practice Archives | Essential You Yoga

Tapas

If you practice with me, then you know I like to sprinkle Sanskrit into my classes. It’s such a beautiful language, that can express so many concepts with one simple word.

Tapas is the Sanskrit word that means practice, and also heat, and also commitment, and the internal drive that keeps you doing something even when you don’t feel like it!

(See? A lot with a little!)

I know it’s been a hard year to keep your commitment to practice. I know I lost mine when the world closed down in March.

I spent a little too much time binging Netflix before I picked myself up and found my way back to my mat and back to my practice, and I felt better for it!

I want to make it as easy as possible for you to connect with your practice!

That’s why I continue to offer Virtual Yoga Classes live on Zoom every Wednesday at 8am.

I know that time doesn’t work for everybody, so I’ve begun to upload those videos to my YouTube channel!

I’ve also learned a bit about technology since March, and I’ve figured out how to stream these videos live to a Facebook group. If you’d like to join the practice without being seen, this is a great option for you! You can catch the classes live, or watch them after the fact through Facebook. You can join my new Wednesday Hatha Yoga Facebook Group here.

Virtual Series

Finally, I know that it can feel like a lot to jump into an ongoing yoga class when you might be feeling a little rusty in your practice. That’s why I created the Yoga for You Series.

This is an 8-Class Virtual Series designed for new or returning yoga students. I’ve dropped the 10 student minimum and opted to open up the practice to a limited group of students.

We’ll practice live Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8 am for the month of January. When you join, you will receive the Zoom link to join us live, as well as an invitation to a secret Facebook group where you can catch up with classes you may have missed. (Or just practice them again!!)

You’ll also receive an e-book that I wrote especially for you.

The Meditate Now Series is a similar concept, but we narrow the focus to using meditation to find greater peace of mind.

We’ll meet Wednesdays at 7pm in January and February and learn about different techniques to help you find a meditative state of mind.

On registration, students will receive the Live Zoom link, an invitation to a secret Facebook group to catch the pre-recordings, and a free Meditate Now e-book that I wrote as an introduction to a meditation practice.

The series are $120 each to join. That price can be discounted to only $100 each if you:

– Sign up with a friend, or
– Sign up for both series.

I am currently accepting enrollment in both series. Please email me if you’d like to be included!

BKS Iyengar, one of the grandfathers of modern yoga, said that
“A life without Tapas is like a heart without love.”

My hope for you is that you can use your commitment to your practice to build a structure strong enough to keep out all that doesn’t serve you: the stress, the unhelpful thoughts, and the pull of the ego. Inside this wall you can cultivate your relationship to the wise and wonderful self that you have within.

Many blessings to you,

Libby
Essential You Yoga

P.S. Reiki 1 and Reiki 2 are scheduled for January 16th and February 27th, respectively. If you’d like to learn to use Reiki to help activate your body’s natural ability to heal, please reach out. I only teach these courses one time each year.

Celebrating Your Freedom

The ultimate goal of Yoga, Reiki, and Meditation is Freedom. Freedom from limiting beliefs and ideas that keep us feeling small, liberation from patterns of self-sabotaging behavior, and the freedom to shine our true, authentic, sacred selves.

I know what it is to play small. Moving through life from a state of limited beliefs mean that you stay in unfulfilling work or relationships because you feel like you don’t have other options available to you.

It means you bite your tongue instead of expressing your truth because you worry that other people might take it the wrong way, or not understand where you are coming from.

Yoga tells us that without Moksha, or Freedom, we fall victim to the inertia of doing things the way we always have.

Yogis call this rut of action our Sasmkara. When we don’t take the time to shine light on why we think and act the way we do, we find ourselves moving with unconscious intention and manifesting things that no longer serve us.

These things can look like addiction, or anger, or fear. They keep us trapped in limiting circumstances and lull us into forgetting the limitless power we have to shape our own reality.

I have found that the simple action of committing to a practice provides the higher vision necessary to see the forest for the trees. By simply coming again and again to your mat to practice yoga, meditation, or Reiki, you begin to cultivate a higher consciousness. You start to see the patterns of your life, and how easy it really is to make big changes with small shifts.

To support you in those shifts, I have developed a FREE 7 Day Reiki Cleanse with my friend and collaborator, Paty Mariposa. This online action is designed for those who have been attuned to any level of Reiki.

By working your way through the 7 Day Cleanse, which begins July 22nd, you will release those energetic blocks that manifest as limiting thoughts and beliefs, and be able to more fully embrace who you are meant to be. I hope you’ll be able to join us! Please click here to sign up.

Take the time to celebrate your freedom and joy this Fourth of July weekend!

Palabras y Memorias

One of the cool things about learning a new language is that I have all these little jewels of memories associated with my new vocabulary. Por ejamplo, I learned the word for “horse” from listening to a toddler repeat, “caballo, caballo,” as a work horse trotted by on the cobblestones.

I learned “por ejamplo” thanks to my patient first teacher in Spanish. Our lessons consisted of me trying to explain my day en español. A wonderful way to learn the vocabulary that fits your life!

Sideways glances quickly taught me that “me gusta” is not the way to express that you think an individual is nice. Continue reading “Palabras y Memorias”