"Slowing down is the precursor to Yoga practice because this simple act allows us to consider our thoughts, feelings and actions more carefully in the light of our desire to live peacefully." -- Donna Farhi  Slowing down is easier said than done. Our holiday schedule is filled to the brim with activities; work, school, cooking, cleaning, organizing and preparing to make the season a joyful experience for others… Most days are planned in advance and are busy. So when the pace changes, we have a natural hesitance to shift down a gear.
Taking a step back just for a moment, pausing to practice... can help you enjoy every minute of the holiday. Find a quiet space in the house where you can reset. Remind yourself of the things that are blessings for you on and off the yoga mat. Then remind yourself it doesn’t matter if things aren’t done perfectly; embrace falling out of a pose, be ok with where you meet your true self on the mat for that moment and bask in your yoga. There are many studies that show that gratitude itself is extremely effective in combating depression. The holidays have the potential to deliver; the love and joy experienced with cherished family and friends, and the crushing seasonal depression that many fall prey to. Take the time, before you are caught up in your own holiday hustle and bustle, to simply identify what you can be grateful for, to reflect upon it, feel it, and maybe even express it. Then we can remember to take a step back, slow down, enjoy the pace of gathering with friends and family, and be right there, in the moment, together. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™
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“We need much less than we think we need.”  What does Thanksgiving mean to an aspiring yogi? We can refer to the Sutras of Patanjali and focus on the Niyamas, specifically Santosa.
Santosa, (pronounced often as “san-toh-sha"), means contentment & the practice of this Niyama involves finding inner peace by accepting the present moment without being consumed by external circumstances, desires, or the need for what others have. It is not about stagnation, but about appreciating what is, while still being able to work toward goals from a place of abundance rather than lack. The Sutra we can look at 2.42; santosha anuttamah sukha-labhah, states that from contentment, unsurpassed happiness is gained. This Sutra emphasizes that true joy comes from inner satisfaction and gratitude for what you have, rather than from pursuing external desires or possessions. In a culture of excess, we seldom stop to just be content. We are always searching for the next best thing, the newer gadget, the "better" job, the bigger paycheck. One thing we can practice as yogis, and pass along to our family is the practice of mindfulness and awareness; slowing down to observe and recognize the beauty of provision. To distinguish the difference between a need and a desire. Practicing contentment will bring joy. Joy will awaken one’s heart to love. This love creates and reminds us of the unity we can experience with our fellow humans. Unity and togetherness ... that's called Yoga. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ “Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. The harvest can either be flowers or weeds.” — William Wordsworth  I love talking about planting seeds when we practice. Often, we do so with fierce intention and clarity. We cultivate a plan and things work out. The harvest is bountiful and all is coming.
But because it is life... regardless of how many crops are planted, there are obstacles to fertilizing those seeds. We’re still open to the process and looking optimistically to the harvest but we know our methods need to change or be refined. We can avoid harvest failure with the right inputs. Other times, we are just stuck in a muck, unsure of either what to plant, where to plant it or how to take care of it. These times are often precipitated by big transitions that may be planned or unanticipated. Leaving home, getting married, starting a family, a job change, starting a business, closing a business, moving, divorce, retiring, the death of a loved one or friend are just some examples of things that get us stuck in a "rut.". There may be a sense of indecision, a torment, an inner discomfort, a disconnection from what feels like an inner alignment. These times of uncertainty will always be part of the journey. When we are in the muck, uncertain of our direction, but knowing that we need to do something different or make a change, the ancients guided us in a few ideas about what to do. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are an influential philosophical text of yoga that lay out teachings on the mind and how to cultivate mental clarity and discernment. They had ideas about how to dig our way out of the mire. Yoga Sutra 1.32: Commit to the practice of a single principle/discipline Give yourself 5-10 minutes just to meditate; committing to daily journaling to gain clarity when things are not clear. Yoga Sutra 1.34: Practicing pranayama that involves forceful exhalation or retention of breath, one acquires a pristine state of mind We gain mental clarity by working with our breath to reduce the stress responses and quiet the mind and emotions so that we have clear discernment in making decisions. Yoga Sutra 1.39: Meditate on something that is meaningful to you What resonates for us will be something very deeply personal. We have to do the work. Once new habits are built and ingrained into our neural pathways and routines, less focus needs to be put on sustaining the desired result. Keeping 10lbs off is easy with good habits because we essentially reap what we sow. Physically and mentally. If you don’t have a crop harvest right now, it is only because you didn’t plant seeds and nurture them. Yoga helps us to create the harvest we want by cultivating a healthy mind-body-spirit connection. Mind your thoughts, as they can and will create the life and harvest you have. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ THE GIFT OF YOGA: WHO’S GIVING, WHO’S GETTING, AND HOW TO TAKE IT BEYOND THE MAT  (This week's newsletter was composed by our dynamic on-demand teacher and full time writer Elinor Cohen. Check out her Instagram HERE and her amazingly empowering advanced & intermediate sessions on our on-demand archives.) Every year around the holidays, the topic of gift giving creeps up. While the holidays are about so much more than presents, it would be remiss to say that gifts don’t play a role in the festivities. After all, look around you. The endless supply of ads and promotions for sales, discounts, deals, and specials all promote the same message: BUY, GIVE, GET! That’s consumerism for you. Alas, it doesn’t all have to be so material.
Let’s introduce yoga into the equation and explore the idea of yoga being a gift. First things first, can yoga be a gift? Of course it can. In the literal sense, you could buy or receive a class pack or membership to a studio, but the actual yoga practice could also be a gift in and of itself. The yoga practice is special. It teaches us to reorganize and reframe our thoughts, principles, and priorities. It emphasizes a connection between body, mind, and breath. It encourages us to slow down and appreciate the present that is presence. It allows us to get lost in the flow of movement and connection; to do the dance of simply existing and to witness that beauty. Yoga is a gift for the students as well as for the instructors. Both are simultaneously gift givers and recipients. The teachers and studios give students space, grace, and guidance. The students reciprocate by giving teachers the opportunity to express their creativity and share their wisdom with hungry, earnest, appreciative minds. In that sense, it is a beautiful symbiotic relationship and one that poses the question who is giving and who is giving? Can it be both at the same time? Can all gifts work that way? Absolutely. Think about it - while it’s fun to get a new sweater, isn’t it just as fun and fulfilling to present that new sweater to your friend who you know has been eyeing it for months? Doesn’t the act of giving it to them fill you with a warm sensation inside? No, that’s not the Mongolian cashmere nor is it the external heat of the 105 degree yoga room. It’s the knowledge that you’ve given someone something they wouldn’t otherwise have. It feels fantastic to receive something from someone who you know put time, energy, thought, care, and effort into it; it feels just as amazing to give that to someone who you can see appreciates and values it. When you think about gifts in this way, you see that they always go both ways as long as the manner in which they come about is done with integrity and non attachment, or a lack of expectation to receive in return. This holiday season, I invite you to rethink how you experience gifts. Focus on the feelings, both the ones that come from receiving gifts as well as those that come from delivering them. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ |
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