Its time to begin again. The lunar new Year is in progress and spring is around the corner.
Spring is such a beautiful time of year, the embodiment of new beginnings and new life.
Yoga supports us in Transformation.
With a regular yoga practice, we can access a refreshing resource within ourselves that helps us to wipe the slate clean, and begin again with a fresh start each day.
Start this Spring and New year with a self care yoga practice, I invite you to join me in my Yoga Renewal Series.
Yoga Renewal Course Series
Yoga Renewal is a Fundamentals yoga course teaches yoga as a holistic wellness lifestyle practice, AND also supports you in an experience of rebirth & renewal.
In Yoga Renewal, we explore practices that assist you in discovering your most natural, easeful breath, alignment, posture, and movement in the gentle yoga practices that are offered.
- Restore natural and healthy breathing.
- Restore natural body alignment & posture.
- Restore and Improve ease of movement.
You are never asked to push yourself into pain or strain, there is no emphasis on flexibility, you do not have to perform yoga poses that look like magazine pictures. In yoga renewal, its not about outer appearances or learning to do poses “right”.
Instead, it is about getting to know yourself more deeply, learning to settle and calm the mind, going deeper with your body awareness, and learning tools from the holistic lifestyle practice of yoga that help your body, mind, and spirit to feel resilient, in harmony, and well resourced for your everyday life.
No flexibility is required. All bodies are welcome. Modifications and options are offered to accommodate various needs.
Available in 3 month long courses, each course includes 4 weekly classes. $300 for each course (4 classes).
The first course starts February 3rd @ 10:30 AM!
FLASH SALE! Sign up now with code “YOGANOW” and get 25% OFF Course 1 of the series
*A makeup session will be available if you sign up for Mondays and cannot make the first class on the 3rd. Message Summer if you want the make up class
Valentine’s Day & Friendship
In Mexico, Valentine’s Day is “Friendship Day”
Doesn’t that just feel more comfortable and relaxing than the romantic/sweetheart pressure of American Valentine’s Day which seems to have a strong consumerism thread to it…
Let us celebrate it as “Friendship Day“, shall we?
Valentine’s / Friendship Day Weekend Workshops
Not just for couples but for friends and family too!
2-hour Massage Workshop on February 14th, 15th & 16th.
$150 early bird / $180 regular
Learning the basics of skillfull, therapeutic touch empowers you to help your partner, friends, or family members.
Learn a stress busting, super relaxing, massage tune up routine and learn to give each other some vital stress relieve and soothing connection time when you most need it at home.
The Practice of Friendship and Yoga
It turns out, that the practice of Friendship is, in fact, the precursor to beginning to study and practice yoga.
Our relationships are our soul’s greatest treasure. Friendship can be a light in the dark, it can be salvation.
We are always in relationship:
- With ourselves
- Our bodies
- Our breath
- This planet
- The plants and other living beings around us
In my gentle, somatic yoga classes, alignment and breath flow is about being in relationship with our breath, the earth, space, the forces and elements of nature within and around us.
Understanding our own anatomy, looking at ourselves and our relationships and how they affect us, all of these are first steps in yoga, prior to focusing on the details of a physical posture or asana practice.
The Roots of Yoga Practice
We get our Yoga practice from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra’s, written 3-5 thousand years ago. These yoga sutras codified much of the large umbrella of what we call yoga, and organized it in a thread of 196 threads or statements. Yoga is an eightfold path and it is a holistic lifestyle practice, a way of life.
One of the 8 branches of yoga is about Hatha Yoga, or physical asana or postures practice. There are only 2 lines out of 196 threads of the tapestry of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that mention the physical practice and how we should practice with our physical bodies.
The Precursor to Yoga: Friendliness
But before we even get to the very first branch of the 8 limbs of yoga, we have a preparedness practice, a warm-up or precursor to the 8 limbs of yoga-
When Patanjali organized the Yoga Sutras, he put the most important things first, then he followed up his most primary statements with further details.
What comes first is of primary importance and the very first precursor to the 8 limbs of yoga is friendliness.
Friendliness
- being friendly towards yourself
- and friendly towards those who are pleasantly disposed towards you
That’s step one Friendliness.
(plugging in a new start (new year and yoga renewal)with friendship day- Valentine’s Day)
Human beings would not be on this planet if we were not acting in relationship with each other. Our social relationships are of primary importance if you look at our most basic, fundamental human needs. We need food, water, and clean air, but newborns cannot thrive without being held, and humans can’t survive without each other.
The Power of Gratitude
Gratitude is also a first step as we begin or renew our yoga practice.
Beginning by reflecting on all that we are grateful for, and all of the abundance and love in our lives.
Beginning anything with a full body feeling of gratitude is a very simple yet very powerful practice and creates the perfect opening ritual for a sacred self care practice like yoga.
The first Mudra is a smile.
Amrita Choudhury
A smile changes our body chemistry, which is another great supportive, foundational understanding for practice.
A Final Thought
May we begin again in the spirit of renewal,
Anchored to the source of our resilience,
May we embrace each other in fearless friendship,
Understanding that there is no division or separation between us. ❤
Join & Share the Offerings
Don’t miss out, join and share the upcoming offerings in Yoga Renewal and the Valentine’s Day / Friendship Day Massage Workshop Weekend!
Yoga Renewal Series
Register today for Yoga Renewal Series Course 1 and get 25% OFF with code YOGANOW.
*A makeup session will be available if you sign up for Mondays (@ 10:30 am) and cannot make the first class on the 3rd.
Valentine’s Day / Friendship Day Massage Workshop
$150 early-bird until the 7th. $180 after. *Limited Offering! Sign up now!
2-hours of learning and practicing massage with a loved one.
Contact Summer if you have questions or comment below!