What better way to experience community and inter-connectedness than by practicing yoga alongside hundreds of other wonderful humans at Waterfront Park in downtown San Diego? We had an absolute blast and we can’t wait to participate again next year!
AMNESIA
Once again
I’ve confused rigidity for strength,
domination for embodiment.
I’ve missed opportunities for appreciation
for acceptance
for love.
We know in our minds.
We feel in our hearts.
And yet we forget.
We get lost,
confused.
Amnesia of the spirit.
What if the only purpose of life
is to communicate love?
Through our breath
Through our body
Through our thoughts
Through our words
Through our actions
Through our relationships
Through our life
Through our being
Begin again.
Every day.
Every moment.
Every breath.
A chance to wake up.
*****
BELIEFS
How do they form?
How do they shape and filter
the way we view ourselves,
each other, the world?
We look to some beliefs
to help guide positive thought and action,
such as Ahimsa (non-violence),
or a vision of sameness,
to see ourselves in others,
or to (radically) love ourselves…
But perhaps any belief
comes with a small weight,
what we should be or do.
Maybe the next step
is to let go of the belief.
To realize that we already are the same.
We already are love.
We always have been.
We don’t have to think it,
or believe it,
we can just be it.
We
Are
It.
We asked you, our students, to describe Yoga One using just 3 words and your lists blew us away! We are so proud and humbled, encouraged and challenged, and overall feeling the LOVE!
Thank YOU for making Yoga One a welcoming space for all to enjoy the benefits of yoga and community. Namaste!
Do you take your yoga with you when you travel?
Our Yoga One family has spread to all corners of the globe and we’re excited to share some of their adventures.
Missy is Yoga One’s OM (Office Manager). She’s the big smile and warm spirit that greets you from the studio’s office nook. Missy is the hub that connects all the parts. Here she is delivering the opening remarks for the Festival of Yoga, with the primary class being led by Yoga One’s own Amy Caldwell. Not long after Missy inspired the crowd of yogis, she dropped the mic (figuratively not literally). But either way she rocks! \m/
The next Festival of Yoga is scheduled for June 23rd, 2019 at the Waterfront Park. Click here to register for this FREE event!
No matter where you go, you can Keep OM Trucking with Yoga One! Visit Yoga One at 1150 7th Avenue to get your own hat and while you’re there, join us for class.
fiction by Laura McCorry
Carl sat on the crinkly paper of an examining table waiting for his doctor. He kicked his feet and glanced around for a magazine. As a grown man, he felt ridiculous when his feet didn’t touch the floor. Carl was there for his annual check up, something his wife (and his health insurance) insisted on since he turned fifty.
He took a deep breath and let it out, slow and controlled. The practiced measure of that breath and the peace that followed marked a groundswell of change in Carl’s life from the year before.
A year ago, Carl had sat in the exact same spot, not knowing what to expect, feeling irritated that he had to take time out of his busy work day to be there.
A year ago, Carl had expected to hear that everything was fine, that he was a marvel of health despite the fact that he rarely exercised and regularly indulged in rich food and drink.
A year ago, Carl’s doctor told him that unless he made significant changes, he would need to take daily medication and adjust his expectations for his future quality of life.
Looking back, Carl could see the signs. But at the time, it was too easy to justify the way he was feeling. His back hurt because he wasn’t twenty years old anymore. Lots of people complained of indigestion. He carried some weight around his middle, but so did nearly all of his colleagues the same age as him. If it was normal, it couldn’t be that bad, he reasoned.
Despite telling himself it was a normal part of aging, Carl didn’t like the way he looked in the mirror. And every time he lay down at night, the aching muscles in his back would start to relax a bit which ironically made them ache even more. Laying next to his sleeping wife, he knew deep down that there had to be something more he could do.
It was that routine visit to the doctor that opened his eyes.
“What do you do to move your body?” Dr. Beamer asked, looking Carl in the eye over the rim of his glasses.
“I throw a tennis ball for the dog in the backyard,” Carl joked to avoid the question. He moved through his life with a minimum of movement, from his bed to the breakfast table. From his car to his desk. From the dinner table to his recliner. From his recliner to his bed.
“What have you tried before?” the doctor’s gaze hadn’t flinched, bless him.
“I used to play basketball with some buddies,” Carl offered.
Dr. Beamer nodded his head. “I’m not saying don’t try it, but go easy. Basketball at your age, after a long hiatus, can be hard on the knees.”
