Cheryl Thomas, RYT
www.cherylthomas.com
yoga@cherylthomas.com
415-308-3377
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Knock, Knock,
Who's There
Close your
eyes, be super still and quiet. Do
nothing. Just sit. Do you hear it--that incessant chatterbox
inside your head? The voice without a
name that is always telling you how to feel, what to do (good or bad), and whom
to like. It dredges up memories to
remind you how inadequate or superior you are, what to love, what to fear. It has opinions about everything and has no
compunction sharing them with you-rapid fire, non-stop, all the time, always.
Who is it
that is inside our heads talking to us?
It's ME, you say. Hum, but you've
always heard "you are not your thoughts."
Right, I get that. Just because
my thoughts tell me I'm a no-good louse, doesn't actually mean that I am. But, if we are not our thoughts, then who are
we?
I'm reading
a booked entitled The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer. In the first chapters, Mr. Singer explores
this "voice" and explains very rationally why this voice is not you. Throughout the narrative, it keeps begging
the question, "Well, who is the voice, and if I'm not the voice, then who am I?"
We can see
our thoughts, right? If you want to try,
should HELLO to yourself inside your head.
You can hear yourself saving "hello, hello in there". So, you are aware of the voice talking. It's always the voice talking and you
listening. OK. So, if you are noticing the voice, then it
can't be you. You are the one that is
noticing. It comes down to concept of
subject-object differentiation. The
subject cannot be the object. If you are
noticing, you are the subject, and what you are noticing is the object. If I'm not the object, then I'm the subject. But, still, who am I?
Mr. Singer
goes on to refer to the inner voice as a roommate, someone inside you that just
won't shut up. The roommate always has a
problem with something and is rarely satisfied.
This roommate has the ability to make you angry, jealous, and fearful,
just as quickly as it can make you joyous and content. It wags you like a happy chocolate lab's tail.
Now that we
can differentiate between us and the irksome roommate, what do we do? Did the question of "who am I" get any
clearer? It didn't for me, but I've got lots
to think about. As I progress through
Mr. Singer's book, I'll let you know if I can find the "me" inside "me." In the meantime, I've got some duct tape for
my roommate.
Want to read some of my past emails? Just click
here and you'll be taken to my newsletter archive page. Enjoy
and as always, please let me know your thoughts!
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Week of August 8, 2010
Tuesday
Noon - 1:00 Yoga on Center, Healdsburg Slow Flow - All Levels
6:00 - 8:30 (Private) Restorative Yoga For Metabolic Syndrome UCSF, San Francisco
Wednesday5:30 - 6:55 p.m. (Class Canceled Tonight)Yoga Studio Ganesha, Sebastopol Vinyasa Flow + Restorative - All Levels Thursday (Class subbed by Sooz Sykes)8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Graton Community Club, Graton Gentle Flow - All Levels Week of August 15, 2010
Tuesday
Noon - 1:00 (Class subbed by Usha)Yoga on Center, Healdsburg Slow Flow - All Levels
Wednesday
5:30 - 6:55 p.m. Yoga Studio Ganesha, Sebastopol Vinyasa Flow + Restorative - All Levels
Thursday
8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Graton Community Club All Levels
11:30- 1:00 (Mirka Kraftsow's class) Westside Yoga Studio, Sebastopol Gentle Yoga 6:00 - 7:30 (Mirka Kraftsow's class) Westside Yoga Studio, Sebastopol Gentle Yoga
STUDIO WEBSITESYoga on Center: www.yogaoncenter.comYoga Studio Ganesha: www.yogastudioganesha.comWestside Yoga Studio: http://www.westsideyogastudio.net |
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Hope to see you soon!
Namaste,
Cheryl
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Bulletin Board
I'm Taking a Week Off, so check the schedule for changes. I'll be traveling to Colorado to join my husband, Patrick, who's climbing the infamous 14,000 foot peaks. He just completed his first 14er. Congrats, Patrick. Check out his handsome, mountain-man face right here.
A Hoot and a Half One of my favorite columnists is Mark Morford at sfgate.com or markmorford.com. He's also a wonderful vinyasa yoga teacher at Yoga Tree in SF. He's pairing up with Neal Pollack for an event called Hair of the Downward Dog. I believe there will probably be some drinking involved. Anyway, not knowing Neal Pollack, I wandered over to his site and yeehaw, he's hilarious. He just wrote a book, Stretch, about his introduction to yoga. Check Neal out here.
Ann's Students Rock! Thanks to all of Ann Austin's students for all your support and interest in my instruction while she was away. You are awesome and it was an honor and a pleasure to have you in class. I'll see you all soon on the mat.
Where Am I
My teaching schedule is always changing. Now you can see an updated calendar on my website www.cheryl
thomas.com. Click on the classes link and there will be a spiffy new on-line calendar. It should always be up-to-date.
Graton Yogis
Thanks so much to many of you that joined me at Yoga Studio Ganesha for our Thursday morning classes for the last month. Classes will resume at the Graton Community Club this Thursday. However, note that the class will be subbed this week by the fabulous Sooz while I am away. See you all on 19th.
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