Namaste – Annette Benedetti

Category: Namaste

Jan

Yoga and Injury

Practicing Yoga Through Injury

I was honored with the opportunity to write an article for the Love Hive Yoga Studio’s blog. I mulled over many topics for my focus and landed on one that I had plenty of personal experience with: maintaining your yoga practice through an injury. You see, I have been suffering from a pretty severe hip flexor injury and low back pain for the last handful of months and it has made staying motivated to do anything physical very difficult. My injuries occurred right before I began my yoga teacher training, which was a bummer but also taught me a lot.

I spent more time engaging in yoga asana while making my way through my YTT classes than I typically do. I was forced to really think about how I could stay in my practice when there were so many poses I couldn’t do at all or to the extent I had in the past. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. In fact, dealing with an injury while maintaining my yoga practice made me confront a lot of things: my ego, fear, body issues…my ego.

I went back to looking at yoga through a beginner’s eyes. I reintroduced myself to all the yoga props and learned how to use them in even the most basic poses. I was shocked to find that the props allowed me to access a sense of space and my body I had not experienced before. I also had the opportunities to learn and deepen my knowledge of other forms of practice including meditation, mantra, and breath work.

In the article, Maintaining Your Practice Through Injury, I share many of the insights and tips I gained while working through my own situation. You can read the article by following the link below (copy and image by me.)

Practicing Yoga through Injury

Maintaining Your Practice Through Injury

Finding time to develop a consistent practice is one of the biggest challenges a student faces as they being to travel down the path of yoga. It takes discipline to step on the mat every single day for any length of time. Once your practice is established, there is a multitude of events that can occur and derail it temporarily or indefinitely. One of the most common is an injury. [Read More…]

Jan

Maintaining Your Practice Through Injury

Published by Love Hive Yoga

Over the course of my 15 years of practice, I have injured myself many times—mostly when off my mat. I’d love to say that these injuries didn’t disrupt my dedication, but the truth is that several times I let their occurrence keep me from doing asana for weeks and even months at a time.

The ways in which injury can disrupt a yogi’s journey are many but the two most common are: [Read More…]

Jan

Teaching Yoga In Portland: My First Official Class

My First Class: Community Yoga In Portland

This Sunday, for the first time ever, I am teaching yoga in Portland.

My yoga journey began many years ago—17-ish I believe. My first classes took place in my living room with Rodney Yee videos (I still just love him), then I wandered from studio to studio until I found Iyengar Yoga of Bend. I fell in love with vinyasa when I came to Portland and that’s where I found Love Hive Yoga —where I study now.

I can’t tell you how many times I thought about becoming a yoga teacher over the years. I studied some teaching methods with my Iyengar teacher, but with three very young children, it was difficult to keep up. To alleviate my need to teach I started a yoga-based preschool where I taught children yoga at circle time each day for many years. And for a short while, when I was also into CrossFit, the owner of the Box I worked out at invited me to teach his students. I gleefully said yes.

It wasn’t until this last year that the stars aligned I made the leap for certification. In September of this year, I began my studies to become an official teacher and I graduated in December. It is a really big deal! And achieving this dream has solidified my confidence in my calling to share the practice of yoga with others.

Before I receive my actual certification, I have two practicum classes I must teach. The first one is this Sunday! I will be teaching a beginning vinyasa flow class at Love Hive Yoga on Burnside in Portland.

I am sincerely excited (and a bit nervous) to share my passion with students. The sequences I have planned for class are fun and flowy and come straight from my own personal practice. My hope is that everyone who attends this class will genuinely enjoy themselves and fall in love with the possibilities that yoga offers for their bodies, their minds, and their lives.

Follow this link for details about my class. And keep an eye on this blog to find out some of my additional offerings coming up this year! There’s some really exciting stuff brewing.

Yoga in Portland

Sunday at 1 PM – 2 PM
Love Hive Yoga
1847 E Burnside St
Event Listing: Facebook Event

Dec

A Prayer for Starr Korvin—Svāhā

Once upon a time, travelers depended on the stars to guide them and keep them from straying off course. Those who were lost found direction in the bright pinpoint patterns that drew a map across the sky offering a flicker of hope through the darkest hours.

Stars share their light every moment they exist asking for nothing in return. A pure offering. A perfect gift.

Their celestial burn is so intense that long after they are gone, their glow is still seen by those who choose to peer into the night sky: a source of illumination and inspiration for all.

So perfectly named was my dear friend Starr Korvin who passed on last night after using every second of her time on earth to impart only love, hope, and guidance. Her gifts will continue to serve those who experienced her radiance long after she’s made her way down her next path.

Today, I write this prayer in honor of Starr’s Devine Spirit’s offerings in this life, and also in celebration of its liberation from suffering.

Starr, I wish you well and send you love as you continue your journey.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
(May all beings be happy and free from suffering)

Svāhā

Nov

Yoga and Authenticity: A Feature In Women’s Health

No one comes to yoga because his or her lives are perfectly put together. Being human is a messy task and suffering is part of living. When I first started taking yoga classes I was suffering, and as a result I always felt a little guilty, like I was trying to get away with something.

Everyone is familiar with the commodified version of yoga by now. It’s sold in the package of a 20 to 30-something year-old woman, with the socially-deemed perfect body dressed in $100 + yoga apparel and performing some impossible looking acrobatics—all while looking unquestionably at peace.

I looked nothing like that woman.

Let’s be clear: that woman does not exist. That woman is not yoga. Of course, when I started my yoga journey almost 20 years ago, I did not know that. I wanted to be her. I wanted to look like her and exist in the world just as I imagined she must.

Externally my 5 ft. frame, regardless of what it weighed, was never going to fit the image I believed it must become in order to be a true yogi. And internally, I was struggling with a number of demons including anxiety and PTSD.

Recently Rachael Shultz, a writer at Women’s Health Magazine, reached out to me to find out more about my yoga journey and the transformation I’ve experienced from my practice. She asked about featuring my story on the Women’s Health Magazine site. My initial reaction was, “What an honor!” I was so touched to have the opportunity to share my experience with their readership. Then came the task of telling the story.

I did not expect the experience to be as difficult as it was. I have shared my personal story with many friends, and I have even posted openly about my experience with sexual assault on my personal FB page, but sharing my story publicly was terrifying. I second-guessed my decision no less than 100 times before it was published and even considered asking Rachael not to run it.

The fears that plagued me included:

What if the story hurts my career?
What if it affects the way my peers view me?
Could it be used against me in the future somehow?
Will I lose credibility as a professional?

But every time I thought about writing Rachael my mind was drawn to a card I drew the very first day of my yoga teacher training at Love Hive Yoga almost two months ago. It had a single word written on it: Authenticity.

Authenticity, Yoga

I keep it on my meditation alter where I can see it every day. When I drew the card I didn’t know how it applied to my training, but now realize how important living authentically is. Leading an authentic life is key to being the best version of yourself, living freely, and being able to offer up your most precious gifts.

This was my opportunity to be my most authentic self, which is important because the most vulnerable parts of my personal story are key to the transformative moments on my yoga path and the true story of my yoga journey.

Having the opportunity to look back on my journey was just what I needed to reinvigorate my passion for the study of yoga and propel me toward my dream of teaching women, just like me, the practice.

While sharing my story with Rachael and then waiting for it to be published was difficult and frightening, I’m so happy with how it turned out. If you are interested in finding out what my experience was like and getting some tips for your own practice, please take a moment to read my story here.

Then go get on your mat.

Namaste.