Measuring Goodness

“I think we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do, by what we deny ourselves what we resist and who we exclude.  I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create and who we include.”

The ending line to one of my all time favorite movies, Chocolat, conveys a message of expansion and creativity at the heart of Goodness.  I love that.  And the movie.

Anusara yoga is a practice of recognizing goodness, supporting it and creating more.  Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone with a willingness to serve this radiant Goodness in ways that may not be easy.  It’s not easy to help a stranger, or to include a difficult person in our daily kind thoughts.  It sometimes takes effort to create opportunities for goodness to flow.

It’s not easy to practice challenging poses, or to meet the business of the mind with patience and compassion.  It’s not easy to embrace the fullness of what we are and harder still to embrace it in others.  Goodness flows when we are willing to embrace the best of ourselves along with our limitations.  Goodness flourishes when we create space for kindness and compassion to flow both on the mat and off.

What will you do this week to expand and create goodness?  How can you expand your heart to include more kindness, compassion and ultimately more joy?  What will you do to offer more goodness in the world within and around you?  I can’t wait to see you this week and find out.

Transitions

How well do you live transitions?  What are the tendencies of the body and the mind when between two things?  Can you settle into the moment or do you push through to find the next activity?  If an activity has been highly charged, do you ‘discharge’ during the transition, i.e. laugh, discount the activity, or feel a tad off balance?  Remaining in a constant state of awareness or presence during transitions takes skill – and that takes practice to develop.  There is power, knowledge and connection to your greatest self in these in between spaces.  And that makes them highly prized and worthy of your attention.  This week we cultivate the skill of staying present during transitions. 

Off the mat we find ourselves continuously between two things.  Some are minor, like being ‘at work’ and then leaving, being with friends and then being alone.   Some are major, like moving from one house to another house, being between two jobs, being separated from a significant person either through divorce or death.  What is common about these transitions is that the space holds power.  We either step consciously into transition or it has the potential to overwhelm us.  Think about the major transitions you’ve already been through in your life…these times were ripe with every possible emotion from great joy to intense sorrow; from absolute clarity and certainty to utter confusion and fear.  Here is a space that holds both the reassurance of OM and a panic attack.  It is an exhilarating place of pure potential to say the least.   Staying balanced, focused and in the flow of the big energy is a worthy endeavor while in transition.

This week we cultivate full presence during transitions from one pose to the next.  Our learning comes from what we find as our tendencies during transitions.  And then we decide if these tendencies serve us any longer.  

Come to Good Life Yoga this week and find yourself in the in between spaces….

Recharge

We are half way through February and I am noticing a distinct drop in energy level not only for myself, but for you all as well. 

Sometimes it’s useful to slow down and recharge.  The long winter months take their toll on our physical, mental and emotional bodies.  Think about the gear you have to put on just to go outside.  Throw in the extra shoveling, difficult driving conditions, abundant gray skies and this can all add up to an unhealthy state of being.  Not to mention that we will be moving into our snowiest month yet – March in about two weeks.  Whew.  No wonder many of us are a bit frazzled around the edges and unusually tired.  No worries: Yoga to the rescue!

This week we replenish the coffers, slow down and nourish our entire self with, forward folds, hip openers and a few restoratives.  For many of you this is good news.  February is a tough month to slog through and sometime you just have to take a step back and reconnect with the big energy.  Step in to Good Life Yoga this week.  We have just what you need.

Kriya Shakti – Divine Action

There is only one more ‘A’ in Anusara to discuss!  We’ve gone through Attitude and Alignment and now we explore Action.  As Attitude answers the question of ‘why’ we do yoga and Alignment answers the question of ‘how’ we go about it; Action answers the question of ‘what’ is actually in movement.  We look toward the Universal Principles of Alignment and we find two major energies of pulsations:  Muscle and Organic.  These two energies are continuously coming together to create balanced action.  Contracting energy meeting expanding energy and the two are hopelessly in love (okay, Valentine’s is coming up, I couldn’t resist the metaphor).  They are attracted to one another in a continuous state of pulsation.  These pulsations occur naturally in the body.  Think of your breath moving in and then out; your heart beating; contracting and expanding.  Even your cells are aspirating.  Everything in the Universe pulses.  When we step into the flow of this pulsation we align with the action of the Divine or Kriya Shakti.

This week step into class and find yourself immersed in the Universal pulsation of Kriya Shakti.  Together we will find the optimal balance of Muscle and Organic energies to enliven our experience of the Divine.