YOGALOSOPHY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

The time has come for feasting, expansion and celebration. Of course, in the midst of all the Holiday cheer, we strive to meet deadlines, entertain our relatives and take stock of what the year has been. Along with this, world affairs pull our attention to the tension. With so much jam packed into a few short weeks, December can cause massive overload. During this time of year, it is essential to take space and make room for you. More than ever, scheduling time just for you is the key. Here are a few yoga cures.

Ways to handle holiday blues: 
• Do energizing poses like bridge, wheel or camel.
• Eat spicy or warming foods. Try cinnamon, curry or chili flakes.
• Dance!

Ways to relax and calm down: 
• Staycation. Unplug from responsibility and take a few days to do all the things you love.
• Cooking. Try a healthy recipe from a magazine like LA Yoga Magazine or GFF.
• Soothing epsom salt bath. Add a few drops of lavender oil to relax your nervous system.

Yogalosophy Gift Ideas!

     

While this has not been my easiest year, its been a great year for self-intimacy and a growing relationship to spirit. I feel incredibly grateful to have all of you in my sphere and I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season.

As we wrap up 2015, let us not forget the great gifts it has brought with it as we move forward into the new year. I can’t wait to share more with you about some upcoming projects in 2016!

Expand Your Perception

It's that time of year. You know what I mean. It's the time of year for expanding waistlines, more parties than you can handle, the ocean of sorrow that we are globally steeped in...it's the time of year when we are reminded of those wishes that never came true, the things we didn't accomplish last year, the deadlines we must meet....yesterday. It's that time when we miss those we have lost EVEN MORE and when we caste our hopes and dreams for the upcoming year. It's that time of year when family taunts us, haunts us and gives us gratitude. It's that time of year where the hunger and the sorrow runs even deeper. The time of year for giving... (and forgiving). It's the time of year that magnifies all of the above.

Sound familiar? Feel familiar? It's over load....isn't it? There's so much energy out there, and in here....pulling me in multiple directions. Yet, I am swimming in confusion and the inability to make a move. There are too many to make! I feel like I'm drowning in it all. Still I have hope and feel excitement. But...the details. I must stay on top of the details.

In order to gain perspective, I must expand my perception. I am imagining the inside of my mind where there is a mountain of ideas, thoughts and business. If I climb to the top of it and get some space. Claim my space, and sit. Here. I begin to breathe. I am able to feel and sense my body. My mind begins to turn off. The din in my mind becomes a faint whisper. It begins to sound more like a wind. In and out. In and out. Breathing. Breathing.

My mind becomes more of a canvas. I ask for the wisdom to paint the picture and I start to feel open and see more clearly. In times of intense excitement and stress...perhaps times when we become afraid of what we may not get or of what we may lose...it is important to settle in. I often hear and read that fear and love cannot exist at the same time. What if...the fear is there to strengthen my courage. In fact, there could be no move towards growth unless I had to muster the courage to find peace even amidst the fear.

These are the thoughts I have today. This is the idea the life has painted upon my canvas today. I don't have to force myself to feel the love. I don't have to erase the fear feeling. I can today embrace the the fear. I can love it, knowing that without it, I could not gain in strength and courage. Expansion(contraction), expansion(contraction). Inhale. Exhale. Life. Death. Repeat. Expansion. Expansion. Expansion.

Happy Thanksgiving.

POWER YOGA TO DETOX ROUTINE

Let's begin this week with a routine to support the power of release! This routine will help you to power up and generate heat in your body, while twisting and compressing to actively expel toxins that you must release and let go! 

POWER YOGA TO DETOX ROUTINE

Downward Dog

Knee to Forehead

Twisting Crescent

BEGIN IN A SEPARATE LEG FORWARD FOLD WITH SUPPORTED TWIST

Separate your legs 4-5 feet wide and parallel. Place your palms on the floor, directly below your shoulders. Lift your tailbone up and press your thighs firm, to straighten your legs. Bring you left hand to below your face. Reach your right arm up towards the sky as you rotate your chest open. Keep your hips level. 5 breaths. Switch sides. Then walk your hands to the front of the mat and legs to the back of your mat for DOWNWARD FACING DOG.

DOWNWARD FACING DOG WITH KNEE TO FOREHEAD (x3)

Press your palms down, as if you were going to make imprints of your palms into the mat. Move your pelvis backwards and upward. Squeeze your elbows in towards one another. Press your palms and index fingers into the floor. Press the legs firm and straight. Melt the chest towards the thighs. You should look like an upside down “V.”5 breaths. 

Raise your right leg up behind you. Then shift your weight forward (shoulders over wrists) and draw the knee to the forehead, forehead to the knee. Contract your abdominal muscles. Extend your leg behind you and repeat 8 times.

CRESCENT TO DIAGONAL WITH ARM SWEEPS (x3)

Step your right foot forward in between your hands. Stay on the back toes and raise your torso, arms extending up. Front leg is lunging at a 90 degree angle. The knee is aligned directly over the ankle. Feet hip width distance, not on a single line like a tightrope. Both hips facing the front. The back leg is firm; kneecap is lifted, heel pressing back. Arms extended by the sides of the ears. Palms face each other. Breathe here. 

