Mandy Ingber knows something about the experiences that break our hearts, how to find the inner strength that allows us to straddle the chasm of our challenges, and how to move in order to heal the body, the mind, and the emotions.

These are lessons she learned the hard way over a lifetime. Throughout much of her life, yoga has played a role in both the heartbreak and the healing. She says that yoga represented the breakdown of her family. It’s a story she tells in her latest book Yogalosophy for Inner Strength.

Sometimes our heartache can span generations; this is certainly the case for Mandy. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors whose parents and siblings were lost in the war. Mandy’s mother Chava Luba was born into a displaced children’s camp in Germany, and after emigrating to America, endured all the intricacies of a non-native speaker. Mandy’s father Lloyd was a renowned lawyer, whose interpersonal relationships were challenging and complex. As early as age 29, Lloyd’s back would go out, forcing him to lie still for a month at a time. At the urging of his friend and gym buddy Dirk Benedict (of Battlestar Galatica fame), Lloyd engaged in a disciplined Iyengar yoga practice, started cycling, and ate only macrobiotic food (prepared by Mandy’s mother).

Mandy recalls, “For me, my dad was sorta self-obsessed. I was always looking for ways to connect with him.  So, that’s how my practice started. I would practice on my own from the B.K.S.Iyengar Light on Yoga book from the time I was a kid.”

Lloyd’s fellow students included yogis like Erich Schiffmann, Ganga White, and Chuck and Maty Ezraty. He enrolled in teacher trainings, and the family had a yoga teacher, Keshava, throughout the 1970s. Mandy’s practice progressed privately with Keshava. The 80s brought her devotion to the gym, aerobics, and yoga. The first public class she enrolled in was around age 16 with the late Urban Yoga Institute co-owner Billy Porter. Soon thereafter, she continued classes with teachers including Alan Finger, Chad Hamrin, Baron Baptiste, and Bryan Kest. “I like the group energy of a class,” explains Mandy, “I love the feeling of being in a room full of people who are collectively bringing an energy. You might not even connect with a person, but you’re all breathing in and out with each other, so you become this one entity.”

During her parents’ tumultuous divorce, Mandy sought shelter in the safety of physical activity and the pursuit of a career on stage and screen. She starred in the original Broadway cast of Brighton Beach Memoirs, as Carla’s daughter-in-law on the long-running TV show Cheers, and sang the now infamous rap in the cult classic movie Teen Witch. When her friend and colleague (My Sister Sam star) Rebecca Schaeffer was brutally murdered by a stalker, Mandy’s relationship to the spotlight shifted. She jokes that she became her own sugar daddy, using the savings she accrued as an actress to change her life. “I learned a lot about trusting and not looking outside for approval, about finding my own inner strength essentially. That’s when I started teaching.” Mandy’s passion for both spinning and yoga inspired her to teach both disciplines. As she describes her spin classes, “I became a kind of motivational speaker on a bike.”

Mandy Ingber’s clients are “drawn to her honesty, encouragement, wisdom, and humor.”

Participants were drawn to her honesty, encouragement, wisdom, and humor. Not surprisingly, she acted as a spinning shepherd to seekers during turbulent times. “Many people, both celebrities and the average person, have come to my class during times of transition: break-ups, people that are going through radiation for cancer, divorces, moving, job changes. While I was teaching group classes, around me the whole music industry changed, the financial industry changed. People were going through transitions.”

The most famous transition was when Mandy publicly served as private confidante to Jennifer Aniston during one of the most sensationalized break-ups in pop culture history. The rest of her celebrity client roster rivals the Oscar nominee list and includes Aniston, as well as Jennifer Lawrence, Helen Hunt, Kate Beckinsale, and Brooke Shields.

