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4 SIMPLE PRACTICES FOR YOGA OFF YOUR MAT
This year’s Mexico yoga retreat week has wrapped up and I am left as always with a full heart, clear eyes and a deep sense of contentment. There is something so special about living, eating and practicing yoga together; it truly feeds the soul.
LIVING YOGA
An experienced yoga student recently asked me this: “why is it when life happens with its fears, worries, pains, chaos … that I get away from the asanas?” Sound familiar? It certainly did to me and I think it is a question many yoga practitioners encounter at some point on the path.
THE OCEAN IS HEALING
“The ocean is healing,” said my love as we sat on the beach gazing on the limitless vista before us. So true! And what is it that makes the ocean such a balm to suffering?
I have often spoken in class about something I read once, the origin now lost in time.
YOGA NIDRASANA - PRACTICE SEQUENCE
In yesterday’s practice, I got deeper in Yoga nidrasana than ever before. I am sharing that practice sequence here.
I minute timings:
HOME PRACTICE SEQUENCE
Here is the sequence from my home practice today. Enjoy!
Adho Mukha Virasana – 1 minute
Adho Mukha Svanasana – 1 minute
Uttanasana – 1 minute
LEAPING EMPTY-HANDED INTO THE VOID
Yoga is a process of self-understanding and of connection to our essence. This essence is extraordinary: peaceful, full of expansive joy, sparkling with light and present without needing anything from us. The process, however, of touching that part of ourselves can involve seeing other parts, covering our essence, that we would prefer to avoid.
SEA + SUN = FREEDOM
I don’t always or easily feel free. I take the responsibilities and roles of daily life seriously. Significant other, daughter, sister, friend, studio owner, business partner, yoga teacher, these roles and their responsibilities don’t always leave much room in my day. The structure of daily life becomes binding and I am not aware of it.
BEAUTY AND LOVE
“Our task is not to seek love, but rather to seek and find the barriers inside ourselves we have built up against it.” ~ Rumi
Moments that put us in our Heart can be difficult to describe, as they are so often personal and intimate. Perhaps they are not truly meant to be shared and yet there is something universal in them that draws us together in a community of understanding.
CHOICES AND TRUST
The dictionary.com definition of discrimination is, in part:
1. an act or instance of discriminating or of making a distinction
2. the power of making find distinctions; discriminating judgment
3. Archaic: something that serves to differentiate
DISCRIMINATION AND PROGRESSION ON THE PATH
Recently I had a mentoring session with a senior teacher. I asked for clarification and refinement on some advanced poses on which I had been working in my personal practice. In reading through her responses, I noticed a pattern.