At Home With OM

By: Felicia Holtz, MA Ed. RYT 500

The smallest alignment can lead to the greatest revelation.  As part of an online continued education program in Grounded Kids Yoga, I was invited to teach a class, Horton hears and Om,  based on the story of “Horton Hears a Who,” themed around aligning for listening and using a clear centered voice.   I found myself entranced by the opportunity to use music and movement to bring this centered, felt experience to life for families. 

In our relationships and our work, we can always use the reminder to listen.  It is very empowering to feel heard.  As a teacher, parent, sister and friend, I find that fine-tuning these skills allow for easier relationships.  Alongside the ability to hear others lays hearing ones own true and clear voice.   This voice is unique, has its own perfect noise and is a gift to find and share.

Over the past few years, I have been increasingly aware of working with my own voice through teaching, singing and the study of Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound vibration.  Listening to the birds and music can be a fast path for many to a blissful feeling of unity and connection that a yoga practice provides.  

So, I’ve been carrying this elephant on my back for a few months now!  We have quite a relationship! In my family life, I try to align my breath and body for deeper listening.  When teaching, or when something important comes up that I need to use my own clear voice, I think of the physical alignment of my body, pulling into center, with an extra check in for an open throat and ear alignment.  I have noticed that when I am practicing off of the mat, there is greater ease in my ability to hear other people’s needs and my own.  When I forget, not so easy!

In planning this Musical Family Yoga Workshop, I asked my friend and recording artist Kira Willey if she’d join me in playing with Horton and write a song about voice.  Kira wrote the song “Every Voice.”  It is an incredibly catchy and meaningful song that will be featured on her third CD release.  I madly love the song and her voice.  I am sure that people will leave the workshop humming its tune and well aligned for all of the work in hearing and speaking off of our mats. Recommended for graders six years and over through grandparents. I look forward to sharing this workshop with you.  Come visit, you will absolutely DIG it!

Join us for Horton Hears an Om

DIG YOGA, LAMBERTVILLE, NJ 

SATURDAY, MAY 3 from 3-5PM

$20 per family

Plugging Into Yourself; to Sing the Body Electric

By: Kilkenny Tremblay, DDYS Faculty

The stream of warm colors bathe my eyes as I take the train home from DIG Yoga’s final teacher training weekend, and in their glow as the sun begins to fade out of sight, the words of the great poet, Walt Whitman, pour into my mind, “I sing the body electric" Leaves of Grass-1855. 

Not only are my eyes soothed by the tapestry of color that has woven itself amongst the trees, but the hearth of my heart is lit like the autumnal trees outside having shared in and witnessed such deep transformation and profound growth for so many.

One of the reasons I think that the immersion and teacher training programs at DIG Yoga are so powerful is due to the collective depth of study that everyone who helps facilitate the programs have had and how dedicated the faculty and staff are to keep at it on the journey of growth and transformation. There is a deep commitment to excellence and well, just a lot of passion for the yogic practices. Inevitably, where there is commitment and passion, there is a certain type of heat omitted. 

Within a well known yogic text called, The Yoga Sutras, there are three terms that refer to the sweet “heat” of the inner and outer yoga: Tapas, Svadhyaya and Ishwara Pranidhana. Tapas is the heat of the effort it takes to get oneself to a yoga class or commit to deepening one’s studies with a training or even the heat in the seeking of better alignment in Triangle pose. Svadhyaya refers to the heat of self reflection, the illuminative power of mindfulness and the powerful practice of checking “in” as opposed to numbing out. Ishwara Pranidhana is the warm glow like the fall leaves outside expressing themselves one final time before they depart their branches; it is the celebration of transformation and a willingness to let go of the old to make space for the new. And all of this is possible through the gateway of the body. Through knowing and aligning the body more fully, the electricity that resides within us in the form of our breath, in the form of our thoughts and in the form of the feelings and psychology of our hearts, can be cooked over the transformative fire of yoga and ourselves as a whole can “sing” as in the poet’s verse.

So when we come together at DIG Yoga for a class, workshop or training, in the name of transformation, in the wake of diving deep into the yoga, just as various organs and features come together in the greater structure of the human body, a container for electricity is created, so too do our students come together and create a stronger container for warmth and heat.

In this season of cooler temperatures and warm colors, of gratitude and cooking, may you plug into your community, may you connect and commit to your yoga as a way of plugging into yourself. Through the transformative power of the practice, may you feel illuminated by the electricity that is generated and may the colors be bright on the inside and out.

