Desert Horse Yoga

"Are ya grippin'?"

2011-06-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

There it is again, that right tensor fascia latae, outer right hip. Beyond holding, more like muscle holding to bone for dear life, gripping as tightly as if I was hanging off the side of a mountain instead of sipping a cup of morning coffee.

And that's just the physical part of it. Besides which, that gripping wouldn't be so useful on the side of the mountain either.

In the yoga class, in the studio and with the horses, we've been exploring this concept of gripping. Gripping muscle to bone, jawbone clenching-throat closing gripping of the breath, mind gripping to thoughts, gripping to our self-stories.

Are you gripping that Trikonasana, or are you holding Trikonasana? What's the difference? Check with your breath, smooth,uniform, even, subtle?

Gripping is 'just' a samskara, a habit. It's not a particularly useful habit, so is one worthy of developing your awareness around, and then choosing to exhale softly instead of grip tightly.

Are ya grippin?

Blog for Change: When it's time to say goodbye

2011-01-15T10:46:00.001-08:00

One of the inevitabilities of sharing your life with animals is loss. When I first started this blog, it was to help me process the loss of our Gilly. Right around that time, my friends, Sharon and Seth, started their service blog, Letters to Pushkin. Pushkin was Sharon's beloved beagle, who inspired her to go to law school to specialize in animal rights and continues to inspire her actions.

Also at around the same time, my friend, Kristine, lost her greyhound, Tiny Girl. We processed our grief together with the aid of her horse, Bianca. Kristine provides a service that is unique in her role as a celebrant. She helps people celebrate the transitions in their lives through Sweetgrass Ceremonies. One service she provides is helping people with the loss of their beloved animal companions through such practical knowledge as where you can find a place to cremate your friend's remains, and helping with ceremonies to celebrate their lives.

When you lose your beloved friend, remember:
www.letterstopushkin.com
www.sweetgrassceremonies.com.

Yoga of the psoas muscle on horseback

2011-01-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

At Desert Horse Yoga, and Desert Horse Equestrian Services, we spend a great deal of time exploring psoas function on multiple levels. As a yoga teacher, I've been working with ways to gently release the psoas on the mat so that when we tone the bone and muscle, we begin from a place of release rather than tension.

This week has been gentle psoas release work in all of the yoga classes that I teach. This work is the best work I can think of to help people to relieve the trauma of our community due to the shooting resulting in death and injury at a Tucson shopping center.

Psoas release work applies the pancamaya model of yoga healing, which views the being from the physical, energetic, mental, personality, and emotional perspectives. I apply this yoga model for healing with focus on the psoas muscle.

The psoas muscle is your primary muscle of your deepest core, emerging from the transition of the thoracic spine to the lumbar spine to engage with the iliacus muscle of the pelvis, to reach to the lesser trochanter of the femur bones, thus directly connecting the torso to the legs centered by the pelvis. It is also intimate with the diaphragm and the pericardial sac, so is a muscle with a lot of influence.

This intriguing muscle is your filet mignon, literally, and has multiple talents. At the grossest level, the psoas is considered as a hip flexor. However, viewing it as simply a hip flexor loses the nuance of this all important muscle in the fright/flight/freeze response when exposed to trauma or potential trauma. See the work of David Bercelli for information on the function of the psoas muscle in trauma release work. And, the work of Liz Koch goes deep into the subtle actions of the psoas.

The same nuance that makes this tender muscle so influential in the releasing of trauma is also what helps us to our sthira sukha asana (stable, comfortable posture) whether that posture be standing, seated in a chair, in movement, on horseback, on the bike, on the rock wall, or at rest.

As a horse-assisted yoga teacher, it's natural to take the step of putting the person on the horse and practice the same release strategies on horseback. It's easier to feel the release on horseback, because the horse gives you more feedback than the floor.

Your legs can actually drape around the barrel of the horse, and your pelvis is supported by the horse. The connection with the horse helps set up a kind of feedback loop so that the horse can also release their own psoas. This is what happened today with Gary, after our horse yoga class. I got on board (bareback) and realized that my right psoas felt a little crunchy. I exhaled release and then Gary's right shoulder and leg began to shake a little, and continued for a few more breaths. I could feel him release under me, and we went off to practice his least favorite activity - backing. More on that another time.

Namaste.

And a happy new year....

2011-01-01T10:30:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from those of us at Desert Horse Yoga

2010-12-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

Pranayama Practice...with a horse

2010-12-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

I rest my hands lightly on Peanut's right flank. The touch is light, so light as to tickle for many horses, but not for Peanut. I watch and feel his breath, being with him in the expansion and contraction of his breath. Together, we lengthen our exhales, just a little. Together we deepen the exhale through deeper abdominal contraction, just a little.

I notice that I am holding a bit in the back of my upper thighs, so I exhale that out. Peanut releases his flank a little more. I notice I have some tightness in the space between my upper scapulae and spinal column. Today, this isn't mine.

I'm reminded of the work we've been doing in our yoga classes these last few weeks, as we practice our asana and pranayama (postures and breath work). In pranayama as taught by the Desikachars, which you can read about in the Heart of Yoga, we inhale to fill the upper, middle, and lower chest and then the abdomen. We exhale from the abdomen, through lower, middle, upper chest. This is full diaphragmatic chest breathing, engaging abdominal contraction. It's helpful to exhale first for many, and then experience the in-flow of the inhale.

In a horse, the withers are well defined, and a good place to observe, feel, and practice filling the torso with breath. (That's a picture of Gary, showing the location of the withers. ) This is also an area in horses, like humans, that can get constrained and breathwork is one of the best ways to address this constraint.

