Enjoying the Today

My today's mantra: Keep being challenged, but stay grounded and true to yourself, on and off the mat.

Recent YJ article on perfecting asanas (poses) and discovering your new body after the birth made me feel a bit dualistic... hmmm!

It sounds not very promising for me when I start thinking and imagining myself having a postnatal break of getting joy and happiness from a regular teaching and practicing Yoga.... But I do realize that instead, I'm receiving the biggest joy in my life, a new arrival of a precious little one ... very soon.

So, as a closing line, it's really hard for the mind, but I'm trying to stay grounded, conscious and thankful of the present moment and expect nothing from the near future. Just enjoy fully what you are doing and having right now!

Peace & Love to All,
-LK-

Sneak Peek for tonight's Candlelight Yoga

I'm so excited about the Candlelight Yoga Event tonight! Check my favorite song from a 90-minute playlist for sneak peek! Her style is defined as jazz, rock, pop and psychedelia. So you choose what is closer to you... Enjoy the music and see you tonight!

Candlelight Yoga on the Roof

Can't wait for the next Sunday, May' 20th!

We will start at 8:30. Sunset is perfectly on time, at 8:18pm; temperature is 81°/ 64°! Candles are just ordered! A special music compilation and smoothing yoga sequence write-up is in my plan for the week! Oh, and treats... will be a secret surprise to my guests ;-)

The event is open to friends and family members of 425 Mass residents only. Pre-booking on the reservation site is a must, is free and donations are welcome. Contribution will go to YoKid nonprofit  that helps to bring the benefits of yoga and meditation to under-served children in DC-MD-VA.

What does your favorite pose say about you?

Handstand on the Rooftop Pool

Do you know that your favorite poses can give you valuable insight into your personality?
My favorites are forward bends and inversons. No wonder why many people told me about my creativity... What are yours?

If you like:

• Forward Bends… You prefer to keep your own counsel like a smart ostrich. At those times when life gets overstimulating—too many choices and too much responsibility—forward bends seduce you with the sweet serenity of folding inward and retreating from the world.

• Twists… You like to know who and what's going on around and behind you. You don't see things in black or white but are stimulated by multi-dimensional situations and are not afraid of tension. Twists are a natural draw for those who find nourishment and joy from connecting to people and places while staying firmly grounded.

• Backbends… You find it refreshing to reverse the typical schlump of desk, car or depression. It feels good to rest your soft, open front on your confident, flexible spine and take in a big breath. Turning yourself inside out is quite extra-ordinary! For shy types this is scary and a true victory. For extroverts, it's a natural as a sensuous morning stretch.

• Balancing on One Leg… You are more curious about precision than perfection. For you, nothing is more fun than figuring out how to sway like a tree and still stay upright. You don't even mind falling over because you always get back up and try again, understanding that is truly the heart of practice anyway. 

• Inversions... You've learned to include fears in the mix of a total experience. Perhaps you've started to blur the distinction between upside down and right side up, allowing for a vibrant sense of nowness wherever or however you are. Creative types who see things from all sides are drawn to inversions and so are those of us who just like to shake things up!

Copyright  Natural Solutions

Specials for Yoga on the Roof

After ten (10) years of working in marketing for large int'l corporations, I couldn't stop my heart and brains from offering Specials and Events (see the image below) to my regular and new yoga students in 425 Mass. I love teaching and want to share the yoga practice and its powerful vehicle of 'body - mind - spirit' transformation with others.

So, my friends, if you consider joining the 'Yoga on the Roof" club, you can find the schedule here.

Specials 

Protect your root. Your pelvic floor

Theme of today's class was dedicated to pelvic floor protection. I was inspired to create a special sequence with lots core work and root alignment cues after reading a great article of Leslie Howard. She is talking about promoting health of the pelvic floor and how it is connected to a sense of self security...

'I prefer to approach my work from the view point that we all need to develop a healthy loving relationship with ourselves and the pelvis is a good place to start! If you heal your pelvis, without a doubt, you will have a more secure place in the world and be more grounded.' [LH]

Read full article: here 

Rooftop Class. Mosquitoes. Unconditional Love

Theme of today's Yoga on the Roof class is legs-legs-legs. Summer is ahead, right?

• 3-legged downdog, chair, standing splits, warrior III, eagle poses, goddess, etc. -> toning of upper and low leg muscles and opening tight hips. 
• And our closure is about the Universal Love....

Universal love means to see the same Self in everything. Unlimited, unconditional love is universal. If you have universal love, there is not even a single thing you dislike. You love everything, even the mosquitoes that bite you. You don't dislike them; you simply say, "Well, mosquito, that is the purpose for which you were created. You are doing your job in biting me. I am doing my job and saying, `Please get out."' You don't stop loving the mosquito. But loving the mosquito doesn't mean allowing it to bite you. Often people think, "Because I love that mosquito, I can not chase it away." That's not so. You can love the poison, but you don't have to swallow it. Om. by Sri Swami Satchidananda ©

Topic of today's class: A Teepee On Mars

The mind is restless; it is always looking for a change. That is the nature of the mind. It can never be satisfied. It might rebel and want you to go live in a teepee in the mountains. After a while it won't be happy with your teepee on the mountaintop; it will think that only putting a teepee in the valley will make you happy. Once you are in the valley, it will want a teepee on Mars. There is no limit for the mind's restlessness.

You have to educate the mind. Ask it: "Why do you want to go to the mountain?""To find peace there.""Why do you want to come down?""I am tired of that and want to be with people."

What does it all mean? That you are trying to borrow happiness from outside. Once you realize that peace and joy are always within you, you will be happy no matter where you are. Whether you are in the valley or in the mountains, it is the same thing.

Whether you are on the earth or on Mars, it is the same thing. Wherever you are, you should have a purpose. Go to the mountain for a purpose; come down for a purpose. And don't let that purpose be a selfish one. The purpose should be for the benefit of others, for service to humanity.

Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi
Courtesy of Sri Swami Satchidananda

Couples yoga today

Breathtaking and empowering!

I am researching some inspirational poses for a couple yoga class I am going to teach today... I found this video, which really makes me high... Surely, it's more acro partner yoga style, but still, you can realize, how strong and powerful our bodies & spirits (too) can be! Breathtaking...

Yoga on the Rooftop

1. A survey - defining demand for yoga classes on the rooftop, preferred schedule and level of students - is sent out. 
2. Roof top ad poster is done.
3. Next steps, by Fri. Mar. 23rd: To analyse survey results, print posters and distribute it with RSVP mails to students.
4. Official start: Mon. Mar, 26th.

To see online schedule and rsvp your spot on the Roof click here: