or for any one (or more!) of our 48 classes, on any day of the week!

Sale of the month of July - all items from scoliosis expert and Senior Iyengar Instructor Elise Browning Miller are 15% off. Sale good through July 31st.

Bring a friend or family member to one of our 4th of July morning classes for $10 – 7am, 9am, 9:30am and 12pm. All the other classes that day will be canceled. Have a great 4th of July!

Mark your calendars -

November 22 - 24: Yoga Weekend with Roger Cole

We look forward to seeing you soon!

NAMASTE

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Still, an overabundance of stress can lead to distress. Frequently these changes or transitions manifest in the body, mind, emotional, or energetic systems as high blood pressure, difficulty in decision-making, changes in weight, perfectionism, agitation, or unrealistic expectations.

What’s a human to do? First, be honest and recognize any internal or external signals as listed above – or add your own personal ones. Notice when resistance arises in response to life’s situational changes. This resistance to life-as-it-is creates stress. Life as energy constantly moves within us and around us as we manifest as life on this planet. Our resistance to that movement holds us captive.

To counteract stress from transition, get on the yoga mat. (You knew that was coming.) Move the body to get some circulation going. Stretch those tight muscles. Get upside down and see life from a different perspective. Take a walk. Be attentive to the changes in the body when you move around. Maybe it feels lighter or more vibrant.

A positive outlook comes next, although one can begin with that, too. After acknowledging that the system is stressed, begin to retrain the system.  After basic needs like food and shelter are covered, the attention can turn to redirecting the thoughts and intentions in the direction that we choose.

A piece of the positive attitude part is gratitude. Gratitude for what life provides – blue sky, fresh flowers, the breath in the human body. We can intellectualize gratitude or we can sit still and feel what it means in the body. Do that now. Take a moment to conjure up a sense of gratitude. Perhaps you are grateful for the vision of dew on a daylily. Perhaps you are grateful for the memory of a kindness that someone did for you. Check in with the body, mind, emotions, and energy. Perhaps lightness has appeared. Maybe there is a sense of or feeling of expanded awareness.

Expanded awareness moves within and around each of us all the time. Some call it life force, spirit, chi, or prana. The words don’t matter. Whatever one calls it, it is the energy of Pure Awareness that animates, the energy of What We Are beyond change and transition and resistance. Take a breath. Be still and recognize the existence of True Self, Pure Awareness, the Divine, Light or Purusha.

In recognizing that existence, We are That.

The light within me honors the light within you. In the light, we are one.

Namaste,
Cindy

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Your daily asana practice will prepare you for unforgettable moments along the Ecuadorian Andes by keeping you strong and flexible. So...roll up that yoga mat, stick it in your backpack and join us on this epic adventure toward your center!

Group size is limited to 10. Reserve your space at: www.amazonandessky.com.booking-2/calendar/reserve-kmd-yogaretreat/
Have questions? Contact Nicole of Amazon Andes Sky at (828) 351-4759 or Nicole@AmazonAndesSky.com

It is delivered on a futon-like mat on the floor, and the receiver is fully clothed in comfortable attire during the whole massage. Throughout the treatment “Luk Pra Kob’, Thai Herbal Compresses are used to relieve pain and reduce tension leaving the receiver refreshed and rejuvenated.

In addition to the many benefits associated with receiving a massage, Thai Massage helps to lengthen muscles through progressive, assisted stretching as well as to increase a joint’s range of motion.

Costs: 60 mins, $70; 90 mins, $100; 2 hours, $130 ... $20 off your 1st visit

For questions & bookings please visit www.freshlysqueezedmassage.com or
contact them through email: freshlysqueezedmassage@gmail.com or
via phone (443) 605 - 6412

Emily and Rob received their cutting-edge training from the prestigious Denver Integrative Massage School. Their training included the best in Western Massage techniques (Swedish, Hot Stone, Deep Tissue, Myofascial, Neuromuscular, Prenatal, & Swedish/Thai Fusion), along with the best in Thai Yoga Massage techniques (“Lazy Man’s Yoga”, Assisted stretches, Acupressure, Sports Massage, Thai herbal compressing, and Deep Tissue). Learn more about them here.

Please begin by warming up with a couple rounds of Sun Salutes and/or simple standing poses to help loosen up the shoulders, spine and hips. You may want a blanket for padding and a bolster for support. Do not practice this pose if you have a slipped disc and/or fused vertebrae without the guidance of a therapeutic teacher.

