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Living with MS and how Yoga saved my life. A guest post by Lisa Bachrach-Zeankowski

Since 2006 I’ve found Yoga or I should say Yoga found me and that day changed my life. I was diagnosed with MS in 2002 and for the first four years, like many, I allowed the diagnosis of MS to define me and then one day I searched out a yoga class.

I had no idea what it was, or what it would bring to me, all I knew is that I had this friend who was remarkably calm and she did yoga.

What was it about this practice that kept her so centered?  I’d ask myself.   I found a yoga studio where it was small and simple; it had this amazing energy about it and wasn’t “selling” anything but peacefulness.

 I had no idea that yoga would bring me so much more than strength and balance (which is what I thought I was looking for).  It took me and still continues to take me on an unbelievable journey of self discovery, stillness, inner peace and balance of mind, body and spirit.

I took on a yoga practice where most begin, at the beginning and eventually built up a strong practice, however this didn’t mean that I could throw myself into a handstand or many inversions that come so easily to many.  It means that I found this space on my mat that was quiet, balanced and peaceful.  I was not judgmental and I was okay with wherever I was each day and I continue to practice yoga and life just that way.

I was content with me and the MS, it was quiet now sitting in the background and no longer standing front and center, and no longer did it define me. Eventually this yoga practice became a way of life.  It’s not just the asana’s (the physical practice or the poses) but it’s the way I live, by the principles of self love, love of others, non-violence in my words and actions and how I treat myself and others.

I literally, without knowing it, took my yoga off the mat and into my personal world and then out to the world where MS meets Yoga and beyond.

In 2010, yoga teacher and then friend offered me to take part in her yoga teacher training, if not to teach (which I had no intention of doing) but to truly understand why I was doing what I was doing and also to deepen my practice.  I accepted her invitation and in June of 2010 after 6 month training I graduated and became a 200 hour certified yoga teacher.

I decided that teaching the general public was not my purpose or my passion but sharing what I had learned and who I was, the person living with MS discovered that yoga can save the life of someone living with MS as well as significantly change that same life in such a positive way.

I have been actively involved in public service by being a team captain for the National MS Society’s Long Island Chapter’s MS Walk and for the past 12 years have raised over $80,000 collectively.  I also ran a 3^rd party fundraiser from 2008 through 2012 called Healing and Moving for a Cure, where all monies raised went to a program that I started to provide home health aide assistance to those living with MS.  

Then I chose to start a program that offered free yoga classes to those, like me, who live on limited income and have MS to have yoga in their lives. This program is offered free to our local MS Society on Long Island in collaboration with 2 other yoga studios in my area who have also offered their time and selfless service and for that I’m so grateful.  We run the program for 8 weeks twice a year and during this time anyone who has MS, their friends and/or support partners are offered the opportunity to take classes with yoga teachers that I’ve worked with to find out what they can do rather than what they can’t do.  I also teach one of these free yoga for MS classes during these 8 week sessions twice a year.  I am, like them, a body living with MS but I am also an example of how we can learn to live well with MS.  Yoga helped me find my way, my peace, and my balance. 

My hope and prayer is that this program that I began here on Long Island could reach across the country and that every yoga studio would offer such a program from the perspective of someone living with MS.  Unfortunately, I can’t be everywhere but I’m hoping one day I can teach other teachers to teach from the perspective of someone living with a chronic illness like MS so that it might open the door for any ‘body’ to enter the yoga studio, knowing that it is a safe place for them to help guide them to that place that is really within themselves but has only yet to be discovered.

Teaching yoga to someone living with a chronic illness can be challenging. There is a ‘knowing’, a gift that comes from having this disease that allows one to offer out the gift that yoga has brought and to be able to offer that out to others.

Yoga is balance.  It is a moving, living meditation. It’s a way to go inside and quiet the mind. For those moments we are on our mat, the MS or the illness or trouble that one is living with can be quieted as well, if only for a moment and hopefully longer.  It takes practice, life is practice...yoga is practice...yoga is where I find my peace, my center and my balance.

For more information, please visit my website www.lisabachrach.com or feel free to contact me directly via email at lbloveslife@optonline.net.  To see the class schedule use this link: http://www.lisabachrach.com/calendar/events/free-yoga-for-ms-program-schedule.  If you live outside the Long Island area and would like to attend a free Yoga class, please know that you are welcome to join us!  The program is open because it is donated to the chapter rather than a chapter run program. 

