The Hero’s Journey: Will beat this…

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Here is a Hero’s Journey of someone I know who really has had an impact on me… The Hero’s Journey is a classic narrative style that has the main character, the ordinary guy/gal, living what would be an otherwise ordinary life who is then abruptly catapulted into adventure. The classic situation is that it is more a Hero-Making journey, where the Hero gets to become, evolve into and exhibit the qualities of a hero, despite a strong resistance to the difficulty presented. Usually Heros are brave, resilient, teachable, and empowered by the struggle.

Characters we know and love, very well, follow this narrative. Buddha was a hero, Jesus was a hero — journeying, challenged, victor, great message, etc. Many figures we love, adore and emulate have the qualities of the hero. Heros always bring something to society that elevates our hope, faith and perserverence through difficulties.

The modern rendition of the hero is much less of interest to me but should be mentioned. The pop stars, actor extraordinaires and various musical vedettes to name a few. Somehow the Hero’s Journey does not quite cut it for me as a namesake, as stardom is a mainstream frenzy-like adulation that seldom meets the requirements of the Hero’s ordinary life — gone challenging, then back to life kind of feel to it. Jet setting, air-brushing and exorbitant incomes are not the message of the Hero.

What is absolutely kickass about the Hero’s Journey is that each and every one of us is on this heroic journey. We all have been challenged, moved out of ordinary life and have then, hopefully, returned with a message, a teaching, a transformation.

Fifteen or so years ago I met a guy named Will. He was interesting, his wife was kind. They were runners and were involved in the K-100 relay and so as a runner, we bumped paths. They were rather ‘normal’ at first glance. Marlene was a school teacher, Will was into all sorts of things and overall, average, ordinary. I have to admit, however, they were both unusually kind, or what I might have judged back then as ‘run of the mill Alberta family’.

The challenge arose in the form of Lou Gehrig’s disease. I was deeply saddened when Will and Marlene met us for lunch at The Blue Plate Diner for sweet potato fries and beers. Will said it loud and clear, “I am going to beat this.” I knew a little about the progression of the ailment and I thought, wtf?!

‘What the f$&k?’ because the disease is aggressive, progressive and it slowly limits and erases all motor co-ordination. The last time I visited Will and Marlene, he was still able  to blink and communicate with his eyes but he had lost all ability to walk and move his limbs. I was personally really touched at how he and Marlene were positive, upbeat, funny… Will had always loved jokes, ribbing and he could be as crass as I could. His humor shone through.

His breathing was labored, and this is where I began to feel terrified and touched by his Hero’s Journey. This is what he has taught me.

Each breath is a gift. Each moment is a miracle. Love is greater than all things, always. The quality of your life is measured by the love you bring, the love you share, the love you teach. The hero does not whine, complain or lose faith. The hero is always the victor of his own life, not the victim of it.

How could he sit there, every breath a deep effort, and be a victor, a hero, an example? Crazy, hey? He did it. He is the penultimate hero and he has taught me more than any classical narrative ever could because he is an ordinary guy with an extraordinary heart.

This is dedicated to Will’s heroic journey. Thank you for your shining example.

Workshops to Note:

Of Poetry and Yoga April 21, 5-8pm, $60 +GST

Sexually Speaking Sunday May 5, 3:15-6:15, $65 +GST

Acro Intensive w/ Jill and Heidi Friday-Sunday May 24-26. Fri 7:30-9:30 (32 +GST), Saturday and Sunday 8-5:30 ($115 +GST per day). Lunch 11-12:30.

Check out Lion’s Breath Workshop page for more info and to register.

Tofino Surf and Yoga June 5-9. $419 +GST includes Eco Lodge shared accommodation and healthy fresh food. Register now!

 

Non-waste in yoga?

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It has been nearly a month since I decided that the current location for Lion’s Breath would no longer be our home. Once I had secured a new space, the demolition began. Simultaneously, I launched a new six month program for students to learn about the eight limbs of yoga and find creative ways to implement these limbs. The most popular limb is yoga poses, but it is a little recognized fact that yoga postures are not the end of what is called ‘yoga’ and that the other seven limbs are virtually unseen, let alone discussed.

Brahmachariya, or conservation, was the one that struck me most with the recent demolition of the new proposed space for the studio. Brahmacharyia means ‘conservation’, and though it was originally intended to mean conservation and ‘right use’ of sexual energy, it can be expanded to non-celibates as well as it is not common practice to expect celibacy in most standard North American spiritualists. Here is how these two seemingly unrelated events converged.

I had to order two giant bins from Bins R Us in order to demolition. The dismantling of 5-6 office cubicles filled to overflow two large bins with debris of baseboards, snap-on vinyl walls, drop down ceilings and dry wall, rotten insulation, plastic. The demolition itself only really took a full day with many hands at work. But once completed, the sight of the bins made me feel sick. I felt sick because years and years of recycling efforts, commuting on my bike and eating as much fresh local food as possible to avoid plastic packaging garbage was all un-done in one fell swoop of demolishing a space so we could move studios. I had created enough garbage for my own lifetime. We recycled the steel studs and venting diffusers, but that was only a small fraction of the volume of two bins full of shit. Unusable, non-recyclable, earth wasting, landfill-filling waste and garbage. At first, it looked like unusable refuse.