And then he said the fateful words Carl had never expected to hear:
“Have you ever considered doing yoga?”
No, Carl had never considered yoga. In his mind, yoga was something his wife did. But that evening, when Carl told his wife about the doctor’s suggestion, she didn’t tease him or gloat. Instead, she simply messaged him the online schedule for Yoga One, the studio in Downtown San Diego where she’d been practicing for the past five years.
Carl looked at the schedule and thought about his week. Fridays were pretty easy, he could often take a half day or work from home. He scanned the list of classes and instructors and saw one that popped out at him: Level 1 and 2 Flow with Michael Caldwell.
He borrowed his wife’s yoga mat and changed at work into a t-shirt and a pair of lounge pants. Carl felt nervous. He didn’t want to be noticed as new.
Even though he arrived early, there were still quite a few people already picking out spots in the bright upstairs studio. At the front of the room, a tall man in a t-shirt and comfortable pants talked and laughed with the regulars.
“Hi, I’m Michael,” the man introduced himself. He asked if Carl had any injuries or questions and they chatted briefly about the Padres. Carl didn’t know exactly what he had expected from a yoga teacher, but he felt reassured and intrigued.
The yoga class was harder than Carl had expected. Somewhere along the way, he’d gotten the idea that yoga was mostly sitting on the floor stretching and lying down relaxing. Not in this class! These people were moving and sweating and working hard.
There was a lot that Carl couldn’t do, but instead of discouraging him, he only wanted to try harder. Every time Michael guided the class into a difficult pose, he acknowledged it and encouraged each student to stay and breathe or back off and rest. By the end of the class, Carl was beginning to feel as though the yoga was more about what was going on in his own body instead of what the other bodies in the room were capable of doing.
It only took one class and Carl was hooked. At first he was doing yoga at his wife’s studio for his health. Before long though, Carl knew he was practicing yoga for himself. He loved the way it challenged both his strength and his stillness. It was no longer his wife’s studio, Yoga One had become like a second home, a place where they both found friends and community.
There was a knock on the door and the doctor walked into the examining room.
“Hi there, Carl,” Dr. Beamer looked up from a clipboard and raised his eyebrows as he smiled at Carl. “You’re looking good!”
“I feel good,” Carl replied with a proud smile.
“I bet,” said the doctor. “Your chart says you’ve lost some weight and, this I can’t believe, you’re an inch taller than last year. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
They discussed how to manage some of the health problems Carl was still experiencing but he was relieved to hear that the focus had shifted from management to prevention. Yoga hadn’t cured everything that was wrong, but it had pushed Carl into a long-lost relationship with his body. Now it didn’t matter so much what he looked like, it mattered how he felt — and Carl felt better than ever.
Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer
Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.
Contact: laura(AT)yogaonesandiego(DOT)com
Expand and explore your yoga practice with master teacher Amy Caldwell of Yoga One.
Yoga is an experiential process. A regular practice can help you develop a better connection with yourself, others, and the present moment. Yoga can help reduce stress, anxiety, and bad habits. Yoga means union. At Yoga One we strive to connect mindfulness, breath, and action.
These step by step instructions will safely guide you into and out of this yoga pose. We offer precise alignment cues to cultivate conscientious movement and to keep you safe, so you can refine and benefit from your practice and the subsequent understanding for a lifetime.
Throughout our internationally acclaimed Yoga One Teacher Training Course, we dive further into the details to inspire and assist those individuals looking to take their practice to the next level and for those wanting to share the joys and benefits of yoga with others.
Warrior III – Virabhadrasana IIIBenefits:
Foundation and general alignment:
Common problems and misalignments:
Contra-indications: Weakness, poor balance, knee problems, low back problems, balance issues, practice with caution if you have high blood pressure
Modifications:
Variations: Arms out to the side, back, Anjali mudra, or hands on hips
Enhancements: In version with arms forward, face student, have them press forearms down onto adjuster’s arm and tone belly, or adjuster stands on standing leg side, hip to hip with student, then squeezes in hip of lifted leg hip for stability.
Prep posture: all fours, with one leg up – press shin down, adjuster resists, lift low belly to find neutral spine.
guest post by Wendy Swanson
Yoga, for many of us, can feel particularly intimidating, especially if we follow any “famous” yogi on social media and see lots of pretzel poses done flawlessly, in full makeup and expensive clothing (by the way, this is not really what yoga is all about and most of us do not look like that).
