Yin Yoga & Meditation | Week 4 - Connection and Integration

"We can always begin again. No matter what happens, no matter how long it's been, no matter how far from our aspirations we may have strayed, we can always begin again." ~ Sharon Salzberg

THE ART OF LETTING GO 

What are the benefits of Yin Yoga & Meditation? 

• Boost immunity as you unblock energy to increase vitality and health.  
• Release tension to experience calm and relaxation.
• Increase your capacity and flexibility on the physical, mental and emotional levels.
• Create the habit of mindfulness.
• Build resilience; with every breath, we can begin again.
• Cultivate a sense of spaciousness in your heart, body, mind and soul.

The Three Tattvas of Yin Yoga Practice:

A tattva is the reality of a thing, or its category or principal nature. 

1. Come into the pose to an appropriate depth ("playing our edges").
2. Resolve to remain still.
3. Hold the pose for a time.

               --Sarah Powers

Remembering these three principles as you practice will simplify everything. 

Mindfulness Meditation 

seated, standing, walking, the practice of your choice 5 minutes

June 22

Supported legs up the wall

5 minutes

"Acceptance looks like a passive state, 

but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world.

That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness."

~Eckhart Tolle

June 23

Supported Butterfly

2-5 minutes

To Come Home to Yourself  

"May all that is unforgiven in you,
Be released.

May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquillities.

May all that is unlived in you,
Blossom into a future,
Graced with love."

John O'Donohue

June 24

Supported eagle arms or embracing wings

2-5 minutes for each side

“Always, the things we hold, the things we water in place, the small moments we open — all are quiet steps that can lead us to some view of eternity. Now I think the magnitude of love, peace, wisdom, and, truth can be known like this. For they are there all along, waiting to be discovered — all vast planes of being like sky, ocean, and mountains, waiting to be entered moment by moment. Clearly by living at the pace of what is real, we can access the vitalities that matter. And though everything conspires to move us ahead of this pace — pain, fear, loss, doubt, anxiety, ambition — we can recover the pace of creation by slowing to where all things begin. 

For entering into relationship with these small and simple things opens the birds call. By slowing down, the wind makes an old tree whisper, and the light makes a broken piece of glass glisten with truth, and a drop of rain somehow makes the eye of a fly as soft as someone tired of running.” 

~ Mark Nepo

June 25

Bananasana 

2-5 minutes for each side

"Some 40 years ago, Ram Dass shouted, Be here Now. Entering the moment is the most direct way we have of doing this. How? By entering each particular before us. How? By slowing our thinking and feeling and seeing and hearing to the pace of creation. How? By preserving and following the breath that joins us to the things around us. Here we are brought into harmony with everything. Such realness opens us to the greater motion of all that we are always a part of."

~ Mark Nepo

June 26

Supported dangling pose

1-3 minutes

"We have little control over our time on earth, other than the degree to which we choose to root ourselves  and stand tall before the wind and rain and sun. As human beings, this translates to being present and staying open. These are the efforts that cause us to ripen. These are the silences which if entered, will sing. Though we can ride currents like a falcon, or stir up everything while tranforming nothing like a storm, we are touched the deepest when we can turn ourselves over to life, like a song to be sung or something planted waiting to grow."

~ Mark Nepo

Belly facing shavasana 

5 minutes

"How we practice is much more important than what we practice. Yoga was never a competitive sport: it is an inward practice designed to build awareness, non-attachment, equanimity, and contentment. We do not use the body to get into the pose, we use the pose to get into the body."

~ Bernie Clark

The art of letting go is a personal ongoing practice for life. With every exhale, we release, let go and create space to live our lives grounded with creativity, will, power, fierce compassion, tranquility, alertness , balance, intuition, connection and awareness. We continually let go through the practice of acceptance of this moment and recognize what is real. Moment to moment day by day. We let go of old mindsets and patterns that no longer serve us or humanity. We let go through integrating all the parts of ourselves, our memories, allowing these facets to participate consciously and powerfully in our ongoing unique and beautiful existence on earth.  We let go of how things used to be by embracing the life before us. How? By inhabiting the breath within us and stepping into the power of now.  We let go as we stay with the ongoing fluid and changing nature of our experience, individual and collective.

