Morning Yoga: Rise, Shine, and Downward Dog

Waking up, getting out of bed is hard. I am a morning person and I still think it is hard. Getting out of bed to be active is even harder; especially when sleeping is a more appealing thought. But when you get to class, roll out your mat, there is nothing more empowering than realizing that the only reason you are there is because of your own sheer will. Nobody made you get there; nobody forced you there. You fought every ounce of you that wanted to roll over and sleep. There are many reasons you may miss an afternoon class: you have too much work, you are meeting up with friends, or maybe your kidsneed to be taken somewhere. In the morning, often the only thing stopping you is your own mental inertia. What an empowering feeling to know you fought the one thing preventing you from being there: your own mind. And isn’t that what yoga is about? Freeing ourselves from our own habits and mental preoccupations?

In the afternoon when people come onto their mat, they often need to unwind and release the day. Sometimes their time on the mat is the first chance of stillness from jumping out of bed and rushing to work to the endless demands of the day. In the morning, the path is calmer. You start from a place of within, of slumber, and unfold into the external world.

With your breath patterns you begin to move your body at a tempo in line with your own natural rhythms. As you breathe and move into the poses, you improve circulation, stimulate the mind, and in The Key Muscles of Yoga, Ray Long states “performing dynamic stretching in the morning ‘resets’ the resting muscle length for the day.” On both a physical and mental level you create an intention and cohesiveness that can last throughout the day.

When you do get there, when you do make it first thing in the morning, your resolve and strength has been tested and your will won. When you already beat your mind at the first battle of your day, how can the rest not get easier?

Long, Ray. The Key Muscles of Yoga. Volume 1. 3rd ed. Canada: Bandha Yoga Publications, 2006.

The Twelve Laws

In our 40 Days To Personal Transformation program, we worked with the twelve laws from Baron Baptiste and posted them on our studio wall. Several people have asked about them so here they are again. Law 1: Seek the Truth.

The highest form of repentance is self acceptance.

Law 2: Be Willing to Come Apart. Don’t make things happen, allow them to happen.

Law 3: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone. Drop the patterns and stories of the past & step out of your comfort zone.

Law 4: Commit to Growth. No matter what comes up, we learn to STAY right where we are.

Law 5: Shift Your Vision. Develop a heart of faith and take the leap of faith.

Law 6: Drop What You Know. We don’t change by thinking; we change by being and doing with a pure intent.

Law 7: Relax With What Is. The key is in noticing and not reacting.

Law 8: Remove the Rocks. We don’t have to solve any of our problems. Our problems will give us up.

Law 9: Don’t Rush the Process. Everything in life has a natural order and rhythm of unfolding.

Law 10: Be True to Yourself. Look within to discover what you know in your heart to be right and then act on it.

Law 11: Be Still and Know. Stop the busyness, planning, running around, accumulating and stressing about things.

Law 12: Understand That the Whole Is the Goal. You cannot do wrong in one part of your life and expect to do right in all the others.

Appreciation And Awards

Yoga Bhoga has received several awards over the past year from different websites and publications. These awards are based on feedback from the students who practice at our studio. While it's always great to receive an award (who doesn't like that?), it feels even better to know you enjoy coming here and practicing with us. I look forward to seeing you on the mat soon!

Advanced Hatha For 2012

Over the next twelve months, Meghan Maris will be posting in the Yoga Bhoga blog to expand on the topics covered in her Hatha classes. This is a view to explore the topics covered in class in more depth. Students can choose to follow the blog postings from class to class or simply read particular topics that interest them. In the month of January, Meghan will introduce the concept of Yoga, its philosophy and aim. There will be a few questions at the end of each blog that allow the student to reflect and apply critical thinking. Yoga teaches us to never accept the teachings blindly. We learn from our teachers’ direct experience, but it is essential we then apply that knowledge to our own practice and come to our own conclusions. Meghan will offer different insights, both practical and theoretical, for expanding the practice beyond the mat as well as suggested further reading.

The month's work will come to its conclusion on the last Tuesday of the month in the 2 hour Advanced Hatha Yoga Class from 7:30-9:30.

Schedule Changes

We have made a number of changes to our yoga schedule. Many of these changes are based on our students' feedback and should offer greater access to different teachers and class types. Your feedback is always welcome at any time. The following changes are effective starting January 2012.

• Mon / Wed at 6:15am are now Hatha Flow with Kimi
• Community Classes are cancelled (last class is Dec 22nd)
• Mon / Fri at 10am now taught by Scott
• Tue/Thu at 10am now taught by Shannon
• Tue/Thur at 3:30pm now taught by Ben
• Fri 3:30pm Stretch & Restorative now taught by Alice
• Mon / Wed at 7:30pm now taught by Amy
• Tue / Thur at 7:30 pm now taught by Emily Light
• Sun at 9am now taught by Amy
• Sun at 1pm is now Yin and taught by Leigh

(Prenatal Yoga is changing to a periodic 4 week series)

• Sun at 2:30pm now taught by Kimi
• Sun at 4:30 is renamed Yoga Foundations