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We have some big news to announce... Namaste will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday December 6th and 7th!!!! Please join us when we reopen on Thursday, December 8th. It’s the second anniversary of our yoga center and the Grand Opening of Namaste’s Healing Center. Come celebrate with us. Namaste class card holders will get 2 days of free classes (except Rasa Yoga) on Thursday and Friday, December 8th and 9th. (If you’ve been thinking of buying a card, you can buy one that day, receive the usual discount AND take class for free). PLUS Two more days of free classes on Saturday and Sunday, December 10th and 11th when you bring a friend (who has never been here before) PLUS When you mention that you are a newsletter subscriber, your friend takes class for only $5.00. Our center will offer Acupuncture, Brennan Healing Science (hands-on energy healing), Thai Yoga Massage, Yoga Therapy, Massage, Nutrition, Psychotherapy and more. If you are not familiar with the benefits of these methods, we would love to introduce you to them. We know the array of alternative therapies available today can be dizzying. We want to help you find what you need and the best person to provide it to you. Bruce and I have been involved with the healing community for 15 years. We were Dept. Heads at the world’s largest and most comprehensive healing school, The Barbara Brennan School of Healing. We have trained many people in healing skills, such as high sense perception, chakra analysis and repair. We have worked extensively in training practitioners to have the psycho spiritual skills to develop from bodyworkers into healers. We believe that the challenges we all face in our lives (personally and globally) are sacred opportunities for us to develop a more inspired way of living. Awaken your real energy. Develop a vehicle that can hold your evolving soul. With Palms Together, Elizabeth Andes-Bell Bruce Bell Owners Namaste Yoga Center |
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Winter Practice Workshop with Elizabeth and Bruce Sunday, December 11th 10:15-11:45am Namaste Yoga and Healing Center 371 Amsterdam Ave. (between 77th and 78th Sts.) NY, NY. One punch of your class card or $15. Open to all levels. Reservations suggested. Please call 212.580.1778 During winter, the Yin cycle predominates in the climate and in our bodies. Traditional Chinese Medicine associates winter with water, the kidney (storehouse of chi), the bladder (storehouse of emotions) and the sexual organs. These organs govern the first and second chakras and deal with issues of embodiment, physical needs, sexuality and creativity. The goal of the winter practice is to replenish the strength, stamina and vitality of the body. It is a time of drawing inward, listening deeply and being receptive. In this workshop, we will focus on ways to deepen the asana practice to access these dense organs and ingrained emotional and physical patterns. Some things you will learn are: 1. How to set up poses to eliminate dysfunction and energize the system; 2. Effective forward bends (even with tight hamstrings) that open the kidney, flush toxins and charge the body. 3. A 30-minute restorative practice that you can do at home. Create a strong physical body, supported by radiant vitality, mental clarity and a compassionate heart. Use this time of inner focus to prepare for the expansion that comes with spring. |
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THE BINDU Your body is a metaphor For your conscious awareness. Your body is a metaphor For the vast ocean Of your unconscious. You carry Your history, And the history of your grandparents Your tribe, all tribes, All time. Your body is the future. Your future. Our future. All futures. You carry The potential of life To unfold ecstasy All the time, Including now. By Elizabeth Andes-Bell (note: A bindu is the center point of a mandala. It is the zero point of pure potential out of which spins creation.) |
FALL INTO WINTER PRACTICE
The deep work of your seasonal hatha practice is designed to take advantage of the waxing and waning energies of the moon and the cyclic solar energies. Between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, the fall practice strengthens the lungs, boosts your energy and challenges you to be present. The quality of presence is key. When the lung provides you with appropriate boundaries, you feel safe, do not need to defend and do not feel victimized. When the lung is pliant and provides you with enhanced energy, there is no reflex to retreat or hide. Asanas that support the opening of the lungs cleanse and allow us to process grief. This work allows you to have more of yourself. It teaches you to find a center point of spacious awareness and to bear witness to the play of forces. The fall practice is designed to bring out the innate nature of the lung, courage. It prepares you for the winter practice, which focuses on the kidney. A good kidney practice keeps you from getting rigid and helps you to create anew. Each season’s practice sets you up for the next one. Without the courage of the lung providing internal support, you are left with the fear of the kidney.
This fall has presented new challenges to the yogi. The full Scorpio moon on November 8th fell at a time when many planets were in retrograde. Mars in retrograde brings a heightened propensity for aggression. Mercury in retrograde brings a heightened chance of misunderstanding and delay. Scorpio is about what is hidden, your shadow. When the heat gets turned up, everything that surfaces is there to be acknowledged, owned and released. Instead of reacting, find center and act in alignment with what you hold highest, these are your true values. This is the path of the Spiritual Warrior, the archetype of the autumn practice. It is preparation for the most challenging and sacred season of all, winter. What you are able to release now, will enable you to go even deeper into winter’s rest. You will grow. You will gain great insights. You will weave the tapestry of your life with newfound clarity. Here is your gift from the heart of the universe. There is so much to be thankful for. In Gratitude, Elizabeth |
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Asana of the Month – Kurmasana (Tortoise Pose) 
There are more advanced variations of this pose, the final one requiring you to clasp your hands behind your back while crossing your feet behind your neck. However, you can benefit from Kurmasana’s purifying effects without having to take the pose to the max. Kurmasana purifies the nerve plexus in the perineum, from which all 72,000 nadis grow. It cleanses and opens the lungs. It grounds and stimulates your root chakra allowing the holding patterns of muscular armoring to release. This sets you up to release the kidney, making this a perfect pose to transition from a fall to a winter practice. The set up for this pose begins with a wider Uktanasansa into a squat. Place a block behind you so that you can periodically rest on it and lift off, aligning your pubis to twelve o’clock, your anus to six o’clock and your hips to three and nine o’clock. Bag your hands and work your elbows to the floor. Knees should be aligned directly above your feet, heels in line with the balls of your feet. Release the muscular holding in the back. Drop the head. Allow your form and then your energy to support you rather than your muscles. You are going for right use of will, which is a balanced relationship between effort and grace. Straighten your legs by lifting your butt; release your head between your legs. Then, walk your hands back through your legs and sit or jump your legs around so that they rest on the back of the upper arms. Press up by spinning the palms in and armpits out. Lift your feet off the floor and straighten your legs. Tip your buttocks back and sit down on the floor. Extend the arms back, palms down under the legs. Extend the legs forward, feet flexed. Position your legs at ten and two o’clock; your arms at four and eight o’clock. Press the knees down against the arms (between your shoulder and elbow, not on a joint). Beginners can try sitting on two folded blankets with the pubic bone slanting downhill. Use blocks under the chest if you cannot reach the floor. |
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Hold a Positive Vision
As bad as the state of the world seems to be, remember that the Dalai Lama sees four grounds for hope in the developments of the last century and continuing forward... 1. the reawakening of our love of peace 2. valuing the freedom of the individual 3. craving wisdom that unites spirit and matter 4. understanding ecological relationship (the unity of all life) (Paraphrased from Robert Thurman’s Inner Revolution, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness.) A good book to curl up with on a blustery afternoon. “WE ARE EVOLUTION.” TEILHARD DE CHARDIN 
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Life in Motion PO Box 649 Cathedral Station New York, NY 10025 |