Thursday, July 16, 2009

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.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Another 45 minutes

Here's a good one. And I think that with warmer days (and a timer) it should be no trouble at all getting warm enough for a few backbends. Backbends are definitely the type of pose that do not improve without attention and they also have a bit of a code for unlocking. One which can only become adept at when we give it the attention that it requires.

In many ways, bending backward is all about the breath. We need to let the breath really move so that we not only connect to the bigger energy that is actually moving us but on a physical level as well so that we may expand the inner body enough to have enough space to deeply take the head of the armbones back and curl the shoulderblades into the back of the heart. These are mighty actions that ask us to begin with enough spaciousness so that we can be free of pain and also go deeper in the bend.

Grab your timer...

Surya Namaskar A (5 min)
AMS (1 minute)
uttanasana (1 minute)
eka pada AMS (total 1 minute for both sides)
handstand (1 minute)
pincamayurasana (1 minute)

sirsasana (3-5 min)

standing poses (1 min ea side)
crescent
vira 1
anjaneyasana
parvotannasana
parivritta parvokonasana

virasana and supta virasana (5 minutes)

10 minutes of backbends
ustrasana
dhanurasana
pigeon prep with thigh stretch
lunge with thigh stretch
urdhva dhanurasna (3-5x)

halasana (with blankets and a lot of lift and extension through the spine
3-5 minutes)

Friday, July 10, 2009

Missin' this morning

I too missed this mornings practice! So sad! Please always check here to see whether class is happening. I always try to put it up here well in advance if class is not happening, this way I can avoid making phone calls or emailing folks. Just check here.

Chris' travel schedule is a little different right now and that in conjunction with our summer vacation make for a very inconsistent schedule. Shucks.

But this is what I think. I think that you all should still meet for practice anyway. Valorie has made the space available and it might as well be used for yoga. There could still be a $10 donation to go to the space and whoever it is that is leading the practice. I can even help you out on sequences. This sounds like a very empowering opportunity to me and I would love to do whatever I can to make it happen. Because really, I looked at the month of July and I couldn't teach today, I can't next Friday and then my family is gone until the beginning of August. So that means just this Sunday and next Sunday are happening unless someone else decides to take the plunge and lead the practice.

Like I said, I would be psyched to help this to happen. Everyone could just do one day (there are 5 times available...) or just one person take it on. Whatever works for folks.

I apologize to the folks that woke up this morning and made it up to the warehouse. Please make it a habit to check the blog the night before! I put this up well in advance so really everyone should have known.

OK. See you Sunday. I hope that everyone's practice is going well. More on that later.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

45 minutes of fun

This is going to be brief. I am so tired that I can barely see. But I need to stay up and digest some homemade strawberry ice cream for a little so I have a minute.

Here is this weeks 45 minute sequence. Go for it. It will be fun. All you need is a mat and whatever blocks you think that you might like. And a timer. A timer is key. That is what effectively makes it 45 minutes. You can do this any time. I find myself often practicing about an hour after lunch when at least one of my kids is generally asleep and my meal is digested. I eat light at that hour. Often I have Eider on his sheepskin for the entire time. It works out. If Maple wakes up before I am finished I ask her to sit on the couch and watch with maybe something for her to drink. It is good for her to see mom taking care of herself. I have even stopped for around 15 minutes in the middle to nurse someone back to sleep, but I always come back and finish. That is key. If you do not have very small kids this should really be a snap. 45 minutes is really nothing. You are going to love it.

This week there is no practice on Friday because Chris is away. So that means we will not meet until next Sunday and you should set the goal of trying to do this practice 4 times between now and then. It will get better when you have more sequences to choose from but this will be a good start.

Here you go.

