Yoga – Page 4 – Ananda Leeke

Happy Yoga Monday – Yoga and Alice Coltrane’s Music

Posted by Ananda Leekeon November 4, 2013September 26, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Happy Yoga Monday!

Today, I am remembering the beauty and power of Swamini Turiyasangitananda a/k/a Alice Coltrane and her music. In 2006, I had a chance to see Alice perform live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey. That evening was and remains a high point in my life. Words cannot begin to describe the beauty of what I witnessed. You had to be there.

Right now I am listening to her Astral Meditations CD. Track 10 entitled “Peace On Earth” is playing. It is a composition that was originally written and recorded by Alice’s beloved, John Coltrane in 1966. See the album — John Coltrane: Infinity.

There is a point in the composition where Alice’s divine talent as a harpist is prominently featured. My ears tingle as they hear her gracefully weave a golden thread through the entire composition. It connects all of the instruments and musicians as one. Together, they create a musical quilt of peace for humanity to enjoy. Their creative collaboration also reminds me that we can accept and honor humanity’s beautiful quilt of cultural diversity when we choose to practice peace.

The wonderful thing about peace is that it gives birth to ahimsa, a Sanskrit word that means nonviolence. In yoga, ahimsa represents the first of five yamas (satya – truthfulness, asteya – non stealing, brahmacharya – relating to another with unconditional love and integrity, and aparigraha – non-clinging/grasping). Yamas are ethical guidelines or levels of awareness that one aspires to achieve. They apply to our actions, words, and thoughts.

Through the principle of ahimsa, we are called to refrain from causing pain or harm to any living being through our thoughts, words, and actions. When we choose our thoughts, words, and actions carefully so that they do not harm others, we are creating peace. When we are peaceful and nonviolent, we are at ease. We are more relaxed.

Instead of becoming angry at ourselves and others because of the differences we share, we can use that ease to create understanding and tolerance. With understanding and tolerance, we create sacred space for the acceptance and appreciation of our cultural and individual differences. As we come to accept and appreciate the beauty of what makes us different, we can also accept and appreciate the love that connects us as one.

Happy Yoga Monday – Laughter Yoga

Posted by Ananda Leekeon October 28, 2013September 26, 2013in Yoga, Yoga Mondays4 Comments

Happy Yoga Monday!

Every culture in the world appreciates and understands laughter. It is part of the universal human vocabulary. It also helps us stay healthy by enriching the blood with ample supplies of oxygen. In addition, laughter helps to remove the negative effects of stress and boosts our immune systems. Other benefits of laughter include:

• controlling high blood pressure and heart disease

• increasing stamina through increased oxygen supply

• alleviating pain and giving a sense of well being by releasing endorphins

• serving as an effective antidote for depression, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders (laughter boosts the production of serotonin, a natural anti-depressant)

• massaging the digestive tract and enhancing blood supply to the liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys and adrenal glands

• ensuring a good night sleep and reducing snoring because laughter is very good for the muscles of the soft palate and throat

Photo Credit: www.laughteryoga.org — Photo Credit: http://www.laughteryoga.org

Dr. Madan Kataria, founder of Laughter Yoga, discovered that anyone can laugh for fifteen to twenty minutes without depending upon a sense of humor or comedy. As a result, he designed a blend of playful, empowering laughter, gentle breathing, stretching, rhythmic clapping and chanting exercises to help release tension. Through his work, Dr. Kararia discovered that laughter yoga is a great way to distance yourself from anger, stress, fear, limitations, and anxiety.

Have you ever tried Laughter Yoga?

Happy Yoga Monday – What is your definition of yoga?

Posted by Ananda Leekeon October 21, 2013October 21, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Happy Yoga Monday,

What does the word yoga mean to you?

When I was training to be a yoga teacher at Flow Yoga Center in 2005 and 2006, my teacher, Debra Perlson-Mishalove, gave the class a homework assignment to define yoga. Her assignment me to develop a YOGA acronym.

Y – Your

O – Opportunity to

G – Graciously

A – Accept yourself in the present moment.

I still use this acronym and definition in my classes and workshops.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I am teaching the annual Frederica Leeke and Dorothy Gartin Breast Cancer Awareness Yoga Class on Sunday, October 27 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in Malcolm-Meridian Hill Park. Click here for more details. The kind and gentle yoga class honors my grandmothers who lived with breast cancer.

Happy Yoga Monday – Karma Yoga 10/7

Posted by Ananda Leekeon October 7, 2013September 26, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Happy Yoga Monday!

Today’s blog celebrates the power of Karma Yoga, the practice of serving others. After I completed my yoga teacher training at Flow Yoga Center in 2006, I created a Karma Yoga project that allowed me to teach a free monthly yoga class to my local community members in Malcolm X – Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C.

In 2007, I joined Meetup.com to expand my Karma Yoga project’s audience and renamed it the Kind and Gentle C-OM-MUNITY Yoga Meetup Group. This year, I am celebrating my 8th year of teaching community yoga classes. If you are in the DC area on October 27, join me for the fifth annual Frederica Leeke and Dorothy Gartin Breast Cancer Awareness Yoga Class from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Click here for more details.

What type of Karma Yoga projects are you involved in?

Happy Yoga Monday – Celebrating National Yoga Month in September

Posted by Ananda Leekeon September 2, 2013August 22, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Photo Credit: http://yogahealthfoundation.org/yoga_month

Happy Yoga Monday!

September marks the annual celebration of National Yoga Month. It’s a great time to recommit to your yoga practice.

What are you planning to do?

I am going to use the month to practice yoga outside more and take more yoga classes at my gym, Mint (like the Sunday evening flow yoga class I took earlier this year). I am also going to schedule some yoga dates with a few friends at local yoga studios.

Photo Credit: http://yogahealthfoundation.org

If you are new to yoga, check out the Yoga Health Foundation’s free week of yoga available during September.

Happy Yoga Monday! — My Home Yoga Practice

Posted by Ananda Leekeon August 26, 2013August 26, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Happy Yoga Monday!

Have you visited YogaInternational.com? It’s filled with a variety of yoga resources. The site also offers a helpful guide for creating a home yoga practice that I think you might enjoy. The guide shares the four benefits for creating a home practice. They include self-knowledge, self-help, self-indulgence, an exponential growth. I totally agree!

When I started practicing yoga in my home in 1995 after I attended my first yoga class during an African American studies trip to Egypt, I hired a private yoga teacher to guide me through the asanas (poses). Her name was Gloria. She was a kind, firm, loving, and knowledgeable woman I met in my monthly meditation group. She showed me how to embrace yoga as my own healing balm for anxiety, stress relief, and tight hips, hamstrings, and legs that needed stretching after my long runs. She showed me how yoga when paired with meditation could help me focus my energy on my creative projects. She pushed me to try poses I was afraid of (at the time I was afraid of downward facing dog) in my home practice. She encouraged me to take my yoga practice outside and into my local park.

She also taught me how to create a five-minute practice that includes seven deep breaths in a seated pose followed by child’s pose. When I have more time, I add in a few rounds of sun salutations, cat/cow, lots of standing forward folds, cobra, plank, twists, squats, pigeon, and alternative nostril breathing.

Cyndi Lee’s OM in a Box was one of the first resources I used to deepen my home yoga practice.

Yoga Journal is another resource I use. What does your home practice include?

I have created many collages over the years to remind me to practice yoga daily. What do you use as a yoga reminder?

Happy Yoga Monday! – Have you ever read Tathaatsu Magazine?

Posted by Ananda Leekeon August 19, 2013August 19, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Photo Credit: www.tathaastumag.com — Photo Credit: http://www.tathaastumag.com

Happy Yoga Monday!

Reading yoga-inspired magazines is one of the ways I deepen my yoga practice and teaching skills. Tathaatsu Magazine is a personal favorite. The word Tathaatsu means “So Be It.”

I like the magazine because it is filled with information on Ayurveda, feng shui, healthy food, holistic living, mantras, meditation, spirituality, travel, wellness, and yoga. Tathaatsu’s web site is filled with great resources too. Make sure you visit it this week!

What magazines do you read to deepen your yoga practice?

Happy Yoga Monday!

Posted by Ananda Leekeon July 15, 2013July 15, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Happy Yoga Monday!

This morning, I dedicated my yoga practice to the spirit of Trayvon Martin, his parents and family, and everyone impacted by the recent Florida jury’s decision that found George Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder and of manslaughter in the 2012 death of Martin. I used Ahimsa, a Sanskrit word that means nonviolence, as my mantra during my meditation. It helped me quiet some of my anger and disappointment about the not guilty decision.

Photo Credit: http://blog.meditazionetrascendentale.it

While I was eating breakfast, I noticed my anger and disappointment began to rise as I thought about Zimmerman being released from jail. That’s when I decided to use Ahimsa as my mantra this week (and as long as it takes) to stay focused on practicing nonviolence, kindness, and compassion towards all living things. I started thinking about ways I could honor Trayvon’s life and promote nonviolence.

Master Yoga Teacher Yirser Ra Hotep - Photo Credit: www.yogaskills.com — Master Yoga Teacher Yirser Ra Hotep – Photo Credit: http://www.yogaskills.com

Using my blog to share my thoughts was the first idea I came up with. And then more ideas about what I should share followed. Before I knew it, I had written a blog post that promotes Ahimsa and highlights the innovative yoga therapy programs created by Yirser Ra Hotep, a master yoga instructor of Kemetic Yoga and the founder of the YogaSkills Method, for pre-school children, school-age children, and teens who are predominately African American.