Lisa Bachrach-Zeankowski

If you are interested in contributing a guest post to the Downdog Boutique blog and social media please contact us directly at namaste@downdogboutique.com or message us at the following:

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A brief history of the humble Yoga Mat

While working on another blog post here at DownDog Boutique I became interested to learn about the origins of the Yoga Mat that many of us practice on.

After a little digging around I came across this post by Steve
at the http://theconfluencecountdown.com it seems to cover the topic nicely and briefly therefore no need to reinvent the wheel (or that mat) so here is the story:

Famously, ancient yogis practiced on tiger skins, if they were highfalutin, or deer skins, if they were closer to the 99% than the 1%. If you were near the bottom of the 99%, chances are you practiced on bare ground.

As yoga — speaking in terms of asana, now — got popular, newer practitioners began bringing along towels or cotton mats. As we all know, just putting a towel down on a wood floor is a recipe for yogic disaster.

Enter Angela Farmer. She seems to be credited with being the first person to grab a piece of “carpet underlay” — you know, that multi-colored squishy material — and cut it down to size. She did so when teaching in Germany in 1982, and when she returned home to England, the idea caught on in her local yoga scene. Her father then worked with the German manufacturer, and voila! The first yoga sticky mat (apparently in white) was born.

Hugger Mugger gets the nod for being the first mass producer or yoga mats, sometime in the early 1990s. In other words, 30 years ago.

But back to the rug. According to Nancy, you shouldn’t be taking time out in the middle of your practice to roll it out, or squirt it with water or anything else that draws away your focus and your breath. And being able to stay balanced on the rug is the point, and will help you build strength.
Check out a full range of Yoga Mats  at www.downdogboutique.com

Aspen Yoga Mats

Find Aspen Yoga Mats at DownDog Boutique.com

The inspiration for the designs and colors of Aspen Yoga Mats personalized mats reflects the original Aspen Idea of nurturing mind, body and spirit - something we are all trying to achieve on and off our mats. Aspen Yoga Mats come in five fashion colors. Choose your customized mat to match your personality or choose your mat to match your mood that day. Who says we can only have one mat?

Aspen Yoga Mats combines a practical, well designed yoga mat with the beauty and balance of everday life found in Aspen, Colorado. Each of the 5 custom colored mats has a unique embroidered icon to reflect your interests and energy. Our colors and embroidered designs help personalize your yoga practice. Choose your color...pick your favorite icon design....and your mat is uniquely yours!

Our Mats:
After years of practicing yoga, we understand how important it is to create a mat that is non-toxic and dense enough to provide stability and comfort.  Our mats are made of pvc foam and are free of latex, heavy metals and phthalates (harmful chemicals). Whether you are practicing in a yoga studio or in your home, our mats will provide the needed support for your body in any pose. Before using your mat for the first time, we suggest wiping it with a damp cloth to ensure the surface is sticky. Aspen Yoga Mats are 24 inches by 72 inches, 1/4 of an inch thick and weigh 3.3 lbs.

Aspen Yoga Mats are embroidered with one of our 5 distinct designs: the Laughing Buddha, the Yin/Yang, the Orchid Branch, the iconic Aspen Leaf and the word BALANCE. And our mats are available in 5 unique colors: Pink, Turquoise, Tangerine, Aloe and Plum, creating 25 exciting options to choose from.

Find Aspen Yoga Mats at DownDog Boutique.com

Joseph Pilates

I recently was followed on Pinterest by the Joseph Pilates Pinterest page from New York and discovered some great vintage photo's of Joseph and his methods (which I of course immediately pinned to our
Vintage Yoga Pinterest board.)

I had read a little about the great man and his work but this prompted me to look up his biography and reprint it here with some of the great photo's. Bio is courtesy of Wikipedia.

Pictured above is Pilates in 1937 at age 57

Joseph H. Pilates was born in 1883 in Mönchengladbach, Germany. His father was a prize-winning gymnast of Greek ancestry, and his mother worked as a naturopath. His father's family originally spelled its surname in the Greek manner as "Pilatu" but changed to "Pilates" upon immigration to Germany.[citation needed] The new spelling caused Joseph Pilates much grief as a child because older boys taunted him calling him "Pontius Pilate, killer of Christ".

Pilates was a sickly child and suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, and he dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength. Besides skiing frequently, he began studying body-building, yoga, "kung fu" (probably what is now known as qigong), and gymnastics. By the age of 14, he was fit enough to pose for anatomical charts. Pilates came to believe that the "modern" life-style, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the roots of poor health. He ultimately devised a series of exercises and training-techniques and engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods properly.