1 minute Down Dog (AMS)
1 minute uttanasana
8 minutes Surya Namaskar A and B (set your timer)

Standing poses (1 minute each side)

Trikonasana
Parvakonasana
Parivritta Trikonasana
Parivritta Parvakonasana
Uttkatasana
Prasaritta Padotannasana

Virasana and Supta Virasana (5 minutes)

Janu Sirsasana
Triang Muhkaikapada Pascimottanasana
Marichyasana 1
Pigeon prep (eprk)
eprk with thigh stretch

Setubandha with a block supporting the pelvis (3 minutes)
Jatara Parivartanasana

Shavasana or sitting (5 min)

There you have it.

Here is little inspiration via my friend Darren Rhodes:

When we have the capacity to take every experience as nourishment, freed from the fear of what is going to happen to us or any concern about living or dying, then we can grow through every experience without trying to locate it in some set of pre-existing categories. Experiences that awaken us are not divorced from ordinary life. It is, in fact, in the context of the ordinary that such occasions occur, and at any moment. This means that any event, however small it may seem, can become the occasion for our transformation into the fully Real.
Swami Chetananda - Will I be the hero of my own life?

Friday, July 3, 2009

Lovely Morning

What a lovely morning practice we had! I am just loving the energy of the early morning for asana. The light, the quality of the air, the fragrance of everything in bloom. It is really wonderful. I imagine drinking it all in and filling every reserve in my body that is every lacking the fresh vitality of this time of year. And my body is feeling great. For the first time in so long, it feels as though I am coming back into an old friend. Remembering some things and noticing and appreciating the changes of other parts. I am into it. It is all very rich.

I am also going crazy with the strawberries. I have processed 40 quarts so far and have another 10 in my fridge. Strawberries are not even my favorite berry. I like them in the season when they are fresh, but that is about it. But I am wanting to build confidence canning on my own, I have always only been someone's helper and I want to take the reigns and get proficient. So I am practicing on lots and lots of strawberries. Lots. In fact, I got home too late from a birthday party tonight to make any headway, but there is definitely canning on the agenda tomorrow. Fun.

So, practice on Sunday. Early. After the 4th of July. I am not sure what we are going to do yet. But it will be great.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

July Transitions

I spent a short period this morning moving out of my studio in the Landmark Center. I will move the final little odds and ends out later today and tomorrow. It took surprisingly little time (with the help of Jess, Chris, and Maple) and it just goes to show that the content of the place was indeed quite minimal compared to the context. In some ways I am very sad about moving out but I am actually trying not to think about it too much and just ride the larger flow in which this choice is clearly a part of. A bit strange.

Especially because I am coming back into my own practice and rhythm with yoga for the first time in a year. Embrace the paradox. In some ways it is just a gesture to bring my practice back into myself and make that the primary flow right now. I have so much more to offer in terms of teaching yoga when I have attended to myself. Go figure.

So, in a very informal way we will be practicing early in the morning on Fridays and Sundays over at the Warehouse. Suggested donation on $10. Jessica is being utterly awesome as usual and letting us keep a few props in her space. I am not sure how we will orchestrate that yet, but I guess that we will see tomorrow.

As for what is on the agenda tomorrow, I can't quite tell yet. I am thinking that I want to do a whole bunch of standing poses but I am also feeling a nice full spectrum practice coming on. We shall see.

Something that I have been mulling over for awhile now is how I can support folks in their practices the rest of the week. And I think that essentially I will just offer what I am offering to myself. I am making the effort right now to get on my mat at least 5 days every week. This is including the group practices. The days at home I can really only have 45 minutes, but I make those 45 minutes really count. I use a timer and I have the sequence laid out before I begin and I make every minute count. Christina gave me an alternating backbend and forward fold sequence that we have dubbed "Meg's 45 minute survival practice" and it really works. And then at some other point during the day when I am alone I spend at least 10 minutes on a focused meditation. (I will offer more on that as it unfolds for me more.)

This is what I am thinking of for you. Over the weekend I will put together a 45 minute sequence with each minute accounted for. And you can print it out and there you go. If you make it to practice on both days, then all that you have to do is roll out your mat at home 3 times. And give yourself 45 minutes. How amazing is that. And trust me on this. It works! This will put you into your practice in a way that 2 times a week simply will not.

So check for it on Sundays. This will be sweet.