peace.
And as I created peace in my life I realized how necessary yoga is.

~ Colleen Rogers (SSHY student)

There was a time when ancient wisdom was kept in great secrecy and limited to masters. Devote followers would redeem tiny morsels of enlightening knowledge from their teachers, after completing arduous tasks and ascetic feats. Today everything has changed. The internet has made us all wise. Thousands of gurus post their wisdom in blog or video format on YouTube and voila, one can have their Self realized in a matter of minutes.

We also live in a time where the word Apocalypse has become forefront in our minds. We have arrived at 2012 and everyone is talking. Rather than fear a doomsday event, we can look deeper and find that the Greek root of the word means a full, divine revelation. These are days where the secrets are coming into the light for all to see; all knowledge becoming accessible; a time of great revealing after a long time of great forgetting!

So what does this have to do with SSHY and Ume’s Kitchen? A lot. The staff and teachers, here, are sharing what was once a very coveted and hidden knowledge: esoteric wisdom that reaches thousands of years into history. Yoga is old and hotter than ever. When you come out of the hot room, sweating and pondering the purpose of your birth, there sits a mysterious place called Ume’s Kitchen. Unfolding at a turtle’s pace, is Winnipeg’s most unique kitchen. While the rabbit nods off to sleep, Amanda Ing, the visionary owner of SSHY and Ume’s Kitchen, has been working hard behind the scenes, envisioning a place where the esoteric sciences can blossom in full view and the people of Winnipeg can now access what was once reserved for a very few.

We are coming up on 3 years of trial and error in creating something entirely new for the community. Coffee, juices, and the typical fanfare that appease the senses are not what this place is about. It goes much deeper and far reaching than that. Attempting to demystify and share the mysterious is not an easy undertaking. People like the comfort of their own knowing. What they do not know often scares them. We’ve had to rethink the vision many times but the dream is alive more than ever and is manifesting.

My first blog here, is more an invitation to patience and openness for what is unfolding: a blending of yoga, macrobiotics and ayurveda for all who want to experience the healing wonders of these ancient sciences with a modern twist.

We are going to kick off this apocalyptic year with open houses once a month AND one celebratory event per month such as Valentine’s Day (coming up on February 14^th!). Each open house will host talks, sharing and samples to introduce these esoteric philosophies with fun and friendly ease. Each celebratory day will include delicious ayurvedic and macrobiotic treats after class.

Amanda Ing (yoga, holistic nutrition), Kalee Mund (Ayurveda) and myself, Tannis Kohut (Macrobiotics and energy medicine) are looking forward to these events with much enthusiasm. We hope to see you Sunday,February 26^th and Sunday, March 18^th for our first open house days. Come and sweat, stretch, relax, listen, sample, chat, enjoy and experience the wonders of these ancient ways with us!  

Blessings along your path,

Tannis Kohut

Many of you have been hearing the word Ayurveda (ah-yer-vey-duh) being used in and around the studio over the last couple months and some of you may have been familiar with it before.  Many may not be aware of the connection and expansive history that Yoga and Ayurveda share.   

The two go hand in hand and are the ancient life disciplines that have been practiced in India for thousands of years. 

* Yoga is the science of union with the Divine, and Ayurveda is the science of life 

* Ayurveda is the healing side of Yoga, and Yoga is the spiritual tradition from which Ayurveda emerged 

* Through Yoga one prepares for a healthy mind and through Ayurveda one prepares for a healthy body 

* Yoga helps with enlightenment and Ayurveda helps with perfect health 

Yoga and Ayurveda originate from the Vedic traditions of India, and both are a means of gaining and maintaining better health.  

Yoga is a spiritual science of self-development and self-realization through a wide range of methods that span from physical postures, breathing exercises, mantra and meditation all based on the philosophy of living a natural life. 

Ayurveda is the traditional medicine of India and like yoga covers a wide array of health practices including diet, herbs, exercise, bodywork, detoxification programs and life-style management regimens that relate to our unique individual constitution and laws of nature. 