Pilates was originally a gymnast, diver, and bodybuilder, but when he moved to England in 1912, he earned a living as a professional boxer, circus-performer, and self-defensetrainer at police schools and Scotland Yard. Nevertheless, the British authorities interned him during World War I along with other German citizens in an internment camp, first inLancaster Castle where he taught wrestling and self-defence, boasting that his students would emerge stronger than they were before their internment. It was here that he began refining and teaching his minimal equipment system of mat exercises that later became "Contrology". He was then transferred to another internment camp on the Isle of Man. During this involuntary break, he began to intensively develop his concept of an integrated, comprehensive system of physical exercise, which he himself called "Contrology." He studied yoga and the movements of animals and trained his fellow inmates in fitness and exercises. It is said that these inmates survived the 1918 flu pandemic due to their good physical shape.

After the war (WWI), he returned to Germany and collaborated with important experts in dance and physical exercise such as Rudolf Laban. In Hamburg, he also trained police officers. When he was pressured to train members of the German army, he left his native country, disappointed with its political and social conditions, and emigrated to the United States.

Pilates Own Studio

The year 1925 is the approximate time when Pilates migrated to the United States. On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and directly taught and supervised their students well into the 1960s. His method, which he and Clara originally called "Contrology," related to encouraging the use of the mind to control muscles. It focuses attention on core postural muscles that help keep the human body balanced and provide support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles.

Joseph and Clara Pilates soon established a devout following in the local dance and the performing-arts community of New York. Well-known dancers such as George Balanchine, who arrived in the United States in 1933, and Martha Graham, who had come to New York in 1923, became devotees and regularly sent their students to the Pilates for training and rehabilitation.

Joseph Pilates with Opera Singer Roberta Peters 1951

Joseph Pilates wrote several books, including Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health, and he was also a prolific inventor, with over 26 patents cited.[4] Joe and Clara had a number of disciples who continued to teach variations of his method or, in some cases, focused exclusively on preserving the method, and the instructor-training techniques, they had learned during their studies with Joe and Clara.

Joseph Pilates died in 1967 at the age of 83 in New York.

To see more great Vintage Photo's see our Vintage Yoga Pinterest board here:  Vintage Yoga

Say Hello to Inner Waves Organics!

About Inner Waves Organics:

At Inner Waves Organics we work hard to do the right thing for our customers, our community and our world. We have been blessed with the opportunity to see, with great clarity, the precious nature of life and the impact that each of us can make through compassionate living and conscious choices. The mission of Inner Waves is to reinforce these ideals through our business.


We design and produce our exceptional organic clothing with great care in the USA. We use the finest organic and sustainable fibers and the most environmentally responsible production processes available. We create our clothing to move with the rhythm of our practice and our lives.


Inner Waves is a business that strives to share our passion for design, movement and beauty with our compassion for our community and our planet. We hope our yoga clothing inspires you as it does us.

See the Inner Waves Organics Womens Clothes Here:

Inner Waves Womens

See the Inner Waves Organics Mens Collection here:

Inner Waves Mens

CHOOSING ORGANIC

Organic Yoga Clothing supports your practice... on and off the mat. Through Inner Waves Organics exclusive use of fine organic cottons, environmentally safe dyes and responsible production practices, we work to restore harmony by protecting our soil, air and water and uplifting our community.


ORGANIC COTTON


DEFINITION: Organic cotton is grown and harvested without being sprayed with harmful pesticides, fungicides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.


RESULT OF USE: This helps save our water, soil and overall environment. Organic practices help reduce the cause of serious health issues and provides a livelier place for us and future generations to live.


FACTS
You may be surprised to learn that conventionally grown cotton is one of the earth's most heavily sprayed crops and is one of the greatest users of synthetic fertilizers. In fact, the cotton in an average conventional (non-organic) T-shirt may have been produced using: 7 tsps synthetic fertilizers, 3/4 tsp of other active ingredients; pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants
Average acre of California grown cotton:
200 lbs nitrogen
60 lbs phosphorous
40 lbs potash
46% of all U.S. counties contain groundwater that is susceptible to contamination by agricultural pesticides and fertilizers.
14 MILLION people in the U.S. may be exposed to herbicides through contaminated drinking water.
FARM WORKERS have the highest rate of chemical-related illness of any occupational group in the U.S.


