Yoga, a Tool to Relieve Suffering

I often joke with my students that my favorite place to practice my calm, 3-part breathing is in the dentist's chair. I know there may be a few of you reading who actually enjoy the dentist, but let me tell you that it's one place where suffering arises for me. A lot. Not just physical suffering (although there's plenty of that to go around), but emotional suffering, too. I have a knack for beating myself up about my dental hygiene, if I'm not careful. After a few decades of unpleasant experiences at the dentist, I decided to try something different. I started using my yogic breathing and conscious relaxation techniques to calm down during my visits, and it really helped make my appointments more enjoyable. I even had a dental hygienist ask me if I was falling asleep once! Focusing on my breathing helps keep my mind away from the blame rut, and my physical practice allows me to relax into the chair without triggering my chronic pain.

During my most recent visit, my doctor found a chip in one of my many fillings, and asked me to stay to get it taken care of right away. That meant that instead of 60 minutes of dentist-chair practice, I got 90 minutes. While I was waiting for the anesthesia to take effect, I checked my emails, and found one from someone who had just been diagnosed with cancer. She and I knew each other from before my yoga days, when our children went to school together, and then she began coming to classes with me. As my mouth grew numb, my heart broke. I pictured the long road ahead for her: surgery (if she's lucky), chemo, radiation (hopefully not)... Minutes before, I had been lamenting the drill, the soreness, the drooling that would come with my dental work. These discomforts paled compared to what she is facing. I replied to her email with the only answer I have: come to yoga.

There is a special chemistry that forms in our Yoga for Cancer Survivorship classes, a recipe made up of all the students who show up, despite what they are feeling and facing. Some days there are tears. Some days there is laughter. Some days I feel helpless and can only host an accepting environment that I hope does some good. Some days there is joy. Students are reminded of their connection with each other and with their bodies. Whether it's anxiety or pain, students report feeling relief from the suffering after class.

On Saturday, September 12, I'll be producing the second annual Pose 4 a Purpose Yoga Festival and Fundraiser in Los Gatos. This event brings together nearly 20 of the area's yoga studios and many more teachers, who volunteer their time and talents to raise money for Cancer CAREpoint, a local nonprofit offering free non-medical services to people with cancer. From wig banks to support groups, meditation to massage, nutrition to yoga lessons, this organization presents several different ways to support people dealing with the suffering brought on by a cancer diagnosis.

I'm so pleased to be able to unite our yoga community this way, so that we can practice to relieve our own suffering, as well as others. I hope you'll join me!

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

"May all beings everywhere be happy and free from suffering"

Pranayama, More Than Breathing In and Out

Unconscious breathing is like eating iceberg lettuce, which is good for survival. 
Conscious breathing is like eating kale, which offers you what you need to survive and so much more!

A while ago I posted this status update on Facebook, because I felt it was one of the easiest answers to the question, "why should I practice pranayama?" Just as some foods can make dramatic changes in your chemical makeup, so can breathing practices.

Pranayama is like a nutritional supplement, working on your mental, emotional,  and spiritual health.

My knowledge of this branch of yoga is limited to my own experiences and research. The following are how I use these practices, which may or may not work for you. There are many texts out there that describe the benefits of breathing practices, if you are interested in diving into these subjects with more detail. As always, working directly with a live teacher is best in order to tailor these practices for your needs.

Mental Supplement

What happens when you sit down to meditate? If you're like me, your mind-stuff begins to pile up and your will to sit with it diminishes. I teach a Sunday night free breath and meditation class; some nights I include more breath and some nights it's more meditation. On the nights when I teach a solid 20 minutes of pranayama, the students report to me that they were able to settle into the meditation that followed with much more ease. Here are some techniques, if you interested in using breath as a means to meditation:

All techniques begin by finding an alert, relaxed physical position. On days when I need to recline to relieve pain, I will keep my eyes open in order to avoid falling asleep. Next, I will practice pranavidya, or observing my breath. I watch my breath for a few cycles, noting my depth, rhythm, sound and texture, before I move into the technique.

