Quotes for yoga site

QUIET SUMMER TIME

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earth-wind-fire-water

 

 

 

 

 

It is that time of year already!!!  Concordia Yoga will be ending for the season this Saturday, July 25th.  We will be back in October.  Our yoga teaches are taking a break from island life over the next two months so we will be wrapping up yet another fabulous season.  Thank you all for your support and energy!!!  May August and September be full of peace and happiness.  We will be back in October with a partial schedule and should be back to a full schedule in November.  Information will be posted as it becomes available.

 

 

Downward Dog

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Downward Dog

Find Table, (on your hands and knees – hands spread wide pushing into the earth, wrist under the shoulders, knees under the hips…spine is long.)

Then toes tucked under,

Inhale

On the exhale, push into the hands, lift the knees about five inches from the mat, bring the chest through the arms toward the thighs, tilt your tailbone up toward the sky, straightening legs and lowering the head

Extend the torso up, pushing the flat palms, fingers spread into the earth, feel the hands rooting into the earth with all their power

Melt shoulder blades onto your backs and away from your ears with chest melting to the earth

Heels of the feet extending to the mat.

Breath.  Stay here for a few breaths.  This is another resting position.  It may not feel like it now but it will someday.

Bend the knees toward the floor, return to tabletop, return to child pose.

 

Table/Cat/Cow – Do these for your back!!!

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Table – On hands and knees.  With a flat back. Shoulders in line with wrists, knees in line with hips.  Hands spread as wide as possible.

Cat/Cow -Marjarisana Bitilasana – Inhale (Cow) – the movement starts in the pelvis or tailbone, slowly rotating the tailbone up to the sky, dropping the abdomen down to the earth and pulling the chest up between the shoulders, extend look up.  Head is the last movement not the first.  Exhale (Cat) – the movement starts in the pelvis or tailbone, slowly rotating the tailbone down to the earth, pulling the abdomen up to get the navel to toward the spine in a full body arch up to the sky, head moves down with chin tucking in last. Think scary halloween cat.  The movement should feel like a wave through the body always starting at the tailbone area and finishing with the head, not the other way around.  Two more Cat/Cow poses very carefully and deliberately thinking about the flow of the body as a wave scooping down and arching up.  Relax in table.

Cobra

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Cobra

Start in table then slowly lower down to your stomach. Keeping your hands under your shoulders, elbows are bent into the body, shoulder blades melt down the back.  All ten toenails are pushing into the mat and your legs are zip together into a tail. Forehead on the floor.  Inhale and slowly lift your head, straightening your arms keeping your elbows tucked in at the side, continuing with lifting part of the chest off the floor.  Abdomen on the floor. Breathe.  Release back down slowly, exhaling, with control. Lowering your chest to the floor, then your head. Breathe.  Again. Inhale and slowly lift your head and chest, elbows tucked into the sides raise up into Cobra. Breathe here three breathes.  Then lower back down.

The Breath: Reduce Stress and Find Your Inner Peace

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The Breath: Reduce Stress and Find Your Inner Peace – Part 1

As we begin 2013, we look for ways to improve our precious life. In our busy lives, we need simple methods which we can apply each day. We know that stress can have a negative impact on our bodies and mind. We know that continued stress has a negative impact on our longevity. So what do we have that is simple and can be effective. The breath or prana, our life force or spirit-energy.

Pranayama, the fourth of the eight limbs of yoga outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, can be one method to reduce our stress. Pranayama, defined by Wikipedia, means “to extend the vital life force”. Pranayama can vary in technique from complex to simple. Do Yoga St. John will explore pranayamas over the next several months.

Why Pranayama? Experienced yoga teachers have seen the impact of a pranayama practice. Pranayama can reduce stress and anxiety, help with sleeplessness, ease pain, increase awareness and enable one to find a calm, quiet, inner peace.

How to practice Pranayama? To start, become aware of your breath. Observe your breath without judgment. Find a quiet place to lie on your back comfortably, with one hand on your abdomen below the naval and one hand above the naval. As you inhale, feel the breath from the nostrils and then expansion and the subtle changes in the body. As you exhale, feel the contraction. Next, gently but actively expand the abdomen on the inhale letting all the abdomen muscles open up. Now on the exhale, contract the abdomen and at the very end of the exhale, slightly pull the abdomen muscles in to the center of the body. Repeat this practice for 6 to 12 breaths. We will call this method basic pranayama.

Another pranayama, the long exhale, involves gradually increasing your exhalation until it is twice the length of your inhalation. This pranayana relaxes the nervous system and can reduce insomnia, sleep disturbances, and anxiety. Again, begin by lying on your back in a comfortable position, place a few rounds of basic pranayama from above. Control your breath and get your inhalation and exhalation to be equal. Gradually start to increase your exhalation by 2 or 3 seconds with the contraction of the abdomen at the end of the exhalation. As long as the breath feels smooth and relaxed, continue to increase the exhale by 1 or 2 seconds once every few breaths. Next, start to count the length of the inhale, for example it may be the count of 5 and see if you can double the count and exhale for the count of 10 without changing the pace of the count. If your breath feels uncomfortable or short, reduce the ratio to a comfortable level. Try the long exhale method for 8 or 12 breaths. Then go back to your natural breath for 6 to 8 breaths.
Pause, check in with yourself, notice if you feel more relaxed and less stressed.

