Clarifying Standing on One Leg, #1

Human beings can do a lot of things,
many of them fairly stupid,
and some
marvelous and we don't even know it:
such as standing on two feet.

Lo and behold,
why stop there:
How about standing on one leg?

Turns out
yoga
in its quest to help us clarify what this
body thing
body mind thing
focusing and attention thing
is all about
has a bunch of one legged postures.

And great:
every time we walk
we are one legged
for a little while.

But
in yoga,
we hang on one longer.

So, let's take the simplest
and make one set of clarifications
this week
and some more next week.

The pose:
Tree
Vrikasana

How to do it:
You know,
but just in case:

Stand on one foot,
bring the sole of your other foot
to your ankle
or your calf
or your thigh,
or bring your ankle of the up foot,
across the standing up leg thigh.

Anyway: there you are on one foot,
and the hands?

In prayer pose:
at heart
or above your head.
Or arms parallel above your head.

Okay,
then you stay there awhile,
and if you want to get fancy,
close your eyes and stay there.

Good:
the affirmation:
"I am calm. I am poised."

Fine.

And to clarify:
try this.
First experiment with your two legs
and discover which side does Trikonasa better.

Then do it on the "second best" side again,
and see how it is,
and specifically notice:
where is your hip joint.

Then lie down.
Stand the foot on the ground/ floor,
of the "second best" balancing leg.
Leave the "first best" leg lying straight and
it will just do nothing for awhile.
So we'll call this "second best" leg,
the Leg.

Now: imagine where your hip joint
is for the Leg.
Hint: it's not at the outer edge we
call our hips.
Nor is it in the crease where our pants
make a fold, in the groin area.
So where is the hip.
Find out.

Move the Leg, with foot in place,
the knee to the right and left.
Slowly.
Search for where the hip joint is.
Really slowly.
Take rests.
Do this again.

Let the Leg down, and rest like that.

Now bring the foot of the Leg
to standing again, and do this interesting
movement:
once breathe out, and lift that knee, and bring it
closer to your head
and then breathe out,
and push your belly out and
press that foot into the floor/ ground so that
side of the pelvis raises a little.
Go very slowly.
Search for the hip joint
in all this.

Take another rest.

Do that again.

Take another rest.

Now combine:
Bring the Leg to standing,
and rotate that knee in a circle
in such a way that sometimes the belly
is going out and the knee is going away
from your body
and sometimes the knee is to the right,
and sometimes the knee is coming toward you,
and sometimes the knee is going to the left.

Slowly circle.
Rest.
Slowly circle the other way.

Search for the hip joint.
Rest.

Come to standing.

See now which leg stands
more easily in tree pose,
and what knowing about
your hip joint
has to do with helping this.

ciao,
chris

Marvelous Marlie

plan B

don't need one
yet

will post here
if we do

Yoga on a Monday:

Tadasana

This one is
"simple"

and oh, so beautiful

Stand with your feet firmly planted
on the ground

bring your eyes to the horizon
go a little below
and a little above


see if you can find a position for your neck
that leads your eyes to being directing parallel
to the Earth

horizon
horizontal
spine up and down
eyes at right angles to that

search
and
if you want:
play

play a little with eyes and nose:
eyes up as your nose goes down
nose down and eyes up
and then find the two together
and pointing to the horizon

horizon
horizontal,
directions we learn and learn and learn
as babies
and then forget about

how are we doing now
at the computer:
is the screen such that our backs
can be upright
and our eyes looking neither up
nor down at the screen????

okay
back to tadasana:

feet
rock a little forward,
feel what happens in your back


rock a little back
feel what happens in your front


notice the tension in your back
when you rock forward,
the tension in your belly
when you rock back

find the middle ground
neither forward nor back
(minimum tension, front and back)
and then
come back to your eyes and neck
and let them line up with the earth

this is good

try this, too,
which is a bit like the above
and a little more advanced,
and very toning to the brain
and the nervous system:
pull your belly in just a little
and rock your pelvis so the top goes back
and your tail bone (the bottom of the pelvis, in a way)
tuck under

alternate that with pushing your belly out
a bit (this can be done to sweet effect
at our chairs in front of the computer)
and rolling the pelvis so the top part comes forward,
and the tail comes back
as if lifting your butt in the air

