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March 10th
Workshop
Janine Ambroze
RYT 500
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CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
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APRIL 14th
WORKSHOP
STACY PLASKE
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The Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series1
REGISTER HERE
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SAVE THE DATE
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MAY 5th WORKSHOP
LINDA HACKER
"KALI'S CREW" YOGA FOR BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS
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JUNE 9TH
LIYA WELLNESS DAY
MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW
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Food Donation:
LIYA collects non perishable food items at our workshops to be donated to local food pantries. Please bring at least one item. Long Island food pantries supplies are very low and demand is high. Your donations are greatly appreciated.
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Members Only Calendar of Events
Click Here to View Events
Please submit your events in a PDF file to our email and we will post it on our website.
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Satsang is a quarterly newsletter for distribution to the members of the Long Island Yoga Association. The articles published in Satsang reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily of LIYA. However, the Board of Directors reserves the right to make final decisions regarding inclusion of submissions to Satsang. Letters to the editor, articles for publication, comments and suggestions are welcomed. Address correspondence to:
LIYA: Satsang
P.O. Box 657
Northport, NY 11768
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PRESIDENT QUARTERLY REPORT
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First and foremost I would like to thank everyone for supporting LIYA and for keeping this great organization going. It's an honor to feature our local talented 500 RYT teachers. Please join us and experience what this amazing Long Island yoga community has to offer. We are so fortunate to now have so many wonderful teachers among us who are eager to share their knowledge, ideas and unique styles with us.
Remember you may join LIYA anytime of the year, our member directory and teacher listing will be updated quarterly. It's never too late to join!
The benefits are many :
- Discounts on workshops and retreats (including those approved for CEU credits)
- Advance notice and access to early registration for workshops and retreats
- Networking with the Long Island Yoga Community
- Listing in LIYA Membership Online Directory (Members Only Section)
- Opportunity to market your non-concurrent events to LIYA membership
- Copy of Satsang, our quarterly newsletter
- Eligibility for LIYA Scholarship
- Members-only Holiday Luncheon at December workshop
Don't forget to list your yoga event on LIYA's Website. As long as it doesn't occur at the same time as a LIYA event, it can be posted on the website. Just send your event information either in a PDF format or a MS Word Doc and email it to longislandyogaassociation.org
We are planning a Wellness Day workshop for June, we will have asana, massage therapists, reiki , energy healing, blood pressure check ups , health advise from our local nurses, guided meditation, a bazaar market , Ayurvedic teas and healthy snacks.
Your ideas and/or suggestions are very important to us, please email us at longislandyogaassociation.org.
Our workshops for the fall are almost completed; we will have very exciting and inspirational presenters.
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Namaste,
Roxana C. Lucero
President
Long Island Yoga Association
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| Letter from Marianne Mitsinkios, President Emertius |
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Dear LIYA Member:
Because the Long Island Yoga Association is near and dear to my heart, I like to stay connected even though my personal attendance at workshops and meetings is infrequent
since my retirement.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our new Board of Directors for stepping up and taking the reins to keep LIYA alive and well. The first two 2012 workshops were well attended and quite successful, and the upcoming scheduled programs promise more of the same. These workshops provide opportunities for community gathering with like minded people, giving us added support for refining and renewing our most heartfelt intentions, to share the myriad benefits of Yoga.
The revitalization of the Satsang is another indication of the forward movement of LIYA.
Many thanks to all who contribute, and especially to our new president, Roxana Lucero, for her tireless effort and commitment.
The following is a quote from Lilias Folan, speaking at a yoga conference in 2011:
"My hope is that yogis can continue to soften their hearts, join together, break down the barriers that separate us, and continue to send out love, light and healing to the planet."
It is my hope that LIYA can be a vehicle to achieve this unity here on Long Island.
My personal thanks to those who have supported this effort in the past, and a sincere invitation to all yoga practitioners to join in this effort now.
Love and Light,
Marianne Mitsinikos
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 Asana ColumnJeff Logan
Salamba Sirsasana I (Head Balance) To create a proper base for this important pose interlace your fingers fully and, from a kneeling position, place your forearms and hands firmly on your blanket with the fingers and wrists stacked vertically. Open the heels of your hands to create a generous "cup shape" keeping your elbows no wider than your shoulders. Place the crown of your head on the blanket with the back of the skull being received by the cupped shape hands. (Be careful here not to roll the pinkies and ring fingers under the head.) Press down with the forearms and wrist bones to lift your shoulders and walk your feet in toward your face until the buttocks are directly over your head. Draw the dorsal spine in to avoid any rounding of the spine or shoulders. Take a slight hop with your feet and, keeping your knees bent and your feet over your buttocks, balance. Then roll your knees toward the ceiling and mindfully extend your legs straight up. The weight of the body is borne by the wrist bones; head; and, to a certain extent, the forearms. Hold this pose for a few minutes at first, gradually increasing to a maximum of 10 minutes over time. The shoulders must remain lifted and the legs stretched to avoid undue pressure on the neck. You should not practice this pose if you have high blood pressure, injured neck, detached retina or while menstruating. If balance or fear is a problem be near or at a wall when you come up. The benefits of Salamba Sirsasana are too many to list here. One only has to practice it a few times to experience its transformative powers. Rightfully so, Sirsana is known as the "king" of the asanas. |
Mindful Practice  Ricki Grossman
Are you expecting other people to celebrate you when you have not been celebrating yourself? Do you allow negative thinking to create an image less than you are worthy of? What is your self talk?