Ujayyi is an audible breath that I use when I need to feel warmth or stimulation (great for when I practice in the early, sleepy hours of the morning!). I begin by using ujayyi on both inhale and exhale, also noticing the quiet pauses at the top and bottom of the breath. After a few cycles of breath and when I feel comfortable with it, I will begin to quiet my exhales, so that only the inhale is audible. Whenever I catch myself make sound on my exhale, that's when I know that I've drifted in my attention.

Samavrtti is an equal-sided breath practice that has many layers and generations. Over the last 3 years, I've worked into a pattern of 6 second inhale, 6 second pause and 6 second exhale. I have not yet added the exhale, but that will be my next step over the next several months, beginning with a 2 second pause, then gradually increasing. Some days I can only manage 4 seconds for all sides of my breath. Whatever length my inhale is during my checkin, that's where I will set the length for the other parts. This is a subtler practice that requires more patience to build, and one that I like to use during times when my mind is particularly agitated.

Emotional Supplement

People who only know me from yoga classes have a hard time believing that I have a quick temper, but if you ask my family, they will confirm it. I spent years rejecting my temper, punishing myself and others around me for when it was triggered. I attempted to push it away, to sublimate it, but in the past few years, I've made a study of my temper to learn more about what happens when I'm triggered. I began to notice my tension, my energy, my thoughts and my breath. My temper is triggered by fear. Fear shows up in me as a tightening in my low back, my gut, my throat and my forehead. The path of my energy is similar to a tsunami's mysterious recession, followed by its catastrophic advance; my vital force free-falls downward for a split second (my face will usually drain of blood and turn white), then erupts upward with a forceful explosion (my face then turns bright red). During that initial recession, I suspend my breath; the eruption occurs simultaneous with a violent exhale, and the volume of my voice rises to ear drum - shattering volume. The is what my kids call the "mean mommy voice". Be grateful you've never experienced it.

Another emotion that I work with in my pranayama practice is grief, something I've had the opportunity to experience more of lately. For me, grief is actually fear combined with attachment, but it arises completely differently in me than fear.

If I were to describe my experience of grief using a grammatical analogy, I would say that it is a long list of depressing adjectives that get heavier, darker and more pressurized as the list goes on, punctuated occasionally with bouts of sobs that only mildly relieve the tension. It's hard to breathe in, and when I do inhale, it may catch or stutter. Grief lives on my shoulders, around my heart and down my arms. At times, I may feel like my wrists are handcuffed by it.

My study of grief has led me to the conclusion that I suffer because I reject it. The initial feelings of grief are good for me to experience, but because I try to stuff them down, they burst up through me, along with my opinions about them.

Grief, like, fear, needs a channel. My conscious breath opens that channel and relieves me of the extraneous suffering.

In order to reduce the effects of fear / anger, I use a technique I call the Tension Drain, which I learned from Tias Little in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As soon as I feel that tsunami-like recession, I look for a way to drain it downward. Like opening a valve, giving this energy a place to go usually helps me mitigate the rest of the response. To do this, I establish my connection with my feet (or seat, if I'm sitting). I focus of my exhales, attempting to make them as long or longer than my inhales. I visualize a drain at the bottoms of my feet and imagine I am rinsing the tension down and out. Usually, I feel the difference within a few breaths.

Grief constricts. To respond to grief, I use the following technique to connect with my Heart Chakra. In order to experience grief as a pure emotion and be able to then let it go, I have to first establish the best posture for it. If I am rounded inward, compressing the space around my heart and lungs, it will be harder to disengage from the heavy, seductive feelings of grief. Sitting upright or reclining with support along my spine are my typical postures. I then focus my attention to the space around my heart, imagining that the tightening softens with each breath and that my breath themselves originate from my heart. I see my breaths as a wave, rushing in and out in all directions. After a few moments of this, I begin to notice a feeling of spaciousness around my heart; often, I have to imagine this spacious quality before I notice it. Sometimes, I have to hack my way out of the comforting jungle of grief that has grown around my heart; each breath is a machete strike that clears away the space.

