Teacher training

I am immersed in the practice of yoga, this weekend. 11 hours today, and 8 hours tomorrow, and 6 hours yesterday. Every muscle in my body is sore. As I rolled out of savasana, I felt my hips rebel and groan, from working them vigorously all day. I am surrounded by students of yoga, all at different levels, mentally and physically. I am intrigued by the depth that is involved in this next level of training. It is now about deepening the practice, moving deeper and more intimatley into postures. It is about learning to demonstrate better, instruct better, and challenge myself, and my students to go deeper into the body, and mind. At first I felt overwhelmed. I felt as though I could not achieve this next level. I realized, that this would require a lot of work. A lot of effort. It is in a way, like being in school again. But it also involves mindful appreciation, and acceptance of where we are in life. I struggle with the fact that I am leaving my family for the weekend. I am grateful for my husband, who is such a support and keeper of the kids. I also realize that I, must dedicate myself more to practicing asana, meditation, and pranayama. Where will I find the time, you might ask. well, dammit, I plan on making the time. It is too important. I realize that much of life is a choice. We choose how to proceed in our lives. We choose to either sleep in, or get up early to greet the morning with vigor for practice. This is called intelligence. The power to choose. How beautiful! So, I will make this new intention, refreshed with the feeling of following my purpose, and staying on that path. Sometimes we all stray, and our journeys are always changing, evolving. Sometimes shrinking, sometimes expanding, sometimes inspired, sometimes stale as shit. That is life my friend. That is life.

A little bit, goes a long way

How much yoga helps us improve? A 2 hour session twice a week? A class here and there, and a few stretches in between? I say all of it! I know that when I start my morning, cup of joe in hand, dogs present, mat waiting, body stretching, mind opening, heart expanding, buttocks blossoming...I feel a heck of a lot better than if I don't practice. I do not get caught up in the fact that I cannot commit 2 hous a day to my practice. I am thankful and feel grand if I commit 15 minutes a day. The practice is, just that. A practice. The more we practice, the more we improve. 15 minutes at a time. Here is a 15 minute practice to try. Be happy with what you can do, and expand on that. Inhaling, I breathe into the present moment, exhale, I smile.

seated meditation-2 minutes with breath awareness
downward facing dog-2-3 minutes (with alternating knee bends)
down dog to lunge each side
lunge to crescent moon
standing forward bend with elbows crossed
standing forward bend splits
mountain- take a large sip of coffee here, and gaze out at the rising sun, reflect on your blessings
tree
triangle
warrior 2
warrior 1
seated twist
bound angle with foot massage (aaaah)
seated meditation
Namaste

A morning to practice

It's 6 am. A Cup of coffee, a warm fire, 2 pesky dogs, my yoga mat, and me sitting in the middle of all that. As I begin my routine of down dog to lunge, the dogs begin their stretches underneath, licking my nose. As I fold into pigeon, I fold into my mind, all the voices and highways of emotion and thought. Shhhh, I whisper, it's to early for all this chatter. Felling my body expand from my heart, I open into warrior 2, and adjust until I feel fully the quads working hard, in concert with the inner groins lengthening. As I gaze over my fingertips, the light from the fire lights up my skin, illuminating my hand, so that it looks as though my hand is made of light. I look at the other hand, darkness. Shucks. I think I'll look the other way, and smile at the beauty that is my hand, made of light and fire.

Today, I will lift my heart

Walking along the icy, crunchy slush, I watch the dogs as they dance around me, waiting for their leash to be put on. I love the mornings, especially Sunday mornings, where the whole world seems to be nestled snug at home. I love the quiet. I reflect on my life, how, many years ago I was faced with the choice of either growing bitter with despair or rising above the harshness that I faced. I recall those days that I often went outside, even in the bitter cold to find my spirits voice. This connection to nature reminds us that the whole earth is always undergoing change, harsh and beautiful at the same time. Just as we face challenges that sometimes want us to bury our head in the sand, we always have a choice to turn our face to the sun as well. This doesn't mean that we shove our feelings of despair away, and force a smile. Rather, we make a choice to feel fully, and allow these feelings to manifest. Once we do this, we begin to see that our feelings, our challenges, are temporary, just as the falling snow and melting ice are temporary too. This also disintegrates the power our emotions can sometimes have over us. Just as a wind storm blows through and wreaks havoc, our emotions need not wreak havoc to our inner life. As we continue to blaze our trails in life, may we be reminded of how nature is constantly going through change, how we are always changing, and there is real beauty, and truth in that. I invite you next time you have a lot on your mind, or feel "full" of beans (putt putt) go look at a leaf trembling on a tree. Look at a bud on the edge of a branch, tightly wrapped up, just waiting to blossom in full glory! Look at a bird, singing brightly, loudly, announcing it's place in the universe.