As I looked at this bin, I really realized I had been a part in creating this, yet I felt powerless to change it. I thought of mud walls and wood and straw houses of old that would slowly rot back into the earth where no materials were toxic, all were bio-degradeable and natural and looked back into these giant bins of chaos and toxins wondering how I had worked so hard to not be part of the problem, yet finding myself the perpetrator of the exact societal behaviors I rail against.

Is it a case of some bad has to be done for some good to come of it? Like somehow waste and mis-use is a teacher and I was the student becoming ever-more aware and vigilant about waste and unsavory products that cannot be re-absorbed into the earth. It is the oxymoron of the Escalade idling at Planet Organic. The contradictions are so glaring that we miss them for lack of observing ourselves? Sometimes when I discuss my views and perspectives about helping with social change, the counterpart of the conversation will respond with some idea that the problem is always too big, their efforts too small to really have any effect/affect. I totally disagree and the negativity of that kind of thinking has precisely landed us where we are in relation to ourselves, each other and the planet.

My answer is simple. Every little thing you do, say and think has a very big effect on you, your fellow living beings and the earth we live on. I wish I could have found a way to not have been a part of the problem and I guess that is part of the process also. Being imaginative enough to come up with more ideas on how to be more aware, more conscious, more sensitive.

Welcome to our new space.  #301, 10534-124 Street

Acro Yoga Intensive with Jessie and Eugene Feb 28-March 3. Register by day or all four.

Yoga and Surf Mexico Huatulco, Mexico, March 19-26, $539.00. Includes hotel and yoga, based on double occupancy.

Chakra Juice Cleanse April 4-14, 9 – 11 am daily; $299.00

Visit Lion’s Breath retreat page to register and view more info.

Kettlebell Workshop for Beginners Sunday March 10, 3 – 6:30 pm; $75.00

Visit Lion’s Breath Workshop page to register and view more info.

One month unlimited pass for $99 Auto withdrawal. Click to download form.

Ted X Salon with Dawn and Stephen Click to view video!

 

New year w/o judgement?

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W/O means without. The absence of something usually means we are totally aware and in tune with its presence. I have been studying judgement and criticism for many years now, from without and from within, the experience of their presence and their absence in my relationships, thinking and interactions.

2013 without judgement. Sweet idea. What is judgement? Sometimes strong advocates of judgement will counter that life has to have judgement as it is did when we were reptiles, because we had to judge whether the tiger wanted to eat us or chase the gazelle. Alright, point taken. But this is not a discussion of how we judge to save our lives; this is a discussion of how we judge to separate, create space, compare and criticize each other.

So judgement is a state of the mind. The mind is a nasty little unit that is a capable of quantifying, analyzing and synthesizing information relatively quickly. It can quickly peruse anything, see the one or two glaring flaws in it’s visual fIeld and judge the value of what it sees very succinctly. It is not trained, in fact, to witness the possibly 15-20 visual cues that are perfectly in place and correct the subject it is seeing. In other words, your mind is a master fault finder. Not exactly your best aspect when it comes to relating to others.

Left to it’s own devises, the mind, combined with an absent sense of compassion and understanding for the situations and difficulties of others, is what creates, allows and fosters judgement. It is a little bit of a case of bringing to the table the completely incorrect tool for the job at hand. Could have used a spoon, instead here is this hammer.

Compassion, empathy, forgiveness, patience, sensitivity, intuition are matters of another faculty better known as heart. Here, judgment is suspended. It is not absent, but the primary organ is concerned with the well being, nurturance, growth, peace and connection of the person or people involved rather than the correctness of the layout, the glaring errors or the process at play. The heart is not an organ of right, wrong, mistakes, stupid, screw ups or idiots. Its vocabulary does not contain that drop down window. The heart does not prompt us to see fault.

How do we live without judgment? Here is a great little exercise for you, should you be willing. Write a list of answers to this question: ‘I judge myself when…’ and then take another  little question to heart: ‘I judge others when…’. Perhaps you will notice a pattern, perhaps not. I noticed that I tend to judge others for the very same thing I am pissed at myself about. And that once I was no longer pissed at myself for being…not a fuck-up, but human, then I was no longer needing to judge others.

Judging is sneaky, cunning, sly and un-ending. It serves to isolate us from each other, makes us think we are better than others, self- righteous and down right mean and nasty. When I am judging, I am allowing my mental faculties to run roughshod over a sweet, kind and loving heart that has no intention of ill toward others.

In a world where we train the contents of our sculls for decades and then leave the contents of our ribs (hearts) without any special training, is it surprising that judgment is getting the best of our experiences? To quote a very cool cat, ‘Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.’ (JC, the brother of Buddha from another mother).

Love… which is coming directly to you and bypassing my judging mind.

Dawn

Things to note, plan for or consider:

Lion’s Breath Monthly Unlimited Pass (Auto-Withdrawal). Click graphic to download form.

Kettlebell Workshop for Beginners Sunday February 10. 3:00-6:30 pm. $75 pls GST.

Valentine Partner Workshop Friday February 15. 7:30-9:30 pm. $45 pls GST per couple.

Qi Gong and Yoga Workshop Sunday February 17. 3:00-6:00 pm. $50 pls GST.

