Similar Posts

  • Happy Thanksgiving (and some self-massage techniques)

    I wish you all a day in which you recognize and celebrate inner and outer abundance.  Show your body how grateful you are for taking you around in this life-time with a few minutes of self massage (and share with your friends and family).

    First, take care of your feet–those of you who are regulars know the routine (sorry no pictures).  Then, with reverence and gratitude for the practices, the earth for supporting you, and what and who brought you to the mat, come into balasana (child’s pose).

    In balasana — you can also do this sitting in a chair at a desk or table; just put your head down the way you did in elementary school — leaving your elbows and forehead resting on the floor or table, bend your elbows so that you can massage your upper back, neck, and head without having to use the muscles you are massaging to massage them.

    Try squeezing the back of your neck.

    Or finding some spots that would benefit from giving gentle pressure and motion.

    Massaging the scalp usually feels good.

    When you are done with the self-massage in child’s pose, come up to vertical to sit on your heels.  Then dig your fingers into your hair or the scalp and squeeze.  This will help get energy flowing and brighten your day.  (Be careful:  doing this too frequently might give you big hair.)

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    Occupy (Occ-u-pie) DC–Saturday

    I will be leading my gentle/therapeutics class at Willow Street, Takoma Park (All Restoratives in honor of Suzie Hurley’s tradition of ending each session with restorative poses and hope to see many of you–drop-ins and make-ups welcome), but for those of you looking for something more outdoors and downtown and active, my friend and fellow DC contact improv jammer has sent the following invite:

    Join us at McPherson Square, 12-2pm.
    Bring a pie, if you like:-) Or winter clothing to donate, or just yourself. A great excuse to visit Occupy DC!
    All the best,
    Amy

    occupydccircus .jpg

    xoxo
    Micael

     

     

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    Why Practice; Why Teach

    Last night in class, I asked why people continued to come to class.  “To see how I can expand,” “for the community,” “for the delight,” “for relaxation,” were some of the answers.  Orie asked me what led me to teach.  The first reason I gave (and the one that was the primary reason for entering teacher training) was that I had been so inspired by what yoga had offered me that I wanted to share it.

    The second reason I gave was that teaching helps keep me disciplined about my practice.  I cannot abide hypocrisy, and so, I feel compelled to try my best to practice what I teach.  I do not always embody fully the teachings in my own life and practice, but I am always trying.  Knowing how the teachings and practices have shifted me and witnessing how the teachings inspire my students, leads me to continue to study, to practice, to try and align better on and off the mat.

    Today, with a day of stressful meetings and phone calls ahead, it will be a good day to try to live the practice.

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    Looking Within

    The great texts and teachers of meditation exhort us to look within with the promise that by so doing we will find great peace or bliss or splendor.

    For many, though, initial attempts at meditation are just as likely to reveal troubling aspects of the self or agitating thoughts as any sense of beauty or quiet and the reaction can be a dismissal or disbelief in such teachings.

    The exhortation to look within is not directing us to introspection or the self-examination of therapy (which are also useful in appropriate circumstances), but rather is inviting us to open to seeing that the beauty and specialness that we might believe of and recognize in others is also within ourselves.

    Only when we can first look inside ourselves with love and empathy, can healing, change, growth, and compassion begin regarding those things that make introspection scary and challenging.

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

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