Tag: 99% mental

What a Broken Back Taught Me About the Mind’s Deceptions

Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Physical Benefits, Practice, Teaching and Coaching, True Stories

What if the thing that is making your pain worse—or your frustration worse, or your practice harder—is not your body at all?

What happens when we prioritize thoughts and words over all other forms of evidence – evidence from the body, evidence from behaviors, and evidence from the internal and interpersonal systems that tell us, “Something isn’t quite right here.  Things are not lining up somehow.”

The Body Has Something to Say

A fairly young yoga practitioner – in his late 20s – came to talk to me after class the other day. 

Is Bikram Yoga Only Focused on the Physical?

Ethnography and Culture, Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice
bikram yoga toe stand pose asana original hot yoga sedona arizona cathedral rock

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Question: Is Bikram Yoga too focused on the Physical?  Is it a dominantly physical practice?

Answer: Well….some people do say, “Yes.”

I have heard it over and over.  Things like: “They are so focused on their bodies.”   Or: “those mirrors – they are so vain.”  “Competitive”.  Or: “You can’t possibly go within when you have all of that heat and sweat and light.”

My response to these answers is that 1) they are coming from the outside looking in, making a judgment without experience. 

This Body is the Earth | Bikram Yoga as a Tool for Reconnection | Happy Earth Day!

Ethnography and Culture, Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice
Pranayama Deep Breathing Bikram Yoga Red Rock Crossing Sedona Arizona

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

For those of us who have been raised in civilizations of extractive capitalism, tools for healing and reconnection are needed.   Badly.  By all of us.

Disconnection, alienation, and estrangement from the earth (including our living, breathing bodies) is pretty much par for the course.

So on this Earth Day 2021 and all going forward, I want to include our human bodies as part of the earth that we celebrate, connect with, protect, love, and heal.

Happy Yoga Birthday!

Ethnography and Culture, Ghosh Lineage, Healing, Teaching and Coaching, True Stories

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Last month marked my 15th year of practicing Bikram Yoga.  I was fortunate to find this healing practice when I was just about to turn 25.

This past week, I turned 40.  (And I got to hear Happy Birthday in Triangle Pose – in 3 different classes!  Great for the lungs, people!)

I feel so much better at 40 than I did at 24. 

Flattery and Criticism: An Introduction

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice, True Stories

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Over a decade ago, one of my most influential yoga teachers at the time presented me with a quote:

“To the Yogi, criticism and flattery are no different.”

It made sense to me on some levels, and I thought I could relate to not caring about the status quo.  I had a history of peacefully withdrawing from certain social circles and finding my own way.

There is No Such Thing as Monday

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice, Teaching and Coaching
Toe Stand - Original Hot Yoga - Bikram Yoga

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

A few Sunday mornings ago, I was teaching* class.

It was one of those lovely classes where everyone spaced themselves so beautifully in the three rows of our practice room; people hardly took their eyes off of their focus points for the entire warm-up portion of class.

We were finishing up the standing series, on the second side of Toe Stand, when one of the great yoga lessons emerged.

No, YOU! YOU are ready for yoga!

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice, Teaching and Coaching, True Stories
all ages full locust bikram yoga
by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Are you ready for yoga?

As inclusive as North American yoga wants to be, yoga in its deeper dimensions demands certain qualities.

Are you ready for yoga?

Well, I have a yoga mat and I hydrated well.  So yes, I think so.

But the question again: are you ready for yoga?

The yoga clothing companies would like you to think you are.  

USA Yoga Participant Bio – Lauren Anastos

Athletes, Event Announcements, Guest Blogs, Physical Benefits, Student Highlights

by Lauren Anastos

Running and Bikram Yoga

Almost four years ago, while long-distance training, I pulled a hamstring.  I continued to run on it and completed a marathon in Charlevoix in June 2013.

I struggled throughout the race due to the pain in my hamstring.  Also, despite my training, around mile 14 I had trouble breathing and needed to use an inhaler.  At the end of the race, the pain in my hamstring was so bad that I couldn’t bend my knee. 

USA Yoga Participant Bio – Ann Chrapkiewicz

Event Announcements, Guest Blogs, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Student Highlights
Ann Half Spine Twist Cropped 2017 Mid West Chicago

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

My practice history

I started practicing Bikram Yoga in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2003 – shortly after returning to the United States after 2 years of living in rural Japan.  I was working in the kitchen of the People’s Food Coop at the time and attended on the invitation of one of my coworkers.  I do not think that either of us “liked” the first class – she did not ever return for a second class (that was hard!).  

USA Yoga Participant Bio – Lindsay Gray

Event Announcements, Guest Blogs, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Student Highlights
Lindsay working on Toe Stand

by Lindsay Gray

My practice history

I started practicing Bikram Yoga six years ago and have had the pleasure of practicing in many different places.  Having started in Honolulu, and then in Houston, Austin, Boston, and Berlin before ending up here at my most favorite of studios. (Aren’t we lucky!!)

I am forever indebted to a close friend of mine, a former dancer like myself, who introduced me to Bikram yoga. 

10 Signs I Need a Beginners’ Yoga Class

Mental Benefits, Practice

by Ann Renee Chrapkiewicz

…..

Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class is truly that.  A place for beginners to start the yoga process.

However, there seems to be a part of the human mind – and if I may propose, especially a noticeable portion of the American mind – that would like to believe that it is not a beginner.

It is sure that it is already an expert.  

Physical Meditation

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice

Bikram Yoga is often referred to as a “90-minute moving meditation”.

Lately I have started to prefer the term “physical meditation” over “moving meditation”.  It is true that we move our bodies, but the emphasis of class is always on stillness.

Physical Meditation as the Beginning Point

Physical Meditation is a term that makes sense for me because it describes the heart of how anyone can practice, just by stepping in the room, and regardless of any flexibility or ability.  

26 Impossible Things Before Lunch

Philosophy, Practice
Alice and the White Queen Impossible Things
by Ann Chrapkiewicz

The weekday morning classes here are indescribably special.  I love every single class I teach and practice – evenings and weekends included – but the 9:30 am classes have this special energy that dedicated, regular, curious students create.  The average age is probably 55, with many of my 70+ students attending regularly at that time.

9:30 am Class Bow Pose

This past Tuesday’s “warm” 9:30 class – practiced about 10 degrees cooler than the usual 105F – was an all-front-row class with the kind of calm, deep focus that leaves you floating the rest of the day.

When will I be able to DO the posture?

Postures, Practice

A question I love to address occurs commonly with regards to Fixed Firm Posture.
I hear something like: “When am I going to be able to do the posture?”
I smile in response: “What are you talking about? You are already doing it. I have seen you do it several times a week for the past 5 months.”
“But I am terrible at it. When am I going to be good at it?”
The question I must ask in return:
What do you mean by “doing” a posture? Or being good at it? And what is the purpose of the posture?