Sunday, February 21, 2016

Full Moon on Monday

Monday at 10am Pacific, we welcome our monthly Full Moon. Full Moons bring our intentions to fruition and reveal what has been hidden. The Pisces/Virgo polarity is the meditation/yoga axis. There is a balance and an opposition between faith and action. It is common to rely upon one or the other. Without practice and daily healthy habits, there is no container for the essence of universal love and spirit to move through us with grace. Without surrender and release, our efforts towards living a healthy life become dry and critical. It is essential to find the balance in this dance.

I need both consistency and the feeling of letting go into the unknown. I need discernment. I need free flow. Yoga is the practice of both/and. The sign of Pisces is representative of universal love, spirit, compassion, surrender and merging. Virgo symbolizes healing, the physical body, specificity, analysis and service. Each of these signs have a shadow side as well. Pisces can devolve into addiction, Virgo into being critical. When we bring consciousness and awareness to these energies, we are more able to utilize them towards a positive end.

Practical ways to express compassion are:

  • Helping those who are in need
  • Meditating on feeling the more subtle energies at work within your physical body. 
  • Writing a poem. 
  • Dance
One of the tools I use to bring people into gratitude for being in a body is to speak the sensation as we work out together. For instance, when you are on a spinning bike, you can close your eyes and feel your palms on the handle bars as you pedal your legs. As you breathe and ride, notice the vibration coming back through the handle bars. This is your vibration coming back to you. A closed circuitry. Then feel the pleasure of your breath moving through your body; into your lungs. Feel the expansion and contraction of the lungs as you breathe and how good that feels to have a basic need met. Feel the aliveness in your body as your heart pumps your blood to all your extremities. Enjoy the experience of gravity planting you down into your saddle seat as your sternum lifts up, engaging your core and your center. The place that is the original cell in your body. You are at the center of inspiration growing you; lifting you up and the weight of gravity, grounding you and planting you. This is the feeling of heaven on earth. 

Throughout your day, find ways to soften the space around your heart and to maintain a sense of service. Remember to give the benefit of the doubt to others today. Each of us on his or her own journey. Honoring one another all along the path. Give. Receive. Give. Receive. 

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Monkey Business

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year, Dear Monkey.

As we ring in the Chinese New Year, we say hello to the Monkey and its business. The monkey brings the energy of fun and play, unpredictability and action. The monkey loves children, mischief and family. It has a tendency to over indulge, so keep an eye on your habits. This high-activity year is an optimal time to take a risk, make a change or go with the changes that come your way. Look forward and make the impossible possible.

The Chinese New Year begins at the astrological New Moon in Aquarius, at 630am Pacific. Aquarius is a detached sign that is connected to the higher mind, brilliant new ideas, inventions and the strange.  We are shifting mentally and there is an innovative energy supporting our ideas that sets the tone for the entire year. On some level, we begin the new year today.

When the winds of change are blowing this wildly, it is essential to maintain a sense of grounding and stability. Walks (and low risk physical activities) are optimal. Deep breathing, deep sleeping and meditation are key. Calm the monkey mind by sitting, preferably in a natural setting, to off set the excitement that will likely come your way.

Both Monkey and Aquarius love people. Lots of people. Make time to be social. Enlarge your circle. This is a great opportunity to expand and engage in group activities. One of my all-time favorite aspects of teaching in my local community was creating and connecting people to one another for the common good. Do more of that.

Play. Laugh. Make business deals. Try to be honest and upfront. (Monkey can be a trickster...so keep an open mind and take promises with a grain of salt.) Overall, this should be a positive and energetic year~may your thrive and feel alive!