Welcome New Yogis!

To the new yogis from my beginner's class this morning, welcome to YogiSticks! I hope this blog gives you a glimpse into the many facets of a yoga lifestyle, as well as some practical information on creating your own practice using the drawings and class outlines as a guide. I'd like to recommend some posts to my new readers: Why do Yoga?, Savasana, Om, and Beginner's Yoga as a brief overview of common yoga practices. 

Again, welcome to the wonderful world of yoga. I hope you have found a "home away from home" with the studio and in my classes.

Namaste.

Back to School Yoga

As I pack my own kids off to school, I try to remind them to think and behave like a yogi: kind in thought and action, breathe, be present and aware, etc. Here is a great article that goes even further.

Have a wonderful school year - and thank you to all the teachers out there!

Guided Meditation

Usually, I lead my students into savasana with a brief relaxation technique - picturing something, mentally tracing the outline of their body, special breathing, etc. Last week, I used a guided meditation from the book "Complete Relaxation" by Steven Kravette. It's an older book (1979) and the writing is a combination of poetry and prose. After a great amount of positive feedback, I figured I should post the meditation - maybe you can use it, too!

Clean That Mat!

Eventually, most of us come to realize that the practice of yoga is more than just poses on the mat. It begins to seep into every aspect of our lives. One way to practice your yoga is through saucha, the cleanliness of body, mind, and environment. To that end, here's a recipe for cleaning your mat:

The recipe is simple.

• one part vinegar
• three parts water
• 10 drops tea tree oil (optional)
• a couple drops lavender oil (optional)

Practice saucha and keep your mat clean

You could put this in a spray bottle, or just place your mat in a bathtub, barely cover with lukewarm water, pour in a couple glugs of vinegar and dashes of oils. Then swish it around for a bit. Lift the mat out of the water and hang outside on an overcast day to dry (this could take a while, and too much direct sun can break down the mat material).

Is Sitting Lethal?

This New York Times article seems to think so...

Schedule for the Summer

Over the summer, I will still be teaching at 5:30 on Mondays and 7:00 on Wednesdays at the Yoga 4 All studio. Additionally, from June 7th through July 5th,  I will be subbing on Indian Shores on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 a.m.  The classes are in the Indian Shores Community Center next door to the Salt Rock Grill and they are only $6! I hope you can make it - maybe we'll go to the Lighthouse for coffee and donuts after class?

5-9 Wide Angles, 5-11 Twists, 5-16 Lotus

 Lots of internal rotation (Warrior 1, pyramid, Warrior 3, yoga splits, hero) and external rotation (tree, wide angle series, frog, janu sirsasana) of the hips in tonight's class.

Quote for class: "No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit." -Helen Keller

 Is there anyone who doesn't love a twist (whether in yoga or with Chubby Checker)? Wringing out your spine is such a treat, but finding ways to reach each part of our spine is sometimes a challenge. Hopefully the twist variations we did in Wednesday evening's class got to the good stuff for you!

Melody Beattie provided the quote for tonight: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, rings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

Oh, lotus pose! The iconic stereotype of a yogi deep in meditation. If only getting into this pose was as peaceful as the image in our minds! Here's the thing: if your knees are aching in the pose (first, don't do it!), then it is probably your hips that are tight.  So tonight we worked through some poses aimed at stretching and stabilizing our "body's junk drawer".

Tonight's quote was from a French proverb: "Gratitude is the heart's memory"