back and forth

then make it bigger,
letting the arms come up and back when your
belly goes forward,


and the arms come a up and a bit forward
when your belly comes back


feel the rocking on your feet as you do
this

what is different
if you do this with your eyes open
and with your eyes closed

search for the middle in
all this
the place neither forward
nor
backward



and you'll have a sweet
tadasana

The affirmation here is:
I stand ready to... connect with my Highest Self
or
I stand ready to obey Thy least command
or
I stand ready to live in the Here and Now
or
I stand ready to live life to the full

you pick

enjoy

Parenting, and Love in Action

PARENTING: A GUIDE TO LIFE
Parenting is not something our children ask for. It’s something we do, and they live with. They suffer with, they put up with, they thrive with. Parenting is our job. In some systems, the soul decides to come back, chooses the parents, blah, blah, and maybe yes, maybe no, and most children have the complete right to say, “I didn’t ask to be born.”

So what’s our job as parents?

Easy.

To love.

That’s it, and on the “good days,” this is easy, and on the rest of the days, it’s a job.

A good job.

The best job in the world.

Have you stayed with me: on the “bad days,” parenting is the best job in the world. Why? Because when they are being little turds, then we have to get our …together and learn what loving really is.

You know the thing from the bible, where Jesus, almost with a sense of humor, says “Anyone can love really groovy people, but can you love them when they are sinners.” Something like that, and He has to drag in the old sinners thing, or maybe it’s just the translators. Over the eons.

Doesn’t matter.

The point: when they are good, they are very, very good, and when they are “bad,” they are horrid. (Little curl in the middle of the forehead, and so on.)

And when they are “bad,” we get to discover that “bad” is in the eye of the beholder, even if they are breaking our really great stuff, or hitting their innocent angle little sister/brother, or saying “No,” for the ten thousandth time to our Wise and Reasonable Rules, Demands, Requests, Pleads, and Barks.

So, how to do that?

Well, the Work of Byron Katie is the way to go at night, later, when we aren’t on the battlefield and we need to get clear about where IS the obstacle to love: in the little horrid child’s behavior, or in our mind that doesn’t know how to unconditionally love?

Loaded question, eh, and the Work, never posits one right way. It does allow us to get into our mess (Judge your neighbor/child), and slow down the mental mess (Write it down), and sort out the mess (Ask four questions), and bring the wisdom on home to our own hearts and minds (Turn in around).

But no rules: Thou Shalt Unconditionally love the little angels/beasts.

Nope, it’s all about understanding our suffering when we don’t love.

And then: back to the battlefield. What to do there, when we are ready to blow our stack, or at the very least, throw away love and get into Boss gear?

Same thing: Know what our habit is. Listen inside our minds to the voice and the words we are about to hurl out. Notice the habitual actions we want to take.

Slow down. Which is kind of already required, isn’t it: since we’ve slowed down enough to notice, instead of charging ahead in the old habit.

So, maybe way near the beginning is this: knowing we are going into the judge, anger, reaction mode. Then watching it.

Then, without the questions, raising the idea of the results of the questions: we have options. What else could we do than what we usually do.

But here’s the key, or one of the keys: follow our breathing. Look at the child without a story of how they should be different. Come to a calmness inside our own bodies, and look, look, look. And wonder: what is going on? Wonder, if I were this child, what steps could the Giant make that would make it easier for me to shift out of my doo doo? Wonder, about what the child imagines the world is and should be at that moment and see if you can help the child make sense of it’s anger or fear or stubbornness.

“If I were you, I’d want to stay here all night, too. You are really having fun. And it makes you angry when I take you away when you are having fun. And you really don’t like me when I take you away and you don’t want to be taken away. And it doesn’t seem fair that I get to tell you what to do all the time. Is that pretty much how it seems to you?”

Something like that.

Hmmm. Come to think of it, this wouldn’t be a bad way to be if a mate or parent of co-worker or friend got angry with us, would it? (Notice or don’t notice, that I stay out of the non-truth land that NVC gets you into when it starts talking about the “needs” of another. The child/ mate/ coworker doesn’t “need” to stay, or to feel in control, but they certainly “want” to.).

