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 Greetings from India!
We are so enjoying this beautiful land of the senses. Everywhere you go you are inundated with color, sound, fragrance and movement. Each sense can, in a single moment, be overwhelmed with beauty and assaulted with unpleasantness. It is difficult to separate sometimes that which is amazing and heart lifting from that which saddens and makes the heart heavy.
The Taj Mahal is the perfect example.
Absolutely splendid, incredible materials and workmanship; translucent white marble with intricate precious stone inlay, all built by forced labor and artisans who had their fingers chopped off when it was complete so they could not duplicate the work elsewhere. Both the exquisite and the horrific there together demanding our awe. Ah so, India! An experience of extremes for eyes, ears, nose and heart.
With love,
Leslie and Kayci
... and from the rest of the HeartSong staff: Lani, Lynn, Kat, Maddie, Jeff and Kasey... Happy February!
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Growing Your Yoga
The Anahata Chakra by Kat Heagberg
"Listen to your heart." "She's so open-hearted!" "What a heartfelt gesture." "....from the bottom of my heart." In the English language we have all sorts of idioms and phrases that allude to the "heart" as something beyond the physical organ that pumps blood through the body. You also may have heard your yoga teacher or a fellow practitioner refer to "the heart chakra," or refer to a particular pose as "a good heart opener," but what exactly does this mean? What is a "chakra" anyway, and why should we care?
Lets start simply. Prana-- vital life force energy (you can't live without it!) travels through channels called nadis (we're each said to have 72,000 of these channels). When nadis intersect they form chakras, "hubs of energy" in the the body ("chakra" literally means "wheel" or "disk"). There are seven "primary" chakras (where many nadis intersect) found along the spine, three lower chakras, three upper chakras, and one that's right in the middle-the heart chakra, or anahata, which means "unstruck" in Sanskrit. Because of it's central location, the anahata chakra can be thought of as "the place of the middle," the intersection point between the worldly and the spiritual, and is related to unconditional love, kindness, and connectedness-to each other, and to the entire universe as a whole.
Kat teaches Level 2-3 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:15am and on Saturdays at 7:30am; also Level 1-2 on Saturdays at 9am.
For more info:
or
Sign up for one of her classes
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Did You Know?
Health Fairs and On-Site Yoga Classes
We love to visit companies and their employees for health and wellness fairs! Throughout the year we are often invited to participate in these company offerings to their employees and have the opportunity to talk with folks about health, wellness and yoga.
If your company is in the Beaverton area and has a yearly wellness fair, we would love the shout out to your HR department. We also offer classes onsite for a number of companies, so if you think that yoga at your place of work would be an appealing addition to the day, please inquire with us about arranging a class! |
Resource Center
Yoga Reads: Autobiography of a Yogi
Inspired by Leslie and Kayci's visit to Paramahansa Yogananda's birthplace in India, we thought we'd share a timeless yoga resource with you this month in hopes that it will get you reading. The piece of literature in question?: Autobiography of a Yogi.
Yogananda was one of the first to introduce yoga and meditation to the western world in the early 20th century. In this remarkable account of his life, he writes about his childhood meeting many saints and sages, to his years of study with his guru, to his experience teaching in America. The book explains the subtle but definite laws behind both the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events we commonly call miracles.
This widely-available classic is a highly recommended read for all yoga practitioners, so find yourself a copy! If you're newer to yoga, taking this literary journey back to yoga's roots may help bring some perspective to the modern practice of yoga. And if you've read it before, you might consider picking it up again as a refresher.
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Workshops and Events
Therapeutic Focus: Hips and Pelvis
w/Lynn Morrison | Sunday, February 10th | 12:30 - 2:30 pm
The freedom of your hips and pelvis can determine how you move and contribute to overall health. In this workshop, we will explore opening the hips through better understanding of the anatomy of the pelvis and working on creating space and freedom in movement.
Prenatal Yoga
w/Kayci Cavenah | Sundays, February 24th - March 31st | 3:00 - 4:15 pm
Prenatal Yoga offers a gentle way to connect with and honor your changing body and growing baby. The poses and breath work help relieve the discomforts of pregnancy, as well as expand on the joy and excitement of this special time in your life.
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Looking forward... April 19th-21st, 2013
A Weekend with Mary Paffard: Nature as Guru
A class for teachers
plus a 3-day workshop for all levels
Leslie's teacher, offering a class for teachers early in the day on Friday, April 19th, followed by a weekend workshop open to all levels of yogis from Friday evening through Sunday.
This workshop will fill up fast,
*Take advantage of our early-bird pricing before March 10th!*
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