I love my chickens

Maybe not necessarily yoga related (but then again this blog is feeling much more like a parenting/pregnancy blog right now than my yoga blog. But then isn't that the nature of Divine pulsation anyway?). But my chicks! they are finally coming into their own. They are just getting more organized around their lives. They are ready to go back in their coop every afternoon at 3:30 after happily spending the day with the goats. Maybe it is just the cold weather, but it is so nice to not be chasing the, around the yard for 20 minutes every night waving a stick at them- which I have to say, even though Chris thought that was a riot, it was becoming increasingly more precarious as the ground hardened and so did my growing belly....

Last Thursday I had another great practice with Jessica, and on Sunday Kae and I met for a fantastic evening practice. Both times we focused primarily on the standing pose sequence and it really felt great. Especially on Sunday. I have this funky phenomenon that happens when I am pregnant where I just cannot feel my body as well as I can during the rest of my life. So I can actually have a great practice and sometimes almost not even be able to tell (Sadly, it is sometimes often the case with what I eat as well. That piece of pumpkin pie-with whip- registers not so different from a perfectly sattvic plate of warm veggies. Ah well.) However, not so on Sunday. I felt fantastic. There is something about the whole quality of readiness and capability that is so resonant for me right now in practicing the standing poses. And that is kind of my mindset these days. I am getting ready.

And I am actively asking for help. From my community, but mostly from God. Shameless begging should about sum it up. I am praying with my whole heart for more patience as a mama. For the strength to be the parent that I believe every child deserves, not only to Maple but to this new babe coming. And I am praying to feel the support and the love enough that I can stand tall in what is best for my family even on days when I am on my own without a partner. This all feels so huge. But honestly it is giving me a ton of creative energy. Not creative energy as in I finished painting the room that I started a year ago... But creative energy as in how is this new and evolving life going to work in a way that is best going to serve me, my family, and my community. It is like an enormous riddle that I am pretty into figuring out.

On Monday we did a lot of standing balancing poses and worked with Shri as a theme. I have been really into trying to define these terms for myself and also encouraging my students to do the same. Make it personal and thereby more meaningful. To me, shri is that auscpicious beauty that is always all around us and within us, but that depending on our own immediate perspective, is sometimes concealed. To remind ourselves of shri, is to remind ourselves that life is good and that our essential nature is beautiful and good and right. We experience shri the most easily when we are really in the flow. So it is so important during those times to really drink in the experience. Contemplate it. Embody it. So that that experience becomes a part of you and is there for you to reveal any time.

Anyhow, we did a ton of Virabadrasana 3 and Urdhva Prasaritta Eka Padasana. Also some pretty successful work in partners toward bird of paradise. We had just a little bit of time toward the end for a few arm balances, not enough really. Everyone is really starting to unite in agreement that 90 minutes is still just very short. So we should all be psyched for the Holiday Yoga Spree. 3 days. 3 hours. Between Christmas and New Years. I am headed to the calendar now to figure out the dates and times. Like I said, a riddle. I am also going to schedule 2 hour long classes for kids ages 10-15 during that same week. I hope to have that information tomarrow. And I am looking ahead to see what kind of schedule we will have until the arrival of the next Newlin. fun stuff.