Visit Lion’s Breath Workshop page for more info and to register.

Adventures that await….

Acro Yoga Expressions w/ Jessie and Eugene February 28-March 3. One day $100 pls GST. Four days $315 pls GST.

Retreat to Mexico Yoga, Acro, Surf, Eat. The perfect combination. March 19-26. Direct Sunwing. Book now. $539.00.

Visit Lion’s Breath Adventure page for more info and to register.

 

Resilience… elasticity and buoyancy.

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The word ‘resilience’ used to be a word that I heard used in advertising and somehow was always linked to rubber products or frying pans with teflon coating. The idea that it is a human quality had kind of escaped me until the last year or so. Now it seems to be foremost in my experience.

My visual image is the resilience of a very strong, fast yet beautiful horse. There is something about their mystical beauty and the power and resilience of those amazing haunches that captures me and makes me feel unlimited, and see their unlimited access to both beauty and punch power. They are like a form of landlubber flight.

Another image that strikes me is the resilience of water. Though it is soft at times, it is also very hard and exceedingly resilient. In fact, compared to all other elements, water has the highest resilience and staying power over time. Water carves rock. It has just the right amount of softness to sneak into areas other elements cannot, but have you ever tried to figure out where and what is leaking? Very pliable and sneaky. But it packs such a punch that a wave can break your neck. Ah… surfing. The art of riding on nature’s power.

Flowers strike me as resilient and even clever. They are so delicate and stunning. They are designed for maximal attraction and their formation, colour, scent attracts insects to the inner vulnerability of the nectar and necessary aspects of the process of pollination. This is clever resilience. How to be so vulnerable and soft, open to the environment, yet have the ability to re-produce over and over again a new rendition or variety of itself?

Alas, rubber is resilient and perhaps one of the most elastic creations of human kind, yet nature has had her very own indications of resilience and she produces them without waste. But what about human resilience? What are the qualities of a resilient person? This is really the question I am posing.

Human resilience might sometimes be mistaken or misunderstood by someone who is not looking closely to be ‘failures’. I remember the first time I had heard that someone in my soon to be family had been married four times. I thought to myself — give up! Clearly this is not for you? Why not stop after one!! With the notion of resilience in mind, I now see how this is a form of it. The ability to re-invent and re-attempt something that you have tried before has the bounciness of resilience. Perhaps then we could say that resilience has a notion of trying — not something new — but something already attempted in a NEW WAY. My favorite near-human example of resilience is that Terminator dude. You know the one. He was a liquid variation and could shape shift into anything, be hit by a Mac Truck and liquify into little droplets, re-configure and hit the road running after the Mac Truck that just ran him over.

It turns out that the qualities of resilience are just that: the power or ability to return to the original form, position, after being bent, compressed, or stretched — elasticity. The ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like — buoyancy.

Elasticity and buoyancy. These are sweet concepts when applied to a human life, a business venture, a relationship, a body. I think it is cool how yoga is all about flexibility and resilience in the body and that resilience can also be a state of mind. Some other words that describe a resilient life or person could be adaptability, suppleness, pliancy and flexibility (yoga!).

Alright, how about the opposite qualities: constrained, inflexible, resistant and rigid. Ouch, not for me, no thanks. Even the words grate on my ears and sometimes we have to really marinate in these qualities before we realize we really do not value them.

I press for my body and inner life to be integrated. I want a body and spirit that is resilient and that even after much difficulty it can keep bouncing back, recovering and re-creating a supple and receptive approach. Maybe from this, resiliency can then allow me to appreciate and grow in value of myself, others, life and the world we live in. Be like the Terminator. What does he say? “I’ll be back.” Sweet.

 

Be like the leaf… take a leisurely stroll: Nature as Teacher

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I am always taken aback by what a powerful teacher nature is and how much I used to disconnect from it. I hated winters in Edmonton to such an extent that I would plan, every month, either a weekend or three day trip to Vancouver or to Phoenix. It is very hard to learn the lessons nature has to offer when every day is spent in evasive maneuvering to avoid all its discomfort unpredictability and difficulties.

Since that dear young soul was taken on Whyte Avenue while cycling, each time I get on my bike, I think of him and what a privilege it is to be able bodied and on my bike. While I move around on my bike feeling the crisp, fresh air and dealing with the discomforts that arise from being outside in colder weather, I remember the teacher – nature. She is unpredictable, despite weather forecasts. This keeps us open and flexible. She is unyielding and changes seasons and times without delay or grief. This keeps us remembering that times and circumstances change. She is beautiful, in all aspects, and keeps us in awe of the ways she can bring color and fullness to our lives. This teaches us to slow down and not miss anything. Not a single lady bug. She is powerful and intelligent, watching and hearing the migration of the geese, reminds us that everything has it’s time and the right conditions are not always ours to determine.

Since becoming a commuter, I no longer take monthly trips to escape this city. I am more at ease with the fact that I live in an environment that is demanding and can be harsh and challenging. I use my bike to keep me in touch with nature – snow, wind, ice, blue sky river scenery, other bike lovers, bright sunny days, crispy crackling yellow leaves, our sweet friend whose death awakened the city to cyclists and the inherent dangers. I know when I get on my bike I am taking a chance. I know that riding through nature is a challenge. Yet, she is a formidable teacher. She is the greatest spiritual teacher of all, and she is right there – accessible, beautiful, economical and non-judgmental.

