During my high tech days I had one high level manager who always reminded us “Remember your roots.  Remember who you are and where you came from” each time we left to represent our company.  That statement is the reason why we offer both Traditional Yoga and Aerial Yoga.  Without the Traditional Yoga classes our Aerial classes wouldn’t be the same.  Keeping Traditional classes reminds us of our roots, which is Yoga.  Without these classes our students may view us differently, more acrobatic perhaps.  TYS® Aerial Yoga is simply Yoga using a very powerful prop to deepen, to strengthen, to ground and to release.  By keeping it Yoga, we are honoring our roots, remembering where we came from and sharing our love for Yoga.

Our studio is called The Yoga Studio because we offer Yoga, otherwise we would have called ourselves The Aerial Studio.

One of the most simple but profound lessons I learned from my high-tech days was a lesson learned from a very high level manager at HP.  I asked him one day how he could so easily understand a complex situation and break it down into simple and easy to understand terms.  He smiled and said “It is always easier to understand something when you map it back to things that you already understand.”  That sounded simple and I understood.  I still remember what he said and use it in my life everyday.

The more I read to my young daughter Bo the more I enjoy the simple stories but profound messages in children’s books.  You can take a complex subject and break it up into simple terms, and you can take a simple message, like in children’s books, and map it back to our complex life.  There are many wonderful children’s books, there is one in particular I would like to share with you today:

You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.  And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
– Oh, the Places You’ll Go!  by Dr. Seuss

Last month we duplicated an experiment at home, based on a documentary we saw about water.  A lot of new research supports the idea that water has memory. It can retain an “imprint” of energies to which it has been exposed to, such as music, words or even the energy of a person. I am interested in this topic since our bodies contain more than 50% water.  This experiment involves 3 bowls of water and rice. Our initial goal was, for the next 30 days Bo, my 7 year old daughter, would say to each bowl:

the first bowl of rice/water “You are disgusting”,
the second bowl “thank you”,
then …
She will completely ignore the third bowl.

She takes the bowl away to speak to it, just in case the other two bowls decide to eavesdrop.

We had to terminate the experiment early, here is what we found and why we ended it short:
In just two days, the “Thank you” bowl started to fermentate.

In just 5 days the “disgusting” bowl started to smell while the “Ignored” bowl also started to fermentate

In 18 days …

• the “Thank you” bowl smelled like baked bread,
• the “Ignored” bowl had a faint smell of baked bread along with a sharp smell of something else, and
• the “Disgusting” bowl had a rotting smell that permeated throughout the house.  A yellow and black ring was formed around the water.
• we decided to terminate the project, because it was hard to deliver the negative words to “Disgusting” when you can clearly see the impact, and Bo was having a hard time holding her breath as she said “Disgusting”.

We know that negative words and energy are destructive, but to see the physical transformation was truly an eye opening experience.  It made it so real for us on how love is such a gift and negativity is so unnecessary.  The impact of people growing up or being in an abusive environment is traumatic and can have long lasting effects.  It is good to remember that …

It doesn’t take much to be kind,
love is a real gift,
forgiveness is priceless, and
attract more positive energy with your own positive energy.

This summer brought a lot of changes to us.  We welcome some new and wonderful teachers while having to say “see you later” to some of our beloved teachers.  Nikki went on maternity leave in May, and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on June 30th.  Candace has been preparing for her move to Germany for the last two years, and in mid August it will finally become a reality.  Please come say “see you later” before Candace takes off.  Her family lives here so I know we will see her again.  Kathy will be moving to San Diego this weekend, and tomorrow is her last Restorative class with us!!!  The Restorative class will be moved to Sunday at 6:30pm starting in Aug.  I already miss seeing Mary on Friday noon after my class, scheduling sometimes has a way of taking us in different directions.

I am very sentimental, saying Goodbye to people I care about is not easy, so I prefer to say “see you later”.  In my heart I know that is the case.

