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Salutation Nation at Chicago's Oak Street Beach By Sonja Bjelland

It’s that time of year again to start hunting down some outdoor yoga.

Or maybe even suggesting to your favorite teacher or studio that they put together some al fresco sessions.

With the warmer than typical temps this spring, several teachers have already put their outdoor classes in motion. Many more will be advertised after Memorial Day.

This doesn’t have to be a hike deep into the woods prior to a yoga class, though it could be. Outdoor yoga classes from Chicago to Los Angeles meet at parks or on the beach.

A studio in Pittsburg recently restarted its outdoor class in Mt. Washington’s Grandview Park overlooking downtown. An article in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette listed seven nature-loving yoga classes in that area alone.

It’s really a more yogic form of yoga. Studios can be so controlled – the temperature, the sound. But outside you have to take it all in. It’s all part of your space in that moment so accept it and move on. It’s OK if a bug crawls on your mat. Just be prepared for mosquitos and other nefarious critters and allergies.

It reminds me of a type of meditation that starts with having you hear all the traffic, birds and other sounds in your environment. Then you accept them and set them aside. You can’t block all that out of your mind. Your mind is there to pay attention and create thoughts. With meditation you’re just trying to get it to focus a little differently for a short time.

That’s why it’s helpful for yoga teachers to change up their lessons a little when they take it outside. Remember that the sky is above and not the ceiling when you’re giving instructions.

Yoga Journal has a helpful article on just this point for yoga teachers. It recommends mixing your poses and breath work with what’s around you. It can be difficult for new teachers to improvise that way but this is a good way to learn. Breathe with ocean waves, take a tree pose among some trees, feel grounded in mountain pose atop a mountain.

Sonja Bjelland sporting a tree pose among palms Photo by Dug Begley

As a student and a teacher, accept that your practice will be different. Even on a mat, the ground isn’t level so you might not have the balance you normally do. You might not be used to the temperature or breeze, another thing to knock you off balance.

Look at your local newspaper, magazine and websites for updates and always ask at your studio. After a summer of this, it’ll be hard to head indoors when temps revert.

Outdoor yoga tips

• Check if you’ll need sunscreen, bug spray or allergy medications.
• Take a towel in case it’s hot.
• Water, lots of it.
• It might feel weird to wear sunglasses while doing yoga, but sun salutations facing the glowing ball can be a tough without them.
• Take a larger towel or maybe two yoga mats if you don’t want yours to get dirty. Sand can be a mess with a mat so it might be best to put a blanket or towel down first.

Islands off the coast of Thailand By Sonja Bjelland

One year after returning from my yoga travels through Asia, the journey continues.

Some people describe such trips as watershed, life changing, pick your overused descriptor.

It was, but not in an obvious way.

Writing this has been a reminder of how much I did take away from my travels, and why I think it’s important to dive in and refill your cup.

The intense travel days gave me a confidence that has been dripping out since my return – along with a sense of hope. The open hearted-ness I achieved after months of yoga and having people help me when it may not have been culturally appropriate has also dwindled.

These are the benefits of travel that are hard to maintain no matter how I try with my current efforts. My yoga and meditation routine fluctuates and my daily habits have waned.

My life stateside has returned to a focus on paying the bills and figuring out what’s next. Today, I substitute taught high school band, choir and in-school suspension. One year ago, I was celebrating my return to the U.S. with friends in Southern California. My Asia travel wear wasn’t quite the going style and the ginormous Whole Foods freaked me out after months in local markets.

Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles, Calif. By Sonja Bjelland

I’m happy I did it and given the opportunity I would love to travel for months again. This isn’t a youthful transgression I’ll get over. I love learning about different cultures and seeing new places.

At some points, it feels those months were lost in time. As if they didn’t happen because life back home went on.

Pillowcases from India, dresses from Bali and jewelry from everywhere remind me that it was real. And I know my thought processes have changed. I judge less, worry less and am more likely to acknowledge what is my perception versus reality.

By judging less, I don’t spend as much time thinking about what other people think of me or what I think about other people. The personal views, habits, etc., of others also spend much less time under my skin.