Relaxing the Heart: Restorative Yoga

It’s been said that yoga can help to heal the body at a cellular level. That through breathwork and extended periods of asana or postures, our body can begin to repair itself.

Unsure what that meant, “healing the body on a cellular level” I asked DIG Yoga teacher, Nikki Robinson to explain to me what exactly how that happens? It just so happened that her answer was Restorative yoga!

“Restorative Yoga heals at a cellular level through slow and deep breathe work by relaxing the heart and giving the body the opportunity to heal by bringing bones into optimal alignment, so muscles and relax into a supported form.”

Nikki, who teachers Restorative Yoga at our Philadelphia location, explained to me that unlike a Basics or even Gentle yoga where there is flow or active movement, Restorative Yoga uses a passive approach. This means that “Restorative class in non-weight bearing and happens in a reclining position, where “breath becomes lead and the body becomes second.”

Because many people suffer from acute pain, for example spinal degradation or hold a lot of tension within their bodies which can make us ill. “By being in a reclining position the tension within the body can be relaxed.”

“Restorative Yoga is about being in a place to give ourselves the permission to heal the physical, emotional, and spiritual.”  Nikki further explained that "as our bodies align we find a relief to pain, and release ourselves into a relaxed sacred space."

Often times people think that a Restorative Class is just for the mild mannered, however while the class may not be rigorous the results are optimal. Everyone from athletes, to cancer survivors, and the average Joe and Jane yogi can and do benefit from this healing approach to yoga.

Nikki, who is typcally interested in a more robust yoga was drawn to teach Restorative Yoga because of the healing, and the connection. While many people are attracted to harder disciplines and more advanced postures, Nikki discovered that her body needed the balance of a restorative practice to compliment her more rigorous practice, thus moving towards being truly aligned.

When I asked her who should take a Restoratives Class, she let me know that it wasn't about the “who” as much as the “what”.

“Restorative Yoga, is for everyone looking to become empowered through healing in a class that offers a more supported structure where we align our breathe with posture to develop our greatest potential!”

And isn't that what it's all about? Discovering our greatest potential?

Nikki’s next Restorative Yoga series begins Sunday, October 13th at

5:30 - 7:00pm in Philadelphia!

Cost: $20 or 2 classes off series. Register Today!

Yoga! Finding the Calm in the Crazy.

How many of us are leading elaborate lives? Juggling responsibilities of work, school, or family and often a combination of all!  It seems like we never stop moving, even when chained to our desks.  Yet what if we brought a mindfulness to that seemingly chaotic movement? Perhaps even going so far as moving ourselves towards a less stressful life? DIG Yoga provides a way to bring mindfulness into movement and align our daily life from a point of wellness.

It's true! According to the scholar Karen Armstrong, “The word ‘yoga’ derives from the verb yuj: ‘to yoke’ or  ‘to bind together’. Its goal was to link the mind of the yogin with his Self and to tether all the powers of impulses of the mind, so that consciousness becomes unified in a way that is normally impossible for human beings.” 

I know that might sound a little 'out there' but there is a reason that more than 25 million Americans turn to yoga.  This reason is simple, alignment based yoga brings us back into center and help us to find the calm in the crazy. And while any yoga is better than no yoga, not all is equal, and not every establishment that offers yoga is looking to engage the mind, body, and spirit of the practitioner. That is why Sue Elkind and Naime Jezzeny started DIG Yoga over fives years ago in Lambertville, NJ. And it is the founding principles that brought  DIG Yoga to Philadelphia just over a year ago, when Sue partnered with Mariel Freeman. 

DIG Yoga is the yoga studio that seeks to be different. Did you know that DIG Yoga has a mission statement?

DIG Yoga is a health-conscious, eco-friendly, people-oriented yoga business. Everything about DIG reflects this inclusive and life-affirming philosophy. As a sanctuary for the community, DIG supports people in their quest to realize their greatest potential.  DIG offers the highest caliber yoga instruction that optimally aligns the body, mind and heart. The DIG team leads by example, making efforts to model what is 'life-enhancing' and shed what is not. We strive for high standards, sweetened with humor and humility, with the intention of continuously evolving. 

We endeavor to always speak and act in a way that encourages others to remember how interconnected all things are and to take good care of each other and the planet. 

Yoga at DIG is for everyone. We have classes and workshops for every level of student, beginner to advanced. Together we partner excellence in teaching with dedication to creating and sustaining community. This is not just yoga, this is DIG Yoga, and we invite you discover  a life that is not bound to chaos, but free to live limitlessly.