What first bought you to yoga?
A few people had been suggesting I do yoga for about half a year before I walked into the Sioux Falls, South Dakota YMCA in January 2008 and signed up for a membership with the intention of doing yoga several times a week. I had just completed my Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry a few weeks before and was looking for something new to fill the space of that program in my life.

What do you love most about yoga?
I love how yoga has transformed the way I experience life. The practice of yoga has unraveled my story of disability and transformed it into a story of ability one breath at a time. Yoga is the practice that continually brings flexibility to areas where I used to be painfully inflexible.

To explain what I mean by my story of disability, let me back up a few years and a few more years to the time of my birth when my umbilical cord became kinked and I lost some oxygen. As a result of this trauma, I developed a speech impediment and some coordination difficulties.

From these few circumstances, I created a sense of disability at a very young age. However, I forgot that I had created this sense of disability and instead assumed it to be unchangeable fact. My story of my physical disability affected not only my physical being but also my energy level and performance in every other area of life.

The flexibility of yoga has empowered me to create a new daily reality in which I live and breathe the experience of being fully able.

What is your favorite yoga pose and why?
My favorite yoga pose is not an actual physical pose, but the deep abdominal breathing. Understanding how to breathe in this way has helped me transform my life from one of chronic stress and anxiety to one of peace, laughter and celebration.

What do you do to stay inspired or motivated in your own practice?
I’m deeply inspired to practice five to seven times a week because I understand that each yoga class is contributing to my transformation and that my presence in yoga classes empowers my fellow students to realize that gift.

I thank Sujantra, all the gifted teachers and my fellow students for gifting the world the miracle of Pilgrimage of the Heart Yoga!

Jason Freeman is an inspirational speaker and the founder of Heroic Yes! Productions. He’s a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher and a Certified Laughter Life Coach.

Are you passionate about Yoga? Would you like to deepen your practice and be able to teach others?

Please join us for an informative open house for the 2011 Teacher Training Programs.

Come learn more about our teacher training programs. One of them may be perfect for you.

Join us from 12-1pm on Saturday Feb 5th to learn about our 2011 Spring and Summer 200 hour Yoga Alliance Certified Programs.

Meet our teachers and program director and find out how to take your yoga to the next level.

Please email us if you plan on attending.

During my teacher training in early 2007, I was told that the real practice would begin after the training was over. How were we, the students, going to incorporate yoga into our lives in the real world?

As it turned out, for the next two years yoga was my professional life and a bit of personal life as well as I was the manager and a teacher at Pilgrimage. I breathed yoga, both figuratively and literally. I had access to beautiful teachers and classes throughout the day. I would meditate with Sujantra on Tuesday evenings. I had my space, and my practice was a constant friend.

When I started on this 15-month travel journey with my husband Tom, I left that consistency behind.

During travel, I struggled to find my own practice without a studio and without the guidance of an instructor. I had also left my yoga mat in Buenos Aires, and struggled without that tool as well. I would try with a bath towel, or simply on grass, and both left me slipping and sliding. I tried various yoga studios and teachers, and outside of my first two months in Buenos Aires, I struggled to find a teacher and a studio that I connected with, that I believed in. Aside from some breathing exercises, my practice effectively took a break for two months.

And then I visited a friend who asked that we practice on her roof. I unrolled the two camping pads that we had been traveling with, walked up onto her terrace over looking the city of Cordoba, and practiced morning yoga. It felt so good. My body was tight, but it welcomed the movement, and the breath.

Since that morning, I’ve unrolled that trusty camping pad made out of foam, and regained my practice. In the hostels, I’ll practice in the morning in-between my bed and the bathroom. Or I’ll go outside in the chilly mountain air for more connection with nature.

My practice is not that long or in depth. I’ll take about five minutes standing, breathing, and finding my intention. I’ll move slowly, starting with five to ten sun salutations, feeling the connection to my breath and body. Perhaps that will be it, and I’ll join my hands at my heart and say ‘Namaste.’ Other days I’ll continue, playing with balance, twists, backbends, and inversions. I’ll let my body and breath lead the way, not feeling attachment to a length of time or specific asanas.

Even after my two month break, my body still knew the movements. My mind relished the pause. My breath took me deeper. My inner spirit knew the practice as well, and welcomed me back.

You can keep up with Blair’s travels at her blog www.tomandblair.com.

75% off most books in the store. Come find some inspiring literature and bring it home.

Last month, Sujantra was interviewed by North Park News for an article on the studio. Below is the website of North Park News. Click on the article to be brought to a PDF. Enjoy the pictures!

http://north-park-news.com/index.html

Walking into my morning den with a sense of purpose and knowing desire sure to be fulfilled, I, the modern day caffeine addict enters the womb of the green goddess. Uttering a medley coded words, I create the beverage of my desire, to be magically manifested by the speedy, well trained barista. The enthusiastic cadence of  voices surrounding me reveals a morning crowd assured of fulfilling their bodily longings.

In this stylized, post-modern opium den all are equal. Doctor, lawyer, painter and priest: all of us stand at the altar of the liquid. Momentarily satisfied in the knowledge that soon the green mermaid will pour her brew liquid into our veins and brains.

How does this relate to yoga? Yoga teaches us to observe the movement of our thoughts and desires: both physical and mental. In the ability to observe ourselves we stand a chance to become the observer…to become the self: that element of ourselves which transcends our fleeting longings and desires. Find that in your yoga and you will find the flow of joy which is self-effulgent: a joy which depends on nothing other than its own existence for satisfaction.

Hello Everyone!

We’re starting to play with blogs on our site. We’ll have guest blogs from our teachers, as well as Sujantra’s faithful welcome blog each month. We hope everyone is having a beautiful month, and enjoying this winter weather!

Sujantra McKeever
Know Thyself

Starting this Spring, we will begin our annual Teacher Training Program. The entire program lasts eight months and is divided into three phases. You can take any or all of the phases.

The program is designed to be a way for you to explore, in depth, the ancient art of yoga. You will not only experience the joys of yoga practice, but you will also learn to share that joy with family, friends, and the public.

Yoga means union. The union of mind, body, breath, and community.

By exploring yoga, you learn about yourself and others. We are all unique, yet we are all quite similar. The depths to which you know yourself are the depths to which you know others. To know the universe, know thyself.

Join us for the experience of a lifetime!