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Cheryl Thomas, RYT
www.cherylthomas.com yoga@cherylthomas.com 415-308-3377 |
Balance*
The last thing you need is another article/lecture about one more thing to work on, fret about, or stress over. But regardless, let's chat about balance, particularly balancing your life. It seems to be the topic du jour. Huffington Post even has an entire section entitled The Balanced Life with a bunch of cool articles like unitasking, compulsive hoarding, benefits of meditation, yoga for stress management and low stress jobs in America (huh?).
"Balanced Life" used to be just the woohoo-speak of life coaches, but now everyone is striving to find a bit of yin to their yang, Target with their Nordstroms, inhale with their exhale, 7 jeans with their 501s, and debits with their credits. But keeping a balance in life keeps getting harder and harder. The more we tweet, text, google, bing, post, blog, and surf, the less we rest, reflect, explore, meditate, ruminate, connect and create, It seems impossible to find that sweet spot of doing enough but not too much.
Here's the Yoga Link. I like to think of our time on the yoga mat as a metaphor for life off the mat. If we can learn to balance on the mat then we take those tools in our real life. Take a look at vrksasana or tree pose. It requires deep roots and a strong foundation, eagle-eye concentration, courage and commitment, and steadfastness. Might these be good qualities off the mat? While standing on one foot you are supporting your entire weight on 26 bones, 33 joints and 100 muscles. A truly amazing feat (hah!). Off the mat you're balancing 26 texts, 33voicemails and 100 emails. In tree pose you must be super strong and completely still--just the soft in/out of the breath. But each nanosecond you must be able to instantly adjust to the most subtle changes without falling. If you're too rigid, you topple, if you're too lax, you collapse. You must be cool, calm and collected. Sound like life? I think so.
So the next time you're in class and practicing Tree Pose, it's not just a yoga pose, it's life.
*Recycled from many moons ago, December 27, 2009, to be exact)
Want to read some of my previous articles? You can do it here. Enjoy.
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Did You Know?
Stand Up Paddle Board Yoga! ! We've got a date. Put on your calendar Saturday, August 17 at 10:30. I'm making arrangements for a private class for a bunch of us in Sausalito. More details to come. Clear your calendar. It's happening. We'll gather for lunch afterward.
I'm in Healdsburg on Monday at noon at the beautiful Yoga on Center. Come and join me for Lunchtime Vinyasa.
More Beth Robert! Ashtangi Beth is adding 3, yes 3, new classes at Westside Yoga. Find her offering her Ashtanga wizardry on Tuesday at Thursdays at 4:30 and Sundays at 10:30.
Our condolences to Devorah Blum, owner of Yoga Studio Ganesha. Her ex-husband a father of her son , Victor Buxbaum, was tragically killed last week in Santa Rosa. Victor had a fellow yoga teacher and teaching in Sebastopol.
Yoga Teachers and Advanced Studies Student--Study in a small class setting with Tony Briggs. See below for details!
Let the summer specials begin!! New students to Westside Yoga pay $100 for 10 classes. Get 15 free days at MyYogaWorks (online classes). YogaOne Petaluma has 30 days for $49 for new students. You and a friend can share a 1 month membership for $110 at Post Wellness by Design. Whew, I need to exhale! And, Move2Change is offering a 10 class pass for $98. That's a lot of cheap yoga classes. Take advantage while you can.
The fabulous gong yogini, Parmatma, is offering Kundalini Yoga and Gong Healing on 8/17 from 5-7. It's at Soulstice in Santa Rosa. Questions go here: Parmatmayoga@gmail.com.
You heard it here. YogaOne in Petaluma is expanding to Santa Rosa in August. Heh, Santa Rosa! Located on Mendocino Avenue near College, Yoga One will offer a variety of classes all day long. I'll be on the schedule, yes me! I'll be offering two classes on Tuesday and Thursday around the noon hour). What a line-up! Ann Austin and Beth Robert will be on the schedule also. We're excited about offering yoga in Santa Rosa. More to come, of course.
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 Study with Tony Briggs
Heh, Yoga Teachers and Advanced Yogis. The teacher's teacher, Tony Briggs, is offering to hold some "master" classes. Focus will be on advanced asanas. Yikes!
