60-Minute Yin Sequence for the Hips

I started practicing yin yoga along with my yang-style flows or vinyasa years ago. I was drawn to the quiet aspect of the practice. I found it to be a wonderful tool to gain greater insight into my own thought patterns and behaviors. I didn't practice to get better at the poses. I practiced to get better at dealing with life. So what is Yin? Yin and Yang, broadly speaking, are Taoist concepts. Yin relates to the calming and cooling side of yoga, whereas Yang is energetic. Yin is about acceptance and Yang is about change. This practice is a more passive approach than the traditional flow classes. It's not a physical workout, but it's certainly a mental workout. Yin poses focus on the lower body and are held typically for 3-5 minutes, though some could be held for 30! In Yin, you come into the pose at your appropriate edge, or that first level of resistance in your body. Hold the poses for a length of time and commit to stillness.

In a city like Miami where I live, a yin practice is essential.

Yin Hip Sequence

This video has been condensed to 12-minutes to give you flexibility for longer holds. If you're just getting started with yin, hold the poses for less time and work your way up to 4-5 minutes. Check out the sequence below.

Yin Yoga with Sam: This 12-minute yin yoga practice can be extended to 60 minutes. Hold each pose for 3-5 minutes. Use props if needed. Enjoy! For more information about yin yoga, visit journeysforthesoul.com.

• Corpse Pose

  • Observe your breath + settle into your mat

• Reclined Hamstring Stretch - Right Side

  • Place a strap around the sole of your right foot and lift the right leg toward the ceiling. Keep your shoulders relaxed

• Reclined pigeon (figure 4)

  • Cross your right ankle just above your left knee. Keep your right foot flexed, toes pointing toward the right knee.

  • Tip: If you feel too tight to bring your legs toward your chest, keep them on the ground.

• Apanasana (knees-to-chest)

• Reclined Hamstring Stretch - Left Side

  • Place a strap around the sole of your right foot and lift the right leg toward the ceiling. Keep your shoulders relaxed

• Reclined pigeon (figure 4)

• Apanasana

• Butterfly (reclined bound angle)

  • If your hips are tight, place blankets or blocks underneath your thighs for support.

• Caterpillar (seated forward fold)

  • Tips: Bend the knees if your low back and hamstrings are tight. Place a bolster on top of your legs so that you can rest your head comfortably.

• Shoelace (cow faced pose) - Right

  • Place the right knee on top of the left

  • Tips: Sit on a blanket to elevate the hips if you're knees are not stacks. Wedge a blanket in between your knees, and if it's still uncomfortable, straighten your left leg on the mat.

• Swan/Sleeping Swan (aka pigeon)

  • Shift the right leg back

  • Find balance in the hips, use a bolster or blanket if needed. Alternative you can lay down on your back and do Figure 4 again.

• Downward Dog and Childs Pose

• Shoelace (left knee on top) - Left

• Swan/Sleeping Swan (aka pigeon)

  • Shift the left leg back. Find balance in the hips, use a bolster or blanket if needed

• Downward Dog + Childs

• Sphinx/Seal

• Twisted Root (both sides)

  • Cross your right thigh over the left and wrap your right foot around your left calf (eagle legs).

• Corpse Pose

If you're in Miami,  visit my public Yin classes. To learn more about yin, check out Bernie Clark's Yin Yoga or Sarah Powers' Insight Yoga.

Love and Peace.

xoxo, Sam

Note: Not all yoga poses work for every body. If you have any injuries, please check with your doctor before beginning.

Healing the Heart: Journey to Rwanda

I think it is essential sometimes to go into retreat, to stop everything that you have been doing, to stop your beliefs and experiences completely and look at them anew, not keep on repeating like machines whether you believe or don't believe. You would let fresh air into your minds. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

It has been three years since I left Rwanda. For three years, I wondered what it would be like to return. But I made a promise to 16 teenage girls that I would attend their graduation ceremony at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) and so I kept that promise. In October 2017, I went back to Rwanda to visit the Village where I worked for a year from 2013 - 2014.

ASYV is an non-profit organization whose goal to heal and educate vulnerable Rwandan youth. It is a residential community of more than 500 orphaned teens located an hour outside of Kigali, Rwanda. Though secular, the organization focuses on two Jewish principles of tikkun halev, healing the heart, and tikkun olam, the healing that comes from helping others. The youth have some trauma in their past that prevents them from connecting to the present moment and reimagining a future beyond what they know.  I spent the last few years healing my heart. 

Most people take a week-long retreat to rejuvenate and restore. Mine lasted around two years. Though a beautiful and profound experience, living at the Village was also challenging, physically and emotionally. Prior to Rwanda, I spent the majority of my twenties living in Prague and coordinating student trips with a focus on Holocaust and World War II education. 