So, anyway: if we slow down, find peace in our own bodies, look at the child as someone who has real and valid and deeply felt reasons of their own. Maybe these reasons are understood, probably not, and that’s our job, too: to help them make sense of why they have good and righteous reason to hate us for a moment or a day or an hour.

So love is….

Something to learn. And learning how to slow down, give them their fury or “badness,” help them see what’s going on, work from a framework of listening, and paying attention and deep concern for “their side” of the deal: wow, that’s a long way toward love in action, isn’t it.

And if love isn’t in action, it’s probably not love.

Ciao, for this Wednesday’s parenting essay.

Yoga for a Monday

Warrior II
or Virabhadrasana II
or
Vira 2:

Ah, hello Monday,
and how about a little Vira 2
to start the week.
Let's skip the warrior name,
just go for the gusto,
eh?
Strength,
down and into the ground,
open heart,
up into the sky,
looking forward,
rooted backward,
tooted
to
life
and all its wonders.

And so,
yippie,
let's go:

slowly
and with depth
and exploration
and joy
and discovery:

DNA yoga, Discovery, Nature, Ananda/Awareness

In DNA yoga,
we are up to all sort of variations:
lean "too far" forward,


lean "too far" back



arch you back "too much"


fold and round your back "too much"


try it out
find what feels real
and good
and strong
for you

find the power of connecting to the ground
find the freedom and joy in the upper arms,
feel them floating free,
whether palms are oriented up


or
down


try different depths of the pose,



find what's right
and good
and strong
and happy for you,
for YOU,

find the power and the joy
and affirm
while in this pose
and then
in a resting pose before
the next one:

"I joyfully manifest the power of God."
or
"I joyfully manifest the power of Life."
or
"I joyfully connect with the power of my Higher Self."
or
something else
of your own chosing

have fun
go deep
be strong
clear
and present

that's yoga

you are yoga

Cow, belly down, ready to Moooo about:
Yoga for a Monday

Cat and the Cow

Cats, when they hiss, round up their backs, raising up their belly
and creating something like a half circle from
front feet to the back.

Cows, when they stretch out for a big old loud mooooo,
arch their backs, so the belly gets lower,
and the head gets higher.

Now, if a person did that,
we could have something like this:

1) For starters. Come to your hands and knees. Do this the normal mindless way, and then, hmmm, what would it be like to do it with awareness? Just how do your hands feel on the floor or Earth, and your knees? Are your feet flat to the ground or do you have your toes bent, in what they call the “for running” shape? Where are you looking? How does your spine feel? Are your hips over your knees, your shoulders over your hands? Fool around, play around, shift around, find what feels right for you today.

2) Breathe easily. Notice your breathing. Notice a happiness in breathing. See if there is any way that this simple act, the act of breathing can be easier and more pleasurable for you.

3) Now begin to arch your back and push out your belly as you breathe in. As you do this, lift your butt toward the sky, by tilting your pelvis so that your tailbone, too, is lifting. Do this each time you breath in, let yourself push forward with your belly, arch your back and tilt your butt to the sky. On the out breath, just come to “normal,” whatever that is.


4) Now try the opposite. As you breathe out, pull up your navel, lift the middle of your back toward the sky and tilt your tailbone under, as if you are going to tilt the front of your pelvis ( your sex) toward your face. Look down as you do this, so you are becoming nicely folded, with the center of your back being the high point of the curving you. This is the cat.


Cat, belly in, ready to hiss and ???strike


5) Alternate cat, with belly pulled in and back toward the sky, and cow, with the belly pushed forward and back arching so that shoulders and butt are the high points. Notice the tilting of your pelvis as you do this, and allow your head to come up when your butt comes up (the cow gives a big Mooooo), and allow your head to come down, looking between your legs when your pelvis tilts the other way.

6) Rest on your back and feel how you feel in your whole self. Notice your spine. Notice your breathing. Once again concentrate on being present and the happiness that comes from simple being at the moment with yourself.