Yoga and Ayurveda are two complementary systems of maintaining health and human development.  They were developed by the legendary rishis or holy men, who understood the laws of the universe and the inner workings of the cosmos that hold the key to transformation of the Self. 

Join Amanda, Tannis and myself for a little bit of extra love on Valentine’s Day. We will be delivering delicious food and beverages made with love onTuesday, February 14th following the 5pm & 7pm classes. 

The tasty Valentine's Day menu includes Wheat-free Chocolate Almond cookies, Macrobiotic Ume Papita Stuffed Rice Balls (What the heck are those you ask? Come on down & see for yourself!), and Tannis' Special Quenching Coconut Lassie Drink. There will also be a healthy Ayurvedic Mung Dahl meal for purchase if you would like to complete your day in a delicious & nutritious way. Cash only please.

I will also be here at SSHY for our upcoming monthly open house Sundays (First one - Sunday, Feb. 26th!) for questions on treatments (ayurvedic facials, body work, diet counselling etc.) or even to share a cup of delicious tea that I have prepared for you!  I will be involved in the April Yoga challenge which promises to be the first of it’s kind with a plethora of goodies built in to the challenge to help set you up for the best health you ‘ve felt in years!

Stay tuned for videos and monthly blogs from myself, Amanda and Tannis on recipes, treatments, and how to make ayurveda a part of your daily rountine and lifestyle. 

Sincerely,

Kalee Mund

How easy it is. Develop your abdominal muscles in Bikram Yoga!

Happy Holidays fellow yogis and yoginis!  Along with the holidays comes delicious over indulgence…sweets, goodies and libations abound!  So, let us take notes on how we can all continue to feel good through the holidays!

It’s often our bellies that take a hit, so I will share with you some Bikram yoga tips!

Starting with Pranayama breathing exercise- You must work extra hard and when inhaling, SUCK your stomach IN.  You try your best to see your rib cage in the mirror.  For those who have extra inches, even if you cannot see your ribs, the more you try to do it, you will start to feel it, then eventually, it WILL happen!

Try being aware of this all of the 20 breaths, and your abdominals should be sore the next day.

In Awkward Pose- Very important to use your abs.  In all 3 parts, keep your stomach sucked in, and do your best to breathe slow and normal as possible.  Again, try to see your rib cage in the mirror.  This use of the stomach muscles will also prevent and help heal your back pain.

In Eagle Pose- same thing, keep that belly sucked in.  Rib cage visible, upper body arched like backward bending.

There are many other Bikram poses where you can use your abdominals more.  Standing forehead to knee requires the use of these muscles to help you touch your forehead to knee. Try this awareness from now on in your Bikram practice, and look forward to amazing results! 

To keep inches off and stay trim through the eating of 3 xmas dinners:

...CHEW your food...

This is the most profound way to improve digestion, to keep from over eating, and to improve your bodies’ ability of actually absorbing nutrients.  You want to try and chew your food minimum 30x per bite.  No joke, you will lose weight if you do this.  And it’s absolutely free!  Just think of it - by chewing you will also enjoy more flavours, more satisfaction, more joy! 

Happy eating!              

xox Amanda

Remember, dear students, positive energy and positive thoughts are very powerful!  

When you and others in the room decide to emit positive energy, you all attract benevolent feelings, healing and abundance.

If you find yourself feeling negative, or your thoughts are on repeat negatively about you or anyone else in the room (including the teacher!) then YOU are creating that, YOU always have the choice to turn it around.

Funny thing is, especially you challengers will notice, as you DO more yoga, feeling good will start to become what you are all the time!!!

Practicing Bikram Hatha yoga clears you and helps you deflect any negative energies that can weigh you down. Some things in life you cannot figure out and aren’t meant to (at least not right this second), so instead, use the power of your CONCENTRATION in class to get you through the toughest times. 

If the person next to you is somehow unnerving you or annoying you, concentrate more on your locked knee, or your eyes in the mirror, or, always, practice breathing more slowly!

Remember, “if you let anyone steal your happiness or peace away from you, you are the loser.”  ~ Bikram

Go with the flow, nothing is perfect, everything is just as it is meant to be!!! 

 xox Amanda

Image source: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net