Recently, I'm enjoying immersion in music of the 1940s, as well as modern songs in the style of the 40s.

I find this music magnificently life-affirming. I don't know that any of the songwriters or singers were (or are) yoga practitioners. (Although yoga was beginning to be known in the U.S. by the 40s, it had yet to gain mainstream acceptance.) But these songs I've been hearing are beautifully yogic in their expressions of thought and ways of experiencing life.

For example, in the song

Instead (one of the modern selections on Spotify's and Pandora's Ella Fitzgerald stations), Madeleine Peyroux reminds us that we get to choose where we place our focus (remember from our yoga classes the power of drishti), and how we interpret each experience

"Instead of feeling low, get high on everything you love.

Instead of wasting time, feel good 'bout what you're dreaming of.

Naturally, as a musician, I also enjoy the music itself, irrespective of words. This musical style of the 40s often includes soul-stirring nuances. What tone does the music communicate to you? What do you experience as you listen?

In teaching yoga classes, one of my intentions from the beginning has been to work myself out of a job. I view classes at the shala not only as great enjoyment in building community but also as supporting you in building your own unique relationship with yoga - your own practice and relationship with your body, your being, others, the world around you, and life itself - in every moment.

I encourage you to choose one thing in each class (one pose or breath practice or sequence, etc.) - one thing that you notice feels really good to you or challenges you in a way you're ready to take on.

Practice that one thing each day between classes. Even one to two minutes of daily practice enhances your experience and builds greater and greater benefits for you the longer you do this.

Then the next class, choose another one thing. Practice. Begin to combine what you collect, one at a time, from the classes you've experienced.

As you practice this, you'll begin to experience moments when you intuitively realize exactly what will best support you in precisely what you're experiencing at any given moment. You'll have a collection of practices (poses, breaths, meditations, intentions, sequences, etc.) from which to draw.

As you continue to practice in this way, you'll notice this experience of intuitive realization more and more continually throughout each and every moment of your life. This is when what I've said before at the end of class, that we've now completed our warm up and are ready for our practice to begin, makes sense. Our practice on the mat empowers us to step off the mat revitalized and ready to interact beneficially and effectively with ourselves, others, and all of life, in peace and joy.

Of course, we continue to gather for classes - because we enjoy gathering together and experiencing yoga and life with each other. :)  Plus classes enable you to continue to grow, to discover deeper nuances, modifications or amplifications, new poses (there are thousands!), fresh insights, and powerful support with one another. But your practice will have become individually independent from, while continually supported and enhanced by, the classes. Classes will continue to help you grow and enjoy community, but you won't need them. Thank you to each of you who's shared ways in which you already experience this! Pure joy!

May you experience today and tomorrow's rare arctic climate as an opportunity for you to explore cultivating your own intuitive practice. Enjoy discovering what you remember.... :)

Whatever emotion you're experiencing, acknowledge it with friendliness. Invite it to be, to sit down. Be with it. Inquire into it with curiosity. Get to know it. Not preconceived thoughts about it, but direct experience of what it is in this moment.