Balance
Balance ~ embodying your magnificence and embracing your humility in the same breath… #bemagnificent #stayhumble
Heading into 2022 with eyes and ears wide open
Yoga is filled with openers – heart openers, shoulder openers, hip openers– it also teaches us to approach things with an open mind, an open heart (there’s that heart thing again) and an open perspective. In that same spirit, we are heading into 2022 focused on another type of opening – keeping our eyes and […]
Tied up in nots
Don’t be fooled, NOT is a four-letter word. All too often we negate all our power, all our goodness, heck, all our *greatness* with NOT. That’s not to say there isn’t work to be done – that’s why we practice and put in the time – but it’s time to drop the NOT and celebrate […]
YL@Home Playlist: Epiphany
Music can be a great accompaniment to your practice. Just as we link one pose to another, linking songs together in a playlist can energize, focus and inspire us. Sharing one of our more recent playlists, epiphany, with two tracks having that same name – Trent Reznor’s and Atticus Ross’ Epiphany appears in the Disney/Pixar […]
Get Outside
We’ve written about Spring before but perhaps never before has the message of renewal and rebirth seemed so relevant as so many of us emerge from our Covid induced winter that actually roots back to last spring. From self quarantining to self medicating, self studying and soul searching, for many it’s become more about self […]
The Eyes Have It
While we’ve shared the wildly inspiring, ecstatic and love filled words of Sufi poet Hafiz for years, who would have thought how incredibly relevant and fitting the words from this 14th century master’s poem With That Moon Language would be in the face mask wearing world we live in today. First, Hafiz taps into a […]
Love Yourself!
We are our own harshest critic. Self-judgement, self-criticism and self-doubt only offer words of discouragement – they are not our friends warning us about the risks of stepping out into the world, about showing the world who we are, they do not have our best interests at heart. They come from a “less than” place […]
Give it a rest – Savasana
Savasana, corpse/final resting pose, is a reminder that our practice, all the “work” we bring onto the mat, is rounded out with rest. Savasana is all about surrender – letting your body become, well, corpse-like, melting into and fully supported by the earth beneath you. And while it is also a time to surrender thoughts […]
Grateful Every Day
While 2020 has been anything but easy– as opposed to all those really, really easy years– we can still take a moment and be grateful for something, in fact many things, every single day. While Thanksgiving is one day a year, giving thanks and gratitude does not need to be relegated to a single day, […]
Tricks and Treats
There is no denying that 2020 has had more than its fair share of tricks, least of which are the days, weeks and months blending together. That said, it’s had it’s share of treats, too– armed with new perspective we are appreciating the little things and doing a lot less sweating the small stuff. And […]
Welcome New Normal!
Each year for the past twenty years, we’ve thought of September as “back to school, back to regular schedules and back to normal.” This year the script has completely flipped, there is no back to, September 2020 is “on to the new normal” and we’re ever thankful for our practice as it teaches us patience, presence […]
Intention and Letting Go
Set your intention, do the work and let go of the end result. This doesn’t mean not to work toward end results – goals are something to strive toward with all our energies – just not to the point where we lose sight of the process, the present or somehow think failure to reach our […]
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
“MAY ALL BEINGS EVERYWHERE BE HAPPY AND FREE, AND MAY THE THOUGHTS, WORDS AND ACTIONS OF MY OWN LIFE CONTRIBUTE IN SOME WAY TO THAT HAPPINESS AND TO THAT FREEDOM FOR ALL.” Happiness and freedom are incredible and, we’d hope, intrinsic gifts/rights provided to us all. This mantra reminds us that If we are lucky […]
Namaste
Namaste, the light in me bows to the light in you. We often say this at the end of practice, but it should not end there. Namaste is a call to honor, respect, protect, support and love one another – in our words, thoughts and actions, on and especially off our mat. Namaste. Artwork by […]
Blended Days
When the days seem to blend together, let’s not forget to breathe, to explore, to wake up and to shake things up. Sometimes we need to make an actual change, like flipping our schedule or trying something new, others we need to change our mindset, to see things in a new or different way. Sometimes […]
Alone Together
Yoga is ultimately an “alone” practice – it’s just you within the four corners of your mat – but it’s a “together” practice – we take a class with others in a studio or online, share our breath, energy and community. In a home practice we consistently invite others into our hearts and minds – […]
The Super-Power of Laughter
“Slow, steady ujjayi breath in every asana, More powerful heart than ego, Able to leap to the top of her mat in a single bound, Look, out on her mat, It’s a yogini! It’s a confident, Self-assured woman! It’s Demo Dena!” Dena lightened the mood last Friday as “Demo Girl” – providing much needed laughs and […]
Ayurveda & Vinyasa
Ayurveda or “The Science of Life” originated in India more than 5,000 years ago. Ayurveda identifies 3 basic energies or Doshas within us-Vata, Pitta and Kapha. It’s the Doshas we look to bring into balance to maximize “health” on all levels. With the transition to spring we are emphasizing Vinyasa or movement through the poses […]
