We decided to welcome Spring energy into our yin yoga class today.
Look at this beautiful light in our warm and sunny studio.
Practicing yin poses to support the liver and gallbladder meridian pair: legs up the wall then dragonfly with legs up the wall, figure 4, happy baby, twists, frog pose, sphinx pose, supported bridge, sleeping swan.
Inviting in energy of renewal, growth, the element of wood to support our transition toward Spring, balancing strength with flexibility to change, grow, expand, flow with. Imagining a strong tree moving with the wind. Flexibility as strength.
Cultivating healthy liver qi, spiritual growth, creativity and courage. Calling in solar plexus chakra, manipura, supporting our sense of identity, growth and courage.
Finding the archetype the peaceful warrior as one who is empowered, one who knows themself, one who is resilient, one who has stamina to meet physical and emotional challenges.
Basking in warm light, opening up to new channels of growth and expansion, cultivating Spring.
Readings
The Journey by Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voice behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life that you could save.
Lost by David Wagoner
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
For Courage by John O’Donohue
When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,
When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,
When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world.
Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,
Know that you are not alone,
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes,
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.
Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
Now is the time (Excerpt) by Hafiz
Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider
A lasting truce with yourself and God.
Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child's training wheels
To be laid aside
When you finally live
With veracity
And love.
Now is the time for the world to know
That every thought and action is sacred.
This is the time
For you to compute the impossibility
That there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
That everything you doIs sacred.
You have suffered.
Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.
A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!
Trusting Prana by Danna Faulds
Trust the energy that courses through you. Trust.
Then take surrender even deeper. Be the energy.
Don’t push anything away. Follow each sensation back to its source in vastness and pure presence.
Emerge so new, so fresh, that you don’t know who you are.
Welcome in this season of monsoons.
Be the bridge across the flooded river and the surging torrent underneath.
Be unafraid of consummate wonder.
Be the energy and blaze a trail across the clear night sky like lightning.
Dare to be your own illumination
My Heart Soars By Chief Dan George
The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea,
speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars,
the freshness of the morning,
the dew drop on the flower,
speaks to me.
The strength of fire,
the taste of salmon,
the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away,
They speak to me.
And my heart soars.