Even though I love Thanksgiving for its abundance of stuffed tofurkey, candied yams, and cranberry sauce, my favorite Thanksgiving memories all involve the true spirit of the holiday: Giving Thanks.

As a yogi I try to practice karma yoga, the practice of serving others, as often as I can, but I have to admit that sometimes I lose site of helping others as I get caught up in my daily life. Thanksgiving is always that brilliant reminder to refocus, give thanks, and give back.

In my classes this past week I have tried to inspire my students to think of ways they can give thanks or give back this holiday. Some of my favorites from Thanksgivings-past are volunteering at a soup kitchen to give back to the community, teaching a free yoga class to give back to your students, going to a donation yoga class and giving back to the charity of choice, and simply telling all the people that you love why you are so thankful that they are in your lives.

Now I hope that you can inspire each other with your own favorite stories. What is your favorite way to give thanks for Thanksgiving?

Posted by Hannah O'Reilly at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Friends often ask me if it's possible to make a living as a full-time yoga teacher. I always say absolutely! But at times it can be a hard road to venture down.

As a newer teacher (under the five year mark), I feel much more secure maintaining a full-time job outside the yoga studio and teaching on the side. (I'm also lucky enough to work for Yoga Journal where I can continue feeding my yoga passion every day in a different format.)

I have other teacher friends who I can barely drag out of the studio. They teach ten to twenty classes a week and sometimes more, if the opportunity arises. They work hard and make enough to make ends meet through sheer number of classes. And they love what they do. But I'm not so sure this excess outpour of teaching energy is sustainable. I've seen it lead to burn out more than once.

And then there's the Uber-Teachers. You know the ones -- they teach four classes a week and pull in enough people to fill a stadium. They're doing well and so they should. They're great teachers, well loved, and they are getting compensated for what they do.

So my question is -- how do teachers make the jump from teaching as many classes as they CAN to make ends meet to teaching as many classes as they WANT instead? At what point and in what way does yoga teaching transform into a job that is just as monetarily sustainable as being a banker or a web designer or a school teacher for that matter?

Posted by Hannah O'Reilly at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

There appears to be an unspoken debate about using music in yoga class. Sometimes classes are accompanied by soothing melodies, devotional chanting, or even all out of rock. Other classes lean towards no music at all. It's gotten me to wondering -- is there a version that's best? Or, like most things in yoga, does it simply come down to what feels right for you?

In my own teaching I have covered all sides of the spectrum. When I started teaching, music always accompanied my words. I found that music helped to calm my new-to-teaching-nerves. It created an anchor that I could draw inspiration from to structure a class and inspire my students. Plus, some of my favorite teachers use music woven masterfully into their classes so I thought it seemed like a great idea to follow suit.

And yet, after a few years of teaching and, frankly, listening to my small selection of mixes over and over and over, I decided I needed a bit of a musical break. I'd like to say I was inspired by the desire to move towards stillness but, really, I was just tired of all my songs. I'm not a DJ and I didn't want to be one. So I turned the iPod off and just taught.

And then an interesting thing happened.

I found that, for me, turning off the music helped me to focus on the energy of the room and the rhythm of my students' breath. It allowed me to feel more in sync with my students and it felt like they were able to reach a depth of stillness that I hadn't seen before. And so it stuck.

Has this experience caused me to swear off all music in yoga? Definitely not. Sometimes it feels like the room (or maybe me) could use a bit of a musical lift and so I pull my iPod out. I also love live chanting so I weave that into the beginning and end of class as often as I can. I love going to yoga classes with music and without. So I guess I would say I am firmly planted somewhere... in the middle.

For those days that you lean more towards the musical side, visit our monthly playlists for inspiration or check out this Jivamukti sequence set to a downloadable musical track.

Posted by Hannah O'Reilly at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)