From this lunge, sweep the arms behind you and reach your torso to a diagonal. Keep pressing the back leg firm. Tuck the chin slightly, and imagine your neck and head as an extension of the spine. Inhale, back to Crescent, arm sweep up. Repeat 8 times.

 TWISTING CRESCENT

From Crescent, bring your left hand to the floor by the inside of your right foot. Reach your right arm up towards the ceiling, as you rotate your chest open. Keep your back leg strong and continue to lengthen out through the crown of your head. 5 breaths. 

JUMPING SWITCH-BACKS (x10)

Release the twist and bring both palms to the floor on either side of your front foot. Get some spring-action in the legs and hips. In one move, jump the right leg back and the left foot forward. Again, switch. Try to move with each breath. Switch the legs 8 times.

COME BACK TO DOWNWARD FACING DOG REPEAT ON SIDE 2

New Moon 11-11

This week's New Moon in Scorpio occurs on 11-11. 11-11 is a portal that we may step through and make a quantum leap into a new reality. When one door closes and another opens and there is not a better sign than Scorpio for transcending one reality and letting go completely in a new one. Scorpio is symbolized by the Phoenix that rises from the ashes. All else may die, but Scorpio somehow regenerates itself and gets reborn. Another symbol is a snake shedding it's skin. The art of letting go is the mark of an evolved Scorpio. Scorpio energy has the power to transform the most base to the most enlightened. From the serpent to the eagle, Scorpio is the alchemist. 

Kundalini energy is Scorpio energy. Death and rebirth is the Scorpio path. Control and Release are its themes. Ultimately, it is the ability to control our own response by choosing the highest path rather than the lowest that brings us to enlightenment. We have a choice. Choose wisely this full moon and watch your world transform. Our thoughts, words and the way we communicate is key, since Mercury is conjunct this Scorpio New Moon. Make a conscious effort to notice these moments of choice in your daily life. Part of the strength we develop in this lifetime comes from the power to observe our thoughts and to select our words and actions consciously. Plant the seeds for cultivating power on this new moon. Seek to bring your shadow to light. Attune your nature to it’s highest good. The highest evolution of the Scorpio energy is the dove. Having been transformed and enlightened the dove represents pure peace.

When planting seeds for the month, creating a ritual can be potent. Try Kundalini yoga or join a fire ceremony. Find places to express pent up desire and safely honor your shadow side. Dress up as your dark side. Explore breath work. Holotropic Breathing (formerly called re-birthing) is a type of breath work that could be transformative. Get your chart done. Try Pole Dancing. Be sexy. Be fierce. Be in control of your actions. Perfect challenging yoga poses: Scorpion, Eagle and Corpse Pose. Most importantly, let go. The feeling of release is actually quite pleasurable. All creation is born out of the emptiness. Be not afraid of the dark, for that is where true power lies. 

Shadow and Light

"Only in darkness can you see the stars."
~Martin Luther King Jr.

As I fall back into Daylight Savings Time, and embrace the shorter days and the darkness of the night I look forward to the revelations I may have during night fall. Much is revealed when the darkness comes. I write this on Dia de los Meurtos, the day after Halloween where we come in close contact with the spirit world. The veil is very thin during this time of year. It is appropriate to become more nocturnal. Night time is a place where secrets are told. There is intimacy in the darkness. More is revealed in the in-between spaces of the night, as we come closer to the spirit world and the dream time.

 B photography, shadow and light, the body's edge. Schattenspiel

The emotionally dark times can bring us into deeper intimacy with ourselves. I have found my greatest strengths as I struggled with the despair of a loved one dying, the agony of my physical body failing me either through an injury or internally or the devastation of romantic heartbreak. It is in these moments when I stand alone and face my fears and my shadow that I stare into the void and am somehow imbued with an inner strength that seemingly comes from nowhere. It gives me faith on my journey. It reminds me that I am the heroine of my own story.

Shadow is a valuable commodity. While many selectively view themselves as positive or light, I embrace my depth and my dark. I dive into the abyss of the emptiness to explore the territory where no one has been. This is the ride I have chosen. The both/and. The shadow/light. I have seen signposts along the way telling me that this space is most fertile. I have heard that nature abhors a vacuum. Or that not-knowing is the most creative state. Time and again when I feel that I can't go on and I let go and surrender to the unknown, something new will appear. Just as when I look to the sky for that first star of the night with childhood memories of the promise that Jiminy Cricket made to me. I make my wish from that empty place of yearning and desire.

 I know that without my darkness my light will not shine as bright. I know that I must love this being fully. She longs to be known for all of who she is, not just the fruits of her labor, but the arduous journeyer that she is. Each step on the well worn path, pressed into her face and peppered throughout the strands of grey in her DNA. She wants to be seen. And she wants to see you.

Let us stand strong and watch the shadows play upon our faces as we gaze up at the stars in tonight's sky. Let us watch the shapes of dark and light that moon casts upon these well etched and hard earned wrinkles.

Oh how I love your empty spaces and your in-between places.