If you find your thoughts start to be of self pity. Remember the sixth limb of yoga, "Dharana". The binding of the mind / concentration. Concentration is the beginning of meditation and this is the goal of all yoga, to neutralize the alternating currents of the mind, to learn to control the run away horses of the mind.
Fixing one's thoughts for a sustained period of time helps us to control them. One can choose any object or word, it can be a rose or simply the word Aum. Just as lifting a weight or holding an asana for a period of time creates physical muscle, we create mental stamina through the reigning and focusing of our thoughts. Many people go to the gym for their physical well being. But what about our inner mental, emotional and spiritual well being.
Let's not go to our yoga classes for only the physical improvements. Let's look to raja yoga, the last 3 limbs, the royal path of mental self control and discovery of our true nature. The royal way to our individual celebration. As we acknowledge the light within ourselves we can not help but ignite those around us.
Every time you turn off that self-deprecating thought and refocus on the oneness, you are on the royal path.
Keep focusing on the rose until you are the rose. Aum shanti, shanti shanti.
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 Philosophy Column
Cathy Fizz
THE HEART OF YOGA "When you want only love, you will see nothing else." - COURSE IN MIRACLES, T, 215 One of the main reasons people begin yoga is to change something about themselves: to feel better, think better, look better, act better. Ideally, when we take up the practice of yoga, we begin a process that offers us a way of stopping what is harmful to us. Yet, we cannot count on change. What we can however gain is a quieter mind. If real clarity is present, we experience peace within. If there is only intellectual clarity, this doesn't last. Our goal then becomes freedom from stress and suffering and a change in the quality of our thinking so that we can perceive things differently. Yoga is not a recipe for less suffering though it can encourage us to be a little bit better than we were before. We become better by making an effort and by practicing patience. Dharma Mittra says, "Only knowledge will relieve pain and suffering." Lack of self-knowledge is the cause of much suffering. He says we need to make all our actions "unto the Lord." When we follow our breath from our heart to our head between the eyes and back again, we open our hearts and our breath goes out into the world like a hologram. He suggests that we do some pranayama every day and watch our life change as our spiritual heart opens more each day." Any time we are not in our hearts, we are on our own, separated from God without our back-up light." Pranayama is most important. Without prana, nothing else would exist. Thoughts have energy and then they materialize form. Dharma says, without the Yamas and Niyamas we can never get serious about knowledge and without self-control we can do nothing." Pray to God for self-control. We have the supreme guru within us. Sometimes we need one teacher to show us the other. Believe and imagine." Says Dharma," You become what you believe." As our heart gradually becomes more purified with "right knowledge, constant devotion and surrender to the Lord," he tells us that " spiritual knowledge will be passed by grace," As we rid ourselves of impurities through cleansing the physical body we can clear our psychic channels. He says that we can enjoy every-thing but we need to have our "back-up light," especially the yoga sutras. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra is the heart of yoga and the most essential practice of yoga is the breath. This balanced union brings harmony and order to our bodies and minds. With the help of a teacher, our turbulent minds can be brought to extraordinary wisdom. This is the essential message of Patanjali . "The Sutra links the teacher, the teaching and the student" says Desicachar in his book The Heart Of Yoga. The Sutras are a potent tool for the teacher who is able to make it relevant to the student and transmit the transformative power of the heart. An important concept from Patanjali's yoga sutra has to do with the way we perceive things and it explains why we are always getting into difficulties in life. If we know how we create such problems, we can also learn how to free ourselves of them. "It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful." COURSE IN MIRACLES, M, 9 Many different interpretations of the word "yoga" have been handed down over the centuries. One meaning is "to tie the strands of the mind together." This tying of the strands is the directing of our thoughts toward the moment. As Beryl Bender Birch reminds us, "If we look at our practice of yoga as our effort to keep our mind steady, we can practice everywhere. Paying attention is the secret code." Gaining greater awareness is a requirement of our practice. We don't have to strive for anything else. Whatever we are doing is an opportunity to get present, to do our yoga. Real meditation is not some transcendental state, it is an awakened state that helps to purify the heart and from a heart of compassion comes everything else. We must work to improve our concentration. As our concentration increases, it generates light. Remember the old cameras? The flash came later. Whatever we perceive is us. When we practice for a while, we are able to see that there is only us, like a camera scanning all things. "Direct all of your intentions to your heart and soon you will realize what's important," says Dharma Mittra. "Silence your mind and open your heart and see what spirit says to you. First comes knowledge then comes realization. Live a good life and don't harm anything (especially yourself) and you will be born again in Paradise." |
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