Peanut is not expanding very much in this area today. (Peanut is a horse known to be a bit of a breath-holder.) So, once again, I use that tickle touch. I place the fingers of my right hand in the hollow below is left wither, and the fingers of my left hand stay in his flank area, and then we commence to breathe together in that long, slow deliberate way. Peanut begins to release through his mouth, (long tongue in a slow lick and chew), draws in a deep breath, and relaxes completely. (One thing about a male horse, you know when he's totally relaxed, because he'll drop his penis.)

Peanut has been a great yoga teacher for me these last few days. For one thing, he's the kind of horse you would never guess would appreciate a tickle touch. He's big and energetic, and is, well, quirky at times. He's also a horse that likes you to be either up close and personal, or, well, way far away. We've had to work through some of these spatial issues, and now I'm happy to be invited into his space. Namaste, Peanut!

And here are WalkAbout Pictures...

2010-10-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yoga with horses is certainly not about being on the mat. At least, not on the physical mat. It's more about taking the yoga of movement following breath into relationship with other beings. Gary gently encourages his students to walk with him - from the hip and stacking the bones.

Horse Yoga Walkabout: Walk and stack

2010-08-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

There will be pictures.

In the meantime, we learned to walk from our four-legged horse yoga teacher today. And walk, and walk, and walk. Walk and stack, walk and stack.

Stack refers to our tadasana (mountain pose) yoga posture. Out in the round pen, we find our feet and we practice stacking our bones and feeling our bone stack as we hold the weight of our head (all 13 pounds of it). Gary isn't giving us a lot of time today as he does one of his famous drive-bys. He walks into our midst, which we take as encouragement to join him in movement.

So off we go, bringing awareness to the front of our hip joints and the base of the big toe, and we inhale or exhale and walk off. One of our friends is having some knee issues, so we set her up in a rhythm of walking for four breaths, stop and stack, first one leg and then the other, and walk off again.

Another of our friends keeps looking downward, so her walk stiffens up, so Gary does a gentle drive by and gives her a little bump.

Another friend is walking in a manner that is balanced, but her steps seem a little short to me. I ask her to walk it out more boldly and she swings into action and Gary falls in line right behind her. He licks and chews (translation: "I like it.") As they move, I have a little chat with our other friends.

It's time to learn the "Don't f&#* with me walk." Look straight ahead, take a wide stance, walk wide-hipped, with intention. (Many women walk with a narrow half-moon kind of walk, which is hard on the hip and knee, and stand with their knees locked, so we are getting into changing these habits with Walkabout.) Gary begin to follow this brisk and bold walk, licks and chews.

We take a break in the shade as we've been walking for over 30 minutes now. One of our friends mentions how as she walks, she has a tendency to track in the direction of whoever she's walking with, so it becomes practice time. Two at a time, walk in a line together. They set off, Gary follows and then it's 3 abreast - two humans and a horse.

The two humans take a break, the other human steps up, starts walking serpentines and figure-8's, Gary gets in line, leading by following. Then it's another human and then another, and it's a line dance in the round pen, walking with grace, intention, and the sheer joy of walking.

Hatha yoga on horseback

2010-08-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Put away any expectation of going riding, at least for now.

From the back of your horse, let go of any preconceived notion of riding alignment, just let the legs drape, soften, be supported by the barrel of your horse. Feel your breath, feel the breathing of your horse through your inner leg. Observe your thoughts. Notice how you feel, your emotion of the moment.

"Good horse training is boring to watch (unless you understand what you are seeing)".

I wish I could remember the exact quote by Ron Meredith of Meredith Manor but that's the essence of the quote. In lieu of having that exact quote at hand, check out the training articles over at the Meredith Manor website, or any of the articles over at Desert Horse Equestrian. Not flashy, just sound application of logic with compassion when it comes to working and playing with your horse. Being in this yoga of relationship with a horse, whether you are riding or being with the horse on the ground, doesn't look like much to the casual observer.

In yoga with your horse, we are including ourselves in this logic with compassion as means to explore what it means to be human, what it means to be human in relationship with horse.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali tell us that our posture should be 'sthira sukha' - stable and comfortable. So our yoga on horseback is finding that balance where both the rider and the horse are sthira sukha.

A good place to start is by releasing the agenda of riding, at least for awhile, and replacing it with the objective of simply finding stability and comfort while on the back of the horse. No place to go, nothing to do, but to feel your sit bones connecting with the back of your horse. From here, you can notice if there are areas of tension in thighs, back, shoulder, neck, jaw. Whose? Either. Engage your inner calf - what happens? Enter in to the exploration in a spirit of play, just for awhile.

Sure, we can do some pretty interesting and helpful hatha yoga postures while on our horse, but just as you would do in a yoga class, we start with finding out just where we are.

Sharing Prosperity Meditation

2010-07-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

Exhale.

Inhale deeply and hold as you mentally recite:
"I am Bountiful, I am Blissful, I am Beautiful."

Exhale completely and hold the pause, mentally recite:
"Excel, Excel, Fearless."

Do for 3 minutes, 3 or 4 or more times a day.
Do for 40 days.

Notice if any of the words come hard for you. Just notice that, and just keep doing the meditation.

Bountiful, Beautiful Booty: Yoga Butt, Horse Wisdom Style

2010-06-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

Meet Ms. B, our Yoga with Horse teacher for today.

Today our Yoga with Horses group moves into our Windhorse Warrior Vinyasa with a bit of a difference - moving only on the exhale. This should help us to moderate our internal heat, and we'll be playing with this more this summer. As we practice, we allow ourselves to enter into the gestalt of the herd, which horse or horses capture our attention, enters into our mind's eye?

Today it's the grey horses. Denali behind us, Bianca to the east, Zeus in front, Cherokee to the west. Bianca is one of the horses in our shared herd, so she'll be our teacher today.

Ms.B walks regally with me to the round pen, engaged and curious. I've worked with Bianca and her person before, so this isn't new, but this is the first time that she is taking on the teacher role in our yoga class. What comes up for us is her mare energy, and how different it is to work with this energy compared to the energy of 'the boys' who are our usual teachers. We are quickly drawn into those non-logical dimensions of the vjnanamaya and anandamaya, the deep mind and emotions, so words describing the difference in the energy come difficult for this articulate group.

