Yoga Garden

A lovely little book from the talented hand and mind of Rachel Andrzejewski. Thanks for the sweet reminder….

“When we can celebrate and truly own what it is that makes us different, we are able to find the source of our greatest creative power.” – Aimee Mullins

I’ve been thinking a lot about integrity and authenticity these days. And how movement reveals so much about our ability to be honest with ourselves. I loved teaching from this quote this week. When we practice together as a group we are of course there to create momentum as we move in and out of each pose. We go through the same sequences, listen to the same music, everyone wants to feel like they accomplished something by doing each pose well. We need to have a basic understanding of what we are doing in each pose to practice safely and effectively. And we talk about that too. But I really want to emphasize with my students is that there is so much integrity to doing a pose that honors your unique ability in that pose. There is so much authenticity in focusing on what you do well and not being concerned with whether or not you are able to do something as well as the person next to you. To truly be creative you have to be supportive of yourself. What makes you you and trust in the experience you are having as who you are here, now. So we talked about this in my classes this week. We moved through a back bending sequence requiring us to find strength and stay rooted in that as a foundation for practicing honestly and with integrity to our individual capabilities in each pose. Authenticity baby.

I’ve been wanting to check out the Art Shanty Village that pops up every winter on Medicine Lake for years but it’s always been to cold for my Vata self. This winter the weather has been perfect and today was finally the day. The light was incredible – beautiful and bright. I left feeling so encouraged – we as artists can set up shop anywhere and do our work. And the community that comes together around that is a beautiful thing.

I recently bought my first copy of the I Ching thanks to inspiration from Sarah Fox. The lucky penny above and sweet little box are a gift from Rachel A. What a sweet gift. I’m collecting LUCKY PENNIES to “throw coins” and ask questions. I will let you know how it goes…off to such a sweet start.

Thank You Christina for a great weekend workshop in Minneapolis! You are an amazing teacher! Looking forward to 2013… ***

Every Word is a Mantra or a Seed to a Story…

It’s called a Bija Mantra.

For a new year I wish for us all to create the story of our lives we most truly want. To be creative and to suprise ourselves by doing something new. To not waste time but still have fun and give ourselves space to explore. To find a core group of people to do this with who understand this process and are adventurous at heart. To plant these seeds of new creative beginnings. So back to the idea of choosing a word. I was thinking about this and it occured to me the seeds we are planting are mantras. In Sanskrit it’s referred to as a Bija Mantra.

Bija means Seed, Mantra means to transcend. Perfect.

Every word is both. Every word contains it’s raw power in it’s individual letters and pronunciations and a description and understood explanation in it’s meaning. So through this process of choosing a word a story starts to unfold. We give ourselves a focus for the year, a place to go when we start to lose sight of our focus and create a new pattern.

For me this year I chose the word Faith. It’s a weird word for me to chose. I chose my word kind of organically and that was the one that kept popping up. It bugged me a little at first because it has religious connotations…not bad just not my mantra. The word Faith in Sanskrit is Shraddha. Shraddha actually means to have heart, to move forward from the heart. The word heart has it’s core meaning derived from the latin word cour which means heart and in english also forms the core of the word courage. So, as the story of having Faith unfolds for me this year I have to learn to move forward from the heart with courage. See, isn’t this great! Every word is a seed and a mantra…when I start to get discouraged I create a new pattern by telling myself to have courage to lead with my heart. Scary but it helps to understand it as a narrative.

Every one of us has a story. All of us want to tell our stories. And all of our stories are worth being told.

I would love to hear how the stories of your words are unfolding so please stay in touch with me on this.

First Class of the year tomorrow @ 6:30…I hope to see you there!

I am so excited about Winter 2012. 2011 was a great year. I had crazy change in my life. And I’m really looking forward to the opportunity a new year offers to build on the past. Everything starts in the dark…I’m learning to appreciate and understand this more and more as I grow older. It’s helped me to make peace with winter and understand it’s purpose. It can seem really harsh and unnecessary but I’m learning to make peace by the beauty that comes of it. Of understanding the need to go into the dark to do your work…the deep stuff that’s sometimes hard, embarrassing, fearful, etc…

So, This Thursday, the 22nd is the darkest day of the year. WE need to celebrate that to move toward what we truly want as the days become longer. I will be teaching a special class from 6:30-8:00 @ YOGA GARDEN. We will have a toast afterwards…stay if you’d like.

Love, L

Everyone has a story.
Everyone wants to tell their story.
And Everyones story is worth being told.