From the Upanishads to the Bhagavad Gita, my bookshelf soon grew to be a collection of eastern philosophy, yoga, and wellness. Other areas of my life changed as well. I started exercising and became a vegan, being more mindful of what I consume in general. I also didn't have a car or a phone for the first year I was in the U.S. I now teach and share these same tools that I learned. 

Rwanda Reunion

Agahozo-Shalom was just as peaceful and beautiful as I remembered it to be. It felt like an oasis in the middle of Rwanda. It was an emotional reunion with old friends and family. I reconnected with the 16 girls I mentored, all happy and eager to graduate. No longer were they the frightened teens that I met four years ago, but bright young women ready to face the world. I was overjoyed. It’s a beautiful thing to witness youth grow and flourish. 

Heal the Heart, Heal the World

My return to Rwanda was more than just a visit to attend the graduation. I realized that not only were these young students ready to face the world, but I was too again. Sometimes it's important to step away and examine your life through a different lens. Jiddu Krishnamurti said it beautifully. Stop what you're doing and take time to examine your life, so you don't keep repeating old habits. Breathe in new air. 

I'm embarking on a new chapter and I look forward to sharing with you what will unfold in the next year. 

Spreading love and light.

xoxo, 

Rwanda Photos

Agahozo Shalom Youth Village

ASYV graduates

graduation day

graduation day

graduation day

volunteer project

ASYV

Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village

Kigali convention center

Kigali

mosque

Akagera National Park

ASYV

Rwanda

Rwanda

The Yoga of a Broken Ankle

"Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself." - Parmahansa Yogananda

Have you ever questioned why certain events happen in your life? Life has an interesting way of presenting experiences to facilitate growth. It's through experience, and often suffering, that leads to a greater sense of connectedness and compassion. Each person has his or her own unique set of events that fosters spiritual awakening. My new learning experience is living with a broken ankle.

Last week, I broke my ankle while jogging outside on a beautiful Sunday morning. I was listening to music on my phone and looked the other way to check for traffic. In that brief moment of not paying attention, I came tumbling down to the ground in pain. 

I knew I broke my ankle. I had a sick nauseating pain in my stomach. Twenty minutes later, I was in the ER. My ankle swelled rapidly and it turned black and blue. I was diagnosed with a nondisplaced distal fibula fracture. It's the bone on the outer part of the leg that bears up to 20% weight. The ER doctor put me in a splint and two days later I met with an orthopedic surgeon. I was given a walking cast for 30 days and either a walking boot or surgery after if it doesn't heal well.

One instant can alter the course of your life. I thought I was visiting family for the weekend and returning to Miami to teach yoga that Sunday. But other plans were in store for me. 

The first week was emotional. My way of life changed and simple tasks were no long simple.  At some point, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But if there is anything that my yoga practice has taught me is that the only way to maintain peace is to go within. Yoga isn't just the poses you see in classes. It's a way of existing in this world.

This world is filled with suffering. It is part of the human experience. This is also a noble truth in Buddhism. It is often referred to as dukkha or that which is incapable of being satisfied. So why do we suffer? We suffer because things don't go our way and desires go unfilled. 

It's so easy to stay in this place of despair. On day six, I was alone and in my apartment. I started to cry and felt utterly hopeless. Will I ever fully recover? Will I teach yoga again? Then the dog came in and looked at me with her sweet brown eyes, and I remembered.

I remembered that life is worth living in the present moment. I remembered that everything in this life is temporary. I remembered that I had so much to be grateful for. I remembered that regardless of what happens externally, I am in control of my inner peace. I got out of bed. Using my crutches, I hobbled out onto the balcony and looked at the ocean.

Yes, life is filled with suffering, but there are choices. I can choose to let worldly experiences consume me or I can choose to be in control, to have the courage to face each day with love and compassion. I can choose to live in the present moment and see the beauty in life.

So how do you live in a world with pain and suffering? Choose the present moment. See the beauty before you, and the future will take care of itself.

Peace + Love,

Sam

Three Books that Inspired Me to Practice Yoga

If you looked around my bedroom right now, you would notice piles of books stacked on my bed, nightstand, desk, and in drawers. I even have a box of books in my car and I always have a book in my bag. It would be safe to say that I enjoy reading.

I guess it would come as no surprise that I first began exploring yoga not through the physical practice, but through books. When I returned to the United States from Rwanda in 2014, I spent the first few months resting, relaxing, and of course, reading. I took time to reintegrate into American life and yes, reverse culture shock, is a thing. As I went through this experience, I found comfort in books. But I wasn’t interested in any type of book. I no longer desired to read fiction, politics, or history. I became fascinated with the spiritual world, personal development, and Eastern philosophy. Though I have read countless books on yoga, personal development, and Eastern philosophy, these books below sparked the beginning of my journey.

Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda

“Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself.”  - Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda was one of the first teachers from India to introduce yoga to the United States in 1920. Yogananda sailed across the ocean to participate in a religious conference in Boston. His book is a beautiful account of his spiritual path to enlightenment.

This was also the only book that Steve Jobs had on his iPad and a book that the late Beatles singer, George Harrison, had in his home to pass out to guests. It was first published in 1946. I read this book twice, the second time being easier. I, too, keep a copy on my iPhone. 

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

"The yogi, absorbed in contemplation, contributes in his degree to creation; he breathes a divine perfume, he hears wonderful things. Divine forms traverse him without tearing him, and united to the nature which is proper to him, he goes, he acts as animating original matter...To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a yogi."

- Henry David Thoreau

You may remember Walden from high school. It was on my required reading list for English class, but I had no idea the vast wisdom that this book contained at 15 years old. My sister had a copy and at this stage in my life, I felt compelled to read it again. Something about a man documenting his solitary experience in the woods for two years intrigued me. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau built a cabin near Walden Pond in Massachusetts to "live deliberately." For two years, he explored the divine through nature and reading, especially Eastern philosophy. He recorded his experiment on living simply in nature. Thoreau is known as the first American yogi and references yoga in his memoir. I felt connected to Thoreau and his writing. He was also the same age as I was when I first discovered yoga.

Bhagavad Gita, A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley

The whole and sole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita, the only reason it was originally given to humanity, is to help people rid themselves of their worldly suffering, find true happiness and achieve Self-Realization." - Sathya Sai Baba

I found this book in my mother's closet and it has been one of my most treasured books of all time. Who knew that this ancient wisdom of life was tucked away in a closet?  The Bhagavad Gita (Song of God), read by millions worldwide is a beautiful story between God and man. It is a an epic Indian poem with Arjuna, the warrior, and his faithful friend, Krishna, as the main characters. Throughout this dialogue between the characters, Krishna informs man how to live beyond worldly suffering. Writing about it doesn't do it justice.  All of life's spiritual lessons can be found in this book. I keep this book close with me and sometimes I pick it up and read whatever page I turn to. If I was ever stranded alone on an island, this would be the book that I'd have with me. 

I'll be sharing a more complete list of my favorite go-to yoga books, but hopefully these will spark your interest. What books inspired you? Have you read these already? Share your thoughts and comments below!

Peace and Love,

Sam

How to Meditate in 7 Simple Steps and Stick with It

Never give up! Accept meditation as part of your life, just as you eat, sleep, and to other things; make it a prominent goal to have a calm mind, to have a one-pointed mind, to have a tranquil mind. Do not give that up. - Swami Rama

"I have the most active mind. I just can't sit still." How many times have you said this to yourself when thinking about meditation? I often hear this as a yoga teacher and unfortunately these self-limiting beliefs prevent people from practicing this amazing tool. But meditation doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming. It is meant to improve the quality of your life, not detract from it.

So, what is meditation exactly? To meditate means to systematically anchor the mind to an object. It is not relaxation, but a method that helps you bring clarity to the decisions that you’ll have to make in your day-to-day life. In a world where your mind is in sensory overload and where we now have streets signs that read "no texting and driving," this may be the most important tool to use in your daily routine.

Studies have shown that meditation provides numerous benefits to your health as well. In an article published by Psychology Today, Dr. Manning describes how your brain changes in the way you respond to stress, decision-making, and how you process information when you have a consistent meditation practice. 

When I first started yoga I did not meditate regularly. Even though I learned about meditation in my training, I was more intrigued with the poses. It was only until my friend asked me a simple question that I began to meditate daily. She asked, “Why aren't you meditating everyday?” I thought about it for a moment, but I was speechless. I had no good excuse. I certainly had the time to practice and I was aware of the benefits. So, that day I made a commitment to myself to start a daily meditation practice. 

Meditation varies worldwide and can be found in different traditions and religions.  This practice described below is based on the yoga tradition and from my own experience. Here are a few simple steps to get you started and most importantly, to keep you going.

1. Make a Commitment

Ah yes, the c-word. Decide to commit to your well-being. This is your life and your health. Is it worth it to give it a try? Make a decision and commit.

2. Create Time and Space

Create time in your life for the practice. If you think you don't have time, you do. It's about priorities. Meditation doesn't have to be hours long before sunrise. Maybe it's five minutes after you wake up or ten minutes before you go to bed. Set a reasonable time that fits your schedule and is sustainable. Just be consistent with the time to establish a routine.