Spiritual Supplement

Prana is our life force, our spirit. Pranayama is the practice of studying, touching, channeling that life force. There are many written examples of the breath as a gift from our creator. My favorite is this one by Kabir:

Are you looking for me?
Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine
rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding
around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but
vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me
instantly --
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

The breath inside the breath. Subtle, powerful, connected and with us all the time. Whatever your emotional, mental, physical states, your breath is always there, always part of the fabric of reality.

The So Hum mantra is perfectly suited to honoring that connection. So Hum is translated to mean I am That. I am a part of all of creation. Think about it: as you breathe in now, there are air molecules that may have been here for lifetimes, even eons. As you breathe out, notice what you are leaving in this world. Inhale and hear your breath quietly, organically whisper the word So. As you exhale, hear your breath make the sound of Hum. Over and over, I connect with my breath, with my community near me through my breath, and my larger community of humans through this mantra. So Hum.

Announcements

• Share my blog with others, and invite them to sign up. This is one of the best ways I have to get news out to you all!
• Remember, if you can't make it to class, you can always pop in my DVD, Healing Yoga for Wellness, available online at www.amazon.com and www.eBay.com, and in stores at Breathe Los Gatos, Pacific Healing Arts, Cancer CAREpoint resource center, East West Bookshop and Kaiser Mind-Body-Wellness center.
  

All is Not What it Seems

This is the story of how I lie to myself.

First, a little background. For the last month, I have set a goal to get to the studio early enough for a Mysore practice, a self-led sequence that requires both physical and mental stamina. Because I teach in the mornings at locations all over the Bay Area, I need to be there by 6:00 am in order to meet this goal.

Lorien in a pose called
Marichyasana C

This particular morning, I woke up before the sun, dressed, drank a glass of water, gathered my belongings for the day ahead (I planned to be out of the house until evening, so there were several things to gather) and left the house. It was especially important for me to be on time this specific day, because I needed to be done with enough time to shower, eat and get to Sunnyvale in heavy traffic by 8:30 am.

I pulled into the studio's parking lot at 6:30 am, grumpy that I couldn't get myself out sooner on an already limited practice day. As I was collecting my items from my car, I noticed that my phone wasn't among them. I remembered to bring my charger, but no phone. I was frustrated with myself, because I didn't have time during the day to run home to get it, and I had planned to do several things using my phone. With time slipping away, I silently cursed my forgetfulness and walked into the studio.

The next hour was a struggle - the toughest one since beginning this Mysore practice. I couldn't let go of my inner critic. I kept thinking of all the things I wasn't going to be able to do because I forgot my phone: emails I was too tired to send the night before, wishing my high school friend a happy birthday, texting my noon appointment to be sure we met in the right place, texting my daughter to be sure she knew I was picking her up, playing music for my new class, locating my new class, etc...

Stop me if any of this internal dialogue sounds familiar.

There are many poses to remember in the Mysore sequence, and I'm a newbie who's trying to keep my chronic pain at bay, so I practice only half of the sequence. Even still, I couldn't remember the order. My mind was elsewhere. I went through the motions and only occasionally grounded my awareness inside my body. When I noticed I had drifted, I berated myself even more, and the negative thoughts poured out of the dark corners of my mind like water from a leaky boat on rough surf.

The Ship by Salvador Dali

Crash! went a wave, and I remembered how I had hurt myself doing this practice before.

Slosh! went the water, and I thought that maybe this practice isn't meant for me.

Down the other side of the surf and up the next crest I went, feeling worse with each pose. It reminded me of the time I was aboard a boat in the Mediterranean, heaving over the side and we rose and fell, caught in a storm that had almost everyone aboard suffering with seasickness.

I didn't want help from the teacher or her assistant. I wanted to wallow in my inadequacies, to swim in those dark waters.

I ended my practice with enough time to get me to the next thing. Once on the road, I reflected on what had just happened. I missed feeling blissful and proud. I missed the distraction that my phone provided. As I sat in traffic, I examined my thoughts. I had recently been working with the concept that "life is made up of 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows", and noticed that I got caught up more in the sorrows than in the joys.

Well, this certainly was a morning that described that pattern of behavior. Once I realized this, I decided to embrace the joys. I listed the items that I did remember to bring with me, all of the things that I needed for the day. I reframed the day as an "old-school" day, knowing that I had once lived without the aid of a smart phone, and - gasp!- even a cell phone.