To help ease beginner angst, below are some tips on starting a yoga practice outside of our own homes:
Some other “fun” demons that sometimes rear their ugly head are resistance, doubt and second guessing. Think back to some of the bigger moments and decisions in your life and I bet you will find these guys hanging out. Recently I went on life changing retreat and for weeks leading up to the retreat I thought about backing out. My resistance to change and doing something new showed up in the form of: “I don’t have the money, so I should cancel”; “My family really needs me, so I should stay home”; “My business is super busy right now so this is really not a good time. I should cancel”. There are parts to me and to you that want us to stay small, play it safe and never ever change. These parts stem from aspects that have experienced hurt and pain in our past. They are valid parts of us AND we need to not have them running the show.
I find that when I allow these parts to have a voice and at the same time not run the show, I can make decisions from a grounded and centered place. I literally picture myself stepping into my higher/ spiritual self and asking that part, that truly has my best interest in mind, what I need to do. A vibrant, joyous and fulfilling life comes from paying closer attention to our higher self that promotes growth, self-love, connection and abundance. It was a game changer when I realized that my overly practical side was just resistance cleverly disguised. I encourage you to ask yourself “what part of me is talking right now?”
The practices of yoga and meditation can help us know our higher self a bit better. Taking time to retreat can help us profoundly understand ourselves so that we can have the life we dream of. Our dreams can then move from imagination into reality.
I invite you to bravely stand up to the parts of you that hold you back and go take that yoga class or go on retreat. Your soul will thank you.
This piece originally published on The Art of Living Retreat Center
Wendy Swanson, L.Ac, E-RYT 200
Wendy is a healer, transformational leader, yoga teacher and licensed acupuncturist. She is the owner of Be Yoga & Wellness in Charlotte, NC; and is currently studying at Kripalu for her 500 hour yoga certification.
fiction by Laura McCorry
Marcia had just eased her car into a parking spot when she looked out the passenger window and saw the sign which read “one-hour parking.” A few raindrops hit her windshield and Marcia, resisting the temptation to curse, let out a disgruntled sigh. One hour parking would not be long enough. Her brow furrowed deeper and her shoulders were rigid with tension.
Reluctantly, she turned the key in the ignition and circled the block again, then she circled one block north and found another spot in two-hour parking. Marcia was grateful she had intended to arrive well before the start of the Classic Yoga, level 1 and 2 class that afternoon.
If there had been a level zero class, Marcia would have signed up for that. It had been many years and two children ago that Marcia had last taken a yoga class. Her eyes were the same color, but since then, pretty much everything else about her body had seemed to change. She felt like she might as well be trying yoga for the very first time.
Marcia had called ahead yesterday and spoken to the Office Manager Missy, whose upbeat voice had assured her the class was absolutely beginner-friendly.
Marcia turned off her car a second time and took in a deep breath, but it came out in a ragged rush. The skies were grey and turbulent, and it looked like real rain was on the way. She hurried down the street and ducked under the awning when she saw the sign for Yoga One.
Inside there was a curious little opening in the wall (formally a dumbwaiter shaft) which revealed a closet-sized office. Within, a young woman with long, blonde-ish hair greeted her. Marcia recognized her voice right away.
“You must be Missy,” she said, feeling relieved.
“Yes, I am!” said Missy. “I’m glad to meet you, Marcia. I’ll be leading our class today.”
Missy welcomed Marcia into the studio and asked if she had any questions or concerns before closing the door. Then, Missy greeted the class and instructed everyone to take a comfortable seat on top of a folded blanket.
Marcia sat up as tall as she could, noticing immediately how much more effort it took to sit straight than to slouch. Even with the blanket lifting her a bit off the ground, Marcia could feel the tightness in her hips that kept her knees slightly higher than most of the other students.
They weren’t seated for long, just two or three minutes, yet when Missy’s voice guided the class to come to their hands and knees, Marcia sighed with relief. She worried the whole class was going to feel that hard.
“The most important part of yoga is your breath,” Marcia heard Missy’s calm and steady voice intone as she walked slowly around the room. “If you can’t breathe slowly, evenly, then you’re trying too hard. Try to find a balance between effort and ease.”
Trying too hard. Those words repeated in Marcia’s mind. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had said those words to her. Most of the time Marcia felt as though she weren’t trying hard enough.
