1/19/08
Dear Student,
I hope that you are well.
As we begin the New Year I
hope that you are well. I encourage you to take time daily to be with yourself
in a way that helps you stay grounded and peaceful and gives you the inner
support you need to achieve all that you wish.. The symbolic and real beginning
represented by the New Year be a powerful
catalyst for restoration, renewal and healing. Taking time to develop
a personal plan and approach toward self care that can empower us to attain our
goals and remain and deepen our connection to self can lead us to make better
choices and develop more meaningful life choices. Re-committing to your
practice of Yoga and mediation can bring new spirit to a time of year that can
often overwhelming to mind body and spirit.
The Holiday series of
classes is winding down and the Winter session is upon us. The new schedule is
attached and available on my website at
www.creativeedgeyoga.com .
Special offering over the next few months include:
-----The ongoing Kundalini class
at the Shoreline Center for Wholistic Health on Wednesdays at 7:30pm. I hope you
will tale some time to try this unique and powerful practice.
----A new 8 week session of
Yoga for Fitness Function and Fun" will be held through
Branford Adult Education. Call (203)488-5693 for more info and to
register.
----Saturday
morning “Posture and Pain” series:
Yoga and Functional Movement for Posture, Pain Relief and Stress Management
class continues at the Shoreline Center,
running form 10:00-11:30AM. This class is group class is inspired
and informed by the classic wisdom and practices of Yoga and the powerful
paradigm of posture alignment and health through functional movement developed
by Pete Egoscue; The class is ongoing and you are welcome to come anytime.
----An introductory workshop to this special
approach to posture
alignment and pain relief. entitled
"Align your Posture, Ease your Pain-----Posture alignment and Functional Fitness
for Chronic Pain and Enhanced Living" , the workshop is designed
to give you specific experiential understanding of how your body’s alignment
and movement patterns may be generating
bodily symptoms such as chronic discomfort and pain, degenerative
musculo-skeletal conditions and other problems, and adversely impacting athletic
performance as well and the overall quality of your life.
----A
special workshop to help you fight “cabin fever” and
the re-invigorate to thrive throughout this Winter! The
wisdom of Yoga invites us to realize
that it is not the season, but our approach to this and all experience that
determines whether we are able to feel the
fulfillment we seek. On February 9th, 1:00-4:00PM I will
offer a workshop/retreat:
Yoga for the Core Self---------A Winter Yoga Mini Retreat" to
help you dust off the cobwebs and enjoy the support deep and relaxing immersion
in Yoga can give to help you get the most out of this time of year.
Chrisina
Sillari
will sponsor Ana Brett and Ravi Singh
for another wonderful workshop experience at Raven’s Wing Yoga!
Circle March 29th on your calendar!
An and Ravi will be there form 1:00-4:00Pm and give a workshop
entitled “A New Journey through the Chakras!
The model of the chakras system offers a powerful approach to our growth, and
Ana and Ravi are expert in offering an experience that all levels of student and
enjoy and use in their life. More details will follow soon on my website.
Thanks so much to all those
who attended the fall workshop Ravi and Ana gave in October 2007. Many of you
came from long distances and we appreciate that you are so much a part of the
energy and success of these experiences.
Please keep me informed of any
workshop experiences you would like to see come your way.
Yoga Therapy:
Many of the
benefits of our Yoga and meditation practice are quite clear, easily known by
the practitioner and well documented in popular culture. Increased physical
flexibility, tone, energetic re-vitalization, and stress release are just some
of the benefits students routinely describe as the fruits of practice. In
addition more specific therapeutic applications of Yoga, mediation and breathing
are employed in many health care settings as adjunct of and compliment to
medical treatment for numerous health issues.
One important,
less obvious attribute of Yoga and Yoga therapy is that it addresses the
essential connections between the body, mind and higher consciousness as a
matter of course. In addition, whatever symptoms distress or sense of limitation
draws us to practice often are often found to be the wakeup call to that invites
us to transform in more fundamental and
profound ways. All of this takes a good degree of
fortitude and vision attributes that
our practice can help us access and develop.
Change that
leads to our growth often requires us to re-connect with a part of us that is
not so heavily identified with all that we think we are in any moment. The
article entitled
The fear of Transformation wonderfully articulates this
fundamental dilemma of transformation
on any level. An often hidden, but in my opinion extremely important benefit of our
practice, is the holistic manner that it teaches us to accept and embrace all our
lives as continual change. In doing so we are better able to embrace the process
of our own change. We are
continually challenged and empowered
to examine the need our “small’ self has to view our inner experience and
outer circumstances as solid and permanent as we imagine or is truly healthy.