Throughout her teaching, she says, “I just started writing down the things I was using.” That writing resulted in Mandy’s first book, New York Times bestseller Yogalosophy and her latest, Yogalosophy; 12 weeks to heal your heart and embrace joy. It is a workbook to guide readers through change and transition. Mandy says, “Yoga is not just about asana and the practice; it’s about bringing it into our full selves.” In her books, Mandy discusses the transformational potential found while moving the body in asana, and she also includes practices such as journaling, listening to inspirational and uplifting music, and choosing supportive and nourishing food. She shares her own journey in the pages, as she does when she teaches groups and individuals. Mandy says, “I’ve learned that sharing myself, my healing process, and my pain is helpful to people, and so I encourage others to share too.”

When asked about her non-negotiable practice, Mandy quickly mentions meditation. She reflects, “I can’t just isolate it to when I’m by myself, sitting in the perfect position, the incense is going, and the Guru Gita is on in the background. Everything in my life is a meditation. It’s like a muscle, it’s like going to the gym. When you go to the gym, you lift the weights everyday, you get stronger. It’s the same with sitting. Then that muscle becomes stronger and stronger, and then everything we do—even in this moment—there’s a meditation occurring. This is the integration of the practice that truly allows us to heal our heart. In every moment, even this moment.”

Learn more about Mandy and Yogalosophy at: mandyingber.com (Instagram @MandyIngber Twitter @msmandyingber)

Jeff Skeirik is a Los Angeles-based photographer: rawtographer.com

Hair and makeup by Jeannie Jeffries using Kevin Aucoin Cosmetics and Schwarzkopf Professional Hair: jeanniejeffries.com 

Amy V Dewhurst

To Check Out Amy’s Work Go To; Sense + Color, You Can Reach Her At IG:  Amy_V_Dewhurst  + AmyVDewhurst@SenseAndColor.co #PutYourGoodWhereItWillDoTheMost

www.senseandcolor.co

The post Teacher Profile: Mandy Ingber appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Its 9:30am on a Wednesday morning as I make my way into the class of a yoga teacher who aficionados say can transform outlooks and, more profoundly, lives.

As I enter Aura Yoga Studio in West Hollywood, I can feel the pulse and the heart in the room. As I enter the space, my ears are welcomed by, “I Wanna Sex You Up” by Color Me Badd, setting the tone with the musical stylings of 90s pop. I chatted with other students as we waited for class to begin.

Here are a few things I heard:

Tino DeMartino said, “Some teachers tell you what you want to hear, Aree tells you what you need to hear.”

Allan Fanucchi affirmed, “Aree gives students no choice but to confront their ability to achieve greatness and work hard.”

Janet Crown’s testimonial offered a glimpse into the transformational: “I am not a yogi. I am impatient. I like to run and move fast. Less than 24 months ago, I thought yoga was a slow, boring, painful stretching class for people who didn’t really like to work out. And then I took Aree’s class. In 60 minutes, Aree obliterated every preconceived notion that I ever had about yoga. She offered an experience beyond the normal or physical level. Her classes have changed my body and my perspective.”

Then, Aree Khodai herself walked in, the leader of Aree’s Army, a transformative nouveau practice of yoga, which begins with the core fundamentals of yoga, then adds a twist (on both sides).
Like many of her students who take to the mat to find solace and themselves, more than a decade ago Aree found refuge in yoga at a time when she was unhappy in a corporate job, unable to quit, and weighed down from a chip on her shoulder. “Yoga was my safe haven.” Formerly a finance executive, Aree went through a time when she loved her career, “I was the first person in the office and the last person to leave.” But Aree hit a point when, “I lost who I was. Through the practice of yoga I was able to find my true authentic self again,” Practicing yoga every chance she could, she realized what made her most grounded and connected was her practice. While still in her career, she began teacher training to take her practice to the next level, and began looking at all areas of her life differently. She reached the conclusion that it was time to take a leap and pursue her passion. Yoga.

