.

I have the best job in the world

I’ve been blessed with traveling the world in order to teach people yoga. I realize yoga still carries stereotypes such as granola-loving, uber flexible chant-till-you-drop fanatics, but I’m here to prove those people wrong.

Yoga will change your life

I had a doctor’s appointment this week with a new ENT and he waltzed in after looking at my chart and greeted me with a warm, “namaste!” He continued to tell me how he had practiced yoga for 12 years. Yoga had completely changed and enriched his life. We were fast friends — my dislike of doctors’ offices dissipating as we bonded over breath and neti pots.

Fortunately for me, my visit was to deal with a non-life threatening case of vertigo. I count my lucky stars as I know the endless list of people who deal with consuming disease on a daily basis. This brings me to my dear student, Danelle Frazier Wilson. I first met Danelle at a workshop of mine in Washington D.C. She shone so brightly out of a room of 60 yogis — determined to try everything without any aggression. Always smiling, laughing when she would fall, and getting right back up to try it again. There was such a strong energetic connection to her lust and love of life. I didn’t get her story on this trip but was reconnected with her again as she attended a workshop of mine in Winter Park, Florida.

She was there with her best friend, Angela Preat-Shershen (check in next week for her equally inspiring story) and I fell in love with them all over again. Their joy for yoga was so effusive, I couldn’t help but pull them aside after class and demand their story — and what a story. They both came from extremely severe trauma and disease.

Their knight in shinning armor? Yoga. Breathe. Belief.

I begged them to put their stories down in writing as they both blushed over the idea of penning their experiences. I told them it didn’t matter if they were “writers” — that when you speak your truth — nothing can be wrong. Their stories needed to be shared with the world to help others who are stuck in the dark hoping for a shred of faith.

Off they went, and a week later two beautiful stories popped up in my inbox. They both explained the amazing cathartic release from putting their experiences out into the world. I’m here to share them with you, as you may share them with someone who needs the belief and support in their life to carry on.

When in doubt –breathe

Danelle is healing her lung disease with Yoga

My Lungs and Yoga by Danelle Frazier Wilson

In the summer of 2007, I was diagnosed with a rare disease that had conquered my lungs called Sarcoidosis. I had 40 percent lung capacity and could barely walk without lung pain. The fevers and fatigue kept me on the couch for months in disbelief that I would ever walk briskly, run or have a normal life again. The medications deepened my depression and their stronghold on the other organs within my body. Friends and family wanted to help. All the Sarcoidosis chat rooms were filled with others whose bodies had succumbed to the disease. Their tales were dark and grim, as they were emotionally dying. Activities such as lifting weights, biking and running were out of the question for me as I neither had the strength nor the lung capacity.

A year ago, I entered a yoga studio and laid on a yoga mat faced down in the pose of a child. My chest was heavy and sunk deeply with each breath. My knees ached as I could not find a place of comfort no matter how much I shifted my weight. Those 90 minutes of Vinyasa flow were overwhelming, confusing yet gratifying. Of course, I could not keep up. When the others flowed upward — I was down. When I was down — they were up. My breathing became increasingly out of sync and heavy. Down dog felt like an upside down shimmy as my entire body shook uncontrollably. At the end of this class everyone smiled at me and said I did great. That day was my “birthday.”

Yoga quickly became the answer to have a chance at living and feeling better. Each time I came to class I felt like such a misfit. Physically I could not keep up with the practice. I never had a suitable mat as I always slipped and struggled.

“Surely it was the mat,” I thought, as I was in denial about my mental focus or dhristi (gaze).

My teacher was incredibly encouraging and reinforced that just showing up on my mat each day was one of the greatest things I could do for my mind and physical condition.

Today, I practice a minimum of 3 days a week and attend as many workshops as I can. It has truly become my practice. At times it is full out and I push through what ever my body is feeling. At other times it is restorative.

I listen to my body completely.
I surrender.

None the less, I have learned to mind my mat, set my intention and breathe. My disease is in remission now and my medications are slowly being weaned from my body. My happiest days are after class when my fellow yogis thank me for my ujjayi breathing. I never thought I would see the day when my breath could motivate others.

Danelle began and continues her study of yoga at a Mystic Power Yoga, a Baptiste affiliate studio in Hazleton, PA, owned by Michele Fisher

Article source: Huffington Post

Kathryn is a lover and teacher of yoga by day, a wizard in the kitchen by dinnertime and a professional dog snuggler by night.