Her boss was always expecting the completion of some project or another. Her two children always seemed to need supplies for an assignment they were supposed to turn in the next day. Her to-do list was never finished.
If her husband asked her for anything at the end of the day, even something as simple as getting him a glass of water from the kitchen, she sometimes felt herself bristle. Not at him, but at the feeling of being constantly needed. Marcia tried her best to satisfy all of their needs, but it was an impossible task because they always asked for more.
A balance between effort and ease. Did such a thing exist? Where in her life could she do less? This thought tumbled over and over in Marcia’s mind throughout the class. It made her feel intrigued, hopeful, and a little bit afraid. What if something didn’t get done? What if she wasn’t as needed as she thought?
Before Marcia knew it, one hour and fifteen minutes had gone by. The class was over. The students were seated again on the blankets with all eyes closed and hands pressed together before their hearts.
“Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out,” said Missy. “Thank yourself for making this time to connect mind, body, and spirit. Namaste.”
Marcia breathed in deeply and this time her breath flowed out long and smooth. Thank yourself. Another novel idea.
“Yes,” thought Marcia. “Thank you. Thank me?”
While everyone was putting away the props and rolling up their mats, Missy came over to ask Marcia how she felt. Marcia told her how she often held tension in her shoulders and that the class had been challenging, but that she did feel more relaxed than before.
Missy took the time to show Marcia a few simple poses she could do at work to ease strain in her neck and shoulders. Trying a yoga class after so long hadn’t been easy, but Missy’s friendliness, knowledge, and warmth had put Marcia at ease. As she gathered her belongings, Marcia thanked Missy again for the class and for her suggestions.
As Marcia walked back to her car, her heart felt lighter than it had in a long time. She would gladly leave a little extra time for parking if it meant she could feel this way once a week. Maybe next time she would take the trolley, or a ride-share. Maybe she could go to yoga more than once a week.
Turning the key in the ignition, Marcia nodded her head. It had absolutely been the right decision to take a yoga class that afternoon. It felt like the first step towards the kind of life she wanted to live.
As Marcia thought that perhaps a regular yoga practice could help balance effort and ease in her life, a smile spread across her face.
Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer
Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.
Contact: laura(AT)yogaonesandiego(DOT)com
by Laura McCorry
Do you ever sit in front of a computer and type? Hold your phone with your ear and shoulder? Wrangle a small, squirming child?
Restorative Fish Pose
So many daily activities cause tension and tightness in the neck and shoulders. Try this super short sequence to find relief at home and when you can, join us for Restorative Yoga with Missy, Fridays at 4:30pm.
Now take a moment to acknowledge the difference in your body, mind, and spirit. Thank yourself for making this time to offer yourself gratitude and loving-kindness.
Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer
Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.
Contact: laura(AT)yogaonesandiego(DOT)com
fiction by Laura McCorry
Ally hadn’t taken a yoga class in a long time. Her first (and last) class had been at her boyfriend Evan’s gym downtown. She had agreed to go on a date with Evan simply because when she moved, he was the only person she knew in San Diego. Before she knew it, they’d been dating for six months.
Things didn’t work out with Evan. Ally was the kind of girl who wanted a plan in life and Evan found the whole concept of planning not just unnecessary, but, somehow fundamentally wrong. Just before they broke up, he’d invited her to try the yoga class.
What do you mean you’ve never done yoga? How long have you lived here now? You have to try yoga at least once if you’re ever going to call yourself a local. Evan had pleaded with her.
Evan was right. Yoga was just as much a part of the air in San Diego as salt from the Pacific Ocean. The yoga class itself was fine. The instructor was a thin, bendy woman with her hair gathered in a messy ponytail. Ally copied the poses as best she could and at the end of an hour, she felt tired both physically and mentally from trying to keep up. She wrote off yoga as just one of those things that wasn’t for her.
About two years later on a Saturday morning, Ally was sitting at an open air table at one of the trendy brunch restaurants downtown. Across from her sat tall, lean, dark-haired Tyler. He lived in her building and she mostly saw him in the elevators.
They had the kind of conversations that were always upbeat, slightly humorous, and usually referenced the weather. Ally thought it was strange to talk about the weather in San Diego, where the temperature only varied about ten degrees in a year, but she guessed some things stayed the same no matter where you lived.
