Girls Yoga Retreat: Day Two

Sunday morning, the mom's, daughters and I re-communed at Spirit Bear Power Yoga for the second day of our yoga retreat. I woke up that morning feeling very refreshed and totally focused on the morning's class. Where last night had been a calming , restorative practice, I planned for  a more energetci and uplifting class for today.

I began class with a wave breathing taught to me my Barbara Benagh. We lay on our backs, and held our knees with our hands. On the inhale, we let our knees out and on the exhale breath, we brought our knees towards our stomach, naturally causing the air to be dispelled from our body. After that a simple twist, using Eagle legs (causing our hips to be fixed so we could focus our twist in the middle and upper part of our backs). Standing, in time with our breath, we went up and down into Uttanasaa. I explained the use of Ujjayi breathing and that in this up and down time, we would want to make our in and out breaths even. Here I briefly discussed that some people are more prominently exhalers and others are more prominently inhalers. And that poses where were did more exhaling were calming and those that had more of an inhale where energizing.

We did a Sun A series of high lung, to low lunge, and then a rest in Child's Pose. Pressing back up into Uttanasana, we then stood for tree pose. Then taking a wide stance on our mat, we did a flow series of triangle to 1/2 Moon to standing split to Warrior II to Dancing Warrior and then repeated on the other side.

After another Child's Pose, we did Vishnu's Couch, Table Top Balance and then we all experienced Head Stand Prep. I also led the kid's in a simple tripod head stand.

Dropping back into Savasna, I lightly turned on "Chant From The Heart" BY Kitaro, an 8 minute piece and let everyone drfit off into a rleaxation state.

We finished class again with journaling. I read another selection from Buddha at Bedtime and the families and I talked about healthy eating, sharing with our kids, CSA's, and various other topics drfited in and out.

I want to thank Christy Carlson for hosting this wonderful event at Spirit Bear Power Yoga. It was a wonderful way to connect to the community and share my love of yoga. Thank you all for the wonderful welcome to Natick. I look forward to many more enjoyable times.

Namaste!

After School Yoga: Mandalas

This past Monday was the last class of the fall session's after school yoga program. We had a yoga party of sorts. We statred with a few warm-ups to center ourselves and heat up the energies in our bodies.

I brought Mandalas for the students to color, so we spread out at the tables and listened to Kitaro's "Silk Road". I had brought 4 different designs and each yogi/yogini picked out the one that they were most drawn to.

While they colored and the music played softly in the background, I read to them the story called "The Elephant And The Dog" from the book "Buddha At Bedtime" by Dharamachari Nagaraja. The moral of the story is even the most unlikely of characters can become friends.

What is a Mandala?

The meaning of mandala comes from Sanskrit meaning "circle." Mandalas are geometric designs symbolic of the universe that are used as an aid to meditation.

How do I use a Mandala?

1. Set your intention for your practise (An intention is a promise you make to yourself and a way of putting logic and beliefs into action. One way to set your intention is to focus on something you are grateful for. You can also set it based on a quality you want (spontaneity, flexibility, peace of mind, inspiration, concentration...) in your life and/or yoga practice.

The design of the mandala is meant to attract the viewer visually, so much so that the mind becomes absorbed by it. The design’s hypnotic effect relaxes the mind. With a relaxed mind, the individual is able to focus his attention inwards rather than focusing on life’s usual distractions. In this state, imagination flows which in turn increases creativity, sympathy, and self respect.

2. Focus on the mandala. Let your eyes take in the radiance of its designs. Release your mind. Recognize when your mind wanders back to your list of choirs or your concerns and simply bring your attention back to the beauty of the mandala. Let the mandala absorb your attention. In time, you will begin to feel luminous and fresh and spontaneous thoughts may arise. Relax and allow these thoughts in. If at any time you begin to feel lost, uncomfortable or distracted, re-focus your attention back on the mandala.

Everyone’s experience will be different but meditating with the mandala can be relaxing and you can come away with a clarity concerning the intention that you set at the beginning of your practise.

The last fifteen minutes of class was time for favorite poses. The students could show a pose that they had learned during the program or make up one of their own. I saw crow, wheels, camel, tree, dancer's, fish in a boat, lunges, squats, picture frame, candle, triangle...)

Thank you to all my yogis and yoginis!

Namaste!