From see-through yoga pants to deadly Bangladeshi garment factory disasters, the dark side of fashion is all over the news these days. With Americans spending more than $325 billion dollars on clothing every year (according to learnvest.com), there is plenty of room for darkness to sneak onto the catwalk.

Sure we want to look good, but the marriage of impulse shopping and cheap fashion has created a throw-away clothes culture that can be devastating. Fashion is taking its toll: according to Eartheasy.com, “Approximately 12 million tons of textile waste is generated each year in North America amounting to approximately 68 lbs of waste per household per year!”

While ethical fashion is about a decade behind the localvore and slow food movements, more and more of us are starting to ask “Is it possible to dress ethically and fashionably?”

The answer is yes. Like organic, local food, ethical fashion costs a little bit more. It’s also worth it.

Come to the yoga studio and see for yourself! We are now carrying two great clothing brands: Synergy Organic Clothing and Beyond Yoga. Both companies are dedicated to sustainability and ethical practices in the design, fabrication, and sale of extremely well-made, good looking clothes.

All Beyond Yoga garments are locally designed, manufactured and produced in California. Synergy uses 100% organic cotton and Eco-friendly low-impact garment dyes. Its clothing is hand made in Nepal, according to fair trade practices.

Just think, you can practice ahimsa with your wardrobe!

Want to learn more about the carbon footprint of your clothes? Read on:

• Ethical Fashion: Is The Tragedy In Bangladesh A Final Straw?
• Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion
• The Case for Ethical Fashion 
• Fashion with a Mission

Child’s pose, balasana, is our yoga pose of the month. It is one of the foundational postures of the asana practice. If we cannot keep our breath flowing smoothly, yoga teachers tell us to drop into child’s pose. It’s the go-to pose of choice for vinyasa practitioners who have over indulged. It is also the recommended posture beginners use to catch their breath.

In balasana we sit back on our heels, rest our foreheads on the mat, take a break and just be with ourselves. Introspection is good in yoga, right? Yes, but you have to be conscious in order to make the best use of it. In other words, you have to be able to breathe comfortably in child’s pose in order to reap its bennies. For people of a certain gender or size, child’s pose can feel squished, even suffocating, as the bosom seems to stifle cherished breath patterns.

Vinyasa yoga (many of our yoga classes can be described as vinyasa yoga) is all about linking movement to the breath. In the case of Child’s Pose, it is about  linking stillness to the breath. In either case, this is difficult when the breath is hard to take. This just means if you are breathless in child’s pose, you have to breathe somewhere else.

Huh? Really. You can move the breath out of the front body – the chest, where we typically find it – into other parts of the torso, like the back body and the ribs. My favorite trumpet player taught me how to do this. Believe me, trumpet players know how to breathe. Here are a couple tips for moving the breath:

• Lie on your back. Place your right palm on your belly, just below your navel. Place your left hand on your chest. Exhale fully. Now focus your breath in such a way that you only move your right hand on the inhale. Try this a couple times. Now focus your breath in such a way that you only move your left hand on the inhale. Try this a couple times. Now focus your breath in such a way that you do not move either hand as you inhale. Breathe into the space between. See? You can do it!
• Lie on your back. Place your hands on either side of your ribcage. Exhale fully, then take a deep inhale that moves your hands. On the exhale, gently squeeze your ribs together. Stay focused as you repeat these actions. You can play the pranayama accordion!
• Take a comfortable seat, or lie on your belly. Place a hand on your mid back, between the shoulder blades. Now try to lift your hand with your breath.

If you feel squished and breathless in Child’s Pose, be mindful and breathe into your ribs or your back. Move the focus away from where you can’t breathe to where you can breathe. It is not always that easy and it takes practice, but it is always worth it:

“Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathing, really breathing, in Child’s Pose is the perfect place to find this condition.

Ishvara Pranidhana is our practice of the month. It is usually defined as surrender of the self to God. It is basically an acknowledgement of a higher principle at play here in the universe.

