Top 10 books I love

💜Shakti Meditations and Meditation for the Love of it by Salley Kempton
💜The Mists of Avalon series
💜From Fear to Fearlessness pema chodron
💜A Return to Love Marianne Williamson
💪Warrior Goddess Training Manual by HeatherAsh Amara
💜May I be Happy by Cindi Lee
💜Joyous Body myths and stories of the wise women archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
💜Carry on Warrior by Glennon Melton
💜Peaceful Parent Happy Kids by Dr. Laura
💜 A New Earth and Power of Now by Elkhart Tolle
💜 The Bhagavad Gita any and every translation.

Privates

I am opening up my schedule for PRIVATES!

Yoga Sessions: Private yoga sessions are customized and tailored to meet each student's individual needs.  A Private Yoga class is a great way to work on your individual needs.  Whether you are new to Yoga, working with a specific injury /condition, looking to advance your practice, or to start a home practice. A one on one class is tailored to your specific desires of what you want to achieve out of  your practice. With an attentive eye and focused support, you can reach new milestones with a Private Yoga session. 

Thai Massage: Performed on a mat, on the floor, wearing loose and comfortable clothing. I like to think about it as passive yoga. You lay there relaxed, while I move your body through passive yoga postures. 

Reiki and Crystal Healing: Performed on a mat, on the floor, wearing loose comfortable clothing. I use light hands and crystals on your body to activate the natural healing processes of your body and restore physical, metal and emotional well-being.

Women Wellness Coaching:  We will work with where you are to get you to where you want to be. Using the cycle of the moon, the elements and the archetypes (queen of death, wise women, midwife, visionary, mystic, warrioress, lover, muse, mother, wild women, healer and lady of balance) to create personal autonomy. Our work together will help you to understand yourself better, identify where you are already strong and what attributes or functions within you that are less skillful. Move into balance! Move into healing! Move into transformation! So you can stand in yourself and in your life with more strength, confidence, love, and ease.  Whatever you are going through, I can work with you to help remove the obstacles and self limitations and mirror back to you a deeper understanding of yourself. Knowing that you are worthy and you don't need to look outside yourself for validation.

Yoga Mentoring: Recommended for yoga teachers or teacher trainees. We will work one on one to help you grow as a teacher! Looking at what is working well, what needs refinement, fears and blockages standing in your way, intentions you want to cultivate and goals you want to achieve as a teacher.  

60 minute sessions in person or via Skype.

Contact me for more details kachelis@hotmail.com

Inbody Yoga Academy

This month I taught alignment and biomechanics for InBody Yoga Academy. We discussed how as a yoga teacher I believe the goal is to facilitate our student in moving toward optimal alignment within their body, mind and heart. We are fluid being and we are always moving toward optimal alignment or away from optimal alignment.

Optimal alignment is the state of being in balance physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Moving toward optimal alignment= more EASE, heal old and prevent future injuries in the body, focused and stable mind, peaceful and joy filled heart.

Away from optimal alignment= more DIS-EASE, injuries and discomfort in the body, foggy and unstable mind, heavy heart.

We find optimal alignment (sattva/ just right) = dynamic balance between STABILITY and FREEDOM (three gunas)

To much stability (tamas/ to little)

Body= stiff, uncomfortable, negatively influences physical alignment. Distracts from a clear mind and happy heart.

Mind= slow/ stuck on one thought. Addiction. Hard to be vibrant in heart and body.

Heart= stuck in an emotion, little energy. Hard to be focused in mind and enjoy body.

To much freedom (rajas/ to much)

Body= hyper mobility, negatively influences physical alignment. Distracts from a clear mind and happy heart.

Mind= over-activity, lack of direction, stress. Hard to experience vibrancy in heart and body.

Heart= depleting, instability, rapid changes in mood. Hard to be focused in mind and enjoy body.

We did lots of journaling and exploring of what it feels like when we are moving toward optimal alignment and what it feels like when we are moving away from optimal alignment. This concept transformed my life as a yogi. Realizing that every action I take or do not take brings me either towards my goals of health, happiness and harmony (optimal alignment. sattva) or sadness, anxiety and fear (away from optimal alignment) and that I am free to choose my actions and I can choose to co participate in this process so I can continue to move toard optimal alignment!

Summer Solstice

Theme: during the brightest day of the year shine out your own light and thank the sun for its ongoing blessings. 

Ancedote: Summer solstice. The word solstice comess from the Latin solstitium: from sol (sun) and stitium (to stop).

The Summer Solstice, Midsummer, Litha, has long been celebrated across the globe as a potent reminder that even in the peak of the most light we begin the long return towards the dark. Summer Solstice is a celebration of the light while remembering that the dark days are coming. Today let's honor and celebrate the Sun as the source of all light and life force on the Earth. This week, make time to stop and acknowledge how far you’ve come and ritually set your intentions for the second half of the year until winter solstice, for as William Shakespeare wrote,"Whatever is dreamed on this night, will come to pass."

Apex: Backbends shine out the light of your head 

Upa: muscle energy and organic energy. Feeling the pulsation between pulling into the dark and shining out the light in alignment with nature. The past few months we have been focusing on the psoas muscles using the alignment principles thigh loop, kidney loop and shoulder loop that will be integrated through out the sequence. 

