Monthly Archives: January 2010

Featured Teacher – Evaa Whitley

  By admin | January 1, 2010 - 3:11 pm | Evaa Whitley
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What inspires you to teach yoga? After over 20 years of practicing yoga regularly and it being a great passion of mine, I knew I wanted to teach at some point to share my passion and love of yoga with others. And it flowed beautifully to teach after Stephanie started having me sub her classes and students starting asking me if I taught regularly. Teaching for me is a creative art piece, adding in some playfulness, learning, and sometimes adding essential oils during svasana. And I enjoy creating music mixes, being a DJ also. Basically teaching yoga is fun.

What is your current favorite pose? The first pose that pops into my consciousness is Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One Leg King Pigeon Pose). It was such an unfolding over years and joyful memories of different friends helping me with it. One of my strengths and joys in yoga are backbends. They just feel so good and are healing on lots of dimensions.

What is your teaching history? I started teaching friends in my home about 6 years ago. And I do a lot of Thai massage on clients and teach little sets to my clients tailoring them to their needs. And as I mentioned before, teaching at AYC was just a flow that happened, which I started a number of years ago. I also have taught Thai massage classes at my home and at a massage school. And I have been teaching Open Heart Meditation for 3 years.

What is a favorite inspirational quote? One I have been saying lately, reminding myself and others when it arises to share is “You can’t stop things from happening and you can’t make things happen” Basically all of this is in the Creators hands.

Where and when do you teach? I teach basically every other Friday at 10:30-12:00, Ashtanga series 1, 2 or 3, or a mix of them. Stephanie teaches the other ones. I also sub for Stephanie sometimes, Monday Ashtanga at 2 pm and Tuesday night flow at 6:45pm

The quick list

Birthdate: August 11, 1964

Residence: West Asheville

Family: 17 year old son, Ian and two cats and a dog. my mom and lots of beautiful friends including my best friend and her family.

How long have you been practicing Yoga? I started about 23 years ago and started practicing on a regular basis, meaning 4-6 days a week a hour and a half or longer, about 14 years ago. Flow and Ashtanga mainly, and kundalini I also love, just started back including it in my week.

Most Challenging Pose: Eagle arms and legs, because I have short arms and legs and can throw my sacrum out.

Three words that best describe you: smiley, an instrument and compassionate.

What’s in your cd player? Van Morrison

What are you reading now? My prayers

Favorite Scent: I am an aromatherapist too, so my favorite scent is always changing. Now I would say cedarwood.

Toothpaste: healthy kind, always changing

Soap: I make my own with essential oils, always changing it up.

Favorite Meal: Raw foods, recently lasagna

Last movie you watched: “You Got mail”, it was on TV

What is your favorite word? For the feeling: True Source. For the sound: mmmmmmmm

What is your least favorite word? Hate

What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? follow the leader and sheepness, blindly

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? following your heart and sharing the love with all. And being happy!

For a complete list of teachers and classes at The Asheville Yoga Center click here.

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Side Plank Pose

  By admin | January 1, 2010 - 3:57 am | Arm Balances, Core, Poses
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Vasisthasana

A challenging pose for the beginner, but a great pose to work on your core strength, particularly your oblique muscles.

Vasistha = literally means “most excellent, best, richest.” Vasistha is also the name of several well-known sages in the yoga tradition.

To start this pose, warm up with a couple of sun salutes to make sure your muscles are ready for the challenge. Then start in a regular plank. As you prepare to balance on one arm, take care to firm your core by reaching out strongly through your feet, firing up the inner and outer leg muscles. Mula bhanda and Uddiyana bhanda are also so valuable here, as they provide the steadiness necessary to stay up.

To check your form, look and see if the heel of your hand is directly below your shoulder joint. Think about how you stack the bones up so that you can use both your muscular and bone strength to do this pose. After you’ve energized your legs, firmed your core and checked your alignment, reach out with your top arm and send energy up to the sky.

If you are flexible and experienced, you can try the pose pictured above. Think about sending energy out in four directions – down into the earth, up to the sky with your arms, and out through your head and down through your feet. If you feel wobbly, try it with one foot in front or behind you planted on the floor. Do it this way until it feels solid to you, then play with the balance challenge.

The author, Anna Ferguson, is a yoga teacher, artist, photographer and writer. She teaches weekly classes at Asheville Yoga Center and other studios in Asheville, NC. Find out more about her at ushasyoga.com.

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