During June, my class focus was “Foundations.” I told students that I felt like I was starting over as a teacher, after a 7-month absence from the Washington, DC yoga community. So together, we started from scratch. Each practice, we arrived together. With the Eight Limbs as our guide, we observed and then shaped our…
Tag: Eight Limbs
Surrender, Recovery and Death
“OUR TIME ON THIS EARTH IS SACRED, AND WE SHOULD CELEBRATE EVERY MOMENT.” ~ Paolo Coelho This morning I am saying goodbye to a treasured DC friend, Sovani Meksvanh. Since before Christmas, I have been posting on my personal and Urban Yoga Den Facebook pages about his battle with late-stage cancer, and how touched I’ve…
Holly Go Lightly
“There is a light and it never goes out.” ~ Morrissey * * * There’s some drilling or sanding or sawing going on in one of the apartments beneath me; and it’s piercing enough to make my skull feel like there’s a dentist office in its core. I’m using all of my yoga tools to…
Sankalpa: The Space Between
The New Year approaches. Perhaps you are considering your resolutions for 2013. Consider this: Your past. Your experience. Your mistakes. Your embarrassments. Your outright failings. Your fulfilling moments. Your accomplishments. Your successes. Your triumphs. Your foundation for setting New Year’s Resolutions. Personally, I cannot look ahead to future goals without deeply (deeply) reflecting on my…
Peace Tools: Raja Yoga
(Note: Much of this is adapted from my May 2010 post on “Transition & Balance.”) According to my teachers, the ancients invented Hatha Yoga so people could sit longer during a specific task. Back then, yogis were sages who were meditating toward the highest state of harmony, otherwise known as Samadhi. In his commentary on…
Guest Blog for Quiet Mind Yoga – 2012 Intention: There is No “On” or “Off” the Mat
Guest Blog for Quiet Mind Yoga (Reprinted by permission) 2012 Intention: There is No “On” or “Off” the Mat Life’s ironies are entertaining, no? At the beginning of each class, I invite students to set an intention for their practice. “This ‘Sankalpa’ is a positive reflection, affirmation or dedication that brings purpose to your time…
Gratitude, Pt. 1: Contentment, or, Samtosha
I’ve gained 10 pounds over the past 3 months. There are some very tangible reasons why. My summer camp gig – during which, over a period of six weeks, I teach 90 Asana classes and 120 percussion lessons, and, run up and down the school’s stairs 100s of times – ended the first week in…
The Happy Heart Project: Days 1-31
I’ve read that we replace 1% of our cells daily. Every 100 days we have a new body. What that new body consists of is the food we eat, air we breathe, water we drink, exercise we take and thoughts we think. – A friend Three-plus boxes of incense and 31 days ago, I launched…
Clearing the Obstacles
I am sorry to hear your pain. You are a wonderful human being and deserve tranquility, peace, and love. I would suggest that you stay focused on what is good for YOU, rest will follow. – letter from a friend This quote sounds like something I would say to a student or friend. Instead, it…
Focus Wrap Up: The Eight Limbs – Yama
It was 10:38am on Sunday, April 3rd when I started writing this wrap up, and the New Moon hung invisibly above. In that Sunday’s classes we wrapped up our March focus on the 1st of the Eight Limbs of Yoga – Yama, or, abstinence. I extended the March focus through April 3rd so the New…
The Urban Yoga Den 