MAJOR EFFECTS OF CONVENTIONALLY GROWN COTTON
Contamination of ground water, polluting wells and drinking water
Sterilization of soil
Air contamination
All three creating serious health problems


GOOD REASONS TO BUY ORGANIC COTTON
Reduces the market for products made with harsh chemicals that can harm the earth, air and water
Supports conscious living choices
Fabric is soft and durable
Supports local and smaller farm industries
Conventional cotton is the second most heavily sprayed crop and fourth heaviest user of synthetic fertilizer


POSITIVE ALTERNATIVES FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE


Buy ORGANICALLY GROWN COTTON or other Sustainable fibers:• Hemp • Tencel • Bamboo


STEPS TO INITIATE PARTICIPATION

Start by buying a few primary pieces of clothing that you use often and or close to your skin
Spread the word and learn more
Go beyond, extending your earth-healthy choices to organic foods, responsible products, and a sustainable lifestyle

Now is the time to educate ourselves about Organic Cotton and the role it plays for us all and our planet. As we learn how our choices effect the earth, our environment and our communities we take a step toward being even better stewards.

"The principal guidelines for organic production are to use materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole" *

- info from OTA, The Organic Trade Association is the leading business association representing the organic industry in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

www.downdogboutique.com

Welcome Jules our newest Brand Ambassador!

Growing up, I remember having a few things that I loved above all else...traveling (I was an Air Force brat whose parents believed in seeing the world), movement (I dreamed of being a prima ballerina), teaching (my younger brothers might call me bossy), and playing dress up (I had a chest full of costuming). As it turns out, growing older and finding my place in the world hasn't taken me very far from those beginnings at all. Hi, my name is Julia, or Jules to many, and I am a yoga teacher and a full time road rennie.

A what, you ask? A road rennie. That's my term for myself anyway. My partner and I work full time at renaissance festivals around the country, so we lead a nomadic life, picking up and moving every two months or so to the next festival on our circuit. We're part of an expansive and often far-flung community of artisans, performers, crafters, and shop workers of all sorts who work in some capacity at one or more of the forty-something major renaissance festivals that take place across the country each year. My "uniform" consists of bloomers, multiple skirts, a chemise, and a fully boned bodice.

I also teach yoga within the rennie community, leading practice on an empty stage or in a shop a few times each week. In many ways, the practice I lead is similar to those taking place in studios in towns and cities all over the place. I lead my fellow yogis through asana and pranayama and meditation and intention. In many ways, however, rennie yogis face a unique set of challenges every time we roll out our mats. Mainly because being outside without the protection of four walls and climate control makes for some pretty interesting practices.

I'll tell those stories another time, though. For now, I'd like to focus on the travel aspect of my not-quite-normal life (I always thought "normal" to mean "boring," anyway). Like I said, every two months my partner, A, and I wrap up the breakables, pack up the yard, hitch the trailer (aka our house on wheels) up to the truck, and drive to the next festival. The most recent version of this happened just a week ago when we moved from Arizona to Texas.

For most of our transitions, we have at least one weekend off and several days to make our trek. Our springtime journey from the Phoenix area to just south of Dallas every year is the exception to that rule, and a stressful one at that. It goes something like this...closing weekend of the Arizona Renaissance Festival on Saturday & Sunday; Monday-Friday to pack up, etc., drive 1000+ miles, reset everything back into place, opening weekend of Scarborough Renaissance Festival that very next weekend. I call it a five-day mad dash, and there's really nothing about it that I like.

Under the best circumstances, things go smoothly throughout the transition with no unwanted surprises. In fact, the standard farewell greeting between rennies at the end of a festival run is to wish them a "safe and uneventful journey." In the 7 months since moving up in the rennie world from tent-dwelling to being trailer owners, A and I have been lucky enough to experience just that...safe and uneventful travels. That's not quite the trip we had this time around, however.

In the week prior to closing the Arizona faire, we had dutifully taken the truck in for scheduled maintenance and gotten two new tires. Come Monday after closing, we set about the check list of packing up tasks. We even high-fived after successfully hitching the trailer to the truck in record time and with minimal frustration with each other. We stopped at the shower house on site to wash the desert off our sunburned skin as our last to-do item before saying goodbye to beautiful Superstition Mountain for another ten months.

A was driving as we headed out the gates and set our goal for the night for Las Cruces, NM. We got about a quarter mile down the road when the speedometer hit 40 mph and the trailer started swaying very scarily. Not good! If you've ever hauled a 30' travel trailer, you know that smooth and easy is how you want the drive to go. We know more than a few people with horror stories of flipping trailers and rolling vehicles. We were determined not to let that be us. I quickly posted an info SOS message to the rest of our community on Facebook, and as the helpful tips and suggestions came pouring in, we tried changing all the things our more experienced gypsies suggested. To no avail.

We turned around and spent Monday night in the festival parking lot.

