This gnOMe is staying hOMe
This little gnome is staying home this Holiday Season … and I got a funny feeling you just might be, too!
Dani’s Holiday Yoga Schedule
DEC 24- Jan 2
NO online yoga classes
or private sessions
I will be on an official holiday to relax, rest, recharge and regroup with myself and along with some other close Covid quarantined “gnomies”. It is a perfect time of the year to reflect on the challenges faced; the sadness and growth encountered; and show gratitude for what is dear to me, maybe with some holiday cheer. So much to ponder, paint and write about. It is the “down time” that I need to help bring me into balance. A true gift to myself, along with my private sessions of Gyrotonics™ with Jenn at Ascend Center.
What will you be gifting yourself this Holiday Season?
What are you changing up this year? Maybe you too have shifted to look at this holiday differently this year with a deeper meaning towards Heartful healthy living. Are you gifting yourself some time for self-care? What have you cleared out that doesn't serve you anymore? What have you filled into your life that wasn't present before this pandemic? I have cleared out my clothes closet to realize I wear the same clothes over and over again (and then I realized I can wear my colorful heartful yoga pants with my blouses & dresses to make my home merry & bright)…what a game changer! Or you might have cleared out your pantry like me to find the persistent pantry moths coming back just when you think they are gone…another game changer!
The persistent moths in my pantry remind me of the obstacles of the fluctuations of my thoughts “brain – chatter” known as Chitta- Vritti in the yoga practice. Thoughts have no meaning until we attach to them giving them the power to take over our reactions and hook into our emotions. For example, some chatter on the mat creeps from my head and into the practice telling me “I can’t, I shouldn’t, I don’t want to, this pose is too much, please not now, I am no good at this, is this teacher for real, “ These fluttering thoughts all affecting me by taking me away from just being present with my breath and awareness. These thoughts take me down the path of self-criticism, rejection, and or anger. What shows up are my ego, fear, and anxiousness. That’s what I need to greet. This repeating flutter of thoughts in our brain pulls us away from actually getting into the process of unfolding the experience of the pose and being with ourselves. When we can get into the corners of ourselves with our breath, and awareness of what is coming up and through us then we are actually where we want to be – present in the practice. That’s the gift of the practice.
We want to go slowly and clean out each box on the shelves to get to the moths. We want to see what is really there or not. We want to clear out the container of the body and mind to get to the soul, asana, pranayama, and meditation can be the scrub brushes and soap for the physical, energetic, emotional, and mental body so we can be with what just be with one with everything and all that is.
Remember, the yoga practice prepares us to see and deal with the many obstructions in our lives that we need to face and pass through. These obstacles are there to help us understand and express our own capacities. Check out the next time you are in a pose that you dislike, how do you react? We all have some strength and resilience, but we don't seem to know it until challenged. Do we have the resilience to keep coming back to the practice? How do you handle having an injury or illness, resulting in a change to your yoga practice?
Sometimes it is the soft strength that we need like patience to clear out the pantry and its contents inch by inch over time with consistency just like our yoga practice. And sometimes we have to find the place to surrender, not curse the moths or others in order to forgive.
Well, we have had many obstacles, placed in the pantry of humanity this year, and these obstacles stopped the flow of our daily lives as we knew it, leaving us with sadness and heartache for lives lost and turned upside down, leaving us seeing the underbelly of our shadow sides of social injustice, leaving us with a deeper understanding that the process of working and living can be different.
And hopefully leaving us in a place to reach to the back of the pantry and into the jars of ancient grains that support our life as we change for the better. We can find strength through a change in ways not like before.
Sometimes we need to use our strength in a softer way to see the Source. We can do the hard work that is not forceful strength but rather a tender surrender into seeing the obstacle that persists. Then we can know when to act, rest, forgive, and release ……
During this season may
Your moths get cleared out
Your shelves wiped down
Your containers cleaned
So space is made
For your inside pantry light to shine bright!
The following workshops for the start of 2021 will dive deeply into the subtle strength and light lies that lies deep within each and every one of you. Take the time to deepen your yoga practice. Open to all
The cost is $30/per workshop
Contact me for opportunities for financial assistance
Rest & Restore
Jan 10 3-4:30 pm
If you have been missing a quiet, peaceful Restorative class, now it's here for you, to relax, renew and bathe in its bliss with a yoga nidra!
Recommended: lots of props pillows, blankets, blocks, belts, eye pillows and cozy socks
Breathe 1
Jan 31 1:00-2:30 pm
Join me in this breath-centered workshop in exploring the mechanics of the repertory processes and how it links to expanding the asana practice. Learn techniques to find awareness and release into the breath body nourishing the nervous system.
Breathe 2
Feb 7 1:00-2:30 pm
Explore the breath some more! Now, that you have some tools and physical awareness of the respiratory process and how it affects the nervous system. Let’s dial in deeper into learning about a pranayama practice. (The 4th limb of hatha yoga) You will learn a few techniques to better understand the why of their affects along with their contraindications for times not to use them. Take the time to get intimate with your breath body to explore these tools so you can use them in your yoga practice to help with anxiety, stress, lack of sleep, and sluggishness.
Register here
Remember,
You are strong
You are resilient
You are love
You are peace
You are hOMe
OM Shanti, OM Shanti , OM Shanti
Dani