Sunday. Beach Yoga. One of my students told me they like my class because I give Reki when I teach. She could see it, and thats how she knew. I don't actively think about or try to move Reki while I teach, but the emotion I want to share *is* that of unity and healing. Reki (universal energy) is inseparable from our existence on Earth, but it is kind of like static electricity, hiding in the shadows until you 'turn it on.' So in my yoga class, I teach my students to acknowledge, harness, and heal themselves with the Reki spirit. To hear that my intention is manifesting on any level is a high honor and abundant source of joy.
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Connecting the dots. Today I participated in a workshop to access the 8th chakra. I learned that the technique is almost identical to a yoga pose I was enjoying earlier that day. Looking back, it was almost as if I was trying to teach myself the deeper meaning. Or perhaps preparing myself to receive it wholeheartedly. I'm thankful I was able to slow down and first let the lesson enter me subtly, then cerebraly. By then, it is just a reminder that I already knew it.
Sunday is one of my favorite days of the week because it means I teach a yoga class, and get washed with loving feelings of deep connection and growth. It's 'easy' to find joy on days like today. The lesson I shared with my students today was about Prana or Chi/Qi/Ether/Energy. The American English vocabulary lacks an adequate description for the divine nature of the concept. In a Shamanic setting, I may use the word Great Spirit. In a Yogic setting, I use Prana. So what is it? And what does it do? Prana is the life-giving current flowing through all things at all times. It is in every person, rock, tree, and hamburger. It's even in the air. You can't see it, taste it, smell it, hear or touch it. Like a belief in god, it requires faith in it's presence and power. Like a prayer to the Holy Spirit, you can know it, and you can ask it for whatever you need. I let my yoga students know that when you breathe in, take in oxygen with your physical body and prana with your subtle body. If you need relief from muscle strain, visualize the prana as white light easing the discomfort as your breath moves the healing energy through your body. If you need to energize mid-day, step into the sun and ask the sun's prana to stimulate all your cells and fill your mind with patient alertness. When we do yoga at the beach, I like to ask the wave prana to help release anything no longer serving me. Thats the beauty of subtle energy-you don't need to be specific! The importance is having the best intention. If we tell the prana of the universe (with our hearts) what we want to manifest in our lives, we can create abundance Sunday, my new yoga day :) Second week in a row that I led a beautiful beachfront yoga session. First, let me take a moment to recognize that there once was a day when I used to ask myself, "Can I be a yoga teacher?" And now, I am living it. Recognizing my accomplished goals helps me set new and bigger ones. The main point today is the amazing things that can happen when one combines the masterful discipline of free will with the confidence of intuition flowing gracefully in an abundant universe. For example, I spent years training and practicing my skills for teaching yoga to the point that now I have mastered a style where I simply show up along with my students and the class happens organically. I teach the poses as I am inspired in my own body. Therefore, I can't plan what I will say to accompany each pose. I open my mouth and let God speak through me-as Martin Luther King Jr. would say about his famous remarks. Some may say for this reason, yoga is my sport. To me, it feels like my heart's passion, so I'll pursue it with the tenacity of an athlete. Yoga on the Beach. I read one time that your work should energize you-not the other way around. Seems reasonable. If we do what we love, by the end of the day, we should be full of loving feelings. I didn't try to seek that type of lifestyle well into my twenties. And by seek, I mean that I'm still seeking it. Occasionally I teach a yoga class on the beach, and when I'm hugging people good-bye, I have the confidence to run a marathon! Other times, I'm at home, on my laptop, biting my fingernails. Perhaps they are more connected than I imagined. I asked my delicate keratin growths their opinion today, "Why can't I stop biting you down?" They are eager to help. "You don't feel in-control." It's true. Sometimes, I feel I am not in control, that's when I worry. During a yoga class, I am the control. I am the time keeper. I am the shaman, leading these students on a journey of healing and personal growth. I never bite my nails during a yoga class. I don't even have to think. I just follow my body and let the universe smile through me. Second class of outdoor restorative yoga at the Sunday Brunch Farmer's Market-Medway park in the Riverland Terrance Neighborhood of James Island. I led almost an entire class in seated postures and thought to recline only after a 2 minute qi gong sun meditation. On days like today, the time passes before I have a chance to exhaust my inspiration. We also started the class with qi gong style hand and foot clearing. It was a good recipe for foundation weekly maintenance of spiritual and energetic health. Before class even began, I was working one-on-one with a student on an inversion clinic. Demonstrating then supporting: supported headstand, handstand, and shoulder stand.
ASANAS: Sun breath, forward fold, neck stretch, dolphin breath, camel, cow-face, twists, and hands-on child's pose adjustments. My favorite form of service is teaching yoga to an open audience. I'm grateful there is a fabulous internet hub called 'meetup' to bring us together. http://www.meetup.com/Charleston-Free-Outdoor-Yoga/ The group I started is attracting a lot of people who are new to town-just like me. I wonder what other ways we are similar and I don't know about yet? For today's class, I felt the need to share pranayama, yogic breathing. We started with the 3-part falling out breath - I needed it! After some gentle neck stretches, we moved into seated warrior and victorious breath (ooh-jai-eee). I really emphasized linking breath to intention, and breath with expansion. Just now I see a connection that yoga is like an architect; both create space and shape light. The knowledge that came out of me tonight explained that physical healing brings mental healing. Asana highlights include: gate, bow, sun salutation, forwards folds, boat, and supine twists! Rather than a traditional shavasana, I taught 6 human beings to heal themselves with universal energy. Left palm raised (armpit open), right palm over heart. Ask the trees to share with you and offer love in return. Inhale through left palm, exhale through right palm. Feel the energy moving through you. Speak the intentions of your healing. Believe. Begin in Mountain Pose, Tadasana.
Swivel hips about your center, let your arms move freely. Hands on hips, circle laterally around your center. Tree, Vrksasana to Sukhasana, easy seated pose. Centering breath, intention, ohm. forwarding folding over a bolster, alternating with neck, shoulder, and heart openers. Hip opening series on back. Bridge. Savasana. Theme: Movement of the Universe
circling on our sacrum in bundle pose expanding our breath like the big bang circling each leg in our hip socket circling arms in shoulder socket from a seat, orbit your sun circling arms back in low crescent, opening your heart circling hips from standing, exploring uncertain territory circling each foot over earth, grounding yin energy breath of JOYstanding side stretch, goddess squat, reclined crescent
meditation on heart center big bang, side plank, down dog knee taps shoulder openers, seated forward folds awareness in heart emphasis on listening to your body's intuition to know how far to stretch. where else can you use intuition: does my body need vegetables or meat right now? should I spend time with the friend who is negative? what direction should I take my career? in stillness, the answer is clear. |
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