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    September Newsletter (web version of e-newsletter)

    ByElizabeth

    Dear  Friends,

    Even in this hot, dry week, three weeks before the formal start of autumn, the harbingers of seasonal change are coming.  When I sit to meditate in the morning, it is still not quite light out, the scent of the leaves starting to change is evident when the wind blows, apples and winter squash are gradually replacing the summer fruits at the fresh farm market.

    Fall tends to be a busy time of year for us as a culture, and my calendar is chock full with work, workshops, plans to visit friends and family, volunteer work, and the offerings of our great city, but it is always important to take time to pause and enjoy the sweetness of being.  It is just when things are at their busiest, that it is most important to carve out the time for some yoga.  I’ll be doing lotsof my own study and practice to make more joyous offerings for you.

    William Penn House on Tuesday nights continues to be a welcome haven for regulars of all levels and more occasional visitors.  Drop in and join us any time.  More info on my website at www.rosegardenyoga.com.

    My Willow Street classes of the Fall session start on Saturday, September 25th — flow (level 2+) at 8:45 am and gentle/therapeutics at noon in Takoma Park.  It is always great to register for the full session to help get the benefits of the regularity of class every week, but drop ins are always welcome.

    If you have been curious about the gentle/therapeutics class or have friends you want to introduce to the class, please join me at noon on Saturday, September 18th, when the class is offered as part of Willow Street’s free class week.  More information about free class week and the regular session and workshops are available on-line at www.willowstreetyoga.com.

    Mark your calendars for upcoming workshops:  Hanumanasana:  Nemesis No More, Saturday, October 16th and Thanksgiving Day Fundraiser for Oxfam, both at Willow Street Yoga, Takoma Park.

    Hope to see you soon in person and virtually with the blog (it’s now way easier to subscribe to the blog; just a few clicks from the home page) and on Facebook.  As always, feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or just to connect.

    Peace and light,

    Elizabeth

  • Calf Loop (and enhancing the integrity of the energy flow)

    ByElizabeth

    When I think of the Anusara principle of calf loop, I think of playing with drinking straws as a child.  I’d take the straw out of the glass and bend it back and forth.  The straw would end up with a horizontal crease where it was bent — not quite a break — but the place where it bulged at the bend would prevent the straw from serving the purpose of enabling liquid to be drawn up through it.  When our knees (or our elbows for that matter) are hyper-extended, I think it disrupts the energy flow from the periphery to the core, weakening the pose, and breaking the integrity of the alignment.

    As one whose legs started out bowed (though less after over six solid years of working “shins in/thighs out”), my natural tendency is to hyper-extend.  I find that using calf loop, I do not hyper-extend.  Calf loop (also called “shin loop”) has us draw energy from the base of the shin, up the back of the lower leg, and loop it through the top of the shin and then back down the front of the leg.  We wouldn’t ever start a pose thinking about calf loop, but in the flow of a pose, after the major principles are activated, including muscular energy, we can enhance muscular energy and the integrity of the alignment of the knees by focusing on calf loop.  When I practice calf loop, I find that it lifts the calf muscle and draws it more firmly into the top of the shin, and moves the top of the shin forward.  These actions do not bend the knee, but firm the muscles behind the lower leg, including the calf and the popliteus (which is the muscle behind the knee that flexes the knee) to the bone.

    What is tricky — especially for those who tend to hyper-extend, is that getting the knee in proper alignment feels like bending the knee.  If we have been out of alignment, changing our stance will feel strange and perhaps “not right” at first.  The sweet subtlety of practice (whether trying to expand our ability to do poses, heal and injury, or live in better alignment overall)  is learning what is true integrity in a pose and what is habit, what will serve and enhance and what does not.

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    A Trend Worth Adopting

    ByElizabeth

    When I was a kid, my friend who lived next door and I would use small pieces of slate to draw hopscotch boards and such on the pavement.

    In recent years, more and more of my Hill neighbors have been decorating the sidewalks with chalk drawings–mostly done by children.

    In south India, many of the thresholds were decorated with beautiful designs made with chalk or colored powder, and I kept thinking how delightful it would be if we engaged in that practice here.

    It is on my wish/to do list to get some chalk to draw some welcoming decorations of my own on the sidewalk in front of my house.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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