Kirtan Courtesies:How It Works

A few nights ago I went to an amazing concert with an artist who includes kirtan style chanting. Kirtan is a style of devotional chanting that includes singing along and call and response. There is a kind of "kirtan courtesy" that you learn after attending even just a few of these events. While I am not an expert in this area of yoga I do think that I can share a few things that might help newbies attending a kirtan or sing-along style of spiritual event to keep the energy clear, strong, and so as to not annoy the people around you. Here it goes:

1. It's not all about you. When we attend a spiritual event like a kirtan it is like entering a place of worship. We are there to join together and to create a harmonious space with our voices so the subtle energy of spirit can enter. It is about blending your voice with those other voices in the room to create a divine harmony. It is not a place to show off your loudness or to evangelize your own thoughts or throw out random words that you feel are important. Think about kirtan as creating a complicated spiritual soup. Too much sage is overpowering and can ruin the experience for everyone.

2. Call and response. There are some songs where it is clear that the leaders of the music are chanting first and then the audience chants in response. If no one else is singing but the leaders, that is not the time for you to sing. We all sometimes get swept into the music and chant both parts unknowingly but the kirtan courtesy of call and response is there for a good reason. First, you practice LISTENING. Yes, listening. Something that is very important for obvious reasons. Then you respond to what you hear along with the voices of the group. This flow of listening and then responding creates a very sacred current that has far reaching benefits if you follow the pattern.


3. Harmony, okay, complex vocal flailing, not okay. So you think you sound like Mariah Carey? Good for you. A kirtan event is not the time or place to show off your vocal dexterity or to play around with harmonies that you are not comfortable with hearing yourself. If you are like most of us you have a pretty decent voice that can hold simple notes and you have the ability to find the same note everyone else is singing. This is called being modest. Sure, we could all try to fling our voices around and maybe find one note that kinda works but that would be obnoxious and annoying. Right?

So, I know my tone is a bit snarky but seriously people, if you are going to go to a spiritual event and not a rock concert you should be aware of some common niceties and shared values. Many of us go a kirtan to connect with something bigger then ourselves, to chant the many names of the divine, to feel a part of a community of harmonious and mindful people. I offer this with love and respect for the millions of people across the world who take this practice very seriously and to the two women behind me at the concert who I wish would have read this post before they added their wavy gravy to a perfectly beautiful kirtan soup.

xoxo,
Ashley

Keep it Simple Sweetie: Sequencing Tips for Teachers

We've all heard the acronym "K.I.S.S" which I like to define as, "Keep it Simple Sweetie." This is a wonderful way to think about yoga sequencing and class planning. Many teachers have come to me over the years asking how they can know if their classes have helped their students. While just about any yoga class will help, there are very simple things you can do to ensure a class meets the mark every time.

"Keep it Simple Sweetie" is my personal favorite teaching technique. Keeping it simple means coming up with a simple theme, one that you can concisely speak about, and one that you can relate to your peak posture or can apply easily to the entire practice.

Whatever you choose keep looping your theme and your poses together. Create a tapestry that pulls out the same colors and creates a consistent pattern. You can take a simple theme like, "coming out of hibernation" and apply it to an entire class sequenced around cobra pose (this is what I taught last night) and share some interesting facts about snakes, hibernation, and focus on back bends that build in complexity from the simple shape and alignment points of cobra.

When you keep a theme simple and focus on one pose as your anchor students can sync their imagination to the evolution of their poses. Before they know it, they are going deeper and further into postures then they have before and they walk away from your class with their imagination engaged and spirits heightened.

If yoga is is the yoking together of mind, body, and soul then maybe all we need to do as teachers is to design simple classes that engage the imagination, provide intelligent sequencing, and offer soulful meaning. What do you think?

If you are looking for some wonderful sequencing resources, here are a few of my faves:

Yoga Sequencing: Designing Transformative Yoga Classes by Mark Stephens

The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by  T. K. V. Desikachar

Jivamukti Yoga by Sharon Gannon and David Life

Happy teaching sweeties!

xo~
Ashley

Wild Edible Spring Greens: Medicines in Your Own Backyard

Spring has almost sprung and its time to wake up and start moving again! You may find yourself craving more salads and fruits as the body sheds its winter protection. Traditionally, in the spring, country folk would begin to gather spring greens to help the body detox from the rich foods of the winter.  The Greek physician Galen (130 AD – 200 AD) and many other notable physicians after him commonly believed the blood became stagnant after a cold winter, and that the long winter months affected one’s temperament and triggered melancholy.