Round. Maternal. Softer, yet edgier. Sharp, but round. Ms. B has a big, round, muscular and fluid set of hindquarters on her, and some of our pet names for her tend to involve 'big booty'.

Into the pen where we practice our 'beach grrl' walk with Bianca showing us how to really move those hips. Sacrum flows forward, hips open, sway, ground. It's a soft walk with determination underneath. We have places to go - inward.

Then we take a little up close time with Ms. B and that bountiful, beautiful booty. She stands quietly as we connect with that strength and softness with the palms of our hands. Ah ha! Sthira Sukha, that steady comfort that is the only goal of asana practice, right here, right now.

Her eyes soften as she graciously accepts our attentions. We finish with a short mandala meditation. We end, bowing to her with namaste. The White Queen is ready to back and munch some hay.

Namaste, Ms. B. Namaste.

Yoga with Horses, look closely

2010-04-25T15:57:00.001-07:00

It's hard sometimes, when people ask me about what yoga with horses is all about.

If you look closely at these pictures of my friends and Gary's "students", you might be able to see the difference that being with Gary, the horse teacher, brings into the interactions. Compare what's happening in the top photo to the bottom photo.

So, one way to consider yoga with horses is that yoga with horses is the experience of that movement from the set of relationships seen in the top photo to what is seen in the lower photo.

What do you see?

I'd love to hear your comments.

Virabhadrasana: Warrior Spirit

2010-03-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

I am your Warrior Spirit
name me
honor me

I am here
present
aware

I am in the world
of the world
for the world

I see with clarity
I act with love

red as Blood
bright as Sun
black as Night
light as Moon

I am your Warrior Spirit
name me
honor me

I found this old poem while working on clearing my studio. It was in a handout I used way back when I did a Warrior Woman workshop as part of the Women and Spirituality conference that takes place in Mankato, Minnesota.

I love warrior poses. Nearly all classes that I teach include at least one warrior vinyasa variation, from ultra gentle to my more vigorous Windhorse vinyasa classes.

My Warrior Spirit Name? I have several, including Walks with Horses and Jeneralissimo. What's yours?

(Please use the comment feature to reply).

Ooozing into Shoulder Stand

2010-03-06T14:58:00.001-08:00

Today we had a small class at Lyric, which gave us the opportunity to move mindfully into shoulder stand. I was inspired by a video of Rama Vernon, who demonstrates how to get into shoulder stand over a deliciously long period of time.

We used the wall, and began with viparita korani, legs up the wall pose. I had the students organize externally at the center of their heels to their 'sit bones', and then sensing an energetic 'draw' down from the heels into the sit bones, while feeling an opening in the front of their hip joints, where the legs meet the pelvis.

We then shifted into neutral post, to take the mind deep into the central core - the spinal column and muscles in close to the spinal column, the psoas, and the little 'braiding' muscles of the erector spinae and the multifidae. I think of them as braiding muscles.

Then back to legs up the wall, organizing the physical alignment, and the energetic alignment. From there, letting the mind connect in to the spine and start braiding, slowly and deliberately, using the feet against the wall for support.

One student, who loves shoulder stand, hurried a little, and reported some back tension. She caught it, however, so now knows that maybe waiting a little will be more beneficial. The other student however, really took her time to find the ooze. Ahhhhhh.

Long and delicious.

Pay Attention Please! Gary and his Yoga time.

2010-03-02T11:31:00.001-08:00

It's a bit of a muck out at the barn, what with the heavy rains we received in Tucson. I go to the barn after teaching Peaceful Yoga at Yoga House, so I'm usually in a teaching and helping frame of mind and have an idea of what I would like to do. Today my thoughts were on practicing our Walks with Horses movements and postures in preparation for offering this as a regular yoga class.

The horses teach me that it's important to be open to the moment, or as I like to say, plan, but don't plan on it.

I got Gary out to groom, and realized it was time for the shedding blade. YAY! Spring is on the way, and this year the wildflowers and waterfalls for Tucson hiking should be awesome. He's been having some neck stiffness (isn't it funny that this month my Focus Yoga class is on neck and shoulders?), C3 on the right side, C5 on the left. We went out to work on neck releasing at the pranic level and through practicing our ground work serpentines. So far, so good.

We stopped to talk to Lisa, but Gary was cranky about that. Usually he's quite happy to hang out while we talk, Lisa was his former owner, and he adores her.

But not today. He chewed on his leadrope, walked forward, and otherwise engaged in rude behavior.

I have some choices here; one is to get on his case for being rude. Another is to just give in and do what he wants. Another is to ask him to back off, and then reward that with getting back to the business at hand. There may be some more, but I chose the latter. Truth is, he was uncomfortable with the status of his neck, we were in the midst of his practice, and, well, maybe I was being rude? Lisa and I both agreed to talk later, and Gary and I went back to his practice.

Each day, something new, something reminded. Thanks, Gary.

Comparative Anatomy, Mirroring - Horses & Humans

2010-02-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

This morning I have been working on my sequencing, physical anatomy, and subtle anatomies for the upcoming Focus Yoga on Neck and Shoulder series at Lyric Yoga. While this series has been in the works for a few months, I've been receiving epiphany after epiphany on this area from our horse teachers.

The picture shows my friends Kristene and Bianca at a session where we worked a bit on shoulders some time ago. If you look closely, you can see how Bianca and I have a similar stance supporting Kristene in accessing her thoracic and cervical spine.

Then, a few weeks ago, I went out to ride Gary, but he was more interested in longeing, which is pretty unusual for him. I could see right away he was 'hanging' from his withers, tight in the shoulder blades and ribcage area, and heavy in the chest.

