When I first tried yoga, I absolutely hated it. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was on a beach towel in a dimly lit gym, and I hated that I couldn’t do the unfamiliar positions “right.” I couldn’t see the point of practicing so slow. In retrospect, I see now that my first experience had less to do with not connecting with the teacher, and more to do with my competitive tennis background. Back then, if I didn’t feel the burn or break a sweat during exercise, I didn’t enjoy it.

I didn’t try yoga again until two years later when I found Power Yoga. This was much more my style. After a few sessions I was hooked. I even practiced from a book at home and while out of town. I had no idea if I was doing it “right,” but I liked being able to do certain postures pictured in the book. I still saw yoga as another competition (within myself), however. It took years for me to realize that the practice I was initially drawn to was the exact opposite of what I needed.

Within the first few Power Yoga classes I took, I found myself thinking, “It would be very cool to teach yoga.” Although I had been teaching tennis for a few years, I wasn’t sure about teaching larger groups. About three years later, I took an introductory course to see if I enjoyed teaching yoga. I discovered that I had a lot more to learn. A little push from Bonnie Yonker went a long way towards my enrollment in Sarasota’s Yoga From the Heart teacher training program. The rest, as they say, is history…

My practice has changed immensely since those first few years. It took me a while to realize that I need my yoga practice to balance out my life. I now find the most benefit from a practice quite opposite from the Power Yoga I began with. I enjoy a practice that allows me to relieve all of my achy parts – both physically and mentally. The more props the merrier! My practice has slowed down, yet gone deeper.

Teaching yoga gives me the opportunity to pass on what I love about yoga. It allows me to connect with students in a way that is different from teaching tennis. In fact, I believe it has changed the way I teach tennis for the better. I am very blessed to be a part of what’s happening at The Yoga Sanctuary.

When I’m not practicing or teaching yoga, I am teaching or playing tennis. Some of you may already know that I grew up playing tennis competitively and have been lucky enough to compete at the international level while in the junior circuit and then for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I have the perfect jobs, complementing each other so nicely. I put on my tennis hat (literally!) during the day, and in the afternoons and evenings you can find me in the studio. I even have several tennis students who begin their days with me on the court and end it with me in the studio. How cool is that?!

Some of my favorites:

Favorite Books: Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman and Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda

Favorite food: Authentic Puerto Rican (now vegetarian), anything I cook from scratch (a luxury during season for me), and anything juice-able from Worden Farm.

Favorite Yoga Pose: Legs up the wall: the feel-good, cure-all posture!

Most Challenging Yoga Pose: Revolved Triangle, or backbends. I have recently discovered that with the right props (in my case a chair) I actually find myself enjoying these.

My name is Ellen Mackay-Furlong, and I’m a retired labor and delivery nurse. I am a caregiver of my parents, married to a great yogi named Ricki, and have two awesome children, Fraser (who just finished med school) and Joanna (who is finishing up fifth grade). I am also an artist, and enjoy making murals.

I began practicing yoga on June 6, 2011 because of chronic back pain due to five back surgeries. I take the gentle classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as a private class every other week. When I came to yoga, I was hunched over while walking and had no core strength. I was very depressed. I felt stuck!

Now my posture is better, I can reach for things that I couldn’t before, I can sit on the floor, and then get back up. Balance is still a challenge, but my endurance is better-I can hold poses longer, as long as I remember to breathe.

Benefits beyond the physical practice are priceless. I don’t know how this happened, but I feel great love and faith after each session. This has helped me in so many ways. My sister Patty mentioned the other day that she noticed I was more detached, not getting sucked into dramas. Jennifer has given me a meditation practice for home, and music to enjoy. My home practices are pretty wonderful too. My favorite posture is warrior pose. As its name implies, it is very empowering. I really look forward to standing poses.

I keep coming back to yoga because I know that I will be nurtured and challenged by it. I am inspired by my teacher Jennifer, who has guided me through some tough times. Also, the Tibetan bowls and chanting classes were terrific!

My favorite quote:
Be a joyful participant in the sorrows of the world.

Cheers!

The chakra system comes from Tantric philosophy. According to Tantra, the universe was created when Shiva and Shakti were separated. Shiva, the male energy, represents divine consciousness, and Shakti, the female energy, represents Mother Nature herself. It is said that when Shakti separated from Shiva, the world as we know it was created.

To realize the true union of Shiva and Shakti—or the true nature of ourselves, connected to all that is (or a spiritual connection, if you choose)—we practice asana, pranayama, and meditation, increasing the flow of prana within us. This flow of prana moves kundalini, or the coil of energy at the base of the spine, up the Sushumna nadi (the main nadi that travels along the spine). As kundalini flows through each chakra, we experience a balance of energies that flows out into our lives.