I can do this, I told myself.

As I reframed things, I noticed that traffic became less annoying. I focused on the interesting bird (was it a Chicken Hawk or a Turkey Vulture?) that sat above me on a wire, watching the commuters below with intense interest. I remained tuned in to my surroundings as I taught my morning class, ran my first errand and made my way to my next meeting. Somehow I found my way, all without the technology that I thought I needed.

I was just parking my car when my phone rang. From my purse.

What I thought I needed to make it though my day was with me all along.

I had lied to myself in the morning, and continued the lies as I practiced. If I had continued to believe those lies, I might not have made it through my day, whether or not I found my phone. Once I realized all of this, I heard my Mysore teacher's voice telling us one of her wise phrases:

"All is not what it seems."

The next time you tune in to your thoughts, see if you notice any of these patterns, and ask yourself what is true about your thoughts. As the lies drop away, remind yourself that things are not always as they initially appear.

Announcements

• Please see my schedule page for updates; 3 NEW classes for cancer survivors, and new locations!
• Sunday, September 15: Basics of Pranayama and Chanting; this 1-day workshop is at Mind-Body Zone in Fremont; see the Events page for more information.
• Share my blog with others, and invite them to sign up. This is one of the best ways I have to get news out to you all!
• Remember, if you can't make it to class, you can always pop in my DVD, Healing Yoga for Wellness, available online at www.amazon.com and www.eBay.com, and in stores at Breathe Los Gatos, Pacific Healing Arts, Cancer CAREpoint resource center, East West Bookshop and Kaiser Mind-Body-Wellness center.
  

Restorative Yoga

Restorative Yoga is a therapeutic application of the yoga practice designed to reduce the effects of chronic stress. It is recommended for any time that you need to restore your body or mind. There are asanas, or postures, that are considered restorative, and there are entire practices that are considered restorative.

What makes a pose restorative? 

Baddha Konasana (butterfly pose)

Props, passive traction, relaxation and time are the characteristics of a restorative pose. 

For example, if you sit on the floor in Baddha Konasana (butterfly pose), with the bottoms of your feet touching and your knees apart, you will need to engage some muscular effort in order to maintain the integrity of the pose. 

If you recline onto a bolster and supporting your knees (resting butterfly pose), however, you will be able to release all your weight into the floor or props, creating a stretch that is very passive and uses mostly gravity and your own body weight to maintain the sensation.

Supta Baddha Konasana
(resting butterfly pose) 

The resting butterfly pose is an adaptation of the butterfly pose, and the use of props to support your joints encourages passive traction in your body.

This passive traction encourages a gentle release of tension and tightness related to chronic stress.  

These poses are typically held for a while (5-20 minutes each) in order to induce a relaxation response in your nervous system.

What makes a practice restorative? 

A practice that induces your relaxation response for an extended period of time is considered restorative. Your nervous system is continuously analyzing your external and internal environment to determine if there is any threat. 

When your sensory input quiets down, your nervous system initiates your relaxation response, 

what Judith Lasiter calls the “rest and digest” mode. Therefore, a restorative practice is one that seeks to reduce your sensory inputs. 

To make this happen in your external environment, you will need a warm, quiet, dimly-lit space with no worry of interruption. Traditionally, the practice has minimal verbal instruction, no music and a warm climate. In my person experience, people with cancer need soothing sounds and touch to help them stay present and turn down the volume of their thoughts. 

To make this happen in your internal environment, you may need to prop your joints dramatically, because you will want a very mild level of sensation so as not to trigger your nervous system. If you are in a pose that requires you to “do” something, like engage your muscles to hold your body in place, then your internal environment will send sensory inputs to your nervous system, restricting you from fully relaxing. One of my student’s dubbed this practice the “fancy nap” for its qualities of doing nothing.

No matter how foreign it may be to practice doing “nothing” for 5-20 minutes in each pose, you feel the benefits right away; after understanding the practice, some of my students use just one pose to relax on their own, like Instant Maui or Legs Up the Wall, both depicted below.

