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  • Shanna Small
    • Contact Shanna Small
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  • Study
    • Sacred Vitality Online Yoga Studio
    • Harmony and Clarity
    • Privates
  • Refund Policy
  • ahimsa,  Justice,  Privilege,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    The New Spiritual Slavery

    January 25, 2020 /

    “We are all one”. “There is no you”. “That is just your ego”. “That is just their/your pain speaking.” All these sayings have become the opiate of the spiritual masses. The new religion. A new way of getting people to shut up and allow injustice. They are being used in the same way plantation owners used Jesus to placate slaves. It is being used in the same way that missionaries used God to sooth Africans as they stole their land and their children. I am not saying these aphorisms are not true. I am saying they are being used to pacify the unrest that people feel deep in their bones.…

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    Shanna Small
  • ableism,  Diversity,  Jesus,  Justice,  Privilege,  Uncategorized,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    Forgiveness + Responsibility

    October 12, 2019 /

    You can forgive someone and hold them responsible. You can love someone and seek justice for that person’s abhorrent actions. People often use Jesus as an example of forgiveness. Well, there is the “turn the other cheek” Jesus and there is also the revolutionary Jesus. The Jesus that spoke up against a corrupt system and was hated and eventually killed for it. The Jesus that went into a temple with a whip, made by his own hands, turning over tables and kicking out charlatans. This Jesus spent his time with people that normal society had cast aside. If you agreed to change your actions, he would heal you. If you…

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    Shanna Small
  • Diversity,  Guru,  Privilege,  Social Media,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    With Me or Against Me

    July 3, 2019 /

    People are asking, “Why is there a culture of silence in Yoga?” Something that often makes people go silent is “all or nothing” and “with me or against me” thinking. It is the idea that everything is black or white and you have to choose a side. If folks don’t want to choose a side, they will often just go silent. When the person speaks up, they get crucified by both sides for not choosing. This results in shutting down the conversation and shutting down the person. You can hate someone’s choices around a particular event but totally still love and respect everything else about them. You can love your…

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    Shanna Small

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    Taking Away Attention, Taking Away Power

    November 30, 2019
  • ableism,  Ashtanga Adaptability,  Diversity,  Privilege,  Social Media,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Uncategorized,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    My Answer To Kino: Would You Still Love Me If I Don’t Handstand Anymore?

    May 21, 2019 /

    Kino posted an article today, “Would You Still Love Me If I Don’t Handstand Anymore?” My answer is “yes” because I do not choose teachers based on the poses they can do. Even though the yoga world at large has not followed suit, I outgrew that years ago. If someone believes that achievement in physical asana constitutes dedication to practice or greater knowledge of yoga, they either don’t really practice that much or they change studios, styles of yoga or teachers too often. It only takes a few years of hanging around in the same yoga rooms with the same students and the same teachers to see that this is…

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    Shanna Small
  • Adventures in Mysore India,  Diversity,  Social Media,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    It Is So Much Easier To Tell You To Change

    April 20, 2019 /

    It is so much easier to tell someone else or an organization to change than to actually change ourselves. How many times have you made a statement that Ashtanga, the government, your job, your yoga studio should change but you cannot even clean out your closets without having a meltdown? For most people, switching careers, cities, boyfriends or hairstyles is a harrowing ordeal, but your democracy, that should change overnight. Not only should everyone change but they should do it smoothly and quickly without disrupting YOUR life. Hmm…how realistic is that? I have been yearning for change in my own life and I have made no steps in any direction.…

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    Shanna Small

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    Different Yoga Styles: You Got It All Wrong

    March 23, 2016

    Why Practicing with Saraswathi Jois Is So Awesome

    May 7, 2018

    March 24 Sharath Mysore Conference Notes

    April 29, 2014
  • Uncategorized,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    Yogini’s Path To Motherhood