So much of what we spend our time and worries on doesn’t matter and that doesn’t leave a lot of time for the things we really do need to ponder. Now, I’m better at evaluating what actually means something to me and what doesn’t. And most things don’t, which is good because I have enough serious issues to occupy my mind.

Not worrying as much also frees up my time. I used to stress for hours before a trip. Now, I’m still able to pack a bag in minutes. I don’t worry about having a definitive plan and can let my daily life flow. Smartphones have helped with that. Plans come together much more quickly as I can look up a location and text a dinner spot to someone. Months catching trains and buses in foreign lands helped me know I can figure it out and that things manage to fall into place if I just let them. I just need to keep reminding myself that what happens on the daily level, expands to longer lengths of time.

In bloom, Weldon Springs State Park By Sonja Bjelland

Happy Spring!

Have you celebrated with sun salutations yet?

I haven’t. I’m going to have to wait until closer to sunset before I can block out that kind of time today. But all over the northern hemisphere yogis are welcoming the seasonal shift with that routine of lunges, pushups and shining our hearts up to the sky.

But spring is also a time of reawakening and cleaning out. So what do you want to leave behind with winter?

These points throughout the year are a good time to plan for a yoga retreat. Events such as equinoxes and eclipses mark moments when the world is speaking to us. Telling us to move on, or see the world anew.

Many yoga retreat centers and studios make that easier for us by scheduling ways to honor these days. Time can pass quickly without any notice. These events that celebrate the passage of time and the accompanying traditions help us to recognize this moment. That keeps us in the present and gives us time to escape the constant thinking about the future or the past that keeps our mind spinning in savasana.

So do something to note today. Be it 108 sun salutations or a glass of wine outside in the sun. Honor that we as a world are entering another season, just not the same one. And that means you can too.

Many yoga places aren’t holding their events until this weekend so see what’s available in your area. Here are a couple fun ones I tracked down:

• The Spring Equinox Naam Yoga Celebration in New York City will be Saturday: “This Spring Equinox is a uniquely special time, a time of great wonder, a time to leave behind all that that has been, and let the past be the past and work with the healing energy of Sun to embrace the future for all that it is and all that it can be.”
• Grand Folks Yoga will get North Dakotans to take on 108 sun salutations for their equinox event on Saturday as well.
• Yoga Nexus will hold a Spring Equinox Five Elements Meditation in the Botanical Garden portion of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. What a beautiful way to welcome spring.

Sonja Bjelland sporting a tree pose among palms Photo by Dug Begley

Before you take a tree pose, a lot of teachers will have you envision roots coming out of the bottom of your foot. The mental trick helps you feel balanced and stable as you pull your non-rooted foot off the ground.

Lately, the issue of yoga’s roots has turned into a bit of a deal.

A few years ago drama came to the yoga world as personalities attempted to trademark their styles of yoga. India fought back and said no one owns yoga.

Now the NYT science writer behind the kerfuffle over yoga and injuries has pinned an opinion piece that yoga started as a sex cult so why should we be shocked when yoga leaders stray.

I really disagree with William Broad’s take on this. The issue isn’t yoga’s history or science, it’s about a man taking advantage of women from his position of power. Yoga’s roots as a sex cult or not doesn’t make that excusable.

Banks of the river Ganges in Rishikesh, India. Considered the home of yoga By Sonja Bjelland

Also can’t say I’m a fan of him using a “sex sells” approach to selling his new book, “The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards.”

The comments this got when the NYT put it on their India Ink blog are just exceptional. They range from some accusing the column of being Calvinist and Christian ideologies frowning upon Eastern traditions to questioning the point.

Yoga as a philosophy and meditation practice does go back some 5,000 years making it hard to pinpoint specifics. Indian culture also tends toward accepted history vs. facts making it more difficult for researchers to nail down what we in the West view as the “truth.”

But is it even from India.

Chicago yoga teacher Asar Hapi started studying poses off of Egyptian hieroglyphics some 30 years ago.

“We essentially developed the system from our primary research by deciphering the hieroglyphs and other symbols of ancient Egypt and seeing the connection with yoga. We started the movement now known as Kemetic yoga,” Yiser Ra Hotep, a student of Hapi’s, said in an article in Bermuda’s The Royal Gazette article about his yoga workshop this weekend.