That same week, at one of our horse-assisted yoga mini-retreats, Gary worked directly with one of our highly intuitive participants, and he encouraged her to walk with him. She (the human) went right into a yoga opening that I usually include in my classes that I call 'sleeping puppet', where we extend and flex the upper spine area - our very own withers. Physically, we are flexing and extending in this area that tends to get pretty stiff and rounded for many of us. Energetically, at the pranic level, we are engaging the prana and udana vayus or you can also think of it as the engaging the heart and throat chakra energy.

It's my experience that when we play with our own bodies in the vicinity of horses (or dogs or cats or ...) the animals pick up on what we are doing and feel it in their own systems. What's good for us is good for them, and what's good for them is good for us, with a few comparative anatomy type of adjustments. It isn't just my experience either, this is an active area for scientific investigation, called mirroring.

So, the humans in our upcoming classes and workshops will benefit from the teachings of Gary the horse, who continues to provide insights into the workings of mind, body, and spirit.

Namaste Gary!

Oh, and the Focus Yoga on Neck and Shoulders class is at Lyric Yoga Tuesdays from 4-5 pm, and the workshop (that I'm doing with Rose Kress) is scheduled for April 24, 2010.

Playing with Intention and Intuition - Horse Teacher Style

2010-02-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

Today was another magical day of horse-assisted learning as we met at the round pen, Gary waiting expectantly (and not cribbing). We wrote out intentions, practiced some yoga to extend and explore the Cave of the Heart and sacred heart of the sacrum. Then, opening our heart with the help of the compassion of our horse teachers, Gary, Ichobod, and Sport.

We practiced transmitting and receiving with the horses to develop our intuition skills, then adjourned to the yoga studio to continue the journey with yoga practices combined with tarot, finishing up with yoga nidra, a deeply intense and yet relaxing guided meditation. Three hawks soared overhead, the barn kitties hung out, and there was cloud gazing and mountain greeting.

Stacey and I continue to be awed and humbled by the power of this work. The horses? All in a day's work and play. Namaste.

SynergYoga:Dog Assisted Yoga for Chronic Pain Management

2010-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

This new and innovative program pairs yoga methods for addressing chronic pain with the healing presence of a service, therapy, or companion dog.

SynergYoga is named after Laura Coursey’s dog, Synergy, who discovered, on his own, ways of helping Laura, who has spinal muscular atrophy, to relieve her own pain. In the world of positive reinforcement animal training through the use of the clicker, we know that if a dog has the physical ability to accomplish an action, we can train the dog to do the action.

SynergYoga takes this further, by acknowledging that a dog may have their own opinion and offer ways to assist their person.

Yoga methods may involve breath work, postures and movement, visualization, meditation, and sound, depending on the unique needs of the individual suffering from pain.

We use a particular yoga model for healing, called the pancamaya model, considering five levels of being: physical, energetic (systematic), mental, ‘story’, and emotional.

Email me for more information and to get placed on the list for announcements of upcoming classes.

Gary(horse) Yoga, Movement, Stillness, Breath

2010-02-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

The best horse-related yoga seems to happen after teaching or taking a yoga class. Feeling good after a deep pranamaya focused class, where we chanted 'pranaha' during our warrior vinyasa and then released into supported forward bends, I went out to the barn to see what yoga play would happen today.

I ran into Kristene and Mz.B (Bianca) preparing for their ride together. Bianca very politely eyed the apple I dared to munch in front of her, and was rewarded with half the core. (Interesting turn of phrase there!) The beautiful white Bianca used to have a neck of steel, and now it flows so gracefully, easeful; it is wondrous to see, and to feel. And, Gary looooooovvvvves Bianca. K and I had yet another short insightful chat, and then they were off for their ride and I went to get Gary.

Longeing today. I have a complicated relationship with longeing horses. I love it for the perspective it gives me on where the horse is at in that moment, I like it because I get some exercise, I am ambivalent about it because I'm challenged to be easeful in my own energetic body while longeing (free longeing, so the horse is not attached to any line, nor is the horse wearing anything other than a halter). So, it's a good practice for both of us.

Today went great, Gary moving out briskly, engaging his hindquarters, a bit heavy in the front end. I opened up my own breathing, exhaling deeply to allow for the inhale to flow and Gary lightened, then dropped his head quite low, snorting and releasing. Downward transitions from trot to walk were rough, so we played with these transitions. He was still a bit rough, time for the bucking strategy - where he takes off, and does his own adjustment. Both directions, a little cross-cantering that he righted on his own, and he eased into lovely up and down self-managed transitions.

Time to do a little windhorse check, investigating areas which might still need some easing. Gary is 21 this year, so, like me, well, like me. We found some areas of 'draw' and so did a little bit of marma point release, particularly in the rib cage. Big breath on his part, and he was ready for lunch.

I love this stuff.

Yoga with Horses: A different kind of partner

2010-02-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

When people ask me about what it means to do yoga with horses, it can be a challenge to convey the power and subtlety of this interaction.

If you already practice yoga, think partner yoga. Then, think partner who outweighs you by anywhere from 500-1200 pounds (unless your partner horse is a mini), has four legs, and thinks horse-think. Think partner who outweighs you that has their own aches, pains, and needs for body explorations.

Then, think big partner who can be really, really, really subtle, but direct, very direct. Think a partner who, when he notices that you haven't taken a breath for awhile, nudges you with his nose at your abdomen. (Remember, this partner is your four-legged horsey partner!) Think big partner who exhibits utter release with a blubbery snort, a big yawn, and drowsy eyes.

Then, stop thinking about it. Welcome to our world!

Focus Yoga: Deep Core Explorations

2010-02-09T10:55:00.001-08:00

This month, February at Lyric Yoga, our Tuesday 4-5pm Focus Yoga On...Class is on Deep Core Explorations. Suitable for all levels, we learn some different ways to address the idea of core strength.

