Nov 09

Winter Class Schedule

Happy Friday, everyone!

I made it back from Chicago feeling super pumped about getting classes starting again next week. I hope you’re as excited as I am to get back into the groove! Before I forget, for those of you who currently have monthly memberships, we will credit you one extra week due to this past week when I was gone.

With winter (ski season) upon us, I will be working more and more at Cross Country Ski Headquarters and will therefore not be able to teach as many classes as usual throughout the week. But there will be yoga all winter long, I promise you that! The schedule is basically the same except for a couple of classes that have been removed from the schedule. Also worth noting is that once winter is over and we get into spring, more classes will be added to the weekly schedule as ski season winds down. Here is the Winter Schedule, beginning next Monday, November 12th:

Monday 8:30am-9:30am: Gentle Yoga
Tuesday 6:00am-7:00am: Core/Empower (alternating)
Tuesday 6:00pm-7:00pm: Gentle Yoga
Wednesday 8:30am-9:30am: Empower Yoga (in Grayling)

As usual when we start a new schedule, we’ll give it a couple weeks to smooth out any bumps and see how it works with everyone’s schedule before completely setting it in stone. I’m open to feedback too, so give me a shout if you have any serious qualms with this schedule.

Last but not least, mark your calendars for Saturday, December 22nd for the first ever Yoga Ski Retreat! Kick off your holidays with a blissful day of yoga, skiing, and food! The day begins at 9:00am with a mild yet invigorating Gentle Yoga class at the Gerrish Township Fire Hall, then it’s off to Cross Country Ski Headquarters for a full day ski rental, trail and facilities pass, and hour long group ski lesson with a friendly, knowledgeable instructor. Top it all off with a delicious lunch at the Stone Turtle Day Lodge café, and enjoy the rest of the day skiing or relaxing by the huge field stone fireplace! Both lessons are taught in a welcoming, beginner-friendly environment, and all are invited to participate, including newbies to yoga, skiing or both! Over a $60 value for only $35 if you pre-register. $45 if you register the day-of. You can pre-register online by clicking forward to December 22nd on our online class schedule: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/adm/home.asp?studioid=29064 or by calling me at 989-302-7928.

I think that’s all for now. Have a great weekend, see you next week! Namaste.

Oct 30

A Couple Schedule Changes

Hello yogis!

I hope everyone is surviving our crazy bit of weather, and that all friends and relatives out east and to the south are safe.

A couple last minute schedule changes for this week – Chair Yoga is cancelled tomorrow (Wednesday) night due to Trunk or Treat, and Thursday evening’s Core Yoga class is 5:30pm-6:30pm this week due to a township meeting. Everything else this week is normal.

Next week is election week, plus I’ll be out of town in Chicago for a mini vacation and a couple intensive yoga workshops with Ana Forrest (a very inspiring and intense yogi… watch this video (or copy paste this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTcLhOlIk5I&noredirect=1 if you’re curious about arm balancing). Because of this, we will not be holding class next week. We’ll resume classes the following week with our winter schedule, which I will post in the coming days.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to share your practice… It is inspiring beyond words to witness everyone’s practices growing in their own unique ways! Keep up the great work, keep welcoming that inward awareness, and keep smiling.

Have a great week! Namaste.

Oct 15

Class Schedule for this week

Hello everyone!

Hopefully you’re all staying warm in this wet weather. A couple notes about the schedule this week:

Gentle Yoga on Tuesday evening (10/16) has been cancelled due to an event at the Township Hall that evening. Tuesday evening class will resume the following week. Early Tuesday class (6am) will still take place this week.

Chair Yoga will be back at its original time of 5:30pm this Wednesday evening. The feedback was very positive after our first Chair class, and even a couple yogis who normally attend Gentle Yoga enjoyed the change of pace. Feel free to spread the word, or give it a try yourself!

Lastly, there is something I heard over the weekend at a yoga class that really stuck with me, and that I want to share with you. I took a class with Philip Urso, a Vinyasa teacher who taught a great, challenging class of about 80 people. Before the class he was talking about the power of forgiveness, and how the things about ourselves that we haven’t forgiven, or that we think are unforgivable, can manifest themselves in our yoga practice as as a blockage – a discomfort or difficulty with certain poses. His answer wasn’t to just plow through the discomfort, be annoyed or frustrated by it, ignore it, or shift our attention to something else. It was to send love to the source of that discomfort; to welcome that sensation with love and forgiveness, not aggression, irritation, or ignorance. (He was not talking about pain, mind you – pain should be avoided at all costs.) I find sometimes in yoga, especially with balancing poses, students will lose their balance and suddenly become visibly disappointed or frustrated. Instead of getting pissed off or sad, why not greet that situation with love and a smile? So what if I’m more flexible on one side than the other, or if I can’t touch my toes today but I could last week. What’s not to love about ourselves and our little idiosyncrasies? They are what make us unique.

Philip, this teacher, strongly believed this. In face, he would make us say “ha ha ha” every time we would lose our footing in a balancing posture during the class. It didn’t take long before the whole room was laughing. His message was simple and beautiful: to greet uncomfortable situations in our yoga practice, our bodies, and in our lives with an open, loving , forgiving heart.

Just some food for thought as you kick off your week. Hope to see all of you in class soon. Om shanti, shanti, shanti – Happy Fall!