Join us for any or all of 3 Sweet and Deep yoga experiences.

• Friday night, 6 – 8, Rudy will offer his classic Gentle Yoga sequence, Sweet Openings, at the Dennis Memorial Town Library.
• Saturday’s classes will be at the sunny and spacious Carlton Hall, also in the center of Dennis.
• Saturday morning, 8:30 – 11:30, Jennifra will offer asana practice and a 30 minute meditation sit, within the context of the yamas and niyamas, yoga’s self-development prescription.
• Saturday afternoon, 2:30 – 5:30, Rudy will guide Expand Your Range, a stimulating sequence of shoulder and chest openers, back bends and strengthening standing poses.

“I took Jennifra’s Saturday morning class over this past Memorial Day Weekend and was not surprised to receive a masterfully guided sequence that took me deep and left me refreshed, clear and content.”

~Contact Jennifra at vitalityfound.com to register and for more information.

Here is her contact info as well:
jen@vitalityfound.com
508-432-5840

 

I offered four classes at The Spirit of Yoga studio in West Chester, PA.

Studio manager, Sara Beck, was on top of all the details as she showed me the studio space and introduced me to teachers, Judith Curiel and Danielle, who came for their own nourishment and to offer any assistance during the classes.

Friday evening familiar faces and some new faces showed up for a 7–9 p.m. Sweet and Deep, Gentle Yoga class. Friends and dedicated students and yoga teachers from various schools came to nourish body, mind and spirit, the Gentle Yoga way.

My guests included a hard-working real estate man nursing a new asthma condition, a grad school psych student working with chronic fatigue, a dedicated and weary hospice nurse, a yoga teacher with some onset arthritis in her hands, and a 20 yr. old young woman, fresh back from studying pranayama in India, and others.

We had two, 3-hour workshops Saturday:
1. Expand Your Range of Motion
2. Connecting body, breath and mind: coordinating breath and movement.

Sunday morning, I met Pam Walsh, the owner/Yoga Teacher Trainer, who participated in the Exploring Freedom: Yoga and Meditation workshop. At The Spirit of Yoga Studio she has created a marvelous resource for the community with two yoga spaces, offices for privates, props and changing space to leave bags and hang coats.

The feedback this weekend was that while Gentle Yoga is a well-known and sought after “yoga brand”, there aren’t many workshops by Gentle Yoga Teacher Trainers to give students a well-developed, depth experience with mindfulness and ease.

On the way out of town, Monday morning, I met with Mark Nelson, owner/teacher of The Yoga Garden in Narberth, a suburb on the Main Line northwest of Philly. He had responded to the post below and said we might be able to schedule a weekend in June. After the tour, we talked and arrived at a three workshop weekend, June 17 – 19, Friday – Sunday. Go to yogagardennarberth.com for details.

So as I waited, I did what came naturally to me at that time.  I inhaled my arms up and did a lazy Half-Moon side-to-side stretch.  Boy, did that feel good.  I did a second round and then noticed that my hamstrings were calling for some TLC.  Now I was really getting into it, eyes closed, ujjayi breathing, completely losing myself in the moment.  I was in the midst of a delicious forward bend when my friend pulled up to the curb.  I “came to” and stood up as he stepped out of the car leaving it running for our quick-hug-throw-the-bags-in-the-car-get-in-the-car transition.  After our initial hello he looked at me curiously and somewhat sheepishly and asked if I was okay.  I said “yeah, why?”  He replied, “Well you were all kind of all bent over when I pulled up.”

I was as startled at my own naivete as I was at his; I had been completely oblivious that my little stretching break would have been noticed and thought odd.  It was the mid 80’s and I was on my first real vacation since becoming a resident in a yoga community where the culture was such that you could stretch during a meeting (everyone was sitting on the floor) and no one thought anything of it.  Due to my unbridled enthusiasm, whenever I left the community, my friends and family received a crash course in yoga philosophy, holistic health, and “conscious communications”, some of key elements of the lifestyle at the Kripalu Yoga Ashram (now the Kripalu Center), where I lived from 1982 -1995.  I’m sure I must have been pretty obnoxious and arrogant with my newfound “wisdom”.

