Thank you to everyone who sent in their questions on Instagram, Facebook, email and in-person — The influx of new followers has been great and I am happy to answer any questions.
I plan to keep this up each month in an attempt to be a better blogger! Make sure to follow my personal account on Instagram @yogitrainer and also my business account @subala843 If Facebook is more your scene, I’m at www.facebook.com/subala843 I’d say you could subscribe to my emails but we all know I don’t send very many of them.. You can ask questions on any of those social media platforms!
I'd also like to encourage you to check out my Pinterest Page for any inspiration you didn't know you needed
First 5 Questions
Q1: How do you manage to not burn out, you are so busy!
I have no idea! I am still learning, the hard way in fact.
Many people will tell you I am goal oriented and driven. “Set a goal and attain it, on to the next one” is pretty much how my 20s went. I feel like to some degree, this is the drive required to start sometime new.
“Ignorance on fire outworks knowledge on ice” - this was told to me a few years ago when starting Subala. I had no idea what I was doing, I just know human anatomy and yoga, so that what I did. I still don’t know web design, I can’t follow a schedule for blogging or email distributions but.. I show up. I stretch people, breathe them and make them feel welcome with community. The people will always come and be there if YOU are good and your product is solid. My product is myself. The extras are fluff and I had to remind myself that. The emails can wait, the perfect website doesn’t exist and they want to see ME. Not a sick me, or a run down me.
Moments for breaks and self care are essential. From getting enough rest, to staying curious and brushing up on new sequences, styles and teachers. I have tried to focus more of my spare time on “Me Time” reading, journaling, listing to podcasts, etc.
Q2: What can I do about overwhelming sadness, maybe depression but I don’t want to go to the doctor..?
Well, to start, you aren’t alone. There are so many people that feel this same way and they don’t know what to do either. With the way the world is and has been, it’s no wonder we’re carrying around a heaviness, but it’s not even ours. If you think your stressors and sadness are coming from the worldly perspective - you aren’t going to like this but I’m going to say SHUT IT OFF. Hype media, social media, news outlets - they’re addictive. They light up the same parts of the brain that we see when mice get their hit of sugar in addictive and behavior studies. The shot of adrenaline taxes your system into thinking you are being threatened in reality, but you are sitting at home in a safe place. You don’t need the spiked heart rate, breathing rate, hormones, etc.
If your sadness is internal, I have always been a big fan of sitting with your sadness, in stillness, to really dive into the why. I read something eons ago.. it went something like, “If you can’t sit by yourself, alone, in a room, with no distractions.. no tv, phone, book, magazine, not even a window, how could you expect someone else to sit with you and tolerate what you can’t?”
Depression is crippling at best and it’s usually perpetuated by procrastination. Another great tip or trick is to get outside and get moving. Go to the yoga class, take the dog on a walk or just walk the neighborhood alone. There is incredible data on what the sun, fresh air and an increased heart rate can do to the feel good hormones (endorphins). If productivity can’t be physical right now, make a prioritized list of 3-5 things and start working on them. As you complete them, cross them off. The sense of accomplishment will be motivating and you then can ride that wave of positivity into the next day.
Lastly, although now I think it should have been first, get up at the same time every day. Give yourself 20 minutes of stretching or light, non-descript movement and get into the shower. Wash everything. Douse yourself in your moisturizer of choice, maybe one that smells good. Put on new clean clothes and makeup if you typically wear it. Look good, feel good is the motto here. If you look like a slug with bed hair, you aren’t going to be motivated for that walk or anything outside of the house - so - giddy up! The day awaits!
Q3: How much water should I drink in a day?
This is dependent on a few things, mostly on the individuals activities of daily living. At minimum, I always liked the suggestion of half of your body weight in ounces. If you weigh 140 pounds, then at the very least, you need to drink 70 ounces of water a day. Then, I would increase this by about 12-16 ounces per half hour of physical activity - more if you are a profuse sweater or it’s hot outside.
To add, the body is primarily water and hydration is key to our vitality, anti-aging efforts and even weight loss. A underplayed necessary are the electrolytes. In short, there’s a little electrical system in your body. It’s how the Central Nervous System communicates to your extremities and also how the heart knows when to beat in a good rhythm. Without electrolytes, we’re not going to perform optimally. You can supplement with these or, I spray this on my feet and calves before bed after intense lower body days and it’s absorbed through the skin. It’s also great for those with Restless Leg Syndrome.
Q4: What kind of yoga do you teach?
I have no idea.
My yoga training is in ashtanga, vinyasa and iyengar. I have take various weekend courses on yin, meditation and yoga therapy. My bachelor’s degree is summarized as anatomy and injury prevention.
All of that background to say - I think I teach more of an athletic flow, definitely anatomically based, where you will feel and learn what you are working and why. It’s not one breath, one movement and typically, my normal classes don’t make people sweat. They make people feel good, get more in touch with their bodies and get an hour of body attention.
On the strength of that, I feel confident teaching all types of yoga - I just prefer to slow down and break it down into terms the average person can take in.
I guess you’ll just have to come to my class to help me figure out a good definition of Subala Yoga.
Q5: What does Subala mean anyways? How did you find that? Is it Spanish?
I spent years stalling and procrastinating on opening my own business because I couldn’t decide on a name. I brainstormed Chris-Sea Fit, LGBG for “Look Good, Feel Good”, C-Fit, and many more. I decided that you can tell a lot from a name so I focused on my offerings and my skills. Stretch, strengthen, beauty, movement, body, anatomy, grace, attention - these are all things that I believe I bring to my clients and I needed to come up with a way to describe, show and feel that.
Years ago I did the The Desire Map and I really appreciated Danielle’s way of brainstorming words so that’s exactly what I did. I then decided that there wasn’t an English word that summarized what I was trying to portray, so, I went to another language: Sanskrit. I started my research and landed on Subala, which means beauty and strength. Truth be told, Subala is a warrior from The Upanishads. I do believe that graceful body movements are beautiful, just like in yoga and dance. In Spanish, Su bala means something like we dance, so I am good with that too!
That’s all for today.
As always, my heart hugs your heart, chrissie
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