Class # 3

Slogan:  Don't Expect Applause.

I hope you are all taking this into your week and seeing how it applies.  I think of aparigraha when I consider the ability to be unattached to receiving praise for all that we do.    How much do we need appreciation or acknowledgement?   I think we all need it to some extent.   It feels like we are SEEN when we receive that from others, however it may be more about our attachment to it.

 There is a purity of heart when we are able to do for others and allow that to be the gift in itself.
The author suggests" "More than to expect thanks, it would be helpful just to expect the unexpected".... being curious and inquisitive about what comes.
   Also it is important to express gratitude but not so that we expect to be liked or get something back.   I wonder if we are even conscious of that.

"Simply keep the door open without expectation!"  

This reading (and my commentary) comes from Pema Chodron's book:  Comfortable with Uncertainty

Class #2

Last week I read a story poem by Portia Nelson.  I gave all of you a copy.

"I walk down the street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in..."   those are the first few lines.
The poem helps us to look at the patterns we create in our lives and how we become unconscious to them even though they create suffering.  
The author gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves where are we creating suffering in our lives and repeating the same choices over and over again.
The suffering can feel like a negative emotion or an inner conflict and then we wonder why are we here again.    Or maybe it is a behavior that leads to a problem that we continue to encounter.
I learn from this that I must look at my belief or my attitude and deconstruct or undo it  if I am to re- build and change where I end up.
In the poem there are several moments of becoming more conscious becoming more and more awake.
The poem is called Autobiography in Five Short Chapters.

Spring classes begin...

So glad to be back with classes once more.  Spring is in the air even though we are having high winds and lots of rain.
This quarter there will be no specific theme, just a variety of little reflections to take us into our breathing and meditation and asana practices.
I am letting students know this week that I am taking the summer off so there will be no yoga classes for summer quarter.  I will give you recommendations for other classes around town for summer yoga if you want to continue classes during summer months.
See you in class.
Maureen

Restorative Clases

Thanks to all of you who attended the Restorative Class.    Both classes went very well with great feedback.    Next specialty class in the Spring is "Hip Openers".   Sign up early... these classes will
most likely fill.
Happy Easter and Spring Break.

My dear yoga people....

You can see I did not keep up on posting all the demons  and their antidotes we were studying this quarter...
Posting regularly on my blog is my intention but it does not always happen. :(

However I did give you all a little list the last week as we finished our discussion.
Here is what was on the list.
DEMON                             ANTIDOTE

Fear                                     Faith

Doubt                                  Surrender

Impatience                          Endurance

Blame                                 Honesty

Guilt                                   Forgiveness

Shame                                 Honor

This is a list that we might find helpful to look at when we get caught with one of our demons that is holding us hostage.    This is not easy... it requires, inquiry, insight, humility, to name just a few.
However it allows us to embrace CHANGE and move into it with more grace and ease.
It doesn't mean we don't have a good cry sometimes or lose sight of our intentions.    However
our "antidotes" are there to help  bring us back to what is true and lasting.     Any effort in this
area is always worthwhile.  

Change Demon #2: DOUBT

We are all familiar with doubt.    It is hard to feel inspired when we are dragging doubt along on the journey.  What if we were to let go  a little.    We don't have to carry that heavy bag full of reasons why failure is ahead.  Can we let go a little of trying to control how things should turn out?   What we can control is our optimism, our hope, feelings and actions.
Bernie Siegel says, "It is okay to have doubts, just don't feed them and entertain them."
The antidote to doubt, Ariane tells us is "surrender.

Change Demon #1 : FEAR

Ariane de Bonvoisin says that " fear is an emotion that exists only in  regards to the future".
In week #3 we looked at a list of some different types of fear. It seems to me that most of us at one time or another have experienced either all or most of these.  Change often  seems to throw us off balance.  I suspect none of us likes that feeling.  However, if we know that feeling, that emotion, will happen many times in our lives and that we have faced it and moved through it in the past, then we also know that fear is a part of being human, and we can learn not to be threatened by it.
In yoga we build tools to deal with fear and uncertainty.   We learn how to calm our emotions and still the busy mind. We return to that place within us that never changes, the place that is always there.  I like to call it our "Higher Self".   You may want to give in a different name.