After their first conversation, Ally ran into Tyler all the time. Once she even thought she saw him walking out of a coffee shop near her work, but she couldn’t be sure. Each time they met, she caught herself smiling more and touching her hair. Then, just when she was sure he must not be interested, Tyler asked her out.
Most of the men she dated wanted to go out for drinks at night. Tyler had asked her to brunch. And now he was asking her to go to yoga.
They had finished their meal and the bright midday sun struck the awning overhead and made everything in the street blur and their table feel comfortably secluded. Ally couldn’t remember the last time she had so enjoyed a getting-to-know-you conversation.
“Look, I know we don’t know each other very well,” Tyler was saying, “but I’ve got a super good feeling about you. I feel like we understand each other without trying too hard.”
Beneath the table, Ally stretched the cloth napkin between her fingers and smiled at Tyler encouragingly.
“I’m big into yoga and there’s this class that I’d love to go to, but it’s a partner class. I know you said you don’t do yoga, but I was wondering if you would make an exception. I’d love to introduce you to my studio, it’s called Yoga One.” Tyler looked at her earnestly, his eyes bright.
At that moment, Ally thought she would probably agree to go wind-surfing or dirt biking or any other improbable activity that Tyler proposed but she didn’t want to seem too eager.
“Yea, okay, I mean, I can probably give yoga another try,” she replied with a smile.
“Great!” said Tyler. “It’s next week and you’re going to love the instructor. I promise, this class will make up for every mediocre yoga class you’ve ever attended.”
“Well I’ve only been to one…”
Tyler laughed as if she were joking. “Okay, one more thing. Please don’t read anything serious into this, but it’s called a Valentine’s Yoga class. There are plenty of people coming who are just friends though, it’s really just a partner class and you can bring your valentine, or you can just bring someone you like, totally chill.”
Ally floated through the rest of that afternoon and evening but by the day of the yoga class, she had come down to earth. She worried one minute that Tyler was too serious. She worried the next minute that he wasn’t serious at all. Then she worried about not knowing anything about yoga.
Somehow Ally made it to the studio, signed the registration form, and was ushered upstairs into an airy, skylit yoga room where everyone spoke in soft voices and walked about gracefully on the hardwood floors. Ally saw Tyler already setting out a mat for her and she was glad they would be away from the front.
“Hi, you must be Ally,” said a bright voice at her elbow. Ally turned to see a trim woman with a friendly, open face and loose dark hair. “Tyler told us he was bringing someone new. Welcome, I’m Amy.”
Amy reassured her that the class would be appropriate for beginners and encouraged her to go at her own pace. It was such a nice touch, a personal welcome. Ally stepped onto her mat and smiled a bit nervously at Tyler. But when she heard Amy’s voice invite the class to begin she felt curiously at ease.
They moved through some opening stretches and deep breathing before starting the partnered poses. Ally was deliciously conscious of Tyler’s body near hers and she loved that he always asked or looked to her for consent before touching her back or holding her hand during tree pose. Every move they made was no more intimate than anything she would do with a friend, but Ally felt the current of attraction running between them.
After some time though, Ally became aware of another sensation. Her breath was slow and steady, which cleared her head and brought a small feeling of lightness in her habitually tight shoulders.
The yoga poses were changing the way she felt in her body. Underneath all the layers of her everyday life, working at her desk, leaning against the wall in the elevator, curled up on her couch at night, she felt a latent brightness in her body ready to break free. As if this way of moving and breathing called yoga could make her feel again the way she had as a kid, easy and unselfconscious.
When the class ended, Ally pressed her hands together in front of her heart and softly said “namaste” with the group. She turned to Tyler and smiled. He smiled back with a knowing look.
Ally wasn’t sure what would happen next between her and Tyler. But she did know that this time, she was ready for a serious relationship with yoga.
Get in touch with your partner or reconnect with a good friend through the joys and benefits of yoga. Come practice poses together, share some quality time and celebrate friendship and love.
By candlelight you will be guided through fun and accessible partner poses, assisting each other with hands on adjustments and optimal alignment cues, go deeper into your practice and the present moment. Chocolate will be provided. No experience necessary.
When: 6:30-8pm, Saturday, February 9th.
Cost: $50 per couple when registered by February 2nd, $60 thereafter. Pre-registration only. The last date to register is February 6th. Space is limited.
Info@yogaonesandiego.com, 619-544-0587
Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer
Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.
Contact: laura(AT)yogaonesandiego(DOT)com
