...All is Coming

Clear Seeing:

Today is my birthday. I am 31 year old today. Last year I decided to have a really big birthday party. This time last year I had no answers to nearly every question tossed my way. Would Mike be accepted in any graduate school? If he got acepted where then would we move...Chicago? LA? NYC? Providence? Would I continue to teach yoga or get a job that required some other skills?

I thrive on vision. Last year I couldn't stop the arrow spinning even for a moment to see which way to move. The arrow has stopped and just now I am ready to create this life.

I am spending the day quietly. Mike and I got up early and now we are heading out to Walden Pond for a hike. Later I will practice and have a Dosa at my favorite Indian spot with a few friends.

No direction home

I thought that I would blog while I was in Philadelphia. I thought that I would see everyone that I longed to see. I thought that I would practice twice a day. What I failed to realize was just how busy I would actually be. It was a great trip home. I logged many hours with my favorite sister, practiced with my teacher and my yoga tribe, and had some fantastic meals with some of my favorite people. I felt at home, but at the same time I felt distance from all that was happening. Some of the distance I welcomed...yoga drama is so strange.

Now that I am back in Rhode Island I feel a little directionless. Like what is next for me. How can I continue to teach and make a living doing that? Where is my yoga home?

I am starting to put together the pieces of my Winter Solstice workshop, and while I was practicing this morning this poem flew (from God knows where) into my quiet mind.

Prelude To Winter

The moth under the eaves
with wings like
the bark of a tree, lies
symmetrically still-

And love is a curious
soft-winged thing
unmoving under the eaves
when the leaves fall.William Carlos Williams

Some Catch Up Photos

4 Practices

I left Philadelphia nearly three months ago. In some ways it feels much longer and in other ways it feels still very near to me. I have been practicing in my little yoga room for nearly three months. I have had some interesting moments on the mat. Little discoveries followed by big pieces of the ever evolving puzzle coming together. Overall practicing alone is very intimate and none of the normal distractions are present to entertain the mind. While I can feel a solo practice is great for the teacher in me and reaffirms that I practice yoga...that is what I do regardless of who's teaching or who's showing up. That said I am REALLY excited to be coming home next week!

Here is the Juice

I'll have my mat rolled out at Corina-ji's 1pm class on Friday November the 6th

If Saturday's aren't the same since I've been gone I am TEACHING a led primary Saturday November the 7th at 10am at Yoga Squared...this is open to all.

There is still space in the workshop at Yoga Squared but space is limited. Check out my website for details:

http://www.jillmanning.com

I am also giving a three hour intensive on Monday November 9th from 6-9pm at the AFC (also check out the website) you must pre-register because space is limited and it is filling up!

I leave for Philly in 5 days and Mysore in two months after all this alone time I am about due!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I have missed practice the last two Sundays. Like Cyndi I am aiming for 5 practices this week. Here is a photo from practice today (not a self-y).

My Practice Week

pretty much went to the dogs...literally. Angie got very sick this week and needed to go to the vet twice after throwing up nearly every morning somewhere between 4am and 6am. Charlie needed a haircut and that was also an ordeal. So my aim for practice 6 times was once again met with a 3 day practice reality. Which is not to bad for a sick dog, three jobs, and a husband who is busy all the time. Here is a picture from my practice today. Marichyasana D is proof that practice changes everything.

Second Born

Joy says that I should blog everyday. I know that I should but time is a precious commodity and unlike my sister writing is not my favorite thing to do. I enjoy scribbling a thing or two down and connecting with my thoughts via pen and paper, but seriously I am no writer.

I am a mover.

Adam sent me this really great quote today from Andre Gide, "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Many of my great quotes have come from some other human through Adam down to me and out my mouth into the yogic universe. One such quote that I think has been misattributed to Manorama (always a good guess) is from someone I can't remember right now, but it goes "don't let your thoughts rob you of your experiences." Adam wrote that down from his mythy mind after attending a yoga class of mine on a yellow piece of scrap paper. I still have that paper stuck in my very favorite yoga book.

Adam is my guru. Shedding light like no one else I know.

The Mysore group was awe inspiring today. This was the beginning of week five and all eight came to their mat even though it was holiday and most of them had off from work. All eight 5 weeks in on a holiday at 7am! The best part of teaching is the shared light experience. Teachers enlighten students and YES! students enlighten and enliven their teachers.

Shine On!

