Similar Posts

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    State of the Garden

    ByElizabeth

    After almost none all summer, now they’re ripening in abundance. I’ll roast and then freeze most of them to eat in the winter.

    I attended yoga class by zoom this afternoon. We worked on the poses that benefit from attention to engaging the major muscle groups of the trunk. And we thought about acting from our center, and finding center so we can better act.

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    Invitation to the Gift of Yoga Practice

    ByElizabeth

    As I consider both what I want to change and what I am grateful for while we go through this time of imagination and possibility and grief and rage and creativity and patience and restraint and fierce need for engaged action, I realized that making offering is one of the holiday things I am still able to do that brings joy for the holiday season.

    In that light, I invite you and others who might welcome starting a practice, strengthening their practice, and regardless, having an opportunity together consciously to support ourselves in body and mind, as well as spirit.

    In that light, please join me and Suzanne Lynch for an all levels, all perspectives, all ages, light-hearted yoga and meditation practices on:

    • December 25 (X-mas Eve) from 4pm-5:30pm
    • December 31 (New Year’s Eve) from 4pm-5:30pm

    To register, please visit: https://www.suzannelynchwellness.com/holiday-yoga-classes

    Many thanks to Suzanne for gifting the extra administrative work to open her membership platform for these holiday practices.  BTW, it is super helpful to register early to make sure we can get all the Zoom link for the practice with a minimum of extra admin.

    If you are moved to make a donation, please consider a local or national food bank.

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    Mini Lessons

    ByElizabeth

    Friends and acquaintances ask me whether I am teaching yoga. My answer is that I do it when asked. Last week, I offered a “release” practice for a friend who is still having hot flashes many years after their final menstrual cycle. I said, it helped me, when I suddenly overheated, to think of offering something that no longer served, into the fire pit of the goddess to transmute into energy and light.

    Today I offered some asana practice-inspired tips to any older friend to help with getting up and down off the floor.

    What in your current stage of embodiment are you interested in practicing and deepening your awareness and understanding?

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    When I am Settled

    ByElizabeth

    When meditating and practicing in a group, if I am feeling settled and grounded myself, it does not disturb my practice that others near me are fidgeting or not fully present.  Just as I can meditate on a bus or in a waiting room, I am responsible for descending into my own inner space.  If I am unsettled myself, then I am more likely to notice others fidgeting.  But it is not their fidgeting that disrupts my practice, but that I am having a day when it is hard for me to center on my own.

    It is true, though, when practicing with a group, that sometimes we will all be deeply centered and then the power of the group can bring all of the individuals to a deeper experience.

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    Podcast on Ayurveda for Yoga Students and Teachers

    ByElizabeth

    Thanks to the generous Cate Stillman for this podcast.  What I like most about Cate’s perspective is her teaching that  truly practicing Ayurveda is paying attention at the deepest level, including paying attention to what in the classic teaching of Ayurveda work for you and what do not–being that they are imbued with cultural elements of the Indian subcontinent that do not necessarily support or resonate with our culture or individual constitutions.

    As I study more, I find that it turns out that I had been practicing Ayurveda already by keeping to a regular daily and weekly routine, eating seasonally and locally, eating with sensitivity to impact on my digestion and energy level, and by having a steady practice.  Not being interested in detox (more some other time on the dangers of detox)  or constitution types, or arcane herbal remedies (many of these, by the way, are becoming endangered species), it turns out, does not mean having rejected Ayurveda.  I do know that whether I call it Ayurveda or just plain common sense, the more I live in a balanced, sensitive, and steady way in terms of diet, sleep, entertainment, work, and consumption in general, the more I optimize my health and sense of well-being.

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