Poised for Possibility: Strike a Pose to Rock the Butte

Meredith (right) and I have tons of fun transforming
traditional asanas into playful partner poses!

by Elizabeth Reese, Ph.D., RYT, RCYT

It's no secret that I love to practice yoga-off-the-mat: brushing my teeth, waiting for coffee, in-line anywhere, traveling.... you name it! I also enjoy traveling to new places to meet new friends and experience yoga, like Yoga Rocks the Butte Festival for all ages including FAMILIES in February!

Try this pose with your family and friends then SEND ME PICTURES to enter a drawing to win a pass to YOGA ROCKS THE BUTTE!

One of my favorite poses to play with is Arbol/Vrksasana/Tree. We offer instructions in English and Spanish to extend our limbs to as many friends as possible.

• Start in Mountain Pose with feet strong (think about your four points of contact)
• Reach forward to grab your right ankle. Put bottom of right foot against upper left thigh

  

  Teachers play "Mirror Tree" pose to extend the
  asana into pratyhara or cultivation of the senses.

• Keep a firm foundation while tightening hips & belly for strength
• Place hands on hips & lengthen your body.
• Hands meet at heart center in Anjali Mudra.
  
• Comienza en pose de Montaña con los pies fuertemente plantados en el piso (piensa en tus cuatro puntos de contacto)
• Estírate hacia adelante para agarrar tu tobillo derecho. Coloca la planta del pie derecho contra la parte superior del muslo izquierdo.
• Mantén una base firme al mismo tiempo que tensas las caderas y la panza para obtener mayor fuerza.



Andersen, my 4 year old Yogiña, sports
Vrksasana almost anywhere, anytime!

• Coloca las manos en las caderas y estira tu cuerpo.



Middle school yogis play in Arbol and add a ball or sandbag
to turn the pose into the OHMazing™ game, Tree Toss.

• Las manos se encuentran en el centro a la altura del corazón para Anjali Mudra.

Our Teacher Training in Crested Butte found us hiking and
striking Tree pose along the way. Join us at Yoga for the Peaceful
in June for another Teacher Training among the mountains!

Elizabeth Reese, Ph.D., RYT, RCYT, is the founder and executive director of Yogiños: Yoga for Youth®. She is a teacher with over 20 years of experiences leading learners of all ages in creative problem solving, self-reflection and empowerment. With her doctorate degree in art museum education, Reese is the visual arts columnist for the Corpus Christi Caller Times, a visiting instructor at Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi, and the author of several articles and book chapters as well as co-author of the book, Experience Art: Teaching and Learning through Works of Art. Her teaching credentials also include windsurfing and skiing.

Together at the Table: Happy (Healthy) Halloween!

by Meredith Paterson

The countdown is on! Just a few more days until one of my favorite holidays of the year. I'm still putting a few finishing touches on my costume. Check out our monthly Yogiños newsletter for more fun Halloween tips!

Halloween is definitely a holiday to be celebrated with gusto. I am a former raisin-giver (I have since repented) who tried foolishly to impose health-at-all-costs on the poor, unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. Now, I'm just looking for a little more balance. Gusto doesn't have to mean excess, and celebrations don't always have to end with tummyaches. There are now so many more environmentally-friendly, healthy options out there for what you can hand out to trick-or-treaters. Look at the bottom of this post for ideas.

Like I tend to write in so many of these Together at the Table posts, one of the best things you can do as a family is to have a thoughtful discussion about how to have a mindful holiday that doesn't actually become a pain in the belly.

Here are some of our favorite Yogiños yoga poses for keeping your digestion running smoothly, even through Halloween.

More ways to have a mindful Halloween!

"Eek-o-friendly"  tips and ideas from Green Halloween.

A great online resource for vegan Halloween treat options.

Allergy-friendly Halloween treats. (Be sure to read labels as ingredients may change from year to year.)

How do you make Halloween a mindful celebration in your family?

Creating Connections: Yoga Rocks the Butte!

by Meredith Paterson

Mark your calendars now because this February 10-12, 2012, Yoga Rocks the Butte will be happening in the insanely gorgeous Crested Butte, Colorado. If you haven't visited Crested Butte before, go go go! Beth and I were there this summer for a Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® training at Yoga for the Peaceful, and it is not an overstatement to say that we both fell in love-- the people, the yoga, the mountains, the food, the people. We immediately scheduled our next trip.

Yoga Rocks the Butte includes yoga from luminary teachers such as Shiva Rea, r.r. Shakti, Twee Merrigan, Shannon Paige Schneider, Micheline Barry, Monica Mesa, and more. Plus there will be music from Dave Stringer, Govindas and Radha, Steve Gold, DJ Drez, and many others. And as if that's not enough, there are packages that allow you to combine yoga with skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing. Throw in spa time, excellent lodging, organic food, and breathtaking scenery, and blend to create your own potent elixir! (I think I want to schedule a couple of weeks there now.)

Yogiños: Yoga for Youth will be there offering workshops and kids' and family programs so that you can bring the whole family for a weekend of winter wonder!

Check out the event page on Facebook for the latest on the schedule of events and additions to the lineup.

Mindful Minutes: What is Yoga?

by Damla Eytemiz

Your boss thinks what he does is the best, your husband is waiting for dinner, your wife doesn’t enjoy your being late from work, kids demand non-stop, parents are complaining, you have a headache, you don’t feel like doing anything, not in the mood, kids think you work so hard and don’t spend enough time with them…..

In our daily lives, we all deal with a lot of problems. We think that our problems cause stress and anxiety, and they do, but we should also not forget that stress and anxiety cause many problems, too. So if those two factors are inevitable in life, then the best is to learn how we can manage them.

There are many methods, many tips for managing stress and anxiety. We read and hear so many of them every day. Everyone has their own methods. And of course, I have mine, too. I do yoga. Until I start doing yoga, I tried many things, but a year ago, I found that yoga works the best for me.

It can be helpful to understand yoga to benefit from its effects. By doing yoga, you achieve a peaceful body and mind as a result of the physical and mental disciplines it brings. Many of my friends who learned about my classes and my new job at Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® are wondering about yoga, so I wanted to share: 

On beliefnet.com, Valerie Reiss did a search for "yoga is", and here are some of the results she found.

What is yoga?

yoga is pure love
yoga is more than your foot behind your head
yoga is the path of union with the god
yoga is not a religion
yoga is good for you
yoga is technology to find your true self
yoga is a great exercise
yoga is for everybody
yoga is extremely powerful stuff
yoga is a system for body energy
yoga is a way of life
yoga is a sanskrit word meaning: to yoke together
yoga is hot

What is yoga to you? Let us know in the comments below.