Family Yoga

Matt and I slipped away to Asheville this weekend to celebrate with my siblings and parents the upcoming birth of my brother and wife's first baby. All siblings came without kids. We came without kids! What a difference this makes! For the first time in many years, we all were able to just be ourselves, take care of ourselves, be grown-ups, get into the essential nature of who we are besides being a parent. I offered my services as a yoga teacher to my family, not sure of who would want to partake, and what the response would be. Everyone came! The setting was divine! Our mats were placed on a lower deck with mountains and giant oaks surrounding us. The morning was perfect, sun with a few scattered clouds, a light and warm breeze, and of course, the birds were singing. We first centered our breath, and offered our love and support to the new baby growing within Becca. I then unfolded a practice to loosen the hips and create space in the low back. It was so much fun to see my family so eager and willing to practice the art of yoga! They were such good sports, and even did several partner poses and stretches. The responses were "I feel like I can run again!", and "My pain is significantly less, for the first time in 3 weeks". "If you moved to Asheville, you could teach classes on my deck, and people would come!!" It felt great to share my love of yoga with them, and I think for the first time, they caught a glimpse of another side to me, a side that is part of my essential nature, my yoga love.

Making time for yoga

Tonight, after playing baseball with the kids in the yard after dinner, I slipped away. Slipped away to my front porch for a cup of yoga. My body was feeling a little tense from the new change in life: working full time, and Matt being home. First, let me say Matt has been cooking up a storm lately, and last night, when I returned home from yoga class, inspired, but hungry, he had waiting for me a beautiful salad, with buttered bread slices and a big glass of wine! What a husband! He is so good to me. The boys have been great too, I think they are so interested in Matt they are tired of me. That is fine with me, for now. We are in the process of balancing the scale of parenting. So, I slipped away, and laid on my mat, and just listened. Mostly I felt tightness in my back, just above my lumbar curve. I did "dog" for a long time, or until my shoulders ached, and then I did a long child's pose, breathing deep into that place of pain in my back. I ended up doing a lot of core work again, more focused though on the alignment of my spine, and the breath moving freely up and down my spine. Just writing about the breath gives me heightened awareness of how important our breath is in our practice, and in life. Today as I left for another long day at the Alzheimer's home, I snapped at Matt.."I hate this white car!!" I am speaking of the car I am now forced to drive, a 1990 Oldsmobile that is a steel tank and major low-rider style. I can't believe I am saying that I miss my mini-van! Oh well. I am thankful that I have a car to drive, and that it is pretty reliable, even though the windshield wiper flew off while I was driving, and while it was raining! I could barely see! Life is crazy, but I am having fun, am thankful I can be my crazy self with Matt, and trying to SMILE...with STYLE, in my white shit PILE!

yoga inside looking out

Being in the outdoors and practicing yoga is a great experience. The birds seem to sing a tune to your beating heart, the wind blows just at the right time, and sometimes, if your lucky, the sun shines on your back, and not in your eyes, warming you with it's gentle kiss of heat. Today, as I stepped onto my mat layed out on the grass in college park, I began by meditating. First I closed my eyes, but then I opened them and noticed the twisting trunks of trees, wide landscapes of color from the river rocks in the stream. As I observed nature, many things occurred in a matter a few moments. 2 little birds starting argueing and wrestling with eachother in the trees...it was quite dramatic! 3 youngsters (in their teens) showed up and were hanging out, talking and laughing with eachother. 2 boys began to play basketball. This all within 15 -20 feet from me. I continued my practice, lunges, warrior, triangle, wide legged forward bend, and so on. As I breathed in the spring air, the energy from the teens, the bouncing ball and basket with the metal net, The birds, the wind, the spikey grass, I felt alive with a sense of purpose and presence. As I wrapped up my practice, rolled up my mat, I looked into the sky, gave thanks for another day to practice, to being alive and in the world, and the journey that is my life. Namaste.

9:15

9:15. That is when I set foot from my haven of sheets and pillow mattress that supports this body of mine. Pumped up by the sunshine, the feeling of inspiration and productivity on my hands, I set foot on my front porch and took in the sound of birds and wind chimes, sunlight filtering in through the leafed out trees. I brought my body into a challenging sequence of standing twists and arm balances. Ending with an attempt at revolved crane pose (an arm balance where you prop your legs on your arms and balance on your hands), I didn't quite make lift off, but allowed my body to feel it, experience the power of facing the unknown. The unknown of if my face would crash into the concrete deck of the porch. Facing the unknown of how I will handle a 40 hour work week. Facing the unknown of a new job in the next 2 weeks. As I breathed in the crisp air, I heard the chimes singing to me, their rhythm also unknown, but only carried by the whim of the wind, and what comes out is unplanned, natural, and beats to the ever changing face of Mother Nature.

where is the time going?

I set out to document daily the effect yoga has on my life. I am falling short on the daily part, and mostly I feel it is a time issue. Baseball is in full swing, Matt still gone all week, and me working and managing the kids. Soon Matt will be home, I'll be working full time, and he'll start school May 10. Big changes ahead. At least with him home, I'll have my partner in craziness back, and the load will be dispersed. I did a sequence for gardening at my latest class. Challenging, relaxing, and energizing, all in one class. One day I hope to have my own studio space, a place I can call my own, to teach yoga and yoga therapy. Now, I must continue to meditate on the present moment, although at times my breath is rough, and I get concerned for the future, I must stay with it, and not run and hide. I will try to search for the silver lining, be real with myself, and accept life as it comes my way and work towards progressing and evolving all the while. Stay tuned.....

Forward bends

Sinking into my forward bend, I can more clearly see my thoughts, feelings, and can connect with my body in a more intimate way. This inward turn into our heart, helps us to process and gain perspective into our life, and gives our body a break from taking the lashing it does from the brutality life can be sometimes. We all suffer. Some of us more than others, some for longer periods of time. Is the suffering internal, or external? Is it Both? How do we take our suffering and transform it, so that it doesn't suffocate us, or stagnate us but allows us to expand, and continue to take the "higher road" as Bill Moyers might say. Back to the forward bend. Forward bends take us deep into our hearts, deep into our back body, and with the intelligence of the mind, and the power of the breath, slowly unleashes the clamps of heartache, anger, impatience, hunger, stress, and release our spines to help lift us up again! How beautiful! Sometime soon, sit on your mat, and just begin to play with your body (in the yoga way) and see where it takes you. Maybe you will find that what you need is sitting meditation with breath awareness. You may find that Dog feels good, and you wonder why you don't let the dog out to play more. Or maybe you lie in shavasana, and just breathe, observing your thoughts, and just allowing yourself to be free, even just for 10 minutes. Yoga at its core will transform those ready to receive the teachings. Listen, feel, breathe, adjust, listen, feel, breathe, relax.