This essay is from Diana Reed, a yoga instructor in Hernando county. It was printed in the St.
Petersburg Times this morning (8-28-10), and it struck a chord with me. See what you think:
"Have you had an apple lately? Do you notice that the minute you bite into that red or green crunchy fruit, the flesh begins to change?
What was once pure, untouched and untainted begins to stain an
d brown, reacting to the air around it. The tender seeds within the apple are now exposed, assaulted by the atmosphere.
The apple has been invaded.
And yet, when its seeds are left on the ground, when they are tossed to the side, they find new ground. They take new root, sinking deep
into the soil then pushing toward the light, sipping sweet water. To grow again.
We are apples. Many times
throughout our lives our coverings are ruptured. We bruise and brown, taint and sour.
Where we once thought we were free of emotional turmoil or strife, we find a new bite into our psyches, a new rupture to our hearts or a new stain on our souls. Like the apples' flesh, we react to the world around us.
We notice the change in the air, the raised voice, the unfriendly gesture, the lie revealed.
We discolor again and again. We may look for untouched pars of ourselves but there is always something around the corner that we didn't expect. Something we didn't see coming, an eating away, an eroding.
But what if we were more like the seeds? What if when we are tossed aside, we find new soil? What if we rooted in, drew down, then up...and grew?
Learning to see our core reveals the depth of what makes us who we are and teaches us that no matter how many times the flesh is ripped, the see remains unchanged.
The see within knows what it needs to carry on. It searches for fertile soil, or even digs into rocky ground. It drives its new fragile roots
into the earth and points its young sapling toward the heavens. It drinks the clean water life provides, wraps itself in viable sunlight and rises...rises...rises.
Have you had an apple lately?"
Let's give our bodies the chance to take full breaths of air! To stop slouching! To digest our food properly! All we are saying is (sing along if you know it...) is give chest expansion a chance! 
Shoulders were the focus of practice Wednesday night. Be mindful - shoulders are delicate, so do not push them to "pain". Sensation and heat are fine, but not wincing or grimacing.
We powered up the legs on Monday (and great turn-out, by the way! Thank you so much for coming to practice!). 
Psoas work tonight! Wait...what kind of work? Is that appropriate language to use on a family-friendly yoga blog? Yes. Yes it is.
Our pigeons came home to roost in class tonight (and thanks for the wonderful turnout! I love yoga parties!). Pigeon is all about our hip rotators (the buttocks area of the front leg) and our hip flexors (along the front of the straight leg's thigh and pelvis. Plus it is internal rotation of the back leg and external rotation of the front. No wonder it is such a challenging - and rewarding - pose!
I wanted to give our low backs some relief tonight, so the poses and flows were chosen to stretch and strengthen the back muscles, as well as the abdominals and other supporting muscles. Triangle, Revolved Triangle, and Half Moon were all done along the wall to aid in alignment.
Monday evening's class was all about our glutes. These muscles are of vital importance to our posture and back comfort. The practice explored some strength building as well as hip openers (especially frog and firelog).
I like to think of my body as having two distinct entities when I practice yoga, and my intent is to find the union between the two parts. In this practice, I wanted to imagine our "hara" center as the dividing line - the lower body grounding and rooting strength while the upper body flows and grows with grace. I hope you found this series well-rounded and useful.
Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1) was the focus of practice Monday night. The first Warrior pose is often more difficult than Warrior 2 since it has a strong twist of the torso to keep your headlights (hip pointers) facing forward. There are so many bits and pieces to this pose. The following list of "to-do's" in Warrior 1 is from the book, Cool Yoga Tricks by Miriam Austin: