Jennifer Pastiloff Shares What it Really Means to Be Human

In On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard, Jennifer Pastiloff tells the story of how she went from thirteen years of waitressing to facilitating yoga and writing retreats in exotic locations throughout the world. Pastiloff has transformed a love of yoga, and what Lidia Yuknavitch calls “radical listening,” into a unique workshop style that blends yoga, writing and self-transformation, all while remaining firmly with her feet on the ground.

The No Bullshit Approach

On Being Human joins the avalanche of women’s voices telling life stories through transformative narratives that speak to the complexities of women’s lives without offering easy answers. Pastiloff recounts her tale of dealing with her father’s sudden death when she was eight, decades of anorexia, depression and hearing loss with what she calls her “no bullshit” approach.

This memoir speaks to the metamorphosis of Pastiloff as she deals with issues in real ways, getting in touch with her body through yoga and facing her grief: “To me, yoga was magic. What else could it be? I cried for my father…I hissed breath of fire and I kicked up into handstands like I was weightless, and yet, I didn’t think about my weight as I was moving my way through the poses…I was letting go.”

Through Pastiloff’s approach to “beauty hunting,” and helping people find a way to say to themselves “I am enough” she shows us how true gurus are the ones who have lived a life and found a way to share these discoveries through human connection. She writes, “What I would not realize until my forties was that the moon is never missing any of itself. We just can’t see it. People are like that too.”

Reading Pastiloff’s On Being Human makes us believe we, too, can find that part of ourselves we may have lost sight of.

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

The post The Whole of the Moon: A Review of On Being Human by Jennifer Pastiloff appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

On a crisp spring morning, photographer Brett Leigh Dicks and I set out to document the diverse environment and open expanse of the Gaviota Coast. Arriving at Refugio State Beach just after sunrise, we encountered children playing where a chilly creek flowed into the ocean, flocks of sea birds twisted and turned just above the surface of the waves, dolphins dipped above the waves close to shore and surfers enjoyed a small break. As one surfer with a longboard strolled past, he noticed Brett intently photographing in the sunrise-drenched light and yelled behind him, “Don’t tell anyone where you took the photos!” This is one secluded location that needs to be revealed – if only to protect it from a pending development which threatens to destroy its integrity as an environment so far untouched by the invasive hand of urban sprawl.

Will the American dream of urban sprawl destroy one of the last untouched areas of biodiversity on the southern Californian coast?

The Gaviota Coast

Just north of Santa Barbara sit 30 miles of the Gaviota Coast, an environmental treasure and the last remaining jewel of undeveloped land in Southern California. It is a prime example of an undisturbed

Mediterranean environment and one of only five representatives of this type of ecosystem worldwide. The Gaviota Coast has an ancient connection to the Native American Chumash, being home to one of the oldest indigenous settlements in North America. It was also an integral part of the mission system and Mexican land grants. Even so, the inaccessibility of large tracts of land leading north to the Santa Ynez Mountains has allowed this area to remain a wilderness undisturbed by fences, freeways or urban streets. Zoned rural, this in part is what has helped protect its biodiversity and sustain the associated marine habitat.

To signify its biological diversity, the United Nations lists the Gaviota Coast as one of the world’s top 15 ecological wonders, home to more than 195 species of birds, 60 species of fish and 1,400 other plant and animal species. The sanctuary is a refuge for the critically endangered southern steelhead trout and the red-legged frog, as well as another 24 resident species which are currently federally listed as threatened or endangered. Another 60 species linger just outside the line that would mark them as officially threatened or endangered.

From canyons to plains to mountains, the breathtaking Gaviota coastline is filled with sycamores, willows, sage scrub, shimmering golden grasses and a carpet of wildflowers.

Gaviota Coastline

More than 30 freshwater creeks gently cascade into pebbled streams from the Santa Ynez Mountains into the Pacific Ocean, contributing to the clean and productive waters off the coast. It makes for some drama: in the summertime, one of the largest herds of blue whales in the world congregate in the waters of the offshore Channel Islands to feed on krill. The dense concentrations of these plankton are a result of the area’s unique and biologically diverse point of marine confluence, caused by the meeting of two major oceanic currents and the shape of the continental shelf at Point Conception. The Channel Islands fill the landscape with their silhouette, and offer an irresistible temptation to those who wish to claim this view as their private backyard.

