Equal Standing Spokane

By Daniella Martin

While spring time isn’t notorious for “going back to school” it is a good time to start things fresh.  5 months after having my first baby, I have more energy and I’m ready to make the transition from a restorative yoga practice to a more challenging practice.  But it’s been a full year since I had a steady vinyasa practice.  And a year ago, I was practicing at home daily, still gliding from the hours of knowledge I had absorbed during a 10 day retreat.

I’ve been regularly attending post-natal yoga classes and I’ve been practicing at home, always with baby, but I hired a baby sitter (aka grandma) and ventured to some more challenging classes on my own. The first class I went to was called “gentle flow,” instructed by a teacher I’d never met before.  Her energy was uplifting and her class was just challenging enough to work up a few beads of sweat on my brow.  It felt good to be alone on my mat, letting a teacher guide me.  And a bonus: after 7 years of practicing yoga, and over 4 years of teaching, I learned  a new pose!  And I picked up 2 new modifications on poses to keep in my back pocket for a rainy day.

The 2nd class I attended was more challenging; warming sun salutations, lots of standing poses, and the focus for the class was on backbending- something this nursing mama could use more of!  The teacher also did a mini workshop- mid class- about chaturanga arms.  It was so refreshing to spend time focusing on my alignment since chaturanga had not been a major part of my practice for several months.

I posted this video on the facebook page about a week or two ago- Lululemon breaking down chaturanga.  One way to come into chaturanga from plank is to press yourself forward just a smidge so your shoulders go past your wrists.  In doing this, you set yourself up for bringing your elbows into a nice 90 degree angle when you lower down.  In doing this, you are protecting your shoulders and wrists from injury.   They don’t mention it in the video, but if you watch close, the model does this.

I love learning, and more than that, I love learning about yoga!  My husband nicknamed me “the yoga nerd,” because I definitely geek-out when it comes to learning about yoga.  Whether it’s a different school of yoga, a new asana (pose), new style of pranayama (breath control)  or just a different view of the same thing, there’s always something new to learn.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve been practicing a week, a year or a life time, open your mind like a beginner and let the learning in.

“Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ~ Gandhi

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.”  ~Vernon Howard

By Katie Scanlon-Gehn

Yoga mat in hand, I arrive at the space – a room in the basement of an old building that is full of tables, chairs, and scattered materials for the various activities that all take place here. Two teens walk into the room to the sound of another teen screaming angrily. The screaming is taking place upstairs, but the voice is so loud that it seems to compl

etely fill the air in the old basement, forcing it’s way into every nook and cranny and defining the moment. We are not allowed to close the door to the room until a staff person arrives, so the yoga class must begin in the midst of this clamor. “Welcome,” I say with as much steady warmth as possible in order to create a new energy in the room, “this will be a good opportunity for us to practice being able to calm ourselves when we’re in a hectic environment. Good practice for real life, right?”

This scene is probably unlike any you’ve witnessed in a yoga studio, but it is one to which Street Yoga teachers are quite accustomed. Street Yoga is a non-profit organization that teaches yoga classes to youth and families struggling with homelessness, poverty, addiction, abuse and trauma. Our classes take place at social service sites with which we partner, such as homeless shelters, clinics, and residential treatment centers. We teach in very unconventional spaces, typically small rooms that must serve many purposes – from gym space to art space to space for school. I have even taught in a dimly lit hallway when the regular room needed to be used for something else during yoga class time. We teach youth that are struggling with huge difficulties in life.

You have likely experienced the healing and empowering benefits of yoga in your own practice. Yoga can also provide a tool for healing and empowerment to youth in crisis. When combined with the amazing work of staff at our partner sites, who provide life’s basic necessities for these youth as well as counseling and other services, yoga is an effective part of holistic social services. Street Yoga programs help address the

physical, mental and emotional ailments faced by our clients. Specifically, we have seen Street Yoga classes help participants to release tension and stress, help youth with symptoms of PTSD be able to sleep again, help alleviate physical pain caused by sleeping on the streets and other situations, and help participants feel happier, more confident, and supported in making healthy choices for themselves. We survey participants every three months and 80% report that they feel less nervous and tense, happier, and more focused after Street Yoga classes! One youth stopped cutting herself after attending Street Yoga classes. Several youth have asked if there are other places where they can access free yoga once they no longer have access to their current social service site. We believe that the benefits of yoga support our clients in making sustainable changes in their lives, as they work with our partner sites to heal from trauma, succeed in school, and secure stable housing.

In 2008, three yoga friends set out to bring a local yoga magazine to Spokane. After twelve quarterly printed issues of Equal Standing Spokane, we decided it was time to take our publication to the internet! While we are sad to be parting with our paper publication, we hope this change will allow us to spread news faster, give you more up to date info and offer a forum for all Spokane Yogis to share their wealth of knowledge and experience.

So here it is! Our new website!  You can search our archives for past articles, recipes and photos.  You can check our up-t0-date calendar for upcoming events in the area, and you can visit our yoga studio listing- with links each studio’s website- to find a local yoga class that fits your needs.

Please keep in mind, ESS is for and about YOU!  We want to hear what you have to say.  Please continue to send us your stories, recipes, photos and insights about yoga philosophy and asana so that we can share them with all yogis in the area!

For now, all inquiries and articles can be sent to daniella@equal-standing.com

To stay up to date please “like” us on facebook- there’s an easy link to your right—->

Namaste

by Karen Vielle

In the early hours before dawn, I am listening to nothing but the sound of my breathing.

I follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before me. My movements are connected to those ahead of me and those behind me.

I could easily be talking about a yoga practice, but I’m actually talking about climbing a mountain. The footsteps I walk in are literally those of the person in front of me and I am literally connected to someone in front of me, or behind me, by a rope. I’ve been practicing yoga for about 14 years. I’ve also been a member of the Spokane Mountaineers for about five years, and seriously climbing mountains for two years. This July, I successfully summited Mt. Rainier for the first (and hopefully not the last) time.

There are so many ways that yoga and mountaineering compliment each other. Strong, supple, balanced muscles and bodily systems, as well as a good sense of balance are benefits that a regular yoga practice would have on any other physically challenging activity. However, the benefits of yoga are not just physical. The ability to control the breath and stay calm under stress is an effect of my yoga practice that I rely on in the mountains. Climbing and yoga are both like a moving meditation. They are both best when practiced in the present moment. In this moment I am moving and breathing. In this moment I am putting one foot in front of the other.

There is also the mental strength one gets from both activities. Dealing with fear and doing something you didn’t think you could do. I have to admit the thought has occurred to me that if I can climb big scary  mountains, I can start the Ashtanga third series without fear. About 90% of my yoga practice today consists of comfortably doing things that I initially thought I could never do. My yoga practice continually teaches me to refrain from setting limits on what I think is possible.

Some might think it’s detrimental to my yoga to come home sore and tired, and have to modify my practice for a couple of days. That would be true if the purpose of practic- ing asanas (postures) is to get better at prac- ticing asanas, but I’ve never thought of it that way. I’ve always thought that the purpose of practicing yoga asanas is to get better at life. What better way to put your yoga to the test,

than to put your preparedness for life to the test? Yoga is not meant to be an end in itself. Take the lessons you’ve learned from yoga off the mat, out of the studio, and into the big world out there. Then it becomes real and an integrated part of your life. Then yoga isn’t something you do but a part of who you are no matter what you’re doing, even if you’re on the side of a mountain.