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We have added
* Kids yoga is back on SUNDAYS
*Mostly Meditation with extremely gentle yoga
monday nights with Ami Flammini
*Ying Yang Yoga
thursday nights with Judy Riedl
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please visit us
other links to check out
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Ten Yoga Tricks
for the Holiday Season
1. Stand on one foot while waiting in line to pay for groceries or gifts.
2. After standing at the kitchen counter for a while, take three steps back, put your hands shoulder distance apart on the edge of the counter and let your head fall between your arms in a modified down dog. Hold for a few seconds stretching out your low back.
3. Pick a holiday song and each time you hear it drop your shoulders and take a deep breath.
4. After a long day, practice legs up the wall for a few minutes before you go to bed.
5. Roll your shoulders in circles rather than rolling your eyes.
6. After eating a holiday dinner, sneak away for a few minutes. Lie on your back (you don't need a mat..you could be on floor or on a bed), bring one knee into your chest. As you exhale let the the knee move out a bit and as you inhale bring the knee a bit further in towards your chest. Do this a few times on each side. It will help your digestive system.
7. When you stop to fill up your car with gas do a forward bend and stretch out the back side of your body.
8. Each time you sit down for a meal, repeat the loving kindness mantra in your head (or aloud...depending on how that will go over with the crowd). Remember, the mantra was initially intended to be said for yourself first, and then for other people:
Loving Kindness mantra for yourself:
May I be happy
May I be at peace
May I be free from suffering
Loving Kindness Mantra for others:
May all beings be happy
May all beings be at peace
May all beings be free from suffering
9. If you are standing in line again, practice standing in steady mountain pose. Allow yourself to feel all four corners of your feet, lengthen your spine, drop your shoulders, chin parallel to the floor.
10. Remember to breathe, again and again and again. |
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Next Issue
In the next issue we will highlight
- Judy Riedl & Ruta Kulys, two teachers at Ahh Yoga. They have both recently completed additional teacher traininngs & we want to share their experiences.
- The upcoming Yoga at the Wall workshop (february 19 &20) .
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 Ahh Yoga
December Newsletter |
| Everyone at Ahh Yoga would like to wish you a season full of yoga practice, on & off the mat, an open heart and lots of love. |
Life Begins at the End of our
Comfort Zone
I was in the back of the class, it was early in the morning (way earlier than I typically like to get up) and Kathleen was subbing for the Saturday morning flow class. As I entered downward facing dog she said "if you haven't been here for a while, this may be uncomfortable, just stay with it and give yourself time." Those were the words I was longing to hear as my body was experiencing the results of sitting in a chair all day the day before. It's a good thing enlightenment isn't at all related to my hamstrings.
The holidays can be a time where we feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe we are uncomfortable around our families, maybe we are uncomfortable because we aren't around our families. Maybe it's the crazy amount of food we are eating, or the crazy amount of money we might be spending. It seems like this time of year could be where we demonstrate everything we have learned about ourselves in the past year on our yoga mat. On our mats, we are learning to stay with our breath, to keep an open heart, to live from our hearts, to honor our differences (on the mat this might be honoring my body is different than your body; or honoring my body today is different than my body yesterday), to cultivate compassion towards ourselves and others and to stay connected to some presence bigger than ourselves.
Sometimes, life during the holidays doesn't seem as comfortable as all that. Maybe we have just gotten in the habit of living in a routine that doesn't match what we are learning on our mats. It can be uncomfortable to enter into new positions, whether that is a yoga pose or how we interact with people in our lives. The holiday season is really the perfect time to practice. Jack Kornfield said in this month's edition of Tricycle "if you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family."
 Our twelve year old niece wears a necklace that says "life begins at the end of our comfort zone." I think she is right. Do you know where your comfort zone ends?
This holiday season, let's all look for a place in our life where we can break an old habit, a habit that might be comfortable and yet not-so-skillful. Let's step out of our comfort zone and allow our life to begin again.
Cheers,
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5 quick announcements
1. There are some schedule changes the week of 12/24. Please check the website for more information.
2. The studio will be closed December 24th through January 4th, with the exception of a led ashtanga class on New Years Day at 9:00 a.m. (aasne will be teaching).
3. We are offering free-try-it-out yoga for people who might be or are interested in starting yoga with us in January. This will be held January 10th, 2:30-3:45.
4. All of our beginning class sessions will begin the week of January 11th. Please help us spread the word.
5. If the weather is questionable, please check the webpage to see if we will be holding class as scheduled. We will post any changes/cancellations at least 30 minutes prior to the start of any class. |
This Months Recommendation
(each month we will make a movie/book recommendation)
Check out the movie FOOD, INC.
It's bound to make us all a bit uncomfortable (see article above about life beginning outside our comfort zone) to know that most of us eat food that has traveled over 1500 miles to make it to the dinner table. Yikes!
you can get more info by visiting their website
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Did you know that for the past several years your yoga studio has offered... |
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Veterans & their spouses (or live in partners) half off of all classes/cards.
Full time college students half off all classes/cards. |
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Thank you for another wonderful year at Ahh Yoga. We appreciate all of your support & look forward to seeing you in 2010.
Namaste,
All of us at Ahh Yoga | |
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