Fresh Water Creeks

With this unspoiled jewel in mind, a canny developer recently claimed an 1888 map of an imagined subdivision of Naples (named for Italy, but located here on the Gaviota Coast). In 1995, after a protracted legal battle, Santa Barbara County was forced to recognize 274 mansion-style lots on the site. This galvanized the community to fight the legal exception to the agricultural zoning of the Gaviota Coast, thus spurring the formation of the Naples Coalition, which was established in 2003 with the aim of protecting the region’s rural character and environmental qualities.

As the land of the Gaviota Coast pulses and breathes, free of the undeterred urban human footprint, it leaves us to ponder if it still has a chance to glisten in the light like a rare jewel, or will it be tarnished by those who seek to develop this environmental bastion.

More information about the Naples Coalition can be found at http://www.savenaples.org.

Natalie D-Napoleon is a musician and writer who lives in Santa Barbara, California and Perth, Australia. http://www.nataliednapoleon.com

Brett Leigh Dicks started off life as a photographer and he continues to pursue a view of life through a camera’s lens. http://www.brettleighdicks.net

By Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

The post The Gaviota Coast appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

THE POWERFUL VIBRATION OF THE GONG ripples through the air. The succession of sound waves progressively excites each and every cell of the body before gently allowing them to rest. Chinese gong makers kept its metallic composition secret, so the instrument has long had a sense of mystery. For thousands of years, gongs were used in religious ceremonies, monasteries and temples across East and South-East Asia. Now the West has been slowly catching onto this vibrational instrument and it has become as a regular accompaniment in yoga practice to deepen meditation, assist in removing energy blockages and facilitate healing.

Half a world from its ancestral home, the gong takes center stage at Los Angeles’ Golden Bridge Yoga, a refuge from the chaotic and random sounds of the surrounding Hollywood vibe where yogis and others can experience the powerful effects of the gong’s sound vibrations. Here Harijiwan (among other master teachers) offers regular gong and meditation sessions that incorporate the Kundalini traditions with the meditative and healing powers of the gong. Harijiwan says, ‘The sound of the gong allows us to move beyond the boundaries of the mind.’ The gong’s sounds are used to move our habitual responses and enact change to the very core of our being to our ingrained negative mental imprints and our perceptions of the world.

With Harijiwan’s trademark humor, he guides the practitioner through a set of gentle Yoga postures such as cat-cow, then intense postures incorporating breath of fire and into deep meditations, such as the blue pearl meditation. Building to the climax of the practice, with the gong awakening the group during the deepest meditation, a two-hour session with Harijiwan incorporates the vigor of the Kundalini practice and meditation with the energetic transformative power of the gong.

The resonations of the gong during the culmination of Harijiwan’s course makes the human body and mind feel like an instrument itself for positive change. It’s as though the body is being played to orchestrate its own vibrational tones. When struck during the practice the gong emits a sound with complex vibrations that turn into a succession of tones that move like a pebble hitting a pond, in both alternating subtle and powerful wave-like rings of sound. After completing the meditation, Harijiwan’s claim that ‘we are all divine instruments with strings’ seems more believable.

Another type of opportunity to become an instrument of gong orchestration can be found half a world away from Los Angeles in the small scenic tourist hamlet of Albany in Australia. Mount Romance s a sandalwood factory that produces the world’s largest sustainable supply of Western Australian sandalwood oil and its own range of cosmetic products based on the powerful properties of this aroma. Along with stimulating the olfactory sense, Mount Romance also offers a three-pronged retreat experience (The Cone, The Gong and The Bowl) incorporating the gong’s transformative powers.

The cone refers to the tepee-shaped structure in which the sessions take place, while the gong and bowls are the vibrational instruments employed for their sound therapy. When inside the plush-cushioned setting of the cone holding scarves infused with sandalwood oil, a host explains how the gong infuses a sense of deep relaxation, releases stress and tension, boosts the immune system, and calms and clears the mind, all at a cellular level.

The sandalwood essential oil directly affects the limbic system, or emotional center of the brain, to inspire a deep sense of relaxation. Then the first hit of the large standing gong solicits a tingling that acts as a precursor to an immense burst of energy. The instructor moves around the room with a hand-held gong individually encircling each participant. At this point, soothing sounds begin to overwhelm the previously excited “monkey mind’s” wandering thoughts. The body feels like it is held together by nothing more than sound, as the gong and singing bowls vibrate through to the very core of one’s being. When coupled with the backdrop of the Australian bush, the gong’s resonance endures throughout the following days, banishing negative thoughts and feelings, as well as increasing the libido.

Through such experiences we have the opportunity to realize how sound and good vibrations contribute to balancing the human body and universe alike.