Along the way, Aree acknowledges important mentors. Jason Winn (who is no longer with us) was her first teacher in Laguna Beach. “He instilled so much in me when I was a student, and then later as a teacher. He was a voice in my practice. One that still very much lives in my voice and spirit.” Kumudini was another important mentor encouraged and empowered her to teach when she didn’t think she could. Aree says, “Her positivity and magnetism are truly powerful.”

When Aree talks about David Ezekiel, she laughingly refers to him as her yoga husband. “He continues to make me realize to practice what I preach and not to be complacent. He reminds me to always live a life without fear or doubt.” She continues, “He challenged me to have a sense of balance between my personal life and professional life. I was the type of person that had a hard time finding that balance and partly it was because I was not being authentic to myself.”

In her quest to find balance, Aree regularly joined people lining up mat to mat for Vinnie Marino at YogaWorks. “I would drive from Orange County during rush hour traffic to take his class in Santa Monica.” She admires Vinnie and names him as one of her mentors. “His focus on alignment, technique, and presence are magical to me, and I appreciate his musicality and sequencing.”

Music plays an integral role in how this vibrant teacher leads the charge for her army. She refers to the movements and transitions from pose to pose in yoga and cites how music plays a complementary role of telling a story to increase immersion in the experience and that just the right song becomes a motivator to stay focused in the pose. “I love looking over at a student who is in a pose and they begin to sing or dance while in class. I just live for it.”

Aree finds her musical inspiration in all facets of life and creates her playlists through numerous avenues. Her musical selection is then put to work to support a themed class, a specific mood, the students, or the environment, and sometimes she’s just plan spontaneous. “I could be sitting in my car from class to class, and I listen and search for music as my inspiration.” Music is her therapy and yoga is her outlet. “My musical range stems from me loving all types of music. I can mix in some hip hop, soul, funk, and transition into electronica, and finish with love songs.”

The playlist works for the students; Aree relates to people whose journey mirrors her own. People looking for inspiration who are ready to dance. People who are looking for empowerment and the transformation that they may not even realize they are seeking. Aree sees herself as being a bridge between the conventional and unconventional.

Just as yoga helped Aree find happiness, she holds the intention while part of her teaching to help her students find happiness and success on and off the mat. She cares about how people handle their personal challenges and integrates these ideas in her intentions, themes, and creative sequencing. Aree maintains her inspiration with gratitude, particularly for the commitment, willingness to change, demonstrated accomplishments, and emotional vulnerability that her students bring to class. I understand what her students shared with me before class.

Everyone with an open mind, an open heart, and a willingness to work on their optimal self is welcome to enlist in  #AreesArmy. Aree Khodai currently teaches at Hot 8 in Beverly Hills, Aura Yoga in West Hollywood, and the Soho House, Worldwide. Find Aree and her Army at: www.areesarmy.com
Facebook: Aree Khodai
Instagram:  @revolutionaree
Twitter: @areesarmy

Nir Livni is a Los Angeles-based yoga and portrait photographer with more than a decade of experience in photo and video. Currently, Nir works with prominent yoga teachers from around the world: bigcameraman.info.
Instagram: @bigcameraman

Mito Aviles

Mito Aviles is a seasoned designer based in West Hollywood with over a decade of design/styling experience. He considers himself an artistic entrepreneur lending his talents to different publications. Instagram: @mistertreat 

The post YOGA TEACHER PROFILE: AREE KHODAI appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

They journeyed to the top of the world and found freedom of the heart.

“The journey taken in The Highest Pass was really the metaphor for living the life we want to live every moment.” –Anand Mehotra

Yogi and teacher Anand Mehotra had traveled the world but had not yet stood at the peaks of the Himalayas, as seen from the hills outside his hometown of Rishikesh, India. That all changed with a trip—by motorcycle—to cross the world’s highest pass, the road to Ladakh.