She graduated from the University of Virginia with a double degree in English and Drama and then moved to Los Angeles where she trained to be a yoga teacher under the expert eye of Maty Ezraty and Chuck Miller.

She teaches regular Vinyasa Flow at the prestigious Yogaworks in Santa Monica. Featured in Yoga Journal, The New York Times, SELF, C Magazine and E! Entertainment, Kathryn uses her love and deep knowledge of yoga, cooking, health and laughter to inspire and aid a large audience in finding their way back to their true core.

She is the co-founder with Jesse Schein of ‘Poses for Paws,’ yoga events dedicated towards raising money for animal shelters.

Kathryn is a columnist for The Elephant Journal and contributes regularly to Yoga Journal through articles, print and creating their podcasts.

www.kathrynbudig.com

Traditional diets consist mainly of raw plant based foods and weeds.

A healthy diet is a diet with organic whole food like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains and berries.

How much of the food you should cook depends on your body and the season. The raw food movement these days is huge and there are many conflicting facts about living only on raw plant based foods. If you are on a spiritual path you would want to eat more of the raw plant based foods. You would want to take care of your body temple, activate your light and the most suitable fuel is food with a lot of pranic energy, as raw and natural as possible. I have seen that some people do well on raw plant based foods while some tend to fade away with less energy after a while.

Easy absorption is key to digestion of plant based foods

Some foods are perfect for eating raw, like tomatoes, while others, like potatoes and broccoli, are better cooked. Even though you are eating raw plant based foods you need to prepare the food with soaking, grinding, mixing and fermenting so your body really can absorb the nutrients, and that might just be the problem for those people feeling they lack the energy after a while on that particular diet. Generally I always recommend to my clients eating a big part of their diet raw and if they want to go for a diet that consists mainly of raw food they might try it out for a period of time first. Remember when I say raw I include prepared food that has not been heated, like fermented foods. If you decide to follow the seasons you can try eating more raw food during the hot season.

Raw Cacao and Almonds

Too much fat intake while eating raw plant based foods

I know a lot of people who are eating too many nuts and seeds unaware of the fact that nuts and seeds contains high levels of fat. What happens is that people get hungry from not eating enough variation so they snack away on flax seed crackers and cashew nuts all day – wondering why the have so much excess body fat and low energy.

Adding in fruits and vegetables

If you are on the brink of changing to a healthier lifestyle I encourage you to add as much fruits, vegetables and preferably greens to your existing diet as possible. Don´t think about giving anything up yet, just focus on adding in. You will experience what this change will do to you in terms of energy and contentment and you will naturally want to eat more healthy. You will start making the right decisions, choosing greens instead of hamburgers.

Take away:

The key is to add a lot of organic raw plant based foods to every meal. They are rich in fibers, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. An excellent way to get the benefits of the raw vegetables and fruits is juicing. A green juice is like instant life force/prana. Make a green smoothie for breakfast with lots of greens. Add a dash of olive oil, some sea salt, garlic and flax seed. If you like fruit – eat fruit before every meal on an empty stomach – you won´t touch the ground after doing that for a couple of weeks.

We teach about nutrition in our Yoga training programs

Catarina Lacayo, Dr of Naprapathy, Holistic Health Coach and E-RYT 200 Ashtanga Yoga “We believe that by learning about nutrition and implementing the knowledge of bio individuality we can, not only live a healthy life free from diseases, but also gain strength, vitality and clarity for body, mind and spirit. In our destination yoga teacher training programs we focus on serving fresh, organic and locally grown food as well as teaching about nutrition and healthy eating. I am a certified holistic health coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and Edwin is a trained chef with a passion for healthy cooking.”

Contact us

We are happy to welcome you to join one of our yoga teacher trainings or retreats. The centers we work with are carefully selected to suit you when you are visiting us. We also welcome groups of students to our own center in Ostional. Contact us here.

Matthew Remski is not the first to assert that Patanjali’s view of the flesh as “repulsive devolution of consciousness” flies in the face of the current yoga zeitgeist-

– but he is the first audacious enough to “remix” The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, (the closest thing to a canonical text we have in yoga) into a “manifesto for a changing tradition.”

Interweaving ancient wisdom, philosophy, psychology and evolutionary science with personal commentary and reverie, he spins this approximately 4000 year old ascetic manual on the study and practice of yoga into  a post-modern celebration of the flesh.

Sacrilegious? Perhaps. But as Remski points out, Patanjali’s methodology for disconnecting Purusa [consciousness ] from Prakriti (the chains of the body and material world) no longer fits with our current understanding of yoga as “union” – of joining/binding these dualities together.