Waking Up to the Call of Health in the Moment

to be healthy
is wonderful
and often
neglected
until
something
"goes wrong"

probably way before Ben Franklin
people knew
and forgot
that an once of prevention
was worth a pound of cure

and how
can
waking up
to the moment
help us with real health

in the moment
we can notice:
ah,
i'm a bit sluggish:
time to move

instead of the habitual:
i'm a bit sluggish,
grunt,
throw in some food
or stimulant

and again
in the present
when
we are eating
we can go slow
enough to follow
our breathing
while we eat
to taste slowly
while we eat

that way,
the meal
almost each bite
will be a feast

and we won't be
shovelling it in
and doing something else:
thinking
reading
talking
watching tv
while we
treat our bodies as mere
machines
needing a fueling stop

and this now:
if we sense
and breathe
and get honest
and clear:

what would
feel healthy and fine
to do
with ourselves
right now??

listen
listen
the answers are within

Season's Changing?
Or just a little early rain?

Now it's wet,
time to love water.

Now it's getting cooler
time to eat more fat.

Now's it's going to be darker
earlier
time
to eat more light,
or the
lighten
up
or en
lighten
up
or all three
or just
two

Now's it's Saturday
and that means....
whatever it means to you.

What do you love,
now?

What do you like,
now?

What would you do,
now,
if you didn't do
what you usually do

inside
outside

what habit
would it be fun
to explore
the shifting and undoing
and new variations on?

what is
it about now
that will
always be
and is
gone
even as
we notice?

ciao,
now,

chris

SUFIA YOGA

Strength
Unification
Flexibility
Intelligence
Awareness & Anti-Aging

Fun, Expansion,
Learning, Love,
Ease and Clarification:

Move better
Feel Better
Think Better

Combining
Feldenkrais (10 years study, 165 days training beyond the 160 days required)
Yoga (7 years learning, 200 hour yoga certification)
Tai Chi ( 5 years studying with national push hands champion)
Pilates (not trained: this is code word for : Core Strengthening, back, abs and sides,
near the pelvis)
Plus ( strengthening the real core: Our Brain)

To understand the essence
of yoga
as a movement system
to connect to
Now
to connect to
Learning
to connect to
Joy
to connect to
Ease
to connect to
Power and Ease


Taught as group sessions
(see Current Classes and Workshops or call 707-996-1437

Private sessions at my
house
or yours.



Benefits:

Increase flexibility
without strain
or efforting

Increase awareness of
your body

Increase pleasure
in moving
your body

Increase
pleasure of
being in the present

Make "regular"
(i.e. non-discovery, Do it Right Yoga)
easier

Access your brain

Make learning central to
yoga
and to your life

Increase skills in other areas:
dance,
walking,
sitting

Heal and transform
back pain,
shoulder pain,
hip pain,
neck pain.

Learn to learn

Increase abilities
to slow down
to pay attention
to go inside

Connect with your higher self

Connect with nature

Connect with now

Connect with your humaness

Enjoy your life

Breathe better

Be happier

Improve creativity

Discover areas of yourself
that delight
and amaze you

Move as you
did when
you were
young
and
frisky

Discover how delightful
going slow
and aware
can be

in everything

Eating Less

In Ramadan
people eat
only after sundown

the stomach rests
all day

they don't even
drink water,
the Muslims,
following
the dictates
of their religion

resting the stomach is good

fasting from dinner
is another way
to give the stomach a rest
make break-fast
a really amazing meal

and gain
an new appreciation
for how
much
we get pushed around
by our sensations
and our beliefs about
what we have
to do
the minute
the "hunger"
sensations
come

Nine Eleven,
did the bad guys
get to Heaven?

Six years ago,
some "bad" guys,
flew some planes,
they wanted to stir up
a hornet's nest,
they did.

They wanted to kill some people
and themselves,
they did.

The wanted to stun
the Mightly America.
They did.

And what can that all teach us
about health?

What goes wrong
when love
goes wrong?

We marry someone,
highly in love
(if planning the wedding wasn't
too fractious),
and then x years later,
we can 't stand them.

Where did the love go?

A religion sets out to teach
people
to
"love thy neighbor,"
to
"love thy enemy,"

and then,
down the road,
decides
that it's time for a Crusade,
time to go kill some infidels
and take over some real estate.

The Crusades.
men,
with their big muscles
and reptile brains,
and iron
and steel
and horses,
and ideas of God
twisted into
reason for killing
go
off the War.

Killing, looting,
all the usual,
not very "holy"
these Holy Crusades

and guess
what?

big surprise:
revenge ideas
from the "infidels"
who now have their
own ideas about who
is an "infidel"

To love the Infidel
or kill him,
what a strange question
and to realize,
many, many answer it
is the least loving way


Some people say that all healing
requires forgiveness.

