DAVID NAYERTHE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN The spiral staircase analogy can also refer to the eight limbs of yoga as described by the great philosopher, Patanjali. Ethical behavior, the yamas and niyamas ( which we’ll address in another newsletter) and asana make up the first three. Pranayama is the fourth step in the evolutionary process of include and transcend. Prana is the life force energy that rides on the wave of breath. Pranayama links life force, breath and the mind. It is the play of life force to influence the bioenergetic field of the body. Good posture and a good seat are essential prerequisites to the practice of pranayama. Asana (yoga poses) teaches you how sit comfortably and still the mind for meditation. We’ve created an eight week introduction to the practice of pranayama called Body and Breath Yoga with David Nayer. It runs Wednesdays, March 16th through May 4th from 7:15-8:45pm at Namaste Yoga Center. The class cost is $15, class cards not accepted. You do not have to take it as a series and you can join it at any time during its eight week run. David will teach you the physical preparation to sit well for pranayama and/or meditation, pranayama exercises and conclude with a brief, unguided meditation. |
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Patanjali Take Your Yoga off the Mat Check out Deepak Chopra’s new website, www.anhglobal.org for his Seven Practices for Peacemakers article on how to end war, one person at a time. This is a simple program for integrating your interior, subjective insights from yoga with your circle of personal contacts. Live from the heart. “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” Mahatma Gandhi “Can you be the change that you wish to see in the world?” Mahatma Gandhi 
Little Yogi Levitates |
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The Transition from Winter to Spring A stick, a stone, it’s the end of the road. It’s feeling alone. A life, a death, it’s the moon floating free, it’s the slope of a bank. It’s the promise of spring. It’s the joy in your heart. It’s the will to survive. It’s the mud. It’s the mud. It’s a hawk. It’s a dove and the riverbanks sing of the waters of March. It’s the end of despair. It’s the joy in your heart. It’s the promise of life. It’s the joy in your heart. From The Waters of March, by Antonio Carlos Jobim 
According to the story, this song chronicles the devastating floods that sweep through a tiny village in Brazil every year. The waters destroy everything in their path and every year, the people rebuild. Ascending the Spiral Winter is the season ruled by the element of water, the organs of the kidney and the sense of hearing. The winter asana practice develops deep roots that become the underpinning for the action taken in the spring. As the energy moves up from the kidneys into the trunk, the deep listening of the winter practice becomes intuitive guidance that supports effective action. Winter’s labor to give birth to spring is often midwifed by pain. Transitions are stressful. Healthy change requires us to tolerate enough discomfort to generate a chaos that, instead of fracturing, splits wide open to reveal a new, higher order of creation. The center holds and the circle widens. Pain is the messenger who heralds this process. Ready or not, the return of the sun brings a rising tide of energy. Spring floods clear out the dead wood so that new wood (creations) can grow. The spiraling wave of energy needs to move psychic and somatic obstructions through us so that the new energy does not clog the system. A good forward bending practice will generate the heat needed to move a wave of energy through the central channel. Twists will remove obstructions only when you are aligned to the vertical axis. The axis gives the twist a context so your pelvis, trunk and head all become part of the vortex. You spin out the dead wood. You are the eye of the storm. You are the mud giving birth to the promise. With palms together, Elizabeth |
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Asana of the Month – Parivrttatrikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) 
All twists align the three sections of your body, the pelvis, the trunk and the head along the vertical axis of the spine, which is also the main energy channel of the body. Before you rotate, you must elongate the spine. Do this by grounding and ascending through the whole body. Think of the axis as a spiral staircase with a simultaneous ascent and descent of streams of energy. This standing twist provides you with three views of front . Begin in Parsvottanasana (Bowing Warrior Pose). The pubic bone is looking at the floor. The volume of the pelvis fills the space so that the coccyx looks at the ceiling, the hips look at the side walls and the diagonals of groin to opposite sit bones align with the corners of the room. As you ground and elongate, the torso turns toward the front leg and the sternum rotates 90 degrees, providing you with the second viewpoint of front. The sternum and the midback are now aligned with the sides of the room like the hips. Mapping out the volume of the chest from this new view of front means that the armpits are now facing the floor and ceiling. Creating diagonal lines of force from nipple to opposite shoulder blade helps to find the pose from the central axis. This allows the organs to release, hold a boundary or move you into a deeper experience of the asana than just moving from the musculoskeletal level. Finally, you rotate the head so that the brow looks to the ceiling, the back of the head to the floor and the ears to the side walls. Inhabit the very center of the sixth chakra (the third eye center) to find these directions. Find the diagonals from brow to the opposite side of the back of the head. Extend these lines out into the room so that you experience yourself spatially. Don’t force it. Stay in witness mode and allow the mind to blaze a trail for the body to follow. The body will respond and open in time. The mind thinks with the speed of electricity. It is learning to focus and concentrate. The body moves more slowly, like water and sometimes, like earth. It is learning how to be in time but not of time. Winter to Spring Practice Workshop with Elizabeth Andes-BellSpring Equinox Meditation immediately following Sunday, March 20th 4:30-5:30 pm FREE (You do not need to attend workshop to join us for the meditation.) According to the solar calendar, the vernal equinox marks the beginning of the year. By understanding how nature creates, we learn the secrets of manifestation. We will practice the yogic techniques of pranayama and yoga nidra (visualization and meditation). All levels welcome. |
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