| |

Holiday Greetings and Schedule (Web Version of E-Newsletter)

Dear  Friends,

If your inbox and your schedule has been anything like mine, you don’t need another email to read during this busy season, so I’m keeping it short.

Last gentle/therapeutic class of this session at Willow Street is Friday, December 14th.  Make-ups and drop-ins, friends and family, warmly welcomed.  We’ll do some strengthening and stretching and then stretch out into a series of restorative poses to honor the Willow Street tradition and to get ready for the holidays.

No William Penn House classes on either Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.    Classes run through December 18th and start again on January 8th.  As always, please don’t let means keep you away.  The already favorable pricing for the class, with a portion of the proceeds from each student going to benefit the work of William Penn House, is just a suggested amount.  The more the merrier.

Classes start again with me at all locations Wednesday, January 2nd.  I’ll be offering the Friday night gentle/therapeutics again at Willow Street.  First class of the year is January 4th as part of Willow Street’s new $5 preview class week.  To buy your $5 passes on-line and to check out the whole preview week schedule, please visit the Willow Street website.  Registration for the Winter/Spring session is now open for the Friday night class; the first night of the Winter/Spring session is January 11th.

Wishing you the best of holidays–may they be full of both joyous connection and sweet time for yourself.  I look forward to seeing many of you in the New Year.  If the outrageous pulsation and dance of being–whether challenging or fulfilling or both–is keeping you from class, do send me a line and be in touch.

Peace and light,

Elizabeth

Similar Posts

  • |

    Yoga Nidra Resources

    The practice of yoga nidra is a wonderful way to deepen the connection between the full range of consciousness and your physical body.  It is enjoyable and helpful to practice it on an occasional basis — we did it for the last class of the session in the Willow Street gentle/therapeutics class and you all are welcome to come to the New Year’s Yoga Nidra workshop on Sunday, January 4th — but it can be even more productive as a regular weekly practice.

    Here are some good resources if you have found yoga nidra helpful and want to find out more about it and establish a home practice:

    To read more about yoga nidra, I recommend the following books, both of which I believe are available at Willow Street Yoga Center.

    • Yoga Nidra, Swami Satyandanda Saraswati, Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India, Bihar School of Yoga (1988)
    • Yoga Nidra, The Meditative Heart of Yoga, Richard Miller, PhD, Integrated CD Learning, Sounds True, Inc. (2005) [this comes with a CD]

    These CD’s lead you through yoga nidra practices of various lengths and emphasis:

    • Experience Yoga Nidra — Guided Deep Relaxation, Swami Janakananda, www.skand-yoga.org [my favorite — maybe it is the soothing tones of an Indian swami speaking English with a Swedith inflection]
    • Yoga Nidra with Robin Carnes, Robin Carnes leads a yoga nidra class at Willow Street Yoga Center.
    • Moving Into the Garden of Your Heart, Betsy Downing, Ph.D [Betsy Downing, the “grandame of Anusara” will be at Willow Street Yoga in January 2009]
    • Relax Into Greatness with the Treasure of Yoga Nidra, Rod Stryker [Rod Stryker is an exceptional master and leader of tantric yoga practices, such as yoga nidra, and I highly recommend his meditation CDs and his workshops. This is an older CD, and I sometimes find that the body scan is a little fast for my comfort].
  • | | |

    Remembrance and Recognition

    On this anniversary of my Grandmother Rose’s leaving her body and her daughter, my mother, entering hers, on this Armistice day though none in my lineage were warriors, I made in remembrance and recognition of my ancestors, this mala with a locket (still empty of pictures) that my grandmother bought at the Brooklyn Museum’s shop in the early 1970s–

    Rudraksha Seed – auspiciousness and oneness

    Iolite – connecting with angels

    Laboradorite – perfection and protection

    Amethyst – gentle, tranquil, soothing healing

    Pyrite – fierce creativity, ingenuity

    rose's mala

  • | | |

    State of the Garden

    I think during World War II, backyard gardens supplied something on the order of 40 percent (don’t quote me on this) of the nation’s produce. Were we to do that, how much it might contribute to alleviating any shortages–with so much of our food from beyond closing borders.

    How might it help shift our growing climate imbalance and social inequality and the hideous chaos it unleashes? Wouldn’t growing some of your own food be a healthy strategy?

    The generous harvest from today’s garden all came up from prior year plantings. I may joke about how many variations of greens and grains and pulses I can come up with, but the greens are from my back garden, bursting with nutrients, and everything else is a long storage pantry item (including in recent years, dried beans, for having grown enough of them). Most anything else is a luxury. I can go a long time between trips to the grocery store and still have well-flavored, healthy, and inexpensive meals.

  • Abundance and Gratitude

    Many thanks to all who came and participated in the yoga fundraising class for Oxfam.  Special thanks also to Suzie Hurley and Willow Street Yoga for making the space available.  True gratitude for the practice of yoga itself.  Together we raised $935 for Oxfam, sharing our own abundance with those who are needier.  Many blessings on this holiday weekend to all of you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.