I wanted to invite you all to come walk the CUMC labryinth! It will be set out from Wednesday, April 8th until Friday night, April 10. Members of the CUMC labryinth committee will be available to help guide/facilitate/explain on Wed night from 6:30 - 8 pm, and Thurs and Friday nights before and after the services, from 6:30 - 9 pm. During the day Thurs and Fri, the labryinth will be open for use as well. It will be set up in the Parlor/Deciple rooms at the church. Also, I would like to invite you all to Holy week services at the church. Thank you for your support and interest in our labryinth ministry. It is something dear to my heart and I am passionate about the potential it has as a spiritual tool for all of us, both individually and collectively.
This Summer I will continue to offer workshops. In the works are:
Yoga for Back Care
Shoulder Openers
Hip Openers
Using Yoga Theraputically
How to Plan Sequences
Tackling Inversions
Pilates Matwork
Kids Yoga
I am tweaking all of these with new information for the sake of all my wonderful students who continue to come, year after year and....for the sake of new students so that they are "in the know" of the latest and safest ways we are working in our yoga practice. If you have friends who want to begin and join, please share this info with them and as soon as dates and times are set, I will be getting that info to you.
As the group classes pare down, I will be building time in my home studio. I will set aside a few hours each week for "semiprivate lessons." These small group arrangements are designed to make for a more tailored work for the small group and at the same time, the chance to use equipment : Pilates reformer, Yoga Walls and the Migun bed. The work will be in a circuit arrangement and can accomodate 2 to 5 people.
Private classes are year-around! The Pilates reformer has taken off! It is a "clinical reformer" which means that it has more options to allow for different variations and leverage for managing exercises. The building of core strength with this contraption is subtle, sneaky work and can be quite intense, depending on the springload of resistance and exercises chosen.. Though it was designed for theraputic work, America has embraced Pilates work as preventative and a great core strengthening tool. The work is FUN and the benefits and strength gains are quite evident! Come try a session!
Next weekend I will be studying for the third time with Elise Browning Miller, a Senior Iyengar teacher who "takes the crown" in leading us with how to use yoga for scoliosis. She was the connection for my chance to have met Mr Iyengar when he came last to the US, and I am equally indebted to her for alot of the "back care" yoga we practice. The other person, my main teacher, Lillah Schwartz, leads us with everything else when it comes to back care using yoga (treating disc issues, stenosis, osteoporosis, general arthritis,...). I am beginning to work more and more with people with back issues and I really think parents of young kids could stand to have some attention from this avenue of "treatment" while kids are growing...to stave off the degree of scoliosis that otherwise develops as the body "settles." Yoga as an alternative therapy is only growing. Don't we all wish we had started our yoga practice when we were children? Really, it is never too late. As the yoga sutras guide us "NOW" is the time to begin the study of yoga - and I will add, it begins anew every time you step onto your mat!
A request from the classes to whom I read "thoughts for the day":
"The Thread"
There is a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change,
but it doesn't change.
People wonder about what things you are persuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you cannot get lost.
Tragedies happen;
people get hurt or die;
and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop times unfolding.
But you don't ever let go of the thread.
- William Stafford
"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work." (Richard Bach)
An Excerpt from Fire of Love -by Aadil Palkhivala
Whatever my tasks, I must do them with joyous attention and loving care. Nurturing children, being pleasant and competent at work, tending the body - all these are expressions of the dharma of the now. Yes, I have made mistakes in the past, and I take full responsibility for their current consequences. I embrace mistakes (though I do not invite them) because my soul learns from them. We must take responsibility for all our choices that have led us to this moment, and act in the most noble way possible.
"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."
-Matthew 5:14-16 (NRSV)