Thank you for sharing part of your journey with me here and for allowing the space for me to do the same. It has been an honor and a privilege.

May you be happy, safe, healthy and live with ease,

Tehroma

Yin Yoga & Meditation | Week 3 - Tending to the Heart

"We can always begin again. No matter what happens, no matter how long it's been, no matter how far from our aspirations we may have strayed, we can always begin again." ~ Sharon Salzberg

THE ART OF LETTING GO 

What are the benefits of Yin Yoga & Meditation? 

• Boost immunity as you unblock energy to increase vitality and health.  
• Release tension to experience calm and relaxation.
• Increase your capacity and flexibility on the physical, mental and emotional levels.
• Create the habit of mindfulness.
• Build resilience; with every breath, we can begin again.
• Cultivate a sense of spaciousness in your heart, body, mind and soul.

The Three Tattvas of Yin Yoga Practice:

A tattva is the reality of a thing, or its category or principal nature. 

1. Come into the pose to an appropriate depth ("playing our edges").
2. Resolve to remain still.
3. Hold the pose for a time.

               --Sarah Powers

Remembering these three principles as you practice will simplify everything. 

Spring is coming to an end and the heart of summer is upon us. As we move from season to season, it is beneficial to honor the transition mindfully. In this practice, there is an opportunity to set an intention: Is there anything you would like to let go as you cross the threshold of a new season? Allow this intention to settle in your heart as you practice breath awareness or a hearing meditation today. Notice what arises, staying with yourself for 5 minutes. When you are ready, open your eyes and notice the light.

June 15

Reclining chest opener 2- 5 minutes

"It's helpful to begin by settling yourself and calling to mind your aspirations and intentions -- perhaps to calm and steady yourself, to find balance and kindness, to live more fully aware and present. Let your own sincerity and heart be the energy that guides what unfolds."

~ Kornfield and Brach

June 16

Seated side body opener 1 minute on each side

"If light is in your heart, you will find your way home."

~ Rumi 

June 17

Seated embracing wings 1-2 minutes then repeat with second arm on top

"One of the most courageous decisions you will ever make is to finally let go of whatever is hurting your heart and soul."

~ Brigitte Nicole

June 18

Twisted arms 1-2 minutes for each arm

"The peace that we are looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Whether we’re seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened."

~ Pema Chodren, from Taking The Leap

June 19

Embracing wings 1-3 minutes for each arm 

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

~Rumi

Shavasana of your choice for five minutes or longer

May you be happy, safe, healthy and live with ease,

Tehroma

"She let go.

Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of fear. She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely,
without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a
book on how to let go… She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her day-timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.
She didn’t analyse whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort. There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore."

— Reverend Safire Rose

"Yin Yoga uses relaxed, relatively still postures to gently stress the soft connective tissues surrounding the spine, joints and muscles. In YIN, we approach modifications as the norm, not the exception. Our bodies are structurally unique by design, therefore, we throw aesthetic alignment out the window.

Our organs are the home of our emotions. Yin is allowing what is surfacing to be there, without running away from it or trying to change it. If we heal the body, we also heal the heart. Stress fuels some of the biggest health problems of our time, including diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, heart attacks, strokes, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Emotional imbalances can be addressed through Yin practice by activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System, enabling us to rebuild and recover our health."

~ Deborah Regan (Tuesdays at 9:30am GMT, Deborah teaches a Live Yin Yoga class on our Healing Winds FB page.)

Yin Yoga & Meditation | Week 2 - Creativity

THE ART OF LETTING GO

What are the benefits of Yin Yoga & Meditation? 

• Boost immunity as you unblock energy to increase vitality and health.  
• Release tension to experience calm and relaxation.
• Increase your capacity and flexibility on the physical, mental and emotional levels.
• Create the habit of mindfulness.
• Build resilience; with every breath, we can begin again.
• Cultivate a sense of spaciousness in your heart, body, mind and soul.

The Three Tattvas of Yin Yoga Practice:

A tattva is the reality of a thing, or its category or principal nature. 

1. Come into the pose to an appropriate depth ("playing our edges").
2. Resolve to remain still.
3. Hold the pose for a time.

               --Sarah Powers

Remembering these three principles as you practice will simplify everything. 