How do you define 'core'?

My operational definition of deep core emerges from the work of Liz Koch who wrote The Psoas Book. What I love about Liz's work is her use of language, and how she poetically draws on the language of evolutionary biology, shifting us away from a biomechanical model for exploration to an evolutionary model for self-exploration. (I highly recommend her teleclass as a way to get familiar with her work.)

In our deep core yoga explorations of the physical dimension, we begin with awareness of the bones of the spinal column itself. Then, we go within the spinal column, the realm of the spinal cord and the central nervous system.

Emerging from the spinal column we move our awareness to the diaphragm, and the apparatus of breathing.

In our awareness practices, we visualize our friend, the psoas muscle. If you are not familiar with this muscle, it's your filet mignon. This muscle has some very interesting roles, but I think it helpful to view the role of this muscle from the perspective of a meat-eater; it's the tenderest muscle in the muscular system, and it's supposed to stay that way.

In our first class, we played with psoas muscle and established a relationship with this tender and juicy muscle. One of the students, very new to yoga, got this look of wonder on her face and her comment was, "I can't believe how strong I feel!"

Good stuff. Join us.

All Models are Incorrect, some are useful...(George Box)

2010-02-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

How in the world do yoga, healing, animal education, and statistics, come together?

What 'kind' of yoga do you practice: Viniyoga? Iyengar? Sports? Ashtanga? Vinyasa? Bikram? Kripalu? Kundalini? Integral? Hatha? None, some, or all of the above? Why are there so many 'styles' ?

How do you care for your own health and well-being: Go to the Doctor? See the Acupuncturist? Get a massage? Regular yoga class? See an integrative health practitioner? See a herbalist? Consult with a nutritionist, herbalist, ayurvedic practitioner, yoga therapist? Practice Reiki? None of the above? Some combination of the above? What works for you?

Are you a clicker trainer? Do you think Cesar Milan has it nailed? What's your take on alpha-dominance in dog behavior? The predator-prey model for understanding horse behavior, dog behavior, cat behavior, sheep behavior? Imprinting in birds? Natural Horsemanship? Natural Dog Training? Koehler training for dogs? Operant conditioning?

Mmmmm. So many options, it boggles the mind. Leave it to an engineer/statistician to put things into a workable perspective: All models are incorrect, some are useful.

Maybe the question isn't to ask which one is right, but to ask which one is useful. That means we have to identify what useful means. How do you define useful when it comes to your own healing? With your relationships with animals?

Clicker Training and Yoga: Ahimsa

2010-01-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

"First, do no harm."

That's one way to interpret the word ahimsa, one of the yamas, which are guidelines for our relationships with ourselves and others as laid out in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras is ancient book of the code of yoga, a manual that lays it all out in a spare poetry that might just take lifetimes to master.

It's true confession time: Crossover trainer here.

What that means is that in my ignoble past I have used choke collars, prong collars, electronic bark collars, citronella bark collars, alpha rollovers, screaming mimi-fits, rolled-up newspapers...ugh. It hurts to even think about it.

And 'hurt' goes against ahimsa. So, if I am to follow this first of principles, then I need ways to work and play with animals that, first, do no harm. Enter clicker-training.

I learned to clicker train when I moved to the city from the country with our Gilly, an Akbash Dog, a livestock guardian breed who was dog aggressive. I took her to the general public classes offered by Handi-Dogs, an organization that instructed people how to train their own service dog through clicker training. I showed up with 115 pound Gilly in a pinch collar and was promptly shown how to fit a Gentle Leader and given a clicker. From there I went to volunteering and eventually taking on a role as a clicker training instructor.

I wasn't a yoga teacher then, but was in the midst of my career transition from scientist/statistician. My work with the dogs and their people lead me back to horses (I once nearly completed a PhD in equine exercise physiology) and horses lead me back to yoga, and the spiral of learning continues.

Clicker training is positive, concrete, and specific (first learned from one of my teachers, Robert Birnberg). The critters love it, the consequences of the actions of clicker training are beneficial to the relationship, everybody learns, and no one gets hurt. Ahimsa.

Namaste.

Yoga with Animals - First Step - Observe the rhythm...

2010-01-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

What is the rhythm of your life? In mine, sometimes its poetry. Sometimes its beading. Sometimes its hiking. Much of the time its teaching yoga, walking the dog and grading statistics papers or being online. It's preparing that morning cup of coffee or tea, driving to class, practicing asana, practicing pranayama, meditating, thinking, thinking, thinking, quiet moments with my partner, sleeping, dreaming, walking with horses.

When people ask me about 'yoga dog training' I tell them that I train dogs using yogic principles. But, what does that mean? To do yoga with animals? Today, while walking with Ellie and practicing our Loosh Leash Walking, I had an epiphany - it's about rhythm.

It isn't about putting the dog into Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog) - What would I have to teach the dog about that? Any dog dipping into a play bow to entice another to play demonstrates way better than any yoga teacher that particular position of stability with comfort.

And yet, our domesticated companions, much like ourselves, do get themselves into uncomfortable physical, mental, and, yes, spiritual dilemmas. The dog that always sits slouching on one hip is likely to have some stiffness and discomfort as they get older. The cat or dog rescued from an abusive situation or adopted from a shelter may suffer in ways we can't imagine. The horse ridden by a fearful, stiff-backed rider suffers the consequences of the rider's imbalances.

So, a first step in practicing yoga with your dog, your cat, your horse, your fish, your bird, your ??? is to observe their rhythm, and to observe your own - and - start noticing; Where do your rhythms connect and flow?

Peaceful Yoga for Relief for Haiti - Tuesday 1/19 8:30

2010-01-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

Yoga House at Civano is donating to the Red Cross this week through dedicating yoga class fees and instructor compensations to the Haitian relief effort.