Check in with us in the next months for more pranayama practices.

The Breath: Reduce Stress and Find Your Inner Peace Part 2

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The Breath:  Reduce Stress and Find Your Inner Peace – part 2

As we continue our experiment with Pranayama, let us examine more deeply the benefits of reduced stress and the impact on our bodies, our psych and our lives.

From the Mayo Clinic and other medical reports, we learn that stress may be affecting our health without our awareness. There are many common effects of stress on the body including headaches, muscle tension, chest pains, fatigue and sleep problems.  Stress can have many negative impacts on our bodies and contribute to serious health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Our psyche, sometimes defined as our human soul, mind or spirit, is the reflection of our being in the universe. It is our mental state. Stress can cause many issues including anxiety, restlessness, irritability, sadness or depression. Our lives, which are always a challenge to keep in balance, can be thrown way off balance by continued stress. Stress can eventually lead to destructive life styles and behavior like over or under eating, drug or alcohol abuse, and social withdrawal.

So how can pranayama help with stress? Pranayama quiets the mind and allows the mind to rest. Through pranayama, one can experience an expansion of the mind and freshness in ones perspective. Pranayama keeps us focus on our life force, the breath, and keeps us in the present moment, which is all we truly have since the past is gone and the future is yet to be. A great deal of stress is generated from living in the past or the future.

So here is another pranayama to practice called four-part breathing. To start, find a quiet calm place to sit and begin to become aware of your breath.  Four part breathing consists of an inhale, a hold, an exhale and a hold. Observe your breath without judgment. Exhale all the breath out of the body. Inhale through the nose for a slow count of four.  Hold your breath in the body for a slow count of four.  Exhale through the nose for a slow count of four.  And then keep the breath out of the body for the same count of four. Repeat again with the inhale.  Repeat this four-part breath a minimum of eight cycles for optimal benefit.

You may find that the last part, the holding of the breath out of the body, to be the most difficult. Sit in the quiet with this difficult part and think about why you are experiencing these feeling.  Pranayama can open up blocks in our thinking and change the old thinking patterns that we are repeating.  After the pranayama, check in with yourself, become aware of your feelings and see if you feel less inner stress.

Workshops with Visiting Teacher Charmian Redwood

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Visiting spiritual teacher Charmian Redwood will be offering workshops at the People Moving Forward Foundation located behind Morgan’s Mango in Cruz Bay.

About Charmian Redwood: 

Charmian offers workshops and individual sessions guiding people to connect with their own Divine Essence and the Self who has already made the transformation into the Higher Self.  30 years ago Charmian had a Near Death Experience during which she returned to the Golden Light of the Source. There she was awakened to the consciousness of Herself as a God Presence. Her life purpose since that event has been to assist others to experience themselves as Divine Essence in the Golden Light of Home before they leave the body at the end of their lives.

She has written two books, both taken from hypnosis sessions. Coming Home To Lemuria, was written after taking many people back to the lost continent of Lemuria to remember how we lived in Oneness and Love. The second book, 2012 A New Earth Rising, was written after taking people forward through the dimensional shift of 2012 into the Healed Earth where we are living once more from our God Essence as we did in Lemuria.

Sunday April 14th
2 pm to 5 pm
Archangel Gabriel Connection to the Divine Within
at the People Moving Forward Foundation

Archangel Gabriel is the messenger who connects Heaven and Earth. At this event Charmian will play crystal bowls and guide us to connect with our own God Self. We will then create a ceremony to acknowledge ourselves and each other as Divine Beings. Bring something ceremonial, flowers, scarves, jewels for the ceremony.

Cost $ 50 ( sliding scale available) Space is limited RSVP Charmian 340-626-5443    or e mail  charmiangel40@hotmail.com

Saturday April 20th
10 am to 5 pm
Archangels Uriel and Raphael
at the People Moving Forward Foundation

A workshop with Charmian Redwood and her crystal singing bowls. Journeys of initiation and empowerment with Archangels Uriel, he is the overlighting Archangel of the Kingdom of Nature. All of the devas and elementals work under him. We will learn how to communicate with the plant spirits all around us and how to grow your garden in harmony with all kingdoms. Archangel Raphael is the head of the Healing Host. Wherever healing is taking place Raphael is there. We will receive initiation with this powerful Archangel and then practice our healing skills in a group.