In my yard, I have a mountain ash. It sits right outside my window and is perfectly framed by my large, ground floor solar windows. Last year she was full and ripe with many many bright red berries. I was awestruck, truly, by the sight of this tree. The leaves do not turn your usual maple yellow. They are a light orange speckled with occasional slow turning green leaves. This year, I watched as the summer leaves appeared and now with fall the ash is turning that splendid orange color. There is but one, ya, one cluster of berries. This, I found very interesting. Why only one cluster? Was it dry this year? Was it not pruned enough? Perhaps it is cyclical, bearing fruit on it’s own rhythm?

The conditions for blossoming are not really the ash’s problem. Think about it. Can the tree control the weather? Can it manage the sunlight? Can it be assured the soil will not be depleted? The conditions in which it grows, bears fruit and continues to strive are all outside of its control. It shows up, grows when the conditions are ideal, dies when they are not. Yet, it always is surrendering the greater power of nature, a greater intelligence. The tree does not organize to manage the sun so it shines the right amount so it can thrive. The mountain ash does not plan for the rain to come at the right time. It sits, waits for the right conditions and responds to the conditions that appear. This is how nature teaches me. She teaches me I am not in charge of all the conditions. She is. That is surrender.

Surrender is when the leaf takes a leisurely stroll down to the ground. No regrets, no apprehension, no worry… just letting go. Nature is a powerful teacher. Are you a willing student?

Mexico Yoga and Surf Retreat: Huatulco, Mexico, November 20-27, co-taught by Lance and Dawn

Chakra Juice Cleanse October 22-29, $299 +GST

More info and registration for these retreats.

Kettlebell Workshop with Lance October 21, 1:30-4:30pm, $75 +GST

Expressive Arts and Yoga Workshop November 10, 7:30-9:30, $38 +GST

Qi Gong and Yoga Workshop November 11, 1:30-4:30pm. $50 +GST

Acro Yoga Intensive Weekend with Acro Montreal November 16-18

More info and registration for these workshops.

The Chilling, Howling Winds of Fear

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Abbott Pass is 10,000 feet above sea level between Yoho National and Lake Louise. It is a short, 5 hour drive and a 1000 storey high hike. The hut itself is a beautiful rock building, smallish (you would be too if you were at the apex of one of the highest mountains in the Rockies) and built on commission by a couple of hard ass Swiss alpinists. Apparently alpine hiking and back packing was always for the rich and was the sport of those seeking adventure. Here I thought the hut was designed and set up for researchers, surveyors etc. Wrong.

Besides the obvious question, which is “who does this shit?”, the next interesting query is, “why do you do this shit?”.  The answer evaded me as well, as I pinned myself to the outer edge of the hut while gusting (like blow you over, gusting winds that could push you over the ledge of the mountain) winds forced my body to hug the walls on my way to the outhouse. If you did not shit on the way to the outhouse, because on either side of you is a drop that might land you in Banff, then the shit you might have in the outhouse would definitely have you asking yourself why, oh why, do I do this stuff? So the outhouse offered some shelter from the blistering wind, but the updraft to your butt was nothing less than an arctic bidet. Suffice to say I have a new appreciation for a warm seat and warm air flow beneath my butt.

The climb was hard but not over the top. My quads are a little sore today. It is pretty much straight up and the conditions were windy (did I mention that already?) and snowy. Kelsey and I were very quiet during this time and she, like my daughters, was often inquiring if perhaps the hut was just around the next little rock cliff. To which I would reply, ‘nope’, and we would keep trudging along. It would appear that hiking sticks are as blasphemous to hikers as props are to ashtanga practitioners. Sticks appear to be for the old and hard done by. Well old I am, hard done by, not so much. The sticks were amazing, both on the climb and the descent. People who cannot allow the help of props are dumb asses. Why blow your knees now and pay later?

What was most epic about the hike was the triumph of arriving to the top. I am not kidding, there are only a few feet on ether side of this hut before a full escarpment. When I arrived to the top, I shouted with elation and triumphant jubilation. Kelsey thought I had fallen over the edge and was panicking about my imagined death! As we entered into the hut, I was homoerectus – standing that is. Kelsey crawled like a reptile. The unnerving reality of two things began to insidiously creep into our tired psyches: the wind and the descent. We foolishly assumed that the summit was the feat! No, stupid, the bottom is the summit! Not till you are down is the game over, so to speak.

Throughout the afternoon and the night, we became increasingly aware of the wind. It was not some little breeze caressing the hut, or our faces when we dared to go to the outhouse. It was chilling and howling. It continued into the night and I swear hardly any of us slept. It was as though the wind gusts were shouting, “dare if you may, sleep if you might, but this mountain could have you but for your full attention. And your wee little hut.” Honestly, it growled at us all night – whipping, threatening, ceaselessly reminding, loud and intimidating. By morning we were all slightly if not completely unnerved or psyched out .

