I am a huge fan of the hands-on adjustment. Someone else’s body touching my own can and used to be a terrifying thing. To be that close to someone else is considered weird in our society of distance. We have been socially conditioned to be afraid of closeness and intimacy. There is a boy on my hall at school who looks deeply into my eyes and stands with his face about an inch from mine when we talk (and it’s not like we’re about to hook up or anything). He is, unsurprisingly, a yogi and spent his gap year traveling to India. In my experience, people with spiritual backgrounds are less afraid of closeness. Nonetheless, when I first spoke to him, I stumbled backwards, intending to create more distance between us so that I could protect the oneness of my physical body.

But yoga teaches us that we are all equal. It teaches us to get rid of all the stuff we come onto the mat with, to see oneness with everyone in the room. It doesn’t matter that my pants are from Old Navy and the girl’s next to me are from Lululemon; we are both in the same downward-facing dog.

I felt that sense of oneness and union (the linguistic definition of yoga) when I was first adjusted with hands of love by my teacher. I was in an uttkatasana (chair) twist and she pressed her body up against mine. I was enveloped by her chest and arms getting me deeper into the pose. I felt her body healing my own with its proximity.

This was an intense adjustment. I assumed that because I liked intense adjustments, everyone else would too. I also assumed that as a teacher, my responsibility would be to bring that deepness about for my students. Naturally, I was confused in teacher training when we were told that less is more. For my body, more has always felt like more. Then, my teacher said, “Approach with a gentle touch.” And that was when it clicked.

I have a three-year-old sister. She is the youngest and is well-aware of how adorable she is. From ages one to two and a half, she had a hitting problem. If she wasn’t getting your attention at all times, she would swat you with her cute little hand. It wasn’t that her hand hurt physically, but the force she used to hurt you with her tiny body was heart-breaking. My stepmother tried to modify her behavior by telling her, rather than “no hitting” (because we all know how well kids respond to “no”), “gentle touch.” For a month, as she was breaking this habit, she would hit me and then I would remind her, “Gentle touch.” Her hand, which was clenched, would flatten as she sweetly stroked my arm instead.

“Gentle touch” is what a hands-on adjustment should be. To push too hard, to not meet a student where they are at, is like my sister’s hitting problem – well-meaning, but harmful. Ahimsa, the first yama, the foundation, means to cause no harm. With “gentle touch,” we heal, which is the essence of what ahimsa, and ultimately yoga, asks of us. 

As part of my training, I have been prescribed a personal sadhana (a daily practice/study) that includes asana and meditation. The asana has been pretty easy for me so far - I love going to all the new and abundant yoga classes around New York City (this morning, I went to a free Lululemon class with a master teacher in Bryant Park) and in college, I learned how to sustain myself on a home practice on days where classes were simply not offered on campus. 

But as for the meditation…that’s tricky. I hate to sit. I need to sit. It is the average college student’s dilemma - there is always and will always be something else that we should, could, would be doing. The space to meditate lies in the acceptance of that as a fact and the willingness to toss that aside for ten minutes or however long you choose to set your handy iPhone timer. Today, I was really, truly not in the mood to meditate. I kept seeking new ways to procrastinate. The thing is, I knew that my night was going to end with me having meditated. I find great acceptance in the concept of a daily practice, in knowing that some things are just non-negotiable because they produce a better Shira who can interact with the world in a saner and healthier way. 

So I got on my block in my room. I shut my door. I took off my clothes (yes, I meditate naked when home alone - it has become an act of spirituality, acceptance, and purity). I set my iPhone timer for 10 minutes. I quieted my mind. I inhaled. I exhaled.

And you know what? 

The doorbell started to ring. Three times.

I was instantly resentful towards my mom and sister for coming home in the middle of my meditation. My ego was on fire by their disruption. 

“I was trying to meditate!” I whined as they walked in.

“How were we supposed to know that?” 

Now, that’s a good question. I meditate so I can show up better in life. That is the purpose of this daily sadhana, to give me the tools to be the best teacher, the best daughter, the best sister, the best friend I can be. Not the other way around. The second my meditation becomes an excuse for resentment, I know I am no longer meditating - I’m just killing time. So for today, I got to meditate for two minutes. And you know what? Those two minutes inspired this post. They were integrated into my practice. They were worth it.

Much of Yoga is about challenge, about dancing on the edge of what we are capable of as bodies, as minds, as jivas (souls). Challenge is a good thing when it is honored in the form of practice. My yoga practice has been challenging me for around five years now. I remember when I was a junior in high school and I took a teen ashtanga class at the 92nd St Y. I couldn’t get into up dog from chataranga. It became my challenge, first by straightening my right arm and then my left, to flow through that transition. Then, I discovered hot yoga and my challenge became early morning classes with regularity, adding consistency to my practice. A few months later, I discovered Jivamukti and my challenge became standing on my head. Last year, I went to college and my challenge became cultivating a sustainable home practice outside of the yoga haven on NYC. Now, I am faced with yet another challenge.

I am doing a yoga teacher training and as a result, I am practicing a lot. Yoga too often gets mislabeled as “self-care.” Yes, when I am doing yoga, I am caring for myself, but in practicing self-care, I am also caring for others because I am able to show up in the world in a way that makes me of maximum service. That latter part is the true challenge of yoga - that is what involves the effort, the edge - the doing of service. In the Rockies video I posted, there is a teacher who says, “Yoga is not yoga unless it is brought into your life.” 

That is where Peace by Peace comes in. At the beginning of class, I dedicate my practice to something greater than me. For the month of June, as I practice daily, the fruits of my asanas will be dedicated and devoted to Sanctuary for Families, a NY nonprofit that serves domestic violence and sex trafficking victims and their families. 