Instant Maui pose

Legs Up the Wall pose

Announcements

• Please see my schedule page for updates coming in September; 2 NEW classes for cancer survivors, and new locations!
• Sunday, September 15: Basics of Pranayama and Chanting; this 1-day workshop is at Mind-Body Zone in Fremont; see the Events page for more information.
• Share my blog with others, and invite them to sign up. This is one of the best ways I have to get news out to you all!
• Remember, if you can't make it to class, you can always pop in my DVD, Healing Yoga for Wellness, available online at www.amazon.com and www.eBay.com, and in stores at Breathe Los Gatos, Pacific Healing Arts, Cancer CAREpoint resource center and Kaiser Mind-Body-Wellness center.
  

Yoga Defense Against Illness

The change of the seasons always brings a drop in my immune system, and this year was no exception. I caught a cold that lasted longer than a few days and dragged my energy down, though not to a point where I had to stop altogether. I credit my yogic practices for helping keep me healthy against illness, and for helping me bounce back when I do get sick. Some of my practices include: asana practice, pranayama, massage, mantra (no, it's not, "de-fense") and meditation, in combination with certain foods, oils and gargles. I'd like to share some of those yogic practices to help you all manage your health during the upcoming fall and winter months.

Asana, Pranayama and Massage

Our immune system is made up of several systems in the body, but the the lymphatic system, which drains fluid through the lymph nodes and sorts out harmful items to be learned for future defense, is one that we can directly affect through movement, massage and relaxation. Some postures that are accessible to all and support the circulation of lymph can be found in the Pawanmuktasana Series I. When I feel under the weather, I use this series to move my joints to promote lymph drainage.

Instant Maui pose

Legs Up the Wall Pose

Along with the above movement, finding comfortable positions to gently expand the breath is key. I really love the Instant Maui and the Legs Up the Wall poses, depicted right. In these poses, my body is passive and I can expand my breath without strain. Reducing tension in my body and breath eases my nervous system out of the stress response and supports better immune response. In addition, I imagine my breath is nourishing each cell as I inhale, and "cleaning house" from each cell as I exhale. Taking just a handful of these conscious, healthy breaths can make me feel so much better!

Another way I promote lymph flow is through warm oil massage. This is an Ayurvedic practice called Abhyanga and is described on Banyan Botanical's website. Massaging the skin is similar to moving the body when it comes to moving lymph.

Mantra and Meditation

When working with mantras, keep them simple. For example, as you breathe in say to yourself, "health in", and as you breathe out say to yourself, "waste out". You could also use colors or attributes to focus on as you tune in. For meditation, I like to work with the Tonglen meditation when I feel unwell. This is because I can easily slip into feeling sorry for myself. So, if I focus on others, I tend to let go of self-pity. As I breathe in, I notice what sensations I'm feeling (achy, stuffy, scratchy throat, etc.), and I imagine breathing it in for everyone who feels unwell at that moment. As I breathe out, I send out my wish for us all to feel better - to feel supple muscles, clear nasal passages and a serene throat, for example. Over and over again, I focus on my suffering as it relates to others in order to let it go for all of us. In truth, when I am healthy, I no longer participate in spreading unhealthy germs, which means that you all are healthier, too. Tonglen works really well when viewed from this perspective.

Here's to all our health! Namaste, Lorien

Announcements

• Lorien will be on vacation the first week in October, returning to teaching on 10/7/12.
• Check out the FREE breath and meditation class at Breathe Los Gatos on Sundays 6:15-7:00 pm (this class follows the 5:00 pm Yin yoga class. Why not take both?)
• Coming in November: Winter Wellness Workshop on 11/10/12 at Willow Glen Yoga... more details to come!

The Year of Living Consciously Part 2

Here we are in our second installment of this new way of being. How was it to watch your thoughts? Were you able to witness the ripples of conditionality of some thoughts? Keep observing them and notice how things change.

