Begin in Dandasana/ Staff pose seated at a right angle with legs extended and back straight. Bend your right knee and hold onto you big toe in yogic toe lock (or if you are not that flexible hold your ankle or shin) with your right hand. You left leg remains long and ultimately flat to the floor and you hold your left big toe in yogic toe lock (or ankle or shin) with your left hand. Lift the right foot up and toward your right ear as if you were pulling back an arrow, stretching the bow back. Hold for 3 breaths and then extend the right leg up/vertically and straight take another 3-5 breaths. Repeat this 3 times or more discharging as many arrows of love into the world as you like. Then resume staff pose and repeat on the left side.

Physical benefits:

Stretches legs and hip flexors and back. It is a major hip opener and strenghtens the core and back.

Satsang with Lisa

With Valentine's Day just a kiss away it is natural to turn the thoughts to matters of love. Not exclusively the commercial images of romantic love that we are all too aware of at this time of year, but also to honor the other manifestations of love that are often overlooked by the big ad campaigns. Not that I have anything against the romantic candle light dinner, jewelry, flowers and chocolates. Quite the contrary! Universe...Bring it on!

But let's be real, life is not always like that. And when it is not, when that piece of the puzzle is for the moment missing, that does not mean that there is not love to revel in and celebrate. There is. There are so many kinds of love, each with it's own beauty and flavor.

"Love is everything it is cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it...It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more."
~Erica Jong

We may know love as mothers and fathers, as daughters and sons, as sisters and brothers, as friends, as well as spouses, partners and simply as bozos on this bus we call humanity.

There are as many opportunities to connect to and turn on your love, to shine it out and to share it as there are thoughts in your mind! Opportunity arises in every relationship and interaction we have including the one we have with ourselves.

"Love is a choice you make from moment to moment." ~Barbara DeAngelis 

Speaking of choosing love, as you may know my son Jed is to be a bar mitzvah in just a few weeks and the other day I received a phone call from my mother in Florida. She asked me a funny question, was I planning on inviting my ex-husband? "Of course" I replied  "Why do you ask?" Well she said because we (she and my step-dad) have decided to be very loving to him on that day. "Good" I said and explained that Jed's Dad was understandably concerned about having to be in a room with a lot of people that he imagined to be very mad at him. "Well" my Mom continued, "at first we decided to do it for Jed and make it a nice day. And then we thought we would do it out of compassion for Jed's Dad and just remember the good times we had together. (Like the movie "The Way We Were") And then she said they realized they were actually doing it for themselves because to their surprise it made them feel so good!

"I have found the paradox. That is love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."

~Mother Teresa

Being loving may not always be the obvious choice and probably won't be the easiest, but dollars to donuts it is sure to be the sweetest and most rewarding of all.

 "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you built against it."~ Rumi

 Yoga guides us through this journey. Slowly but surely convincing and preparing us to let down our armour and trust the wisdom in our hearts. Through regular practice we connect to the truth of who we are, the good the bad, the beautiful the ugly, the strength the fragility, the open the closed, the joy the pain, the fear and the courage.  In the long run we find our yoga, our onesness and open to compassion for ourselves and others as this dualistic way of seeing shifts to one of unity and wholeness. We recognize that we, all of us, are all of these things.  Our practice teaches to see the truth, to open to love and hold the big picture. And from there we find healing and happiness.

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody!

"For this reason loving involves commitment.
We are not automatic lovers of self, others, world, or God. Love does not just happen. We are not love machines, puppets on the strings of a deity called "love." Love is a choice -- not simply, or necessarily, a rational choice, but rather a willingness to be present to others without pretense or guile. Love is a conversion to humanity - a willingness to participate with others in the healing of a broken world and broken lives. Love is the choice to experience life as a member of the human family, ..."~Carter Heyward

Last Stop 

Hate to sound like a broken record, we have replaced the toilets and have discovered a new issue that plagues our pipes, we are doing the best we can to keep the toilets running. Sweet Comfort Bakery has been so kind to allow us to use their toilets should a situation arise. Please have some compassion, we deal with the issues as soon as they arise, and we are only human.

As a token of our love for you our beautiful community we are offering you the gift of sharing your yoga with a loved one who has never come to Om Sweet Om before. . Bring a loved one to class free of charge from February 14^th through the 28^th<3 It is our way of sharing the LOVE and LIGHT!