The Yoga Sutra-s consist of 196 threads (aphorisms or sayings) divided into four parts, and Threads of Yoga is Remski’s “experimental translation” of these threads. Remski reminds us the Sutra-s were believed to have been distilled by Patanjali from the sayings of renunciates “ who at the dawn of urbanization fled their families and social roles to tiny forest ashrams, where, with great austerity, the attempted to tame the unruly and desirous flesh towards their goal of transcendent epiphany.”

But, as Threads of Yoga makes abundantly clear, this philosophy no longer has a place in a newly evolving yoga myths –one in which the flesh is no longer viewed as an obstacle “to the recovery of self-knowledge”- but it’s very source.

And it is this new modus-operandi which Remski so boldly attempts to put into words. He undertakes the weighty task of giving voice to a new yogic paradigm, one in which “The simplest techniques of breathing, spinal elongation, and joint fluidity have given countless flesh-alienated post moderns a renewed sense of vitality, purpose, grounding and connection.”

In this new ethos “consciousness” is not abstract, but “an embodied aspect of human experience”. In modern yoga, Remski writes “we are given a physical culture which rewrites the meaning of the flesh from inside out.”

“As media technology, and hyper-urbanization abstract us from bodily experience, the reach of modern postural yoga has pulled our tissues into the daylight.” We have discovered that the “Flesh is anything but inert or unintelligent. Flesh feels, emotes, surges towards its goals, and even thinks.”

Remski rejects the asceticism at the heart of the sutra-s because, as he sees it, “our suffering is not the result of our connection with the world, our experience of disconnection is suffering. ” And here is the moral crux of it: “ if the pleasure of muscle-skeletal alignment and warmed circulation does not somehow sweeten our interpersonal relationships, lend resilient courage to daily life, and inspire us towards social and ecological justice, we know were missing something. Through modern postural yoga we have remembered that our flesh innately wants to rejoice, connect and serve – and that it does not lie.”

Now isn’t that the truth? Hasn’t Remski hit the nail on the head? I think so. He certainly articulates my evolving yoga ethos.

So why, Remski asks us, has interest in the “ broader literature of yoga paled in the shadow of Paranjali’s austere monolith”? Why do quotations from the Sutra-s “ flash through yoga teacher training manuals and across social media, and under the e-mail signature lines of professional practitioner-teachers?” Does our continued reverence of Patanjali’s text “conceal a hidden wish to console our complex interpersonal suffering through social withdrawal and meditative narcissism? ” …”Do we meditate with Patanjali because empathy is difficult and love is painful?”

Patanjali’s path was lonely to a fault, “encouraging disassociation from place, things and people: hardly what is needed in a culture of disembodied hyper-individualism wrecking havoc on the environment.” The word love is never once mentioned in the sutra-s but Remski reminds us, it is only through compassionate relationship and empathy (not disassociation) that we have a hope of healing the planet or ourselves. Thus Remski revises Patanjali’s original sutra about Sauca (purity) “Seek that purity which leads to disgust for one’s own body and for contact with others” into “Ecology allows you to honor your flesh and the flesh of others.”

Threads of Yoga, Remski makes clear, is a remix of the sutra-s- not a direct translation. The purpose of a ‘remix’ is to “collect the raw beats of the past and brands them, transparently with the pulse of the present”… “My central goal is to “ bring the yoga sutra-s back into relationship with us as yogis, creative readers and closet philosophers”…”In my opinion, grappling with both its fits and its weaknesses will help contemporary yoga practice grow and evolve as a living culture.”

And in answer to the question as to why he chose to rely on the original at all (instead of creating his own brand new philosophy) he responds “I rely on the original because it has been a touchstone of my individuation process”…“I’m enthralled by the old text itself, and it’s aura, by dozens of previous translations and commentaries, fragments of oral tradition I have heard through the years, a thousand conversations with colleagues and strangers, vast cultural and historical divides, the new forests of contemporary psychology and neuroscience, and the strange, luminous fruit of my own practice.”

So I applaud Remski’s audacity.  He replaces Patanjali’s outmoded ideal of disembodied transcendence with a new vision of sacred embodiment – and he manages to do so without throwing the baby out the bathwater. He writes, “Patanjali-s relentless focus upon the structural problems of consciousness remains the root yoga concern, and this unwavering gaze will continue to inspire generations” …“but it is Patanjali’s close and precise attention that I wish to translate here, while leaving his metaphysics and asceticism behind”.