That is how fear rolls. It is worse than reality. Imagined fear is always more powerful than the actual fear in the moment, which is largely immediate and responsive or reactive. Imagined fear whittles away at your peace of mind, it howls at you in the darkest moments and it makes you feel little and incapable of even meeting it. The descent was very difficult. For the first 5 steps or so. Just down a bit, the wind ceased, the path was relatively clear, the view phenomenal and the reality much better than the chilling, howling winds that fear had concocted. I was soooo pissed off. Fear had gotten me again. The wind had seeped into my psyche and I was chicken-shitted into a little baby. But even as a little scaredy-cat, I met fear head on and the howly, chilly bastard stepped aside. Ya… that is why I do this shit… I just answered the question. I do it because it makes me more courageous, more experienced with meeting my fears, more tenacious in the moments of difficulty, and more grown up. Meet fear. Stand up to fear. Talk about your fears. And then seek out practices that allow you to experience fear. Let me introduce you to him:

Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is quite small. He has a vivid imagination. He composes horror music in the middle of the night. He is not very social, and he keeps to himself at political meetings. His past is a mystery. He warned us not to talk to each other about him, adding that there is nowhere any of us could go where he wouldn’t hear us. We were quiet. When we began to talk to each other, he changed. His manners started to seem pompous, and his snarling voice sounded rehearsed.

Two dragons guard fear’s mansion. One is ceramic and Chinese. The other is real. If you make it past the dragons and speak to him close up, it is amazing to see how fragile he is. He will try to tell you stories. Be aware. He is a master of disguises and illusions. Fear almost convinced me he was a puppet-maker and I was a marionette. Speak out boldly, look him in the eye, startle him. Don’t give up. Win his respect, and he will never bother you with small matters.

–excerpt from ‘The Book of Qualities’ by J. Ruth Gendler

Things to Note:

Hypnosis for Gentle Birthing Workshop with Elizabeth. Sunday Sept. 23, 2 – 5:00 pm. $75 +GST

Kshatriya, Coming Home, with Dawn. Open for all Teachers. Saturday Sept. 29, 8:30 – 5:00 pm. $50 +GST

Kettlebell Workshop with Lance. Sunday Oct. 21, 1:30-4:30. $75 +GST

Chakra Juice Cleanse with Dawn. Monday Oct. 22 through Sunday Oct. 29, 10 am – 12 pm daily. $299 +GST. More info.

Expressive Arts and Yoga with Dawn. Saturday Nov. 10, 7:30 – 9:30 pm. $38 +GST

Retreat to Mexico with Dawn and Lance! Tuesday Nov. 20-27. Includes room and yoga. Air and food not included. $370.05 for double occupancy. More info.

Acro Yoga Montreal Intensive, with Heidi and Jill. Friday Nov. 16-18. $370 +GST. Early Bird $315 before October 15.

For more information and to register, view our Workshops page.

What is Communitas?

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I was interested in what the prefix ‘com’ meant when I began researching what community was for me. After a month long intensive immersion in a community of other expressive artists in Switzerland, I am finally delivering some of my musings to you.

‘Com’ means ‘with’, ‘together’, ‘in association with’  and with intensive force, ‘completely’. Naturally, when I think of a definition that has embedded in it the words ‘intensive force’, I get excited. After all, what do we ever do with intensive force but often push back, get angry, resist and argue? Alright, maybe you do many things with intensive force and completeness, but honestly this kind of passion is often downplayed and even spurned.

Community is a social group, a locality or shared government, or a group often sharing in similar heritage. It can also be a social, religious or occupational group sharing similar interests. The last part of the definition states that often communities feel separate or somehow differentiated from the larger society.

Honestly, I thought wow, what a shit definition. Is that really all community is? I experienced community in a whole new and outstanding way. We were approximately 75 students and the program was quite challenging in its own ways (long hours, little free time, close quarters), but the definition was more complex and exciting than this one.

Community as I experienced it was supportive, bonded, communicative, similar purpose, filled with amazing (not exaggerating) people of all ages, backgrounds, experiences, theories, thoughts and perspectives. It sounds so hokey and honestly, after this experience, I now know what community can mean, what it can do for the individual, what power we have as a human community to bring out the best in each other and in our actions.

Thing is, we do not really live in human communities. We live in human societies and societies are not the same thing. We organize and co-habitate with each other but we do not necessarily have any meaningful relationships. And from the looks of this definition, communities are not much more evolved.

So what is a community? I would like to introduce the word ‘communitas’. It is defined as ‘the sense of sharing and intimacy that develops among persons who experience liminality as a group’. Okay, what is liminality? Liminality is a transitional period. So, communitas occurs when we become intimate with a group of people while we are in transitional periods. That sounds more like what a community is to me! Everything else seems to lack meaning or purpose or even a feeling of belonging.

This experience I had of studying in the Swiss Alps for 25 or so days has ignited in me an even more profound understanding of communitas and what Lion’s Breath really is to me. Communitas was always the vision, I just lacked the experience, the verbal understanding, the pieces, and alas, the courage to step out and create something completely unlike everything I had ever experienced.

I suppose my first real community was my family. From there I did to really ever feel a part of any real communities and if I did they were very rigid and exclusive. Exclusivity is an oxymoron to communitas. Exclusion cannot be a part of communitas. Yet, often community is brought about in reaction, response, or in aversion to something else. Imagine community and communitas that had room for all types of ideas and created a space for exploration, inquiry and even healthy discourse about the world, nature, art, theory and the state of human evolution.

