Spam Compliment of the Day ( and the Art of Teaching Yoga Asana)
You make it entertaining and you even now manage to help keep it wise.
You make it entertaining and you even now manage to help keep it wise.
This is an especially fine year for them. I was thinking about what it means to trust that winter will end and the trees will mostly bud , leaf, and fruit again starting in the Spring.
We were holding at New Carrollton Station. Ten minutes or so passed before there was an announcement. The first announcement said that there was a “medical condition.” The second, perhaps five minutes later, referred to a “medical emergency” and that we were waiting for medical personnel to arrive. The third announced a “medical situation” and that we were still waiting for “appropriate medical persons” to come, but that we would leave as soon as they arrived. The final announcement let us know that the medical personnel had arrived and that we were about to depart for the next station. That we were leaving immediately upon arrival made it most likely that the person who was sick was leaving the train to go to the emergency room
Sure. I sent a text to the friend scheduled to pick me up on the other end of my trip and wondered how late I would be. Mostly, I took the experience as a reminder to be grateful that I was merely going to be late to visit friends and family (who would be perfectly understanding) and was not suffering from an accident or sudden illness. I spent a few moments in meditation, holding this stranger and those human beings who lives were just shifted by being in relationship to a greater or lesser degree to this stranger. I contemplated how those 15 minutes of waiting may have been of extreme pain and fear.
Dear Friends,
Not long after the slush from last night melted in the early afternoon rain, the precipitation falling had started turning into the dreaded wintry mix. Thunder clapped and the sky was dark, and I have been mighty grateful all day that I was able to work from my warm home. It is all snow now — quite beautiful. It is inevitable that I will be out shoveling early tomorrow morning, though whether it will be three or four inches or 8-10 remains to be seen. It will be heavy underneath. This is a wet snow. I will be following my own advice on yoga alignment for snow shoveling (that appeared in December 2010’s edition of Yoga Journal).
It is on nights like this that I find myself planning a good restorative practice. What could be better after a dark storm and some heavy duty shoveling to surrender to the blissful support of blankets and bolsters, find the sweetness of your breath, shift into optimal alignment, and find a space of deep relaxation. If this sounds like a dream come true or you want to know what is all the fuss about restoratives, you are in luck. This coming Saturday, is the first of the winter session series of restorative workshops with me at Willow Street Yoga:
Relaxing into Optimal Alignment with Anusara Restoratives, Saturdays, January 29, February 26, and March 26, 2:30-4:30p, Willow Street Yoga Center, Takoma Park, $30 each (All 3 Saturdays = $75)
After a little gentle stretching and self-massage to bring awareness to the breath and body, we will enjoy the exquisite application of Anusara’s® Universal Principles of Alignment to restful and supported restorative postures to release old patterns and invite in the new to find greater ease of body and mind. A great workshop and practice for all levels; sign up for the full three-class series and save $15!
Be safe, stay warm, enjoy being snowed in for now if you can, practice gratitude for being able to be snowed in, and delight in dreaming about how wonderful it will be to go on a mini-in town treat of a retreat with two hours of restorative yoga. Hope to see you.
Peace and light,
Elizabeth