Seated meditation 5 minutes

 "We can always begin again. No matter what happens, no matter how long it's been, no matter how far from our aspirations we may have strayed, we can always begin again." ~ Sharon Salzberg

June 8
Dragonfly on the wall 1-3 minutes

"Running water never grows stale,

so you just have to keep on flowing."

~ Bruce Lee

June 9
Butterfly on the wall

"Wabi is the expression of beauty that is a manifestation of the creative energy that flows through all things animate and inanimate. It is a beauty that, just as nature itself, is both dark and light, sad and joyful, harsh and gentle. The beauty of this natural force is not perfect -- always changing and just out of reach." 

~ Makoto Ueda

June 10
Reclining easy pose 1-3 minutes,
 reverse the cross of the legs and arms for the second side

"Long ago yogis noticed that controlling the mind by using the mind is really hard. That is the Zen practice of the Samurai warrior and requires tremendous willpower. However, there is a back door to the mind, and that is through the breath. The mind and the breath are like two fish in a school; when one moves, the other moves. If our mind is agitated, our breath is short and choppy. If the breath is short and choppy, the mind becomes agitated. However, if we slow the breath down and breathe more deeply, the mind also slows down." 

~ Bernie Clark

June 11
Twisted root 1-3 minutes each side

"Just because you are soft doesn't mean you are not a force. 

Honey and wildfire are both the color of gold."

~ Victoria Erickson

Butterfly 1-3 minutes

"Love is the creative fire,

the inspiration that keeps the torch of progress aflame."

~ Wilfred Peterson 

Hugging your knees to your chest is a wonderful pose anytime you would like to include with gentle rocking back and forth to massage the back body and outer hips

Shavasana 5 minutes 

"She lost herself in the trees
among the ever-changing leaves.

She wept beneath the wild sky

as stars told stories of ancient times.

The flowers grew towards her light,

the river called her name at night.

She could not live an ordinary life

with the mysteries of the universe

hidden in her eyes."

~ Christy Ann Martine

May you be happy, safe, healthy and live with ease,

Tehroma

Yin Yoga & Meditation | Week 1 - Grounding

THE ART OF LETTING GO 

What are the benefits of Yin Yoga & Meditation? 

• Boost immunity as you unblock energy to increase vitality and health.  
• Release tension to experience calm and relaxation.
• Increase your capacity and flexibility on the physical, mental and emotional levels.
• Create the habit of mindfulness.
• Build resilience; with every breath, we can begin again.
• Cultivate a sense of spaciousness in your heart, body, mind and soul.

The Three Tattvas of Yin Yoga Practice:

A tattva is the reality of a thing, or its category or principal nature. 

1. Come into the pose to an appropriate depth ("playing our edges").
2. Resolve to remain still.
3. Hold the pose for a time.

               --Sarah Powers

Remembering these three principles as you practice will simplify everything. 

Seated meditation 5 minutes

"We can always begin again. No matter what happens, no matter how long it's been, no matter how far from our aspirations we may have strayed, we can always begin again." 

~ Sharon Salzberg

June 1
 Legs up the wall 5-10 minutes

In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, 
in the expert's mind there are few. 

~ Shunryu Suzuki

June 2
 Dangling with support 1-3 minutes

Deep peace of the running wave to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the shining stars to you.

Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.

~ A gaelic blessing

June 3
Caterpillar 1-3 minutes

"Pathmaker, there is no path;

You make the path by walking, 

By walking you make the path."

~ Antonio Machado

June 4
Wide legged child's pose 1-3 minutes

"Constant busyness has no absence in it, 
no openness to the arrival of a new season, 
no birdsong at the start of its day."

~ David Whyte

June 5
Bananasana 1-3 minutes for each side

"When you cease to fear your solitude, a new creativity awakens in you. Your forgotten or neglected wealth begins to reveal itself. You come home to yourself and learn to rest within. Thoughts are our inner senses. Infused with silence and solitude, they bring out the mystery of inner landscape"

~ John O'Dohonue

Belly facing down shavasana  5 minutes

"As I walk, as I walk

The universe is walking with me

In beauty it walks before me

In beauty it walks behind me

In beauty it walks below me

In beauty it walks above me

Beauty is on every side."

As I walk with beauty, A Traditional Navajo Prayer

May you be happy, safe, healthy and live with ease,

Tehroma