Yoga Tattuesday: Om Namah Shivaya

For this Yoga Tattuesday, I bring to you the tattoo of Sarah Kohl of Columbia, Missouri:  Here’s a neat photo of Sarah and her ink:

And here’s a full photo of her tattoo, which appears on the inside of her left forearm:

Sarah’s tattoo reads: “Om Namah Shivaya”, which is a mantra you’ve probably heard in yoga class. Here’s why Sarah said she was drawn to this particular mantra:

Om Namah Shivaya has been my mantra for quite some time.  The sound of all 7 chakras in alignment giving us courage to honor all that we are capable of becoming is such a beautiful thing – it speaks to my soul!  I knew that I wanted it on my body for the rest of my life.  I chose to put it on the inside of my forearm so that I see it when I reach for something.  It reminds me to make good choices.  It reminds me to reach out to others.  It reminds me to reach for what I believe, to grab life with gusto, to be all that I am capable of being.  I see it when my heart is leading my head in arm balances and inversions, when I’m destroying obstacles in Virabhadrasana 2, and other asanas, but I always see it when I’m finding myself being totally present on and off the mat.

Sarah currently lives in Colombia, Missouri, where she is a yoga teacher and manager of Yoga Sol.  She also writes a yoga blog called Sarahsana, which I love.  Sarah’s yoga story is also pretty awesome:

I’ve been doing yoga off and on for nearly half of my life.  I remember being a tiny little girl, 3 or so, and turning on PBS to watch Sesame Street. I almost always turned it on a little too early, so I watched the last few minutes of Lilias Yoga and was amazed.  I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I loved it and I wanted some of it.  It took me until I was about 19, however, to ever give it a go.  I had entered college and got caught up in the workout craze, but honestly, I wasn’t crazy about it.  I needed something that strengthened me from the inside out, that empowered me, that encouraged and enriched me, that built a spiritual skeleton, not just a muscular one.  At 19 years old, I started my yoga journey.  I found hope, peace, inspiration, healing, love, joy, courage, curiosity, spirit, connection, prana, breath, and life on the mat and haven’t looked back.  It’s been a 15 year love affair and I fall more deeply in love every day.

Thanks for sharing your tattoo with us, Sarah! And for sharing your beautiful yoga story!

If you, or someone you love, has a yoga-inspired tattoo and would like to share it with the whole wide world, please follow the instructions below:

How to participate:

1) Please email me photo of your tattoo: My email address is: yogabird03@gmail.com.

2) Along with the photo, please also include your name, where you’re from, what you do, etc. Be sure to include your blog, your website, etc. (if you have one), so that I can link to it in the post.

3) Please also include any information about how you started practicing yoga.

4) And most importantly, tell me why you chose your yoga-inspired tattoo!

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing your ink!

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Yoga Tattuesday: Episode 4

It’s that time again! For today’s edition of Yoga Tattuesday, I bring to you the story of Shannon Noe from Oakland, California, and her 70-year-old grandmother, Grace Darling, of Walnut Creek, California.  When Shannon contacted me and told me her story about the shared love of yoga between she and her grandmother, Grace, which they commemorated in a matching tattoos, I couldn’t wait to share it with you guys. Check out their tattoos:

It started with an idea that Shannon had to get a tattoo.  Shannon explains:

I had been wanting to get a tattoo for a long time, but didn’t know what to get.  So I decided to do some research.  I subscribed to a tattoo magazine, watched tattoo shows, looked at pictures online, and magazines at Barnes and Nobles or other book stores.  I figured out that I liked japanese style tattoos.  I was laying out at the beach in Tahoe and having a conversation about tattoos with my Grandma.  Neither one of us had any tattoos.  And I said, “we should get one together” and that’s just what we did.  She said she would pay for it for my birthday, but that she wanted us to get matching ones.  We had a quick discussion that we wanted it to be feminine, maybe a flower, maybe a lotus flower, and maybe an om symbol.  We chose that to symbolize our shared love of yoga.

Shannon’s grandmother encouraged her to start practicing yoga as a way to replace dance, which Shannon grew up doing. That was 9 years ago, and Shannon hasn’t looked back. She started practicing more seriously in the last few years and is about to embark on a yoga teacher training program. Grace has been teaching yoga since the 1960’s, and Shannon often takes Grace’s yoga classes. In fact, they recently attended an inversion workshop together, and went to the Wanderlust festival this summer together.  Shannon and Grace plan to attend the Wanderlust festival next year and hope to recruit more of their family members to attend with them.

Shannon adds, “My 70-year-old Grandma inspires me and every time I see my tattoo I think of her and the special bond we will always share.”

I love this story! Thank you to Grace and Shannon for sharing their beautiful artwork and for sharing their story.

If you, or someone you love, has a yoga-inspired tattoo that they would like to share on this here little yoga blog, let me know.

How to participate:

1) Please email me photo of your tattoo: My email address is: yogabird03@gmail.com.

2) Along with the photo, please also include your name, where you’re from, what you do, etc. Be sure to include your blog, your website, etc. (if you have one), so that I can link to it in the post.

3) Please also include any information about how you started practicing yoga.

4) And most importantly, tell me why you chose your yoga-inspired tattoo!

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing your ink!