The concern of my friend who picked me up at the airport that day, upon seeing me do something that had become second nature to me, provided a bit of a revelation about how unusual it was at that time for people in the general population to use stress-reduction or tension release activities.  These days, it’s more common, but not commonplace. Self-consciousness holds some people back.  Then there’s the resistance many of us feel to trying something new and unfamiliar. Add to that the effects of our fast-paced culture and its encouragement of a heady lifestyle and the result is that we all bear some degree of disconnection between body and mind.   I am grateful to have found yoga (or perhaps it found me) early in my life such that it is second nature to me to stretch and that simply stretching brings my mind back into my body where I have the opportunity for integration and a sense of wholeness.

Although we each have a unique story, it is some sense of disconnection and its attendant suffering which likely led us to the yoga mat.  The practice of yoga is where we can learn to transport ourselves across what is sometimes mysterious terrain, using the sensations produced during stretching to bridge the separation that causes all human suffering.   We all have the possibility of sharing the benefits of a little stretching here and there with others we encounter in life.  And for those of us who are teachers, we have the amazing opportunity of creating community wherein stretching is not only normal and understood, but brings contentment and peace into common, everyday moments of our lives.

Throughout the highs and lows of life, whether bad times or good, whether living in darkness or light, untruth or truth, sugar always tastes sweet.  So too can the sweet remembrance of the union called Yoga be ever tasted.                    Swami Jnaneshvara

What impresses me each time I offer this program, is the collective wisdom of each group of men. Opening night, when intentions are shared, one man shared from his best inner-knowing of the moment, “I’m not sure what I hope to get out of this weekend. I just know that I need whatever is here.”

That kind of openness goes a long way with the practice of yoga. The body holds many mysteries. There are many habits to let go of. Each day can be different in the body. A quality of exploring is helpful.
By Saturday evening we had been together for a mere 24 hours. Yet a lot had happened. Yoga practice. Yoga philosophy. Personal inquiry. Much-needed deep relaxations. Many simple meditations.
What I heard this weekend was a thirst to integrate such a useful practice of self-care into a 21st century life. And we were a group of men that were quite diverse age-wise, strung along the worklife continuum. Some at the beginning of careers, some searching for work, and some transitioning into various stages of retirement. So the challenges differed.

In our last hours together a lot of wisdom was shared about how to take the messages we learned on the mat, into our lives off the mat and into the challenges and opportunities that many of us face.  I heard myself respond to this discussion, “The best yoga practice is the practice that you can integrate into your life. Hold expectations only as possibilities, not requirements. It is those satisfying moments in practice that attract me back to the mat where I deepen my connection with myself through practice. So, I have to create opportunities for those moments to occur, to generate momentum, get traction, turn a discipline into a habit.

In other words, I have to let myself have the experience, even if the form doesn’t meet my expectations. Ideally I like to practice for an hour or two. Sometimes I think I only have about 15 minutes, though. Giving myself those 15 minutes can be an essential stepping stone into regular practice. As I live into a commitment to practice often qualities of  creativity, spontaneity and openness are required

Amy Weintraub, in her fabulous book, Yoga For Depression, reveals a great insight into making a commitment to personal practice. It’s in the Niyamas, the self-care practices of the eight-fold path of yoga, presented in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. She explains that the first two niyamas  (Saucha/purity and Santosh/contentment) actually come as a result of practicing the other three niyamas (Tapas/discipline, Swadyaya/self-study, and Ishvara-pranidhana/letting go).

Tapas is discipline.  It’s creating a commitment. Nurturing it. Keeping at it. It’s also the burn of discipline.  To defer what I want in order to show up for what I have made a conscious commitment to.  Possibly, something that I’ve noticed that I need in my life.

