February Events
Active Restorative Workshop
With Elizabeth Andes-Bell
Sunday, February 27th, 2:00-4:00pm
Namaste Yoga and Healing Center
371 Amsterdam Ave.
(between 77th and 78th)
New York, New York
212.580.1778
Pre-registration is a must.
Workshop is limited to 10 participants!
$30 preregistration / $35 at the door.
For advanced beginners and above.
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the profound benefits of this
practice.
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Flow Yoga Center
The newest addition to the Life in Motion family is Flow Yoga Center,
which opened on March 27th, 2004.Nestled between Chelsea and Greenwich
Village, it is accessible from almost every train. The atmosphere is
cozy and inviting. The walls display practitioner’s artwork; a
fireplace glows with candles; window seats encourage conversation or
just taking in the sun. The classroom has an expansive feel. We are
fully equipped with changing stalls, showers, towel rental and a retail
section. We sell the popular Be Present yoga pants and tank tops, as
well as mats, blocks, belts and blankets. If you haven’t been to our
lovely studio, I encourage you to use your class card here. One student
described her experience here as, “Every time I take class, I feel like
I am on a retreat!”
Our Arm Balance Workshop in January was a huge success. Nikita and I
had a great time working with everyone on key elements such as core
strength, weight distribution, alignment and using props. Our in-house
Ayurvedic practitioner, Shree Vinayak Kaurwar, led the Introduction to
Ayurveda workshop. He has been studying the principles of Ayurveda and
the Sanskrit language for 30 years. He will be leading an Introduction
to Sanskrit class on February 20th. To commemorate Valentine’s Day, Sky
and I will lead a Partner Yoga workshop on February 13th, bring a
friend or loved one. It will be a class for all levels.
Namaste,
Melissa
Director, Flow Yoga Center
"Melissa, Thank you and everyone for some wonderful classes that have
helped my practice a lot. Coming to Flow has definitely been one of the
best things that happened to me in 2004."
-Marc
"It has been such a gift having you in the neighborhood. Thanks so much
for your wonderful classes."
-Kara and Brian
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The Gift of Winter Practice
The mockery, known as Groundhog Day, actually has its roots in the
Catholic celebration of Candlemas and before that, in the Celtic
festival of Imbolc. Candlemas is associated with Mary bringing the
infant Jesus into the temple to be blessed, as was the custom 6 weeks
after birth. Simon immediately recognizes his radiance. The light of
spirit is commemorated by lighting candles in the cavernous darkness of
the holy temple. Imbolc honors the goddess Brigid (from which the word
bride is derived). Brigid comes from the Vedic Sanskrit word Brihati,
which means woman of wisdom. Brihati/Brigid is the Sun Goddess, the
keeper of the eternal fire and the midwife who presides over the birth
of Spring. She brings regeneration, creativity and abundance. Her
festival falls midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring
Equinox.
The Celts were masterful in harvesting the gifts of Winter. They knew
that the visible world was only a reflection of the invisible world.
Brigid is said to be born in the threshold between the worlds. As the
virgin bride, she brings a gift of hope, of returning light and life.
As the woman of wisdom, she knows that all cause begins in the
invisible world of thought. “Everything has its beginning in
possibility,” says John O’Donahue, the Irish mystic, in Eternal Echoes.
How does this relate to your yoga practice? Winter is a good time for
an inwardly focused practice. It is an auspicious time for gestating
the radiant one within you. Take advantage of the contemplative
practice of forward bending and twists, prayer and meditation to
examine the relationships between your thoughts and your experience.
Intelligently practiced, yoga can open the body and the mind to hold
higher frequencies of coherent light. However, this power has a price.
Power in the unexamined personality can lead to egoic inflation. True
spiritual understanding must be accompanied by real moral improvement.
When you practice, do you harbor feelings of anger or thoughts of
self-righteousness? We all have them. The danger is in being
unconscious of them. Before practice, offer them up, as your gift, for
transformation. In this way, you transform and you become a catalyst
for peace.
With palms together,,
Elizabeth
"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 to affection for a few 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 it beauty."
Albert Einstein
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Asana of the Month – Pascimottanasana Cycle
 Try this series of
forward bends as a 30 minute restorative practice or a preparation for
meditation. Remember to elevate your sit bones with a blanket, support
your head on your legs or a block and always keep your chest on your
thighs with feet and legs squared. If you must keep your knees bent to
keep the chest/thigh contact, support your bent legs with a rolled up
blanket. Concentrate your mind by visualizing your pelvic floor. Align
it like a compass, with your pubic bone and coccyx on the north/south
axis and your sit bones on the east/west axis. Relax your back and leg
muscles. Think of moving out of the lower back and kidneys and forward
into the pubic bone. Extend your heels forward, away from your ankles
while you lengthen your sit bones back.
Breathe through the nose, allowing your breath to naturally deepen.
Mentally repeat the mantra SO on inhalation and Ham on exhalation.
So’ham means "that ( the conscious spirit) am I". Eventually, you will
perform the So’ham pranayama with ujjayi breath.
1. Forward Bend – 50 breaths, exit into Dandasana (staff pose) after
each repetition.
2. Forward Bend with 2 blocks under buttocks – 10 breaths
3. Forward Bend with 2 blocks under feet – 10 breaths
4. Forward Bend with rolled blanket or block between legs – 10 breaths
5.Ardhapurvottanasana (Half opening Pose) Lift off the pelvic floor to
create a long, hollow abdomen. Lift and open the chest into a slight
backbend.
6. Purvottanasana (Opening Pose) This is the forward bend counter pose.
Lean back on your hands with your wrists at 90 degrees. Get the soles
of the feet down; lift and open the chest. Your core remains supple and
energized.
7. Release to Dandasana (Staff Pose).
Caution: Unless you are working with a competent teacher or yoga
therapist, this cycle is contraindicated if you have active sciatica or
low back pain.
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