    April 10, 2019 /

    Guest Post by Liat Pakes As of today, I have been practicing one year of motherhood. I never thought that this role would suit me or that I would find in it such contentment. We are a wandering family and currently we are living in Andalucía Spain. I would love to say that “I am a wandering yoga teacher” but honestly I am mainly a “wandering mother”. Here and there I teach but for the most part I am my own teacher. I am learning to let go of the “Yoga teacher” image and accept that my physical practice has changed. Today I practice Asanas 3-4 times a week for…

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    Liat Pakes

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    On the ish List: Yoga Body and the Ashtanga Teacher Training Program

    December 29, 2015

    Yoga Sutras For Modern Day Life: Staying Focused During Yoga

    March 24, 2016

    Yoga For When the Pain Speaks

    February 24, 2016
  • Adventures in Mysore India,  Alignment and Injuries,  Diversity,  History,  Ladies Holday,  Social Media,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    What You Don’t Know, Makes You Dangerous

    March 9, 2019 /

    Before you make that statement on social media, before you write that blog post, stop. Ask yourself, do you have all the information? Do you understand the subject outside of your own cultural biases? Are you listening to only one side? Every day, I gain more of an understanding of why some teachers and Patanjali tell us to pick a method and stick with it. Reason 1-so we don’t dig shallow wells. Reason 2-so we don’t get confused. Yoga is not one long unfractured story where the facts perfectly follow one after the other. That is like saying that American history is White history and just following the line of…

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    Shanna Small

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    Paining

    May 12, 2014

    Teaching Ashtanga and the Benefit of Doubt

    June 20, 2018

    Tips For Ashtangis Without Regular Teachers

    February 20, 2014
  • Adventures in Mysore India,  Alignment and Injuries,  Ask the AYP,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    Yoga Will Not Keep Bad Things From Happening

    January 21, 2019 /

    Yoga is not an inoculation against bad things. It is the science of learning how to deal with bad things when they happen. If you are lucky, you start to view “bad” things as just events and you don’t label them at all. On my last post, someone commented and asked, “how can you hurt yourself when you are practicing Ahimsa?” Easy. Most people don’t wake up in the morning and say. “I feel like hurting myself today. I really want to get in a car accident, maybe get a cold, catch my husband in bed with his co-worker, rip my hamstring, and have to bail my son out of…

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    Shanna Small

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    Fidgeting on the Mat: Ill Fitting Yoga Clothes or Road to Enlightenment?

    April 14, 2017

    Sharath: Love the Good and the Bad Parts Of Your Practice

    January 27, 2014

    Just an Average Girl: The Gift of Ashtanga, Authorization and Illness

    September 12, 2016
  • Adventures in Mysore India,  Alignment and Injuries,  Ashtanga Adaptability,  Guru,  Interviews,  Saraswathi,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Uncategorized,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    Random Ashtanga Stuff That Has Been Driving Me Up The Wall

    December 7, 2018 /

    Ashtanga stuff that has been pushing my buttons.

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    Shanna Small

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    Unfollow the Leader

    March 1, 2018

    Strength and Grace: 10 Quotes From Female Greats of Ashtanga Yoga

    March 14, 2016

    Yoga Sutras For Modern Life: What is Good and Evil To a Yogi?

    December 5, 2016
  • Alignment and Injuries,  Ashtanga Adaptability,  Ashtanga Quotes,  Teaching Ashtanga,  Yoga Philosophy,  Yoga Sutras

    Yoga Practice in Good and Bad Times

    September 25, 2018 /

    “Your toothache is impermanent, but your non-toothache is also impermanent. With that insight, you look at birth, death, old-age, ups and downs, suffering, and happiness with the eyes of a sage, and you don’t suffer anymore. You smile, no longer afraid.” – Thich Nhat Hanh The Sutras does not say that, “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of life.” It says that “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. ”  The world turns, burns, rises and falls. Teachers come and go, hamstrings tear and heal. In yogic terms, the gunas will keep interacting with prakriti and, while I play in this world,  I can’t stop it.…

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    Shanna Small

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    Ashtangis Are Human Too

    March 10, 2014

    Pose of the Week: Prasarita Padottanasana

    January 12, 2015

    Pose of the Week: Kapotasana

    January 24, 2016
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