Friday morning class is ON! 1/27

See you soon!

Sloppy Journalism?  TALK BACK!

Did you see the article appearing recently in the New York Times Magazine discussing the dangers of yoga?  Below is my reply to the editor about this misleading and narrow-minded article.  Though it won't likely be printed, I wanted to share this with those of you who might have concerns about what you read:

Thank you for your provocative and informative article about the dangers of yoga, “All Bent out of Shape”, appearing in the January 8^th magazine.  As a full time yoga teacher and studio owner dedicated to helping students heal from and prevent injury, I appreciated the cautionary tales from students and teachers who suffered at the hands of overzealous and undereducated instructors.

However, I’d like to point out one important distinction missing from your article; as one might expect in a practice that has developed over a period of thousands of years, schools of yoga vary widely.  In fact, though they often use the same names for yoga postures, the approach in teaching and practicing these postures can be as different as night and day.  William Broad focuses his article on a particular approach to Iyengar Yoga, one school of many, and the practices and experiences he describes bear no resemblance to the gentle, awareness and safety based approach that so many teachers and practitioners enjoy today. 

The dangers he discusses are real but also very much understood by a large number of teachers from a wide range of traditions.  If teacher Glenn Black received a lukewarm reception to his talk about the dangers of yoga, I would suspect it was due not to the fact that “people don’t like to hear that” but to the fact that most of those in attendance wouldn’t dream of using the kinds of tactics that were so injurious to him. 

I was saddened by both the author and his subjects’ inability to distinguish between the many types of yoga available today but also a bit amused by it.  Black’s advice to avoid yoga sounded as inane as advising people to stop walking altogether simply because striding unaware over a bed of hot coals can cause a burn.  How about taking the time to look at where you are treading instead?

Kate S. Pousont

Director, Shelburne Falls Yoga

1 Deerfield Ave. Shelburne Falls MA 01370

413-475-2441

Schedule Updates

A few updates for the winter schedule:

Zumba will not meet for the remainder of January.  Zumba will resume in February on Wednesday evenings at 6.  Please join us!

Morning yoga WILL meet on Mon. Jan. 16.  Kate is training at Kripalu and the class will be taught by Cordelia McKusick, a delightful Kripalu teacher.  Come and say hello to Cordelia!  Jody will be away for the holiday so there will be NO morning cardio or noon pilates.

The Yoga Freedom Project. Please join us!

The Yoga Freedom Project

at Shelburne Falls Yoga

with Robert Markey and Kate Pousont

Saturday Jan. 28 4-5pm, suggested donation $5-$25

Add your voice to those around the world calling for an end to modern-day slavery and human trafficking.  Join us for an all-levels yoga class taught by SFY director Kate Pousont with sitar accompaniment by Robert Markey.  All proceeds go to the Somaly Mam foundation, one of the primary organizations in the world working to stop trafficking and to help survivors.  After class, view and discuss Robert’s latest paintings of children from Brazil and Cambodia.



Psychotherapy and Yoga Psychotherapy now offered in the treatment rooms at Shelburne Falls Yoga. Welcome Jess Kuttner!

Jess Kuttner is a Registered Yoga Teacher and Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker.  Jess completed her yoga teacher training at Karuna in Northampton and holds an MSW from Simmons School of Social Work.  While in graduate school Jess was given Amy Weintraub’s book “Yoga for Depression” which sparked her interest in the applications of yoga in psychotherapy. Jess believes deeply in the power of yoga to offer a pathway towards healing.   Jess has received training on yoga therapy at Kripalu where she studied with Amy Weintraub, Bo Forbes, and Gary Kraftsow.  Additionally, Jess has completed trainings on yoga and the treatment of trauma at the Trauma Center in Brookline, and applications of yoga in clinical social work through B.U. School of Social Work.

Jess has over 12 years of experience in the counseling field. She has worked in a diverse range of settings including a domestic violence shelter, an inpatient adolescent psychiatry unit, public schools, a therapeutic boarding school for troubled adolescents, and outpatient psychotherapy centers.  Jess has experience treating anxiety, depression, PTSD, relationship/couples distress, parenting struggles, grief and loss, and oppositional defiant disorder.   Jess starts from the belief that each client has a self that is larger than their symptoms.  With compassion and patience, Jess helps clients identify their strengths and to move through whatever pain has brought them to counseling in order to meet their goals. Jess uses  a variety of counseling techniques, such as: mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and dialectal behavior therapy.    Most recently Jess developed a practice at a local therapeutic school offering yoga psychotherapy sessions for students.  These sessions combined traditional psychotherapy methods with breathing techniques, guided relaxation and restorative yoga postures. 

