Dear Student,
I
hope you are well and surviving and thriving through winter. I wish all the best
for you in the New Year.
In
this newsletter I wish to take time to belatedly thank you for your support in
what for me was a challenging and exciting yea in 2005. Classes continue to
evolve and grow with a great mix of loyal and committed students and
enthusiastic newcomers to Yoga.
This year I have added the Posture Alignment Therapy, in concert with classical
Yoga and Meditative healing practices in developing individual and
group therapeutic practices. I believe this has given me so many more tools
enhance your process and well-being on and off the Yoga mat. It has been an
inspiration and joy to me to see the changes so many of you have made
utilizing these powerful practices in response to the physical, mental and
spiritual challenges that have come your way.
Schedule notes:: I have been on
hiatus since the 23rd of December and will begin classes again on
Sunday, January 8th at Raven’s
Wing Yoga and continue on from there. We are still in the middle of
the existing “Holiday
Schedule” which continues through January 25th.
Remember, you can get on with your New Years resolution now and begin
classes anytime, of course so I hope to see you soonJ!
!Special
Note!: Due
to an all day workshop at Raven’s Wing Yoga on
Sunday January 22nd, for that one day only I will hold the
Sunday
The new Winter schedule will begin on January 29th.You can
refer to the website for ongoing class and workshop info: http://www.creativeedgeyoga.com/.
The first Posture,
Pain Relief and Enhanced Living workshop of the
year is set for Saturday, February 4th
from
By request I am adding another special 6 week Yoga
and Functional Movement for Posture, Pain Relief and Stress Management
starting on February 11th to afford students a deeper
exploration of the Method and functional exercise and healing experience.
On
March 19th, from
The ongoing Kundalini class continues
at the
Here,
as I do in each newsletter, I invite you to offer feedback and suggestion for
future class and workshop experiences. The
challenge at all times for me is to offer classes that meet your needs and
expectations and at the same time deepen and enhance your own interests and
practices. It is only with your feedback and support that I am able to do this
for you. I thank you for your involvement in this process.
Yoga
Therapy
Today
I invite you to consider two core insights derived from contemplative spiritual
practice and philosophy. These are; “when
there is total understanding, there is total forgiveness.” and
“With
compassion comes invulnerability.”.
Theses
two related ideas speak to the very practical benefits of what many see as the
“esoteric” and non-rational insights consistent spiritual
practice can bring to our lives.
The
heart is considered the jumping off point of the ego in the so called path to
“enlightenment”. In our personal lives, the heart is broken and invited to
‘heal” many time in our lifetime. Of course this is the experience of the
heart as the seat of our emotions;
literally the aspect of ourselves that sets
our selves in motion in the world. We build families, careers, and
societies from the constellation of people, places events and behavior that we
enjoy and to which we are connected. Because our
individual(egoic) selves are driven by feelings that attach
themselves to changing experience we run the gamut of human feeling
that comes from the gain and loss of what we love in our lives. Each
healing process invites us to evolve in the sense of transforming the thoughts
and behaviors that precipitated our wounds or mis-fortune.
Over
time, especially when we are guided by the insights gained in our personal
practices, we can become more and more connected to a higher
sense of “Self” that rises above our individual
experience while still remaining connected, responsive and responsible to it. A
familiar formulation of this consciousness is that “we can be in the world but not of the world”. When the
benefits gained and consciousness expanded through Yoga or meditation we can
more easily access the infinite “space” of
the heart. Understanding dissolves fear to create compassion for
ourselves and others. Wisdom and the growing sense of our place n the entire
scheme of things creates a certain sense of invulnerability to the shifting
fortunes of our daily lives.
These
experiences are by no means rare or only for the special few. Effective
parenting and leadership in most endeavors invites us to utilize this aspect of
ourselves daily. The growth of healthy friendship and relationships are often
sustained and released from stuck and destructive phases by rising above these
negative patterns with heart based insight and understanding.
The
day to day reactivity that creates the experience of mental and emotional stress
can be dissolved by an awakening to
the stress pattern unfolding and taking a moment to “let
the mind sink into the heart.”.