We all have our reasons in why we do Yoga.  What initially brought us to our mat can be a doctor’s order, a Groupon deal or even a friend.  Regardless of how we find ourselves in the class room we continue to practice due to reasons of our own.  I think it is important to know why we are doing something, since making it a conscious thought will help trigger the necessary alignment of our mind, body and spirit.  I have students who tell me they come to class to de-stress, but yet I see them stress over not being able to do a certain pose, or feeling intimated by comparing their own practice with the neighboring Yogis.  “Why do you do Yoga” seems like a simple question, but it goes deep into who we are and what our priorities are.  Our Yoga practice will begin to transform once we align our actions with our intentions.  The answer to the question “why do you do Yoga” is pretty simple for me.  I looked for answers when I discovered I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I tried chemo drugs, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, surgery, cortisone and many more.  I found Yoga to be one medicine with absolutely no negative side effects and many positive benefits, and I like that a lot.  I try not to go to my mat for a certain pose or to look a certain way, I strive to go to my mat for good overall health.  So what brings you to your mat?

Happy New Year to you and your family!  A friend and I were chatting on New Year’s Day, she asked why is it that I never offer a 30 Day Yoga Challenge.  The answer was simple, I don’t believe in it.  I don’t believe in being challenged to go to a Yoga class.  I do Yoga because I value the practice.  No one has to make me go, I want to go.  Matter of fact, I don’t want to miss it because I feel so good after doing Yoga, I can see and feel the transformation.  Yoga is a life style practiced and enjoyed all year round, and not just for 30 days.  I have seen people cry trying to make it through 30 consecutive days of Yoga.  I have seen people completing the 30 days and not wanting to practice Yoga for awhile because they burned out.  I believe in offering the best Yoga, then watching the practice slowly change lives … permanently. domain owner into subdomains .

As a child I was taught to keep the “good energy” flowing.  What my parents meant was help or give to those in need and you will be rewarded with the same kindness and gratitude.  The same concept has been expressed in other ways, “give and thou shall receive”, “good karma”, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, etc.  There is even a book called “The Secret” written about the law of attraction, positive energy attracts more positive energy.  Some may be skeptical about this belief, but I embrace it whole heartedly.  It may be my Electrical Engineering degree that helps me conceptualize this belief,  I know that energy exists even when you cannot see or touch it.  You know what I am talking about if you ever noticed someone looking at you from across the room.  With this belief, we would like to finish 2011 with good intentions and start 2012 with the gift of giving, by offering:

25% off on all products to help you with your Christmas shopping, and
A day of FREE classes on New Year’s Day

The 25% is good on all products, just mention the promotional code “gift” to our staff.  The promotional code can be redeemed once per person before Christmas Day, so treat yourself or your loved ones for the holiday.

Thanksgiving is not just a holiday we celebrate one day a year, but a practice we can take with us every day. Although we are thankful, we may not always remember to express it, so it is nice to have Thanksgiving Day to remind us. Last year we started a tradition around Christmas to write down our intentions for next year and put it on the studio’s Christmas tree.  This year we are starting another tradition, for Thanksgiving we are going to “Post-It”.  There are heart shaped Post-It notes at the reception desk, write down what makes you happy and grateful, and post it on our doors and windows.  You will be amazed at how it will warm your heart. ♥♥♥

In addition, we would like to extend our thanks to you beyond just Post-It notes for sharing your Yoga practice with us and staying in touch through our newsletter.  We are offering 15% off, use promotional code “thanks” for your online purchase or mention the code to our staff, on all class packages and products.  The promotional code can be redeemed once per person before the end of November so treat yourself or your loved ones for the holiday.  Please note the New Student class package will only be available to new students.

It is hard to believe it’s almost been a  year since we opened our doors on Sept 27th.  In just one short year we have made it on TV news, national and local newspapers, a TV talk show, became a San Jose Small Business Development Center 2010 success story and most importantly we made a lot of new friends through the community we are trying to build.  We received quite a bit of feedback from students and the one thing I hear most often is:  “Your studio has such a warm and inviting energy”.  If you have been to our studio you would understand the comment.  Good energy attracts more good energy, and that growing inviting energy has became our unique signature for the studio.  All of this would not have been possible without our wonderful teachers, your love and support, thank you.  To celebrate our one year milestone you are cordially invited to our anniversary party on Oct 8th.  Come and enjoy a day of free classes, 25% off all products and ending with live jazz music, a fire dancing performance, food and maybe even wine.  This is a big day for us and I hope you can join us.