My Peaceful Yoga class on Tuesday will go to this effort. The theme for the class will be Release-Stabilize-Strengthen-Restore-Release and is suitable for all levels.

Peaceful Yoga is breath-centered, incorporating vinyasa (gentle movement) with gently increasing holds and is appropriate for beginners, people returning to yoga after absence, and those desiring to explore your innate deep peace through breath, mindful movement, stillness, sound, and meditation.

Join us in spirit if you can't be with us in space and time.
Namaste

Pause: Practice Deep Long Exhale: A Yoga Moment

2009-11-30T07:06:00.000-08:00

Find your feet.

Realize that your inhale finds you. Give that inhale some space, some room, by practicing the deep long exhale.

Imagine that you can sense your diaphragm emerging from your spinal column. It's big, it's strong, it moves with power. And, it's perfectly capable of keeping you alive unless you get in it's way.

Consciously contract your diaphragm and feel how the muscles of the ribs, shoulders, chest, and belly move along with the diaphragm. Release this contraction and let your inhale flow in. Do 3 times.

Thank you for sharing this yoga moment with me.

Namaste.

Pause: Feel Your Feet : a Yoga moment

2009-11-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

Are you standing, sitting, lying down or are your feet up the wall (love viparita korani)? It doesn't matter, this will work anyway.

Attend to balancing the sensations from foot to foot, within each foot, foot to foot. Inhale as you 'push' away the base of your big toes (that's at the 'ball' of the foot). Exhale as you press away the outer edges of each heel. Do 3 times.

Check in with your hips, check in with your knees, how do you feel?

Namaste ...

What's Next for Yoga in Tucson?

2009-11-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Ellie has been taking up a lot of my writing time, and my thinking time, as she has challenged me to truly consider what it means to work and play with a dog in a yogic way. She is a great teacher here, in a different way than Gary (the horse) has been. Things I thought I knew, new ways to think and be in relationship, it's all good. Yet...

It's been a tumultuous fall here in Tucson. Three yoga studios have closed (that I know of) in Tucson; Anjali, Shanti, and Providence Institute. And, the Sunstone Cancer Healing Organization is closing it's doors at the end of the year. And all this happening at a time when our community needs yoga more than ever.

I'm choosing to look at these challenges as fodder for svadhyaya - self-learning. How can I best serve? How can we, the community of yoga teachers and yoga therapists come together and share resources to best serve our community through yoga?

WitGit: Learning from Animal Bites

2009-11-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

Where is the Grace in getting bitten by a horse, by a dog?

Typing is problematic today; my right hand is swollen in preparation for what is sure to be one big ugly blue black bruise from an interaction with a horse friend of mine. (Yes, I'm taking my arnica, and wrapping with castor oil and a few drops of lavender, and the swelling has significantly decreased.)

And, our rescue dog, Miss Ellie, apparently never learned bite inhibition as a puppy, so I am working on ways to help her learn how to moderate her mouth pressure at play and during communication. Mouth, teeth: these are tools that dogs, horses, cats, and most other animals use to communicate with each other.

There are models of human-animal interaction that require that biting be met with swift punishment delivered by the human to the animal. But I am committed to working with animals in a yogic way, so that cannot be my first response. What to do then?

What happened with my horse friend was the horse being a horse, and my presence was a complicating factor. (I'm working on a longer piece about this, stay tuned). With Ellie, she never learned something that most puppies learn. Punishment isn't fair to them, yet boundaries need to be set for reasons of safety and social contract.

If there was anything about the horse interaction I could change, it is my awareness about what the horse on the other side of the pen is doing. I would like to react faster to get my hand out the way, but the speed of the horse's reaction is probably always going to be faster than mine.
That's a reality.

Horses are horses, dogs are dogs, people are people. As we come together in companionship and healing, we have to respect the animals for being who they are, and respect who we are at the same time.

Ring Sour in the Saddle: More Samskaras

2009-11-06T16:00:00.000-08:00

I saddled up today, pulling out Gary's old all-purpose saddle. It's a little small for me, but with a shaped foam pad fits him okay. It was quiet at the barn, all of the trainers off premises, and just myself and one other, so I thought it might be a good time to test out my arena riding.

pfffttt

My seat wasn't bad, I wasn't gripping with my thighs or calves, and my ankles weren't tensed. My shoulders weren't drawn up into my ears, and my jaw wasn't clenched. I had a tension spot at the juncture of the thoracic and lumbar spine, but managed to breathe that away. Still. Gary was recalcitrant, unresponsive. Could it possibly be because I was mind-grumbling the whole time?

I just wanted to play on the track that runs around the facility, and I wanted out of the saddle. Am I using my 'wants' to avoid 'work riding'? Why should I even have to do work riding? Why can't I just think of riding in the arena as play riding? Round and round and round go the thoughts as I resist going round and round. And Gary accompanies me in my resistance.

Loosen the reins, feet out of the stirrups, let's head back for carrots.

Clicker Training: When we forget...

2009-10-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Apparently I haven't been clicker training Gary enough. When I went out to see him with my clicker around my neck, he grabbed it in his mouth. He'd never done that before. So, I filled up my pockets with carrot bits and pretzels (horses seem to like the Trader Joe's pretzels with sesame and they are the perfect size) and we headed out to practice. He was pushy with reaching for treats, and did not target on cue, so it looks as if we need to go back to basics.

That means that the treat goes into a bowl on the ground, so Gary remembers that mooching is not appropriate. We'll go back to targeting, where he touches his nose to my hand and help him to get reliable with his ability to follow my hand. This will help us with my goal, which is for him to be able to reverse while free lunging 'into' the circle, rather than his habit, which is to turn away.

What's the yoga in this? Samskaras. Samskaras are habits, and some habits are useful, and some not so much. We replace the habits that are not useful with habits that are, by practicing for a long time, without attachment to outcome. So, it's back to the clicker basics for Gary to re-establish those useful habits.