Tuesday we were up with the sun to continue trying suggested fixes. The shop we potentially needed to get into for welding work couldn't fit us in for at least a week. The next shop I called referred us to another that referred us to another and so on and so on and so on. I lost track of how many mechanics I called.

Finally, on the suggestion of the last shop I tried, we went back to the tire store where we had just purchased the two new tires. After all, those tires were the only thing different from our last three hauls, on which we'd had no problems. Two hours later, we tried the highway again. We were now able to go 50 mph before the sway from hell kicked in, but were otherwise out of ideas. 1000+ miles at 50 mph? No problem. It would take forever, but at least we'd get there in time for work to begin again.

Several hours later, as we drove through the expanse of desert east of Tucson, a fellow rennie sent a message asking what mile we were at. He was only ten miles ahead and wanted to take a look at things to see if he might be able to help. While parked on a concrete slab in the middle of what used to be a nuclear testing site, he switched the new tires to the front and the old to the back. Problem solved! As it turns out, the new ones I was able to afford are not the same quality as the old ones and were unable to handle the job of hauling closest to the trailer. I learned days later that this particular fellow rennie was dubbed "St. Joe" years ago for countless similar acts of travel genius. He is my new hero.

Back on the road and once again able to cruise safely, A and I set our sights on El Paso for the night. I did some mental math and decided we were only a half day behind schedule and that we had plenty of time, so long as nothing else went wrong.

After filling up and checking on the cat in Las Cruces, we were just about to drive out and get back on the interstate when a kind man tapped on the window. With a thick accent and difficult English, he informed us that our trailer's running lights were so dim that we were almost invisible on dark roads. He worried that if we were continuing into Texas, we risked being pulled over. I worried for worse. So we took that as our cue that Las Cruces was our limit that night, and made plans to look for the mechanic he recommended at Exit 2 just across the state line first thing in the morning.

Up with the sun again the next day, we cruised into Texas and began looking for said mechanic. The only one we could find at Exit 2 only worked on commercial trucks for professional drivers. That is certainly not us. So while A navigated El Paso morning rush hour, I put my smart phone to use Googling trailer repair shops. The first one I called said they could see us immediately once we got to them. Hallelujah!

Less than an hour after pulling into their property, the wonderful mechanics at this shop had replaced the trailer-truck connection and rewired the 12v trickle charger (what should have been keeping our running lights bright) AND our trailer brake system, which had never been connected in the first place. YOU MEAN WE'VE HAULED THIS TRAILER WITH THIS TRUCK OVER 2500 MILES IN 7 MONTHS WITH NO TRAILER BRAKES?!? Apparently so. I don't think I'm going to tell my mother that last part. But, back on the road again with new electrical connections, not only was hauling and stopping much easier, but we were also getting better gas mileage. Sweet!

Fast forward fourteen hours of driving across the expanse of almost nothing that is West Texas, and A and I decided stopping 150 miles short of our destination was a good idea, especially since the Dallas area was set to see some severe spring storms that night.

Exactly one year prior, Dallas/Ft. Worth saw 17 tornadoes in one afternoon. I hate tornadoes.

We consulted our interstate guidebook and set our sights on a truck stop in Ranger, TX, which the weather radar said would be just outside the storm's reach. We pulled into the parking lot around 11 pm to find no spots open. *Sigh* 40 more miles got us to a rest stop, but again there were no spaces available to park 45' worth of truck and trailer. *Double sigh* Apparently all of the interstate truckers headed into Dallas had the same idea we did. The next truck stop was only 20 miles ahead, but in passing the rest stop on the other side of the highway, there appeared to be some spots not occupied by truckers. So I did what any exhausted and fed up gypsy would do, I exited and headed back in the direction from which we'd come, barely making it into the only open spot at the westbound rest stop.

The last day of travel on this particular journey actually was uneventful, thank goodness!  We arrived at our destination with plenty of time to spare, paid our camping fees, and got the trailer parked in its new spot. We even got to be good Samaritans, lending our 4WD truck to a neighbor who was otherwise stuck in the infamous Scarborough mud.

It was only in retelling our adventures to friends that I realized how closely travel mirrors yoga. There were a few key things that I had to keep in kind during this last trip in order to maintain my sanity, and it turns out they're the same things I tell my fellow yogis and myself when on the the mat.

Breathe. Focus on the present; worrying about the future or dwelling on the past serve no purpose. Listen to your body (or trailer) and know when you can push a little further and when you need to back off. It's ok if you're not all the way there; you'll get there eventually, but maybe not today. Everything happens as it is meant to. Where you are today is exactly where you're meant to be, and that is perfect.

Namasté

www.downdogboutique.com