Michele's August Yoga Newsletter

Hello all,

Summer is coming to an end and school will be starting soon. Hope this finds everyone relaxed and rested from busy summer vacations, heat, and schedules, ready to renew your commitment to your yoga practice. Please enjoy this August newsletter with articles on Living Your Yoga... Beyond Preconceived Notions and External Appearances, Focus on the Pose: Meditation, and Kids Corner featuring highlights from this summers kids camps.

See you on the mat,
Blessings and peace

Michele’s Yoga Post
Living your yoga… on and off the mat
AUGUST, 2011

Michele’s Appearances:

NEW CLASSES:

Sun. 5:30 (60 min.)
DC Fitness, White House
ROCK YOUR ASANA
Yoga poses to funky, hip, and happening music. Be prepared to sweat, swoon, and swivel your stress away!
*Begins the end of August

Tues. 7:15 (75 min.)
My Hot Yoga Place
HOT YOGA
*Resumes in August, stay tuned









COMING SOON:
• Kids yoga coming to Steadfast and True Yoga in Nashville…
www.steadfastandtrueyoga.com

• Kids yoga coming to 1st United Methodist Church in Hendersonville
merrilee.wineinger@hfumc.org


__________________






Current YOGA teaching schedule:


Mon/Fri 6:00 am (60 min.)
My Hot Yoga Place, Hendersonville HOT YOGA
www.myhotyogaplace.com

Mon. 6:15 pm (75 min.)
DC Fitness, White House HOT CORE
www.dcfitnesscenter.com


T/Th 9:00 am (60 min)
First UMC in Hendersonville
Room 250
Level 1 and Therapeutic Yoga
*Resumes August 16

Wed. 7:00 pm (60 min.)
(2x month, ck on line)
DC Fitness, White House
HOT YOGA
www.dcfitnesscenter.com






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Living Your Yoga… Beyond Preconceived Notions and External Appearances
“By letting go of our fears and negativity, and learning to see the best in ourselves and others, we can provide a powerful impetus for positive change. It is through this ability to go beyond preconceived notions and external appearances that we can transform our lives and those of our children.” ~Sonia Sumar

I have been studying yoga as a therapeutic approach toward helping people reach their fullest potential. Recently I came across this quote from Sonia Sumar’s book, Yoga for the Special Child. It supports what I have come to understand as people’s ability to limit their own potential for healing. Somehow we have developed a concept of yoga that includes only the bendy, flexible and fit individuals when in fact the true potential of yoga includes all bodies in whatever form they present themselves.

It is our own concepts and thoughts that limit us from reaching our fullest potential as embodied beings. Yes the body can serve as a vehicle for growth, positive change, and healing in whatever form the body shows up. I am fascinated with those that venture into a yoga class exposing their limitations; their extra weight, their arthritic bones, their contracted joints. Those that are courageous enough to show up despite any preconceived notion, limitation, or fear are the those that will reach beyond the bodily experience of yoga, what I like to consider the surface level experience in a yoga class, and delve deeper into the subtler, more energetic layers of the body; those places that hold the emotions, and the very spirit of the practicing yogi.

These layers are what promote therapeutic healing to the practicing yogi. Through repetition, commitment, and faith one shows up to the mat, taking in not only the bodily experiences but those discoveries that lie deeper. Moving into the crevices of fear and negativity to discover what lies there is part of the process of discovery. Only through the experience of these less desirable emotional states and physical limitations does one discover a path toward healing through getting rid of our preconceived notions of health and wellness by moving energy around within. In this way transformation truly occurs.




Focus on the Pose: MEDITATION… Here’s how:
Commit to this meditation 4 times a week for the month of August.
Commit to 10 minutes, set a timer with a soft alarm. Move to a quite space, minimizing distractions. Begin in easy sit either on the floor or in a chair with your spine erect and if in a chair your feet firmly planted on the floor. Closing your eyes may make it easier to go inside. Take several deep cleansing breaths – drawing breath into the belly, the side ribs, and the collarbones/heart. Feel the energy of the breath moving up and down the spine. When your mind is quiet begin the following prayer. Say in your mind with each breath the following prayer taught by the Buddha:
Inhale: The thought manifests as the word,
Exhale: The word manifests as the deed,
Inhale: The deed develops into habit,
Exhale: And habit hardens into character.
Inhale: So watch the thought and its ways with care Exhale: Silence
Repeat several times in the 10 minutes. Then when you are feeling peaceful, sit in silence a few minutes absorbing the power of the words in a fully energized body. Take one last deep cleansing breath raising your hands over your head and bringing them together in prayer. Draw the hands down the midline to rest at the heart center. End your meditation with Namaste (bowing to the divine spirit present in and around you).

