Thursday, November 29, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Experience profound and effortless relaxation with deep awareness.  Led by Green Lotus founder Marcia Appel.

Friday, December 7, 7 - 9 p.m.

This workshop combines acupuncture and yoga. Ease stiffness and pain, release into the poses.

A free intro to yoga, ask questions, get a personalized class plan and more!

An exploration of how yoga can benefit the dancer.

Marnie joined Green Lotus Lakeville in October and brings a wealth of experience to our center. She has treated various conditions utilizing acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

   

And Get A FREE Class or Bucks in Your Account!

Sue Stillman found Green Lotus in Mendota about a year ago.  Since then she has made yoga a regular part of her life. She says she loves the stretching aspect of a yoga practice, but she also loves that yoga "opens you up to more parts of yourself' and she is able to take lessons learned on the mat into the world.  You are a yogini Sue and we're glad you're part of our sangha (community).

 

        

  

 

Where do you practice?

 

Blended Families

When we sit down soon to Thanksgiving dinner, we will be in a different city (Chicago), in our host's and hostess's new home (an urbanite's dream of an exposed-brick, wood-floored apartment), and in a new family configuration. Our son, Tony, and daughter-in-law, Allison, recently moved from balmy Los Angeles to broad-shouldered Chicago just in time for the big November holiday. Understandably, the last thing they wanted to do was to crawl back in a car for a six-hour trip to the Twin Cities after driving halfway across country with two cats.

 

Gina, our daughter, agreed to forego coming home from college in Boston to fly directly to Illinois. Adam, our daughter-in-law's brother whose job doesn't allow all that many vacation days yet, said, Sure, count me in. The parents - Lois and Pat and Marcia and Vince - set aside old traditions to experiment with a new set. When the candles are lit, the turkey carved, and our hands joined around the table, it will be in a redrawn family circle. We all are excited. Of course, mixing it up would not have happened easily without the blessing of two elderly wise grandmothers who swept away our concerns about them and shooed us off with the sweep of their hands: Go, go, they said in their own words. Be with your children now and don't worry about us.

 

Our coming together causes me to consider - and take joy in -how willing we humans can be to form new groups, invite in strangers and acquaintances, open our hearts and homes. Over the years, many people knit me into their groups and circles when mine was small or missing. What we are doing isn't unique or groundbreaking, and knowing that makes it all the more sweet. The slow, steady forward movement of heightened awareness and consciousness teaches us that we are more alike than different, that what you feel I feel, that what affects me also affects you.

 

How sweet this holiday will be - all of us together instead of our children dashing madly from one home to another, trying to divide up our time and our affection instead of blending them into a sweet mix of togetherness. If between now and then, we meet others who are alone, the circle once more will be widened. This is the way. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Green Lotus to you and yours. Together we have created another community, and for that we are thankful.

 

Marcia (writing), MB, Candy, and Christie

Lakeville: Thursday, November 29, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Join us for Green Lotus's annual Customer Appreciation Day to celebrate you and our 5th birthday. Both Centers will be whooping it up Saturday, December 8, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We will be having sales, specials, deals, FREE chair massages, FREE mini-healing services, snacks, tea, classes, a FREE Especially for Beginners workshop, kirtan, and more!  We also have FREE gifts while supplies last, so stop by and pick one up, visit with us, take a class, have a mini-service, or a bite to eat.   Save the date and celebrate with us! 

• Yoga teachers who want to expand their teaching repertoire and/or earn continuing education credits with Yoga Alliance and NETA.
• Yoga students who want to advance and deepen their personal yoga practice or become more intimately familiar with the Hot Fusion yoga style physically and energetically.

I bet you know someone who has given up gluten.  More people are becoming aware of the problems gluten can cause in those of us that are sensitive or allergic to it.  Digestive challenges, inflammation, and autoimmune disease can all be blamed on the seemingly innocuous component of wheat: gluten. We have a workshop coming up, The Truth About Gluten, that will give you in depth information about all this and more, plus cooking tips and holiday recipes. 

 

On a chilly day recently, I spent the afternoon in the kitchen adapting my mom's Apple Crisp recipe to be gluten-free. With a little experimentation, I came up with a treat that is just as yummy as mom used to make. 

NOTE:  Do you have a favorite recipe that uses natural, organic ingredients? Submit your favorite to info@greenlotusyogactr.com

It happens every year at this time: Clients in my psychotherapy  practice start talking about the holidays and how to survive them. They speak in glum tones about family gatherings, the enforced jollity, and the financial stressors that are the underside of this time of year. Many wish they could skip from November to January and forego Thanksgiving, Christmas and/or Hanukah. Even clients who enjoy the holidays, brace themselves for the flurry of activity involved in making it happen for those they love.

 

For some, the season is a magical time, bringing back sweet childhood memories. My three year old grandson, Henry, recently showed me a tattered page from a ToyRUs catalog with a picture of a prized toy he hopes to receive. It reminded me of paging through the JC Penney or Sears Toy Catalog at his age, dreaming of presents I hoped to see under the tree on Christmas morning.

 

For others, the holidays bring up upsetting memories of an alcoholic family member, abuse and/or neglect. Fights, tension, unhappiness and stress are what they most remember and perhaps what they still experience at family events. No wonder they dread the arrival of November. 

 

Whichever camp you fall in, the following suggestions may make your holiday season less stressful and more joyous.                       

1. Set limits and keep to them, whether they're about time or money. Decide what's reasonably doable and then stick to your plan. Figure out a budget and follow it, no matter what!
2. Let go of one of the holiday traditions that tends to send you over the edge. The year I gave up sending out Christmas cards, my enjoyment of the season increased exponentially.
3. Enlist the help of others in your family. Don't be afraid to ask your children to pitch in. Being included in the preparations for the holidays helps children learn reciprocity, an important life skill. Have you and your spouse/partner sit down and divide up duties. Do not be a martyr to the season.
4. Stop and smell the evergreens and really gaze at the lit candles! The season has many potentially beautiful and transcendent moments. Pause often in your preparations and look around you with the wonder of a child. Your heart will soar!

For those with positive family memories of love and laughter, it is wise to know that not everyone shares such positive childhood experiences. For those whose family experiences are/were less than pleasant or actually abusive, it helps to know that there are families where love and acceptance are freely given.

 

As you prepare for the holidays this year (or seek to ignore them as best you can), be patient with the long lines, be kind to your family and yourself, be mindful of what is possible, and don't overdo it. Embody the love the season celebrates. January will be here before you know it!

Check out the latest goodies in our retail area. Soaps, lotions, scarves, new clothes, and more.

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