365 Yogini

That's right. Starting Sunday July 11th at 6pm I'll be teaching Ngoma Yoga with African-inspired dance. The word Ngoma is Swahili for "Drum" and "Dance Party" and we'll be flowing to the rhythmic beats of Live Drums and exploring African-inspired dance moves at an easy-to-follow pace. Get ready to open your heart and your hips!

Please join me on the New Moon and Total Solar Eclipse for our FIRST Ngoma Yoga CLASS EVER! - 6pm Sunday July 11th at Yogis Anonymous*

This class will be split into 3 sections:
Vinyasa Yoga warm up
African-inspired dance
Restorative Yoga cool down

Please contact me with any questions: GigiYogini@yahoo.com
www.GigiYogini.com

*Yogis Anonymous is a donation based studio. There are no set fees because yoga should be available to everybody, not just those with plenty of cash. In this way, these classes are a true offering of love, trust, generosity of spirit, and a dedication to the yogic philosophy. The suggested amount is $14 per class - $20 with live music.

My mentor, Kia Miller, and her husband, Tommy Rosen, are in New Mexico on a week long meditation retreat. While I miss taking Kia's classes, I'm extremely honored to be subbing for Tommy's Friday class, Yoga for Recovery, at YogaCo.

Designed for folks in recovery, but open to all, this 2-hour class will appeal to anyone interested in overcoming a personal challenge through spiritual means. This class starts with a combination of strong Vinyasa Flow and Kundalini Yoga for the physical practice, then we finish with a group discussion and meditation.

This week's theme will be twisting and letting go of things that no longer serve you in order to create more space for the things you want.

For more information, contact Brigitte at GigiYogini@yahoo.com

Down Slow - Moby
Ganesha - Govindas and Radha
Because - The Bird and the Bee
Track 04 - Buddha BarIV
Porcelain - Moby
All the Shallow Deep - Blank Blue, From L.A. With Love
Krishna Kali - Bhagavan Das & Kali Dharma
All We Have - Brett Dennen
(Just) The Way You Are - Adam Stern, The Dreamer Child
Please Me Like You Want To - Ben Harper
Breathe Me - Sia
Hometown Glory - Adele
Radhe - Travis Eliot
Bom Bolenath - Govindas
The World Exploded Into Love - Bob Schneider

The word "Ngoma" is Swahili for "Drum" as well as "Dance Party" or "Song." Ngoma Yoga is a class that incorporates Yoga and African Dance with live Drumming for children and adults. This class was developed by yoga instructor, Brigitte (aka Gigi Yogini) as her final project for her YogaWorks 500 hour Teacher Training with help from Patrick Ssenjovu, an established performer from Uganda.

Ngoma Yoga uniquely blends two cultural exercises to create one super fun and stress reducing class. Adult classes are 90 minutes and involve a yoga warm up and cool down with 30 minutes of African Dancing in between. Classes are accompanied by live African drumming. In youth classes, the drumming is actually done by the students themselves.

Starting April 2010, Ngoma Yoga will be taught to preschoolers in Malibu. Starting in the Summer of 2010, Ngoma Yoga will be offered at a yoga studio in Santa Monica (TBD).

For more information, email: GigiYogini@yahoo.com

I brought my favorite geod to my preschool yoga class and asked the kids to describe it. They pointed out that it was gray, rough and ugly. I asked them:

"Can you love this rock even though it's ugly?"
"I can love it," Enzo replied.
"I can love it," echoed Shade.
"I love the rock," replied Billy along with the rest of the kids.
"Good." I said. "Then give the rock a little love. Go ahead, touch it and send it love through your fingertips." I instructed. "Now let's count to three. 1, 2, 3..." and I flipped the rock over.

"Oooohhh!" They squealed.
"It's beautiful!" said Ryaln.
"It's shiny!" cried Ornella as I held it up to the light.
"Even though it is ugly on the outside, it is beautiful on the inside!" I pointed out.

"So this is a good reminder that even when something is ugly and rough on the outside, it can be beautiful and bright on the inside. Especially if you give it a little love."