This is a great opportunity for us all. Tony will work around our schedule. If interested, please email Tony at tony.briggs108@gmail.com and let him which times/days you prefer: Monday 2-4 Tuesdays 2-4 Thursday 2-4 Want to know more about Mr. Briggs. He's got a website here and a video here. Classes will be 2 hours and held in Sebastopol. Thanks, Tony!!" |
 Be Happier in Later Life - Accept What Is
The Buddhist teachings are all about accepting what is. It's the key to reducing suffering, becoming more at ease with life and lowering stress. I love it when western science back up some of the ancient doctrine. A new study has found that "during the difficult changes of later life -- moving into residential care and losing a certain level of independence -- an acceptance of what can't be changed is a major predictor of life satisfaction."
It's all in an article on HuffPo. There are some more interesting nuggets from the article:
"Although the changes of later life can be challenging, previous research has found that people tend to become happier as they age. Happiness hits a global average low point at age 46, and then generally increases after that point into the golden years."
"Past middle age there seems to be growing happiness into the later years that occurs regardless of money, employment status or children,"
"Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley found that older adults are better able to deal with negative emotions and have greater levels of emotional acceptance than younger people."
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Like Happiness, Discomfort Comes and Goes
A good reminder to be present and hang with whatever comes up, be it good or bad, leads to good mental health. This brief article appears in the Interdependence Project's blog entitled "The Good News About Feeling Bad". Read it here.
By the way, if you have some time, this is a great site to hang out with. I enjoy their blog and podcasts which I download from iTunes. Founder, Ethan Nichtern, brings classic Buddhist teachings by " bridging the gap between personal development and collective engagement in our world, combining the principles of mindfulness and interdependence with activism, arts, and media". Find it here. |
 It's Not All About the Core
" In this pose the challenge is not the position itself so much as its relationship to gravity. If it were rotated 45 degrees, it would be the work of sitting vertically in dandasana (which can certainly present its own challenges).
Ideally, the weight in this pose is distributed between the sitting bones and the tailbone. All the weight should not be borne on the sacrum. If dandasana is a challenge because of shortness in the backs of the legs, that same shortness makes it impossible to support navasana correctly with the legs straight. In this case, bending the knees so that the spine can remain neutral is a good option.
This asana is often said to work the abdominal muscles. This is true; however, the abdominal muscles do not pull the body into this pose-rather, they are keeping the upper body from falling back into gravity. The action that holds the body in this position is hip flexion, created by the psoas major and iliacus. If the psoas major and iliacus are difficult to access, it is possible to overwork the rectus femoris or tensor fasciae latae attempting to stay up.
Just as bending the knees makes this pose easier by shortening the length of the lower lever arm, extending the arms overhead makes it more difficult by lengthening the upper lever arm."
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Daily Dharma - Tricycle Magazine
June 24, 2013
Knowing is Not Enough
If you know dharma but do not apply it, then you have more regret than if you had never learned any dharma in the first place. If you are not going to apply dharma knowledge to your life-better not to know it at all.
- - Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche, "Keys to Happiness"
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Be Happy on Friday's
Instead of shots of tequila and fried artichoke hearts, spend your Friday happy hour moving and grooving at an
most-levels vinyasa flow class.
On Friday's from 4:30 - 6:00, we'll end each week with an energetic vinyasa flow class. Through building heat from the inside, we'll strip out the stress hormones from the day. A long rest at the end of class will reset our nervous system and prepare us for our weekend.
You'll be done at 6:00!! That'll leave plenty of time for dinner with friends, a movie or a relaxing evening with your pooch. Or, maybe a Chia filled Kombucha or that 100% agave margarita!
NOTE: This class meets once a month at 5:30 - 7:00 due to teacher training. Check my calendar or Westside's.
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Get Your Girlfriends Together
It's fun to get friends together. Treat your friends to Yoga and Tea rather than Food and Booze. Inviting friends to come together for a Gentle or Restorative Yoga class is a perfect way to enjoy each other's company and do something good for yourselves. Many yoga parties end with tea or champagne and some munchies. Your friends will thank you!
Please call on me if I can help you book a private yoga class or answer any questions. I can be reached at cheryl@cherylthomas.com.
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Schedule of Upcoming Classes
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Week of July 21, 2013
Monday
12:00 - 1:00
Yoga on Center
Lunchtime Vinyasa
Thursday
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