Is this true? Is this appropriate? Class notes from fridays Anusara yoga c

Friday at Centered city yoga. This class can be streamed from forte You can access this class for FREE and all the classes on FORTË for a limited time! Just go to www.forte.fit, click "Join Our Tribe - Sign Up Now" and enter the invitation code: CCYOnline.
Theme: Right action creates harmony versus negative karma, peace instead of increasing conflict and the rememberence of grace in midst of chaos... inner listening.
right action is what is called doing one’s Dharma.
Questions to ask when getting still and listening for guidance? "Is this true? Is this appropriate".
What we are doing on the mat is so much more the stretching and strengthening muscles. We are bringing more harmoney into the world by bringing more appropriate action that is alignment with our truth. This is loving your dharma. Better your own dharma—your personal duty—even if unsuccessful, than the dharma of another done perfectly.”
Anecdote: thanksgiving dinner. I paused and listened inwardly many times. Is this true? Is this appropriate? And many times it was true and not appropriate and sometimes it wasn't even true. I am learning to hold my tongue, honor my true the and I can see the peace it brings to my life and the world.
Heart quality: inner listening, peace, harmoney
Apex: camel with quad
Universal principle of alignment: thigh loop (an aspect of inner spiral in BACK. wide) and pelvic loop (a part of outer spiral)

Warm up
Supta thigh loop vs. pelvic loop
Table ""
Table - shalabasana
Down dog
Basic
High runners lunge (hrl)
Hrl twist
Kneeling push-ups
Mod w2, mod mod parsvak (on knee like captain Morgan)
W2- rev w
Parsvak- rev warrior
Harder
Trikonasana - half moon - standing hip stretch
L.l quad - Lunge- W3
W3- standing splits - handstand hop
Virasana
Apex
Camel
Ustrasana: 1 leg in ardha bekhasana
Cool down
Crunches with block btw legs
Bridge
Symmetrical root
Happy baby
Shavasana

Discover your COURAGE

Theme: Discover Your Courage

Anecdote: In a Sioux Indian story about courage, the Great Creator gathers all living things together and presents them with a challenge. “I gave each of you courage,” the Creator says. “But it is something I want humans to work hard to discover. Where can I hide it?”

The eagle spoke. “I am not afraid to soar high into the sky. I will place it among the stars.” But the Creator said, “No. One day humans will fly into the skies and easily find this.”

The dolphin said, “I am not afraid to dive deep into the ocean. I will deposit it on the ocean floor.” But the Creator said, “No. One day humans will go far below the surface of the ocean and find it.”

Then a tiny gnat spoke up. “I cannot soar into the sky or dive deep into the ocean or dig into the ground. Even so, I have courage. Why not place it inside of humans? Then it will be up to them to discover it themselves.” And so it was.

Until you discover your courage, you will not be able to see how high you can soar and all of the things that you can accomplish.

I will seek the courage within me and use it to guide me in all that I do.

“Courage is only an accumulation of small steps.”

—George Konrad

Heart quality: courage 

UPA: muscle energy to the midline 

Apex: warrior 1 

Sequence: 

Warm up 

Cat /cow 

Table shalabasana 

Ams

Basic 

L - tree  L 

L- tree- eagle- L 

L twist - half moon 

W2- mod. Parsvak- rev w 

Malasana- crow 

Utkanana twist - L twist- anjaneyasana twist- add quad stretch 

Harder 

Eagle- Standing split - handstand hops 

Low lunge quad 

Active pigeon Cow face 

Apex:

W1 

L- tree- eagle- w1

Cool down 

Janusirsasana 

Janusirsasana twist STRAP 

Fish twist 

Baddha konasana 

Shavasana 

Have questions a my short hand? Just ask. These are just my quick notes some students have been requesting I post. 

Thanks for reading

Send out your heart intentions out into the world in an emPOWERing SKILLfull way!

If you have any questions about my short hand ask. I haven't been posting many blogs and some students have been asking for my notes. These are my ruff notes from Tuesday's Anusara class at metric yoga. 

Theme: let's send our heart intentions out into the world in an emPOWERing SKILLfull way by uniting our love (Anahata chakra) with our personal power (manipura chakra). 

Mantra: Aham prema = I am divine love. 

Visualization: pink flame in the heart of unconditional love and fulfillment. Remembering true fulfillment comes from being present and loving and seeing the beauty reflected in all things and acting from a place of unconditional love. Meaning you don't put any conditions on your love. (Seems simple much harder in practice) 

Anecdote: there is a lot of divide and fear in the world today. We are witnessing lots of action driven from fear. How can we act in alignment with the heart so our actions are skillful? This is how we follow our dharma by aligning our actions skillfully with the heart! This is how we empower ourself and others! 

Heart quality: LOVE 

UPA: shoulder loop + kidney loop (KL) + organic energy. Practicing shoulder loop the throats and arm bones curl back as the tip of the shoulder blades lift the heart and sternum and meet again at the top of the throat. This brings us into our heart. Into our power of love. However often when we practice this principle and dive deeply into our heart we lose our power and capacity to act. This can be seen in the physical body by the ribs sticking out, the kidneys collapsed and no tone in the belly. To connect to your power, from the heart press our through the hands ( the palms of the hands have little heat energy centers on them) as a way of initiating kidney loop which draws the floating ribs in with the power of the core and expands into the back of the kidneys. This is our manipura chakra, the energy center associated with our personal power  when this center is in balance we feel like we have the capacity to act and have confidence in ourself. 

Apex: eka pada rajakaptasana 

Warm up 

Supta blanket cactus twisting knees 

Supta blanket roll under heart sleep walking zombie arm plugs and reach over head 

1/2 sun 3x 

Half mood stretch

Basic 

Cat/ cow 

Kneeling Plank KL 

Push ups bolster KL 

L 

L twist 

Anjaneyasana 

Handstand prep hands on wall

Harder 

Handstand L 

Kick up handstand 

Pincha prep forearms on wall 

Pincha L 

Sirsasana 

Pec stretch at wall hand on wall "high 5"

W2- Lunge - twist lunge arms in T- rev Lunge- high runners twist Lunge

Ardha Supta virasana 

Supta virasana 

L.l quad 

Pigeon quad

Cool down 

Cow face 

Fish twist 

Shavasana 

My November Yoga Newsletter

November Anusara Yoga Offerings: Metric Yoga (88 Q St, Salt Lake City, UT 84103): Tuesdays & Saturdays 9:00AM Renaissance Ranch Treatment Center (CLOSED CLASS): Thursdays 6:00PM Centered City Yoga (926 E 900 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84105): Fridays 9:05AM Burn the Bird Practice! Centered City Yoga 11/25/2016 9:05-11:05AM $20 in advance $25 at door After Thanksgiving we are stuffed full of delicious food and gratitude! Join us as we Burn the bird, while we continue to hold the flame of gratitude in our heart. This will be a strong all levels practice. With standing poses, twists, inversions, backbends, juicy restorative poses and meditation. Focusing on shoulder alignment reducing habitual tension in the upper body so we can strongly anchor in our grateful heart.

Saturday Series: Finishing The Eight Limbs of Yoga  November 6th: Dhyana 7th limb- the practice of meditation or contemplation. November 13th: Samadhi 8th limb- a merging with the divine... A state of ecstasy. ------------ I have LOVED reviewing these limbs of yoga with you! November 20th: TBD November 27th: Twists to detoxify from Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for the next series.  Centered City Yoga has teamed up with FORTË, a company that streams live fitness classes based out of New York. My Friday Anusara Yoga classes are being filmed and uploaded every week along with other terrific teachers in many areas of health, fittness and mindfulness. You can access for FREE all classes on FORTË for a limited time! Just go to www.forte.fit, click "Join Our Tribe - Sign Up Now" and enter the invitation code: CCYOnline. You can share this free access with you friends :)

'Tis the season to remember all there is to be GRATEFUL for in your life! i am a huge fan of writing gratitude lists in the morning or in the evening. Research has shown people who write a gratitude list at night even sleep better! For the month of November I will be writing on gratitude every day and sharing my thoughts on Facebook for the extra accountability. How to write a gratitude list? Simply write down what you are grateful for... (family, health, warm clothes, coffee, stars, curiosity, art work, flowers..) Want to take it farther? Here are some of my favorite gratitude writing prompts: What is different today than it was a year ago that I’m thankful for? What have others in my life done that I am thankful for? What is there about the challenges/difficulties I have experienced (or am currently experiencing) that I can be thankful for? (e.g., What have I learned? How have I grown?) What opportunities to help others am I thankful for? What accomplishments in your life have brought you the most happiness? Samhain, meaning "Summer's End" and pronounced saah-win or saa-ween, is a celebration of the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year. In the Celtic Tradition and for many practitioners, Samhain marks the beginning of the spiritual new year. This is a powerful time of year for inner work, personal reflection and to look ahead and set intentions. Just as we plant seeds into the dark fertile soil let yourself be embraced and nourished by the darkness.  Request line OPEN! Do you have a request? Want to clarify some alignment? Working toward a specific posture? Want a more emotional focused class? Have a question?... I aim to teach a class geared to YOU! If there is anything you want more of, or less of in you practice PLEASE let me know!

Monthly Newsletter: Octobers's Anusara Yoga Offerings

Click here to view my October yoga Newsletter. Read about my Autumn Equinox intentions and learn more about your butt!

Releasing with the Harvest Moon

Last night I gathered for my monthly full moon dance. Normally this dance happens in a small temple and only women gather together to move in our uniqueness, with intention, silently to rhythmic music as we connect with the current moon. This month for the celebration of the harvest moon we invited our brothers and we danced outside on the salt flats by the Great Salt Lake. When I first saw this invitation I instantly knew in my gut I was going. I told/asked my husband and he said yes and actually asked if he could come. I said no women only, confused that men were also invited this month. Once I realized men were invited I invited him and we lined up my dad to baby sit our two children. 

Tyler and I arrived at the beach early. Watched the sun set, talked and played around with some yoga poses. When the sun set and the moon rose we gathered with our group and howled at the moon which appeared red. The love and excitement we all felt for the moon was palpable. I thought of all the women in all the times in all the lands who have looked to the moon and sought guidance. I felt grounded in my blood, in my bones, with my feet in the sand.

My bare feet stood on cold dry salt sand. It cracked as I moved on it and we gathered into our circle. Our guides welcomed us, talked about the moon briefly, and the "rules" for our movement and then let us dance. Music played over generators as we danced, jumped, hopped, swayed, rolled, skipped, spun, pulsated, smiled, cried, yelled, laughed, crawled, ran, sat... It was beautiful to witness the black silhouettes of these human beings connecting with themselves, moving and breathing in their authenticity and how lucky I was to share that experience with them. 

We moved at different speeds within our circle outlined in the sand. As we repetitively touched the earth the sand that started our dry became wet and muddy.  It was such a magnificent experience to feel the change under my feet. I felt grounded and connected to my Mother... Earth.

The full moon represents abundance and she is about to move into waning, into releasing. As I gazed up at the moon with my hands over my heart I thought about what I want to release. I want to release my self judgment, and my self criticism so that I can stand in my power with self love and self confidence! With this intention I walk through the threshold leaving my old ways, thoughts and habits behind me. I move forward in a new way as a strong women who loves and cares for herself. A women who knows she can accomplish so much if she directs her energy into other things instead of the size of her love handles. How many hours, days, years I have wasted of my life caring about my size? and what you think of it? I have been working on this for 10 years but recently I have felt a lot of manifestation of forward momentum. Of letting go of that past identity so I can stand in my power fully. 

When we were dancing I also though of how we are all spiritual beings. About how lucky we are to share this human experience with each other. I caught myself finding my husbands silhouette watching him dance to his own beat and think how lucky I am

to share my life with this being! We get so caught up in life with children, bills, work, plans that I can forget this human experience and take it to seriously that I miss connecting with him as a Being. Dancing with him last night sometimes together but often apart was so amazing. Being able to do our own thing, feed our soul, be authentic, come together and connect, kiss, smile and then spin off again was a gift from Grace and one I will never forget. 

As we left we talked about our intentions. I shared with him about my self love and being ready to move past this threshold. He told me about his (I won't share it). He kept saying how much he enjoyed the dance and needed it. He also acknowledged how important these dances are for me and how much he supports me making time for them and will continue to encourage me to go to them in the future. This mad me so happy because I haven't been to a moon dance in a few months because I always assume he would rather me stay home and help with the kids. So hearing him say. "Yes! Do this!I will help you make this happen" made me heart soar. 

We talks again this morning about the transformative experience we had under the moon. Both so grateful that we can share these experiences. Tyler grew up Mormon and pointed out that there are many people who would be to uncomfortable with free movement under the moon and others would assume we were all on drugs and wouldn't want to participate. I am so grateful I can have these experiences. I am BLISSED out and am already counting down the days until I can dance with the moon again.

September's Yoga Newsletter

Link for Septembers Newsletter