Yoga on the Go: Try This NOW....

Ok, stop. Whatever you are doing. Reading this, playing on your computer. Sitting in a chair with terrible posture. Stop.

Stand up. Reach up over head. Fill your lungs. Feel gratitude for life as you exhale.

Now bring your palms together in front of your heart. Lace your fingers to one another. Circle your wrists.

Release your hands. Bring them behind you to interlace at your low back. Push your knuckles toward the floor and open your heart.

Inhale.
Exhale.

Now, you may return to your terrible posture. Thank you for loving yourself.

The Five Elements

The Five Elements of Yoga





Photo credit: Sprengben [why not get a friend] / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA





Found in the Chakras

I came across this amazing photo and was reminded of the elements related to our Chakras: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. Chakras are energetic discs that spin along our shushumna nadi and link our physical body with the greater cosmos. Artist Alex Grey has depicted this system in his art series the Chamber of Mirrors.



Alex Grey's Psychic Energy painting shows the Chakras along Shushumna Nadi



From Roots to the Heavens

The first Chakra, at the base of our spine, is Muladhara and connected to our roots. It is related to our basic needs (Food, Shelter, Security, Elimination). Our roots connect to the EARTH, and this is where we are able to find the resources we need to ground, to discover our core and get the nourishment for which we can grow from.

Moving up our spine we encounter Svadisthana, our second Chakra. This Chakra is related to the element WATER and is located near our reproductive organs. This energy is used for the reproduction of a human, and also used for creative endeavors. Svadisthanka Chakra also houses our emotions (note: MOTION!) and can flow tears, burst laughter and contain the river of experiences between.

FIRE is the quality of Manipurna, our third Chakra. This is contained in our Solar Plexus, the seat of our sun. The big, barrel chested WWE wrestler walks in a way that thrusts his third Chakra forward, symbolizing power and force. Our fire can also been stifled by forward-rolling posture (think of the 95 year old who is nearing her life's end, her posture will show diminishing fire with the forward rounding), by poor digestion or eating highly processed and non-organic food. Our third Chakra is connected to our passion and our purpose and it connects the heavier elements with the lighter ones of our heart, voice and intuition.

Our heart center is called Anahata Chakra and related to the AIR element. Air is movement and the Anahata Chakra is the source of our ideas and love. This air flows down through our arms to envelop others into a hug, and it flows upward to feed ideas to our throat Chakra. Our heart is filled by the purification of earth and water elements by burning fire, and the smoke and steam that rises up informs our heart as to our passions, creative satisfactions and foundational capacity to support ourselves.

The 5th element along our Chakra journey is ETHER, the element of Visudu Chakra, or our throat Chakra. Our throat serves as a bottleneck and filter for all of the ideas and expansion of our heart as it emerges into the world. Ether is expansive and flows beyond our atmosphere. The old saying, "Be careful what you wish for," is quite literal in regards to our speech. What we speak about is a call to what we are manifesting in our lives.

Agni Chakra (our 3rd eye, between our eyebrows) is the center of our intuition and Sahasrara Chakra (our crown, or 1,000 petal lotus) is our gateway to higher knowing, or god. Sahasrara Chakra is very open in babies, in that soft spot of their head, as spirit is moving into their body over the first year of life.

Stay tuned for some yoga practices to awaken the different Chakra centers, and move forward with curiosity!

King and Queen of Asana

Upside down and inside out!

What is the most unused form of movement our gravity-laden planet allows us to experience? Why, 3 dimensional boundlessness of course! We may not be able to experience that anytime soon, but going upside down on a regular basis can give us a hit of what it could be like. Join me on Sunday, November 4th for afternoon of Headstands and Shoulderstands. Learn how to safely approach these poses for your unique body and how to soar into a new relationship with gravity. Maybe next month we can explore life without gravity....

Atha Yoga Nusa Shanam: NOW is the dicipline of yoga

How to make yoga a part of you every day life: do it NOW!

Wow! What an amazing experience to have my 18month old son not only do downward facing dog, upward facing dog and burpees....NOW he can do warrior I and warrior II!!! How can you do yoga like my little man? Try this NOW!!!

Time for Warrior I

Stand up. Yes, stand up and look at your computer monitor. 

1. Give yourself a good 4 feet of space behind you.
2.  Place both hands on your hips and use them as guides to keep your hips squared forward (toward your computer monitor :)). 
3. Step your right foot as far back as you can while keeping your hips squared forward. You feet will remain about hips width apart side to side.
4.  Bend your front knee right over you ankle and check to see your front toes are facing forward. You back foot will be angled strongly so the outer pinky-toe side of you foot can touch the ground completely with your hips orientated forward. 
5. Holding your strong Warrior I stance stretch your arms up to the sky, lengthen your spine and waist and tip your head back to gaze beyond your thumbs. 
6. Hold for at least five deep breaths, then do the other side.

Time for Warrior II

Alright! Ready for Warrior II? Of course you are. Stand up again and get ready!

1. Again, give yourself about 4 feet of space behind you.
2. Step back as you did before, only plant your back foot so that the heal of your front foot intersects the arch of your back one.
3. Extend your arms out from your shoulders, in a T position from your torso. See that your ankles are below your wrists.
4. Keeping your hips open, bend your front knee over your ankle again. Look down to make sure you can see your front big toe and your knee does not collapse inward. 
5. Strengthen your back leg to help keep your hips broad and open and root down through the pinkie toe side of your foot again.
6. Stretch your arms from your shoulders and soften your shoulders away from your ears. 
7. Energize your fingers and smile! Hold for five deep breaths, then do the other side.

Feeling Warrior-tastic? Do it again! If an 18month old can do it, so can you! And the beauty of the little man's yoga is that he doesn't make a big deal about it. Rarely does he use a mat, dress in his fancy yoga tights and play new-age music. He just does it as a part of his ever day life. Lessons from the young!

Enjoy your adventures, yogi warriors!

Effective Content

How exciting! At this moment I am in a class to create effective blogs so I can better serve YOU...my readers...and help you bring the joy of movement into this delightful life. I will also be blogging for The Ski Journal magazine for Yoga for Skiiers! I welcome your coments and look forward to the inspired, intuitive, mindful and conscious human beings that will be inhabiting our planet, and sincerely hope that I can assist with this movement!

Yoga Fundraiser for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

On June 10th from 3-5pm I will be leading a donation yoga class as a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Please read about Dee Dee's story at www.littleminstrels.blogspot.com/2012/02/little-minstrels-to-benefit-leukemia.html
Join us at 3oms yoga, 1210 Bay Street in Downtown Bellingham ....they have graciously donated the space to use. No Pre-registration required, just be on time and be ready for an adventure!

Authentic Movement

   I am presently involved in a practice called Authentic Movement. It is magical, revealing, personal and community based. You move, you are witnessed and you witness. I notice how full circle everything becomes as I delve into this practice. How people move the same, with their eyes closed, almost as if it were planned. I pause and watch. How I long for both connection and solitude in my movement. Its very interesting.
   I notice this same sense of awareness in my everyday life, and that is the intention of this practice....to see your reflection in your everyday life. How I long for both connection and solitude. To be alone in nature and my being, and to be in company and witnessed safely. Surely I can not be the only one who feels this way.
   As I see people move the same unbeknown to them, I wonder who longs for the connection and the solitude like I do, I know someone has this same conflict. The balance of this conflict is what I presently refer to as home.
   Where do you find your home right now?