calendar

New class starting 7/11

I saw this Instagram posted by my friend @debra977, at Essence Yoga in RI, and had to repost it, knowing that I’d have this news to share.

On Monday, July 11, I will begin teaching a “Mindful Vinyasa” class at Pause Yoga in Amesbury, MA, 7-8:15 PM. It’s a sweet little studio perched right on Main Street in a town at once timeless and trendy. I look forward to meeting new students and having new adventures in āsana there.

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21-Day Spring Cleanse And Seasonal Shift | Wild Open Heart Charlotte Clews

For the past several years, I have been doing spring cleanses with Charlotte Clews. I highly recommend her approach, and plan to offer supportive yoga classes locally if there is interest.

Join Wild Open Heart’s 7th Annual Spring Cleanse and Seasonal Shift!

Participate from anywhere with a user friendly online forum, group phone calls, live and recorded webinars and a comprehensive guide including menu plan and recipes.

 

NEW This Spring

Each participant will commit to one new daily habit for the 21 days. You will check-in every day to confirm your daily commitment (by email, on the forum, text or by passenger pigeon. . .) I’ll provide a list of suggested diet and lifestyle habits but you can also choose your own if there’s something that you’ve been wanting to commit to.Register by April 1 and save $25!

Source: 21-Day Spring Cleanse And Seasonal Shift | Wild Open Heart Charlotte Clews

A new cycle

Which way do you run to
Are you coming out or in
When one cycle goes around
Another one begin, begin, begin

This song by Trevor Hall is my “ear worm” right now, because it speaks of change and its cyclical nature. As surely as the seasons, we will pass this way again. A little over two weeks ago we observed the cross–quarter day between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox (Imbolc). We’re more than halfway to astronomical spring. The moon, after having been full on Presidents’ Day, is waxing to fullness.

The most external reason for that has to do starting a new regular class at what is for me a new studio. While I have been subbing since my second shoulder surgery in March 2015, this will be the first time I’ll be on a studio schedule. I’m pleased to report that beginning tonight (Thursdays), at 5:30 PM, I’ll be teaching a class at Discover the Wonders Yoga in Dracut, MA. Dracut is an old–school town full of farmland and hard–working people, right next to the historically industrial town of Lowell. A beautiful community has grown up in that studio. Right down the street there is a conscious café expanding its offerings of fresh, local, organic products. Beyond there is much fertile farmland, some of it being leased to small nonprofits. The people of Dracut are not only hardworking, but politically savvy and well–connected. It’s a very interesting place to find so close to a major city in the northeast corner of a northeastern state.

And I start with a trifecta! As it is school vacation week, I also get to sub at the same time tomorrow night, and at the primo slot on Saturday at 9:30.

It’s a wonderful new beginning that evokes an openness to experience I am already feeling in the rest of my life.

Like my Facebook page in the right sidebar to mark your calendar for events, and be sure to sign up for my e-mail list as well. I’m very happy to be on this journey with you!

Gratitude for the Work of Loving the World | On Being

The only way to keep a gift alive is to pass it along. So on Thanksgiving Day this year — in a world where so many have been deprived of so much — I’ll give thanks by finding more ways to share the abundance I’ve been given.

I’ll also re-read this Mary Oliver poem. If I could embrace the idea that “My work is loving the world” — and spend my days living more fully into that job description — I’d be giving thanks not just with my words but with my life.

via Gratitude for the Work of Loving the World | On Being.

Parker Palmer was trained as a sociologist (like me), but spends his time educating about mindful teaching, leadership, and democracy. I do view his work as an inspiration for my day job of university teaching, and have given several of my yoga teachers a book of poems inspired by his groundbreaking book, The Courage to Teach.

It can be tempting to follow the herd and assign a theme of “gratitude” to the yoga class one teaches nearest Thanksgiving. Instead, yesterday, at Sangha Yoga Collective, where I teach, I gave a pre-holiday coping restorative class with the theme of balance, between effort and ease, between activity and repose. We’re entering a season in which many of us “show up” for others in very vital, but also potentially draining ways. Can we do the “work of loving the world” in a way that is sustainable by nourishing ourselves?

But I was feeling grateful for the ability to teach last night, to share these practices. I am grateful for Sangha and my colleagues there, too.

Whether you are a regular student of the Collective, or new to it, I hope you are able to connect with my colleagues and me by joining us for our free team–taught class and holiday potluck on December 19. See the Sangha Yoga Collective workshop and event page for more details. This would be a great way to continue the party of our gratitude for our students.