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News Flow Yoga Center has expanded. Come enjoy class in its spacious new studio. 
Namaste's Devi, Regine
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"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein
Asana of the Month – Urdhvadhanurasana Backbends are the cornerstone of the spring practice. This one is particularly energizing because you open the entire front body toward the sun. It does require shoulder flexibility and the ability to stabilize the lower body by squaring the feet. legs and hips. It is shown in stages so that you can advance only to the stage you feel comfortable with or move through all stages slowly and intelligently. Advanced students can spin the hands and arm pits while lifting off the shoulders and/or spin the feet and legs while leveling the hips. The navel, not the ribcage, is the keystone of the arch. The arms and legs are the pillars. This pose charges and detoxifies the gall bladder and liver, the organs of spring, and releases chronic armoring of the diaphragm. It promotes resolution of issues around chaos and control (gall bladder). and channels the assertive masculine energy to support your unfolding creations (liver). 
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The Rites of Spring The sun has been pouring its energy into the Northern hemisphere since the equinox and everyday, my garden responds by growing amazingly fast. Spring, more than any other time of year, reminds me of my place in the turning of the great wheel, the eternal cycle and the creation that emerges from the resolution of opposites. The play of solar and lunar cycles (the ha and tha in hatha yoga)represents the interweaving of opposing currents of energy and the integration of the masculine and feminine sides of our nature. Since this is often the goal of spiritual and psychotherapeutic work, your personal path is supported by the sacred traditions of many ancient and modern cultures. Like the Earth, the human body becomes the ground from which transformed consciousness springs. Besides Easter (death and resurrection) and Passover (bondage and freedom), there are many Spring Rites with themes of honoring the ground of creation and the union of opposites giving birth to new creations:
With palms together, Elizabeth | |||||
 STEP ONE Wheel set-up on blocks. Stabilize lower body by straightening the feet and aligning the ankles, knees and hips. Ground the feet into the floor and relax the legs so that the groin stretches and the pubis becomes the high point.  STEP TWO Come up onto the head and hands. Hands ground into into floor, wrists at a right angle, elbows over the wrists. Do not attempt to come higher if you cannot stabile the hands and wrists. Going higher requires an opening of the shoulder girdle and relaxing the spine toward the back body so that the front body rises higher.  STEP THREE Full Wheel requires active, equal rooting of hands and feet, the ability to maintain stability in the legswhile releasing the coccyx through the legs, and continueing to spin the armpits toward the ceiling to open the shoulders fully. VARIATIONS  If you cannot straighten the arms, wheel can be done with assistance. The pelvis is supported and released while the shoulders are supported and the arms are walked up the wall to lengthen the arc of the spine.  Blocks on the floor by the wall are an excellent way to train the wrists and elbows to maintain right angles to stabilize the upper torso in full wheel.
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