I took a Vinyasa flow class with an instructor named Mary at the Bay Club. Vinyasa flow is a style of yoga that moves quickly and each move in connected to the inhale and exhale of the breath. The class begun in child’s pose and we were told to set an intention for our practice. The class was an hour long and consisted of many sun salutation variations. Throughout the class we were cues to keep our breath flowing and to move at our own pace. We ended class with the traditional Savasana position to seal our practice.
The instructor was very intention with her verbal cues, which taught me that each position looks different on each individual and that yoga is about finding “your” correct pose position. Mary explained that yoga is the physical practice of how we act and react on a daily basis, which was a new concept to me. She cued around mindfulness and noticing how often we fidget or engage in self talk throughout class. She taught me that yoga is much more than a workout, but that we are also training the brain and the breath. Her class helped me understand how by physically participating in a yoga class, our brains, bodies and breath should learn to work together. This concept is how yoga can help facilitate mental, emotional and physical health.
Yoga Class at Bay Club. (2019, June 22). Walnut Creek, CA. Field experience.
Maris Degener is a college student at UC Santa Cruz, a local yoga teacher at Just Be Yoga and a survivor of perfectionism. Maris struggled with an eating disorder at age 14 and was able to used yoga as her means of physical, mental and emotional healing. Her story is beautifully told in a Netflix documentary titled, I Am Maris.
Maris originally took a yoga class because it was the only form of exercise that her Dr. would approve in her condition. Her initial intention for the class was just to burn calories and sweat. After one class at Just Be Yoga, she realized yoga was much more than she had initially though. She was drawn to a sense of freedom that she had experienced and let herself be intrigued by her curiosity. Shortly after practicing yoga for a new months, Maris was accepted into Just Be Yoga’s teaching training program as the youngest teacher in training.
During the teacher training, Maris learning about the eight limbs of yoga and each of their deeper meanings. It was during her teacher training that she learned about Ahisma, meaning non-violence. She thought to herself, “duh, it isn’t okay to go around kicking and punching people.” Quickly, she realized that this yoga principle also applied to the self. She realized that she was being extremely violence towards herself through her need for perfectionism and control. It was this principle of yoga that helped Maris understand how to heal and become willing to do the work that it required.
In my interview with Maris, I learned that what people generally think of as “yoga” is much different from what yoga actually is. The physical poses in yoga, know as asanas , are actually only one aspect of yoga. There are eight limbs of yoga that address ideals, from your everyday breathing to your moral and ethical actions daily. In the interview with Maris, I felt as though my content questions were answered fully. I asked Maris what she thought the most important aspect of yoga is, that individuals staring yoga should focus on first. “The really key is mindfulness” was her response. She expressed that you must be able to observe what is happening within, with non-judgement and learn to separate your emotions from yourself. She described this as, “imagining your thoughts as moving cars on a freeway.” It wouldn’t be productive to go run in front of all the cars and try to stop or change them, instead just observe them driving by. Maris also explained that yoga and meditation go hand and hand. Usually classes facilitate mediation at the end of a yoga class when the body has moved through many poses. The reason for this is so that individuals are able to workout any pend up energy, so that once it is time to meditation, it is actually possible. Mindfulness and meditation are aspect of the eight limbs of yoga, so essentially, you can’t have one without the other.
Degener: Degener, M. (2019, July, 5). Maris Degener: Yoga teacher at Just Be Yoga[Personal interview].
Chris Walsh is a beloved member of the Moraga community and has brought yoga to Campolindo High School for the first time ever. Chris was an elite runner who build his life around being able to run competitively . After many years of wear and tear on his body, Chris knew he needed to change up his workout for the longevity of his body. Chris tried his first yoga class with a male instructor who he said, “looked like a body builder”. He was intrigued by the vibe of the class and loved the sound of the sanskrit language that is commonly used in yoga classes. He felt that the class was similar to a moving meditation which was similar to his long runs in the woods. Then, “the stars aligned” as Chris says when the weight lifting elective at Campo began to drop in enrollment. One of the counselors that knew Chris was beginning to become a yogi, suggested that they change the class to a yoga class. So naturally Chris said, “sure!”. Since the training was expensive and the parents wanted it, Chris was able to get the help and support of the community to send him to a 200-hour summer intensive. Since then, he has been teaching yoga at Campolindo for the last 3 years and is diligent on continuing to grow the program.
Through my interview with Chris, I was able to learn that everything in life happens for a reason and if you stay open to possibility, life will give you what you need. This aligns with the ideals of mindfulness that when we are open to change and possibility, our reactions can be neutral. Learning to not see things in life as black or white, or good or bad is part of being mindful. I learning that practicing yoga and mindfulness, is not something that we do during set aside times in the day, but that it’s a continual practice that slowly becomes weaved into all of our interactions in life. My conversations with Chris helped answer my content questions about what mindfulness is and how yoga individuals mental and emotionally deal with the uncertainty of life.
Walsh: Walsh, C. (2019, June 14). Yoga at Campolindo [Personal interview].
Heather taught for 20+ years in the Moraga school district as an elementary P.E. teacher. Due to some structural changes of PE in the district, as well as some physical injuries, Heather began looking for a new way of movement that would support her body. Heather suffered from plantar fasciitis in both feet and was recommended by her Dr. to try yoga to help strengthen and stretch her arches. After one yoga class, she was hooked. Heather immediately signed up for a yoga training and had no idea what to expect. Through the training, Heather learning mindfulness, self love & acceptance, as well as the principles of yoga. Heather was so inspired by her physical and mental transformation that she created her own company called Yogo4Kids. Yogo4kids is an after school program for students that teaching students about yoga.
From my interview with Heather, I learned one of the principles of yoga, which is the idea to say, “no” to things we don’t want and to say, “yes” to things we do want. Heather said that this idea was one of the first “ah-ha” moments she had in her training that has changed her life. I also learned that Yoga can act as physical therapy for plantar fasciitis. Simply by stretching and strengthening the bottom of the feet, the body is able to heal its self. The interview with Heather helped me answer my content questions because I learned that yoga and mindfulness can act as a mindset to attract the things you want versus the things that no longer serve you.
Thornton: Thornton, H. (2019, June 19). Heather Thornton: Yoga for Kids [Personal interview].
Mindfulness, Meditation & Yoga 