Student Spotlight

Dan Tyler

Dear Marit,

Thanks - as always - for class last night. I came in with a bunch of anxiety and left as a sort of peaceful jell-o. Your encouragement and compassion are important to so many people.

There's a saying in marathon running: "God gave us legs to run 20 miles, then gave us a 26.2-mile race!" It's an incredible truth: I've run five marathons now, and the same phenomenon has happened every time. After about 20 miles, the legs are spent and everything is hurting, and for me all time stands still. What happens next is either immense presence, or infinity - which I've come to understand are one in the same - and a fantastic opportunity to transcend time and bodily pain in favor of an inward journey. Just as you said last night, it all comes down to deciding to stick with it: for 60 seconds or for 60 minutes - just one instant into another. I've evolved emotionally over the past few years as I've become a runner. This past October I ran the Athens Marathon - the 2,500th anniversary of the 'original' marathon - and found that I was able to focus in to an incredible, timeless place, where time and pain seemed to vanish and the present moments became evident. I went on that pilgrimage thinking that perhaps I would be able to somehow connect to that first run so long ago, and discovered that it wasn't about something in the past - but something entirely relevant to the exact present. (Here's a link to my race report)

I give credit to my practice at Inner Fire Yoga for being the single most critical and essential part of all my training for running, triathlon - even the Ironman. I couldn't have done it without Inner Fire Yoga. I've signed up for my second Ironman - here in Madison this fall! What I think will be the most important part of my training - just as we develop in class - will be to set aside preconceptions, inflated egos, and past experiences to approach the race with a joyful and open beginner's mind. Thanks so much for giving me a place to build the foundations for an entirely new and improved life.

Community Spotlight

Dr. Ruddy, Inner Fire Yoga Teacher and Naturopathic Physician

"I have been practicing Yoga quite consistently for about 8 years now. Although my yoga practice began simply as a form of physical therapy to rehab my injured back, it has over time evolved into a Mind-Body discipline that informs just about everything I do in life. In fact, my regular Hot Yoga practice served as the primary means of staying balanced during those very demanding years of being in medical school. It is inconceivable to me now that I would ever have wanted to become a doctor without first becoming a yogi. Yoga teaches us the real path to self-healing, on which every thought and action we commit ultimately comes back to either heal or harm ourselves. My lifelong goal both as a yoga teacher and a Naturopathic Doctor is to help more and more people uncover their true potential for self-healing."

Dr. Ruddy is a national board-certified Naturopathic Doctor who completed his 4-year medical education, including two years of clinical training at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Arizona. His areas of clinical experience include mood/affective disorders, digestive health, rheumatologic/autoimmune conditions, women's and men's health, as well as various chronic health issues such as hypertension, migraine, chronic fatigue and insomnia. Dr. Ruddy's clinical practice is at the Center for Natural Medicine in Middleton, WI, an integrated clinic offering a comprehensive range of nature-centered healing modalities. Please visit www.DrRuddy.com for more info.

Power Yoga Mini-Bootcamp
with Jackie Meacham and Karen Erstad
 

Sunday, March 20, 2011
12:30-3pm 

Start your new year with a new vision and learn the tools to transform your way of being and find a greater degree of happiness, health, and peace in the process.

In this mini-bootcamp, we'll cover Baron Baptiste's Laws of Transformation from his book 40 Days to Personal Revolution, and we'll talk about how these principles can help you manifest the vision you have for you life. Please, bring a pen and paper.

$30 early bird rate
$35 after March 17

Register now for early bird discount.

Back Healing Yoga Workshop
with Ken Kloes
 

Sunday, April 3, 2011
1-3pm

Neck, shoulder and back pain have become an epidemic in our culture. This practical and in-depth 2-hour workshop will specifically address how to practice yoga with low back pain and sciatica. You will also learn how to use your practice to heal and prevent recurrences. As a Certified Forrest Yoga Instructor, Ken Kloes brings a wealth of information and personal experience working with back pain.

$25 early bird rate
$30 after March 30

Register now for early bird discount.

By Joan Bliefernicht, Inner Fire Yoga Teacher

Yamas and Niyamas are the first two limbs of Ashtanga, the eight limb practice of yoga. Yamas are the precepts of spiritual practice. Brahmacarya, one of the five yamas, is often described or interpreted as meaning sexual celibacy.

In the Western spiritual practices we think of celibacy in the strictest terms of total abstinence from sex. In the Catholic church male leaders of the practice, including priests, cardinals, and the pope are required to take vows of strict celibacy. Women who enter into a commitment to become nuns are also required to take this vow for life.

Our society is inundated with sexual imagery and overt sexuality is common and prevalent in our cultural images.

Brahmacarya has been often translated to mean sexual responsibility, among other interpretations. The ancient yogis believed in the moderation of expending the various pranas, or energies. Moderation in all of our yoga practices, including our sexual energies can help us achieve the balance we seek in our yoga path.

Yoga Medical News 
 

Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks

Excerpt:

"Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter."

• Open hip joints, which reduces strain on the knees
• Improve abduction
• Strengthen the lower back while opening hips