Gratitude
Happy thanks giving, yogis and yoginis! No typo there, while we celebrate Thanksgiving later this month, why save all that thanks for the fourth Thursday of November??? The opportunity to approach every day with gratitude, to be thankful for everything we are granted while not take anything for granted, is well within our reach. A […]
Reflection and Ardha Chandrasana
Welcome October and with it a new theme and pose for the month – Reflection and Ardha Chandrasana. Between self-reflection, reflecting (not dwelling) on our past actions and experiences, the change of season or anything that merits further contemplation, reflection is a rich, rich theme that is worthy of, well, reflection. Ardha Chandrasana (half-moon […]
Inversions ~ Clarity
This month it’s all about INVERSIONS* at Yoga Life. Whether that be physically turning ourselves upside down or looking at the world through a different lens, this change in perspective liberates us from conditioned thoughts and habit. We see and in turn experience life with a freshness, a newness, a sense of CLARITY. So embrace […]
Expansion ~ Wheel Pose
Like love, yoga expands from the inside out, and like yoga, we do the same. We are not here to be small. We exist in an ever expanding universe and are meant to expand with it. We are meant to expand our horizons, our consciousness, our minds, our hearts and in doing so, we reach […]
Virabhadrasana I, II, and III ~ Warrior I, II, and III
This month we celebrate strength and presence through the warrior poses. These standing poses require a strong foundation, matched by equally strong focus and awareness. As you practice on and off the mat, we encourage you to consider, reflect and even challenge your sense of what strength is…and what it is not. Just as yoga […]
Tadasana ~ Mountain Pose
Tada means mountain in Sanskrit. The most “basic” yoga standing pose, Tadasana is the foundation for all other postures. It enables us to find deep focus and concentration. Mountains are no small things. In this pose we stand tall and can explore our vastness and grandness with a deep sense of humility.
Balance: Life with Two Feet on the Ground
Try this – Stand in place with your feet hips’ distance apart and parallel. Close your eyes. Tune in. You may immediately find that you start to sway, left, right, forward, back. Breathe. Observe. Focus. Breathe some more. As you continue to inhale and exhale you may find the movement diminishes, your body finds its […]
Compassion in Action
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer More than sympathy/”I feel for you” or empathy/”I understand what you’re going through,” compassion embodies both and combines them with a deep rooted desire to alleviate another’s suffering. “No act of kindness, no matter […]
Aprils Fool
With March coming in like a lion and going out like a lion, we’ve sometimes had to dig deep to keep that attitude of gratitude going. Through it all, we keep coming back to being grateful for the simple things – food on our plates, a roof over our heads, a jacket to keep us […]
Unmasked
Later this month we celebrate Halloween, a night to indulge our senses, our sense of imagination and to let our spirits soar, sometimes literally! On Halloween we dress up, put on a mask and “poof” we’re someone else. Of course, Halloween isn’t necessarily the only day we put on a mask and our masks aren’t […]
Live the Season
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe in the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” Henry David Thoreau It’s summertime, yogis and yoginis, and with longer days, brighter skies and the sun at its most radiant, we certainly hope the livin’ is easy! We’re […]
May and Mother’s Day
As we head into May and Mother’s Day, we’re sending big PROPS and THANKS out to all the moms for everything that you do, day in and day out, rain, shine or whatever that crazy ol’ Mother Nature has in store for us these days. We don’t always remember to say thanks, we don’t always see that you […]
Try, Try Again
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. But who defines success? Whether it’s getting ahead or standing on your head, we always seem to gauge ourselves by the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Along the way, we are blind to the beauty of the rainbow itself. The prism becomes […]
A Resolution Revolution
New Year’s Resolutions can be extremely powerful tools for creating change in our lives– improving ourselves (though one could argue you could never improve upon your Self), realizing goals, putting an end to “bad” habits or patterns or just plain shaking things up. Often times we shoot out of the gate like a fireball and […]
Giving
“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank As we transition from Thanksgiving to Giving season we encourage you to let go of the anxiety, trepidation and worry that so often accompanies finding just the right thing for your friends, family and co-workers. The essence of giving isn’t the gift, it’s the […]
The Gift of Re-gifting
Every time you step onto your mat you are giving yourself a truly incredible gift. Whether it’s peace of mind, focus, spaciousness, the euphoric feeling of synchronizing breath and movement or our practice so often provides us with just what we need. And here’s the beauty part– these gifts were meant to be shared with […]
Being Whole
From and interesting article on Minimalism and Happiness on The Minimalists website. My mantra – be happy. Me and a billion others. So we go on our happiness quest—we try new things – jobs, friends, situations and locations. We acquire – homes, cars, clothes, a host of “luxury” goods, diplomas, titles, consciously or not, in […]
A Thanksgiving Message
As we prepare for a day of festivities and feasting we couldn’t help but think about what truly nourishes us. Go on, take a moment, what nourishes you? Though we each have our own unique diets and palettes, whether you prefer turkey with gravy and stuffing or Tofurky with all the vegetarian fixin’s, it should […]
A Proclamation
I was on the mat this morning and had a sudden inspiration, sat down to pen this communication, open and honest, no misinformation. what the world needs now is cooperation, unification and education, most definitely some cultivation– whether it’s vegetation or civilization, a global nation, no separation do you have a problem with that, why […]
Community
Image from Babar’s Yoga for Elephants by Laurent de Brunhoff Moon image credit WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE By Hafiz (translated by Daniel Ladinsky) Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.” Of course you do not do this out loud; Otherwise, Someone would call the cops. Still though, think about this, This […]
Play
On Friday March 23, we had a Pot Luck and Yoga event at Yoga Life. The acronym for Pot Luck And Yoga is P.L.A.Y. and play we did – the evening started with a lively yoga practice led by Joanne and Drew accompanied by an inspired Brandon Silaco on drums and percussion. There is nothing […]
Spring Ahead
http://www.squidoo.com/live-today-quotes “A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on […]
Inspiration
Where would intention be without inspiration? If intention is the fire then inspiration is the spark. Simply put, inspiration is the people, places and things that trigger a response in the form of ideas, actions or feelings. Inspiration can come in as many varied forms as what it inspires you to do, or not do. […]
Intention
Image adapted from Mitch Ditkoff’s blog called the Heart of the Matter. He excerpted the image from Innerlink. Intention is a course of action that one intends to follow, an aim that guides action, an objective. It brings meaning and power to our actions and leads us toward our goals. We mostly do this […]
Thanksgiving
Indian Corn 2 by Alessandra Cimatti. You can use this link to see this and her other work. This is the time of year where no one should go hungry. Though the large majority of us have the means to keep ourselves well fed, we hunger for something more. Whether it’s familial, material, spiritual or […]
Fall Back
It was with a mix of dread and gratitude that we prepared to set our clocks back one hour this past Sunday morning–gratitude for the extra hour of sleep and dread at the prospect of losing an hour of daylight each evening. There is something profound and fascinating about setting our clocks back– we are […]
Trick or Treat
October is a month that culminates in trick or treating but it certainly has its share of tricks and treats along the way. One day we’re blessed with warm weather and the prospect of a return to summer while the next morning we’re met by our own breath, visible right there in front of us. […]
Hope, Ten Years Later
September 11, 2011 May I be at one With the various parts of myself. So that mind and heart work together. So that the conversations in my head Form a choir in perfect harmony. So that what I do is supported by my Heart’s desire Like a shadow dancing behind a child At play. To […]
Breaking Through
Walls can serve varied and opposing functions in our lives– protecting us from the outside world, providing us something to lean on and at times, obstructing us and keeping us from getting where we need to go. When travelling the road toward liberation, fortify the walls that provide support and structure; tear down those that […]
The End of the World as We Know It
With everything made of the Mayan calendar and the end of the world on May 21, 2011, we are very pleased to say that with the exception of some Armageddon-like rain just before the clock was to run out, the evening passed without incident. The world did not come to an end, but still it […]
Mother’s Day
The very word “mother” conjures up images of nurturing, caring and providing for our loved ones. Mother represents strong and powerful feminine energy (shakti) that isn’t measured by how much it can get, but rather by how much it can give (and often, give up). “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small […]
Spring Unfolds
As spring unfolds we are reminded of the old adage “in like a lion, out like a lamb.” Though typically associated with the month of March, we’re finding it applicable to a week or even a given day. One can only imagine Mother Nature kicking back with a cup of tea- hot or iced, depending […]
Spring
It looks like we may be turning the corner on winter, Spring is finally springing. And with that, we encourage you to keep your eyes, ears and heart open to the changes all around you- daffodils and crocuses begin to peak out from their underground hideaways, the geese make their way back to Mill Pond […]
Celebrating Love
Like love, yoga expands from the inside out, and like yoga, we do the same. We are not here to be small. We exist in an ever expanding universe and are meant to expand with it. We are meant to expand our horizons, our consciousness, our minds, our hearts and in doing so, we reach […]