But really, who cares. Yes it’s important to know where you came from. I’ve spoken to enough Eastern religion experts to know that yoga teachers spread a lot of myths and that could be improved.  But can we not accept yoga as it is today as a dynamic activity. That there isn’t “one” yoga and we can all practice how we need to.

Kissing Camels rock formation at Garden of the Gods By Sonja Bjelland

Awhile back a friend posted on Facebook “The process is: Love yourself -> Love other people -> Love that one other ‘special’ someone. If you aren’t happy in your relationships, it’s because you skipped a step.”

Valentine’s Day isn’t just about that loving someone special. Because before we do we have to be able to love ourselves.

Without loving ourselves first, we expect other people to fill a void they cannot and then we resent them for it.

So on this Feb. 14, take the time to send some love your way.

Maybe you do that by helping out others with what a few organizations have declared as Generosity Day. They’re encouraging people to leave a larger tip and say “yes” when someone asks for your help, time or attention.

But there’s also plenty of you who are so busy helping others that you fail to help yourself. Today is about loving the one you don’t normally show your love to – be it yourself or others.

It’s not sending yourself flowers, you can always buy yourself some to pretty up your place. Maybe it’s something simple like giving yourself the time to go to a yoga class today. Or maybe it’s deciding to get down to business and buy “The Four Agreements” or ask a friend for the name of their therapist who seems to be doing such a good job. Or maybe signing up for a yoga retreat that specializes in self-regard or self-discovery.

"The longest journey is the journey inward" quoted at the Bear Creek Park sculpture By Sonja Bjelland

The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies has several of these throughout the year in both New York and Costa Rica. For a longer dive into making such changes, Yoga Life has a three-week course on Koh Phangan, Thailand, to jump start the process. No, you don’t usually resolve such things in three weeks.

This can be especially difficult for people with certain backgrounds and coming from different cultures but it  is the basis of yoga. “Namaste” the salutation of certain parts of India, means the divine light in me honors the divine light in you.

In yoga philosophy, we are humbled by God while being able to love ourselves the way we are. Some sections of Christianity have trouble with that because of a basic tenet that humans are unworthy, sin-filled souls.

It was what one American woman at an ashram in India wanted all Westerns to take back with them. That we are all are created in God’s image and worthy of love.

So celebrate this as a day of love for all things – for yourself.

As we’ve been reminded this week, “learning to love yourself, is the greatest love of all.”

A-maze-ing Laughter statues in Vancouver, B.C. By Sonja Bjelland

It’s a brilliant marketing move.

The creators of the movie “Happy” have declared Saturday World Happy Day. In celebration, they are having yoga studios, movie theatres and campuses across the world show the movie.

I had a chance to see this film at The Yoga Barn back in April when I was in Bali and recommend you check it out if there’s a screening near you. It looks at how cultures interpret happiness and what science says makes people happy. There’s even a showing at the Lululemon store here in Colorado Springs so double check because there really could be one near you.

But this marketing effort isn’t just a ploy. It’s doing what the science proves ­– happiness often comes from a connected community, according to this Wall Street Journal article about the movie. It’s not only marketing a movie about being happy, it’s creating happiness as well.

And it’s working, the article said the movie will be screened in 40 countries on six continents thanks to one in Antarctica. The effort is to get people into groups of 5 or more and have them do something outside their comfort zone, both things that science has proven make people happy.

This movie comes at a time when multiple books tout what makes us happy and this course of study is becoming more and more popular. So today I’m listing a few books for you all to study happiness and figure out what you can to do.

There’s no shortage of books on the subject these days so this is just a sampling. If you have a favorite that’s not listed, leave a comment to let everyone know it’s also a good read. And from all that I’ve read, get started now by putting a smile on your face and lower your expectations. Yep, I’m serious.

• The Geography of Bliss by Eric Wiener took a similar trek as the movie in visiting countries that rate at ends of the “happiness scale,” (yes it exists) and finding out why. It’s more in depth than the movie and I appreciate the former NPR foreign correspondent’s wry sense of humor.
• The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky looks at the science of happiness and how we can all apply it to our everyday lives. She’s a professor at the University of California – Riverside, where I used to live. And her name is Sonja. Oh yeah, and she’s quoted extensively in “Happy” the movie.
• The Art of Happiness by His Holiness Dalai Lama, a classic. Really, need I say more. It’s the Dalai Lama talking about happiness. Expert advice for sure.
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin takes all this science and ancient wisdom and puts it to the test. During her studies, she tried all the recommendations on how to be happy and offers practical advice on what worked for her. Her thoughts continue online with regular musings and advice on how to live with more levity.

