Tapestry yoga

This is very cool. Lots of Yoga and other fine pursuits all under one roof. Next week marks the first week of classes at Tapestry Yoga in Viroqua. There are a whole bunch of classes and teachers to check out. And the first week of classes are free! Wahoo! The schedule is on Kathy's website and you can link to there through her blog. Look right.

I am going to be offering the Sunday practice for now. Starting this Sunday! I keep thinking that I can do more but in reality I keep doing less (except for canning, I keep on doing more of that).

So, I have really missed everyone lots and lots and I am really looking forward to seeing folks back on their mats. And some new folks too I hope.

I could go on, but I will keep it short. I have lots of interesting happenings brewing but they need to settle a little bit more before I can share them.

See you Sunday.

Last Call

So, tomorrow morning is the final horah at the warehouse. It has been fun to be there over the summer. Love you Val. And, contrary to my last entry, I am going to offer something at Tapestry Yoga for the fall session. I will keep the Sunday Led Practice going so that nobody thinks that I have disappeared completely into the arms of motherhood. It will run from 7 am until 8:45 and will be a fun time to get together and do a structured led practice. We will work on all class of poses and have an opportunity to go a little deeper than we might in classes. I am also going to offer an inversion workshop on a Sunday in November. Should be great. I love teaching inversions and really can't wait.

But for now. Tomorrow I am thinking that we are going to do a lot of hips and thigh openings and then work on some lotus variations. Why not. Seems like an auspicious way to end the summer. I hope folks can join me, otherwise I will see you later in the month back in the Landmark.

This morning's practice

It is a rainy day and oh boy is 6 am much earlier now than it was mid-summer. But I made it in and did a pretty mellow practice with some inversion and a little bit of backbend work. I am working on a great little nugget that I received from Chris Saudek in Lacrosee. It is really a gem and I think will help me really open up my backbends. That and a chair. Must really get a chair! Or at the very least finish the ones that Chris Newlin started like 2 years ago.

So we are going to meet at the warehouse until labor day weekend. But we will change the time to 7 and go until right around 8:45. Much more manageable.

And then that will be it. I am not going to offer anything this fall. Just take some time to regroup and work on my own practice. I am getting into a nice groove and I hope to just keep it going until the time is right to offer some classes. Hopefully, in January all of the pieces will have come together to support me in teaching 2 or 3 times a week.

So, until then, come in and join me for these last few group practices. I may try and offer a few special events during the fall. So keep checking here. I will be recreating this blog in the next few weeks to reflect this time in my life. It will still chronicle my own practice, but it will also have a lot of my reflections on mothering and living in a small rural community, both through the lens of yoga.

I hope that this is all as interesting to you as it is to me.

Love.

another 45

I want to share with you a fantastic sequence that i just finished practicing while my kids slept. Slept! This sequence was given to me by my friend and teacher Christina Sell, whom many of you know and likewise love.
But before I lay it out, I just want to say that it is simply wonderful to begin the week with a therapy appointment. It is marvelous to put everything into perspective before I actually have lost it entirely. So there you go. Perfect.

note: the times Christina has given me for the inversions are significantly longer. They are shorter here.

1 minute AMS
1 min uttanasana

5 minute Sirsasana (with variations, such as eka pada, parsvaikapada, padmasana)

10 minutes of standing poses- 1 minute per side

Parsvakonasana
Trikonasana
Parivritta Trikonasana
Parivritta Parsvakonasana
Uttanasana

5 minute virasana

10 minutes of forward folds- 1 min per side

paschimottanasana
janu sirsasana
triang muhkaikapada paschimottanasana
ardha baddha padma paschimottanasana
marichyasana 1
paschimottanasana

5 minute Sarvangasana with same variations as Sirsasana
halasana

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

a new sequence

I have been errant. I know. I am so sorry. Here is a new sequence. Down and dirty.

Speaking of which, before I go any further, I want to share the fun of the day with you. I am home from the 2nd week of the Viroqua cyclocross races. I am utterly exhausted and happy. Doing it on a day when I wake up before 6 to practice is pretty insane, and also just right. I am here to say that everyone should come. It is a delightful way to spend a Friday afternoon with the whole family. So you heard it here. Check it out over in my blog roll. There should be some good pictures up later tonight.

OK. Yoga.

I have been taking a weekly class up in Lacrosee with an amazing teacher and so I am feeling very influenced by Iyengar Yoga. But my roots will always be Anusara. So everything right now is a bit of a smattering. Enjoy. I am too tired to say much more. Other than this: do come on Sunday! I am devising a sequence to really open up the shoulders and upper back. Besides, how much longer can we really get together at 6:30 in the morning anyhow?

Centering
1 minute each
Supta Padangustasana 1-4
jatara parivartanasana
navasana
Supta Virasana (3-5 minutes)
Adho Mukha Svanasana

Parivritta Trikonasana
Parivritta Parsvakonasana
Uttanasana
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana
Ardha Padmottanasana
Uttanasana

Paschimottanasana
Janu sirsasana
Ardha Padma Pascimottanasana (support the knee with a blanket if you need to)
Paschimottanasana

Setubandha (sacrum on a block and feet at the wall- legs straight) 5 minutes

Wahoo!

not quite back from vacation...

So, while I am back in town, I am not quite back in town.

I ran in to Valorie at the co-op and she reminded me that blog is far from up-to-date, and alas, she is correct. So here I am. Updating.

We are on for early morning practice for all of August. Every Friday and every Sunday. It is going to be great and it is also going to be hard. Why? Because we need it to be. Plain and Simple. It will be fun. Plan on a lot of standing poses tomorrow moving toward some deep hip and backbend work.

I am taking down my website, which is very exciting news for me. And I hope to re do the blog in the up and coming future. Just freshen things up and get a new perspective. Something that is representative of where I am headed as a practitioner and where we are headed as a yoga community. It really is about time.

Lots of folks have been asking me what will be happening in the fall and the truth is that right now, I really do not know. I haven't committed to anything, but I am also still hoping to find a space to host 2 practices as week. We shall see what happens.

The main thing, as always, is that we continue to get on our mat and remember that our essential nature is goodness.

Ahh.

No Practice Friday

Sadly. I am flying solo this week and cannot make it in tomorrow. But hopefully everyone is having a great time practicing at home or with friends. I have been having a great time in my home practice which is wonderful. It is like reconnecting with an old friend. Or coming home. Both I suppose.
So, this Sunday is our last time to get together this month and then it is August. I am still really hoping that folks will get together to practice in my absence. I think that it is great to practice at home (of course!) but there is really something different that happens when we practice with community. We lift each other up and ask a little bit more of ourselves. And we are asked to reveal something at once tender and powerful in ourselves. Yes, in my opinion, practice with community, practice in good company, is essential.
So get together!
For now, plan on Sunday morning. i will not forget my timer this week and I think that it will be a real duzy.