By using the sutra’s as a touchstone Remki starkly illustrates just how far modern yoga has strayed from its parent traditions, and he offers us an alternative speculation within a far different social philosophical context . “A context in which renunciate withdrawal will not heal our interpersonal pain nor speak to our social diseases. A context in which we desperately need to be reminded of our embodiment, and grounded in ecological awareness. A context in which the magic of bodily pleasure that got us practicing in the first place becomes the basis for reaching out with love into the world that made us, has always held us, and which we never wish to leave.’”

 Threads of Yoga seeks to “re-locate the mystical in the material” and in this project I think he succeeds. Because in the end what I enjoyed most about Remski’s book was not the visionary thinking or critical analysis but his poetic reveries on the nature of “embodiment” itself. Consider this translation from Part Three of the Sutra-s, The Book of Wonders:

“The freed flesh pulses through the facets of beauty, grace and glowing strength. When you see how the sense organs work, weave you together and commit you to the world, they become gateways of pleasure. These gateways can also encourage the exploration of internal worlds at the speed of light.”

And for Remski this is Samadhi – the transcendent moment – made meaningful by everyday immanence.

(pause)

“You begin to lengthen a muscle. At the first pulse of pleasure it takes the remains and lengthens itself. Your breath seeps into a forgotten place. A limb straightens. A network of unseen contractions disengages. Flesh and thought soften to neutral. Thought pauses its forward rush, and flesh reverses it retreat….this is the only life you know, and it fills you to overflowing. You live your life, yoga happens to you.”

Article source: bodydivineyoga.wordpress.com

Danielle Prohom Olson Yoga Instructor/Filmmaker, writer Body Divine Yoga – Kitchen Sink Entertainment Inc. bodydivineyoga.wordpress.com

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Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

                     by Charles Johnston

Yoga produces creativity

I am a creator. When the creation is manifested and established my mind starts to come up with new ideas.  Most of the time I can not keep up the pace but now and again something important rises (might turn in to an obsession) that slows me down. Like the idea I had to move to Nicaragua and provide the “yoga starving” Nicaraguans with some real Yoga.

This creator mood has been” me” since I was a child, and it is bigger than me and even though it seems crazy I do what I have to do to find a solution to a problem nobody else have ever  thought about. The word obsession comes to my mind, but it sound so negative, this feels more like a divine force. It is sometimes disorganized and sometime pretty sharp. My  intuition gave me both red and green when I started to think about moving to Nicaragua but I felt that I had to go, no matter what, even though, to be honest with you, the red light was suspiciously strong.

Shiny happy people…

I had the idea one day, that picture in my head, of a yoga community, on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. Ecological farming, houses in terraces along the mountain side. happy people, horses and wild animals. Yoga and Love! – We have to do it, I thought – it is in our reach.

We gave up everything

The only way to figure out if it works is to go for it. Edwin, my husband,was a little hard to persuade, now I can understand why but at the time I could not understand why not.  He liked Stockholm, after all – it is the most bad ass town ever. But for me, born and raised in the town on water I needed an adventure. And adventures I  got plenty off.

Another one bites the dust

Unfortunately non of our grand plans worked. Few people where interested in coming to Nicaragua for yoga back in 2009, it is still slow. We spent all our money on a water system on the farm and had all our equipment stolen. When we started a yoga school in Managua we had the misfortune off trusting some really low class people with bad moral and the school never was more than a pathetic attempt to do something. We learned how to bite the dust and get back up.

We failed. We where in a vicious circle  simple stupid minds and “you got to be kidding me” bureaucracy. At some points in your life you are more grateful for your yoga practice. This was one of those times.

The turn around

Four years have past since we came and I feel that the time has finally come for Nicaragua to be a spot on the map for adventurers and yogis.  There is so much for people to learn and experience here. We are here because we had that intuitive knowledge that by providing a space here, a sanctuary for people to come and explore themselves and the nature around them they can heal. Heal and bring light, happiness and inspiration to the world. Hallelujah!

We believe that by practicing yoga, on and off the mat, in this beautiful country, in the astoundingly beautiful nature depth, clarity and meaning will be added to your life. Namaste!

Contact us

We are happy to welcome you to join one of our yoga teacher trainings or retreats. The centers we work with are carefully selected to suit you when you are visiting us. We also welcome groups of students to our own center in Ostional. Contact us here.Read more about us here.

