Yoga for Beginners
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Journal Post
NEW Free All Levels Iyengar Yoga Classes, Free Beginner Iyengar Yoga Class Series, New Monthly Membership & More Downloads Coming Soon!
Guru Purnima & the Full Moon in July: Clips with Abhijata Iyengar. New Live Yoga Class! FREE Introduction to Iyengar Yoga Class Series! Introduction to Asana with Lois Steinberg and Beginning Yoga with Erich Schiffmann!
The full moon in July is known as Guru Purnima and is the time when we honor our gurus. A guru can take many forms and translates as the one who brings us from the dark to the light. We think of our yoga teachers, who through asana and pranayama practice, as well as guiding us on the eight-limbed path of ashtanga yoga, help us to remove the veil of ignorance, heralding the dawn of wisdom (Iyengar, 2002).
Welcome Summer!
With the Memorial Day weekend, we officially welcome the summer season. For many of us, the start of summer means a lack of routine or a total change in schedule, especially if you are in the academic profession or have kids in school. Everything is upended in an instant! And for some of us, this is fantastic! We need a change of schedule to break up the routine, but sometimes this can feel like too much change and might be disorienting.
Last month may have been the first month since we started iHanuman (15 years ago!) that we did not send out a newsletter and I realized it was probably time that we let you all know about some things we have been up to. We have all been transforming through this period of time, we have to! And we have all had difficult circumstances to navigate. I have shared about some difficult family circumstances that I have endured which is requiring me to show up in different ways for my family and my community. This impacted me so much that I took a sabbatical from teaching this winter for the first time since I started teaching 20 years ago!
In Honor of Women's History Month, We Celebrate Women's Yoga Expert Bobby Clennell. Discounted Yoga for Women's Health Classes, FREE Yoga for Beginners Class Series and Charitable Donations Towards Women's Health in Ukraine.
Finally, in February, we welcome the return of the light with Candlemas on Feb 1 - the midway point between the Winter Solstice & the Spring Equinox. This year it also marks the Lunar New Year! You may have noticed an increase in energy as the days become lighter for longer.
Hopefully, you have spent some time in reflection and are starting to feel the call to begin to plant seeds to grow your vision for the New Year. February is a great time to get organized and dive deep into your goals for the New Year, but it is also a time to continue to nourish the water element and to "go with the flow".
Happy New Year! I wrote this at the end of 2021, but wanted to send it along as I believe it is still relevant and timely. And be sure to read the end for news on the release of a FREE Class Tonight!
Here we are at the end of the year, exhausted, and trying to decide what to do for the holidays. This time of year is characterized by the metal element. Metal is shiny, strong, and flawless. Precious metals are valued for their beauty and rarity. The higher the quality of metal the more it's worth. Metal strives for perfection and a sense of value.
Interestingly, if you execute a search for the word gratitude, the top results are links to research by academic institutions like Harvard Medical School. Research has been conducted on the beneficial effects of gratitude on our health and wellbeing. Research has shown that by expressing gratitude, you decrease the focus on negative emotions and report improved mental health. Gratitude has also shown long lasting positive effects on brain scans.
Dear Friends,
After a temperate October, we have transitioned into the cooler days and nights of Fall - the perfect time of year to take stock of the year's inventory. Since last year felt as if we were constantly learning something new, these last two years feel like one long year and perhaps we are only now able to take stock and process what may have occurred. To the best of our ability, we take an honest inventory to reflect on our gains and losses. What are we ready to let go of and what do we want to take with us into the new year?
Summer is in full swing! And not only is it hot (and humid), but everyone’s routines have shifted. We are the stewards of a 10-acre farm in central Virginia, so we are outside as much as possible, planting and harvesting fruit, flowers and herbal medicine. The change in seasons affects different people differently. Some people enjoy heat more than others. You will find me under shade and out of the sun between 10 - 2pm, but my husband LOVES doing work outside during the heat of the day. Summertime is an opportunity to pay attention to the heat and what affect it has on you.
The spring is a powerful time of year. We watch in awe as green sprouts out of the ground and buds burst on spring-blooming trees. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the spring is governed by the Liver and Gallbladder. The Liver is our decision maker. If the Liver is not functioning well, we lack the ability to make clear decisions. In TCM, the eyes are the external organ of the Liver, so we might encounter vision problems, if our Liver is out of order. The Liver is not only related to our physical vision, but also our metaphorical vision. When someone has difficulty envisioning the future or has no vision for her life, we look to the Liver to bring about change.
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