Student Spotlight

 Danielle Fibikar

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 "Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure."


"I can remember the first time I practiced yoga with Sean- I had to roll out of bed the next day...literally. I saw and felt on that day how little I was doing for my body. Little did I know at the time, for my mind too. It's been three years now that I have been practicing with Sean, and I continue to get stronger with every class I take, every chataranga I do, every pose I push myself to hold. Yoga has helped me to become better at grounding myself, in all different areas in my life. Its a practice that you carry with yourself at all times, through the good and the bad, on and off the mat. Thankyou, Sean, for sharing your love of yoga with us and for giving us a place to call home."


It's always a pleasure having Dani in class. She's pretty busy out there in the world! Dani is a scientist, a yogi, a teacher, an adventurer. She's an environmental educator for one of our Island’s most treasured cultural spaces, Snug Harbor, and teaches Biology at the College of Staten Island. She periodically travels to exotic locations to study bats and birds!


Dani is a fiercely passionate woman of science, simultaneously bold and silly as they come with an extremely warm heart. 


Thank you, Dani, for sharing yourself and your passions with the world and bringing your adventurous attitude the studio!

 

Peter Voss 

 

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"Yoga has helped me with my PTSD

Sean is a great teacher, I love this place!"

Pete has been coming to morning classes since the new year. You've might have seen him in some of the local bars dancing to the music of a live band

Pete loves life it's easy to see that. 

What you might not know is that Pete is a Vietnam veteran 

Served as an artillery man In the army 

He was shipped over seas to fight the war

After injuring his foot from getting Hit by a  mortar round,  he spend his recovery time in different parts of Asia and Japan for being sent back to the states

After recovering back home Pete worked as a hydraulics mechanic and later  for government parks services 

Decades after his service Pete  eventually suffered a breakdown and was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and has tried treatments everything from therapy to  prescription drugs and electroshock treatment   

Pete has been an avid runner and biker for many years and takes care of himself with exercise  

He loves music particularly good live music  A drink and dance and he sometimes even barefoot

He's a free spirit and will always be young at heart and we are glad to have him here at the studio  

Grit

"Courage is grace under pressure"

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When was the last time you did something that scared you?

Its interesting to know what ever is on the other side of that fear is extremely liberating

Yet every time we come to that threshold our body responds a certain way

Our body is very efficient at maintaining homeostasis yet our bodies chemistry can keep us in a status quo that we may or may not want.

Neuroplasticity is the condition of your nervous system to adjust to different situations that you may find less than desirable and make them bearable

This phenomenon can work against us or in our favor.

In my opinion this Neuroplasticity is what causes us to stay with jobs relationships and lives that may no longer suit us

Good news is that we can use this Nero plasticity to break out of what we've made comfortable and acclimate to a more fulfilling lives.

It all starts with your mind

It all starts with your breath

Part of You're thinking mind is always identifying threats and opportunities

Your breath is not only the link between your mind and your body but the link between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

Your sympathetic nervous system is what triggers a response to certain stimulus "fight flight or freeze"

Your parasympathetic nervous system is what brings you back to center when the coast is clear

When triggered your sympathetic nervous system pumps all those fun chemicals that cause stress through your body

cortisol , adrenaline, epinephrine Norepinephrine causing immediate physical and psychological changes to your being making your body ready to take on any threat or opportunity

The funny thing about this is that your nervous system doesn't know whether the stimulus is someone cut you off in traffic or a tiger is chasing you.

This conditioned response had served us well when we were living in caves running around in the loincloths hunting and gathering

In the modern world it becomes a liability

When your body goes through this process on a daily basis it will cause distress which will lead to dis-ease

Did you know that your nervous system cant differentiate between good stress and bad stress?

It doesn't matter whether the situation is "he proposed to me!" or "He's going to kill me!" it doesn't matter whether the situation is good or bad it's all stress to the nervous system.

This is why breath control is essential

Deep breathing is what helps us operate from our parasympathetic nervous system again

Warriors and monks of all different cultures have known this at least at some intuitive level for centuries

Making their breathing practice the center of their training

Research shows us that the majority of people do not use their Full lung capacity

Leaving a bunch of energy unused

This is true for both aroused states and day-to-day moments

This is why your breath control is a great tool to take off of your mat and into your day

This is why I say that your yoga practice is primarily a breathing practice

Taking time out of your busy day to take deep full breaths will help you defy the statistics and reap big rewards.

When practiced daily your breath work will fully Oxygenate your blood ensuring that you have a full gas tank to work at optimal levels, detoxify your organs as well as calm center your mind.

 

The picture above and the link below is the yoga schedule for this week

 

We only have five days and six spots left for this Black Friday sale

 

$799 for an entire year

 

Please respond if you want to just take a class or sign up for the entire year

 

That's it for now my lovelies

 

NAMASTE

FEAR and showing the way

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 I had a conversation with a beautiful person today

This person suffered from severe anxiety

She told me how it affected her professional and personal life

How her life kept getting smaller and smaller

minimal to no social interactions

How it would paralyze her

How intense it was and how it would stay with her for days

She would go from home to work then right back to home

Then she started to spend all of her time and just one room of the house

One winter night she made the decision to break out of the box that she created around herself and threw herself into the Melee of peak holiday shopping season in the Staten Island mall 

She tried to make this move sound small but I could tell how big it was for her.  

