White Electric

I am in the middle of my newly established office hours. If I want to teach more I have realized that I need to be more organized with the business of yoga. How else will yoga spaces know what I have to offer and have me come and teach? I just finished my big email blast this is what I had to say:

Dear Friends,

Although I skipped nearly half of the winter season I just can’t contain
my excitement about the energy of spring all around! The combination of
the season and a continued feeling of focus and recharged energy from
India has me for the first time in my yogic life actually experiencing the
practice of pratipaksabhavanam. Simply put it is the practice of
cultivating a change in attitude or perspective. The last time I was in
Rishikesh I heard a beautiful lady Swami say, “yoga is an attitude.” I
have been sitting with that ever since.

What have you been sitting with that NOW may be the best time to begin to
pick up the practice of that concept?

I am very excited to announce that I will be teaching in Philadelphia this
spring. Think of it as a spring cleaning for your practice.

Here is the Juice:
Early Morning Retreat with Jill Manning
Every Seed Has the Tree; Every Tree Has the Seed
Wake Up Yoga Fairmount
Monday, April 12th - Friday, April 16th
6am-8am
Contribution: $108 ($90 if by 3/26/2010)
WUY teachers/current and past TTs receive a 15% discount
Pre-registration is required. No partial enrollments or refunds.
Participation is capped at 22...call the studio at 215.235.1228 to secure
your spot as soon as you are ready to commit!

Crawling, Falling, and Flying
Jivala: The Mind Body Studio at the AFC Bala Cynwyd
$45 for members
$55 for non-members
Contact Vanessa Mock to register
vmock@aquahab.com
610-664-6464

In this three hour workshop we will explore the qualities that contribute
to an overall experience of “lightness” in practice. Over her many years
of teaching Jill has developed an ever evolving collection of exercises
born out of her own experience in practice. She has been able to connect
the dots of crawling, falling, and flying for herself and has a way with
expressing and teaching that connects with students. The workshop will be
a combination of traditional practice along with exercises, theory, and
time for questions and answers. You may want to bring a small notebook,
an open heart, a curious mind, and a sweat towel.

I also have limited time to offer for private yoga session at your house.
Please email to secure a time.

love|practice
practice|love

Jill

http://www.jillmanning.com
http://www.ashtangayogaprovidence.com

I can feel it in the near future I will be teaching more workshops so stay tuned in and keep practicing. I am now off to the real business of yoga....practice.

The RI yoga tour continues

Each Sunday I venture into a new yoga experience in RI. This Sunday I practiced at a very familiar location, Motion Center, where my Mysore groups sweat it out three mornings a week. It was nice to walk into the space as a student lay my mat down and wait for class to begin. The Sunday morning offering at Motion Center is an Anusara-Inspired class taught by Rebecca Donnelly. I have been to one other Anusara yoga class in New Hope, PA many years ago so I walked in without very much expectation. From what I can glean from facebook posts from my Anusara friends is heavy use of words like, "loop" "spiral" "heart" and "mid line." True to facebook Rebecca did use these phrases a lot.

What I took away with me from class this morning was the way in which she used the word, soften. It reminded me of when I took a Mysore class with Chuck Miller way before I took up the method of Ashtanga Yoga. He used the word pause to indicated a softness, a tenderness, and as always a breath.

Just as I continue to sample the yoga community in the state of Hope, I continue to be blessed with visitor's from my home state. Last week it was Cyndi, before that it was Jill Ma and this week the lovely KCDV who I last saw in India will be dropping by and at months end Amy Rebja with whom I spent a month walking to the shala in Mysore.

To all the students and all the teachers

ॐ

सह नाववतु |
सह नौ भुनक्तु |
सह वीर्यं करवावहै |
तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ||

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||


oṃ saha nāvavatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai
tejasvināvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāvahai
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ


OM

Together may we be protected
Together may we be nourished
May our work together be brilliant and effective
May we not resent each other
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

One Month

I have been back from Mysore (Samantha calls it Yoga Land) for one month and while the re-entry was slightly turbulent overall I am feeling great. This feeling I am completely aware has sprouted from the cultivation of a new attitude not on something but with everything. I am practicing gratitude, positivity, excitement and cultivating joy.

The two things that have shifted the most, my schedule, and my Sunday yoga date with myself and as in the case last Sunday with out of town guests. Teaching more has reminded me of what I love to do and frankly what I quite skilled at allowing me to reach more of Rhode Island's yoga community and feel at home there. This links directly into my Sunday yoga date. Not only has this given me the chance to practice within a new community I am starting to recognize faces and have mine recognized.

I still have so much to work on but I feel renewed this last month more than a longing for life in Yoga Land. Don't get me wrong I will be continuing my yearly journey to the heart of yoga because in some many ways it connects me directly to the heart of teachers and sets the bar to continue with the teachings.

The Yoga Date

I know that I have been a bad blogging yogini lately but since returning from India my life feels like it has expanded significantly. I am teaching 5 mornings a week plus newly expanded and expanding evening classes, working at the museum three days a week, and really opening myself to the Rhode Island yoga community by having weekly yoga dates out there in the world. Since leaving the sun of Mysore I have stepped into some seriously sunny yoga glows all over the state. My first Sunday back I went to Eyes of the World Yoga right in the heart of Providence's east side. The following Sunday I went to Ashtanga Yoga Rhode Island. This is right where I last left off with the blog. Next up was a two and a half hour prana flow immersion with one of Shiva Rea's deputies, Coral Brown at All That Matter's yoga in Wakefield RI and just this Sunday I went with my very dear friend and second time house guest Cyndi to Raffa Yoga for a 9am vinyasa class with one of the students in my Mysore program there.

Cyndi: "Never underestimate the power of the yoga date."

What I have learned from this experiment is that it is good to get out there even if it is not the style or method that you study. I take practice so seriously that once a week it is great to surrender move and groove in a new pattern both in body and breath and have some fun.

Practice yesterday left me sweaty, happy, connected, excited about my future at Raffa as a teacher, and with one of my best Kapotasana's ever!

Where should I go this Sunday?