Fasly-Kam

Nothing about my teaching lately has drawn more controversy than my music choices. I mix up my class soundtracks, spinning (well, playing) everything from Queen, Sanskrit chanting, native rhythms, nature sounds, and classical guitar, to coffee shop soundtracks. Whatever seems to suit the mood, my mood the class, the day. Sometimes, I choose incorrectly, Sometimes I have to change it up during class. Sometimes I just have to turn it off. For flow-based classes I like to have music that moves us through our postures. Most of my classes, even if they have flow, include quite a bit of narration so I have to keep the music at a level that I can talk over it, not compete with it. Sometimes it conflicts, I admit, and sometimes it really elevates the tone of the class - really jives.  Sometimes I'll reference to the music to just help us get into the mood, get the breath flowing, open the heart, or build heat. You never know what will truly "work," but I'd like to think that ...

Hello, yogis! We may have a new home for yoga on Delridge. For 2 weeks , do FREE yoga with me (Robert) in a brand new space! Project 968 Michael Browder 206.504.7661 michael@project968.com   5621 Delridge Avenue SW (for yoga and barre) (1 block south of the library) 4617 37th Ave SW (for gym and fitness) (just off Alaska, east of LA Fitness) 10 FREE “Demo” classes will be held over 2 weeks! You must reserve your spot with the MINDBODY App (link below), which you can use with other gyms and businesses. https://mindbody.io/?_ga=2.150192438.1867304687.1533924018-132559703.1533924018 The classes will be listed under Project 968 --> Project Studio --> Barre, Yoga, Yoga/Pilates .   Week 1: August 27-31* 5:30 a.m. – Mon. 8/27, Tue. 8/28, Thu. 8/30 8 p.m. – Tue. 8/28, Thu. 8/30 Week 2: September 3-7 6 a.m. – Tue. 9/4, Wed. 9/5 8 p.m. – Tue. 9/4, Thu. 9/6, Fri. 9/7 This is the type of schedule being considered. Your input and FREE attendance are grea...

(adapted from Phase 2 of Transformation from the Transformational Weekend with Deborah Williamson/Wild Abundant Life). What does it mean to be responsible? Let's take the positive side of it, rather than the "I own my flaws, I own my mistakes, I own the error of my ways and my bad decisions." Let's rather, say, I've made choices to be where I am today. I didn't just "end up" here... I followed some sort of inner compass (properly calibrated or not), which bounced me into the trajectories of OTHER people using THEIR inner compasses (also, properly calibrated or not), and so, here I am. But each thing I do from here forward is a CHOICE. Feeling positive about my day (or not) - a choice. Being kind to the customer service rep on the phone when I've had it up to here with my insurance company that is a choice. I own that choice. And if the rep treats me kindly, in part because I was patient and kind despite my frustrated, because i was responsible fo...

A sweet friend (whom I met while I was teaching family yoga at the JCC) (who went on to become a kids yoga teacher and now a fully fledged RYT and adaptive yoga teacher) was kind enough to refer a job to me - teaching adaptive yoga at a local library to adults with special needs. They call them the GAMERS: Group-home Adults Mixer: Educational, Emotional, Recreational, Social. The local library branch wanted to pilot a program for the GAMERS that wasn't just occupational therapy or job skills, or video games or reading, but something interactive, something mind/body integrative, something new. So for four weeks we met, the job coaches and caregivers bringing their one, two and up to four clients with them, all with different level of physical and cognitive abilities. Some were non-verbal, some in wheelchairs, some high functioning, some very active, some very passive. I introduced them all to the breathing ball and the idea of using breath to help calm ourselves down or rev ourselve...

Is it judgement, as a trained practitioner /instructor, when you are a participant in a yoga class and you see someone doing something so wrong for their body that you want to reach out and say "wait - that's going to hurt...please don't." Or is it concern? Or busybodiness, or nosiness, or just plain invasive? What is the boundary? I have to think about it in this context: If I was a nutritionist, would I stop someone who was overweight at a restaurant from dipping their french friend in cheddar cheese soup, drinking a milkshake then going outside for a smoke? But then again, coming to a yoga class to learn is different than coming to a restaurant to eat. If someone offered me bad quality food, I WOULD want another food specialist to speak up and say "that's not properly cooked chicken you might get sick" or even "those greens weren't washed - be careful." Maybe these analogies fail to describe the issue with which I'm struggling. If t...