The easiest way to cleanse our blood and to relieve the winter blues is to eat wild spring greens. Their bitter flavor along with their high mineral content gives the liver a little push, stimulates the secretion of digestive fluids, supports the removal of waste through the organs of elimination, and nourishes the cells and tissues. Eating spring greens is a great way to feel connected to the earth and to sync your body with the rhythms of nature.  There is also science showing that eating small amounts of native soil is beneficial to our immune systems and can balance our gut flora.

Gathering wild edibles is fun and easy but you do need to know your plants. I recommend taking an herb walk with a local herbalist or signing up for a wild edible foraging workshop. I'll be leading two herb walks in Silver Spring this May and there are a number of great Meet-Up groups throughout the country. If you live in the city you can purchase many of these greens at local farmers markets or at your local market. Local urban foraging groups can also help you find clean spaces to harvest your spring greens. If you are lucky enough to have a yard or some land, you will likely find many of these plants ground around the edges of your property or along the sides of trails.

Here are three of my favorites:

1. Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) - This spicy and bitter plant's name says it all! It is one of the first edible greens that pops up here in Maryland and it really gets your digestive juices flowing. This prolific green leafy plant is high in vitamins A,C, and E and even has pretty good amounts of B vitamins for veggos! It is also super high in vital minerals and has a long time European folk history of use as an antiasthmatic, antiseptic, diaphoretic, and vulnerary. (source)
   
   
2. Dandelion Greens (Taraxacum officinale) - Yes an obvious pick and this plant has so many great health benefits!  The leaves are high in potassium and also contain diuretic agents. The nice thing is that diuretics typically cause potassium loss but dandelion has it covered and provides additional potassium to the system, how great!  100 grams of dandelion leaves contain 2.7g of protein, 3.1 mg of iron, and 397 mg of potassium. The young leaves taste best and they can be eaten raw or blanched with other veggies. (source)
   
   
3. Chickweed (Stellar media)- This lovely little plant packs some pretty stellar health
   
   benefits! It is another of our folk remedies that has a long standing as a spring green as it is a gentle laxative, digestive aid, and circulatory tonic. I have used this plant many times as a poultice for rashes, burns, stings, allergic eyes, and pretty much anywhere where there is inflammation. It is a wonderful cooling topical remedy and is super easy to spot once you recognize the star shaped flower.  As a wild edible and ethnobotanist Jim Duke in his book, The Green Pharmacy, notes its historical use as a natural slimmer and recommends it in his "Weed Feed" slimming salad which contains chickweed, dandelion, evening primrose, stinging nettles (cooked and cooled), plantain, and purslane. (source)
   
   So, if you are looking to improve your health this spring get outside and forage for wild edible plants!  It will get your blood moving, you will soak up Vit D from the sun, and you will be getting nature's most potent spring remedies!
   
   For for information about our upcoming herb walks visit our workshops page and to link up with a local Meet-Up group search "Wild Plant Foraging".
   
   Bon Appetit!
   

The Mindful Movements of Nature

Is all mindful movement yoga? This morning I watched a robin outside my window stretch, flutter its wings, stretch its golden orange throat before moving into song. It reminded me of the movement ritual that I practice before beginning my day. Does the robin shudder, shake, and stretch so it can give the world its best song?

I have thought about this with my two dogs. They wake up each morning with a big stretch, go from down dog to up dog, let out a little yawn or squeak and then greet the day with a wide smile. Is this movement ritual a simple way of moving their life force so that they can optimally enter into their day?

This leads me to only more questions and has me imagining how all kinds of animals and plants like frogs, armadillos, agrimony, daisies, and dandelion move to enhance their own experience of life.

My Piscean south node likes the idea of a hundred billion yogas. Each one specific for the needs of that individual. A musician and metal worker who cooks only in crock pots wakes up twirling her wrists playing invisible notes across the room and squats from her heels to tippy toes to warm up her body for lifting her crock pot from the cupboard below the stove to the tall counter. The single mother with an hour commute arises and pantomimes the games she plays with her children and makes sweeping motions with her long neck swaying her head side to side as she looks over her shoulder.

If your body contains its own yoga, its own movements created entirely for the betterment of your life, how would it go?

What would be your poetic way to prepare your limbs, rivers, voice and bones for each wonderful day?

Written by Ashley Litecky Elenbaas