Back on Track

Week One

People who know me and my practice habits know that I don't practice on Saturday. This is partly a groove that I got into in Mysore and in Philly my Saturdays were teaching days and a natural fit fit for taking rest. I work at risd|works on Saturdays from 10-5 so Saturdays will continue to be a day in which I will not practice. Sunday has always marked the beginning of the new practice week. Sunday is the high Holy day of practice and I miss the coffee chats after a really intense practice. I love schedules. I love to set the bar and challenge myself to rise to the occasion. Here is the bar for the week 10/11 thru 10/17:

Sunday 10/11
It's parents weekend at RISD so I need to work on Sunday too!
Practice time 7am

Monday 10/12
I am free after my morning Mysore and usually practice around 10am.
Practice tie 10am

Tuesday 10/13
Off all day
Practice time 10am

Wednesday 10/14
This is where is gets really hard. I teach my Mysore group from 7am-9am then run to the YMCA to teach from 9:30am-10:30am and then run to risd|works and work from 11am -5:30pm.
Practice time 5:30am

Thursday 10/15 (Liana is here for the Iyengar Conference and staying with me)
Another full day at my "real" job.
Practice tme 7am

Friday 10/16
Maybe a surprise!

Saturday 10/17
TAKE REST

OK I've set my bar and I'll blog about the experience of week one. Let me know how you are finding practice and how practice is finding you.

I get it!

Practice is hard. Well not exactly the practice itself, but finding the time to practice is just..hard. I used to think it was difficult to find the time as a full time yoga teacher. Consider this blast an apology to all the full time practitioners out there. You know who you are! The students that roll into a 5:45pm yoga class in their pantyhose and practice.

I have been straddling the line of yoga teacher/Museum employee for about four weeks now, and my practice is struggling. After I write this post I will practice for only the third time this week. I need to get back on a 5 times a week schedule. I need to develop a plan. I think I need to get up earlier because after 8 hours of standing in a cute outfit I can't hit the mat especially on my own.

The good news is that I'll be in Philly for some great practice hours next month and I found a flight to India for less than $1100! I just need to finalize some details and get back to the business of practicing.

I am also giving a workshop that my friend Vanessa Mock has set up. Here is what she has said about it:

Hello All,
I am so excited to announce that the lovely Jill Manning will be presenting a "Twists & Binds" workshop on Monday, November 9th from 6-9 pm right here at The Aquatic & Fitness Center. For those of you who are acquainted with Jill, you know how incredible of a teacher she is. For those of you who are not, DO this workshop and you will not be sorry.

This three hour, ALL LEVELS, workshop will place sharp focus on asanas (postures) that twist and asanas that bind. Employing these qualities, you will understand how twisting postures can produce fluidity especially with a solid bind. You do not need to be able to easily twist into a pretzel to do this workshop. Jill has been teaching for over 10 years and has a vast knowledge of information to accommodate various populations, injuries and limitations.

Space is limited to only 20 participants. I am expecting that it will fill to max capacity within several weeks. To ensure a space either stop by to register or call with payment info. The cost is $45 and worth every penny.

Tell your friends, family and others who may be interested in this wonderful workshop.


OM, Shanti, OM. Love is life:)
Vanessa Mock
Group Fitness/Program Director
Aquatic & Fitness Center, Bala Cynwyd

Come Fly With Me!

In Philadelphia

Yoga Squared

“Foundation First” with Jill Manning 7-8 November
1pm - 5pm Saturday
12pm - 4pm Sunday

Understanding the Count, Understanding the Method
This course (9 hours) is designed to introduce a deeper relationship to
the Traditional Ashtanga Yoga Method, as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of
Mysore, India. In this weekend long workshop we will dive deeply into the
often unseen structure that is the heart of the Method. One of Guruji’s
most repeated teachings is “99% practice 1% theory.” As is the way with
many great thread like teachings there is something that should be
understood. It is not enough to practice, what Guruji is suggesting is
proper practice. The proper understanding and employment of vinyasa
karma, breath pattern, bandha as energy, and drsti as focus.

This workshop will be a collage of practice, and theory filled with some
really informative tips and tricks for making sense of the sequence,
fettering out suggested meaning, and feeling around for the more internal
aspects of this method.

While this workshop is appropriate for all levels it may be most
interesting to those who have a practice and would like to understand more
deeply the design and structure of the tradition.

Wake Up Yoga

ReTurn with Jill Manning
A Winter Solstice Workshop

Wake Up Yoga Fairmount
Saturday, December 19th and Sunday, December 20th
1 - 4 pm

Contribution: $90 for both days; $50 for one day only

This workshop is capped at 20 participants..


In Providence

am very excited to announce the next series for the Mysore program at
Motion Center. At the close of this session there will be a week off. I
am going to teach a workshop in Philadelphia and spend the week practicing
with and assisting my teacher! Classes will resume:

Monday Session November 16th - December 21st (6 weeks) 7am -9am 8 students
only.

Wednesday Session November 18th - December 23rd (6 weeks) 7am -9am 8
students only.

I am then heading to India for my 4th trip to Mysore in January. Classes
will resume in February. Hopefully with an expanded schedule.

If you are interested register early with Motion Center
(http://www.motioncenter.com) and please freely pass the information along
to anyone with interest and always contact me directly with questions.

Pilgrimage

According to Wikipedia, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith.

Some journeys I have undertaken with fierce determination. Each journey to India has been a small part of a larger search for significance, for myself. It indeed is an outward expression of great changes that have and continue to occur inside of me. Some journeys have been much more private, less advertised, and felt more deeply to those who share an intimacy with me. Sometimes it feels that allowing yourself to be still the place of significance takes the long journey toward you.

"If you take one step toward the point, the point takes ten steps toward you." Manorama

Mike and I found ourselves on the banks of Walden Pond yesterday. The sky was moody, and the moon would be full later that night. After two months in Providence it was totally worth the wait.

...is the transformation

Why I practice?

1. Clarity
2. Precision
3. Simplicity
4. Lucidity

6 weeks until Philly

I am so excited about coming back to Philadelphia to teach and spend some time with my awesome yoga teacher practicing yoga. I must admit I have been a "bad lady" when it has come to this blog. I apologize. I have been pretty lackadaisical lately when it comes to sharing this experience. The ground in Providence has shifted and moved under my feet so many times in the last two months. I had all these grand ideas about making practice videos for this blog (I have discovered some BIG gems practicing in my little shala). I can't even seem to write or post a picture.

This is my commitment to write or post a picture everyday for the next six weeks. Here is just some of what I have been mulling over in the mountain ranges of my mind.


A method is a way of doing.

If you are a vinyasa yoga teacher what is your method? In an essay David Foster Wallace describes the difference between writing fiction and non-fiction. In this essay he states the big challenge of writing non fiction is that the writer has "total freedom of infinite choice about what to choose to attend to and represent and connect and how and why." Sound familiar? Maybe my TT brain just turns on this time of year. I think that statement says it all about what makes a meaningful vinyasa class. What do you think?

Bija

A good teacher is known for planing seeds in their students and then being unattached to the growth of those seeds. Efforting to plant and then efforting to step back. Over the last four weeks I have been planting. If you live in Providence you have seen me on a flier. If you have had a job to offer you have seen my resume. If you are a manager of a restaurant on the West Side, yup! you have seen me there as well. Four weeks of planting and the seeds are starting to sprout.

I have faith in this process because I have seen the fruit on the mat. The seeds of breath, energy, and focus have colored my practices with lushness.

Practice is a seed of effort, the catch.
Vairagya is the effort of standing back, the release.

How do you drop back with grace? Marry the the two in your mind, breath, body, but most importantly in your heart. How do you move to a new city and make a life? You practice the drop back of living finding just the right balance of falling and just the right quality of catching.

Major Meltdown...Mysore Coming

Yesterday it happened. Like a giant damn broke in my body and I just lost it. Trying to put a life together out of Providence thin air is really no small thing. There are some things that seem to be coming together. The Mysore program at Motion Center is filling up fast and people seem to be excited about it and have been longing for it for some time. Finding other work has been the big snafu. Spending the last nine years honing in on yoga skills has its benefits for sure, but out there in the rest of the world it has me falling flat as a potential employee.


Pretty soon the Mysore program will begin and I'll be coming back to Philly for some workshops and all will be less melty. It is time to go into my little shala and breathe and love and practice.

Rehydrating a mushroom

This is the beginning of my third week in Providence. I kind of feel a bit like a two year old. The emotional pendulum swings so wildly. One moment I am basking in the glow of receiving a call to come in and audition for a class at the Boston Sports Club, and the next moment I am questioning what the #$%@ I am doing here. I am questioning how long my unemployment status will go on, and how many hours can Mike and I stare at each other in this heat without break.

On the practice front I am pleased to say that I am returning to the mat with regularity, vigorously scribbling thoughts into my current notebook, and hosting some guest in my yoga room (maybe you'll be next). My yoga room has finally transformed into my office now that we have Internet through the entire house. With little to do I am also reading a lot. Some yoga material, but others books, fascinating books, books like I used to read when I lived in NY and took the subway everywhere. That feels like a return to something solid and exciting.

Other things that this Providence life is inspiring:

We have one TV with very little to offer so it is off like 90% of the time.
Mike and I are riding our bikes everywhere. My car hasn't moved in three weeks.
Eating local. We have this amazing farmers market every Thursday and that's where we do all the produce and dairy shopping.

Sure I miss Philly. I miss all the yoga students. I miss the comfort, and security. I feel the fire of Tapas, and although I am afraid I think I like it.

By the end of this week (at least according to my dry erase board) I'll have a fully updated workshop schedule. Including stops in Philly and a retreat in Guatemala!