Sequence:

Warm up 

Childs pose

Sun A 5x 

Basic 

Lunge - tree- lunge

Wide leg forward fold - scandasana- scandasana 

W2 - trikonasana 

Half moon- trikonasana 

Half moon quad - trikonasana 

Harder

Wide leg forward fold head stand 

Clear neck

Half hanuman 

Ll quad- ss- handstand hop 

Pincha manyrasana L at wall 

Pincha manurasana splits 

Pincha manyurasana feet on wall reach heart through 

Apex

Dancer at wall hinging forward 

Dancer at wall upright 

Cool down 

Upright L- root femurs 

Down dog

Supta urdhva hastasana feet on wall conscious stretch psoas by keeping thighs grounded in hamstrings- ribs in and lengthening out through feet and finger tips 

Root femur foot on wall asymmetrically

Supta pada A B C strap foot on wall 

Legs up wall 

Meditation 

Remember to fall in LOVE

Last week my husband and I took a painting class from a good friend of mine. I am no painter. I always try to hard to think of what I want to create and it never ends up looking close to that image in my head. The teacher asked us to choose one of the photos she had set out for us of sunsets. I selected a red sun set over the ocean. As I was painting I was slightly frustrated that my colors were not blending the way I wanted them to. Just then she said to the class

"remember to fall in love with your painting at every stage, it will never be this way again"

That hit my heart hard! I wait and reserve my love or appreciation until the end and only if I like the end result. This reminder of loving the process no matter how messy it might be in the moment was so powerful.

I realized this trait of mine with painting blends into every aspect of my life. I will be happy when.... We have enough money, the car is fixed, the children are grown and don't misbehave, when I lose the baby weight, when I get that next certification, when we are on that vacation... Looking back I see those same reservations and when I get to "the end" I am already onto the next thing... the husband, the kids, the house, the certification, the weight loss, the events... whatever it is.

I was reminded that night and I am continuing to remind myself daily to LOVE this life, this moment, this mess, this frustration, this joy.. because it will never be this way again,. This is life! To live it. To love it. To be useful to others. Because we never know what moment could change things and to not reserve my happiness for a later date or a completed check list.

Being a dedicated student of yoga I believe my dharma is to alchemize my soul to grow and learn and help others. I study, I read, I practice, I teach, I forget. and I am incredibly grateful for all the little reminders I get to wake up to my path and continue my souls journey of LOVE.

Thank you Sarah for always reminding me to be in the love, to ditch the lists, and love the process. Check out Sarah's blog here.


Thank you for being here and reading

Psoas. Why I am always a student & a teacher

Last month we focused on the psoas muscles in my anuara yoga classes. We learned different ways a tights psoas can manifest in our body, negatively impacting our posture + our health. We learned how to lengthen our psoas to support our well being. Check out these two short videos I made: summarizing the psoas and how to best lengthen it and the pose of the month that we did at least once in every class.

This was a terrific experience. I saw so many students look deep within them selves to see how their psoas tightens shows up and influences them. THIS is why I love alignment so much. Its so much more then putting your body in different yoga postures and flowing with the breath (although that has many benefits too). However this process of looking within, looking at our shadow, those subconscious parts of our self that we over look but deeply influence our life. Then from that inner reflection we can take different actions to co-participate with our life and choose if we want to live habitually getting the results we are getting or we can choose more health! vitality! clarity! peace! joy!...

This is why I am a student of yoga. It helps me learn and grow. This is why I am a teacher so I can help others in their personal journey to growth.

The universal principles we were using in our postures were muscular energy engaging the muscles, thigh loop, moving the lower attachment site of the psoas back and internally rotating the thighs with inner spiral. Drawing the ribs in to move the top psoas attachment site back with kidney loop and then extending out with organic energy.

Thank you for being here

Mothers Day Yoga

Theme Durga and pacha mama. Durga is the maha goddess. The mother to us all. For Mother's Day can we feel her love and giver her love. Durga teacher love, tolerance, patience and strength. Can we practice living in this way. The watch pacha mama is also mother to us all can we be mindful of how our actions affect the earth. Can we now with deep respect to Durga, to the earth, to all of our mothers, and to the mother within ourself. Can we also cultivate some forgiveness to our mothers. 

Ancedote Mother's Day 

Apex Ashtavakrasana 

Heart quality love tolerance patience strength 

Upa. Organic energy (KL) push out to tone ribs and drew sitbones back. Focus on lengthening psoas 

Warm up 

Cat/cow 

Mod. Bridget cross 

Mod. Chataranga 3x (come forward as you lower arm bones stay broad and plugged into the power of the heart. This chataranga arm position shows up in so many poses: forarm balamce, bridge, shoulder stand, urdhva danurasana prep, arm balances, hands at Anjali, twists, natarajasana...)

Sun b 2x organic energy 

Basic 

W2

Mod. Parsvak- Parsvak 

High runners lunge  twist- lizard forearms on block 

Scandasana - half moon - eagle

L.l quad- trik - half moon quad - eagle 

Down dog - handstand hops 

Hero 

Dolphin - forearm balance hops (optional) 

Hero 

W2 clasp bow- Parsvak 

Crow (eka pada optional) 

High runners lunge shoulder under 

Pigeon - compass prep leg forward - leg side 

Compass 

Sit on one glute cross legs like eagle bend and straighten 5x 

Apex

Ashtavakrasana 

Cool down 

Fish Twist 

Bridge 

Windshield wipers 5x- hook heel to knee psoas 

Double femur root/ psoas traction 

Shavasana 

Meditation