It is one of the five niyamas, or inner practices of yoga as described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The yamas and niyamas, yoga’s ten commandments, are the foundations of living a yogic life. The yamas have to do with how we relate to one another in the world (restraints). The niyamas are about how we behave when no one is looking (observances). Ishvara Pranidhana, the final niyama is considered the queen mother of all the restraints and observances. She sums it all up: surrender.

To the uninitiated, the exotic polysyllables of yoga might sound like something from the Lost Realm of Cardolan in Middle Earth. Actually, it is not that far off – yoga even has role playing and interactive games. You can think of Mordor and Mount Doom as self-doubt and self-created limitations. Think of the “one Ring to rule them all” as the ego.

Destroy the Ring and save the community – it’s a kind of  hero’s journey. “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” (Joseph Campbell)

In yoga, the journey is always within: delve into the supernatural wonder of the true self and become a better person. Boons all around. This journey is sponsored by a surrendering to something (god, the divine, love, the universe) greater than ourselves. Through the yoga practice, we gain a decisive victory over doubt, self-loathing, apprehension, and fear as we become better equipped to see ourselves as we really are.

Surrender to something greater and you’ll see that you are that very something. It’s like giving money away in order to become rich. In Middle Earth, it’s like tossing the Ring into the Sammath Naur in order to kindle your own divine spark.

Precious.

Seva (pronounced say-Vah) is a Sanskrit word for service. It is the practice of selfless service and the desire to uplift others with no thought of aggrandizement. For some dedicated yogis, the entire practice of yoga is about Seva.

Great examples of Seva are not hard to find. Mother Teresa’s life was the quintessence of Seva. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation represents the financial end of the practice of Seva. Habitat for Humanity is somewhere in between. But you do not have to live a life of poverty and service, nor do you have to be a multimillionaire or know how to swing a hammer in order to make a difference in the world.

During the first full week of May (6th – 12th), all you have to do is get on your yoga mat. Area yoga studios are raising funds to support our community by participating in The Day Station Seva Project. At Evolution, we are dedicating Monday’s Community Class to the cause: It’s Make a Difference Monday with Morgan. May 6th, 4:30-5:30. Sign up here.

All proceeds from this donation yoga class will go to the Day Station. The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) provides emergency shelter, services, and housing for people who are homeless or marginally housed in Vermont. COTS DayStation is a daytime drop-in center that provides refuge from the streets and access to an array of services and medical care. The DayStation provides a free noontime meal each day.

Ahimsa, or non-harming is our yoga practice of the month. Though we encourage Ahimsa in every aspect of our lives, all the time, Earth Day give us a great reason to take it to heart: Be vegan for a day.

For many yogis, veganism is part of the foundation of Ahimsa. For them, a diet that includes animals or animal-derived products causes harm to sentient beings. For other yogis, eating humanely slaughtered meats constitutes Ahimsa. For them, non-harming is based on how we act towards other people.

No matter where you stand on the issue of Ahimsa and yoga, cutting back on animal-derived products can have a huge impact on where you actually stand – right here on earth.

If each us of were vegan for a day, the impact on the health of the environment would be huge. According to  Vegan1day.org, if we were vegan for a single day, we would save:

• 2 BILLION animals globally (land and ocean)
• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months
• 70 million gallons of gas, enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined
• 3 million acres, an area twice the size of Delaware
• 4.5 million tons of animal excrement
• 33 tons of antibiotics
• Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2—as much as is produced by all of France in a single day.

It is worth considering. Even for just a day. Here a some great resources to get you started:

• Go Vegan for Earth Day
• Vegan Earth Day
• Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days!
• Welcome to the 30 Day Vegan Easy Challenge!
• Vegan 1 Day
• It is Easy Being Vegan

We are having a One-Day Massage Sale! Take $10 off when you buy a massage this Friday, April 19th. The sale starts at 8:00 am. Buy massages by phone, or at the studio until 6:00pm. Or buy online until Midnight.

