Let the Music Move You

In the lastest Yoga Journal, which I was reading last night after the Art Walk, there is an article about incorporating live music into Yoga classes. " ...where there is no musician, no yogi - where we all disappear into a common from of breath and movement .. a deeply inspiring relationship ... sound touches someone and (we're) really able to receive."

You are my student-friends, so I know that you know how big a part music plays in our classes together. I was so thrilled to read this article, especially since I get the opportunity to offer this type of experience to you now on Friday nights! Hot Happy Hour is an hour long class with Lucius Wheeler (a DJ and rockin' percussionist) providing the rhythms. The 2nd Friday of each month (that this coming Friday!) will be an extended Rhythmic Flow class with Lucius, Matt Bade, Emily Lewis, and an intermix of Colin Tinsdale and Peter Lear (and before he left Bend for grad school - Andrew Godlstein) offering us their sounds to move to.

I am really excited about this class ... and I hope you will be too.

"Before Zoloft, before Paxil, before St. John's Wort, before Freud or Jung, there was rhythm ... it was how we healed ourselves ..." -Micheline Berry, yoga teacher, Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, Venice CA

Hot Happy Hour | Friday 6:00-7:00pm 1st Friday | no class 2nd Friday | Extended Rhythmic Flow class 6:00-7:45pm We'll have a potluck after this class, so please bring something to share, we have a fridge and microwave in the kitchen at the loft.

Free from the "I" and "mine"

Class Reading 4/25 Creative Flow Free from the "I" and "mine," from aggression, arrogance, greed, desire, and anger, he is fit for the state of absolute freedom. Serene in this state of freedom, beyond all desire ad sorrow, seeing all beings as equal. - Bhagavad Gita

Is this possible? I think so. I have come to believe that "I" and "mine," aggression, arrogance, greed, desire, and anger are mistakes that we can stop making. As the Bhagavad Gita suggests, a more perfect understanding of who we are will place us beyond the concepts of desire and sorrow, and once we know who we are, we ca see all beings as equal. Until then, thought, there will be pain, because we are not operating with all the facts at our disposal. We look out into the world and become confused. With one foot in delusion and the other in grace, we experience conflict, sadness, and the constraints of time. Some of us, however, have moved beyond delusion, let go of our false personas, and spent time in direct contact with samadhi. Those moments of connection and deep understanding support the notion of spiritual growth, spiritual health. Our situation is dynamic, we are ever changing, and if we listen to the promptings of our hearts and act with faith, we will grow up and become adults, in the true sense of the word.

from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates

Homework!

Homework Assignment #1 Headstand prep: dolphin push-ups  extra credit: raise each leg 3x each side 

Homework Assignment #2 Pinch-prep: dolphin push-ups with pinch arm (elbows in line with shoulders, hands should distance apart) extra credit: raise each leg 3x each side

Homework Assignment #3 Hand-stand prep: from a mini down dog plant your hands under your shoulder and pulse forward just over your wrists extra credit: raise each leg 3x each side

Your reward for your homework is an increase confidence during inversions and the fun of going upside down without fear!

See you soon in class! With Love,

Kat

VAYU (the air element)

This month, we are working with the element of Air or Vayu, so that we can more deeply experience Prana in our bodies. Prana is the life force with in our bodies, and with in all living things, that enlivens us and makes us feel alive. Its the difference between a statue (or a rigidly held Yoga posture which we as Western Yogis experience all too often in class) and a living, breathing, embodied person.  "Breath is the life of beings, therefore it is called the life of all. Those to venerate it, live life to its full."

The Sanskrit word Prana as translates as "Pra" to fill "na" to breath, to live. My teacher Shiva Rea says that it is "the One breath breathing us all."

Specifically in class we are and will continue to explore 5 movements of Prana apana - downward, rooting  We experience this in the rooting sensation in our feet in standing postures providing stability. prana - rising, indrawing We experience this as we extend out to our fingertips when we extend our arms or legs, like in warrior 1 or dancing warrior. samana - contracts in the core We experience this when we hug our muscles to the bone or hug the midline of our body. In Anusara Yoga, we call it hugging to the midline, embracing the Divine that resides deep within your core.  vyana - expands omnidirectionally This is where we expand through or entire body, it makes the body light and strong.  udana - rises and moves outward  We will feel this as music rising from the core out through the heart and mouth as in the mantra Om.

The marriage between these movements of Prana is what gives us a feeling of life. The exchange between inhale and exhale, the dynamic movement of expansion and contraction, the play of life. So in our practices together this month, lets make our intention be, to experience our breath more fully. As always, I encourage you to not contain this practice to the mat only. Allow your breath to live fully through your awareness in each situation. Watch how you respond. 

See you soon! Kat

Class reading (4/11)

Read in Creative Vinyasa | 8-9am (4/11) "Physical practices are essentially about free participation in the breath. To be with the breath is to be with that which is breathing us. The body remains soft and structured around the breath movement and moving anatomy serves the breath process. The body movement is the breath movement and vice versa. The mind naturally participates in the process and becomes clear as it links to the whole body, the intelligence of Life. This may be a challenge but not a struggle. The challenge is within the breath limits, not in the musculature. Practices are designed for the individual and the real yoga is within everyone's capability. It is not an attempt to impose the mind's predetermined structuring of the anatomy or any cultural proposal. The breath too should not be overly controlled, but flow organically and smoothly within comfortably managed breath ratios. The goal of yoga is to un-qualify the mind, not qualify it. This occuras through intimacy with body, breath and mind as one process. Finally this goal itself is seen to be an obstruction and unnecessary because the living organism already stands in its intelligence; the natural state. There are no steps to be taken." -Yoga of Heart: The Healing Power of Intimate Connection -Mark Whitwell