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May 2010
Find your true dharma Greetings!
 
Happy May!  
 
Happy Spring!  The new schedule is out, in its new format. We hope you like having everything - workshops and the ongoing class schedule - in one place. (See the new class and workshop schedule >) 
  
A few months ago we examined how many classes students take on average, and how we could better support our wonderful students. This month, we have adjusted the price of the Unlimited Pass so that it is now a savings to you if you take just SIX classes a month. The $98 per month price applies to new and current students and we hope it makes it a little easier to take care of yourself with yoga! 
 
See you in class! 
Community Health & Business Network
By Popular Request!  
 A Morning Class!
Wednesdays
 7:30-8:30 am
Level 1-2 

Start your day out right with an hour of yoga with Certified Purna Yoga Instructor Gordon Kaplan.  Gordon combines humor and intelligence to create a class that is both active AND reflective. Join us!

From Mirra to Savitri

Just to let you all know that Mirra has changed her name to Savitri.

My Yoga Experience at 67
YC Student Portrait, by Nadine Engh
 
NadineLittle did I know when I walked into my first yoga class on Senior Fitness Day that it would save my life! It was several years ago when I walked into this BIG room at the Community Center and there was only the teacher, Angelica, there with a BIG welcoming smile. "Oh, are you coming to my class?" she asked.

 

The class was called Senior Gentle Yoga. Pretty soon I realized I was supposed to get down on the floor on that thin mat - oh dear, my body didn't move like that! When I started, it was hard to get up and down on the mat. I had 15 years of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain and Chronic Fatigue for starters so the workouts I had been doing previously just didn't work for me anymore. When I started yoga, even getting up and down on the mat HURT! But I had to do something!! Week by week, I progressed a little further and a little further - with the great enthusiasm of Angelica. She had a great sense of when we were totally exhausted and she would adjust the class as needed. I didn't know then, but now I realize that most classes don't do that many restoratives at the end of class, but that was what was needed and Angelica knew it!

 

After a while, Angelica said she thought I should try the Level I classes at the community center.  Well, I thought she liked me, but there I was being introduced to things like "standing poses!" I felt like I was being twisted into a funny shape forever and surely I'd die! But I hung in there and did what I could and came back for more.

 

I think the key for me was starting where I was and working slowly and consistently. Since this wasn't my nature, Angelica had to teach me that this was okay! As a result, I have been free of my Fibromyalgia for several years and have moved to taking classes at Yoga Centers, where I have found more wonderful teachers that help me work from where I am to where I want to go. I have also been inspired by the gentle accepting attitude and the meditative influence -  which is very healing after being in pain for years.  

 

Before I started yoga, I could hardly move. My husband remembers when I could barely walk to the mailbox. Now I LOVE Yoga! I still do have limitations with my body but there are LOTS of things I can do and, who knows, maybe by 70 I will be able to do more.  I started taking just one class a week several years ago, and over time, have worked up to six times a week. However, since I was feeling so much better, I started back to work, so now I only get to class three times a week.  Maybe when I retire I can get back to six times a week!  

 

Some comments from my bodywork doctors are: "You are more flexible than some of my 20-year-old patients!" and "Your movements are so fluid given the issues in your body."

 

So THANK YOU to Yoga Centers for getting me moving, helping me heal myself, and supporting me in accepting that where I am is just fine! And thank you for getting me back in the world and - truly - for saving my life!

 
 
meditationWhy I Love Working with Children
YC Teacher Portrait, by Marchella
 

I have always had a love for children through out my life.  They have taught me how to be flexible, sincere and to love life at every moment.  There is no future or past with children - they live completely in the now and that has been the greatest gift from working with them.  I have spent time teaching in public and private schools, working at a daycare and teaching Japanese, music and yoga classes in Seattle, on the Eastside and in India.  I am also a licensed massage therapist and have completed the College of Purna Yoga at the 2,000-hour level.  

 

In essence I have spent my life learning how to heal and love myself and then have applied that learning to teaching children.  Much of what I have learned through yoga, meditation and massage is that life will show you whether you really love yourself and know yourself, and that life will eventually show you the very best of yourself.  That is why I love working with children for they have allowed me to see myself clearly through their smiles, tears and joy. Currently my main focus of teaching children is Yoga.  I have seen tremendous changes in the children's behaviors and feelings towards themselves and others through simple poses, and meditation as I hold a space for them to explore new ways of seeing the world and themselves.  I teach a Kid's Yoga Class at Yoga Centers on Saturdays at noon for ages 7-12 and this summer I will teach a Kid's Yoga Camp August 23-27.

   

click on image to play video
Marchella video
Most recently a group of individuals from Yoga Centers and I have come together to create the Golden Lotus School.
  I have dreamed of a place for children to learn how to truly love and guide themselves through life listening to the right voice inside - the voice of the heart, of pure love and truth.  Golden Lotus School holds the children of our future who will need their intuition, a love greater than themselves and a strength in knowing who they are to guide them into a life filled with Joy and unlimited possibilities.  It is in them we must put our love and focus so that as the world evolves they will know how to live from their heart in whatever they do and create. For more information watch my video, visit our website, or call me at 206-769-2697
. 

             Play video, For Children: Living from the Heart >

 

I also have a private massage practice at Yoga Centers on Friday afternoons. This has also been a joy to offer in my life.  It has helped me become closer to Love, and closer to that in others.  I always use the highest quality oils, techniques and modalities to encourage my clients towards health and healing. For appointments email me at [email protected] or pick up my card on the Community Network Board. 

 

There is so much to learn and enjoy in life and I have learned that no matter what occupation you hold it's really how you do your work that matters most in life.  It matters little "what" you do as opposed to "how" you do it.  So in closing thank you for getting to know me and may you find the Love and Joy that is in your heart in all that you do!

 
 
 
About This Newsletter
 
We want this newsletter to be what you want it to be, to serve this community.  Please tell us what would interest you and what would help you.  Please email us (well, to Kirsten at [email protected]) if you have something you would like to see in the Community News, or if you have something to post! 
 
 
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