New Adventures

This week will be an opportunity for all of you to enjoy a variety of different yoga teachers.  I ask that you take to your mats, open your hearts and enjoy the inspiration a new voice can offer you.  Yoga is an adventure as you know - take your whole-self into it and enjoy!

Paul, Luke and I will be trekking around the north woods of Minnesota.  I’ll send you all a peaceful OM from the wilderness.

The week of August 30 brings with it the transition into fall and then soon enough back to school for many young people.  Transitions are part of our lives and they come in many forms.  We will explore mindfulness and support during these times.  Look for a flow of poses and an opportunity to be present during every transition.  I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Dog Days!

Well, it had to happen sooner or later.  We are in that hot, sultry weather pattern often referred to as ‘the Dog Days of Summer’.

So, I say, why not celebrate this special time of year and show case the backbone pose of our practice; Adho Mukha Svanasana otherwise known as ‘Dog Pose.’

There is actually a meteorological reason why we refer to this time as the ‘dog days’ and of course you know that I would know this, having a meteorologist for a husband.  Here’s a link for more juice on Sirius, the Dog Star at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Days picked up from Paul’s MPR Updraft Blog (cheap plug).

Your Dog Pose can be many things.  At times steady and fierce, or soft and playful.  And at other times tense and stuck.   Your Dog sets the tone for your practice.  You know right away how you are doing physically, mentally, energetically and emotionally during your first Dog Pose.  Tight hams?  Tight shoulders? Unfocused? Fired up?  One Dog will tell the tail (couldn’t resist that pun). And the good news is:  You are always just one Dog away from reclaiming your strong and free self.

This week we will interpret your Dog Pose and play with all the variations including Twisted, Fire Hydrant, Wild, Flying – who knows we may come up with a new one!  You never know what may happen when you mix humidity, high temps, and a bunch of Dogs.

Aparigraha

Aparigraha is the fifth Yama and is often translated as “non-greed” or “non-possessiveness.”  Does this mean we are to not want material things in our world or form attachments to anything around us?  How can that really work?  In the tantric philosophy, looking at everything as a manifestation of supreme consciousness, we come to the conclusion that our world around us exists, is very real and as such we have attachment to it - it is us..  As humans on the planet we will always have attachment to things.  Our opportunity is to closely consider what things we choose to bring into our world and what things we don’t.  Ultimately, making good choices and being responsible and conscious of our attachments to our choices is our aim.

In studying and practicing Aparigraha this week, we are invited to look closely at the choices we make in our world and to look closely at our level of attachment to them.  Do we want the perfect backbend?  Do we want the perfect house, car, job, body?  How much attachment do we have to these goals? Do your goals bring you in line with your center of power, or take you past it into an unhealthy obsessive place of want?  This week we choose to practice cultivating conscious choices about our attachments and to recognize how we are responding to those attachments.   

 Sauca – Cleanliness/Purity of the body, mind and heart 

Why should we practice Sauca, the first Niyama?  Why is it important to purify, cleanse and let go of anything that does not support your amazing self?  Because YOU matter.  Because what you offer the world matters.  There is only one of you.  We practice Sauca and remember our worthiness.  As sacred beings we honor, cleanse and create the finest environment for the light of ourselves to shine brightly.  

There are many traditions and activities that help us purify.  We regularly bathe and brush our teeth.  We clean and clear our environment.  We endeavor to let go of impure thoughts and reduce or avoid negativity, emotional dependencies or behaviors.  We eat healthy clean food, and drink clean water. We exercise, sweat and release toxins. We smudge, use incense, chant, ring bells all to help us purify our mind, and spirit.   We use the visual of white light to help lighten and cleanse our own energetic field.  All of these activities allow us to actively polish the mirror of ourselves and reflect out to the world our beautiful spirits.

This week you are offered an opportunity to let go of anything that does not serve your spirit.  Our practice will reflect this intention to purify the mind, body and spirit.