a new year

A new Year begins. I am struck by the energy feeling the new year brings. It is interesting to reflect on the past year, the joys and hardships experienced. It also leads us to resolve to do things a bit differently. I try to set "New Years Intentions". As I begin a new year, I am striving to be more kind, to others, and myself. I am intending to save my money, in hopes of finishing off my yoga space. I am intending to do more hand stands, shoulder stands and head stands. I am intending to meditate in the morning as much as I can. I am intending to help out at a homeless shelter. Mindful of this in meditation, it slowly becomes more habitual, to engrain these intentions into our consciousness. As we get our minds and hearts set for the day, may we take even the smallest moment of time, to remind ourselves of the bigger picture, the matters that mean the most to our spiritual growth. We can often get hung up on our to-do list, but we need to ask ourselves when this list stresses us out, who made this list anyway? Is our to-do list getting in the way of our new years intentions?

reflecting the light

Breathing in, I feel my body. Breathing out I smile. Breathing in, I look into my heart. Breathing out, I spread the light that exists and is ever present sitting bright and abundant from this space in the heart. How do we reflect the light that is inside of us? We discussed this last week during yoga class. The sanskrit term "samskara" means "some scars", literally translated. To put it another way, it means habits, or patterns of behavior(good and bad) we have developed over time. Sometimes, a habit can be healthy, helping us progress, like a daily meditation habit. But what happens when that habit is interrupted? How do react when we don't get our morning coffee, or our regular routine gets out of whack? It is also interesting to notice how we behave in situations where we don't think before acting. Where we may use a "tone" of voice, when we react, instead of reflecting, and then responding. These truly are "some scars" that have embedded themselves in our brain, and help us to behave in our old, habitual ways. I often shine the light of awareness on myself when I feel myself closing off, shutting down. I ask myself "why" this reaction? A lot of times this reaction is fear based, where maybe I feel insecure, attacked, or unimportant. Today, as I was cleaning out the kids rooms, I realized that love is the only way. It is an amazingly simple answer, but often difficult to carry through. How do we love when someone is rude? How do we love when we feel attacked? Love has many faces, and many actions. Love may mean loving yourself, rather than reaching out. Love may mean reaching out when you feel like you want to shut down. Love may mean turning the other cheek. Love may mean that you choose to not respond in the face of rudeness. Love may mean a compliment when someone feels down. As we all continue down our path of transformation and evolution, may we continue to rub into our "scars", so that we may know them, know the root cause of them, and then to be able to penetrate them, so that soon enough, we are forging ahead, with the brightest and purist heart. The heart that is full of love.

filling ourselves with light

Sammy and I were looking down at the ground beneath us, talking. We discussed the plants, and how they were withering away, the rocks, and how far we could throw them, and how warm it was for November! I then drifted off in my own thoughts about the upcoming holidays. Sometimes it's easy to get swept up in the rush and push of gifting and parties. I realized that really, what Christ has to share with us is "light". On Christmas day a bright light filled the sky, illuminating the manger. Jesus said: "I am the light of the world". So how do we fill ourselves with light? Close your eyes and visualize for a moment the purest love and bliss you can imagine. Imagine this feeling is directly in the heart center. Now as you identify with this love, feel this light spread out, like a wave reaching all facets of your being. If we meditate on filling ourselves with light daily, especially during the Holiday season, our love and compassion grow exponentially. As we continue on with our lives, with our hardships and pain, with our joy and growth, reflect on how you can be a light to yourself and others. Does this affect your daily chores? Can a simple thought, like "being filled with light" really make a difference? I am reminded of the folk song..."This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine"