Tapas yoga with Jamie Elmer

A few months ago, I attended a two-hour yoga session with Jamie Elmer at a local studio Yoga Gallery. I believe she studied with Max Strom. It was a tapas practice, which means discipline in Sanskirt, but do not make the mistake that it means it's a difficult practice.

Judith Lasater described tapas on YogaJournal.com:

"A better way to understand tapas is to think of it as consistency in striving toward your goals: getting on the yoga mat every day, sitting on the meditation cushion every day—or forgiving your mate or your child for the 10,000th time. If you think of tapas in this vein, it becomes a more subtle but more constant practice, a practice concerned with the quality of life and relationships rather than focused on whether you can grit your teeth through another few seconds in a difficult asana."

Before we moved into the asanas or postures, Elmer led us through a meditation so we could find our own personal affirmations that we would carry and silently say to ourselves throughout the practice. First she had us choose something we were in need of and made us think of the one word every time we inhaled. Then she instructed us to pick a word that encapsulated what we needed to remove from our lives and then say in our mind with every out breath. I ended up choosing "source" on the inhale because I had just "attended" a virtual Abraham-Hicks presentation via Hay House and they are always referencing tuning into "source," which bascially means God and all that is good. On my exhale, I said "fear," which is all around us right now. I did change it sometimes to "worry" since Elmer said we could check in and alter our affirmations if needed and at anytime. She also moved very slowly and had us hold the poses between one to three minutes; she stressed backing off the poses instead of attacking them at 100 percent.

Afterwards I talked with Jamie about her meditation and tapas practice and how it tied so much with what I've been studying in Louise Hay, Abraham-Hicks, etc. It was very simple yet powerful. During my studies on the power of affirmations and thoughts, I’ve been wondering how I can tie yoga and this together, and Jamie did a beautiful job and definitely inspired me to create my own practice utilizing the power of our thoughts and minds.

I’d like to incorporate affirmations and the law of attraction to my yoga classes, but I don’t want to run people away either. Any thoughts?

Rejuvenating my practice and life

I talked a few posts ago about feeling stale in my personal practice and teaching and desiring some yoga inspiration. Well I found some at Yoga Gallery in Overland Park, Kan. (The studio had the first mention in an old Yoga Journal article about local studios - now it's located in OP downtown).

When we first moved to KC three years ago, I was beginning to explore being a yoga instructor. Just the other day, I found an old notebook with my affirmations I made up to help me become one. "I am a powerful, healing yoga teacher with lots of students who enjoy and benefit from my classes." Within a month of writing that affirmation over and over, I received the job at a local Y in Prairie Village, Kan. Finding the job here introduced me to the quaint KC suburb, and I consequently fell in love with the town. Within a year, I manifested my first house in PV, but that's a blog post for another day.

The owner of Yoga Gallery at the time, Patricia Gray, had a post on her Web site that her studio gave tuition to those who couldn't afford the classes. I ended up writing her a letter about a car accident I was in that injured my back, which led me to discovering yoga. I spoke about how I wanted to teach yoga and share the healing it had give me and how I wanted to enhance my yoga practice with yoga studio classes. I knew taking them would advance my knowledge and also enhance my chances of finding a teaching job. Yet my husband and I had recently moved to KC and were still digging out of some debt and not doing as well financially at the time. We didn't have the spare money to spend on yoga classes. In response to my letter, Patricia gave me 10 free classes at her studio; one of the best gifts I've ever received. I learned so much from her creative flows. Her instruction is truly art in motion.

The last time I attended Patricia's class was when I was 10 weeks pregnant. Seeing I'm a mommy to a nine month old, it's been a long time! TOOOOOOOOOO long. When Patricia saw me enter the building to sign in, I could tell she recognized me. She was so sweet and made me feel very welcome. I told her about Brijin and how I haven't had as much time to go to yoga studio classes but I had some free time fortunately when she had a class. She said it was crazy because a ton of new mothers were in the class; one that hadn't slept a wink the night before.

My intention for the class was to enjoy and not take "notes" for my teaching. It was going to be my practice to cherish. Patricia made it tough because she has such beautifully worded transitions and pose combinations; ones I've never seen before. She also demonstrates how to get into more progressed asanas I don't have the opportunity to see all the time as well.

After class she asked me if I'd been continuing my yoga practice, and I replied to her yes and told her I'd been teaching at a local Y. Sometimes I feel tentative telling yoga studio instructors this because I worry they think I'm not tenured enough to teach. However, Patricia was encouraging and spoke about how she tries to take others classes to learn and keep her reservoir filled so she is inspired for new teaching material. I said, yes that's why I attended her class when I had the chance because I knew it would do just that since I was feeling stagnant in my practice. Then Patricia mentioned training session coming up at Yoga Gallery that would inspire my teaching. It's with Jamie Elmer, who has assisted Max Strom. I'd seen the flyer a few weeks ago when I took a class while the hub was at class and Grandma babysat. I had thought about attending, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to go. Hearing Patricia's encouragement nudged me to make the time, and I'm attending. Looking forward to more inspiration!