The Teacher’s Journal

Have you noticed how the outside really does reflect the inside? All the time.

I’ve just returned from Kripalu Center where I was able to take on the role of musician in the Saptah ‘event’ and then facilitator and yoga leader in the IQI.

A lot happened. Nothing happened. The stillpoint that becomes present when I find my center was exquisitly healing for me personally & professionally.

And, just to remind me that the universe supports inward journeying I’ve arrived home during the balsamic phase of the moon; another opportunity to develop relationship with the more causal levels of existence.

I’ll be facilitating another yoga nidra this thursday.

The astrology is perfect.

I feel like I’m doing my part to bring peace to the planet.

I couldn’t do this work without practicing peace for myself.

May we live in peace, no matter what we’re given.

Om nama shivaya.

I’m traveling into the beautiful Berkshire Mountains tomorrow heading to the Kripalu Yoga Teacher’s Conference. Over on the sidebar to the right you’ll find a link for more information.

One of the things I love most about Kripalu yoga is it’s emphasis on community and creating a more peaceful world.

I look forward to re-connecting with my teachers and my peers. After all, there’s just ONE of us here, right?

Om shanti , shanti, shantihi

I’ll be back next week.

Recently at Kripalu, I had the great, good fortune to meet up with

Akim Funk Buddah.

Akim is a wonderful teacher and/or role model for our youth today. He delivers a very important and timely message within his chosen form of Hip-Hop music and Rap style of talking. I am grateful that he is out there helping to create a more peaceful world.

In my wildest dreams, never did I see myself performing the harp in accompainment to one such as he. As some of my closest friends have said,

“You just can’t make this stuff up!”.

Anyway, check him out by clicking on the link above. And if you ever get a chance to see him, do it! Sometimes, you just never know who is going to have an impact on your life. Isn’t that a good reason to practice kindness towards all?

Click on a picture.

Find Me

Sap is flowing once again from root to trunk,

from trunk to branch,

to every leaf

and bud

and blossom

on the tree.

The frozen days are past.

Now is the season of flowering,

when the full force of energy moves up

and up

to manifest its destiny.

It is everything to me,

this new life springing forth

from ash and compost,

this chance to nurture,

weed,

and prune,

to patiently receive the miracle that blooms

as if no force on earth

can turn aside its beauty.

Danna Faulds (From Root to Bloom, Yoga Poems and Other Writings) Published with permission.

ps……….I’ve been in the garden for days now and nature has rewarded me with a bloom on my clematis vine. Finally!!!

Lately I have become fascinated, once again, with Mudras. Mudra’s are the hand postitions often used in Indian dance, Yoga asana’s, and during meditation practices. If you look at the pictures of Buddah and the pantheon of other Eastern gods & goddesses you will always see them holding their hands in a particular way.

Swami Kripalu, the guru of Kripalu Yoga, was often photographed with his hands in a particular position. Many of those that had the opportunity to be with him when he was alive reported that his personal sadhana (spiritual practice) was sprinkled thruout with beautiful hand gestures and movements. It was clear to those that watched that he seemed fascinated by his hands.  It seemed quite mysterious and entrancing to me when I watched a video of his practice.

As time marched on these mudras or hand positions took on a life of their own and are believed to be a ‘yoga of the hands’ with specialized healing properties. When used during asana, pranayama, or meditation it is believed that a particular circuitry of neural pathways becomes established and something happens. (ie. heart rate slows, digestion eases, etc.) If you consider the meridian system as established by the Chinese Acupuncturist, this all makes sense.) After all, we too have all kinds of ‘meanings’ that are attached to various hand gestures in our culture as well.

Palmistry, divination thru the hands, can also trace it’s origins back to the earliest of spiritual seekers. They understood that our lives are reflected by our hands and it reads just like a book if you have the eyes to see.

