Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Yesterday’s Rainbow
I’m sure there will be one today, too, though it might not be where I can see it.
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Stand Steady in the Light (Workshop at Willow Street this Saturday)
One of the most wonderful ways we can find our own steadiness using asana practice is the joy of standing balancing poses. Even when our feet are not steady, a gentle turning of our mind to a focused, steady place will bring us a sense of calm and ease.
Please join me this Saturday for:
Standing Steady in the Light: A Standing Balance Workshop, Sat May 8, 2:30-5pm, Willow Street Yoga Center, Takoma Park, $35. Find a place of deeper steadiness and balance in your own light and worthiness. Learn how to use the Anusara principles to enhance your ability to stand or your own two feet or on just one foot at a time. After we playfully explore a progressively expansive array of standing poses, we’ll finish with a few upside-down restorative postures to let our legs and feet feel the bright light created by the practice. Whether you find standing poses a challenge or revel in the dance, this workshop will illuminate your practice. Everybody welcome. To register, please visit www.willowstreetyoga.com.
- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Meditation | Miscellaneous (blog matters, etc)
February News–Bring on the Light (Web Version of E-Newsletter)
Dear Friends,
Brrr. It’s cold out there. And if it is seeming colder than usual, you are right. There have only been five winters on record with fewer days above 50F in Washington, DC. Perhaps, like me, you have noticed that you are feeling just a tad sensitive or edgy or maybe a little blue. I recognize the symptoms; in my distant past, a therapist suggested that I might have “seasonal affective disorder.” My prescription for myself when winter has me feeling down? Do more yoga, keeping a focused intention on cultivating the light of inner awareness.
The form of meditation I practice is intended to allow the practitioner to rest in the light of inner awareness. One of the aspects of the Anusara principle of “opening to grace” for me is to open to the light in myself and others. On a more physical level, backbends will open up your heart and make room for the light; core work will warm you up by stoking the agni, the inner fire; forward bends will help you go deep inside to find your own light. There is a light-filled practice for every day of the week, every time of day, and every mood you are in.
Avoid the temptation to huddle inside, eating too many carbs and hiding away. When the sidewalks are passable, bundle up and take a long walk. When you come back inside, do a good therapeutic and restorative practice–it’s as good as hot chocolate (and no one said you couldn’t have the hot chocolate, too). Invite friends over for a potluck. Cook bean soups. Have hot cereal for breakfast and perhaps for dinner. Balance the warm food with the freshest of fresh food by growing sprouts on the kitchen counter.
Want to light up your yoga fire, sun, inner light with company? Join me and your friends and neighbors at William Penn House classes on Tuesdays at 6:30. Need a little R&R or found you have tweaked something shoveling or walking on the ice and snow? Drop ins are always welcome at the gentle and therapeutics class at Willow Street, Takoma Park, Saturdays at noon. Give yourself something to look forward to by signing up in advance for the second “Relaxing Into Optimal Alignment with Anusara Restoratives” workshop at Willow Street on Saturday, February 26th.
And plan for Spring with “Yoga for Gardeners,” the weekend of the Spring Equinox–yes, it is only weeks away. As has been my practice in previous years, my profits will go to support the Youth Garden at the National Arboretum.
Looking forward to sharing, expanding, and delighting in the light with you soon.
Peace and light,Elizabeth
“The Yoga That Destroys Sorrow”
“For him who is moderate in food and play, moderate in performing actons, moderate in sleep and waking, for him is the yoga which destroys sorrow.” Bhagavad Gita, 6.18 (trans. Gitartha Samgraha, in Abhinavagupta’s Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita).
Food here, of course, is more than what we put into our mouth. It is everything that comes in through the senses. Play, too, is beyond what we do for “fun” in this society. How much these words have kept their truth since written; what different meanings they carry in our time of technological marvels. What does “moderation” mean to us? Does moderation have an implicit relativeness?
Since I first read the Gita in high school, I have been contemplating this sloka and resonating with it. Now, I come back to it over and over again, as my understanding of the rest of the text deepens and my practice grows. It is still giving me food for thought. (Pun intended).
Blossoms Around Town
On the way to Willow Street Yoga in Takoma Park for Joe and Natalie Miller’s yoga practice to benefit Nepal.
Wherever You Are, Whatever You Are Doing, However You Are Feeling
I give thanks to and for all of you and wish that you find a true sense of gratitude in your very being.
