Our inspiring friend Ka Sundancer interviewed Sofiah a week ago for his Raw Inspiration TV show.  We recommend you check out his site and blog, very well done! 

Thank you Ka for taking the time!

Check out this video made by reporters from San Diego over a year ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKc2lv46uMI

Thanks for the promo Jenny and Krissy, come back and play with us soon!

“Like bamboo, rooted firmly into the ground, reaching directly towards the heavens, and bending with the whim of the wind, the Graceful Warrior roots herself in her own being, cultivates and propels her life force up through her body as she meets the movement of life with skill, grace and beauty.” Sofiah Thom
This Saturday May 8^th, Costa Rica will inaugurate its first female president, Laura Chinchilla Miranda.  So what does this mean? 

This is a huge step. Costa Rica is considered to be a forward thinking nation by Latin American standards, which by the way is a very short measuring stick to begin with. Still, even for the “forward thinkers of a backwards continent” the truth is aside from a few handful of female leaders, this is still a path not many countries decide to go down.  It’s interesting to note that during times of a terrible recession we don’t know when we are going to get out of, an increase in crime like this country has never seen, in stead of turning to the macho man to rescue us we turned to the graceful warrior.  I am curious to see what kind of leader Laura Chinchilla will be.  I know she practices yoga off and on, lately more off than on with the whole craziness of running an election and what not. 
Will she bring the lessons learned on the mat to the presidential office?   Costa Rica is slowly evolving, the current president Arias turned to acupuncture to deal with his asthma and the president elect deals with her stress with yoga classes.   Hopefully this will become a trend.  I happen to know Laura Chinchilla’s yoga instructor and when Laura won the election people asked her, "are you going to be the new minister of yoga?"  This was meant as a joke of course, but how wonderful if there was an actual office in the new government for a yogi!  Just imagine, they can deal with all the "not-so-pura vida" aspects of Costa Rica and turn them into a real pura vida situation! Well, one can only hope…

Laura
 

Dance has always been a part of my life.  Growing up I so very desperately wanted to be a ballerina, I positively adored ballet and everything that had to do with it.  In my mind I was Angelina Ballerina-the clumsy girl who grows up to become a world-class dancer.  I would dream of one day dancing at the Kennedy Center (my family was living in D.C. then).  Later on it was a drill sergeant of a ballet teacher that turned me off.  There really is something to be said of a woman telling 10 year olds that their butt is too big… it really is sad how something as beautiful as ballet can have such a negative impact on young girls.  Luckily I got out of it without an eating disorder, even at 10 the rebel in me was very sure that I was not the one with the problem, she was.  So I quit, but still loved to dance. 
Being a rather shy person, however during my teen years, my dancing stayed confined to my bedroom and my cd player. 
It wasn’t until many years later after practicing yoga that I have rekindled my passion for dance.  It is through the lessons I have learned on my yoga mat, specifically "being present" that have allowed me once again to feel into my own dance.  Through yoga I am learning to accept my body and learn how to move in it in a way that can honor my true essence.  This is what I have learned these past months experiencing the YogaPlay classes.  Yes, I am probably still the clumsy girl, and so help me I was born with out a sense of rhythm and so what? The truth is that I love twirling around!!!I It is the ultimate freedom, to let your body guide you through movement.  Take your own journey, follow your own path, and above all dance like no one is watching!

Laura

The other day we came across this blog on the Yoga Journal’s website that struck resonance with us. The author, Sadie Nardini, talks about how important it is to listen to your body and do what feels right rather than struggle and force yourself into the "right pose". I believe that purpose of yoga is to make you feel good so I wanted to share this blog with you:

"This weekend, I’m leading a three-day Core Strength Immersion in New York City. After writing my post about respecting limitations while still seeking transformation, I decided to make a public statement, not only to the 60 students in the room, but all the future yogis who will watch the Immersion (it’s being filmed): Let your poses be imperfect.

That’s right; I’ve hit a tipping point in my teaching where I am becoming much more interested in what a student can do to be more honestly themself in a pose, and I care much less how straight they can get their front leg in Triangle.

For an instructor who doubles as an anatomy geek, it may seem unusual to hear me say this, yet nothing could be more my style. Symmetry, or perfection as we sometimes think of it (the "perfect" body, relationship, or handstand), is what you get in a office building, with its level surfaces and, straight lines.

Balance, on the other hand, is what nature does, and it’s wild and free, yet comes to find its own equilibrium after all. Think of a river, which meanders here and there but ultimately reaches its source.  

In your yoga poses, and your life–have you been remaining sensitive to your state of balance, or straining for symmetry? If it’s the latter, this may help give you perspective:

There is not one thing in the human body that runs in a straight line. Our bones, blood, and breath all move in a spiral motion. Our nerves, spine, brain, joints, GItract? Not linear either.

Yet so often, we strive to attain linear poses that our bodies are not made to reach. We want to be in alignment in a way that’s healthy and balanced, but it’s easy to let symmetry-seeking creep into the process. The end result can be a hardening of the outer body, layering on more and more  tension as we try to grip and force ourselves into pre-conceived geometry.

Instead, there is a way of balancing this sthira (strength) with sukha (ease). A way to allow our spinning, waving, spiraling selves to soften enough to find the true edge, dissolve areas of tension, and still move forward into what is our unique optimal alignment.

I speak from experience, because I used to be militant about doing every pose "right." In my quest for the perfect body on and off the mat, I developed an eating disorder as well as a ton of yoga-related repetitive stress injuries. Along the way, I did reach my goal of handstand without the wall. What I did not attain, however, was any sort of happiness or joy. Therefore, in my opinion, I wasn’t practicing yoga at all, but dukha, or suffering. A focus on perfection will always circle back to the big D.

Later in life and yoga, I got so sick (literally) of forcing myself into a box, that I began to seek out studios and teachers who advocated mindful, individual adaptation over form. I noticed that most of these teachers were over 40, many of them much older. Their physical asanas were very different than mine, yet the message is so freeing: Take this practice, poses, lessons and all, and make it yours, without apology or regret.

Approaching 40 myself, I can tell you that a relaxation occurs after a certain amount of time struggling and failing to reach absolute symmetry. You see it in the attitudes of certain grandparents, and it shows up in the practices of longtime yogis.  The amazing thing is, once I let go of my quest for the unattainable, many of the poses, like the hovering jump-forward that I could never before master, became available to me.

Yoga, ultimately is a path of personal transformation, not perfection. Reclaiming this aspect of your practice gets you into direct connection with your core, and asks that you express your truth to the world in the way that’s best for you. When we remember that our growth and spiritual awakening happens only to the extent we can get present, get close to our inner nature, and take actions from integrity–none of which have a thing to do with a false ideal of perfection–life becomes wildly, strangely, perfect after all.

Sometimes, I feel like anything not on the the mat is forbidden territory–or "hot lava," as we called it in my childhood. Yet venturing outside the rectangle can be just what you need to find pockets of tension, and then move and breathe to release them."

If this blog inspires you I would recommend trying Sofiah Thom’s class "Bamboo Yoga". It is a class for those who dare to get of their mats and listen to what their body tells them. Bamboo Yoga is a Vinyasa flow fusion class designed to connect you with your breath, body and creative spirit. Please view our schedule for dates and times.