We continued to incorporate the magic rock into the class lesson by holding it and making wishes, listening to the sound of the ocean by holding it up to our ears, and then in savasana (corpse pose) I put the rock on each child's chest and gently told them:

"Now the beauty and magic inside of this rock is melting into your heart. Take a deep breath and always remember, you are beautiful inside."

"GIGI...can you do it again??" Rylan asked.
"Of course," and I did a second round.
"Do it again!" Billy begged.
Smiling, I replied: "Next week!"

* * * *

Two days later I was teaching performance art to middle school youth and we had to pick topics for our original play. Other groups were picking important topics such as Gang Violence, Teen Pregnancy, and Racism, but my group (without any suggestion from me) picked a different type of topic: "Inner Beauty." I couldn't keep from smiling.

I taught my first private prenatal class this morning! I was honored when my friend asked me and I took the challenge very seriously. Since the mom-to-be was still in her first trimester, and she had been told by her doctor to take it easy, I created a simple sequence that would build heat without endangering her baby in this vulnerable time. I incorporated a number of modifications that she could do at home and in the end I really enjoyed working with a happy couple and their unborn child.

First Trimester Gentle Sequence

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This was the last day of my second session teaching YoYoYoga at Peace4Kids. We only had two of our 10 students present today to demonstrate what we had learned during the session and luckily, they both did an amazing job.

The two girls, LaShon and Yohanna, explained the definition of Yoga (union of breath with movement) and explained to the audience that we were going to demonstrate a sun salutation with warrior I, II, and III...and then do a Double Downward Facing Dog for our Grand Finale.

And sure enough, it went off without a hitch. The audience loved our performance because it was beautiful and challenging, and I think the girls felt really proud of themselves.

I love how long the days are. We used to end our Restorative classes in candle light, but with the sun not setting until after 8pm, we were finished with our class before the sun was finished for the day.

How lovely!

For the first time, Rochelle brought her crystal bowl, which is very similar to mine but bigger and deeper. I participated in class tonight, so we played our bowls together after class was finished. It sounded beautiful.

We're on for next week. So RSVP. Only 6 spots open :)

This Saturday was incredible! We took a walk to the park with our yoga mats and practiced trust building for partner yoga.

We started in a circle and quickly shared one fun thing we did on spring break. Then we reviewed the meaning of yoga, which is union, and discussed how we're uniting our breath with our movements as well as our mind with our body and spirit.

We got into pairs, one student and one volunteer, and lined our mats up so we were face to face. Then maintaining eye contact, we practiced mirror exercises and then played a game where each pair tried to trick the audience by synchronizing their movements so closely that it was hard to tell who was leading and who was following.

We discussed how eye contact and patience were important when working in a team.

Then the volunteers started the blindfolded trust walks by leading their student partner around the park. We came back to our mats and discussed how that felt and what was important to make that work. Everyone agreed that having a strong hold of each others hands, as well as talking to each other about where and how to walk, was important in order to be safe.

Then it was the students' turn to lead the volunteers around the park blindfolded. Everyone did an incredible job and we got back into the group to review what that was like for everyone.

Then, still lined up face to face, we practiced our sun salutations and reviewed 4 poses:
Tree pose
Dancers pose
Vasistasana
Tri-pod headstand

I demonstrated what symmetrical partner yoga looked like and then let the groups rehearse a short performance where they had to start with the sun salutation and then incorporate 1-3 partner poses.

With only a few minutes left, we had our YoYOYoga Show and each group performed their partner yoga dance. Everyone did an amazing job performing AND as an audience. I was impressed by the eye contact, patience, focus, and pride.

Our closure was a standing circle where we each shared a wish for the next week.

What a blast. I love this class. It's small, intimate, and we get seriously heated.

Today Nina was having some back problems, and Lauren had to leave early, so I finished the class one-on-one with Nina, helping her find deep bliss in restorative poses and gently massaging her back and neck.

While she was in her Restorative Poses, I was getting myself jacked up with Handstands and Headstands. I let the class run 15 minutes over because I knew I had plenty of time before I had to start teaching at Mark Twain and I knew that Nina wasn't in a rush.