This week´s article, by Matt Cooke,  is short but wow! So important and concentrated. In this text you find what is stopping you from living in your full power.  When our yoga practice grows we uncover the truth about what is keeping us stuck. Seeing our selves, something we can only do when we are in the present moment, is the first step to liberation and happiness. Enjoy the post

Catarina Lacayo

Director It´s Yoga Nica

The mind states or hindrances are a set of Buddhist concepts that deal with what our minds are doing when we aren’t showing up in the moment. These mind states are what pull us from our present experience, and create suffering. Luckily for us, early Buddhists were also brilliant in coming up with a cure for each of the fluctuations of the mind.

Desire

Want, lust, greed, clinging, attachment, addiction, neediness or lack, pleasure sense experiences, or daydreaming about a friend or colleague. Desire can occur anytime we start to envision a “better” future, which is great for goal-setting, but maybe not right when it detracts from our moment-to-moment experience.

Cure: Commitment and holding to what is presently there. Recommitting to it with affirmations, or a personal creed you read daily to remind you of your value system.

Aversion

Anger, boredom, negativity, judgment, fear, repulsion, hatred, ill-will, wanting it to be different, planning-mind. Byron Katie says, “When I argue with reality, I lose – but only 100% of the time.”

Cure: Generate loving thoughts for what you find an aversion for. It will feel phony at first, because it is! But continue to breath, relax, feel, watch, and allow.

Cure 2: Look at how you can “co-create” with the moment, taking what you are given. Make the moment saucy, given the cards you are dealt.

Sloth/Torpor

Sloth is probably one of the more common mind states in a society where we are constantly inundated with flashing pictures, voices, smells, and action all around. It zaps energy, and leaves us tired, mentally scattered, and usually feeling like a blob on the couch with a favorite sweet or salty snack.

Cure: One-pointed concentration. By concentrating, you are shoring up your scattered resources of energy to focus on your moment-to-moment experience and all the wonderful things happening around you.

Restlessness

When we can’t sit still, worry, get anxious, make something out of nothing, fret, regret, grieve or ruminate. Depressants and alcohol only mask these symptoms, and throw ice cubes in the boiling water, rather than turning off the burner.

Cure: Instead, find determination by lengthening the inhale and exhale, and softening the jaw. As Dale Carnegie says, “Relax in odd moments. Let your body go limp like an old sock.” Is now a good time for a savasana break?

Doubt

Creating the most suffering of the mind states is doubt. This is also the hardest mind state to notice, because it can be easy to believe, and the hardest to move out of. Doubt can range from our insecurities, regrets, making ourselves or our experience wrong.

Cure: Sustain your attention in the heat of the moment, cultivate confidence and take massive action when you are struck with inspiration.

The Limbic System

Researchers from the University of Toronto, Zindel Segal and Adam Anderson, are finding that internal awareness such as tuning into the breath, turns off the frontal cortex, or the mental chatter part of the brain where the mind states fester, and moves to our more ancient brain, the limbic system, where we feel emotion and physical awareness.

Yoga and other contemplative practices move us towards slowing down the fluctuations of the mind. These cures also give us greater reward by challenging the nervous system and brain to grow, by mentally doing what might not be the easiest or most convenient shift of thinking in that moment.

Action

Maybe one or all of these resonate for you. Over the next 24 hours, see which mind state your mind floats to most. Do this by noticing the thoughts that come up by labeling the mind state, and let the thought float on past the screen of your consciousness. Journal about why you tend to shift towards a particular mind state more than others or the moment you’re in. Then focus on one way you can fit its cure into your lifestyle, leading to more productivity and moment-to-moment happiness.

Article source: www.MyYogaOnline.com

Matt Cooke is a creative yoga warrior from Wisconsin, US.

He believes yoga can be a catalyst from creativity and incubating new ideas. Once we embody our highest selves the work can just flood forth through our mind.

Matt gets giddy about reminding others and himself what we already know about being happy as creators, making vitally alive products and art. Yoga is the sweet dark chocolate twist in your zesty creative endevours. Namaste

Meet Matt at: creativewarrioryoga.com

It´s Yoga

It´s Yoga Nicaragua offers Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Trainings on different location on the Pacific Coast in Nicaragua.

See our next yoga teacher training here.

The Mission

Our mission is to share the love of the yoga  practice and we challenge our yoga students to participate and support our local community projects here in Nicaragua with different activities.

Watch the video.What makes a yoga teacher training in Nicaragua different?

We are proud to feature Maggie Franz, a yoga teacher from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She took her level one yoga teacher training  in Mexico, 2012,  and in this article she writes about what a life changing experience this was for her.

It´s Yoga Nica offers destination teacher training packages at reasonable prices on varies location on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. Make this year a transformational year and attend a yoga teacher training abroad. Read about some of the excitements and life changers you can expect during your destination teacher training.

Enjoy the post!

Namaste

Catarina Lacayo

Director It´s Yoga Nica

Sharing your love for yoga

When you fall in love with yoga, one of the first things that you’ll notice is an intense desire to share yoga with others. There are lots of ways to do this. Of course you’ll talk to your friends about it and drag them along with you to classes. Some of us start websites or blogs, but one of the best ways to share yoga is by becoming an instructor. There are two types of training that you can choose from: local or destination trainings. Each type of teacher training has its strengths. Destination teacher training however has been a life changing experience for me.

Destination yoga teacher trainings around the world

Maya Tulum was the site of my teacher training but there are trainings all over the United States, South and Central America as well as the Caribbean, as well as India and other places around the world. What makes these trainings great, aside from the breathtaking scenery, is that they are immersive. You literally eat, sleep, breathe and practice yoga and the philosophy around it for the entirety of the training. Being in a new environment also removes the outside distractions and worry and allows the trainee to completely focus on the experience. The ongoing focus on yoga, teaching and the yoga lifestyle allows for ongoing meditation and exploration rather than attending a training for a day and then waiting a few days to a week to come back to it from your busy life.

Entering a holistic world

Many destination teacher trainings have up to four hours of yoga a day along with other activities like meditations, meditative walks and diets. When you attend a yoga retreat or teacher training you are entering a holistic world where health in mind, body and spirit is the goal. The yoga detoxifies your body while meditation and reflection work to heal your mind and spirit as well. In addition to yoga, the diet works to detox the body. Often the diet is veganand is packed full of fruits and veggies that are not only loaded with health benefits but are amazingly delicious too. Coming back from a vegan diet that was also devoid of sugar and white flour, my diet is forever changed as is my life after the training. There is also an opportunity to create lifelong relationships with people that you would probably never come across in your daily life or travels.

You walk a way a changed person – more you than you ever been

Destination teacher trainings are an amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in yoga and learn much about yourself, your life and your practice. They are a great opportunity to focus on yourself, and your personal practice all while learning how to connect with people and share your passion with others. You’ll walk away a changed person. Your body changes. Your thoughts change. Your conversation with yourself changes. You meet amazing people and establish lasting relationships. Your form gets better and your muscles grow stronger. All in all you become more you than you’ve ever been. All teacher trainings are great opportunities to learn and grow, but destination teacher trainings offer a completely different experience. They are absolutely amazing.

Article source: Why I chose a destination teacher training

Maggie Franz

attended her level one teacher training in Maya Tulum, Mexico in November of this past year.

Previous to teaching yoga she has experience both as a middle and high school field hockey coach and children’s ski instructor, as well as experience playing field hockey at the collegiate level.

Maggie is a graduate of Duquesne University in 2010 with a bachelors degree in advertising and public relations.

Over the past three years Maggie has acquired professional experience in her field. With a passion for a healthy active lifestyle, Maggie loves teaching and sharing her loves with others.

Maggie lives and teaches in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Visit Maggie at: www.blackdogasana.com

Check out our next upcoming destination teacher training in Nicaragua here.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu.

When I first saw, I think it was the very first Zeitgeist movie, I was blown away. Somebody finally connected the dots. Things that did not make sense and questions I had were answered. The latest movie from the Zeitgeist group is not exactly new but it is important.

The Zeitgeist  Movement is a global group working to promote a sustainable economic model. (Yes it is all about money). With the best interest for all living creatures on the planet (yes all living creatures, not a few, not only human being but all) before it is too late. Because one day it will be too late.

Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu

Om

Shanti Shanti Shanti

(May all beings everywhere be happy and free and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life contribute to their freedom and happiness.)

Yoga is the solution – obviously

Most of us agree. We need a new world order, a new social and economic organization but who is going to create it? The same mind that created the problem can hardly ever solve it – according to Einstein, he should have known. Therefore we need to change our minds, our negative, destructive mental patterns.

It is obvious that through the ancient practice of yoga and meditation we transcend our physical limitations and we evolve into our true nature, capable of solving the problems we deal with and create sustainable solutions that are in the best interest of everyone. We tap into our creative and compassionate nature, which is exactly what we need.

If you haven´t watched it – you simply need to – now

In this video, the third made by the Zeitgeist movement, we are presented with an analysis of the rules of today´s economic game and a possible solution for sustainability on earth.