Massage feels great. There are few better ways to relieve stress than under the strong hands of a certified massage therapist. Some people still think it’s a luxury, but the human significance of touch suggests otherwise. Let’s take a look:

• We hold hands
• We shake hands
• We pat on the back
• We fist bump
• We high-five
• We embrace
• We nudge
• We tickle
• We cuddle
• We wipe away a tear

We touch to express our deepest feelings and we always have. The handshake originated as a gesture of peace: open palm to open palm meant “I am not armed” and “We are in this together.” The laying on of hands confers blessings in many religious faiths. Every single wedding album includes an image of the new couple’s entwined hands. Basketball players touch hands after each free-throw shot to show support. This week, after the explosions in Boston, the Internet is flooded with images “people being awesome” – at the center of almost all of these images is the human touch.

Now it’s your turn. Take this opportunity to express yourself with the gift of massage – Mother’s Day, Graduation, Spring, Father’s Day, mere existence are all perfect occasions to express your gratitude with the gift of massage. Buy a massage and save this Friday – schedule your massage anytime in the next two years!

Please note, our prices will be going up to $70 on May 1st, so this is a great opportunity to save big, as you take care of yourself or a loved one.

Massage may just be the answer…to almost everything that ails us.

You’ve seen the bumper stickers: ‘Have you hugged your kid today?” and “Have you hugged your cat today?” No one would ask such silly questions a century ago. Back then we lived in the embrace of physical touch. Babies stayed at the breast for years, not weeks. Couples walked arm-in-arm. Children held hands. At a time in our not-too-distant past, a woman might have taken the arm of a helpful stranger as she walked.

The power of touch was once so ubiquitous, we did not even notice it until it was gone. Today we rarely touch one another except perhaps in the privacy of the boudoir. Either our hands are too busy texting, we are afraid of germs (take a look at the pervasiveness of hand sanitizers), or we are bound in straight-jackets of stress.

The lack of touch in our society manifests itself in many ways. Everything from depression and failure to thrive to over-eating and sexual dysfunction can be attributed to insufficient touch. We know we need it. And yet we do so little about it.

But you can change that pattern in just one hour: Get a massage! Even better, get five massages! (Pre-buy 5 massages at Evolution and take 10% off; Pre-buy 10 massages and take 15% off.) The type of massage(s) you get does not really matter, the benefits are universal. Massage can relieve stress, increase relaxation, relieve pain, boost immunity, improve sleep, soothe anxiety and depression, etc., the list goes on… At Evolution, you can choose from Pre-Natal, Deep Tissue, Hot Stone, Herbal Wraps,  Esalen, Balinese, or Swedish Massage.

“Massage is needed in the world because love has disappeared. Once the very touch of lovers was enough. A mother touched the child, played with his body, and it was massage. The husband played with the body of his woman and it was massage; it was enough, more than enough. It was deep relaxation and part of love. But that has disappeared from the world. By and by we have forgotten where to touch, how to touch, how deep to touch. In fact touch is one of the most forgotten languages.”
~ Osho from ‘Hammer on the Rock’

The human need for touch is well documented. Remember that first Free Hugs campaign? I cry every time I see it. We need massage just like we need free hugs:

In the Spring, we wash the winter salts off our cars, we clean our houses, we clean our closets, we oil up our bicycle chains. But how often do we cleanse our bodies? Sure we shower and shave each day, but how often do we really cleanse our insides? One glimpse at the state of health care in the United States will tell you, Not Nearly Enough!

According to Ayurveda, the root cause of all disease is the accumulation of toxins produced by improper digestion. This is why internal cleansing is so important.

Though it sounds like it might be some kind of good smelling shampoo, Ayurveda means “life knowledge.” Ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine from India. “Ayurvedic healing involves preventing the development of disease by working…to restore the body to its natural state by pacifying the doshas (vital energies – Vata, Pitta and Kapha) that are out of balance.”