“I have always been a seeker of radical aliveness,” says Anand. For Anand, the journey to traverse the highest pass was about the quest to feel fully alive, a journey that became particularly meaningful when a reading of his astrology chart predicted he would perish in an accident in his late 20s. But the possibility of death couldn’t drown out the voice calling to him from deep within the Himalayas. Anand decided to combine his love for motorcycles with his passion for adventure. A conversation with his student Adam Schomer transformed what could have been a simple road trip into an adventure with a group of bikers that included a  film crew. Those gathered along the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh to pray before making the trek would find their lives changed forever.

Opening in theaters on April 27, The Highest Pass documents this band of  adventurers on an epic motorcycle journey across 2,000 kilometers of demanding terrain.  The film is part spiritual quest, part reality show, and part travelogue with cinematic views of the peaks and people, as Anand says, “The journey is an adventure, but at the same time an adventure of the mind.”

While on the road, the group faced challenging moments including unpredictable traffic along windy inclines, snow and ice, drastic changes in altitude, and unnerving cliff edges as they climbed to a height of 18,000 feet. Although they embarked on the trip in June over a road usually open from May through September, they were just behind the snowplows due to an unseasonably heavy snowpack. Every day, they faced danger as they came up against the extremes of physical and mental obstacles, testing their teamwork as well as their support systems and vehicles.

They also confronted what Adam described as own fears of feeling foolish and worries about dying on the trip. There was a moment, Adam said, “when there was no other place to go than inward to challenge the self and take a leap beyond one’s own limits. In those moments, the most important task was to react with more courage and love so that amidst a challenge you can look at yourself and take a leap beyond the fear.” These are some of the principles and perspectives inherent in the Yoga tradition taught by Anand to help them see the road and to help them experience freedom rather than conflict.  “The longing deepest in the human soul is that of freedom,” Anand says; the greatest obstacles to freedom are the conflicts within the mind itself.

The challenges the riders face in the film parallel the circumstances that life lays at our feet in every moment: with no experience to draw from, we often have to make decisions that depend upon our complete focus and one-pointed trust. The rider’s journey is an inspiration to say yes to opportunities that call for risk taking within the context of our own lives, to say yes to radical change. “The thing which inspired me the most was inner alchemy and human potential,” says Anand.

The most rewarding transformation for Adam was faith. He began to understand experientially that faith is the opposite of fear and that you can’t have the two in the same bucket. Either you have faith and trust or feel threatened and overcome by fear. It doesn’t have to take a motorcycle ride through the highest peaks of the Himalayas for anyone to start growing the willingness to take a radical risk for change.

Another measure of courage was delivered by the land, beautifully filmed by the cameras: breathtaking images of roads not traveled by many beside isolated mountain lakes, secluded monasteries, and the vast valleys between.  Riding a motorcycle means there is no barrier between rider and the immensity of nature. “When you’re riding, you’re at one,” says Anand. “The highest travelable road is the world within us.”

LA  YOGA regular Michael Mollura composed the stirring film score which was performed by LA-based musicians MoMo Loudiyi, Dahveed Haribol Das, Marty Lieberman, Annmarie Solo, Violeta Villacorta, and Eddie Young along with vocals by Yes lead singer Jon Anderson.

Connect with Anand Mehotra via a weekly meditation satsang in Santa Monica as well as Yoga teacher training, warriors of wisdom programs, and retreats in Rishikesh, India at the Sattva Yoga Center. For more information, visit: Mysattvayoga.com.

The Highest Pass Premiere

See the film in theaters in the Los Angeles region (Santa Monica and Pasadena). To view the trailer and check out more information about the film, visit: thehighestpass.com. Come to the LA YOGA screening in Santa Monica Sunday afternoon, April 29, and share the experience with the Yoga community.

The film will be showing at the Laemmle theatres in Santa Monica on 2^nd street. Following the premiere is a Q&A with filmmakers including writer and producer Adam Schomer and director Jon Fitzgerald.

