Appreciate your process

This week's class was titled "appreciate your process".  Students were invited to appreciate "all of it".  Whatever your story is, wherever you are coming from, it all got you here, it's all sacred.  

This time on the mat is a time to refresh and rejuvenate.  And through the breath & the poses an experiential way to find gratitude and appreciation for yourself and your process.  We're all in a process of learning.  That's what life is all about.  We all have ups & downs, wins & losses.  To have appreciation for your process is such a humane, kind way to be with yourself.  

So our asana practice included  "all of it".... twists, strengthening flows, inversions, linking balancing poses, forward folds, and backbends.  Letting this time be a time of gratitude for all the people who have helped you, and all the moments that have gotten you to this very moment.  For all the moments that have brought you to this place where you're taking care of yourself and practicing.    Namaste, Lynn

Strength

My lovely retreat assistants, Cathy & Mikayla.  We had the most delightful day at Hidden Villa last Sunday for my Yoga & Writing Retreat.  The weather was wintry but sunny which allowed us to get out on the grounds and take a meditation walk at lunchtime.  Yogis got strong and sweaty as well as explored several topics through writing.  We explored concepts of obstacles and feeling at home within ourselves.  Thank you for all who attended and made it such a special community gathering.  

This week's class was about strength.  We moved through a whole body functional strength flow.  Sometimes when we focus on strength, we do longer holds in the poses.   This week was kind of the opposite of that.  We found strength in the flow, in the transition, toggling and hovering in and out of poses.  The sequence offered fresh ways of approaching classic poses and flows.  Students were "all in" and had fun hovering their hand above the ground in triangle to build side body strength.  In cresent twist and chair twist, students floated their elbow above their knee to gain strength in the rotational muscles of their core.  We slowed it down with pigeon, a couple variations of locust and one final glorious cobra pose before a sweet savasana.  

Art & Science

Photo compliments of one of my favorite artists:   Kit Night  

Moving into January, my wish for you is a year of peace and possibility and a kaleidoscope of kindness ... and lots of yoga :) 

This week's class was: Art & Science.  Is yoga an art or a science or both? Scientific evidence teaches us how the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body.  When we step on the mat, we learn the "science" of the practice ... we learn the mechanics and the techniques of alignment.  It's important to align the body in safe ways, but the science only serves to the extent that it supports a greater artistic freedom.  We take time to be skillful, but then we allow for spirit,  for the inner dancer, the inner artist.

Let the breath inform and motivate the movement ... that is how we become a little more sophisticated and cultivate an artistic expression through the poses.  Yoga practice gives us the chance to fine-tune our skills so we become more skillful/artful in our lives.  

We practiced balancing and hip poses culminating in some fun varieties of bird of paradise.    Namaste, Lynn

 

New Years class

Yoga seems like the most blissful way to start 2018.  For class this week, we didn't focus on resolutions or anything that needed to be fixed or changed.  

It was a class to celebrate our beloved poses and toast this miraculous practice and our extraordinary selves.  A practice getting out of our heads, and into our bodies ... creating space and cultivating light and receptivity.  

In a sense we looked at the building blocks of resolutions by stepping into that place of "just this".  Just this beauty, just this steadiness, just this breath, just this peace.  Learning this deep state of presence helps you with any goal, dream or resolution.  We had fun and built strength with chair into boat into chair pose and variations of Warrior 3.  

May the work you put in serve you in new ways.  Namaste, Lynn

Cultivate light

Young pigs @ Hidden Villa on 12-31-17:

Perhaps there has been a challenge or a bit of darkness and we step on the mat to turn up the light a little bit brighter ... to spark the light in our life a little bit more.

Spark your day with this flow.  Create some space for light.  So that's what we did :)  We focused on releasing the hips, while also inverting, opening the upper back & hamstrings, and an optional arm balance from ardha matsyendrasana .  The invitation of the class was to let each breath fill your body with light, to fill the space around you with light.  Then when you exhale, you can share that luminosity.  

At the end of practice, we took a moment to appreciate the time we took to practice today, to cultivate light in a sometimes dark world ... so we can offer that light to others and make a difference.  To that we bowed our heads.  Namaste.