Yoga Horse: Pose / Counter Pose

2009-10-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

(Note: This is an edited re-post)

As Gary and I explore the nuances of posture and breathing through yoga, we come up against a samskara, a habit, of Gary's that is his own habit (rather than a mirror of my own, of which there are plenty). That's his stiff-necked posed, which gets in the way of a comfortable back up or a comfortable move forward.

Usually, if I exhale to engage my own transversus abdominus muscle and sacrum, he will come out of the stiff-necked posture. Today was different, so Stacey suggested to go into the pose with him, and then do the

counter pose of flexion and engagement. You can see the results.

An additional yoga question here is: did Gary's stiff-necked posture have anything to do with my needing stillness and needing to resolve 'something' through letting tears flow?

I have learned that, rather than asking 'if' or 'does', it is more helpful to ask: 'What did...'. So, what was the information that Gary was transmitting, in his stiff-necked posture prior to movement?

It might just be, "This is my habit." Or, it might be, "You are hiding something, why should I move?" And, it could be both. Thank you, Gary, for another deep lesson.

New Blog - DhYoga Dog Training

2009-10-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

Educating Ellie has moved to DhYoga Dog Training where the focus is dog specific and where Ellie's progress will continue to be tracked.

Educating Ellie: Bit of a Breakthrough

2009-10-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Rather than straining at the leash in the opposite direction from me, Ellie started moderating her pace to mine, speeding up and slowing down, and repeatedly doing a 'sit' when I stop.

This makes up for my coming home from teaching the Deep Core Yoga Intensive today and seeing her whole body balanced carefully on the living room windowsill, watching out the window.

Educating Ellie: Let the Wild Rumpus Begin

2009-10-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's only fair to report missteps with Miss Ellie, though thankfully they are few.

Today we did her flea dip again (I use Organic Neem dip from Azmira), and didn't realize that Socks had come 'off the wall'. Naturally, Ellie saw him before I did, and it was Cat and Dog, nature in the raw.

For whatever Cat reason, Socks jumped off the wall right in front of her, Ellie pounced, and Socks went at her with all claws, all four paws. Having been the recipient of those mighty weapons, I would have thought she would have backed off sooner than she did. He got in some good licks, enough to finally back her off, and he headed up the tree.

And here we'd had such a great walk in the park. So, time for Ellie to go into the house to settle down, and I took Socks treats to coax him out of the tree.

Ever watch a cat climb down a tree? It's a true lesson in climbing, as he got himself into situations where the only way out was to keep going.

And he did, making it safely to the wall, and his treats were waiting for him, and they were still crunchy (with apologies to Maurice Sendak).

Educating Ellie: The Yoga of Park

2009-10-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

I wonder if I need to change my title here, as Ellie is educating me.

Park is a neutral reinforcement training strategy, not a clicker training strategy. The idea is to ignore the dog until the dog "self-manages" and lays down. The dog is leashed, and can't move more than one or two feet from the handler.

Every morning, about 5:45 am, I take Ellie to the park and attach her to one of the benches supplied for the handicap next to the ballfield on the corner. I take my cup of tea, plenty of treats, and an extra leash. I attach the extra leash to the bench, and I hold the other. (I do this in case some other dog who isn't under control threatens Ellie, so I can quickly unhook her, yet still have my leash attached to her.)

We do a combination of Park and Attention, maybe sneaking in some Sit, Touch, and Watch Me with Distraction. Park is for when no one is around. I switch to Clicker Training when there is movement; people, other dogs, bicycles, children, birds, leaves. When the movement is gone, I go back to park, drink my tea.

We are getting to know those movement folks! Each day is a little less intense. She's coming along.

Educating Ellie: Curbing Cat Chasing: Step 1

2009-10-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Ellie has no check on her very strong prey drive, so helping her to live successfully with our two older cats is probably our biggest challenge. Although I've been successful with other dog and cat introductions, I actually had not run across a dog exhibiting as strong a drive as Ellie, so I went to my favorite training site and found a great article by Joan Orr addressing just this issue.

Socks and Kafka understand that click means treat, so that piece was in place. Ellie has discovered that food rewards are pretty nifty, so I started as Joan suggested, with Ellie in her kennel and clicking and treating her and Socks (tossing treats to Socks). One thing I wasn't crazy about was the barrier issue, with Ellie in her kennel.

That problem got solved later in the day when we came home from our walk, I let Ellie off leash, and then my husband informed me that Socks was loose in the house. There was a pounce, a hiss and smack, and I caught Ellie, put on the leash and began the click-n-treat vending machine routine - madly clicking and treating both Ellie and Socks. Ellie began to look to me, and I was running out of treats, and we called it a night. Success. Now to repeat, repeat, repeat.

Educating Ellie: The Yoga of Dog Training

2009-10-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Downward-facing dog might be your favorite yoga pose, but that isn't quite what I mean when I'm talking about the yoga of dog training.

There are dog trainers who have probably never been inside of a yoga studio but whose way with dogs is definitely a yoga. Mike, from whom I picked up Ellie, is one of those dog training natural yogis, although I'm not sure he would think of himself in that way. He just knows dogs, what they need, and how to interact with them. The rest of us need to develop our awareness and observation skills when interacting with our dogs, and that's where learning yoga tools is so helpful.

The yoga tools that I find helpful in my work with dogs and other animals include: asana (postures) and vinyasa (movement) to develop a strong and centered stance (very useful when with a dog that pulls), breathwork (useful for calming and regulating energy levels up and down when needed) and meditation tools for focusing awareness, observing behaviors, and learning more deeply about the dog.

Ellie has a very strong prey drive, and her focus is naturally outward, towards things that move (like cats). My focus, in training, has to be on Ellie, and how to help her direct some of that acute attention towards me. I'm using a combination of clicker training, and neutral techniques called 'park' and 'racetracking'.