KIDS CORNER:

This summer’s kid’s camps were a huge success at both the Down’s Syndrome Association as well at the 1st UMC in Hendersonville. Kids came together to learn about the systems of the body (skeletal, and muscular systems in particular), nutritional awareness and of course lots of yoga. The kids got to learn individual asanas such as Warrior, Rock, Frog, etc. as well as partner poses and yoga games.

There has been interest in Hendersonville of having an ongoing yoga class for kids. Once plans are finalized a class will begin at the 1st UMC in Hendersonville as well as Steadfast and True in Nashville.

Beyond the Physical Body

Recently I had the opportunity to take my child, Brendon who has a physical disability to a yoga studio where I practice as a student. The class was basically an intermediate/advance practice. I took him with the intention of both of us participating together. I wanted to get in my own physical practice as well as discover and practice some of the therapy techniques I have been studying. I also wanted my child to have the experience of yoga as community, something he misses as there are no community classes presently that would include him.

I went through all the preliminary thoughts typically I have when I take Brendon to a new place. First I had to figure out how to get him in, and where would be the best space to put him. There were stairs leading into the studio so I was going to have to carry him (this is one reason why I have such a physically strong practice in yoga). I also needed to set up his space, bolsters, blankets, blocks, even a strap. Then I envisioned where we would practice that would create the least amount of distraction to the other students. Arriving early I was set. The next thing that I had to contend with is whether to prepare the instructor ahead of time, or just show up. There are risks either way. In preparation ahead of time often my words over complicate my intention and his disability. In just showing up, I knew I would have to content with the possibility that I would get that look. Parents of special needs children know what I am talking about and have been dealing with it as long as they have been taking their child out in public, not exactly rejection, but a mixture of surprise and fear (like in a split moment they are thinking, uhhhh how will this work in my class, or am I going to have to do anything different than I planned, or is this going to be a distraction?). You may be surprised how instantaneous this look passes through ones eyes.

I decided to take a risk, just show up and see what happened. I have learned the worst that can happen is that I wouldn’t be able to practice, and I was OK with that (though there would be a little sting). I am so grateful to my teacher, she demonstrated nothing but acceptance, as well as genuine joy in the fact that we were there. After comfortably setting up Brendon, I snuggled my mat close to him. I gave one simple instruction, to listen to the teacher and see if he could either move his body as she was suggesting or to imagine through the breath movement in this way.

This experience ranked as one of my favorite, humbling and even affirming. There is always such powerful energy in a flow class but to have Brendon there among some of the most physically fit yogis’ breathing, stretching, reaching was truly amazing. I loved trying to contort my body into whatever shape was being described while trying to adjust, stretch and assist Brendon. He was fully included; I could see the deep concentration on his face and felt release in his body as he worked with his own breath. It really didn’t matter what the shape he was in looked like, what mattered was his own unique experience. Brendon has what I see many able bodied yogis’ struggle with, full acceptance of his body without comparison or judgment. It didn’t seem to matter to him that he was not able to twist, contort, invert like everyone else. This is the true absence of ego. No comparison, just concentration, and a resolve to have his own experience in spite of multiple physical challenges. His physical body didn’t inhibit him or serve as a distraction toward the experience of prana (breath) moving, and the transformative energy of the yoga practice.
In the end with peace and contentment realized his little body relaxed into sleep.

It is my hope that others will find inspiration from this story. Yoga is such a powerful gift, and should be available to all regardless of body challenges. It transcends the physical realm in its ability to transform the practitioner toward their true inner self. The actual physical asana (poses) are secondary to this purpose. Don’t let the body distract, inhibit, or block you from this inner yoga experience. Allow the body to be as it is… and be grateful for whatever experience shows up on your mat.

~Om Shante, Shante, Shante, Om