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Yoga Tattuesday: U.S. Election Day Edition

For Yoga Tattuesday: U.S. Election Day Edition, I present to you neither a politician nor an American.  Instead, a Canadian yogi-slash-politica-researcher and inked-up mother of two named Stephanie Renaud.  Here’s Stephanie’s tattoo:

Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Renaud

As you can see, Stephanie’s tattoo is the “Om” symbol and it is located on her back over her heart chakra. While I have seen “Om” tattoos on many a yogi, I have never seen one quite like Stephanie’s.  Hers is drawn in green vines and accented with different flowers…how neat! She chose the symbol done in vines “because yoga is part of [her] roots.”   She explains, “It is what keeps me stable and strong in an unstable and crazy world.  The flowers are symbolic of things that have grown out of those roots, like my husband and children. I am planning to have a string of pearls woven through the vine to symbolize my grandmother who passed and the grand footprint that she left on my life.”

Stephanie is from Windsor, Ontario Canada, and came to yoga as many of us did – for its physical benefits – and found much more. Not only is she raising her two small children, but she works from home as a political researcher and teaches yoga to young children. Stephanie says, “I find so much strength and balance on my mat that I can carry into the world with me. As a working mom I often tell people I practice yoga because it makes me strong in my body, my mind and my heart.  Who couldn’t use a practice that does that?!”

In discussing this post for Yoga Tattuesday, I found Stephanie to be just as lovely as her tattoo. In addition to working, yoga-ing, teaching, and being a mom, Stephanie has a blog that she updates when she can called D”om”estic Bliss that you can read at: ompage-yogajunkie.blogspot.com. Thanks to Stephanie for sharing her story and her tattoo with us!

If you, or someone you love, has a yoga-inspired tattoo that they would like to share on this here little yoga blog, let me know.

How to participate:

1) Please email me photo of your tattoo: My email address is: yogabird03@gmail.com.

2) Along with the photo, please also include your name, where you’re from, what you do, etc. Be sure to include your blog, your website, etc., so that I can link to it in the post.

3) Please also include any information about how you started practicing yoga.

4) And most importantly, tell me why you chose your yoga-inspired tattoo!

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing your ink!”

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Yoga Tattuesday: Episode 2

Due to the overwhelming success of our inaugural Yoga Tattuesday post, featuring the lovely Angela McWilliams and her beautiful tattoo, we are on to episode 2!

This week, we are featuring just one of the tattoos found on Ashley Davis-Hedy, a yogi from Oklahoma who has been practicing yoga since 2003. Ashley’s tattoo story is very touching. She and her husband went together to get tattoos when he was home for R and R while serving a 15-month tour in Iraq.  Ashley chose the lotus flower because she had started to really grow and develop as a yogi. She had recently started a yoga teacher training program and her personal practice was blossoming.  She chose the root chakra above the flower to help keep her grounded and calm while her husband was away fighting in the Iraq war.

Ashley came to yoga to heal from a traumatic experience.  She found a local yoga class at the YMCA and fell in love with it.  Ashley is a registered yoga teacher who sells radio by day, but teaches yoga on the Fort Sill Army Base and will start teaching a community class at a local tattoo studio in November. In August of 2010 she started a 300-hour training program with Cora Wen through the MyCAA program. No doubt she is providing the same relief and healing to others in her teaching that she has experienced in her own practice.

On another note, Ashley’s husband has since returned from Iraq safe and sound. Thanks to Ashley for her service in sharing yoga with the military community.  And thanks to her husband for his service to our country.

In addition to her day job, and teaching yoga, Ashley has a yoga-inspired blog that you can read at: keepcalmyoga.com.  You can also find her on twitter @ashdyogi. Thanks for sharing your story, Ashley!

If you, or someone you love, has a yoga-inspired tattoo that they would like to share on this here little yoga blog, let me know.  

How to participate:

1) Please email me photo of your tattoo: My email address is: yogabird03@gmail.com.

2) Along with the photo, please also include your name, where you’re from, what you do, etc. Be sure to include your blog, your website, etc., so that I can link to it in the post.

3) Please also include any information about how you started practicing yoga.

4) And most importantly, tell me why you chose your yoga-inspired tattoo!

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing your ink!

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Yoga Tattuesday!

Ladies and gents, it is time for our very first post in a weekly series we’re going to call Yoga Tattuesday (or, Yoga Tattoosday, whichever you prefer). Our first submission is courtesy of Angela McWilliams, a delightful yogini from Asheville, North Carolina. Angela is one of my cyber-yogi friends who I met on Twitter, and she is so full of light and positivity! Here’s her beautiful tattoo:

photo courtesy of Angela McWilliams

It is the blessing “Lokha Samistha Sukhino Bhavantu” in sanskrit. I have heard this blessing translated in a few different ways, but most frequently as: “May all beings be happy and free.” It is a blessing which essentially reminds us to act, think and speak in ways which contribute to the happiness and freedom of others. 

Angela says that, for her it serves that very purpose. She says, “It’s on my forearm, where I can always see it before I, for example, eat a hamburger. <sigh> I feel so bad about eating meat.  And I love it when people who can read Sanskrit recognize what it says and asks about why I felt led to have that particular tattoo.”

Angela owns a company called Inner Space Yoga in Asheville, North Carolina, which specializes in making yoga props, especially bolsters, eye bags, and zafus. She loves fabric, and she considers herself one lucky yogini to be able to combine her love of fabrics with her love of yoga. Check her out. Her goods come highly recommended…and how could you pass them up?  They’re made by arms with inscribed with a beautiful blessing!

If you, or someone you love, has a yoga-inspired tattoo that they would like to share on this here little yoga blog, let me know.  Please email me a photo of your tattoo, along with your story (i.e., who you are, why you were inspired to get your yoga-inspired tattoo, etc.) to:  yogabird03@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing your ink!

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