For many the
practitioners, yoga and meditation practice evolves to become the way we develop
a body strong enough to navigate the physical
challenges of changing circumstances. and access the
energy needed to initiate and follow through
with our goals and overcome obstacles we may encounter. Cultivating
higher awareness or witness consciousness
provides the ground for
perspective and wisdom that informs our growth and offers healthy
vision and will that can helps us be less
fearful and more creative on the face of our transformation. I
believe the “essence of what the
mystics call the
faith experience” that the author above describes can comes from stronger,
clearer and more compassionate understanding of the relationship between our personal and higher self. We
may come to a better connection to the part of us that isn’t identified with
our personal story or circumstance in any
moment;. Therefore can see beyond our fears and limits into the
realm of possibilities inherent within change.. As
this unfolds the nature of experience as continual change can be
accepted and seized as source of the
joy that comes from our growth and
transformation;
Practice
Walking Meditation Practice
Below
is a simple practice for the New Year
that can help you integrate the experiences
and insights of your yoga practice beyond the Yoga mat.
Mindfulness Exercise
Learning MINDFULNESS takes
patience and commitment. Add power to your walking and feel peace growing in
each step along the way.
Here is a simple walking meditation to support ongoing presence, stress
reduction and heightened awareness. It can be done indoors or out.
A mindful
walk. Find
a quiet place where you can walk back and forth over about 30 feet. In each of
the three parts of this exercise, simply note the sensations in your feet and
legs as you lift and move each in turn. Whenever your mind wanders, bring it
back to those sensations. Don’t strain your neck by looking at your feet; keep a
relaxed gaze at a point in front of you. Take 20 minutes for the entire
exercise.
First
Walk: Keep normal
pace, noting mentally “left” as you move your left foot forward and “right” as
you move your right foot forward. Stay tuned to the sensations that go along
with those movements.
Second Walk:
Go a bit slower this time, and divide each step in your mind into “lifting” (leg
goes up and forward) and “placing” (leg comes down). Finish one step completely
before lifting the other foot.
Third Walk:
A much slower pace — be aware of a three-part motion to each step: “lifting”,
“moving”, then “placing”, try a snail’s pace.
Over time resistances to
slowing down in this way can be overcome. Just as in a sitting mediation
practice, it is common as the habit of mindfulness is built you will to
incorporate more restful and wakeful moments of silence in movement. The
benefits of Yoga and the sitting practice are enhanced as these changes are
integrated through practice.
Workshops:
With Alan Franzi
Saturday January 26th, 2008
1:00-3:30PM
$25.00 pre-registered, 30.00 at the door
At: The Shoreline Center for Wholistic Health
35 Boston ST
Guilford, CT
“Align Your Posture--- Ease Your Pain
Introducing Yoga, Meditation and The Egoscue Method of Postural Alignment for
Healing and Pain Relief”
Make 2008 the year you join all those who
have taken time to introduce themselves to a practice that supports the endeavor
to do all that can be done to live the best, most active life possible
Learn specific tests to discover just how and why posture mis-alignment is at
the cause of so much muscular-skeletal pain and dysfunction Directly experience
and insight into how your posture and musculo-skeletal function are impacting
your health and well-being. Enjoy specific, positional movements, stretches,
Yoga posture and other therapeutic exercises sequenced specifically according to
the Egoscue inspired approach designed to restore postural alignment and
function. As this happens you begin to address and resolve the actual cause of
acute and chronic musculo-skeletal pain, repetitive stress and cumulative trauma
disorders and other dysfunctional conditions thereby enjoy the unique
possibility of pain relief and enhanced life performance. Practice breath-work
and meditation as additional tools to help rediscover lost comfort and joy in
your body.
This experience provides an
extraordinary opportunity to explore principles and practices of a tried and
true non-medical intervention to empower ourselves to restore the body to it’s
design posture and function and change your mind forever about what it means to
grow older!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
1:00-4:00pm
$30.00 pre-registered, 35.00 drop-in
At: The Shoreline Center for Wholistic Health
35 Boston ST
Guilford, CT
”Yoga for
the Core Self---
---A Winter Yoga Mini
Retreat
Yogis
believe a powerful and energized core physical and energetic self is the
ultimate source of personal power, healthy will, and focus that underwrites our
health and happiness in life. Enjoy this workshop experience designed to
cultivate a balance of physical tone and flexibility to deepen comfort and ease
in your body as you move through the day. Utilize Classical Yoga postures along
with powerful and subtle movement and flexibility techniques to support
alignment and strength of the spine, hips and related bodily structures, often
called the bodies "core". Experience the benefits of Basic Yoga sequences,
breath-work, imagery and meditation are designed to integrate these physical
effects with the expansion of naval energy through the whole self. Support
yourself to help fight the fears that limit you as you cultivate a deeper sense
of vitality, intuitive development and direction to accomplish life goals.
Discover how this Yogic exploration of core energy can impel you toward even
higher levels of healing, wellness and growth in your life.
Class
is for all levels of experience to enjoy.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Private,
semi private and small group Yoga Sessions
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:
