Becoming flexible is not the goal. Standing on your hands is not the goal.

The goal is to create space where you were once stuck. To unveil the layers of protection you’ve built around your heart. To appreciate your body and become aware of the mind and the noise it creates. To make peace with who you are.

The goal is to love, well… You.

Come to your yoga mat to feel; not to accomplish.

Ashtanga  Week 6:  October 30-November 5

Continued emphasis on Ujjayi Pranayama (victorious breath)  Mula Bandha (root lock) Uddiyana Bandha (abdominal lock) drishti (directed gazing point) and asana including several finishing poses.

Introducing:

Seated poses, nadi sodhana- alternate nostril Pranayama (4th limb) followed by Dhyana -meditation (5th limb)

2nd Niyama  (2nd limb…practice/observance) Santosha – Contentment

Santosha is not an acquired state, something we have to gain or achieve or work actively towards. Rather, according to many traditions, santosha is a quality of being. It is a quality that we already hold within us. It is simply buried beneath our expectations, fears, aversions, attachments, and desires. (Only a few, simple obstacles!)  https://www.thehouseofyoga.com/magazine/seventh-key-inner-transformation-santosha

 Continued homework….a down dog and child pose a day (5 breaths)

Highly encourage students to start the free online 21 day meditation with Oprah and Deepak.  It starts Oct. 30.  If you miss the starting date, still register as you have 5 days to go back and start.

oprah.com/meditation

This Autumn, let something die.

A worry, a relationship, a project that has run its course. Let go of anxiety over the future. Let go of guilt.

Let go of other people’s dreams for you. Let go of the fear that happiness or success or love or joyousness somehow isn’t for you.

Let go of feeling unwanted. Go outside, can you feel how deeply your presence is craved here?

Let go of the small and burdensome things. Gifts never opened. Keys without a lock. Broken earrings, old love letters, the ephemera on your fridge.
As David Whyte writes, “Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.” This Autumn, let go of all the clothes you have outgrown.
Let go of comparison.
Let go of doubt.
Let go of the feeling that you are somehow not good enough.
Because every imperfect apple that lays soft in your hands, and every ray of low Autumn sunlight that warms you through woolens will tell you a different story, a much truer story. The story that you are more, much more, than enough. That you bless this world simply by being alive.
-Asia Suler, Woolgathering & Wildcrafting

https://woolgatheringwildcrafting.com/2017/10/

Ashtanga  Week 5:  October 23-29

Continued emphasis on Ujjayi Pranayama (victorious breath)  Mula Bandha (root lock) Uddiyana Bandha (abdominal lock) drishti (directed gazing point) and asana.

Full integration of these tools in a vinyasa flow.

Introducing:

Emphasis on twists in the Standing Sequence to wring out the old and soak up the new…detoxing benefits.  Also, finishing poses in the Primary Series-Beginning with back-bending and progressing through inversions and hip openers, the finishing sequence of Ashtanga yoga serves to consolidate the benefits of the complete practice and calm the nervous system, heart, and mind.

2nd Limb-Niyama, has to do with self-discipline and observances. Practicing the first Niyama (5 in total)

Shaucha (purification)….“you can’t throw mud without dirtying your own hands”

https://www.thehouseofyoga.com/magazine/sixth-key-inner-transformation-shaucha

Continued homework….a down dog and child pose a day (5 breaths)