Find a comfortable place free from distractions. It might not be helpful for you to practice in the middle of your living room surrounded by family, pets, or anything else that will hinder your practice. Over time, you may find that you can meditate anywhere, but be kind to yourself at first.

3. Take a Seat and Sit Still

Find a comfortable seat, whether it's on the floor, in a chair, or against a wall. If sitting in a cross-legged position is too uncomfortable, then move against a wall. You can also use any props (blankets or cushions) that will support your posture. Just make sure that you are sitting upright and align your head, neck, and shoulders with your hips. Keep your elbows under your shoulders and rest your hands comfortably. Though it may be tempting to lie down on your back, meditation should be done in an upright seated position.

4. Relax

Breathe in and out through your nose. Focus on each inhale and each exhale. Relax the lower rib cage. Starting at the crown of your head, work your way down releasing any tension in your body. 

5. Be Aware of your Breath

Once you feel relaxed and still, draw your awareness back to your breath. Follow it in and out through the nostrils. Why focus on your breath? It is constant and something that can be easily accessible. 

6. Use a Mantra

Mantras are words or sounds that help you purify the mind and become less distracted. You connect with the vibrations, rather than the actual sound. A common mantra that you can use is so-ham (pronounced so-hum). This is the sound of the breath and means, “I am.” If you’re uncomfortable using Sanskirt, you can repeat, “I am.” You can also just focus on your breath and not use a mantra.

It’s okay if you become distracted. The brain is great at doing that and it will. You’ll have thoughts that pop in and out of your head, but you don’t need to focus your attention on them. Just observe and let them pass. 

7. Stay Accountable and Keep Your Commitment

Meditation is a wonderful practice, but only if you practice it consistently. The brain has a funny way of reverting back to its self-limiting thoughts and fears. So keep your meditation practice going for at least 40 days to form a new habit.

Write in a journal. Join a meditation community in your city. Find a friend. Download the meditation app, Insight, on your phone. Do whatever you need to feel inspired to continue.

Most importantly, remember why you chose to meditate in the first place and ask yourself if the consequences of not meditating are greater than if you begin. 

Questions? Leave comments below and let me know how it’s going. Remember Swami Rama's advice, never give up!

To learn more about meditation, check The Journey Inward by Rolf Solvik.

Love and Peace, 

Tips for Eating Vegan Food When Traveling Abroad

Maintaining a certain eating routine when traveling can be overwhelming. You're going into uncharted territory and the place you visit may not be used to your eating habits, let alone healthy eating habits. The idea of being vegan is a newer concept, one that not every culture will know. Here are a few tips that I've learned to still eat healthy vegan food abroad.

1. Do Your Research

The best way to ensure you'll be able to eat is to do your research in advance. Find out if the city you're going to has vegan restaurants or markets nearby, search for vegan Facebook groups and ask for advice online. Fortunately, when I planned my trip to Cusco I also found numerous vegan restaurants within walking distance to my accommodation.

2. Learn How to Order Food in the Local Language

No carne, por favor. If you like to travel to remote locations or outside city centers, it's best to write a list of words to describe what you cannot eat. The word, vegan, is a newer concept and many countries aren't familiar with the idea. I found this to be especially helpful when traveling throughout Thailand when fish sauce is used in almost every dish.

3. Bring Your Must-Have Snacks

If you know your food options will be limited and you have the space in your luggage, bring snacks that will keep you energized. When I hiked a 5-day trek to Machu Picchu, I wasn't sure if the food available would sustain my energy for the 75km hike, so I packed Vega One bars. These small bars are perfect for traveling and are loaded with the essentials. Each bar contains 12g of plant-based protein, 50% DV of 12 vitamins and minerals, 3g of fiber, and veggies. I also took the Vega Sport Protein bars for those extra strenuous hikes, which have 15g of protein.

4. Shop at Local Markets

A big part of the travel experience is the food. Though it's great to eat at restaurants, the markets are a wonderful way to experience the culture and how people live. It's also much cheaper than eating out every night. My favorite days of the week in Rwanda were market days. I walked 20 minutes down a dirt road to buy fresh produce and avocados for $.30 each, but it was a wonderful opportunity to meet everyone on the street and experience shopping like a local.

Local market in Rwanda

Fresh produce in Rwanda

5. Go with the Flow

There might be nights when all you can find is bread and a salad, and sometimes that's okay. My friend and I visited Lisbon and I remember eating at a local fish restaurant because we couldn't find anything else. I ordered salad that they used for garnish under the main dishes. It was only one meal and the experience dining with locals rather than the food itself was the most enjoyable part of that evening.

Let me know what works for you (and what doesn't) and enjoy your travels!

Peace,