Letting go of ego based patterns of thought and feeling often doesn’t feel safe or wise because it asks to
question, and perhaps ultimately to transform our sense of what and/or who we
feel to be important or true in the moment. This can be painful. Yoga and
meditation can keep us close to the “higher” insights and possibilities that
can occur when we release our hold on the status quo and we let things change
and evolve. It is in the space of the heart in which so much of this
transformation can occur, in that infinite space everything can be as it is on
the way into our “becoming”.
Therefore, our growth need not and indeed should not separate us from our human
selves. As our consciousness expands we truly can have it all while holding it
with less and less of our identity and fear attached to it. All this is fueled
by a discriminating awareness that seeks what is most truly important and an
expansive sense of compassion that allows us to be “spiritual beings having a human experience”.
Workshops:
“Posture Alignment, Pain Relief and
Enhanced Living; The Egoscue Method of Postural Alignment for Healing and Pain
Relief”
With Alan Franzi
At: The
Date: Saturday, February 11th,
Fee:
$32.00, $27.000 if pre-registered
The
epidemic of chronic pain threatens health, ruins careers and the limitations it
creates can destroy any semblance of a well-lived life. Repetitive Stress
injury, Back pain, Tennis elbow, Bursitis, arthritis, low energy, dizziness and
a full array of other chronic conditions can all have muscular skeletal
misalignment their root cause.
In this workshop we will:
v Explore the ways postural misalignment is at the cause of so much muscular-skeletal pain and dysfunction.
v
Perform specific tests to discover the missing
causal link to the symptoms of pain or limitation in your body.
v
Learn and practice simple, pleasant functional
exercises and Yoga to restore muscle balance, and eliminate dysfunction at the
root of so much chronic pain.
v
Enhance overall strength and flexibility as the
pain in your body resolves
v
Understand once and for the possibility all that
pain is not inevitable and that an
active meaningful life is possible throughout the lifespan.
. This experience provides an extraordinary opportunity to explore principles and practices of a tried and true non-medical intervention that empowers ourselves to restore the body to its design posture and function. Finally take control over your body and mind for once and for all to transform what it means to be well and grow older!
Practice:
Meditation for a Calm Heart:
To render the above insights derived from our
study and practice of Yoga and mediation attainable in our experience, it is
important to cultivate some measure of control over our emotional experience. We
do this not through self-judgment, negation or suppression, but rather accessing
the highest faculties of wisdom and awareness that allows the mental and
emotional space and freedom permitting authentic change in the deepest levels of
our mind, body and spirit.
This meditation from the Kundalini Yoga tradition, comes from a book, "Meditation
as Medicine" by Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD. It is designed to
calm the energy of the heart center for the purpose of deepening and improving
relationships, with yourself or another.
To
perform the mediation:
 | Sit
in easy pose(cross legged) or another comfortable position if necessary.
Place your left hand over your heart. This serves to still and focus the
prana(energy) and emotion of the heart. |
| Place
the right arm at the side with the elbow bent as though taking an oath.
Place the index finger on the tip of the thumb with the other fingers opened
out in gian(wisdom) mudra. This serves to still the active left brained
activity of the mind. |
| Eyes
are open or closed in a soft gaze. |
| Inhale
through the nostrils and hold the breath as long as you can, then exhale
smoothly and hold the breath out as long as you can. Continue for 4-6
minutes. This meditation is good to do as you take a time out in an emotionally turbulent time of intra or inter personal conflict for the effects of bringing calm, peace and perspective. When you return to the situation you can choose what to do and how to respond to the situation from clearer and calmer frame of mind and heart. |
Services
Private,
semi private and small group Yoga Sessions, Meditation Instruction, Corporate
Yoga Classes
and the Egoscue Method Postural Therapy for Chronic Pain Relief and Enhanced
Life Performance.
Over the past several years I have worked with several
students in private sessions in both brief and longer term scenarios.
The sessions have served different purposes for each individual depending
on specific needs and intentions. Students have utilized this time to:
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Sessions
can be held in your home or at my teaching studio locations.
For details and to answer questions about how you may benefit from one of these
modalities please contact me at (203)488-1700.
As
always, thank you for your ongoing support and participation in your work on
your self.
Sat
Nam and Namaste,
Alan
Franzi
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