To be around all those people all that activity all that stimulus

Dragging herself kicking and screaming at times on the inside staying present to all the chaotic noise and movement 

She made a tiny crack in that box that she created around herself

In spite of the alarms going off inside of her body she came to realize that there was nothing to fear. 

In spite of her fear she reaped the benefits  that night of getting that much more of her life back

Step-by-step with patience she moves from experience to experience similar to this in order to build up her bravery. 

Listening to her story I couldn't help but reflect on my own.  

The reason why I became obsessed with martial arts was

one third fear

one third excitement

and one third inspiration

 I remember it being a very particular flavor of fear  

like when you're seven years old and you accidentally break one of dad's tools

It makes a big noise

and you hear your dad's deep voice say

"what the hell was that?!" 

followed by thundering steps towards the room.  

It's a very deep fear that descends in to the pit of your belly.  

And your seven-year-old mind you think that your dad could end you at any moment. 

only you're an adult and you're watching other adults do some amazing and brutal things to one another. 

I had a very different experience of fear before going to my first power yoga class

For weeks I had this argument in my head

A voice to me would softly spoke

"Go to that yoga studio" 

I would reply to this voice in my head with a whole laundry list of reasons why I shouldn't go

– People are going to think that I'm a wuss

– That girl is going to think that I'm stalking her

– The people there are going to judge me

-What if I fart and create a public health emergency?  

The voice in my head would softly reply

"Go to yoga" 

 After weeks of this ongoing internal conversation I broke down and went to my first power yoga class

I had a multitude of lared panic attacks on the way to the studio

It would start at my feet like ice and rise up in my head like fire with whirlwinds in my upper stomach

I honestly can't tell you what exactly it was that I was afraid of 

maybe on some intuitive level I knew how much that this was going to change my life

i've put myself into some pretty stupid and dangerous situations before with either having that masculine "dad" fear as described above or no fear at all

and yet here I was freaking out over going to a place where I heard so many good things happen

A place where Krishna das plays on the radio

A place where people are allowed to be themselves

A place where great healing occurs

The room was 98° but I didn't take off my black hooded sweatshirt

It was almost like I was hiding even though I rolled out my mat in the front of the room

The shift that came over me during that practice was profound and powerful 

It was like walking into a mist 

you don't really notice anything at first but before you know it you're soaked to the bone with this awareness of life and vitality

Looking back on how my story has on folded so far it's kind of the reverse

Now I would say it's like walking out of a mist on a mountainside 

You don't really notice anything at first because you can't see 5 feet ahead of you but then before you know it to bear witness to a beautiful view of Earth and sky

you can't really tell a transition though it's these little tiny cracks that let the light through their small at first but over time they become bigger and bigger

once you see through that clarity you cannot unsee it

Its the small shifts that make the biggest difference

for me and Yoga it started with a three Legged dog

The teacher instructed the class to lift your right leg up while in downward facing dog

I immediately thought to myself

"wow! I have never seen the world from this perspective before" 

Then the teacher instructed that we been during the stack or hip and take the top foot down to the side of the mat resulting in a backbend  

It was like a whole New World opened up  

The expanding of the centerline of my torso and just breathing in to that shape

It was like tearing apart a shell that had covered over me over a long period of time and a new vibrant me was emerging out of it.  

My fear was great but on the other side of that fear was great reward

I was hooked and I needed to know more

Fast forward six months from that moment  

One of my favorite teachers at that studio approached me asking me if I ever consider teaching

I had but that same argument before I started yoga was playing in my head about it

I would come up with reasons not to

– People will think you're a wuss

– People will think you're a creep

– What if what if what if?  

That same calm voice quietly said

"Do it" 

As I write this tonight I find myself in a similar situation

i'm raising funds to open up my first studio

A lot of people already know of my intentions

The risk is high and my talking mind comes up with reasons why I should run the other way 

I feel more vulnerable than I've ever felt in my life

still that quiet voice within me says

"Do it" 

I realize all over again that for my path and many others like me that fear shows the way 

There are many ways that fear shows up and there are many ways that people respond to it

This particular flavor of fear has an ascending feeling 

Its usually a good indication that you are on the right path

Its never gets any easier to move in that direction

but your resolve get stronger and your awareness more pronounced

If that fear comes along don't shrink away from it

If you're experiencing this similar kind of fear meet it head on with an open heart  

The reward on the other side of this particular type of fear is tremendous  

There will be "oh shit" moments

There will be times where you feel uninspired

Or downright afraid

This forces you to dig deep within yourself

Its times like these that you find out what you're really made of and what you really stand for

This gentle yet brutal honesty with yourself helps you become that much more you

Which is an amazing individual capable of doing great things and contributing to this world   

Which is something that your community large and small needs right now 

We need you to stand in your truth to live it and be it 

but like all great things

it starts with a small shift

it starts with the decision  

it starts with you

NAMASTE Sean

 

 

Daily Ground and Center warm-up

Whats up everyone 

Thank you for visiting the site

Heres an easy way to warm up your body and center your mind to get you ready for the day and  make great change in our world

For the beginner I recommend you do this everyday for the next two weeks 

Take note to how you feel before and after as the weeks progress

this will build a strong foundation in your practice and get you ready for  whats to come 

Once you build these simple movements and poses in your nervous system along with the breathing and focus techniques, You'll be able to bang this out in half the time and move on to more stuff 

If you want to know more please visit us in person

Click here to book a class on mind body with us

Or contact us (718)619-9959 

Northstaryoga.nyc@gmail.com

NAMASTE My Friends 

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