There are fun stories
like this:
woman on death bed,
just about to expire,
has the realization
that she doesn't need to hate
the guy
who jilted her at the alter
on their non-wedding da,
and when she forgives,
she wakes back to life,
is healed,
gets up and walks
into the rest of her life.

forgiveness
of others,

forgiveness of
ourselves.

they haven't been perfect.
we haven't been perfect,
and
ohmygod,
that's perfect.

does that mean we should
stay asleep
to our lives
and the present?

nah,
it's far easier
to love
and forgive
and be happy
in the present,

so we might as well
come on back home
to now
and life
and love
and laughter.

ciao,
chris

p.s.
did the bad guys
get to heaven?

this requires other
prior questions:
what is bad?
who are the bad guys?
is their heaven?
what is heaven?
what is the function of heaven?
what is this idea:
the kingdom of heaven is within (J.C.)?

Red Sun,
Fires, Global Warming,
Happiness

Happiness is one of the reasons
we are alive

Love is another

Find someone to love
say,
yourself,
and then find someone else,
say,
whoever is nearest to you,
spatially

And love
you
and them

And then
try strangers

and then
enemies

enemies?

Sure.

See the essay
a couple of days
ago

in slowsonoma.com

and what about global warming?
take a walk
send out some love
see how little you can do today
and how happy you can be
doing that little

la
la

ciao
chris

Joy to the
World

The Light has come.
The Night has come.
The smile has come.
The breath had come.

The Ford has come.
The Chevy has come.
The Prius has come.
The Lord has come.

What is the Lord?
Something important
inside us.
Or.....you give it your meaning.

And as for food,
I'm interested in the Body Ecology Diet
not to lose weight
don't need to do that,
but the clear up some fiesty
yeast inside
who feast
on the summer fruits.

Alas,
alas:
lots of greens.
Lots of vegies.
Lots of seeds.
Some good meat,
that I like to eat raw: buffalo in the freezer two weeks first,
wild caught Alaska salmon.
Some raw cheese.
Raw keffir made from raw milk.

Lots of water.
Some wheat grass plus power weeds juice.

Some super smooties.

On the BED
she allows three "grains"
millet, quinoa, amaranth,
and does the usual food combining
only grains by selves or with vegies

and meat and protein by itself
or with vegies

who knows
if this would be a way
you'd want to go

she,
of course
has a web site,
and has discovered that all autistic kids
have candida

hopefully i'm not autistic
but rocking back and forth,
with awareness
can be fun
but only as long
as the awareness keeps it fresh
then
time for something else

joy to the world
and this moment

looked at desk trainer lately?
see link to side
it's pretty darn amazing

but then again
you have to get out of the
good old rut
for ten minutes or eight or something

the terror of human life:
billions of people
running around
more or less asleep
to anything but the program
that they are stuck in
and that they
never really got to chose

and this isn't about
"limiting beliefs"
this is about
ongoing sleep

how to wake up

sing
experience now
joy to the world
the .... has come


keep close to the breath
keep sensing
and keep listening for the ....

ciao,
chris

Love, Mindfulness, Humor, Nature

Now, Nature, Love, Laughter

Especially
laughing at ourselves
and how we can make ourselves
so tense and worried
and constricted

Love:
of ourselves
and others
and nature

now
is when our lives take place

nature
is the sky and air we breathe
the earth we stand on
and grow our food in
and the trees
and the flowers
and the oceans
and waters
we
are bones
and two legged
and big brained
and stand and sit
and move in
gravity

gravity
and breathing
now
almost every now

the earth is always here
the sun is somewhere

a laugh
is just around the corner
waiting to bubble up

love is
in our hearts
flooding out
or
wanting to

it's a
good
world

The Ongoing Sleep,
and Weight Loss

In our wonderful world,
there seem to me
to be
three choices
for us
human beings

so called
human
beings

one:
low functioning robot.
always do the same thing,
complain a lot,
in a lot of conflict
unhappy
making others unhappy
not able to do, very often,
what they (we) set out to do

two:
high functioning robot:
almost always do the same
thing
think the same thing
say the same thing
but these things
tend to be more upbeat
more positive
more "happy"
useful to others
and ourselves.
able to do what we set out
to do
some of the time
(or even all the time,
if a really high functioning robot)

and
awake
to this moment
yes, this one right now
and the next
and the next.