The problem with humanity today is that we, as humans, are trying to exist separately from nature. When we study the universal laws of nature we understand human beings and we understand why it is impossible to continue in the way we are living. We understand why it is that we cannot operate apart from these universal natural laws.

In today’s economy, which has its roots in ancient insanity, we are profiting from problem creation, which means that profits are generated from wars, crimes, cancers and other major problems. There are no monetary benefit from eliminating any problems. Crimes and terrorism are good for the economy. Read that again! We are made to believe that most of our human conditions (diseases, behaviors, etc.) are genetic but the real truth is that there is no such thing as a genetically derived disease or condition. Just this basic knowledge brings a new awakening. There is absolutely nothing wrong with us!

Project Earth in The Zeitgeist Movement

Fortunately we get to see a solution to the problem we are enduring right now. The Zeitgeist Movement presents an economic model with an earth resource management system that bringsglobal abundance to all people all over the planet. It is a resource based economy, a true economy (see an explanation of the “word economy” below) with true sustainability.

It is a fact that more and more people on the planet are waking up today, refusing to live their lifes as a modern slaves. Go back to the top of the page and read the opening quote once more. You, as an individual, can make a difference, by watching this video you will gain more clarity and wisdom about things “they” do not want you to know about. By having a regular yoga practice you will grow and see things more clearly and you can be the change yourself.

These are important things you have to act upon, because we are all responsible.

Economy = effectively and conservatively orient the materials for production and distribution of life supportive goods.

P.S Please Share. Namaste. D.S

Crazy Easter – Getaway

We decided to visit our friends at Equilibrio Yoga & Art Retreat this Easter holiday on our way to Ostional. Easter holiday or “holiweek” in Nicaragua is crazy. The biggest and baddest holiday in the year when the national police is working around the clock to prevent people from killing them selves or each other. All Nicaraguans go to the beach and our plan was to escape the crowd with a first stop at Tolla and then continue to Ostional.

We manage to make it safely in the insane traffic until the dirt road in Tolla when our back door suddenly fell off, or sort of, it did not come off completely until we reached Ostional.  No big deal, we chased our luggage that had been scattered along the road and continued to Equilibrio.

James (watch him on the video) greeted us with his friendly smile and told us that Gabriela had swallowed a bee the day before and that she was a little intoxicated from the allergic reaction and the medication. Despite this she had mad a huge lasagna, brave warrior woman spirit as she is, that we all enjoyed for lunch . Fortunately she fully recovered a couple of days later.

Rio Nahualapa

James and Gabriela

James and Gabriela are the creators and owners of  Equilibrio. During the past 10 year they have realized their dream and built an incredible retreat center. I have never seen quiet anything like it. It is located in the forest by the Rio Nahualapa, upstream from the beaches of Popoyo and Guasacate. This is the dream location for yogis, artist and adventurers who are looking for inspiration and adventures. The unique location gives you access to the river, the ecological garden as well as the beaches with an endless list of cool activities from surfing to well diving and slack lining.

John, Edwin, Catarina and Jim

Jim and John

We thought that the retreat was going to be empty, except for us, but in time for lunch two new friends, Jim and John, showed up. It is amazing how many cool people you can expect to meet in Nicaragua. It turned out that both Jim and John where adventurers/yogis/travelers so we had a trillion things to share.

After lunch we took the boat down the river to the beach. James showed us some birds, and at the beach he gave us a crash course in juggling and introduced us to some of his friends.

Catarina testing the yoga floor

How much fun can you have on a day?

The following day we tested as many of the activities we could. Different swings, from the roof and from the river bank into the river. We tested the slack line or tested falling off the slack line to be more correct . We checked out the different yoga and meditation platforms around the center before we exhausted but happy continued our trip to our own beach in Ostional. I kid you not: I have not laughed so much in a long time.

Do you like Equilibrio?

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July 11 – August 3, 2013 Yoga Teacher Training

or

November 4 – 27, 2013, Yoga Teacher Training

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CONTACT ITS YOGA NICARAGUA HERE

Why Nicaragua?

Nicaragua. Land of Lakes and Volcanoes. Country with a poet’s heart. Mountains, oceans, plains, rainforest. A wild, beautiful, yet sometimes misunderstood, paradise for adventurers and seekers of all kinds. Central America’s diamond in the rough. Doing a yoga teacher training anywhere will change your life. But doing your yoga teacher training in Nicaragua will also transform your soul. Nicaragua and its people will welcome you home even if you’ve never been here before.