A Clean Slate – The Breath
We’re kicking off the new year with a clean slate, fresh starts and while not necessarily forgetting our past, moving past our past! And what better to pair with clean slates and fresh starts than The Breath, which isn’t just where our yoga practice begins, but where our very lives begin- 2020 fresh starts powered […]
Gratitude
Happy thanks giving, yogis and yoginis! No typo there, while we celebrate Thanksgiving later this month, why save all that thanks for the fourth Thursday of November??? The opportunity to approach every day with gratitude, to be thankful for everything we are granted while not take anything for granted, is well within our reach. A […]
Reflection and Ardha Chandrasana
Welcome October and with it a new theme and pose for the month – Reflection and Ardha Chandrasana. Between self-reflection, reflecting (not dwelling) on our past actions and experiences, the change of season or anything that merits further contemplation, reflection is a rich, rich theme that is worthy of, well, reflection. Ardha Chandrasana (half-moon […]
Inversions ~ Clarity
This month it’s all about INVERSIONS* at Yoga Life. Whether that be physically turning ourselves upside down or looking at the world through a different lens, this change in perspective liberates us from conditioned thoughts and habit. We see and in turn experience life with a freshness, a newness, a sense of CLARITY. So embrace […]
Expansion ~ Wheel Pose
Like love, yoga expands from the inside out, and like yoga, we do the same. We are not here to be small. We exist in an ever expanding universe and are meant to expand with it. We are meant to expand our horizons, our consciousness, our minds, our hearts and in doing so, we reach […]
Virabhadrasana I, II, and III ~ Warrior I, II, and III
This month we celebrate strength and presence through the warrior poses. These standing poses require a strong foundation, matched by equally strong focus and awareness. As you practice on and off the mat, we encourage you to consider, reflect and even challenge your sense of what strength is…and what it is not. Just as yoga […]
Tadasana ~ Mountain Pose
Tada means mountain in Sanskrit. The most “basic” yoga standing pose, Tadasana is the foundation for all other postures. It enables us to find deep focus and concentration. Mountains are no small things. In this pose we stand tall and can explore our vastness and grandness with a deep sense of humility.
Balance: Life with Two Feet on the Ground
Try this – Stand in place with your feet hips’ distance apart and parallel. Close your eyes. Tune in. You may immediately find that you start to sway, left, right, forward, back. Breathe. Observe. Focus. Breathe some more. As you continue to inhale and exhale you may find the movement diminishes, your body finds its […]
Compassion in Action
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer More than sympathy/”I feel for you” or empathy/”I understand what you’re going through,” compassion embodies both and combines them with a deep rooted desire to alleviate another’s suffering. “No act of kindness, no matter […]
Aprils Fool
With March coming in like a lion and going out like a lion, we’ve sometimes had to dig deep to keep that attitude of gratitude going. Through it all, we keep coming back to being grateful for the simple things – food on our plates, a roof over our heads, a jacket to keep us […]
Unmasked
Later this month we celebrate Halloween, a night to indulge our senses, our sense of imagination and to let our spirits soar, sometimes literally! On Halloween we dress up, put on a mask and “poof” we’re someone else. Of course, Halloween isn’t necessarily the only day we put on a mask and our masks aren’t […]
Live the Season
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe in the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” Henry David Thoreau It’s summertime, yogis and yoginis, and with longer days, brighter skies and the sun at its most radiant, we certainly hope the livin’ is easy! We’re […]
May and Mother’s Day
As we head into May and Mother’s Day, we’re sending big PROPS and THANKS out to all the moms for everything that you do, day in and day out, rain, shine or whatever that crazy ol’ Mother Nature has in store for us these days. We don’t always remember to say thanks, we don’t always see that you […]
Try, Try Again
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. But who defines success? Whether it’s getting ahead or standing on your head, we always seem to gauge ourselves by the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Along the way, we are blind to the beauty of the rainbow itself. The prism becomes […]
A Resolution Revolution
New Year’s Resolutions can be extremely powerful tools for creating change in our lives– improving ourselves (though one could argue you could never improve upon your Self), realizing goals, putting an end to “bad” habits or patterns or just plain shaking things up. Often times we shoot out of the gate like a fireball and […]
Giving
“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank As we transition from Thanksgiving to Giving season we encourage you to let go of the anxiety, trepidation and worry that so often accompanies finding just the right thing for your friends, family and co-workers. The essence of giving isn’t the gift, it’s the […]
The Gift of Re-gifting
Every time you step onto your mat you are giving yourself a truly incredible gift. Whether it’s peace of mind, focus, spaciousness, the euphoric feeling of synchronizing breath and movement or our practice so often provides us with just what we need. And here’s the beauty part– these gifts were meant to be shared with […]
Being Whole
From and interesting article on Minimalism and Happiness on The Minimalists website. My mantra – be happy. Me and a billion others. So we go on our happiness quest—we try new things – jobs, friends, situations and locations. We acquire – homes, cars, clothes, a host of “luxury” goods, diplomas, titles, consciously or not, in […]
A Thanksgiving Message
As we prepare for a day of festivities and feasting we couldn’t help but think about what truly nourishes us. Go on, take a moment, what nourishes you? Though we each have our own unique diets and palettes, whether you prefer turkey with gravy and stuffing or Tofurky with all the vegetarian fixin’s, it should […]
A Proclamation
I was on the mat this morning and had a sudden inspiration, sat down to pen this communication, open and honest, no misinformation. what the world needs now is cooperation, unification and education, most definitely some cultivation– whether it’s vegetation or civilization, a global nation, no separation do you have a problem with that, why […]
Community
Image from Babar’s Yoga for Elephants by Laurent de Brunhoff Moon image credit WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE By Hafiz (translated by Daniel Ladinsky) Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.” Of course you do not do this out loud; Otherwise, Someone would call the cops. Still though, think about this, This […]
Play
On Friday March 23, we had a Pot Luck and Yoga event at Yoga Life. The acronym for Pot Luck And Yoga is P.L.A.Y. and play we did – the evening started with a lively yoga practice led by Joanne and Drew accompanied by an inspired Brandon Silaco on drums and percussion. There is nothing […]
Spring Ahead
http://www.squidoo.com/live-today-quotes “A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on […]
Inspiration
Where would intention be without inspiration? If intention is the fire then inspiration is the spark. Simply put, inspiration is the people, places and things that trigger a response in the form of ideas, actions or feelings. Inspiration can come in as many varied forms as what it inspires you to do, or not do. […]
Intention
Image adapted from Mitch Ditkoff’s blog called the Heart of the Matter. He excerpted the image from Innerlink. Intention is a course of action that one intends to follow, an aim that guides action, an objective. It brings meaning and power to our actions and leads us toward our goals. We mostly do this […]
Thanksgiving
Indian Corn 2 by Alessandra Cimatti. You can use this link to see this and her other work. This is the time of year where no one should go hungry. Though the large majority of us have the means to keep ourselves well fed, we hunger for something more. Whether it’s familial, material, spiritual or […]
Fall Back
It was with a mix of dread and gratitude that we prepared to set our clocks back one hour this past Sunday morning–gratitude for the extra hour of sleep and dread at the prospect of losing an hour of daylight each evening. There is something profound and fascinating about setting our clocks back– we are […]
Trick or Treat
October is a month that culminates in trick or treating but it certainly has its share of tricks and treats along the way. One day we’re blessed with warm weather and the prospect of a return to summer while the next morning we’re met by our own breath, visible right there in front of us. […]
Hope, Ten Years Later
September 11, 2011 May I be at one With the various parts of myself. So that mind and heart work together. So that the conversations in my head Form a choir in perfect harmony. So that what I do is supported by my Heart’s desire Like a shadow dancing behind a child At play. To […]
Breaking Through
Walls can serve varied and opposing functions in our lives– protecting us from the outside world, providing us something to lean on and at times, obstructing us and keeping us from getting where we need to go. When travelling the road toward liberation, fortify the walls that provide support and structure; tear down those that […]
The End of the World as We Know It
With everything made of the Mayan calendar and the end of the world on May 21, 2011, we are very pleased to say that with the exception of some Armageddon-like rain just before the clock was to run out, the evening passed without incident. The world did not come to an end, but still it […]
Mother’s Day
The very word “mother” conjures up images of nurturing, caring and providing for our loved ones. Mother represents strong and powerful feminine energy (shakti) that isn’t measured by how much it can get, but rather by how much it can give (and often, give up). “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small […]
Spring Unfolds
As spring unfolds we are reminded of the old adage “in like a lion, out like a lamb.” Though typically associated with the month of March, we’re finding it applicable to a week or even a given day. One can only imagine Mother Nature kicking back with a cup of tea- hot or iced, depending […]
Spring
It looks like we may be turning the corner on winter, Spring is finally springing. And with that, we encourage you to keep your eyes, ears and heart open to the changes all around you- daffodils and crocuses begin to peak out from their underground hideaways, the geese make their way back to Mill Pond […]
Celebrating Love
Like love, yoga expands from the inside out, and like yoga, we do the same. We are not here to be small. We exist in an ever expanding universe and are meant to expand with it. We are meant to expand our horizons, our consciousness, our minds, our hearts and in doing so, we reach […]
