Are you sowing various seeds to encompass your diverse interests and connections? Or are you opting for a "mono-crop," focusing solely on one narrow aspect of your life?
I'm not typically a big New Year's Resolution person, but I love the idea of a fresh start. There's something about a crisp new notebook that holds the promise of self-reflection and organization. Wet markers and blank pages are my weakness, and I can't resist the allure of washi tape.
Here are several ways to embrace the winter months and perhaps help cope with changes to our mood and lack of motivation, especially when the world feels challenging.
These are the props that I use regularly at home and prefer to have on hand when I am teaching my students:
I have been practicing yoga for over 25 years (teaching for over 18 years) and I have seen the trends come and go. When I was in my early 20s, my first yoga class was in a loud and chilly community recreation centre. It wasn’t very zen-like, but something about the practice had me intrigued. I continued to deepen my knowledge of yoga in small yoga studios.
As you know, last year I decided that it was time for me to close the studio portion of Creating Space. After 15 years and then finally getting through the difficult and exhausting pandemic years, I knew it was time for me to step away from the responsibility of running the physical studio space.
The Covid pandemic has changed the world and has touched every individual in some way. We have been forced to alter the way we work, socialize, and how we schedule, and move about our basic days. It has forced us to slow down and spend more time in personal reflection. It has been equally devastating and freeing.
I can't recall ever being more relieved or happy to see the new year approach. (Well, ironically I was quite looking forward to 2020. It was going to be a big year personally with so many plans and adventures ready to go. Well, we all know how that turned out
As we enter into the deep winter of 2021, health has been a topic of conversation that has dominated the newsreels and our daily conversations since March 2020.
How does your practice change when you are experiencing a difficult period in your life? Does your practice disappear or do you lean in and become more intentional with when and how you practice?
It will be six months since we closed our studio doors to help fight the further spread of COVID-19. At the time, I honestly was looking forward to a few weeks off. I fully expected to be open again for the spring session. Nobody could have predicted what would follow in the months ahead.
Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) originated as a series of prostrations to the sun. Traditionally it was practiced at dawn facing the sun as a way of welcoming the new day. This is still a lovely practice in our modern-day life.
This will be a time in our lives that we will never forget.
After 13 years, Creating Space Yoga Studio temporarily closed its doors on March 15, 2020, due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
This is how I see it ... 1. we only have the moment and 2. our lives are a series of moments linked together.
I identify with your struggle, for I struggle too.
I identify with your tightness and pain, for I feel it too.
I identify with your self-consciousness and timidness because I know what it's like to be so unsure.
As we move through the years and the holidays approach, we usually gravitate towards long-lasting traditions and try to hold on to the same yearly events and gatherings. But as we all know, things always change and never stay the same. There is both sadness and freedom in this truth. The shapes of our families change. Kids grow up, people move away or we lose someone that we love. It is hard to envision replicating the same loved traditions with the changing shapes around us.
Okay, I am letting the "cat out of the bag" (is that the saying?), Karin-Lynn Cumming is my Mom and she is also one of the CSY Walking Group coaches. This is important because I am proud of her. Her story from "couch potato" to "personal trainer" is inspiring and at one time completely out of character and unexpected. (I will include her story on this blog shortly).
While working with yoga educator/author Leslie Kaminoff many things rang true, but none so much as the above quote that he picked up from his teacher T.K.V. Desikachar. This has transformed my yoga practice.