Kemetic Yoga is the ancient Egyptian yoga system that focuses on physical movements combined with controlled deep breathing and meditation. Click here to read about the history of Kemetic Yoga. Watch Hotep’s YouTube Channel for more information. See my profile of Hotep below.

During my yoga teacher training at Flow Yoga Center in 2005, I wrote a report about Kemetic Yoga. My report included a discussion of Hotep’s YogaSkills Method. A few years later, I had a chance to take Hotep’s class at The Bellydancers of Color Association Conference held at The Inn and Conference Center located on the campus of University of Maryland’s University College. His class brought me back to the first yoga class I took during an African American study group tour of Egypt in 1995. As I moved through the poses, I noticed I was practicing yoga at a slower and more methodical pace. I discovered I had more patience with my mind and body throughout the class. After the class, I felt more focused.

Photo Credit: www.yogaskills.com — Photo Credit: http://www.yogaskills.com

I think yoga is a great way for people to manage their emotions and take care of their bodies. I also think Hotep’s YogaSkills Method is a great way for African American children, teens, and young adults to strengthen themselves, manage stress, create wellness, and practice self-control. To learn more about Hotep’s YogaSkills Method, visit his website. You can purchase his DVDs online. You can also visit the Kemetic Yoga web site to find a Kemetic yoga teacher to study with in major cities.

Happy Yoga Monday! 7/1

Posted by Ananda Leekeon July 1, 2013June 14, 2013in Yoga, Yoga Mondays1 Comment

Happy Yoga Monday!

Listening to sacred music during my yoga practice is one of my favorite things to do. I adore the music of Sista Shree, a yoga teacher and mantra singer who has created a unique rhythm that blends a mélange of Soul, Blues, Jazz, Funk and Gospel music with the beautiful vibrations of ancient Sanskrit mantras. She also has a band based in New York City called Hanuman. Click here to watch a video of her singing at Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City in 2012.

I first discovered Sista Shree’s music during my yoga teacher training at Flow Yoga Center in 2005. Karen Harris, one of my friends who agreed to let me student teach her during my training, gave me copies of Sista Shree’s CDs: “Asatoma” and “Sacred Sound”. We would use them during our yoga sessions. Sista Shree’s music was filled with soulful energy. It had us chanting and dancing in between poses. I still love listening to her music.

In 2008, I interviewed her about her yoga practice, music, and commitment to green living on my radio show Go Green Sangha Radio. Click here to listen to the show (includes other guests).

Photo Credit: http://sistashree.com

To learn more about Sista Shree, visit her web site. Be sure to follow her on Twitter and like her on Facebook. You can buy her music on CDBaby.com.

Enjoy your day!

OM #YogaMonday OM!

Photo Credit: “OM” drawing by Ananda Leeke: Photo Credit: “OM” drawing by Ananda Leeke

PS: If you would like to read about my yoga journey, check out my memoir That Which Awakens Me on Amazon.com. It is available on Kindle

My debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One features a main character who works as a yoga teacher in Washington, D.C. Click here to visit the Love’s Troubadours’ Pinterest board which contains some great information about the novel. You can purchase it on Amazon.com.

Happy Yoga Monday! 6/24

Posted by Ananda Leekeon June 24, 2013June 14, 2013in Yoga, Yoga MondaysLeave a comment

Photo Credit: Mantra: Sacred Words of Power by Thomas Ashley-Farrand Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated (December 2004) — Photo Credit: Mantra: Sacred Words of Power by Thomas Ashley-Farrand
Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated (December 2004)

Happy Yoga Monday!

One of the juiciest parts of my yoga practice is my mantra chanting. Mantra is a sacred word, phrase or sound that is repeated during meditation to deepen your spiritual and/or yoga practice, and transform your spiritual consciousness.

The first mantra I learned and began using was “Om Gum Ganapataye Namaha.” I was introduced to it during a lay leadership training led by Reverend Beverly Biddle at Unity of Washington, D.C. in 2002. During the training, I learned the mantra can help remove obstacles from your life and resolve problems and difficulties. I also learned it was associated with Ganesh, the Hindu elephant deity who removed obstacles. Click here to watch Deva Premal chant the mantra.

After the training, I began using the mantra and reading about other mantras. my favorite mantra books are written by Thomas Ashley-Farrand (a/k/a Namadeva Acharya). They include Chakra Mantras: Liberate Your Spiritual Genius Through Chanting, Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within, and Healing Mantras: Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity, and Healing.

Do you chant mantras? What are your favorites?

Enjoy your day!

OM #YogaMonday OM!

Photo Credit: “OM” drawing by Ananda Leeke

PS: If you would like to read about my yoga journey, check out my memoir That Which Awakens Me on Amazon.com. It is available on Kindle

My debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One features a main character who works as a yoga teacher in Washington, D.C. Click here to visit the Love’s Troubadours’ Pinterest board which contains some great information about the novel. You can purchase it on Amazon.com.