Swadyaya is self-study.  This includes observing the effects of my practice as well as my choices, my behaviors. It requires a compassionate self-honesty.  Self-study needs to be an objective, clear-seeing despite my filters.

Ishvara-pranidhana means letting go.  Letting go of my expectations of the effects of my efforts.

With a commitment to practice, I may expect to feel better as a result of my practice. I’ve learned that yoga’s not just about feeling better. It’s about feeling more. Yoga activates and yoga integrates. Sometimes I’ll feel great in my body. Serene emotions. Cool, calm and connected. Sometimes I’ll feel something that still needs to be fully digested, fully felt. So, the practice will give me challenges with my expectations as well as my body and breath. And in this letting go of expectations, I find the possibility to enjoy the abundance of what I do have.

These practices are part of a journey that continues over the course of our lives.  I was honored, once again, to glimpse and share in the journeys of the men in our group.  It was a joy to witness the spiritual power and inner strength that is drawn forth when a group of men come together for  authentic exploration.

It is our habit to shorten the breath when sensation increases. This is a coping mechanism. A wonderful defense of the human organism to ward off the shock of traumas large and small.  In yoga practice the possibility is to feel more. Yoga helps us increase sensitivity and awareness. Ultimately this helps us make more skillful, conscious choices and allows us to create greater fulfillment in life.  And it all starts with the breath. Inhalations help us feel. Exhalations help us relax. There are a number of powerful yogic breathing techniques. The basic ones are useful in everyday life as well.

The initial yogic breathing technique is Dirgha pranayama (pronounced Deer-guh). This is also called the Complete Breath or Three-part Breath. It is fully inflating the lungs in the three regions of the abdomen, thorax and cavicle or belly, ribs and upper chest. The full inhalation is followed by fully relaxing, allowing the breath to spill out. A simple approach is to experiment with lengthening the inhalation and exhalation. Let it be an exploration. Notice how it feels. Avoid creating tension. Notice the effect. Practice regularly. Remember inhalations help us feel. Exhalations help us relax.

Stay tuned for more occasional posts of The Principles of Gentle Yoga.

Gentle Yoga is:

a dynamic practice involving active stretching, restoring comfort and control to breathing, physical strengthening, enhancing balance, building concentration, stress relief and anxiety reduction, depression lifting, deep relaxation, integrating life and reconnecting with yourself.

The emphasis is on fluid movement and feeling over form within a safe encouraging environment, affirming that at your core you are whole and complete.

Excellent for:

back care

expanding pain-free range of motion

heart disease

pulmonary disease

sleep disorders

mental health, anxiety and depression

pain management

arthritis

high blood pressure

recovery from injury and surgery

recovery from sedentary lifestyle

Here’s wishing that 2011 is the year you get healthier, stronger and feel younger, with Gentle Yoga.

Two 13-day Modules (early registration expires 2/28/11)

When: Two 14-day Modules (early registration expires 2/28/11)             April 10th, 2011 to April 22nd, 2011 &             June 26th, 2011 to July 8th, 2011
OR
10-Month Module (early registration expires June 30th, 2011)             September 10th, 2011 thru June 3th, 2012

Go to www.comfortzoneyogacenter.com to register and get more information on early registration discounts.

This week of yoga, relaxation, meditation, massage, drumming, labyrinth walks, poetry, philosophy, listening circles, filled me on so many levels. There were many things that I wanted to do. Some, at the time seemed essential, critical. Reading inspiration from one more wise author, guiding another family of postures, more time out in the woods and fields of this paradise, one more thought or feeling to share. I didn’t get to all of them. I would have loved to have more men in the program. There were many things that I wanted that I didn’t get. But from the very beginning I began to refill my well of the things that I really need. Time to stretch and relax. Time to meditate. Being in the presence of honesty, self-compassion, self-care.  What a satisfying retreat. Now, I’ve got my guideposts for this month and a group of men to stay in touch with about these days of getting back to my wife, my friends, my friends, swimming everyday, my 30 minute morning yoga practice 5 days a weeks, cycling, and stacking wood for the seasons to come.