Through the chakras, we are able to work with our life energies in a positive way. Learning about the chakras, and how chakra imbalances can affect our lives, and vice versa, can help us to understand the subtle nature of life itself. Through asana, pranayama, and meditation we can rebalance the chakras to improve energy flow within the body, mind, and spirit.

Each chakra is associated with aspects of life, areas of the body, energies, and so much more. In the coming months, we will delve into each chakra, learning its significance, how to identify chakra imbalances, and how to bring each chakra back into balance. In the meantime, know that your yoga practice is serving to open the energy flow within you, and all around you.

In essence, Samadhi is the realization—not simply the thought or idea, but the true understanding—that we are all one. That you are reading about it right now does not mean you understand it, for Samadhi cannot be explained in words. It can only be experienced.

Thus, the Eight Limbs of Yoga provide the roadmap for realizing Samadhi. But just as holding a roadmap does not assure you will reach your destination, so reading about the Eight Limbs of Yoga does not assure you will reach Samadhi. Integrate the ethical practices of the Yamas and Niyamas into your life. Attend to the physical practices of Asana and Pranayama to find comfort in your body and mind. These practices set the stage for the final four limbs of yoga to occur, leading to Samadhi. Samadhi cannot be practiced, per se. Samadhi simply happens. Samadhi occurs when the proper conditions have been set allowing the mind to be free from disturbances so that it can know true reality.

According to Desikachar, “In Samadhi our personal identity—name, profession, family history, bank account, and so forth—completely disappears.” Whether you are interested in achieving Samadhi or not, certainly the core goal of connecting to something greater—whether a higher power, a greater purpose, God, or to the energy that flows within and without us—is worth seeking. Whether you actually achieve it or not does not matter. Remember that it is the journey, not the destination, which we seek. So begin, simply, with your next breath. Inhale. Exhale.

By bringing your attention to the breath you are able to connect to the true essence of your practice. In fact, yoga practice begins with the breath. Let your breath be the first place you go in any asana. When you begin with the breath, and build from there, your practice will take on a new quality — an all-encompassing completeness that fills your entire practice, just as a full breath fills your entire lungs.

Think about it. Do you ever find yourself holding your breath during a challenging yoga posture? What might happen if instead you breathed through it? By checking in with the breath again and again, you will begin to notice how you use the breath, and you’ll learn how to cultivate the quality of ease as you breathe. In this way, your yoga practice itself will take on a quality of ease, and from there will you build the foundation of steadiness.

In today’s world, we are very much outward-focused. Paying attention to our breath is an afterthought, if it’s even a thought at all. Yet taking a moment to check back in with the present by checking the breath-gauge will not only take your yoga practice to the next level, it can bring a sense of ease in your life off of the mat.

Whether in yoga class or during a busy day off your mat, let your breath be the gauge that helps bring you more ease and steadiness. In your yoga practice, try to begin each posture by checking your breath. Off the mat, write the word “breathe” somewhere noticeable, and each time you look at it stop and take a moment to notice your breath. Then see where this practice takes you.

My journey to yoga began in 2006, one of my most difficult years. I was a trial attorney with a busy litigation practice, a husband, and two kids. That year my litigation practice left me with no time for family, let alone for myself. In August, the perfect storm was brewing: I lost an important case; my husband moved to our farm to run our organic chicken business; my daughter and I moved into an apartment; my father died in September; and by the end of the year, I knew I had to close my law firm after 11 years of practice. Not my finest hour.



In November I went on retreat at an ashram. I was already on a spiritual path, having developed a relationship with a higher power though my recovery from alcoholism in 1994. Because of this, I knew I was being opened up for a new and more meaningful life despite the seeming catastrophe occurring around me.

In 2007 I took a four week yoga class from a friend of mine, and later began practicing Ashtanga three or four times weekly. It was only on the mat that I felt the relief and peace that I needed to go on with my busy life. I realized I could no longer practice law the way I had for the last 19 years-pouring my heart, soul, and energy into a profession that thrived on derision, and in which there were only winners and losers. After leaving my employment, I began to come to my mat six or seven times a week, and my inner and outer strength grew.

In June of 2009, I went on a five day silent retreat and began learning about the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The philosophy of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga resonated with me like nothing else I had studied before. When the Om Seva School of Yoga opened at the yoga studio where I practiced, I enrolled in a teacher training.

Even as I learned how to teach yoga, I never saw myself as a yoga teacher. I merely wanted to immerse myself into my newfound joy. However, I received the book How Yoga Works, by Michael Roach. This fun little book is basically a parable of the Yoga Sutras and from it I learned that it is very much a part of the yogic tradition to share what you have been freely given, similar to a concept I had been taught in recovery-you can only keep what you are willing to give away.

In the summer of 2009 I moved to Englewood, Florida, and found The Yoga Sanctuary in 2010. When I met Bonnie and experienced the community there, I knew my practice had found a home. I began teaching yoga at The Yoga Sanctuary in 2011. I won’t pretend it came natural or that I didn’t feel, or still don’t at times feel, uncomfortable up there. After all, I ask myself, what do I know about this very large and powerful experience called yoga? But then I remind myself to share with you, my students, what has been so lovingly and freely shared with me. And so I sit on my mat, smile at your open faces, and begin.

A few of my favorites:
Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, though I also love anything by Susan Howatch.
Food: toasted homegrown tomato sandwich with butter and a smidgeon of sea salt.
Yoga Pose: Ardha chandrasana.
My most challenging pose is Bhujapidasana.

Upon arriving in Punta Gorda in December of 1981, I fell in love with the charm and quaintness of this beautiful area. I manage a restaurant that symbolizes the unique history and feel of Punta Gorda, and my second career as a tai chi instructor has become a very fulfilling and enlightening journey.

My first yoga experience was reading the book Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation by Jess Stern. I knew nothing about yoga or reincarnation, but youth was certainly beginning to sound appealing. My early study of yoga led me to understand that asana is only one limb of the 8 limbs that comprise yoga. The sense that there must be something more to life than ordinary, everyday routine spurred my search for that something more.

I began attending classes at The Yoga Sanctuary in January 2008. From the very first class I found that yoga enhanced my life. I now practice yoga daily. I take the Yin class on Tuesdays and the Meditation class on Wednesdays, in addition to my home practice in which I incorporate sun breaths with my tai chi warm ups, and the study of yoga through books.

Yoga sustains me in all aspects of my life. When my foundation shifted in 2010 when my partner Kerry passed away, the love and compassion of my friends and fellow yogis at The Yoga Sanctuary was constant.

Physically, I have found that the yoga practice has helped me to release restrictions in my right hip and knee by letting go of my need to relax. The comfort and ease that is associated with the Yin practice is allowing muscles and connective tissue to relax. Through this practice I am learning to be kind to myself, and to others.

Yoga has also brought me a sense of easiness within my body. My posture has improved as my spine has become straighter. I am able to conquer anxiety through a balanced breath, and I am overcoming the depression that comes with the grieving process, of losing my partner of 30 years. Through mindful awareness I am more able to see the Himalayas of life, so to speak, become merely speed bumps. And I have learned that encouraging others, and myself, brings a positive outcome to most situations.

Outside of The Yoga Sanctuary I like to spend time with my son, to read books, and to sit in a garden, listen to the wind, and dream. To challenge myself, I’d like to become certified as a yoga instructor; I’d like to become a competent, if not an accomplished, potter; I’d like to do Ashtanga yoga; and to become more lighthearted. And as the Dalai Lama says:

Never give up
Be compassionate
Work for peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you,
Never give up.

The continued practice of Dharana will eventually become Dhyana. Dhyana is the second limb of Samyama, the simultaneous practice of the three last limbs of yoga. For meditation, Iyengar recommends placing concentration specifically on the breath because, “nothing penetrates deeper than breath or is more pervasive.” The breath is a common point of focus during meditation, as it is easily accessible—certainly, we can always come back to the breath.

To put Dhyana into perspective, think about when you sit for meditation. Let’s say you begin to focus on the breath. Perhaps you choose to notice how the belly moves in and out with each breath. This moment of concentration is Dharana. Then you think about how your foot feels—this is a distraction. Then back to the breath. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Then you think about how you need to stop at the grocery store on the way home. You think about what you need to buy there. Then you notice your mind is distracted and guide it back to the breath. This is the mind. The mind is always on the go, chasing thoughts. Dharana seeks to rein the attention back to the moment—to one single point.

When the moments of Dharana become longer, say, a few minutes or more of maintaining your attention on the breath without distractions, the transition to Dhyana has taken place. When the mind no longer chases each distracted thought, but rather remains concentrated on the object of choice, without interruption, Dhyana is experienced. Dhyana opens up space, so to speak, for the calm that sets the stage for a deeper connection to be made in the next limb, Samadhi.

Next time you sit for meditation, notice the stream of concentration. Do the moments of concentration alternate with many thoughts? Do you notice longer stretches of time when you are able to maintain your attention on your breath (or the object of your focus)? Observe the patterns without judgment. Remember, this is practice. It will always be just practice.