Two Weeks and Two Days

This is not a vacation. I am not coming home Philly. I will not be resuming the Saturday and Tuesday yoga time slots anytime soon. I am not preparing for Teacher Training. This is some weird stuff.

I am trying to find my way. Reestablish a real relationship with myself and the practice of yoga. Providence has a quiet way about it, and its authentic silence, its off the grid-ness, is allowing me, and I can hear Micheal Carroll in my head even as I write this, to drop the cape. Even more so I am asking myself to drop the costume.

You know what I am talking about!

I have been reading from my notebooks before I start practice. Trying to find those gems that make their way into yoga classes that I teach. Trying to inspire myself. This morning I read something that I wrote boldly in the margin. It said, "You've got devotion, now what?"
Now What?

I woke up this morning with a clear vision, and an urgency, an energy to begin the exploration of just that question. I hope that this begins a daily blog of this very interesting journey. Finding myself in Providence, and exploring the action of devotion. I have said this in yoga class and I am repeating here, where bhakti (devotion) meets shakti (energy) that intersection...that's abhyasa...that's practice, and as always..that's the juice.

Letting Go

What a concept. Putting this into practice is a whole different story. Yogis say, "Svaha!" sometimes when you don't know what else to say. I can feel myself battling the familiar, trying desperately to arrange things in the way I that I think they should go. I just told a friend yesterday about my crazy Spring filled with emotions and depression. I told her that I saw one of those inspirational cards that caught my eye. It said, "if you are at the end of your rope, hold on." For her I think this advice is true, for me, right now, at this very time, this very moment I am at the end of this rope and I have got to find a way to LET GO.

Today and tomorrow Philadelphia.

Next stop Providence.

One Year Ago

I had just landed for my third time in India. I remember when I thought that traveling to, practicing in, and traveling around India was an impossibility. Although last year was the third it was my first time alone, and it was the longest stretch away from my husband and home. The very first night I dropped to my knees (no joke) and cried. I couldn't imagine how this was all going to work, nine weeks without working, nine weeks without my husband, nine weeks in India. I was up all night.

Nine years after planting in Philadelphia I am leaving. I was up all night. Well, not all night, but Mike and I were awake from 3ish until the soft sunrise. I can't image how this is all going to work out. I am starting to freak out.

Tonight is the last Tuesday night class for me at Wake Up, and Saturday is the final class, and there is a party after so hope to see so many sweet faces before the long Philly pause.

What I Like About You

Not to long ago I sent some students, and colleagues and email entitled, "Getting my shit together." The email was a cry for help. As I prepare to leave this city so many people have been asking, "you're coming back to teach some workshops, right?" I have been told by many that I am good at what I do. I know that I love teaching yoga, and I love the subject itself. It would be then impossible (especially given the number of years that I have been at this) not have have some skill. But as I tried to parcel out what was it that I was good at I couldn't see the forest through the vrkshasana's.

Here is some of the feedback, and if you have more please email it to me.


There has never been a class I've taken with Jill that I haven't: a) learned
something, b) been inspired, and c) smiled. All three are enormously
important to me both in my practice and my life. Her depth of knowledge is
something to behold.

Jill is a teacher whose skill and patience are revealed to surprising new depths every time you practice with her. When you begin to feel you've arrived someplace, she is there to illuminate whole new levels and elements of practice, and to encourage you onwards. She offers concrete, matter-of-fact instruction in both the physical and energetic aspects of yoga practice, balancing the joy of asana with the focus and repetition required for mastery. Her guidance has been a continual revelation as I've worked towards a deeper understanding of practice.


So, I will do my best to explain what it is that makes me avoid social plans on Tuesday evenings and Sat mornings as best i can: the you in you that shines through so honestly, your sense of humor, your ability to demonstrate poses with grace and ease that helps give me a confidence so I feel as if I can do the same, your knowledge of asanas so that classes are designed in a way that my body seems to move in ways I wouldnt' think I was capable of ( this in itself builds a sense of confidence I have in you as a teacher and also a confidence in myself), your ability to use your voice to guide my movemennt and breath to sinc and move almost lavishly, and the quotes and themes woven into your classes...I forgot to mention those...many have supported me through some rough spots in my life.

I began a more dedicated practice during and following TT with you, and over the years have had the pleasure of not only watching my own practice grow, but yours as well. What I mean to say is that you are a student yourself, and when you teach, you seem to always draw from both your student and teacher experiences in a way that is so human, so grounding. What I have really grown to appreciate about studying with you is your ability to take poses apart, down to the nitty gritty, and then put them back together like a puzzle, piece by piece, drawing clear connections from one pose to the next. It really doesn't matter what the focus is..backbends or binding...whatever you choose. It's your style of teaching, of getting to know each student, offering options, and building logically and simply (sometimes) from the ground up that really makes you someone I want to learn from and study with.