no real room for "negativity"
because in the present,
we just see what is,
and if we can make something better,
we ask or offer
a possibility

this is scarier land
this awake
place
because we might not say
the "right" thing,
and might not do
what "others" want us to do

we won't need the drugs
that bond people,
the coffee and
the sugar
and the wine
and the stress adrenaline
and the fear of the Bad Guy adrenaline
and the fear of Something Bad happening adrenaline
and the fear of the Enemy adrenaline

we aren't in a hurry
we are sometimes "late"
we smile when people insult us
we laugh at our own misconceptions

anyway
it's a fun place
and with a story can be lonely
and without a story
is sweet
sweet
peace beyond understanding

and what's that go to do with weight loss:

if we are, say,
eating only fruit in the morning:
and we have a "starving" story,
or an "I have to have what I always eat" story,
we aren't free
to just enjoy the energy
and the freshness
of just fruit in the morning

if we are, say,
not eating after five in the afternoon,
and are "starving,"
we can be present to the "hunger"
and drink some tea,
or take a walk,
or write something that is important to us,
or we can panic
and want to do
have to do,
be compulsively compelled to do
what we always do:
stuff our face
when feeling a little "off"

which might be
when we feel "alive"
and "full of energy"
these feelings might be so strange to us
that they feel "off"

oh, well:
it's a good life
and at
any moment
we can wake up
to
now

any
moment

even,
of course,
now

ciao
(rhymes)

hand juicer plus celery and windfall apples, and hard to see wheat grass

How to Be Healthy, 22

To be healthy
is
to be present.

To your breathing.

To your body.

To your thinking.

To your feeling.

Present
and
in love.

Also:
some practical tips:
find a friend with an organic
orchard.
Pick up the windfall
fruit
wind
fall
free
a little dirt on it
can't sell
it,
take it home
eat it
juice it
talk to it
smell it


and
find a friend
or plant
an organic garden
grow or pick
lots of weeds
mallow
pig weed
dandelion
lamb's quarter

pick them
eat them
juice them
talk to them
listen to them

be healthy

get a hand juicer
put the weeds
and the windfall fruit
and if you've grown some
wheatgrass
through

grind
smile
breathe
sense your feet
sing a song
laugh
juice

drink

and then
walk
or if you can't walk,
take a ride
in your wheelchair
outside
fresh air

breathe
smile
sense
feel
move
be aware
be aware of awareness

this is
a healthy
one
healthy
way
to start
your day

say
hey

love
and
laughter

chris

Shitty Food.

At a lovely meeting
yesterday
of some lovely teachers,
they were busy eating salted nuts,
and crackery kinds of things,
and then those frozen ice cream sandwich
things,
you used to get at roller skating rinks.

I guess it's possible to
be healthy
and eat shitty food,
but only if you exercise about
six hours a day.

These lovely
teachers
didn't look like the six hour a day
exercise types,
and so
seemed to be missing
a chance
to have been eating food
that was making them healthy,
instead of food that was most likely
making them unhealthy.

Oh, well.
Who am I?
the food judge?

oh well,
again,
still:
tis summer
apples are just coming in,
tomatoes,
figs,
nectarines,
grow some sugar in
your yard

one woman i once read about
cured herself of breast cancer
by only eating food she grew herself
or bought in bulk.

her rule:
no packages
or boxes
or jars.

one way
to get back to healthy
food,
eh?

Transformative Yoga.
Classes Soon starting.

One way I've started to call it is
DNA yoga.

Discovery, Nature, Aware/ Ananda Yoga

Discovery,
for taking advantagege of my training
(4 years of the "basic" training,
and then another 700 hours beyond that)
as a Feldenkrais Practitioner.

The Feldenkrais Method®,
is a method of learning to
think,
move,
feel better,
via
being more aware,
and taking the emphasis
off of "getting it done,"
or "getting it Right,"
or "making progress,"
and bringing us back to a state
of learning
and discovery,
the state we were in when we were young
and a genius, say from birth to a couple of
years old.

See my
What is the Feldenkrais Method? One word, two word,,, one sentence, two sentence, and so on, brilliant little collection
of ways to look at the method.

Anyway,
working with me
in either DNA yoga,
or "regular" (which means wildly creative and transformative)
Feldenkrais "work,"
or in the Work of Byron Katie,
and Discovery will be there
deep and firm in our joint unfolding.

Okay,
that's discovery.

And N.
NATURE.
I'll be having classes outdoors as much a possible.
All this hiding inside four walls,
cutting ourselves off from blue skies
and real earth,
and grass and
soil
and wind
and the elements:
nonsense.
Insanity.
How can we be sane
in a world
when we are always cut off from the world.

that's part of the NATURE part.
Another part:
Discovering what our human nature is.
To feel.
and to sense.
and what is the difference?
To make sense of something,
what does that mean?
To live in gravity.
What does that mean?
To have breath of which we can be conscious
or unconscious,
what does that mean?


A
is Ananda Yoga
or Awareness Yoga.
Or both.
Ananda yoga
is how I was trained
and certified at the 200 hour level
required by yoga alliance.
(compared to 800 hours for the "basic Feldenkrais" training).

Ananda yoga is about
being relaxed
and sending spiritual energy up your spine.
If that doesn't make sense,
it's about being relaxed,
even in the midst of efforts
and continually bringing awareness inside of yourself.

One way it does this is with affirmations.
For example,
the affirmation in what's called "Child's Pose"
(Balasana)
is
"I relax from outer involvement
into my inner haven of peace."

This not only accentuates and deepens
the posture,
but gives a big hint at what Ananda yoga is about.

Another posture,
warrior 2, Vira II,
Virabhadrasana II,
is a strong and joyous pose.
Its affirmation is,
either
(my version)
"I open gladly to the strength and glory
of being Alive."
or
the official version,
"I joyfully manifest
the power of God."

So
A
could be about Affirmations.

So, come to a class,
you'll love the affirmations.

And between poses
you rest,
and say the affirmations again.
This isn't about getting sweaty
and using yoga like going to the gym.

This is using yoga
for spiritual and emotional strengthening.

Though,
with the Feldenkrais
and awareness emphasis,
A
for
Awareness,
you will get more flexible,
much more readily
and EASILY,
than in normal,
do a bunch of postures
and always fuss with DOING IT RIGHT,
and never slow down
and really learn yoga.

This is yoga to learn,
to transform,
to enjoy,
to connect.

Deeply.
To yourself,
to others,
to the Earth,
to Spirit,
to your Higher Self.

Classes and workshops:

Transformation
Change
Improvement
Fun
Waking up to Now

Back Pain
Weekend Workshop:
May 10-11
Sat and Sunday 1-5 PM
Cost:
$200 on bike or walk
$220 carpooling
$240 in car alone
10 % off if paid by May 3


enlightenment Tai Chi:
Learn a form forward and backwards
and to both sides.
the idea is learning and body brain awareness,
not "doing the form."
The idea is waking up to now.
Four Saturdays,
if at least eight people interested:
May 3, May 10, May 31, June 7
9-10 AM

COST: $50 on bike or walking
$65 if carpooling,
$80 if in car alone.



Transformative Movement Lessons:
Based on my training in the
Anat Baniel Method.
Many uses:
pain transformation
yoga and sports improvment
vitality and anti-aging
fun
curiousity
waking up to now
Four Saturdays,
if at least eight people interested:
May 3, May 10, May 31, June 7
10:30-11:30 AM

Cost as above.


Waking up to Now
meditate
walk
move
doing nothing
talk
all from and in
the present

Thursdays
7 PM






To register for classes and workshops
, call 707-996-1437
or Email Chris Elms, M.A.

Eating and Fasting

We have this word
break
fast,
as in breakfast.

And if we eat at night
the fast isn't much to
break.

And if we don't eat at
night,
like the Dhali Llama,
say,
then the morning
finds us empty
and ready
and able
to truly
enjoy
a break
fast.

Ramadan
coming
up.
A different
kind of fast:
No eating in the day.
No water in either.
Breakfast comes after sundown.
Starts Sept 12.
Maybe this is of interest
as an experiment.

Not eating after 2 or 3 in the afternoon
is an interesting
experiment
for me
just now.

Ciao,
Chris