27 April ; $8

Laemmle’s Monica 4-plex theatre; 1332 2^nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Laemmle.com, thehighestpass.com

Selah Michele is an active part of the LA YOGA team who thinks about safety while riding her bike around LA, an adventure experience in itself.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post The Highest Pass appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Those are the moments to exclaim ‘Wahe Guru!’ and use the breath to powerfully change your experience. Wahe Guru is an exclamation in the Gurmukhi language of complete ecstatic awe of the Divine. Simply saying this mantra will reset your vibration and get you on your way to finding calm.

Your breath is a powerful energy within your body. It is the carrier of prana, your life-force. We utilize prana throughout our day in everything we do: physical activity, communicating with others, even in feeling emotions. Negative thoughts and worry use up our reserve of prana, which compounds the effects of stress, leaving us feeling more depleted.

When feeling stressed, tired or confused, take a moment to assess the breathing by placing one hand on your navel and observing the movement of the breath. Sit up in a comfortable position with your back straight and legs crossed in front of you, if you are on the floor or with your feet firmly planted on the ground if you are sitting on a chair. Then begin to steer yourself to a calm breath with the following technique: inhale fully so your belly, ribs and chest expand as you breathe in, then exhale completely and feel your navel contract towards your spine. Begin to slow each segment of the breath so it is long and deep, then gently settle into the ease and flow of energy circulating throughout the body.

Once you’ve calmed your breath you are seconds away from regaining peace. In Kundalini Yoga the breath is used as a powerful tool for transformation. Just as we have a multitude of emotions, Kundalini Yoga, as taught by Yogi Bhajan, offers a multitude of options for dealing with those mental states. Here are two simple and effective tools to experiment with:

1)To cool and calm- Sitali Pranayam: this is a calming and physically cooling breath that can help you stay alert. It is helpful for lowering fevers and aiding with digestion. It is a great breath to use during the hot summer months to prevent the body from overheating.

Practice Sitali Pranayam:

• Close the eyes and focus them at the point between the eyebrows.
• Curl the tongue into a U shape, like a taco being fed into your mouth (pictured, above). If you cannot curl the tongue, simply stick it out.
• Inhale deeply through the curled tongue.
• Exhale fully through the nose.
• Continue breathing this way for three minutes.

Allow the stillness to settle inside of you. If the tongue tastes bitter at first, it is simply a sign of detoxification and will pass.

2) To give you energy – Breath of Fire: this is an energizing and detoxifying breath used commonly in Kundalini Yoga. Breath of Fire’s benefits include: strengthening and balancing the nervous system to resist the negative effects of stress, expanding lung capacity and increasing vitality, reducing addictive impulses for smoking, drugs and junk food, and boosting the immune system. It is a rapid, rhythmic breath through the nose that is powered by the navel center. Children under 13 years of age, pregnant women or women on the first three days of their menstrual cycle should not do Breath of Fire. Anyone with chronic or serious medical problems or health concerns should speak with a teacher and consult their medical doctor before beginning this breath.

Practice Breath of Fire:

• Place one hand on your belly as you close your eyes and focus them at the point between the eyebrows.
• Open your mouth and begin panting like a tired dog, noticing how your belly contracts as you exhale and expands as you inhale.
• Once aware of the coordination between your breath and your navel close your mouth and continue that rhythmic breath through just your nostrils.
• Continue the breath and if any parts of your body feel tense, consciously relax them.
• Continue this breath for one minute and as you practice increase to three minutes.

You may feel dizzy or lightheaded at first as your body is taking in more oxygen than it is used to and resetting your nerves. If you do, pause and come back to the breath when you are ready. The point is not to hyperventilate but to bring balance to the body with an even inhale and exhale.

Test out these practices in your life. By simply tuning into your breathing at any given moment, you will increase awareness of your current state and empower yourself by changing the way your body feels. Once you’ve changed your breath and physical body, changes in your mental state are automatic…and that is worth one big exclamation of Wahe Guru!

Sussy Castilla

Sussy Castilla has experienced profound transformation and healing through Kundalini Yoga. She currently teaches Kundalini Yoga throughout Los Angeles.

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