Solstice Weekend Workshop with Christina Sell

It is here folks. Really the yoga event of the year here in Viroqua. Really the yoga event of the year in Wisconsin in my opinion, but that is another story. We have a great and a varied group of people signed up for various sessions throughout the weekend. And, of course, it is not to late to register. Not at all.

I myself am very excited. In fact, I have seen a number of folks around town who appear to actually be vibrating with excitement. And not the ungrounded, up, outside of myself excitement at all. It is more along the lines of really knowing deeply that I and quite a number of my community members are going to be participating in a weekend experience that has the primary intent of connecting us each more deeply to our own greatness, our own potential and the grace that abides in each of our own hearts. That sounds like magic to me. And I know that I keep on saying how great that it is happening right here in our very own town, but it is and this is why. When you go away to a yoga workshop you have an experience that is deep and magical and trans formative on many levels. And then you go home and there can be a little bit of shock and let down that everything is exactly the same as how you left it. You had this experience out of the context of your everyday life and transforming your life to support such an experience can be hard to do once you are back in your life. You may feel at a real loss. (Not that going away for workshops or retreats are in any way bad. They are not. They are wonderful and something that I myself love and always look forward to. But there is always a great deal of reintegration involved upon return home). On the other hand, being IN the context of your own life and participating in something as potent as a weekend with a master yoga teacher is a real gift. Not just for all of the logistical reasons but really for the the fact that we get to really practice being our best selves and recognizing that in ourselves and one another in the the flow of our life. This is at the heart of cultivating a functional discipline toward our practice and in fostering sangha, when you are rolling out your mat next to the person whose house you bike by everyday.

So the weekend will be great. The longest days of the year are here and what better way to honor such fullness than 3 days of yoga. Can't wait.

wow what a week

And so it was. And so it is.

I have really been all over the place as this week started out a little bit backward around here. Chris was home Monday and Tuesday as I had some medical concerns that we had to address early in the week. And then was ordered to rest from said concerns and then Chris hit the road on Wednesday. Very odd for us.

I have recently started to take advantage of the light in the early morning to get up and enjoy some personal ritual. It has been awhile. It looks like this: wake up, neti, nasya, tea, meditation and then maybe a few poses before Maple inevitably comes padding out and we do all of her morning rituals. This has been great, save the fact that Maple is on to me and is waking up about 10 minutes earlier every day... The little rascal! Foiled!

But this is my theme right now. Do whatever I can, whenever I can, to attend to my well being. And even when it does not work out exactly like I had hoped, there is still just the beauty of maintaining that intention for myself. I am having some very interesting and seemingly powerful things up for myself lately: I have made a return to therapy after quite a few years, I have dove back in to my meditation practice, and I have started to look at some things in my life through new eyes, taking some bold steps toward allowing my own perspective of me to shift. Wow. So it is good. Ultimately good.

And I am gearing up for the workshop. I am so delighted to host Christina again. In one week. Believe it or not! We have a great group of people signed up and even more to come.

We will not be having class tomorrow as Chris is away. But Sunday is on. 6:30. It is amazing to do a full practice at that time of day. Perfect for summer.

Christina Sell's Workshop

OK. I am unable to put the pdf of the flyer for the workshop up on this site. bummer. So please contact me for any information and to register. 608-630-0228. Or scoopie7@yahoo.com. 2 weeks folks. 2 weeks.

Things are going well on the home front. The use of the early morning is becoming a reality. One that is working quite well for my family. Hoorah! So tomorrow we will be meeting for practice at 6:30am. Can't wait. Plan to work on lotus variations as well as sarvangasana to setubandasana. Sounds fun hunh?

The garden is going great guns which also makes me very happy. Eating Arugala and Salad greens now. Love it.

Hope everyone is well. See you in the am.

Something to consider

This morning's practice was lovely. Lovely. I have been getting on to my mat so infrequently that often when I do it just feels like ironing out all of the kinks. But today was a great flow of energy. Did I say lovely? And then after practice we appreciated what a beautiful day it is and how it is hard to get yourself to go indoors on such a beautiful day, even if it is to practice yoga with friends. And now that it school is out for the summer, and it is so light out so early, there really is nothing stopping us from moving the practice times up to an earlier slot. This was the conversation. And then my family arrived. And there was a full meltdown happening. Papa is super with his babes, but Eider likes to take a morning nap right around nine, and he is still really in the groove of mama making that happen for him. Can;t really blame him. So I started thinking. Eider really does not nurse in the early morning. In fact he is usually asleep until at least 7 (sometimes even 9, but I won't go into that) and never wants to nurse when he first wakes up. (Can you tell that he is having a hard time taking the bottle?) So, practicing from 6-8am might really work for my family. I shared this idea with Chris and he was nervous that it may wake folks, especially Maple, up before 6 which would be sad. But it may not. And I think that it is worth checking out. And there is big spectrum of earlier times: 6-8, 6:30-8:30, 7-9. We could play with it.

