A Recent History of Willow Street Yoga Center
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Leave a Comment
The winter 2012 Willow Street Newsletter is on-line. If you don’t already get it, please take a look at the great article by Suzie Hurley as she reflects on the history and development of Willow Street Yoga Center. I am filled with gratitude for the extraordinary community and family Suzie has lovingly shared and developed over the years and to Joe and Natalie for continuing the vision.
Discomfort v. Pain
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Leave a Comment
My friend Reya posted a good blog entry today on pain. What John Friend says of pain is that it is nature’s way of showing that we are out of alignment. I am in full agreement with Reya that intentionally causing ourselves pain is not what brings the most gain.
We sometimes have to go into discomfort, though, to get out of pain, when we are practicing therapeutically. What I tell my students, when they are seeking to use the physical practice of yoga to heal injuries, is that they want to practice mindfully enough to notice and back away from stabbing, pinching, tearing, or cramping sensations (you might think of other words to add to the list, but you get the idea). On the other hand, intentionally embracing some level of therapeutic discomfort can be necessary to heal and grow. An obvious non-yoga example is getting an operation to remove a tumor or fix something that is broken. The operation is going to be a challenge, but it is better than not healing.
If we are not used to holding poses for a long time or balancing on one foot or on our hands, our muscles may think they would rather slouch on the couch–though slouching on the couch may be what precipitated injury or ill-health in the first place. The discomfort of working muscles more than we usually do, but to the right degree and in alignment, is radically different than the pain of forcing our body to do something beyond its current capacity that exacerbates existing injuries or causes new ones and does not sufficiently heed proper alignment.
I invite you to practice slowly and with sufficient attention to know deeply whether you are just bringing on discomfort from right effort and changing old patterns that no longer serve or whether you are making yourself suffer for no real purpose. No pose or distance or timing is worth injury, but healing and getting stronger and more flexible (as well as more courageous and expansive for what life brings to us) is most definitely worth some intentional discomfort.
Preparing for Thanksgiving Eve Practice
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Food for the Body, Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc), Meditation, Photos | Leave a Comment
When I get the studio ready for Wednesday night yoga class, I pick a puja card. I shuffle the cards and then pick a card from somewhere in the middle of the stack. More often than not, the card is aligned in some way with the activity, thought, or emotion that is most present in body-mind. Tonight, the card that came first out of the shuffled pack was krtajnata — gratitude.
I am deeply grateful for my teachers, friends, and family–extensively overlapping categories–and wish a happy thanksgiving to all.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Curiouser and Curiouser…
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc), Meditation, Miscellaneous (blog matters, etc), Photos | Leave a Comment
Last night, I took some lovely photos in the rain when I was walking to get a massage (it is pretty awesome to get a massage on a Monday night; try it sometime and see how it changes your perspective on the work week). After I came home and had dinner, I resisted the temptation to curl up on the sofa with a book. Instead, I got on the computer to take care of email correspondence that had accumulated over the day and the weekend while I was at the workshop with John Friend. I uploaded the photos from my walk and tried to post an entry. I got a message when I was in WordPress saying that the photo upload had failed. I exited from that screen and tried to access the file uploader. I could not get in. I then exited the prompt that I had failed. It would not let me cancel. Next, I exited the admin portion of my blog. The computer was not happy about that, but eventually it seemed to close the program. After that, I could not get back either to my public page nor to the admin page. I tried several times, but to no avail. I sent an email to my website designer–could she get in?
I woke to an email from my website designer saying no problems for her. After I did my morning practice and before heading into the office, I tried again. On my home computer, no access at all to either the public or administrative portions of the site. I reloaded Firefox. That did not do the trick. I scanned my computer, but it showed no errors. I have access to the blog from my Blackberry, my office computer, and my IPad, but not from my home computer–my central place, the place where all my files and photos and bookmarks and maximum computer capabilities are one.
As Alice (in Wonderland) would say, “curiouser and curiouser.” I am sure with research and trying lots of alternatives, we will find a solution to this peculiar glitch.
I think staying fully connected to the ultimate loving ground of our being can feel like this strange denial of access to my blog. We get glimpses. We have studied enough to know what it is on an intellectual basis. We feel connected when we are at a big workshop (or sometimes it looks like every one else has found the bliss and we are the only ones who are not tapping in–note to self, usually that’s not true) or are in class or practicing, but not when we get challenged by daily life.
Two things serve to bring us back to center–the first is to keep practicing and making the effort, just as expanding knowledge and trying different strategies will get me back my full blog access; the second is grace (and being open to receive it). And when grace comes, we then need to keep practicing so that we stay connected and can live in and from grace more and more of the time and remember and reconnect more easily when we get disconnected.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Guest Blog for District Kula “Giving Thanks by Sharing the Abundance (and Dana)”
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Leave a Comment
If you haven’t seen it already on the District Kula website, please check out my guest post for District Kula on my Thanksgiving tradition–the Thanksgiving Day fundraising class for Oxfam. Many thanks to District Kula for inviting me to blog as a guest.
Heading to Another Light-Filled Day With JF and the Yogis
Filed Under Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Photos | Leave a Comment
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Signs Around Town (John Friend in Maryland)
Filed Under Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Photos | Leave a Comment
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Thanksgiving Schedule and Greetings (Web Version of E-Letter)
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Food for the Body, Miscellaneous (blog matters, etc) | Leave a Comment
Dear Friends ,
This weekend I will be celebrating our local Anusara community at the weekend workshops in College Park, Maryland with John Friend. I look forward to seeing many of you there. My good friend Jane, who in honor of Thanksgiving donated the sub fee to S.O.M.E (So Others Might Eat)., will be covering my gentle/therapeutics this Saturday at Willow Street. It’s sure to be full of gentleness and nurture, so check it out if you’re in town and won’t be at the weekend workshops.
On Thursday, I will be leading my ninth annual Thanksgiving Day yoga class for the benefit of Oxfam. It will be at Willow Street’s Takoma Park studio from 10-11:30am. The more the merrier, so bring yourselves, your family, and your friends. For those of you who remember the days when you brought a check and I mailed them in, my matching donation of up to $200 still applies even with the convenience of being able to register and pay on line at Willow Street. Registration in advance is appreciated as it helps us get ready for you, but drop-ins are most welcome, too.
I’ll be teaching all of my regular classes next week and not only celebrating Thanksgiving, but also sharing the abundance of energy from the weekend with John Friend and all of our wonderful Anusara community. Stop by on Tuesday night to set your intention for the holiday or complete it with gentle/therapeutics at noon on Saturday at Willow Street. As always, friends and family are welcome to drop in.
I hope to see many of you for some of this outrageously abundant yoga feast. If you will be traveling, may it be safe and joyous.
Peace and light,
Elizabeth
Signs Around Town (“First Principle?”)
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc), Photos | Leave a Comment
Found Exhortation
Filed Under Art and Culture, Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice, Community and Family, Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc), Meditation, Photos | Leave a Comment
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
« go back — keep looking »