Your mat as an island

Vasishtasana - Forearm Side Plank Pose, with elbow twist

Oblique strength 👙

Your mat = your own little world. Today I left my rose quartz colored, woven cotton yoga mat in the yoga studio’s ladies room. Sob! I’ll pick it up next time, of course. I use a yoga rug and cannot believe this style has not caught on (I’ve seen only one other) as I give it zero complaints and many acclaims. 💕

Creation creates

 

Natarajasana - Dancer Pose 

Hand to floor

In dancer we are both the archer and the bow : yes - we are creators, but first and foremost we are creation. 

Infinite

Ardha Padma Anantasana - Reclined Half Lotus Pose

Kubera Mudra for focused intention 

Sacrificing for your dream. Some days I look around (at my little life) and I feel overtaken with awe and immensely ‘blessed’. So much so, that the beauty of it can feel precarious (“too good to be true, so much to lose!”). But, as my husband elucidates, this life did not appear out of nowhere - myriads of sacrifices (countless other possibilities passed up) befalls when we make each choice. We are choosing one of infinite. So when the bliss is so joyous we panic, remember we had our hand in this; these are the steady and continuous - unprecarious - fruits of our labor. 🍇 

Consistency - HOW TO:

Padukabandhini Asana - Shoelace Pose

Yin yoga

Can we slough off a fleck of ‘the world’ to excavate a glimpse of our true essence?

Consistency is the key 🔑. We will find consistency when we DIS-COVER our inner selves. No copycatting, no idolizing, no formulas. No prescribed diets, uniforms, or interior spaces. No dictated timetable or curriculum.

Selective

 

Dhanurasana - Bow Pose

Always one to grab the ankles in big back bends, maybe this week it’s time I clasped the toes.

The years are long, but the days are short; so let’s be selective with our interests, commitments, engagements and activities for, thankfully, we can have it all, just not all at once. 

Me, myself and my mat.

Salabhasana - Locust Pose

Most often I point my feet and flex my toes (Barbie foot) in big poses. Taking note from the ballerinas lately, I am experimenting with purely pointing - for precise direction and the hopeful strength to straighten those long limbs in the vigorous shapes.

 Yoga - just you and the mat. No masks. No pretense. No fake-it-till-you-make-it. 

🦢 elegant and effective

 

Upavistha Hamsasana - Sitting Swan Pose

Both graceful and effective. 

Weekends are the necessary outbreath to your week’s extended and exaggerated inbreath. Keep your weekends 1. Nourishing 2. Restful 3. Warm. 🧤🧦🪶

Wholesome nature-based activities nourish the soul. 

Warm with Fire and Water (food and clothing).

Movement can be restful; rather than planning a ‘hike’, step right outside your door.

Have an approach that is lighthearted and buoyant.

Consistency

 

Awkward Airplane Balance Pose

Simple. Strong. Everyday. 

Not crabby

Eka Pada Ardha Purvottanasana - One Legged Reverse Table Top Pose

Eka Pada Ardha Catuspadapitham - One legged crab pose 

🦀 

Just hanging out, letting your light shine. 

Certainly we do not neeeeeed skin tight, synthetic leggings (or polyvinyl thermoplastic mats, tritan water bottles, laminate floors, foam blocks…) to train. 

Mystical magical

 

Ardha Purvottanasana - Reverse Tabletop Pose

RECLAMATION: Not a destination. An ongoing, thrilling, pleasurable, amusing, surprising, magical, life-long process.

Destroyer of all diseases

 

Matsyasana - Fish Pose

Reduce stiffness in shoulders and neck. Improve posture. Balance the thyroid.

Self-compassionate healing après over-giving. 

🥠Fortunate🪙

 

Supta Utthita Tadasana - Supine Extended Mountain Pose

 Streeeeeeeeetch from the tips of your fingers to the ends of your toes. 

How lucky are we to be born again each morning?