That is precisely my vision for Lion’s Breath. And we are working diligently behind the scenes to make that happen. Of course, communitas, as a definition has within it the notion of transformation, sharing and intimacy. I am committed to this vision. Changes are coming, and they are sure to please.

Upcoming things to note:

Hypnosis for Gentle Birthing Sunday, September 23, 2 – 5:00pm. $75 +GST.

Acro-Yoga Montreal Weekend Intensive with Jill and Heidi Friday, November 16-18. Don’t miss it! Are you likely to get to Montreal this fall? $370 +GST.

View our Workshops page for more information and to register.

Kshatriya Training. Implementation of the Philosophies of Yoga Begins January 2013, runs until June 2013. Max 9. Learn how yoga philosophy can change your perceptions thus expanding your possibilities. Deepen your personal practice. More information.

Experiences vs. Stuff

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Some people love to collect stuff. I have a friend that after the little booze bottles are emptied, on the plane or from the local liquor store sale, she washes them out and keeps them. Some folks collect certain things, like pig figurines or chicken statues of all kinds and shapes and sizes. Others like those little spoons that you can buy anywhere and everywhere you travel. My Mom has those. I have a mask collection from my travels that collects dust on my wall. Recently, I was having lunch with a friend and we laughed our heads off when she suggested she collects ex’s…

Stuff abounds. Every time I turn around I am being seduced that I ‘need’ some other stuff. If you are someone who loves bikes, the outdoors, sports then there is a never ending supply of new ‘stuff’ to get in relation to your latest activity. The media is always there to encourage and seduce you to buy more and have more then buy bigger and transport more of your stuff. When your stuff reaches epic proportions then you need bigger luggage, bigger purses – which by the way can really screw up your posture – bigger vehicles like Escalades and Armada’s and 2500 or larger square foot homes. All for the stuff.

If you’re not noticing this, simply go into your closet and see all your stuff! One of my friends goes on regular buying cleanses and only purchases basic needs for a given period. I did this once and I had so much more free time! After all, how many pairs of pants, shorts, skirts or shoes do you really need? There is only one you, and you can only wear them one at a time! Seriously.

Now experiences are a different thing. Unlike stuff, experiences cannot really be collected because they are integrated into your being. When you have an experience that changes your perspective, it alters your life and is done from the inside out, not from the outside in. Experiences require no storage, no bigger cars, no explanation. The other awesome thing about experiences is that they are shared, not bought! Other people become part of the experience, in fact other people are key to having outstanding experiences. If you really wanted, you could keep a few pictures to remind you of the experience, but really that takes very little storage space. Experiences are stored in the heart. This series of pictures is an experience I had recently with some friends in Tofino. (Next year, June 5 – 9, deets coming soon.) See them? This is my friend Bart and though we differ greatly in what we believe actually ‘happened’ in this series of photos captured by another friend, Tim, what I can say is that we had a blast. The moment was superb and here is this friend of mine, surfing for the first time and well over the age of majority! What a corker, who does that? My friends do! All of my friends are experience makers, experience builders, experience lovers. We have decided on the stuff vs. experience question.

Stuff lulls us into a false sense of comfort and security, making us feel like we are all together and organized and on track. Experiences wake us up to the reality that life is ever changing and nothing can be secured beyond a shadow of doubt and each moment offers a new perspective, a new adventure. Stuff acquisition is a sedative to the reality that sooner or later, all the stuff has to be given back. Experience serves to keep us on that edge of not falling into the deep slumber of forgetting why we are here.

If you inquired about my choice to cycle every day throughout both of our seasons, I would reply for the experience. If you offered me a $70,000 dollar Bentley or a  2 week cycle trip through Holland, I would take the cycle trip. For the experience. If I won a Dream Home, I would sell it and go to Africa and work in war torn communities with people teaching yoga and expressive arts. Simply for the experience.

Here is the low down: If we are truly spiritual beings having a physical experience, then the experience of getting more stuff seems delusional. If we are spirits here to experience human life, then let’s get at it and soak up as many experiences as we can.

GOINGS-ON AT LION’S BREATH

Kettlebell Workshop with Lance: Sunday July 15, 1:30 – 4:30 pm. $75 +GST

Kids Summer Yoga Camp with Clare: Monday July 16 – July 20, 1:30 – 4:30 pm. $130 +GST

Suck it Up and Roll Workshop with Lance: Sunday July 22, 1:30 – 4:30 pm. $75 +GST

View our Workshops page for more details and to register.

Chakra Juice Cleanse: October 22 – 29. This one will be away at a retreat. Stay tuned!

Mexico Yoga Retreat, All the Best People: November 20 – 27, Huatulco, Mexico. $370.05 +GST. Includes yoga and rooming.

Surf and Explore: Surf and Yoga Retreat: June 5 – 9, 2013, Tofino, BC.

View our Retreats page for more details and to register.

 

Am I a dodo bird, a Beothuk, a dinosaur? Thoughts from an old-timer

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After 10 years of mucking around and getting dirty in this industry in Edmonton, (am I a dodo bird?), I realize I am an old-timer, a hard core surviving the winds of commodification of my profession and a relic (dinosaur) perhaps best thrown to the past, a vestige of times gone by (Beothuk). I am not going to launch into ‘when I was a kid…’ diatribe, but I am going to tell you what I have seen, learned and surmised about change and versatility while holding to my truth.