To find the form, start with knees and feet hip-width apart in a kneeling position. Press down with the shins and tops of feet to activate the back of the legs. Take the hands to the lower back to gently encourage the sacral area of the spine in and down. As this happens, the chest lifts from the support of the inner shoulder blades moving upward.

Modification: use a chair w/ blanket and place the hands or elbows on the padded seat of the chair to encourage the lift of the chest. Once the hands (or elbows) touch the prop or feet, use that downward pressure to lift the chest upward. Breathe softly and completely.

To bring the head back, take the chin straight back towards the body to extend the back of the neck, then release the chin up to rest the back of head into the trapezius muscles. If there is any neck pain, continue to look up and/or forward. Hold the pose for 3-5 rounds of breath remembering to complete the exhalation so the nervous system remains calm.

To come out, draw the outer knee toward the inner knee to bring the groins deep in and pop up out of pose, leading with the chest. Rest in a sitting posture for a bit. Do at least three times before finding a simple twist (like the restorative twist "supine bharadvajasana" found below) to release the muscles along the spine and then savasana.

Enjoy!

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Restorative yoga poses are a wonderful way to enjoy “being” instead of “doing”. These types of poses boost the immune system and allow the body to receive the natural healing that occurs when the body is at rest.

You will need a blanket for padding underneath and a bolster for support. Begin sitting in Dandasana (legs straight out of hips and spine lifted) with the bolster outside of your right hip. Swing the legs to your left but keep the knees pointing forward, so that the right arch of the foot is supporting the left foot with the left toes pointed back and the right toes going away from the body. Turn toward the bolster and use your hands on the floor to lift the belly up and over so that when you recline the ribs are touching the bolster. If the bottom ribs do not comfortably rest on the bolster, add another bolster or blanket. Now shift the right hip towards the feet to bring space to that side of the body. Allow the forearms to rest on the floor to relax the shoulders with the head turned towards the feet. Be still for at least 2-3 minutes, allowing the entire body to rest while the breath softens. When done with that side, lift up and turn to the other side for the same amount of time, being mindful that it is a different side and may need more or less support.

Namaste.  

Laura Stone, RYT is a graduate of the Lighten Up Teacher Training and holds a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.

- bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate. Research has found it to have high cholesterol-lowering ability especially when slightly steamed.

Ingredients:

1 bunch organic Kale
2 med carrots chopped into thin matchsticks
1 small handful of Dulse (seaweed cut into small strips)*

for the dressing:
1/4-1/2 cup of extra-virgin organic olive oil
3 T of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp celtic or Himalayan salt (sea salt ok)

1. Rinse and de-stem the kale. Chop the leaves into bite size pieces. Add the carrots.

2. Dressing: Combine olive oil, lemon juice and salt in a shakable bottle or blender, mix thoroughly.

3. Add lots of love and share!

Enjoy!

Laura Alonso is a yoga instructor and Board Certified Holistic Health Coach. Sign up for a free consultation, find other healthy recipes, and subscribe to the Healthy Artichoke Newsletter at www.HealtyEmergence.com

The combination of the music and Kaveen's impassioned recitation is nothing short of sublime; it's noble, majestic and inspiring... This selection of poems, from Rumi, Hafiz, Lalla, Kahlil Gibran, Osho, Robert Bly, and Adyashanti is holographic, each individual poem illuminating the perception of oneness and building on the meaning of the poem before, magnifying the multi-dimensionality and the resonance of the evening.

Performing with Kaveen are: Daniel Barber, music coordinator for the World Beat Band at Jubilee Community Church and bandleader of Current Invention, will perform on piano and guitar. Byron Hedgepeth, from Pan Harmonia, performer, composer and teacher of drums & percussive instruments at Appalachian State University, will use a variety of drums, including frame drum and cajon ('the box'). Lea Kibler, newer to Asheville, is on faculty at Clemson University as professor of flute and has performed with the Florida Philharmonic and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and will share her talent on both silver and wood flutes. Dancing and whirling through the poetry and the music will be Gloria Mahin, expressive arts therapist with 15 years' study and practice of traditional dances from all over the world; she will also sing an authentic middle-Eastern song in Persian.

Tickets in advance $18 and can be bought at Malaprops (cash or checks only) or via
One Heart Productions Presents (checks or Paypal)
aileamana@earthlink.net or 828-777-0369. Tickets at the door are $20 (cash or checks only). A portion of the proceeds go to help support the World Beat Band at Jubilee!