To keep my yoga authentic, I want to keep it far away from being self-indulgent. I want to keep it as a vital force by giving its fruits away. Please sponsor me because, as with every single challenge I embark on, I need support. And it’s simple - there’s a button at the top of this blog!

Shanti Shanti Shanti.

Namaste. 

Maxine is a yoga teacher for kids, adults, and families, and it is abundantly clear why when you see how she values family and service and living life in the same breath. She is also the head of PR for Melissa & Doug, the educational toy company, as well as the creator of GaGa for Yoga and LAMPA, an inspirational website for life and yoga. Double life? I think not! Instead, Maxine is the perfect example of how to weave yogic principles into every act and role because let’s face it - yoga is meant to provide us with fun and abundance and love off the mat. Oh, and disclosure: her “routine” isn’t so much a routine due to the hurricane and having to go with the flow of east coast weather and of life so let this be an example of detachment to the specificities of routine.

COSTA RICA On vacation with my husdand Andrew, son Jeremy (age 10) and nephew Bradley (age 11) in Costa Rica.  Staying an extra day since we can’t get home due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. Very fancy problem to have to stay at a resort in Costa Rica for an extra day of sun & play.

GRATITUDE Start my day out grateful for my husband, family and still being on vacation.

INTENTION & ACCEPTANCE Fill out my Tibetan 6x book for the 8am hour to set my intention and thoughts for the day. Watch the news to check on the storm in NYC and make sure that all our friends and family are ok.  Everyone is ok.  Tell myself it is OK to go back to sleep. Motivate myself and the boys to get out of the room and enjoy every bit of this beautiful ‘green’ country.

PLAY Play with our amazing new friends Stell (age 6) and Chloe (age 10) and their amazing mom Dr. Roma Franzia a magical pediatrian. Friends we were destined to meet.  Dr. Roma’s motto… “We encourage boredom” because this is where creativity comes from. This is what we believe too!

TEACH Teach some yoga to the woman who run the kids’ center and start to write out a kids yoga manual for them. Talk to the head of the kids program about sending her DVDs to teach the kids yoga. Note to self, shoot a series of kids yoga DVDs as soon as I get back home.

ATTENTION TO INTENTION Continue to fill out my Tibetan 6x book.  Keeping my intention and tracking my own mind.  Staying grateful for all.

TEACH SOME MORE At my husband’s encouragement, he watches all the kids while I give Roma a private yoga session. There is something very special to me to take care of those who take care of children. Hurt my knee in private session but choose not to let Roma know.  Eventually tell my husband, but have faith that if I stretch and have belief that I can’t really get hurt doing service I will be fine in the morning. 

FILLING UP THE WELL Tell my husband I need to shower and rest.  He and everyone else is very disappointed that I am not going to hang out for our last night together.  I go t the room, shower and look for something to watch on TV and fall asleep. I realize I feel very empty without my family and new friends. I am a little refreshed, still tired and sore, but there is no way I can be without my loved ones. I get all dolled up and go to dinner. Have a lovely time with everyone and fall asleep on my husband’s lap.  Chloe calls me a ‘big baby’.  I say ‘yes I am.’

it is winter break. and i am relieved. i have given myself permission to take part in my own health in a major way this break. i am practicing radical self-care, which i define by taking immaculate care of myself in order to be a better presence for others. it hasn’t even been a full week since finals, but so far my yoga and holistic health education has skyrocketed in nyc. here’s what i’ve been up to since my return:

friday

lunch at fave vegan restaurant candle cafe with my mom

great yoga class at yoga vida where i ran into some beloved friends (it’s a small nyc yoga world!)

 delish dinner with another yoga teacher from school and her friend at the jivamuktea cafe

yoga dance party (!!!) at laughing lotus

saturday

mind-blowing lululemon ambassadors mashup class at laughing lotus that made me sore for days, but it was so incredibly fun i honestly can’t complain

sunday

purchased a one-month-unlimited at laughing lotus!

 lululemon takeover on 66th st, which included a meditation consultation, aromatherapy, essential oils, reiki, and shiatsu treatments, all for free, and all of which furthered my education

monday

ayurveda consultation that was super-intense and quite educational at yoga shala brooklyn (turns out i am way more pitta than i thought), where i was prescribed a morning ashtanga practice and to add a bit more spontaneity to my life

truly, deeply, mind-blowing and energetically invigorating class with my teacher, alanna kaivalya, of the newly-coined the kaivalya yoga method, at greenhouse holistic

 post-yoga dinner at bliss cafe in williamsburg

tuesday

great class at laughing lotus

 read an amazing book on vampires, witches, daemons, and (you didn’t see this one coming!) YOGA

sent out newsletter for teaching yoga during break

Mondays have been made positively glorious. When I got to SF, I met up with an alumnus I met during senior week who teachers prenatal yoga on the side. Through her, I met Jane Austin at Yoga Tree Valencia, the leading prenatal yoga teacher in the Bay Area if not in the nation. I watched pregnant woman after pregnant woman flow into her class so I asked if I could observe (it’s always great knowledge for a yoga teacher to have - the more populations we can teach to, the better!). Jane responded that I could observe, but under one condition:

I stay after to hold babies at her mom and baby class.

A month later and with the semi-official title of “baby holder,” I come every week to hold the bebes. I just can’t get enough of the lil munchkins, and their beautifully natural way of moving into happy baby pose (I now know it is what babies do when they are naturally happy).  

I am learning that it is crucial, especially when in a new environment, to find the activities and people that ground us in a feeling of samadhi and happiness. It is deeply beautiful when we can find more than one of those things and watch them come together. Yoga is a go-to of mine for grounding and babies are a go-to for happiness. It’s hard to believe that, in the moment when I am holding an adorable baby, anything could be wrong. Babies have a way of sucking us into the present moment…especially when they spitup on our mala beads.