Warrior II pose by Susan Gill

I know we’re only 10 days in but I had not realized the difficulty of the intention I chose.

Last year, “opportunity” was easier. I took actions to create opportunities – Applied for things, made phone calls, sent emails.

“Possibility” is somewhat more passive. It requires shifting my perspective and I’ve already had to bring myself back it more than once. And it’s only Jan. 10!

I feel like putting a giant poster on my wall stating “possibilities, not problems.” I knew this was going to be a tough one when I started out. This economy and my current situation is not one calling for rose-colored glasses. And that’s not my goal. It’s seeing new ways to tackle the problems I already have because they’re not going to disappear.

To this end, I decided to take Yoga Journal’s 21-day yoga challenge.

In true me fashion, I’m starting it a day late. But I’ll do it one day longer to make up for it.

It’s sort of a yoga retreat at home. After my travels in 2010 and 2011, I kept up an at home yoga practice. But that has waned and this is a little taste of bringing that back. Sort of like how I bought spices in Asia and now cook with them to rekindle those memories.

To help focus my mindset, it’ll be good to have something pushing me to my mat everyday. Especially because Santa brought me an awesome new mat.

Cobra pose By Susan Gill

I never thought I would want yoga to be foisted on me. You know, these dreams that you’re body will tell you when to practice and you’ll just want to.

Yes, that’s true. But then there’s the slacker devil on my shoulder. Or maybe it’s the worker devil sitting there saying “You don’t have time for that today.”

In reality, it’s like writing. If I only wrote when I felt I was ready I’d never meet a deadline. All the greats have a writing schedule. You don’t wait for inspiration to hit, you cultivate it.

So I’m taking the same aim at my yoga practice and hoping that translates into not only a more lasting practice but also a daily reminder of my 2012 intention.

Welcoming 2011 with fireworks on the streets of Berlin, Germany By Sonja Bjelland

Heading into these waning days of 2011 I’ve been thinking about a new intention for 2012.

Last year I came up with this idea after resolutions left me unfulfilled. Well, or just not done. As much as I love lists, I think I accomplished more with my new method.

Often a teacher will set an intention at the beginning of a yoga class or encourage you to.

Popular choices include gratitude, compassion and joy.

Those make equally good yearly intentions. But last year I needed a different focus and set my intention to be opportunity.

There’s a quote sitting on the desk I’m working at for the time being, “Opportunity never arrives, it’s here.”

This intention changed my way of thinking as I kept a look out for opportunities. Keeping it to one word made it simple. New ideas percolated and I leapt when a chance presented itself.

It pushed me so when I saw something that was a good story idea I emailed an editor and on occasion got the job. In this last year that has landed me on NYTimes.com and again in Sailing magazine.

I plan to keep that spirit and add on to it with my 2012 intention: possibility.

Keeping warm with sparklers in Berlin By Sonja Bjelland

Society could pretty much be divided among the people who see problems and those who see possibilities. Many of us fall somewhere in between the two extremes. My Virgo sensibilities put me more on the seeing problems end than seeing possibilities.

But these days I’m trying to change that. Seeing possibilities creates opportunity and we’ll watch where 2012 takes me.

Each year, it’s just one step.

But without setting an intention, you don’t have your shoes on.

So what will yours be?

Feel free to share and keep the discussion going.

Snowy sunset near Heidelberg, German by Sonja Bjelland

By Shirin Parsavand

First things first: I didn’t finish the 108. Not even close. I kept moving for most of the class, but toward the end I wasn’t even attempting the Chaturanga or cobra poses. (For anyone who doesn’t practice yoga, that means I stopped doing anything resembling a pushup.)

I didn’t mind though. I wasn’t aiming for perfection on Sunday, or even seeking to be challenged. I went to the class at a nearby studio to stretch my creaky body and to learn about the practice of 108 sun salutations to greet the solstice.