Now it’s considered one of the safest destinations in Central America, but because of a heavy history Nicaragua has not always been on the top of everyone’s travel list.  It’s abundant natural beauty and the lovely Nica people have turned that perception around in recent years, as is evidenced by Nicaragua’s presence in articles and magazines, including the New York Times. Anyone who has been to Nicaragua will tell you: it’s changed them, and for the better.

In no particular order, here are 10 reasons to come to Nicaragua for your yoga teacher training or next yoga retreat.

1. Its Landscape

Dozens of active volcanoes with their own ecosystems. Enormous lakes. The biggest, Lake Nicaragua, the twentieth-largest lake in the world, is so big, it even has its own fresh water sharks! There are amazing lagoons, rain forests, cloud forests and an abundance of plant and animal species. Nicaragua contains 7% of the world’s biodiversity and has the second largest rain forest on the American continent. Being this close to such spectacular nature and away from crowded cities and towns will clear the way for your stay at the yoga retreat to bring you to a new level of seeing, listening, learning and being.

2. The Climate

What can be said about the climate in Nicaragua but perfecto?! Whether you come in invierno or verano, Nica’s climate is a tropical climate which makes it a year-around tourist destination. In winter, invierno, otherwise known as the rainy season, the rain you’ll see on the Pacific Coast is minimal and only adds to the lushness of the forest canopy. In the dry season it’s nothing but blue skies and sun for as far as the eye can see.

3. Its Proximity

Nicaragua’s location, between the Pacific and the Atlantic [or Caribbean] coasts, in the heart of Central America, makes for easy access for travelers from the rest of the American continent. The capital, Managua, is only about two and a half hours by air from Houston or Miami.

4. The Food

Nicaragua’s delicious traditional cuisine is abundant with fresh tropical fruits and vegetables. On the Coasts, you can count on some of the freshest fish you’ve ever had prepared simply and deliciously. Many of the farmers in Nicaragua do not use harmful pesticides which means the food is free from toxins that we might normally worry about. And the coffee? We think, and you might agree, it’s some of the best in the world.

5. Its History

In Nicaragua, cities like Léon and Granada boast grand colonial architecture. Granada was founded 1524 by Francisco Hernendez de Cardoba and was the first European city in the Americas. A place for poets even today, a visit to Granada alone is worth the trip to Nicaragua. Léon was the city of the revolutionaries, evidence of which you’ll see today in some of the amazing murals and artwork that you pass on nearly every city block.

6. The Surf

Nicaragua is a surfer’s paradise with miles of unspoiled Pacific coastline and amazing surf spots not yet discovered by the masses. Even for newbies, everywhere you go, there will be someone on hand to teach you how to ride your first wave, an experience that quickly becomes a habit. Many of the yoga retreat centers in Nicaragua also offer surfing instruction and inside scoop on which are the beaches not to miss.

7. The “Nicas”

In Nicaragua, you won’t find all-inclusive, five-star, expensive chain resorts like in the neighboring countries. In Nicaragua, most hotels and tourist activities are managed by the Nicaraguans themselves or people who came to Nicaragua, fell in love and stayed. You get more than the value of the room for your dollars – you get a community of people who are happy to help and proud to show you their beautiful Nicaragua, always making sure you enjoy your stay. For a country of people who have never really had it easy, the Nicas know how to live in the present moment, and cherish it for everything it offers.

8. The Absence of Worry

Nicaragua is one of the safest countries in Latin America. Period. Common sense prevails when traveling – the same common sense one would use in most cities and countries around the world, or where ever we call home.

9. The Poets

Nicaragua loves its poets who have had a great and lasting impact on modern poetry and literature. The most important national poet, Rubén Darío, is known as the creator of modernism. He is interred in the great Cathedral in Léon. Other world-famous Nicaraguan poets and writers include Ernesto Cardenal, priest and former culture minister in Nicaragua, and Alfonso Cortez, who wrote his poems while he was suffering from delirium and chained to the iron bars of his bedroom window!

10. You

Nicaragua is an interesting place that draws interesting people. Travelers like you, who want something off the well-worn path, choose Nicaragua. You will meet people from all over the world who are, like you, looking for adventure and experiences that will change your life by enriching it.

Seize this moment and make Nicaragua the destination for your yoga teacher training or retreat. See yourself here.

Its Yoga Nicaragua

CHECK OUR NEXT YOGA TEACHER TRAINING HERE