July 2013 | Essential You Yoga

The Birds y los Sapos

I’ve been enchanted with the soundtrack of Central America ever since my first morning when I awakened in Nicaragua to the sounds of street vendors singing the names of fruits they carried in the large baskets balanced on their heads. I managed to capture a little piece of this soundtrack for you all one ear;y morning when I recorded the howler monkeys waking up the jungle. After teaching a yoga class last night to a soundtrack of rain pounding on a tin roof punctuated by sapos – toads, and frogs and crickets chirping into the night, I was inspired to make the following to share with you all.

Jungle Night Noises

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A-Z Yoga Class

Another rainy day in Costa Rica.

Buckets pour from the sky, leak from the eaves and windows.

Cars dip heavily into muddy puddles in the street.

Dogs huddle close when the thunder strikes.

Each drop offers new life, fresh prana, lush green plants.

From sea to mountains, the clouds lower heavy.

Group yoga classes made magical by rain drops on a tin roof. Continue reading “A-Z Yoga Class”

Muladhara Chakra

As I prepare for my Chakra Healing and Reiki Training Workshop, I’ve found myself thinking even more of the energies contained within our chakras. The chakras are such an elegant way to think about the energy that is constantly in motion in our bodies.

The center line of energy in the human bodies is referred to as the Shushumna. This strong concentration of prana runs through the mid-line of the body. Centered on the shushmna line of energy are spinning vortexes known as the chakras. Each chakra contains different properties associated with our health, thoughts, emotions, stages of life, and different parts of our bodies.

picture courtesy of energyenhancement.org

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Let Go & Trust the Process: Unveil Your Gift

Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity; connecting with Laskhmi reminds us that abundance is all around us.

She embodies not only material wealth, but also wealth of knowledge, victory, and continuity. She is also the archetype symbolizing organic growth.

I began focusing on the energy of prosperity and abundance late last year. In reality, this work goes back to 2008 when I was laid off and realized I did not qualify for unemployment.

That moment of panic, of breathlessness, was ultra-magnified by the fact that I had only days before made a cashdown payment of almost my entire savings for a yoga teacher training. What I learned in that crisis is that my needs were always met.

Read the rest of this article at elephant journal!

Abhinivesha Klesha: Clinging to Life

Our exploration of the Klesha has given us an opportunity to explore the different games our minds play with us to keep us from the true and ultimate reality. These games fuse together into the great dance of life, dropping one foot and then another into the earthly world, the world of duality, where we live and love and learn the deep lessons that our souls are craving.

In this way, each klesha is a blessing for the gifts we learn from living wrapped in the illusion, then from awakening to observe the illusion, and finally in its unveiling.

The final klesha is Abhinivesha, the klesha of clinging to life. In this gripping to a particular version of reality, we are unable to turn our gaze and twist deeply, looking over our opposite shoulder to the beauty of the non-dual world of which we’ve always been a part.

Marichyasana Three - Yogic Twist — Marichyasana Three – Yogic Twist

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Reiki Level One Training and Chakra Balancing Retreat

I am so excited to announce the first of many collaborations with my dear friend, Paty. After much plotting and planning, we are offering a Reiki Level One Training and Chakra Balancing Weekend in beautiful Dominical, Costa Rica.

The weekend will be jam packed full of yoga, meditation, beautiful beach walks, yummy food, and good community. Best of all, you’ll learn to get in touch with the natural, intuitive healer that you have within you. Space is very limited, which will make for an intimate atmosphere as we learn and practice reiki on each other, learn about how to identify and heal chakra imbalances, and stretch, hum, and mantra-ize our way through a beautiful, tropical weekend. Expect to find elements of vinyasa flow, kundalini, shadow work, chakra work, and your intuitive healing voice in this training. Wahe Guru!

I hope you can join us! Click here to learn more details about the workshop, about Paty and myself, and the incredible deal we got for this weekend.