Most recently I began to study mudras with one of my teachers, Joseph LaPage. We are using them in conjunction with yoga therapy. Many people are unable to perform the yoga asana’s due to physical limitations. However, just about everyone can do things with their hands. When used along with the breathing practices, affirmations, and meditation, mudras can be a powerful way to create focus, concentration, stillness and a deep sense of peace. Try it for yourself.

If you look over to the sidebar on the right you’ll see a post on the Inner Quest Intensive at Kripalu Center coming up next week. If you are a seeker I highly recommend that you sign up for this amazing program.

I participated in it in 1999 and my life hasn’t been the same since. Before that I hardly understood what it meant to ‘transform’ ones life. I only knew that I wasn’t happy, that I was the one holding myself back, and that I had to do something to help myself. I accomplished in one long weekend what might have taken decades on a therapist’s couch to do.

The most important thing that I learned (and this applies to everyone) is that “our issues are in our tissues”. (That’s a quote from Swami Kripalu) What he means is that we can change our minds and change our dialogues but our lives won’t change until we include body-centered therapies to address our issues. So, whether you are dealing with trauma, abuse, addiction or you’re just plain unhappy, you must include the entire body/mind in your wellness program. This is why yoga is so perfect. It’s the original body/mind practice including emotions and spirit in its methodology. If you are simply doing postures on a sweaty rubber mat, excluding practices that address mind/breath/emotions/spirit than you are not doing Yoga.

The Inner Quest Intensive is an opportunity to experience all of the aspects of yoga. It’s a program geared towards eliminating the obstacles and limitations that have held you back from feeling fully alive. I can’t say that it’s exactly ‘fun’, but it is transforming and quite enlightening.

Since participating in the program in ‘99, I have returned to Kripalu three times a year to be a facilitator in the program. I can actually say that I have been a witness to miracles, something I never would have said prior to ‘99. So, check it out and see if you’re a candidate for the IQI……..guaranteed to change your life for the better.

Saturn is currently squaring my natal Sun.  Ugh.  It feels like being trapped within concrete walls with only a small little penknife to chip my way out.  I suppose there is a postive side to this transit, there always is a good side.  However, today I just feel stuck.

Just before the transit came to exactitude I spent a week at Kripalu Center attending the Symposium on Yoga Therapy.  It was wonderful to be with a community of yoga professionals who are focused on using these ancient practices towards health & wellness.  There are some really good things happening out there! I learned a lot.  And, I also realized how much I already know…………..it’s always good to be validated!

Yoga Therapy is definitely an up and coming modality that is beginning to receive recognition from the medical establishment.  In my own practice a few of my clients are getting reimbursed by their insurance companies for their sessions with me.  And, their doctors are writing prescriptions for Yoga Therapy!

What sets my practice apart from most of the other yoga therapists is the use of astrology in my analysis.  Looking at a clients natal chart along with current transits & progressions can provide a lot of information that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.  As soon as this concrete wall crumbles I hope to complete some of the articles on this and post them here or on my website.  But until then……….I’ll continue to practice procrastination!

They’d have a lot more fun if they’d take their shoes off and lighten up!

………24 days until danskinetics!

Find Center……………….stay there…………keep moving……..

Over the years I have worked & studied with a variety of musicians, dancers, movement therapists and yoga teachers including Gabrielle Roth, Emily Conrad, Anodea Judith, Selene Vega, Shiva Rae, Dan Levin, Connie Miller, Jeffrey Hoffman and many of the Danskinetics teachers at Kripalu Center. My experiences with these teachers brought positive changes to my life and continue to inspire me every day.

Getting my yoga ‘off the mat’ was intimidating, exciting, and pleasantly stressful when I first tried it. Ugh. All those thoughts & feelings about what I was doing, and what “others” would think of me, and how come I feel so ’stiff’??????? However, as far as a tool for ’shifting energies’ around in the body, nothing beats this type of practice. And once we shift energy inside of us, wonderful things begin to happen in our lives.

Did you know that dancing was banned in certain cultures and civilizations?
It’s an interesting piece of history to check out.

Banish Dance Reluctance!
Go find a yoga/dance class in your area and try it!