Cutting back on classes

Hola, North Coast Yogis!

Wanted to let you all know that I am phasing out two of my three classes a week...you can still find me at the C.V. Starr Community Center at 7:00 am on Thursday mornings, where I will be pouring all of my sweetness, light and grit into a single class, for the time being.

I am getting ready to transition myself onto other things, potentially off the coast and inland to sunnier climes, but before then, I have a couple special yoga-related projects I'll be sharing with you. More on them later.

This week is your last chance for Monday night Hot Vinyasa class with me at the community favorite: Hot Yoga of Mendocino. The following week there will be a new teacher for us all to try! I'm going to miss you, my regular Monday night folks.

This week is also your last chance to restore with me on Tuesday night, 5:30 at the Redwood Health Club. It's now only $8 to drop in for yoga there. Nice deal.

a poem for you, until I can write more...

The bud
stands for all things,
even those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as St. Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of
the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking
and blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow. 
~Galway Kinnell

April rains are welcomed
by the thawing winter soil,
almost overnight
the grasses grow green.

They have waited for this moment.

Now everything in them pushes up and outward
toward the light,
seeking the freedom of growth
like a caged one caught,
finally sprung loose from captivity.

The caged ones within me
are also breaking free.
They are singing songs
and dancing in the rain.

How to finally start that thing you've been meaning to start...

There is an article by Sharon Salzberg in the spring 2011 issue of "tricycle"(a magazine aimed at buddhist practitioners), on sustaining a meditation practice. The whole article is worth reading, in my opinion, but below is the part that I found most useful.

"Just put your body there...that's what you have to do. Just put your body there. Your mind will do different things all of the time, but you just put your body there. Because that's the expression of commitment, and the rest will follow from that." 

I just love that, because it resonates on so many levels. It applies to exercise, or developing new habits, or studying, or anything that requires us to show up, really show up, in some way. We come up with all these stories of why we cannot, should not, don't want to do something. Then we come up with more stories about why we can, should, do want to do it. 

Let's say you are thinking about going for a walk. Those story lines can be rolling along: "It looks like rain. I'm tired. The dogs already got exercised today. I'm hungry. I need to work/wash the dishes/fold the laundry/whatever" "I should go. Walking is healthy. I can bring a rain jacket. I want to be the kind of person who walks. The fresh air is good for me." Each of these is a story we tell ourselves. In the meantime, the body finds the rain jacket, ties the shoes, steps out the door. 

The body goes into the other room, folds legs, sits down, breathes deeply. Nothing else is needed. 

The 8 Limbs of Yoga

Alison Hinks, the author of the overly brief and incomplete history of yoga that I got so excited about a couple of weeks ago, has revealed a visual guide to Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga.

I bow to her.

That said, this post is over, 'cuz now you are so busy running around and clicking on all the links I put up, that I don't need to write any more, do I? ;)

It's been a year...

...since I first started tinkering around on this blog. I was searching out monthly quotes then, such as this excerpt from a William Wordsworth poem:
It is the first mild day of March.

Each minute sweeter than before...
There is a blessing in the air
Which seems a sense of joy to yield...

Browsing in a used book shop this weekend, I commented to my beloved that I would like to find a book of poetry in which every poem was perfect for reading to a yoga class.

 Indeed. Before I left the store, just such a slim volume had placed itself into my hand. I am so looking forward to sharing new poems with you in class over the next couple of weeks. Here is a sneak preview:

The loveliness
of a single flower
in radiant bloom
can sing
my drooping spirit
into joy.

The loveliness
of a single person
with a listening gaze
can sing
my heavy heart
back into life.

I've come across
both kinds
in my time of need

and both have brought me hope.

Golden Milk recipe

This beverage can look a little odd, because the turmeric turns it, well, golden, and the almond oil floats in globules on the top, but your brain, your spine and your joints will appreciate this luxurious drink. I found it in a kundalini yoga book a number of years ago, and I always rediscover it again in the winter, when the body becomes particularly fond of warm, nourishing things. Here on the north coast of California, you can find opportunities to drink golden milk year-round, as even the summer can be chilly and damp.

According to the book I found this recipe in, turmeric is "...a lubricant for the joints...also excellent for the skin and for the mucous membranes, especially the female reproductive organs...this very tasty drink is wonderful for the spine, lubricates the joints, and helps to break up calcium deposits."

• 1/4-1/3 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 cup water (I use more)
• 8 oz milk, dairy or non-dairy
• 1 tablespoon raw almond oil
• honey to taste (agave nectar also works well, but please do not eviscerate the nutritive qualities of this drink  by using other sweeteners or even stevia, at least not until you've tried it this way first.)

Boil turmeric in water for about 8 minutes. If too much water boils away, add a little more. Add milk and almond oil. When mixture boils, remove from heat and add honey. Usually makes 1 to 1 1/2 cups of Golden Milk.

One of my favorite foodie books, the "Whole Foods Companion: a guide for adventurous cooks, curious shoppers, and lovers of natural foods", by Dianne Onstad, had some additional information on the health benefits of turmeric.

Antifungal, cholagogue, choleretic, stimulant. Turmeric is noted as a blood purifier, has a soothing action on respiratory ailments, improves liver function, benefits the circulation, helps regulate the menstrual cycle, and works as a restorative after loss of blood at childbirth. It also helps the body digest proteins, and when combined with coriander and cumin it aids in the digestion of complex carbohydrates. Turmeric may be used to regulate blood sugar for diabetics. It has antifungal and antibacterial properties and helps heal wounds both internally and externally. For an abrasion, bruise, or traumatic swelling, apply a paste of half a teaspoon of turmeric, a pinch of salt, and water or ghee to the affected area. Turmeric is considered to have  beneficial effects on the skin, and it is said that Indian women owe their velvety complexions to the daily intake of turmeric in their foods. Turmeric contains highly variable amounts (0.3 to 5.4 percent) of a yellow pigment called curcumin, the most active component in turmeric; curcumin has been found effective as an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agent and as a cardiovascular and gastrointestinal aid; it also appears to inhibit the development of colon cancer (p. 493)