As this blog’s owner, Sonja Bjelland, explained in June, yoga studios often make an event of performing 108 sun salutations to mark the summer and winter solstices. The number 108 is considered significant in Eastern religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.

To me it seemed counterintuitive to practice yoga vigorously at the start of winter, a season when some yoga instructors say we can benefit from a more calming practice. But any event that honors the change of seasons interests me, because it seems to belong to an ancient time. Christmas may have ties to the solstice, but whether it is celebrated as a religious or secular holiday, the seasonal change itself is seldom the focus in our modern times.

Some people do still observe the winter solstice with traditions handed down through the ages, though. Among them are Iranians and members of the Zoroastrian religion, with roots in ancient Persia, who celebrate Shab-e Yalda on the eve of the solstice.

Winter moon in Illinois by Sonja Bjelland

On that night, friends and family members sit around the korsi, a low table covered in blankets with coals or a heater underneath. They stay up past midnight, telling stories, reciting poetry and eating mixed nuts, pomegranates and watermelon.

Though I’m half-Persian, I’ve never celebrated Shab-e Yalda. But I like the idea of embracing a cold season by gathering where it’s warm and enjoying the last of the summer’s bounty. And by remembering that while winter is just beginning, the nights are about to become a little shorter.

That brings me back to Sunday’s solstice yoga class. Four instructors each led 27 sets of sun salutations, with variations from one set to the next. The room was dimly lit at the start, but after each set, an instructor lit a candle and brightened the lights to mimic the coming of the sun. We moved quickly, but there were restful pauses and new poses to learn. I was surprised at how quickly the two hours went past.

Afterward, I drove off and saw the sun poking out from the clouds and illuminating the yellow leaves on trees along a nearby bike path. I stopped for a short walk to enjoy the midday warmth and watch my long shadow as I moved along the path.

Maybe this year I will stay up until the wee hours of Thursday morning telling stories for Yalda. More likely, I will go to sleep early Wednesday and greet the next day’s sun with a few more sun salutations. Either way, I will remember to notice the subtle changes that winter brings to Southern California, and to enjoy the sun when I can.

Varkala, India By Sonja Bjelland

This last weekend I had the chance to catch up with some old friends.

One reminded me of all the blissed-out wisdom I used to impart from my perch in India. I could take a simple emailed question and turn it into ponderous thoughts on happiness and attachments.

Now I see why people go back to India every year. It’s like a filling station and I need to return to the well.

It’s been more than a year since I left India and eight months since I returned to the States. These past few weeks have been particularly stressful in an American way ­– It’s work stress. Not my traveling stress of making sure I get a train figured out or roll-with-it and it’ll be over soon kind of stress of a chicken bus ride.

Musical service known as aarti in Rishikesh, India By Sonja Bjelland

This is a strong undercurrent of financial worries topped with a dose of deadline pressure wreaking havoc on my body.

I’ve had stories to file to newspapers and magazines and following up with other publications I’m still hoping will pay me. Then I get to see if all this work actually adds up to paying the bills.

It’s a fundamental balance between the opposing beliefs that the world will take you and that you will take on the world. I try to think it’s somewhere in between.

My current weekly yoga classes and attempts at daily meditation and yoga aren’t enough to restore the line of thinking India gave me. Far away from bills and my professional ego, I just sat and wrote.

But we aren’t all meant to escape our daily lives and become hermits even if it’s helpful for a little while. Yoga is about lessons that we bring to this crazy world. It’s easy to beat ourselves up for not following them, human as we are.

Tonight I needed to attend a yoga class for a story assignment. I didn’t even want to go and kept thinking about how I needed to be writing about yoga instead of doing it. Of course I felt better after class, but the writing was waiting for me when I got home.

So how do you retain a kernel of that experience when you leave a yoga retreat or vacation?  Coming back to this space to write helps. It breaks the cycle of whatever else I’m on deadline for and allows/forces me to think about yoga. But I’m looking for more if you’ve got some ideas.

I’d like to think if the same simple questions crossed my email now I’d still hand out some wisdom with a smaller dose of the cynicism and satire that remain part of my personality. But my brain has shifted the longer I’m back in the States. I’m working faster, I’m moving faster. People see me as a bit high strung, if only they’d met me before.