Jess is very excited to be offering psychotherapy and yoga psychotherapy sessions at Shelburne Falls Yoga.  She accepts many different insurance plans for sessions.  Please contact Jess if you are interested in a free phone consultation to decide if working with Jess would be beneficial for you.  jkuttner@gmail.com  (413)522-9732

Holiday Greetings from Kate Pousont and Shelburne Falls Yoga

Dear Friends,

The other evening while walking through the fields and forests behind my home, I came to rest on a fallen log and began to survey the scene with all the yoga-inspired attention to detail that such a setting deserves. As my eyes lifted upward to the still partially sunlit sky, my gaze rested on the moon; half full, luminous white, and suspended above as if emerging from some mysterious faintly blue haze. I couldn't help but wonder what it must have been like to live in a time before we humans thought we had all the answers. I imagined never having learned anything of moon's mass, physical make-up, or distance from the earth.  It was a simple yet awe inspiring experience.

A beloved teacher of mine, Devarshi Steven Hartman, discusses the danger of thinking we have it "all figured out", that we know all the answers. He aptly points out that the human habit of judging others comes from a false sense of "knowing it all" about a person or situation when, in fact, we often know as little about the people around us as we do about the true nature of the moon above us. How easy it is to hold on to our beliefs about the world, about others, about ourselves. There is great comfort to be had in the stories we and our culture create to make sense of ourselves and the world around us. But how often do these stories speak to the true nature of the object of our observation? How often do they lead us to a true sense of who we really are?

For an answer I, as have generations of yogis before me, turn to the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita was written around the start of the Common Era and is one of the most widely read yogic texts (it was favored by both Emerson and Thoreau, and Gandhi discovered the Gita through the transcendentalists' works).

The Bhagavad Gita, through a beautiful, clear, compelling, and very human story of struggle, provides a road map for a deeper understanding of the true nature of our selves. It ultimately leads us to an understanding that each of us has, at our core, a unique and untouchable essence that exists separately from our experiences, our thoughts, our bodies, our struggles. It is this essence that a yoga practice seeks to strengthen.

Whether we believe as some do that this core essence represents spirit or soul, or whether it is more simply a convergence of breath, body, and mind that is greater than the sum of its parts, yoga leads us beyond the limiting ideas we so often hold about ourselves and toward the fullest possible expression of our own individual gifts, talents, and joys.

In the practice of yoga our tools are simple ones, body, mind, breath, and intention working in union toward a greater whole, but the results can be profound and varied. From greater lung capacity, increased strength and flexibility, and a better ability to calm and focus the mind to a growing awareness of our unique purpose in life, yoga can help us grow the skills we need to experience ourselves, others, and our surroundings with a sense of appreciation and clarity.

It is in this clarity that the moon, the world around us, our loved ones, and our selves begin to shine more brightly.

Peace,
Kate

Greetings!

It's the season of thanksgiving and yogis everywhere are talking about gratitude.  Did you know that the simple act of choosing to view the world with gratitude and compassion creates an immediate and measurable change in brain and heart function as well as in the breath? With this choice comes an opportunity for synchronicity; an alignment of the oscillating systems of the body and an accompanying sense of relaxation and well-being result. Both science and experience continue to speak to the simple yet profound power of intention. 

I was recently reading an entertaining (and illuminating) 1950's copy of a farming and rural living magazine and, embedded in an article about old Maine woodsmen, found these words by Douglas Jerrold: "Troubles are like babies, they only grow by nursing". Those who have studied yoga philosophy understand the truth in this statement and in the opposite side of the equation as well; our higher capacities such as love, compassion, and gratitude are grown in the same way, through care and conscious attention. 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I have a bit of gratitude of my own to offer:

Thanks so much to all of you, far and near, who've been an integral part of growing, shaping, and maintaining the community that is Shelburne Falls Yoga. To my teachers (and my teacher's teachers), thank you for sharing your studies, gifts, and experiences and giving me the tools to shape my own experiences into a unique expression of Kripalu Yoga. And, to those of you who have chosen to make my class a regular part of your weekly routine, it's been a joy to guide you on your own journey of growth and discovery.

If you haven't yet ventured into the studio, please do. There's always a space and mat available for you regardless of how long it's been or how often you can attend!

Thanks and Happy Holidays,

Kate