This brings me to another topic, which is something that I have been thinking about for awhile. I have been thinking about taking a break from teaching for a bit, mostly because of how much I am needing to get my own practice on track. And teaching without having much practice in my own being has always seemed silly to me not to mention downright challenging. So, after Christina's workshop (which is a mere 3 weeks away!), the Friday morning class will become a led practice, just like Sunday morning. I hope that this works out well for folks. I am certainly still available during these times to answer questions and to generally help folks out, but I will be practicing too, which I am much looking forward to.

So this week: Friday class as normal 9:30-11:15. And then Sunday, let try 6:30-8:30 am. Why not? And then we will see how folks would feel about moving up the Friday class time. I think that it will work quite well for folks. Just for the summer.

One final note, Christina Sell is coming! Send me your registration immediately! We are going to have an absolute blast. And if you haven't been exposed to the major marketing campaign of Kathy O'Rourke, I hope that you have the opportunity to experience her in action soon. She is amazing.

I will confirm the schedule later in the week. In the meantime, get into the garden, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy the sunshine!

No class Friday

Hi Gang,

I apologize for the late notice but we are not having class tomorrow morning. I am off to Maple's Kinderhaus for a sweet little ceremony to send off all of the children who will be going to kindergarten in the fall. Very sweet.

We will have practice on Sunday 9-11am. I am not sure what focus right now, but I am thinking many timed standing poses and some hips, forward folds and maybe sirsasana, sarvangasana. I still have something wicked in my lungs that I am attempting to navigate around.

I also want to take a minute to apologize for my recent neglect of this site. I am exploring some pretty challenging situations in my parenting and between that, the garden and trying to do anything with my own practice, I am left without any time to spare.

I am going to put a link up over the weekend for Christina's workshop so that you can just download the pdf for registration. That should make things easier for folks.

Alright. Enjoy the holiday weekend. It is beautiful out.

reflections

What a lovely class this morning! We had a nice group and I think that everyone had some great openings with the sequence that we did. The magical Anusara template. It is highly effective.

I shared some personal stuff at the beginning of class and I think that softened folks up a bit, and when we can get soft and open like that right off the bat it really makes the practice sweet. Really.

Anyhow. I love teaching, I love practicing, and I love guiding people toward an opening. So with all of that, it was a pretty fabulous morning.

I hope to see some folks on Sunday. I know that it is mother's day, but I cannot really think of a better way of starting mothers day than with a practice. I am going to follow another JF sequence. Magical.

Also, please let me know soon if you are interested in Christina's workshop. It is only 6 weeks away!

mmmmmm

Springing into summer that is for sure.

Well, everything is moving here, that is for sure. It is pretty much non-stop. All thrilling of course.

Kids are great. Maple is almost a free bird for the summer and I think that she will be a bit sad about that unless her mama comes up with a slew of brilliant activities. I am thinking lots of friends and lots of swimming... Eider. Well Eider is just splendid. we are all in-love and in-awe of Eider.

I have opened up a huge patch of earth for the new garden. Nothing is planted as of yet as I wait for it to stop raining so much and for my neighbor to get in there again with his super tiller. But the plans have been made and that is exciting now as we watch them unfold.

The chicken plan is still in the works. I will keep you updated. But hopefully many chicks sometime in June. We need to refab one of the sheds for them. Can't wait. Really.

Also, Chris just got me a new bike which I am both very grateful for and also very excited (scared!) to learn how to ride. The women's group ride is starting up this Tuesday and I hope to be there every other week when Gramma is here. I need to get out sans bebes and get my but in gear. We all need that of me...

And Yoga. Hmmmh. Lets see. Where to begin? Well, I need to come up with a better plan than my current one. That is for sure. My current one has me with child(ren) non-stop from Monday until sometime on Thursday by which point I have officially lost my mind and I do not even know how to go anywhere once given the opportunity. So my practice is really suffering for it and I am needing to reconfigure my use of time. I am even contemplating hanging up my hat after Christina's workshop (nigh 6 weeks away! Oh My!). But there is no telling as of yet. I just need to strengthen my relationship with my own practice. Which for anyone who knows me knows that this is a very big deal as this has most often come very easily for me. I am blessed in this way as far as my physical practice has been concerned. That is not to say that it is not hard for me it is more to the point that getting and being on my mat has never really been very hard. Right now, different story. Which is kind of catapaulting me into an identity crisis of sorts. More on that later perhaps.

So this weekend is mothers day and as a gift to you and to me, class tomorrow is going to be a led practice, free of charge. Sequence a la John Friend. Wahoo. So I hope this pleases.

I am off to put the eyes on Maple's horse. It turned out very well (in case there are any knitters who actually read this...)