Educating Ellie

2009-10-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

Ellie is a three year old rescued German Shepherd who doesn't seem to have had any formal dog training. I will be tracking our education progress and posting highlights here.

My initial evaluation of Ellie was that she was intelligent and kind, and she took easily to the clicker 'loading'. She also jumps on people, clambers on furniture, chases cats, and pulls hard on the leash, and indicates a very strong prey drive so we have some behaviors to remove, replace, and redirect.

Funny how, once I got home, her interest in food as reward virtually went away. She does like the click, and responds well to positive verbal praise, so I offer the treat with praise ("Good girl", "Good Job", "Thank You"). She takes her treat about 30% of the time, turned her nose up at cooked chicken, and doesn't know what to do with dog biscuits.

Physical touch with Ellie is interesting. She's clever at gently deflecting head touching, accepts body handling and brushing, but seems to have mixed feelings about being touched. This is going to be a rich area to explore with her. She does love to have her chest scratched.

And, she loves her ball. She invents games with the ball, so I suspect she spent a lot of time on her own without much physical interaction with her humans, and devised ways to keep herself happy and amused. We've already begun a gentle game of give and take, and she loves that.

We've already made some excellent progress towards loose leash walking. I do some 'racetracking' with her and once she settles into a pace where she isn't pulling, I switch to many clicks and rewards. She will accept her treats probably 80/20 while walking. From 100% pull to about 60/40 now, so she's learning fast!

Horse Agenda, Human Agenda...

2009-09-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today, a Monday, is usually Gary's day off. He plays in the arena with his buds, hangs out, no riders, no yoga students. Gary is a horse, btw. But, horse fuzz coat time is coming and we wanted to get in a photo shoot of his changed topline, and maybe some photos and video of us riding.

That was our agenda. Gary had something else in mind, as he fussed about standing, was not interested in looking pretty for the camera (drooling his 'chaw' of stolen alfalfa), and just looking askance at us. Oh well. I got on anyway, even though the next shift of playing horses were playing hard, squealing, raising dust and running the fence.

That's when things began to get a little strange. We played yoga pose / counterpose, which actually went great (more on that when I get the photos). Then things began to get still, and I sensed Gary asking me for more and yet more stillness. I commented to Stacey that I did not feel as velcroed as I have been lately. She asked me where the velcro was. As I went into my body, I began to feel a racing, a discomfort, at the area of the diaphragm, at the origin of the psoas. Ah, would breath help here? I changed my breathing, and I could feel almost nauseous. So I cried, and then cried some more, and then Gary walked off and we walked it off and he went back to his day off and I went back to my day.

Why was it necessary for me to cry? Maybe I'll find that out, maybe not. That wasn't the point. It just needed to happen, to free that internal constriction, to find my velcro.

WitGit: Where is the Grace in This?

2009-09-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

Stuff happens.

Big Stuff, like losing a beloved companion, losing work.

Small stuff, like unexpected auto repairs, new equipment that doesn't work, my underwear losing it's elastic while I'm teaching in front of a class of people who actively dislike the material being taught (yes, that actually happened, and not long ago).

Where is the grace in this?

I find if I ask this question, I might manage a little half-smile, can take a bit of an exhale, and make a choice not to berate myself or slip into the tyranny of the shoulds. If you try it, let me know how it works.

Yoga with Horses

2009-09-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

With the advent of cooler weather, Stacey Kollman and I are again offering our introductory mini-retreat: Horse-Assisted Yoga for Personal Transformation. You can read more at Stacey's site. http://www.deserthorseinc.com/yogatransform.html .

Yoga with horses is a little hard to describe, it's so deeply experiential, and unique to each person. It's a bit paradoxical, these large intelligent creatures so present and so skilled at the art of subtle nuance. You can see a bit of yoga with horses on my Facebook photo wall.

Yoga off the Mat

2009-09-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Recently, many of my yoga students have mentioned how they don't seem to have much success at coming to the peaceful state that they reach in yoga class when 'out amongst the English' (with a nod to Harrison Ford's character, John Book, in Peter Weir's film, Witness).

What is it about being in a yoga class and how can we find our way into that state when, oh, say, sitting at a stoplight behind that person texting on their cell phone?

Helping Horses

2009-09-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's a gray morning with the promise of rain in the distance and in the unmistakable air of creosote. This is the kind of morning we in the desert love as a treat. It would be a good morning to indulge in coffee and newspaper and sad, without our Gilly.

But. It's also a day where I have commitments; I have a class in Sanskrit to attend and there's Gary, one of my horse partners in Desert Horse Yoga, who could probably use some time to just hang out.

Heading to the round pen, it's freshly turned, so no horse poops to smell and revel in, but it's soft and new. Gary rounds and rounds, nose to the ground, searching for his perfect spot. He finds it and down he goes, rolling on to his spine, turning from side to side, getting in three good spinal massages. He comes up easily, braces in the front, legs splay and he shakes from head to tail.

He strolls to the gate, picks at the lead rope, time to move on. So we go to the grassy area (quite the premium out here in the desert) and he gets in some good grass munching time before it's time to leave. How is it that just these horsey moments reach into the sadness in the cave of the heart, provide a little comfort?

Namaste.

It doesn't get any easier...

2009-09-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Namaste.

Today is Day 5 - marking the days from when we put our beloved Gilly to permanent sleep.

These passings don't get easier, no matter what I tell myself, no matter what others say. Each passing reminds me once again of all the others; little bitty Rogue, Baraka, Julep, Jasmine, Koda, Tsuki, Circe, Dallas,Sara, Janie, Otto, Ziggy,Midnight, Bob, Sherlock.

Gilly's death was dignified and quiet. The housecall vet, Alan Christo, was quiet and unobtrusive. I held her head, and there was that moment when she relaxed and was once again comfortable, doing what she loved best - sleeping. Om shanti, Gilly, Om shanti to all our animal friends.