I began offering a teacher training program with requirements set out by Yoga Alliance, an international governing body for teachers. At that time 
in Edmonton and area, Yoga for Today and the Yoga Association of Alberta offered the only other training programs other than Trinity Yoga, which 
moved from city to city, offering similar training. The trainings offered ranged from long term 1-2 years to intensives lasting 3 months or so.

The 3 month intensives were a helpful cash cow, though my labor was mostly for free, but in all, the quality of retention of information was low and I 
found few students able to ingest and integrate the principles of yoga into their lives. How could I tell? They stopped practicing yoga! So I stopped
 offering them on principle. The yearly training helped me have a fresh batch of teachers who I knew and had relationship with. Teachers come and 
go, travel, expand, move, go back to school, get pregnant and get disillusioned fairly regularly so I needed the flow for classes.

But the journey of becoming a teacher only starts AFTER the training for 200 hours has been completed. That is when you are born. Despite yoga experience as a student, the trainee is asked to both deepen into their own knowledge and then make the mammoth leap into becoming a teacher. This leap is like a gulf. This leap can be daunting and is generally left unsupported because many of the people offering the training are run ragged managing their own affairs and lack the time and resources to fully support the bourgeoning student.

Traditionally, teaching was a path, not an on-the side gig for extra money. Yoga was taught one on one, from guru to student. I am not espousing that
way, as it is clearly a different world here and now. In this world now, every studio has its own training program, and graduates are being popped out by the dozens every year or even every 3 months. The market is full of new, nubile, bendy and inexperienced yoga teachers that we all know and love. Add to that the 3 week retreats you can take and ta-da – come back a teacher. These are yummy and exotic…

The problem is this: the principles of yoga, the underlying foundation of yoga despite our commodification of it, reside in the practice of day to
day life. Not the kick ass practice of contortion that looks more like cirque. This practice only comes with time. Mastery takes at least a life
time, like in any profession, and requires a lifetime of effort and devotion. Ask Luciano Pavarotti who said, “People think I am disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference.” A master yoga teacher is grown from the soil of living. Every moment, that student of life is assessing and ruminating experiences toward mastery.

Some of the other long-timers in the industry like Lance, Kat, Clare and a whole bunch of Iyengar-based teachers like Patti Dusel, who were instrumental in
getting the YAA going years ago, might feel the same as I do. I graduate 7-17 teachers every year and add to the ever growing number of young, inexperienced and unsupported teachers. Many say the same thing, especially if they do not have another income “I became a teacher and now I have no time for my own yoga, I run from studio to studio trying to make enough to eat (average income is $30,000/year) and people don’t even come regularly. Furthermore, it is a boom and bust cycle where summers I have to wait tables to pay the rent.” Debbie Spence from the Yoga Association of Alberta estimates 1000 teachers in Alberta compared to 400 in 2004. Now I ask, are poverty and mastery in yoga sisters in arms, compatriots? The answer is a resounding YES. Unless you are a high rolling, big named, popularized teacher. Damn straight.

But I am over that. I knew this path would be about economizing, mastering, staying real and working my ass off. What irks my little head is almost all studios out there are now doing the same thing in terms of offering yoga teacher training, and I do not do what everyone else does. Every studio has its own training and I am going to do something completely different now. I am going to do something original and outlandish and edgy and counter-culture. Are ya ready? I am going to teach regular people the deep, integrating, life changing and ever present principles and philosophies of yoga, because you cannot teach what you do 
not do. Period. End of story. No sequel. You cannot teach others what you do not know. Isn’t that completely cutting edge? And, you do not have to become a teacher to understand, integrate and implement the philosophies of yoga, in fact, I recommend not becoming a teacher if you really want the teachings. Touché.

Am I a dodobird, a Beothuk, a dinosaur? Only if I continue doing what everyone else is doing until I became extinct or extinguished. It is time to re-create again.

Kshatriya Training for Implementing the Philosophies

Upcoming Lion’s Breath Workshops:
Kettlebell Workshop Sunday June 3, 1:30-4:30pm; $75 + GST & Sunday July 15, 1:30-4:30pm; $75 + GST
Sound Alchemy at Legislature Sunday June 3, 2-5:00pm. FREE!
Start Where You Are: Meditation with Kat & Dawn Friday June 15, 6 – 8:30 pm,; $40 + GST
Partner Prenatal Workshop Sunday June 24, 6:00-8:00 pm; $55 + GST per couple
Suck it Up and Roll: Rolling Workshop Sunday July 22, 1:30-4:30 pm; $75 + GST
Kids Summer Yoga Camp Two camps running July 16-20 and August 13-17; $160 per child, discount for 2nd child; More details
View more info and register on the Workshops page

New classes or changes:
Sunday Hot Ash R&B with Dawn, 10:30 am – 12 pm
Tuesday Mystery Class begins June 12
Wednesday Postnatal with Clare, 11:30 am – 12:45 pm. Begins June 13th – July 25th inclusive. Pre-registration $115. View more info here.

 

She Can Hulk, He Can Squeak: Discourse on anger and sensitivity.

