Showing up

We are now into classes for fall quarter and the classes are bubbling with energy and enthusiasm, which I love.     It is great to see so many returning students as well as some new faces.
When coming to yoga for the first time or starting a class with a new teacher it is always a little daunting for most of us.     However I am reminded how important that step is...the actual signing up and getting to that first class.  "Showing up".   When you show up for anything in your life you are making possibility available.   When you show up consistently then change begins to happen.   That change might just be waking up in some way to who you are and what is important and what you are going to do with this  "precious life", as Mary Oliver calls it.

This second week we are discussing "meditation" and how the mind is like a puppy in training. 
We all know if you don't train a puppy then you end up with a very distracted, disobedient dog.  The mind is like that if you don't train it.    We train the mind through meditation and mindfulness.  Both these practices are part of our yoga journey.  Both require consistent attention and intention.    The breath and the postures are our focus as we learn how to concentrate more deeply and for longer periods.     It is this part of yoga that I love the most as it is what allows me to live more authentically in my daily life.

Classes are starting today!!!!

Tonight is our first class of fall quarter...  I am excited to be back in the groove again.
This quarter we will focus on learning sequences and refining transitions... that place where we are linking one pose to another. 
Transitions in yoga as in life can be bumpy, as you know.  Making smooth transitions requires slowing down and being in the moment rather then just focusing on the destination.
If you are in a hurry to get somewhere you will miss what happens in between. 
You may have found that change and transitions in life are hard and yet in some sense you are always in transition.   There is always movement, there is always some level of change and the unexpected in our lives.  That is what makes life interesting and that is what makes yoga interesting.
In every practice and every pose you can find something new, even if you have done that pose hundreds of times.  Being in the moment, paying attention allows you to find that newness and to meet the transitions with awareness and curiosity.