Most people associate a dietary cleanse with privation, hunger and downright grumpiness. But during an Ayurvedic Cleanse you get to eat Kitchari, a meal comprised of basmati rice and split yellow mung beans cooked well together with digestive spices and ghee. Kitchari is easy to digest, so your digestive fires can burn off old toxins instead of working on digesting new food.

Ayurvedic cleansing was originally created for Indian royalty. But at the Ayurvedic Cleanse here at Evolution, we won’t focus on your regal lineage but rather on the lines of your digestive tract.

Take the opportunity to get Clean this Saturday!
April 13, 1:00-2:30 pm.

Allison Bransfield Morse, Ayurvedic Lifestyle Counselor and founder of  The Ayurvedic Center of Vermont, will lead a workshop on Ayurvedic Cleansing. You will learn valuable techniques that will enhance your yoga practice, increase your immunity, balance digestive issues and nourish your body.

Here is Allison’s recommended Ayurvedic reading list for more information. All quotes are from http://ayurvedavermont.com

The meaning of yoga is easy to find. You just have to look for it. We found it recently in Harold and the Purple Crayon.

If you’re new to children’s literature, Harold and the Purple Crayon is a 1955 children’s book by Crockett Johnson. If you are familiar with children’s literature, you can probably recite a few lines of it, you might even know exactly where the book is on your bookshelf (right next to the Bhagavad Gita, perhaps?).

The book is about a sleepless 4-year-old named Harold. He is a curious and adventurous boy who has the power to create his own reality just by drawing it with his purple crayon. “One night, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight.” There was no moon, so he drew one. There was no path, so he made one.

On each step of his adventure, Harold uses his crayon to create exactly what he needs: an apple tree, an ocean, a boat, a sandy beach, a picnic, etc.  At the end of his adventure, he draws his home and his bedroom. He draws and then climbs into his own bed, where he falls peacefully to sleep.

This story reminds us that each of us has the power to create our own reality. This is also the lesson of yoga. Through meditation and asana practice, we can change our lives for the better. Beyond keeping flexible and healthy, we can become more mindful, more peaceful, and more fully present. Ultimately we can become more fully ourselves. And as our true selves, we can make our nice little bed in the room in the home of our hearts that lived in the house that Jack built – Sorry that is a different story.

Think of your yoga practice as your magic purple crayon. If you are new to yoga, there’s a beginner series starting next week. If you are familiar with yoga, deepen your practice with Yoga for Runners, Yoga for a Healthy Back or our new Finding Freedom in the Hips series (these start next week, too).

No drawing ability necessary. The yoga will do the work for you!

Pincha Mayurasana is our yoga pose of the month. It is an excellent place to practice Ahimisa, non-harming, our practice of the month. Pincha seduces us with its awesomeness; we long to master it. But because it requires such strength and focus (and open shoulders), this posture lends itself to injury when “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

Here’s how Cyndi Lee describes approaching Pincha: “Inversions like Pincha Mayurasana present wonderful opportunities for profound physical and mental transformation, but they’re also rife with obstacles. Begin by simply noticing the obstacles that keep you from going upside down easily. When you acknowledge these blocks, you have something to work with, and a pathway to new possibilities reveals itself. ” (www.yogajournal.com/practice/1775)

Cyndi advocates the angelic approach. So do we. She starts the Pincha practice with Om chanting. She even uses the word “groovy” in her yoga sequence description. Take a look.

Whether you follow this sequence described above or have another approach, before attempting Pincha, make sure you take it slow. Practice postures that open the hips and shoulders, strengthen your core, and stretch your side-body.

Mastering Pincha Mayurasana can take years. Really. But yoga is not about mastering postures. “Yoga is a science that helps man communicate with his body, mind and soul. By practicing yoga regularly, man attains mastery over himself. Consequently, he is the master, and not victim, of circumstances.” ~B.K.S. Iyengar (http://www.lifepositive.com/body/yoga/yoga-types.asp)

By attempting more advanced postures such as Pincha, we open up more channels of communication with body, mind and soul. When we do this without judgment, we improve the dialogue.