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I don’t usually do mainstream movies, for obvious reasons, but I am openly admitting to The Avengers and I must say there is a great spiritual lesson about anger and docility in this movie.

I love the Hulk. I loved him when I was a kid and that has not changed. He is a one-man permission slip to unleash, smash, be fed up, get fuckan twisted and say loudly and with conviction: ENOUGH!!

It is interesting. His character in the film is this slightly demure, off the grid dude that everyone takes for granted, dismisses and even craps on. I mean seriously, the Hulkster is nothing more than a highly evolved passive aggressive in action. Take the crap until you are totally overloaded and then spew it all back, exponentially at everyone without discernment. For the purposes of this show and his character it is quite adaptive.

Underlying this behaviour though, is another one that is less amusing and attractive. No, it is not anger. I am actually excited about his anger. It is really cathartic and hopeful when he loses his shit. Underneath it, our friend the Hulk has no spine or at least no spine in the way our society values it. He has lost it in translation somewhere and he cannot find it when it is appropriate. It is like a domesticated cow who will not panic and get moving despite the fire in the barn because he has been in-bred and trained to be docile and stupid. This is the Hulk before his metamorphosis and he is a raging lunatic after. Stupid and docile, accommodating and kind, long-suffering and quiet versus destructive, powerful, scary and un-discerning What a choice! Roar or squeak.

I remember the self defense course I took last year with my friend Julie. We learned all the techniques and verbal cues (which your voice, interestingly, is your greatest weapon) and when it was time to do a simulation, we all could see who and where each of our spines were. Self defense asks that in the right moment, in the right degree and with the right amount of force, we defend ourselves against an attacker. No kidding. A couple scenes struck and saddened me. One lady, while in simulated attack, softly said ‘my husband is coming soon’…um…inside me I thought…like waiting for him is going to help! Squeak! In class, another discussion came up about not wanting to hurt the attacker. This gave me pause. Here is another being who wants to attack, rape and potentially maim, and murder and some were concerned about the attackers visual acuity after the strike delivered drilled him two new eye sockets? Squeak again.

But seriously, are these the only two choices? Hulk or mouse? Can a man have room in this society when he is quiet, accommodating and generous, or is he just a whiner we like better as a Hulk? Can a woman in this world be hulkish and defensible, or would we rather she stay demure and easy like a mouse? Can we expand beyond our tight fitting shirts and blow open these ideas and limitations? Roar!

The root word for passion in passio, which is from the latin pati, or to suffer or submit, yet we understand the power of passion. Is it perhaps that passion is something we must submit ‘to’ rather than be submissive about? Are we submitting to rules and regulations about behaviour that are drawing us away from the power in us and between us that keeps us awakening to our innate spine and our innate softness? Isn’t it part of us to submit to our passions, let then run through us?

So the Hulk sucks it up, takes shit, is unseen and then kaboom, he is on fire with passion. He is enraptured with his rage that in small doses we might call passion and have it be constructive, fruitful and hot. If he would submit to his passion and to his softness,things would shift. I know, then we would no longer have the Hulk as a super hero, but just an ordinary guy in touch with himself.

I am passionate about our mainstream collective views on anger and sensitivity. We have hammered anger to death, making it bad, unsavoury, violent, abusive and generally taboo. Especially for women. This is pure shit. It has an important place in your life, if not only in a back alley when meeting an attacker. One of the things we learnt in RAD is that the ability to go from fear and terror into anger and rage is an important process for self defense or holding your space in the world. Yet, this process is bred out of us and trained out of our nature from early on so we unlearn this basic skill set. All people need to be in their spines. All people, children included, need to be able to shout “NO!” so loudly that everyone hears it. All people need creativity and energy and passion in their lives. Anger and passion are sister emotions. You kill one… you kill both.

We have also pounded sensitivity and pulverized all men showing it. ‘Suck it kid, real boys don’t cry’ is another I recently heard from a parent. Suck it up? Are you kidding? Softness and sensitivity are key ingredients in being a human being, a caring member of a family and an intimate partner, not to mention a compassionate caring member of society where money is not the god. Then we wonder why our men cannot open up or cry and they are locked down into a complete complex or unable to show their feelings. Sensitivity and softness are sister emotions. You kill one… you kill em’ all.

Invite your Hulk to teach you. She is awesome. Invite your mouse to teach you. He is long overdue.

Upcoming Lion’s Breath Workshops:
Start Where You Are: Meditation Workshop with Kat and Dawn Friday May 25, 6:00-8:30pm. $40+GST
Slackline for those Afraid of Heights! Sunday May 27, 2:00-4:00pm at Ezio Ferone Park. Weather permitting. $35+GST
Kettlebell Workshop Sunday June 3, 1:30-4:30pm. $75+GST
Partner Prenatal Workshop Sunday June 24, 6:00-8:00pm. $55+GST per couple.
View more info on the Workshops page

New classes or changes:
Sunday Hot Ash R&B with Dawn, 10:30 am – 12 pm
Tuesday Mystery Class begins June 12
Wednesday Postnatal with Clare, 11:30 am – 12:45 pm. Begins June 13th – July 25th inclusive. Pre-registration $115. View more info here.

View the Lion’s Breath online schedule