This month, we'll study the breath. In yoga we call this pranavidya. Each breath pattern sends those same ripples through your beings - nervous system, physical body and emotions, so notice when you are breathing shallow and we you are breathing deeply. What external circumstances bring about these conditions? Can you work backwards and create an external circumstance based on your breathing pattern? (The answer is yes, by the way, but test this out for yourself.) Make a study of your own breathing patterns and be like an investigator of your breath. Notice depth, length, texture, location (where in your body do you feel your breath) and connection to external things, like body posture, emotions, etc. Just by studying your breath, it will become more conscious, which is to say, more effective. When people tell me they can't do yoga, I counter with, "can you breathe?" If you are breathing consciously, you are doing yoga.

Namaste

Schedule updates and special events; please see Special Events age for more details...

• March 4 1:00-3:30pm: Serenity Yoga, a Gentle and Restorative Yoga Workshop at Willow Glen Yoga. Please join us for subtle movements, deep breathing and supportive restorative postures. Pre-registration is $40, add $10 week of the workshop. Register at www.willowglenyoga.com.
• Coming in March: FREE Yoga for Cancer Survivorship class Tuesdays noon-12:45pm at Breathe Los Gatos. Contact Lorien for more info.
• April 27-29, 2012 Weekend Retreat with Lorien and Marti Foster at Mayacamas Ranch in Calistoga. See Special Events for more info.

I Bow to You

This is the time of year that my mind gravitates toward celebration and tradition. This month, we'll see the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year and the origin of many of our modern celebrations. The waning light enables us to contemplate more as we direct our thoughts and energy more inward. To me, the underlying theme for all the different traditions is taking time to reflect on what matters. That reflection can be in the form of a family gathering, gift-giving, lighting candles, prayer, meditation... anything that allows us to pause in our daily lives and see the bigger picture. We also see this pause in our yoga classes, when we bow at the end and repeat the word "namaste". Literally, namaste means "I bow to you" and is usually said with palms pressed together at the center of the chest and the head bowed. The physical gestures represent a respect of the heart's wisdom, and an acknowledgment that we are all connected. Performing namaste with conscious intention is a quick but significant celebration that we can all share, no matter our religion, politics, geography or social-economic situation!

To continue receiving my monthly newsletters, please join my blog as I will no longer be sending them out via email. Click HERE to view my blog. I'll announce schedule news, post monthly poses, my point of view ramblings and new podcasts.

Enjoy your chosen celebration and thank you for your continued support and attention. I bow to you. Namaste, Lorien

Monthly Pose
Parivrtta Trikonasana (Crossed Triangle posture, original variation)

Most of us were taught this pose as part of our physical education in school; I remember them as "windmills", and they were done quite fast. Rather than go quickly, move slowly into the pose, pause and breath as you explore the movement of your spine, then come out with control and a strong back.

To come into the pose:
1) Stand with your feet wide apart, 3.5-4 feet. Turn your feet so the outside edges are parallel. Imagine a pulley system in your legs - running down the outside of your legs and running up the inside of your legs. In this way, keep your arches from falling and activate your inner thighs. Be aware of over-straightening your knees and put a very small bend in them.
2) Open your arms wide and lengthen through the crown of your head, stretching your body in all 5 directions. (As you fold, remember to keep this length through your torso.)
3) Twist at your waist and bend so that your right hand comes towards your left foot. Try not to twist your hips. If you cannot easily reach the floor, place your hand on your shin or a block; if you can easily reach the floor, try bringing your palm to the outside of your foot. Lengthen the crown of your head and try to look up at your left arm. Breathe here for 5-10 conscious breaths. Remember to energize your legs, especially the inside line.
4) To come out, engage your legs strongly, lengthen your spine and unwind. Lift slowly with a flat back and come back to standing. If you have low blood pressure, or if you notice a dizzy feeling when you rise, pause halfway and be sure to exhale as you come the rest of the way up. Repeat on the other side.

This pose strengthens the back muscles and stretches the hamstrings; it also encourages energy to move downward (apana), while energizing the intestines. This will keep your digestive fire active through the holiday seasons!

