Yogatorium is Open - Reservations are Required

 Classes are being held at The Yogatorium at 10 am Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  Attendance is limited to four students in each class and all have been fully vaccinated.  You must bring your own mat and strap and any other props you wish to use.   Suggested donations are $5 to $20.   You must call or text to reserve your spot in any class.  (864.506.4063)  You may cancel at any time.   If you are interested, please call or text for more information. 

Downward Facing Dog Cartoon

I just had to share this with everyone!  Ileana sent it to me.

Solitude is GOOD!

It has been truly surprising and rewarding to me that this time of social distancing and mask wearing and staying home has become a source of comfort if not joy.  Here is what grabbed my attention this morning in my reading.  It comes from Anam Cara one of John O'Donohue's books that seems to always speak to me clearly - perhaps because my grandmother Stella was born in Ireland?

Solitude is one of the most precious things in the human spirit.  It is different from loneliness.   When you are lonely, you become acutely conscious of your own separation.  Solitude can be a homecoming to your own deepest belonging.  One of the lovely things about us as individuals is the incommensurable in us.  In each person, there is a point of absolute nonconnection with everything else and with everyone.  This is fascinating and frightening.  It means that we cannot continue to seek outside ourselves for the things we need from within.  The blessings for which we hunger are not to be found in other places or people.  These gifts can only be given to you by yourself.  They are at home at the hearth of your soul.

Namaste (The Spirit in me bows to the Spirit in you.)

Asanas and Questions for Journaling/Meditation

For a list of the poses we do in class click on March and it will come up.  (That's when I posted it.)

My meditation practice includes journaling.  During this time I am going to be using a set of questions for my journaling, writing of one each day - whichever appeals to me at the moment.

1.  Who do I want to be? (Usually just a little bit better than I am at the moment.)
2.  What results do I want to achieve in my life?  (Yes, even at 87 I'm still planning ahead.)
3.  What does it mean for me to be well - to thrive?  (At the moment, I'm thinking of self-care.)
4.  When do I feel most alive? (Doing yoga!)
5.  What naturally brings me fulfillment? (Seeing trees, the pond, turtles, etc.)
6.  What matters most to me? (I'm gonna think long and hard about about that.)
7.  What do I most want to devote my time and life energy to for the next 5, 10, 20, or 50 years?
       (I'm looking forward to 5, 10 (My mother was 97 when she died.), maybe even 15?)

These are all spur-of-the-moment responses.  I'm truly looking forward to exploring each of these questions in the next seven days.

Namaste
Jaquie

The Yogatorium is Closed

The following email has been sent to all students who have ever attended classes at The Yogatorium - since 2008 when we opened!

I am very sorry to announce the re-closing of The Yogatorium.  I have become increasingly concerned about spreading the virus through asymptomatic carriers who don’t even know they are infected and can spread the virus.  We will reopen when we feel safe, which may be months from now.  

Please keep practicing at home.  You can find a list of the poses we do in class at yogatorium.blogspot.com.  Be sure to check out former postings by clicking on items in the column on the right.  On this same blog, you will also find some yoga suggestions and other helpful writings  I run across in my readings.  Please share with me those that you find in your reading interesting and helpful particularly in this time of living with ourselves.  You can do this on the blog under comments, or by emailing or texting (864-506-4063

I wish for you all love, peace, and joy.

Namaste,

Jaquie

Drishti-gaze

The excerpt below is from a web site (wellandgood.com/drishti-gaze) you might want to check out.  But for now I want to share a portion of it with you.   I have suggested it to you when we do tree pose but it is applicable in all poses.  Thanks to Joanne who suggested it to me!

Throughout a yoga session, you’re bound to hear certain phrases each and every time you flow (the best of which is “come down into savasana“). One instruction yoga instructors commonly use involves taking your gaze to a specific point. As it happens, the position of your eyes in yoga is about as important as where you position your body parts in a pose. It’s called a drishti gaze, and it’s a tactic that improves your practice.

“In Sanskrit yoga terms, it’s called drishti, which is a focal point where you’re bringing your focus,” says Haley Steinhauser, a New York City-based yoga instructor. This focal point supports everything from your balance, alignment, focus, and concentration, according to Jordan Ashley, founder of Souljourn Yoga. “When you use your vision with intent, it indicates to the rest of the body how the shape should follow,” she says.

“When you use your vision with intent, it indicates to the rest of the body how the shape should follow.” —Jordan Ashley, Souljourn Yoga

The drishti gaze helps you in every pose that you hold, but you’ll really notice its effects when you’re balancing. Ashley points to tree pose as one example of this. “If you are balancing on one leg, like in tree pose, the gaze needs to be focused at something that isn’t moving,” she says. So by zeroing in your vision with one focal point, it boosts your concentration and “gives you something tangible to focus on while the body adjusts,” she explains.

The same happens during crow pose—with a gaze towards the floor, your head will follow, which can lead to a tumble. “But if your eyes are focused slightly forward, then the body is informed to keep shifting the weight into your fingers.” The gaze helps to ground and root these poses, leading to better overall balance.

From an alignment standpoint, where your eyes are looking signifies how the rest of your body settles into a pose, as well. “If you’re doing a backbend like cobra pose, dropping your vision down forces your entire head, neck, and spine to slump,” says Ashley. “So by looking forward and slightly up, it will encourage a chest and heart opener to occur.” So where you focus your eyesight turns your head, and your body will unfurl and twist more properly—and often more deeply—into the pose that you’re holding.

And it’s important to remember that your drishti is key on a mental level just as much as a physical one. “With yoga, you think about movement and breath, but when you begin to bring in focus with your eyes, it allows you to connect those two components even more,” says Steinhauser. “During all of the movement in a yoga class, your mind can easily start drifting and your eyes tend to shift around the room. If you’re able to focus your eyesight, that’s the gateway of bringing your attention inward.”

Renew Our Edges

This morning's reading comes from Mark Twain:

What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and renew our edges.

Namaste