Mount Romance The Cone, The Goand The Bowl 2 Down Rd Albany, WA Australia 6330 mtromance.com.au

Harijiwan Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Healeharijiwan.com email: harijiwan@harijiwan.com

Natalie D-Napoleon is a singer-songwriter and writer with a passion for organic gardening and serenading her fruit and vegetable plants. She is currently recording her début solo album with producer David Piltch (kd lang, Madeleine Peyroux) at Sound Design Studios in Santa Barbara. nataliednapoleon.com

By Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

The post Shaken To The Core appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Making the Sacred Fun

When Brett and I arrived at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort after four days camping in Yosemite, we were covered in dust and nursing tired, cold bodies from miles of hiking. I was not only excited about my first yoga retreat, but also having a decent shower. While a bit unsure of my level of yoga fitness (I’ve practiced for about 15 years, once, sometimes twice a week), I wanted to take my yoga practice to another level. I also wanted Brett to enjoy the experience and share in the joy and release I receive from yoga.

Our hosts, Billy and Patti Asad – with a jovial and warm attitude – stated that this weekend was about bringing the space and time we have for yoga into our relationships and giving the same effort to our relationship practice as our yoga practice. In the midst of a series of restorative poses, I fell back into the peace I found in the natural awe of Yosemite. It felt like being home again.

I left the yoga dome feeling tranquil and rested, but could see Brett hadn’t entirely let go of his tension. I attempted to coach him with my best learned yoga philosophies, “It’s not about ego, nor is it a competition, so just do what you can do,” “Turn your brain off, try not to think too much” and “focus on your breathing.” The look on his face indicated I was in danger of confusing him even more, “Ok forget everything I said – just enjoy yourself.”

Halfway through Patti’s Saturday morning level 2-3 class, I noticed the mist covering the dome’s windows and the sweat dripping from my body. Billy described Patti as the ‘Velvet Hammer’ and it was a perfect treatise of his wife’s gentle, yet firm, Ashtanga-Iyengar style. While surrounded by serious yogis, I surprised myself: the morning’s practice made me realize that I’m much stronger than I gave myself credit for, and I left feeling invigorated and ready to tackle a more vigorous practice.

The Saturday afternoon couples session proved to be the retreat’s highlight from our perspective. Billy and Patti led us through a fun series of coordinated partner poses progressing to increasingly difficult poses. The pinnacle was a posture with one partner effectively flying, propped up on the other’s feet with their back on the ground. I enjoyed seeing Brett challenged and gaining an awareness of both his body and our sense of mutual balance and trust. We finished partnering in Thai-style massages using our feet to find marvellous pressure points. Brett smiled in the serene way really relaxed people do, and I walked away with a sense of frivolity as well as increased trust and closeness.

The week before my stars perplexingly read, “This is a week to make the sacred fun and fun sacred.” Once home, centered, laughing and thoroughly enjoying my partner’s company, I understood.

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

The post Making the Sacred Fun: Couples Yoga at Sycamore Hot Springs appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Two hurdles prevent my giving yoga the consideration it deserves: time and my brain. In juggling work and deadlines, my personal time often suffers. As a result, the Wednesday night and Saturday morning yoga sessions my friend teaches never quite eventuate. So my LA YOGA editor and partner Natalie joined forces to encourage me to redress this with a Couples Retreat. Natalie and I set out to see whether the aforementioned were in fact hurdles or convenient excuses. The proviso was there would be no work. None, so the time factor was settled. That left my brain: a lot runs through my feeble mind while I am on the mat. Poses are constantly subjected to the conjecture of how ridiculous I must look and savasana (final relaxation) invites a stream of neural synapsing upon everything from shopping lists to pondering why it is illegal to cut hair on Sundays in Louisiana.

A Couple Goes on Retreat

In the retreat’s Friday evening class, my mind was relatively free and receptive, although I wouldn’t say I was completely relaxed. The other couples were obviously seasoned yogis, which made me even more nervous, mostly because Natalie is one of those seasoned yogis and I didn’t want to make her look bad. As the evening unfolded, we ate, socialized, hot tubbed and I attempted to relax.

During Saturday’s partner yoga session, I dropped my guard, let go of the excuses and yoga seized the opportunity to reveal itself to me. The levity that filled our hearts and the room slowly instilled in me a new perspective on yoga. My relationship with Natalie is the most important part of my life and while I could list a million reasons why I love Natalie, a big part of our connection is that we have fun. And our yoga practice together was actually fun.

As I had Natalie flying on my feet, I was conscious of not letting her fall. As my legs wavered, rather than focusing on how much longer I could hold the pose, I turned inward, finding refuge in my breath: inhale, exhale; inhale, exhale. To my surprise, this actually worked. And, not only did it work with this pose, it worked for all of them. While I was concentrating on my breathing, shopping lists or the legality (or illegality) of hair dressing were no longer of consequence. I finally got yoga. It is not about how life connects
with me – it is about how I connect with life. It was with a newfound enthusiasm that I bounded into the Saturday morning class – and again on Wednesday.

See accompanying articles: Making The Sacred Fun and Under The Sycamores

By Brett Leigh Dicks

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

The post A Couple Goes on Retreat appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Beyond The Pole

The traditional image of pole dancing involves scantily clad women, dollar bills and sleazy bars. But there is another view; committed groups of pole and sensual dance enthusiasts are changing that image and reclaiming the rightful place of empowered feminine sexuality in motion one woman at a time. By turning to pole dancing for fitness, practitioners are discovering an intense workout that allows them to gain upper body strength, flexibility and core strength, as well as inspiring an inner feminine confidence. Women are indeed doing it for themselves, moving without judgment or the prying eyes of spectators and inspiring each other to embrace their body’s sensuality.

“We are dressed in clothes, there aren’t people throwing money at us,” enlightened April Talsma of Stagelight Studios in Ventura. “We’re just here getting sweaty and laughing and it’s a fun class.” Fun is just one aspect of the experience that women take away with them from a pole dancing fitness class. Another is that the experience is both centering and cathartic. “Part of what it does is that it brings you back into your body,” explained Caroline Netzorg of Sheila Kelley’s S Factor in Encino. “Through the breath, the movement, and the music, you’re really connecting and letting go of everything. The most important part is the movement, the connection, the sensuality. It’s solely for you – it’s not about the pole.”

Taking a pole dancing class is often a transformative experience. Many women experience an inner hidden feminine sexuality and discover a newfound confidence in their bodies and with their curves. These transformations are often witnessed in the studio. “I think it helps her inner goddess come out” said Talsma, “ I’ve seen a lot of girls when they start the class they won’t watch themselves in the mirror; after they’ve been here a couple of classes I think it makes them more comfortable with being sexy.”

The “S Factor” philosophy is to focus on sensual movement, incorporating Pilates and Yoga moves, and differs from many studios by providing no mirrors and featuring hushed lighting. They focus on women taking ownership of their own bodies and femininity while avoiding self-criticism. “It’s solely about the expression of self with no judgment,” confided Netzorg. “Mirrors make you self-conscious. If I saw myself dance with those mirrors, I probably wouldn’t dance.”

The overall consensus is that participants take this nonjudgmental inner sensual confidence with them into their everyday lives along with an increased level of support for all women. During classes in her Ventura studio Talsma has witnessed regulars give instruction to her new students. “They let go a little and instead of women being women and competing they’re now helping each other feel better about themselves,” offered Talsma. “I see it all the time.”

Encouraging women to share a sexy workout and move their bodies in both sensual and strenuous ways seems to instill within us a newfound camaraderie. “All you have is that respect for women – the way it was meant to be,” Netzorg explains, “I believe that’s a huge huge part of this movement. The respect for women, the respect for our bodies.”

What was once the secret domain of exhibitionism and a symbol of exploitation of feminine sexuality is fast becoming an empowering, shared, sensual workout for all women. It is a practice that these enthusiasts want to now share on a wider scale. “I want every woman in the world to experience this and to introduce this to the entire world,” enthused Netzorg. “I think it’s a journey we’re on – one woman at a time.”

Sensual Dance Classes:
Sheila Kelley’s S Factor
Encino, Los Angeles,
Costa Mesa/Orange County,
San Francisco, Houston,
NYC, Chicago

Shelia Kelley’s S Factor
DVD Series: sfactor.com
StageLight Studios
1987 E. Main St, #B
Ventura CA. 93001
(805) 652 – 1930
stagelightstudios.com

Studio U
1027 Abbott Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 452 – 1717
studio-u.com

Sacred and Sensual Dance
Classes and Retreats:
Sacred Dance: A Journey of Self-Awakening for Women
With Hemalayaa
DVDs by Acacia:
Hollywood Booty,
Beautiful Belly,
Dance of the Kama Sutra
Hemalayaa.com

Natalie D-Napoleon is a novice sensual dancer who is also a writer and an award-winning singer-songwriter. Nataliednapoleon.com

By Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

The post Beyond The Pole: The Sensuality of Pole Dancing appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.