Home/Travel Practice – Part 2

I heard the Buddhist monk, Lopon Tashi of Pescadero, Baja, once describe how to find meaning in one’s life. He had an interesting analogy. Finding meaning in your life is like becoming an alcoholic. If you want to become an alcoholic, you can’t just go to the store, buy a bottle, and drink the whole thing. That would make you sick! You become an alcoholic over time, not all at once. Strange analogy, I know. His point is that to have a meaningful life, you must have small amounts of meaning each day. Over time your life becomes meaningful. Only you can decided what is meaningful.

Maybe this week you will take one small action that your future self will find meaningful. Only you can connect the individual pieces, and then step back to see the whole picture.

The MOST important part of having a regular practice is to understand that there will be ups and downs. Emotional, physical, and mental. You will have injuries that keep you from practicing. You will have difficulties working around your schedule or others. That’s life!

If you made a small location in your home and you haven’t visited it in a while, do not judge yourself. Accept it and move on. Allow these practices to weave in and out of your life. Allow it to evolve and change, just like everything else in our lives. If something stays in one place for a while, dust will collect. Let yourself evolve and not collect too much dust. 

If you have been to one of my classes, you have heard me mention that the physical movement of yoga is not the ONLY yoga there is. As this weekly blog moves into a monthly blog over the Summer, we will be exploring other ways you can apply Yoga in your life. 

Be grateful for the times are you able to practice and forget the rest. The goal is not perfection.  Living a life more in the present is not easy. When you need a little help, 

This Week’s Classes

(Las clases de esta semana)

This week we spoke about how to follow your breath. How to find the brief pause between the inhale and the exhale. Locating this space between the breath can help you stay in the moment. Not just in a yoga class, but maybe when you find your mind racing. Particularly when it’s racing around the same old track. Repeating the same story over and over.

Click here to see the How to follow the breath video

We also learned our final posture, the standing flow. A series of basic postures that can be done standing without yoga props. Using these postures to gently move the body with the breath. It doesn’t matter how you look, it doesn’t matter how “deep” you go in the postures. I just want you to move with your breath and have it lead into and out of the postures.

Click here to see the full Yandara Standing flow.

Homework/Tareas

Last week we practiced the Jellyfish Breath. A breath that focuses on moving the diaphragm and activating the transverse abdominals (deep muscles around the stomach). Below you will find a video and description of how to practice this breath. Maybe you can try this a few time this week?

The top of a jellyfish looks like a mushroom with tentacles hanging down. When a jellyfish moves through the water, the mushroom cap expands like your diaphragm when you inhale. On the exhale, the jellyfish contracts, propelling its self through the water. Think about the tentacles as your deep stomach muscles, hugging the spine from all sides.

1. Begin sitting in a chair with your feet on the floor and your spine long. Hold a yoga block or pillow between your knees.
2. Place one hand over your heart and the other on your lower abdomen.
3. Without moving your chest and shoulders, slowly INHALE and expand your diaphragm from all sides of the body. Like the cap of the jellyfish.
4. On the exhale imagine the tentacles of the jellyfish hugging in to the middle of the body. 
5. Toward the end of your exhale, lightly squeeze the pillow to feel the the deep stomach muscles.
6. Repeat the process for five minutes.

Click here to see a video explanation.

Schedule(Programar)

Click here to see my current class schedule.

Upcoming Events/ Eventos

• Basic Yoga ~ Tuesdays 9am until April 4th (Last Class of Season).
• Restorative Yoga ~ Thursdays 9am until April 6th (Last Class of Season).
• Classes Canceled April 9th-18th.
• Donation Yoga ~ Saturdays 9am until June.

Quote of the Week

(Expresar por la semana)

“If you restore balance in your own self, you will be contributing immensely to the healing of the world.”

~ Deepok Chopra