Cost $100 (sliding scale available) Space is limited RSVP Charmian 340-626-5443  or e mail

charmiangel40@hotmail.com

Sunday, April 21st
2 pm to 5 pm
Sacred Feminine and Sacred Masculine in Perfect Balance
at the People Moving Forward Foundation

It is time now to heal the division between men and women that has resulted from thousands of years of patriarchy. Both men and women have been wounded so now we need to find the balance of the male and feminine within ourselves and then walk together as equals in sacred union. Charmian will play crystal singing bowls and lead a journey to bring in the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine and to find the point of balance in the heart.

Cost $ 50 RSVP Charmian 340-626-5443   or charmiangel40@hotmail.com space is limited

Yoga Teacher Training on St. Thomas!

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Robin Buck of Jane’s House returns to St. Thomas to offer a three part yoga teacher training in the Dynamic Yoga Method

This training is not only appropriate for those who wish to become yoga teachers, but rather, is an opportunity for any practicing yogi or yogini to deepen his or her yoga practice and to delve deeper into the inquiry into the nature of self, its relationships with the totality of being, and surrender.

DATES:

The 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training will be provided over the course of four modules, with final testing upon the conclusion of the final module.  Each attendee will also receive a beautifully produced 200+ page training manual containing illustrations and professionally photographed Asanas.

Module #1 April 22-28
Module #2 July 8-13
Module #3 September 23-28
Module #4 December 2-8 (includes test-out)

Each module will take place Monday through Saturday, 8am-5pm, for a total of 40 hours.  (These dates may be adjusted depending on whether the minimum number of students is obtained. We will confirm these
dates as soon as possible).

CERTIFICATION BY THE NATIONAL YOGA ALLIANCE:

Successful participation in all training modules, passing a comprehensive final exam, and an assessment by the teacher training instructors that the trainee is able to competently and compassionately a basic yoga class will result in a 200-Hour certification by the National Yoga Alliance.

SPACE AND PAYMENT:

•    Space is limited to 10 participants.

•    Payment and a signed agreement are required to reserve your space.

•    Payment options

Option 1: 
One payment of $3,000

Option 2:    
Two payments of $1575 (for a total of $3150); First payment to reserve your spot in program and second payment due by the end of second module.

Option 3:     
Three payments of $1100 (for a total of $3300); First payment to reserve your spot in program, second payment due by the end of second module, and third payment due by the end of the third module.

*Please contact Jennie Alvarez at (340) 643-7758 or Laura Nagi at (808) 728-2800 to register.

JANE’S HOUSE

For the last decade, Jane’s House has had the privilege of developing teachers who are seen as the most competent of teachers in their markets  and have evolved a program over the course of that time that is equaled by none: there is a difference between training someone to be a teacher, and training someone to be an instructor. To be a teacher of Yoga is to be an example of the process of personal transformation, and a carrier of the ancient wisdom of self-inquiry, compassion and devotion: Jane’s House trains teachers.

ROBIN BUCK:

Much of the technical curriculum is derived from the work of Godfrey Devereux. Mr. Devereux teaches something called the Dynamic Yoga Method. The Dynamic Yoga Method is not to be understood as a new “style” of Hatha yoga. It is essentially a way to organize and experience the actions one takes within practice, a basic set of principles that can be taught to students in the beginning of their training to give them a way to gain autonomy in their investigation of Yoga. Within the realm of technique, trainees are taught to organize the many possible actions that the body can take within the rubric of three main areas: expanding actions (broadening actions), extending actions (lengthening actions), and spiraling actions (the basic medial and lateral rotations of the major joints).

The training is structured around several key elements:

•    Technical training: in asana, meditation, and pranayama.

•    Teaching skills: how to language and teach actions rather than guiding a class via practicing together; sequencing classes based on a deep understanding of the techniques and postures as actions rather than forms; hands-on adjustments, holding the space, and adapting to the needs of students spontaneously.

•    History and philosophy: The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, the Baghavad Gita, and the Gospels.

•    Anatomy and physiology: Joint mechanics, the reflexes, and the respiratory system as applied to the actions of practice.

•    The psychology of teaching: The training curriculum takes advantage of adult learning methods and places tremendous focus on character development. Yoga is a transformational practice and as such
requires teachers who can anticipate situations in which boundary or ethical issues may arise. Other topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Pregnancy and other special populations.

See www.dynamicyoga.com  for more information on Godfrey Devereux and the Dynamic Yoga Method.

Be Nobody’s Darling – Alice Walker

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Be nobody’s darling;

Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.

Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.

But be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.

– Alice Walker

Look for These Upcoming Events

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Awaking to Love – A Valentine’s Day Yoga Workshop
with Patricia Schneider and Andrew Junker
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Concordia Yoga Pavilion
9 – 11AM
Cost: $30
Followed by optional brunch

Special guests return to St. John in late March for a follow-up to their sold out Ayurvedic workshop at Concordia. Join them along with Zach and Lindsey for more food, massage, yoga, and more. We will also be filling up the week with various short workshops focusing on adjustments and inversions!

In April we present “The Artist Within” with Annie Caswell. Free your creativity with Kundalini Yoga and intuitive clay play. Get creative!

Stay tuned for more information and dates and more events!