Schedule Updates
See website for complete schedule: www.yogabylorien.com

~ SPECIAL CLASSES IN DECEMBER: Foundation Yoga on Thursday, December 18th 9:00-10:30am and Yoga Basics on Sunday, December 21st 10:00-11:30am; both classes are at Willow Glen Yoga.
~ NEW CLASS FOR JANUARY: Hatha Flow Wednesday mornings 9:00-10:30am at Willow Glen Yoga begins January 7th; come explore the breath, bandhas, meditation and asana in a warm, dynamic practice - a perfect place to relieve the winter blahs and bring a smile to your face!
~ JANUARY WORKSHOP: Intro to Flow Workshop on Saturday, January 24th 1:30-4:00pm at Decathlon Club in Santa Clara. The perfect workshop to start or restart your dynamic yoga practice, you'll learn breath, poses and flows that are found in any flow yoga class, as well as the best ways to modify for your specific needs!

Breathe to Balance Energy

Dearest yogis and yoginis,

As I write this, I am gazing out at a beautiful blue sky, with my heater full-blast on my feet; this is a sure sign that we are into the transition of Spring to Summer! It's important during this time that you be aware of your energy, as it may change as quickly as the weather. A simple way to balance energy is to sit comfortably and just breathe deeply for a few minutes, with eyes closed, and assess how you feel: if you are feeling sleepy or heavy, raise your hand to close the left nostril and breathe through the right for a few minutes; if you are feeling impatient or ungrounded, raise your hand to close the right nostril and breathe through the left for a few minutes. Repeat this practice as often as you need to during the day to feel balanced - especially before bedtime!


Namaste,
Lorien

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MONTHLY POSE
An inversion this time of year is great, but again, you want your practice to balance energy. So, I'll give you a choice between two very different inversions: Dolphin and Legs Up a Wall.
Dolphin should be practiced early in the day, when you are feeling sleepy or heavy. Here is a nice video to demonstrate how to get into Dolphin. Stretch your neck out after, if it feels stiff.
Legs Up a Wall can be practiced any time of the day, but should be taken when you are feeling impatient, agitated or ungrounded. Pictures and instructions on getting into the pose.

Spring Yoga

Dearest yogis and yoginis,

My favorite time of year is here: Spring! Not only does March mark the births of both my children, but it also contains the Vernal Equinox (day an night are the same length) and Easter. So, in our house, there are lots of reasons to celebrate and enjoy this month! I hope you will join me the day before Easter to practice yoga and chanting in order to joyfully clear away congestion in the body and spirit… if you are not able, please make time to sing, shout or simply speak joyfully what is in your heart. Think of it as a Spring cleaning for the soul!


Namaste,
Lorien

Remember, if you would like to be removed from the newsletter distribution, please let me know. Simply reply with the text “remove from list” in the subject line.

MONTHLY POSE & SEASONAL TIP:

Yoga & the "Not Knowing" Mind

Dearest yogis and yoginis,

I was fortunate to attend this year’s Yoga Journal conference in San Francisco, where I enrolled in their teacher’s continuing education track and listened to master teachers and scholars. While much of the information was a repetition of something I had learned before, it was wonderful to revisit it with fresh eyes. In fact, one of the presenters was Frank Jude Boccio, who talked to us about using the Buddha’s teachings to make yoga practice a moving meditation; what resonated with me was his explaining that if we approach our practice as if for the first time (he called it using the “not knowing” mind), we will continue learning more about ourselves in each practice… Taking that same approach to our other relationships and we will be constantly surprised and curious about our partners and loved ones. What a wonderful way to be! I hope it inspires you as much as it did me. If you are interested, here is Frank’s website: www.mindfulnessyoga.net.

Namaste,
Lorien

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MONTHLY POSE & SEASONAL TIPS:

Happy New Year!

Dearest yogis and yoginis,

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed your holidays and survived the wild storms with ease. I had hoped to have a yoga calendar available for you all to buy, but I got a late start on it, so it just didn’t happen last year. I will be sending you along the information that I gathered for the calendar, however, for you to use. The picture attached to each month’s e-newsletter will have the pose and seasonal tips. I hope they are of use to you and that you enjoy them!
Namaste,
Lorien

Remember, if you would like to be removed from the newsletter distribution, please let me know. Simply reply with the text “remove from list” in the subject line.

MONTHLY POSE & SEASONAL TIPS: