Creating Space
In contrast to a month or so ago, I notice that today when I inhale, I actually have some space to take in breath! Breath is life force, right? Are you holding onto life too tightly? Are you resisting life too strongly? Do you have space for more life...for more living? Are you creating space for life ... ?
Notice how you're breathing...
- Do you tend to hold breath in? -- perhaps you are anxious about letting go, resistant of releasing what you have.
- Do you tend to hold breath out? -- perhaps you are too full to take any more in!
Last month, I shared about shedding ... about celebrating the ritual of emptying out. Today and for the past week I have been in the midst of more clearing but this time what's being let go of is on the outside. Last month, I recounted my moments using breathing and soundings practices to release what's been too-long bottled up within. This month, I am into hands-on practices for clearing out the spaces around me, outside of me...clearing out what's crushing down on all sides of me. I am madly cleaning closets and storage areas, cabinets and desktops. I am filtering out what doesn't fit me anymore - in size, style, flavor...in vibration.
I am getting rid of, throwing out, and purging like a crazy woman!
3 weeks ago Jon came down with some viral crud ... some flu-cold somethin'-or-other that's moved in our house and doesn't wanna leave. So it was inevitable that after a week of telling it to back off, my body finally gave into "being sick." As my friend Brandon said to me in the midst of all this, "love together, suffer together," ... and so was the sharing here at Riverbirch! It grabbed hold of me and sent me to bed with a high fever and aches and I spent 2 days on fire. After that, it's been slow but definitely uphill from there. Besides the phunky phlegmy voice I've had plus the energy ups and downs, overall, I have welcomed this illness as another part of my little season of release. It was without-a-doubt-by-me a part of my clearing. I know it because I'm feeling more like my old self than I have in a very very long time. It's as if I burned off some really ancient and heavy toxins that had been stored deep...and my physical and energy bodies can't be more thrilled to find new life at the end of this tunnel! Fevers ... ahh, the transformative fires of life!
So what's all this clearing for? Why all the shedding?
There is a lovely rhythm to the ins and outs of life. Breathing in, we take in new fresh life....but are we empty enough to fully receive that gift? Are we too congested and bloated with overfilled minds and hearts? How's our practice of Yogic non-attachment? My step-daughter, Lauren, came out to help as I worked through the clearing of The Shed, our stockpiled clay studio/storage building/workroom. She answered a call from her friend as we pulled boxes and baskets of who-knows-what into the driveway. "I'm at My Daddy's and Jan's doing some cleaning. It's like that show Hoarders here - but not quite as bad!"
Hee hee....yep. I can't disagree. It was a mess ... and in great need of the time we put in! I've been waiting for "the right time" to get my hands back into clay, been having that deep creative itch. But without letting go and emptying out, there was to be NO creation. No new life....
Are you holding back from life? Perhaps you're already too full. Perhaps it's time to clean a closet, empty the stacks of I'll-get-to-it-somedays, or exhale every drop of breath....
Psoas Workshop in Asheville!
Does this look familiar? Yep! It's one of those core awareness experiences I put you through over and over again. It's one of those psoas things! Psoas...yes, here it is again. Core...core...core. The tender sensor at our center. It's as impossible to explain and as individually-perceived as anything spiritual, anything energetic. It's physical but it speaks energy, emotion, spirit, creativity. Psoas .... at the center of the great web of connective tissues and electrical transmissions that communicates from one end of our bodies to the other. Psoas ... too often contracted and closed but when open and free, gives us the bouyancy that is our true Light-ness!
I had the benefit of studying with Liz Koch many years back at a workshop in Tampa. In that weekend, I was grateful to augment my body/energy awareness and see how my own core clamps down and holds me back in life ... and how, when my insides are allowed to express their natural freedoms, I too am free to be fully me! (OK flower kids, are you too hearing Marlo Thomas singing "...and you and me are free to be you and me!")
I URGE YOU to take advantage of this upcoming workshop!
Friday - Sunday November 12-14, 2010 in Asheville
Liz has focused her personal and professional studies on psoas, on core ... and we are all to benefit from sharing some time with her and finding our own bouyant freedoms.
And she's offering a $25 discount to my students and possibly more for a group rate. Contact me about the group thing or go ahead and register with Liz and tell her Jan sent ya! I intend to go for Friday and will absolutely excuse you from 2nd Sat if you go for the weekend!!..'specially if you come back and share!
__________
Here's some info she's shared with me to share with you....
LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE PSOAS!
Never heard of the Psoas? Few people know that behind those flab or fabulous abs is a muscle hidden deep in your belly core that helps you to feel your best. Isn’t it about time to get to know what this deep, mysterious and very smart muscle is doing for you?
Here Are 5 Important Things to Know ...
- The Psoas is the deepest core muscle. Like a messenger, your psoas sends information about your where you are in space and time, helping coordinate movement and offering integral support when necessary.
- The Psoas is the only muscle that connects your spine to your leg. Moving just like a pendulum through your core, it’s your Psoas that gives you that free-swinging leg.
- The Psoas provides a muscular shelf for all the abdominal organs. Your kidneys glide on the Psoas, and your reproductive nerves embed through it. With every step you take the movement of your Psoas provides an internal organ massage.
- The Psoas is part of your flight, fight and freeze response. Survival depends upon a healthy Psoas that can propel you in jumping super high, running really fast and be absolutely still like a deer.
- The Psoas is the filet mignon - the tenderloin of the human body: juicy, responsive and very expressive. Full body orgasm is what the Psoas does best!
From Liz Koch, international somatic educator, author of The Psoas Book, and creator of Core Awareness focusing on conscious awareness for developing human potential. With 30 years experience working with and specializing in the iliopsoas, Liz is recognized in the somatic, bodywork and fitness field as an authority on the core muscle. She is the author of The Psoas Book, Core Awareness; Enhancing Yoga, Pilates, Exercise & Dance, Unraveling Scoliosis CD and The Psoas & Back Pain CD and her work is featured in Yoga Journal, Positive Health, Midwifery Today, Yoga & Health, Massage & Bodywork and Massage Magazine and online at YesPilates and PilatesDigest. Her web site is www.coreawareness.com
CLICK ON THE ABOVE FLYER FOR A FULL SIZE IMAGE!
"All a teacher offers really is his or her own being." (Ram Dass)
Guided Sadhana
Has your experience in Yoga touched you and called
to you to reach deeper? Do you crave to feel the
personally-inspiring connection that your Yoga has
begun to show you? Are you ready for a richer
practice on and off your Yoga mat? Do the words
"Path" & "Practices" ring with a certain magic to you? Do you hear a call to share your Yoga with other individuals?
The Riverbirch Yoga Guided Sadhana is here for you;
for you who seek a more focused commitment to
your practices just for you - or perhaps to become a teacher or other such practioner . Guided Sadhana is designed as a passage through
self-study and self-naming; exploring and enhancing your particular gifts and challenges, callings and truths. It's all about you...all about YOUR Yoga. Your program will offer you opportunities to define and re-define yourself and to move forward in your "dharma," - your work of Love! And it can be your own practitioner certification program co-created as
an apprenticeship with an experienced Sadhana Guide. Up to you. All about you! Riverbirch Yoga Guided Sadhana ... check it out online and talk with Jan... it's an ongoing program that receives new Sadhaka (students on their own Paths) every day, each moment, every breath.
Guided Sadhana Report
Since the above article came out in the last Lovin' the Light, there are several students in Guided Sadhana....4 currently and some interest from others. If you too feel a little tug, talk with Jan. It's an individual program but we're building in some group opportunities to accomodate shared learning.
Puppy Energy headed to Riverbirch!!!!
Introducing Mallory and Duval
Born Tuesday, September 28, 2010
They are standard poodles and will soon be living at Riverbirch with Jan and Jon and the chickens and guineas. Mallory is the white and black little girl spooning her brother Duval (pronounced doo-vahl) who is all black. They're named after Mallory Square and Duval Street in Key West....a place of happy memories and freespirited fun for Jan and Jon.
Their mother is Chloe and father Max and their grandmama Mary Lynn sent me this beautiful photo without even knowing how much I love purple!
You'll be able to meet them and help them get into their own Yoga practices (and teach us all a thing or two I'm sure!) sometime around Thanksgiving. Perhaps they are the reason I'm clearing out.....their energies are going to be a LOT to make space for, huh?!!!
"Come, come, whoever you are,
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving - it doesn't matter.
.
Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times
Come, come again, come."
Rumi
For your Path ...
please let us know you are coming ... registration needed for all classes & events ...
REGISTER NOW!
(click image for full flyer)
PARTNERS in PRACTICE PLAYSHOP!
Sunday October 24th
1-4pm
A Sunday afternoon of Partner Yoga! A fun little playshop that will leave you saying ahhh! Share postures in pairs and small groupings. Dive deeper into your breath and body with encouragement & support, break free of personal barriers through gentle assistance. A little Thai Yoga Massage, a little Monkey Yoga, a little restorative breathwork, a lot of nurturing fun! (you don't need to bring a partner...but you can...)
Fall Weekly Class Series
Tuesdays 6pm
and
Thursdays 6pm
thru Dec. 9th
10 weeks
Second Saturday Sadhana
NOVEMBER 13th
Live Drumming!
Kennon will again be sharing his gifts in hand drumming and creative/therapeutic percussion as a part of our morning.... accompanying our mat practices during Reunion at 8 then for Market time 10-11am you get the chance to try your hands at beating the skins!
8am ~ Reunion at 8
10am ~ Market
An Afternoon of Deep Awareness Meditation
Sunday
November 28th
1-4pm
It's at the end of Thanksgiving weekend. Feel free to bring family or friends who're still filling your house ... or come alone and find your center again.
Pay as you feel called to share.
Weekend Retreat
REGISTER NOW
"I am a gift!"
A weekend celebrating the Divine Gift that you are ... and space to express the Gifts that are uniquely yours
"You are the Light of the World!"
It's a WEEKEND RETREAT at Riverbirch:
December 10-12, 2010
Give a nurturing gift to yourself as the year winds down .. as holidays wind up!
personal quiet time, nourishing whole foods, playfulness, nature
breathwork, creative expression, vigorous Yoga, meditation, hiking
Early Registration $125 before Nov. 22nd (after Nov. 22, $150)
some a la carte service possibilities during your retreat: massage therapy, Energy Balancing, Reiki, Restorative Yoga, nature's wreath making, personal drumming, hooping,...
Saturday, December 11th
7-9pm
Annual Celebration of Gifts
10 days before Solstice and smack in the middle of a yummy weekend retreat
Come to the fire
Come write your annual love letter
Come share warm food and loving soulship
Bring a whole foods dish and something to share that speaks of your passing year plus musical instrument &/or anything you need to burn away in our fire circle!
From a newsletter by Neale Donald Walsh of A Conversation with God:
On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...
...that life offers you an amazing opportunity in every single moment to see and experience Who You Really Are.
Watch yourself this day. Just watch yourself. Look at what you are doing moment to moment...and why. Ask yourself in the midst of it, "What does this have to do with my real reason for being here? Is this what I have come all the way to the Earth to experience?"
If the answer is a resounding Yes, keep doing it. If the answer is No, ask yourself, "What in the world am I doing?" Look at the words and consider them literally. What-in-the-world-am-I-doing? What am I involved in every day, and what does this have to do with my soul? It's just a question...just a question..."
If you wish...learn more about Neale and sign up for his email
Some links Jan loves....
Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism
Rumi ...
I could go on,
I could fill pages with these elegant verses
But this is a tale for the heart and soul,
not the lips.
Contact us at jan@riverbirchyoga.com - All Rights Reserved
Riverbirch Yoga on Lake Wylie offers explorations in Wholistic Living through Personal Yoga, Creativity, & Spirituality
jan@riverbirchyoga.com | 704.905.3652 | www.riverbirchyoga.com
Location Address: on Lake Wylie in Charlotte, NC
Mailing Address: 2879 Hwy 160 West, PMB 4100 Fort Mill, SC 29708