Back by popular demand, we are offering a 6-week introductory yoga series for brand new students! Tell your friends and family about this great opportunity. Lindsay will teach yoga basics, step by step. The series is a bargain at only $60 for 6 weeks. 

You must register and pay in advance for this series. Class limit is 16.

 

 

The Great Yoga Wall™, conceived and designed by Kedric Wolfe and Aadil Palkhivala, is an invaluable prop in a yogi’s arsenal. Infinitely and easily adjustable, the Wall, with its straps, bars, swings, and other accessories, can help you find and feel the correct actions of poses, use traction to bring greater opening in the body, and work therapeutically towards greater health in the hips, neck and shoulders, and spine.

 

Join Letitia for this 8-week series to learn how to incorporate this wonderful tool into your practice. All levels are welcome.

 

Standing Poses

Neck & Shoulder Work

Hip Openers 

Backbends

                                                                 Inversions

                                                                 Spinal Rejuvenation Series

 

The series costs $108, and must be purchased separately from any other packages. No class on 11/27.

 

Click here to learn more about these classes and to register.

 

Firming and stabilizing the core are the keys to healing back pain and preventing future low back injury. This workshop will focus on strengthening the “biker shorts” (hamstrings, inner and outer thighs, butt, and pelvic floor) in order to stabilize the sacrum and lumbar spine.

 

The ability to balance has many important benefits, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Good balance prevents future injuries, improves our focus, increases memory, improves sleep, and decreases stress.

 

When we practice balance poses in yoga, we align our center of gravity with the earth's gravitational field. This not only enhances our ability to stand on one leg, but also allows us to experience more balance in our lives.

 

This lively workshop will explore the anatomy and biomechanics of balance poses, with a simple sequence, accessible to students of all levels.

 

 

 

B.K.S. Iyengar, yoga master, died three weeks ago. Many people do not know his name, yet his understanding and teaching of yoga changed the world.

He began his practice as a sickly teenager. He died in his 96^th year of life, a strong and wise man, who inspired thousands of students to teach his method of asana and yoga philosophy. He developed a systematic method of study and practice that brings each person along at his or her own pace—a true “Start where you are” approach.

 

Often, people tell me that they really, really want to come to class because they’ve enjoyed yoga in the past, or they have never tried it but are curious about the physical strength, mental stress relief, and better sleep yoga offers. However, they are “too busy”, “too old”, or “too stiff” to show up and try. The reality is that one day they (and all of us) will be “too dead” to try. Oh, well,    maybe another lifetime…

 

The point is—don’t wait. Start now. Where you are. Set your aim to become stronger, more flexible, or better able to deal with stress. If you don’t set your sights on what you want or where you want to go, you’ll never get there.

 

The Iyengar method takes aim with the physical body. We learn to take care of the body by bringing the muscles and bones into alignment to become balanced, strong, and stable. The mind follows. We begin to penetrate into our inner recesses by beginning with what we can see and feel.

 

Although it is possible to learn yoga from a book or DVD, the learning that happens in a class, with a skilled instructor demonstrating the poses, describing what is going on in the body in that moment, and helping you find the pose in your own body, is invaluable. These teachers are also students, and you benefit from their ongoing study, the freshness and enthusiasm of their practice as they continue to study and grow.

 

Last weekend, two senior Iyengar teachers, Mary Obendorfer and Eddy Marks, taught at One Center. Having studied directly with “Guruji” (as many of Mr. Iyengar’s followers called him) for decades, this fabulous pair brought his teachings to us in an inspiring and profound way. True to the method, we didn’t go to the “final pose” at the beginning of class. We didn’t even know what it was. We began each class with poses that were accessible to all from the get-go. We moved mindfully, step by step, to the next accessible pose. We practiced intelligently and consistently, challenging the “stories” in our head that voiced some version of “I can’t do this” or “I’m afraid I’ll fall,” to discover we had more to bring to the practice then we had imagined. Mary and Eddy set the aim, encouraged us to find ours, and took us along on a remarkable journey.

 

Moving inward, we lifted and expanded the chest to allow our breath to penetrate the lungs. During the pranayama class, we practiced brahmari (bumble bee) breath, using the vibrational action to “excavate”—as Eddy describes it—into the cells of our body, which allowed us to move into our inner being and experience a few moments of universal consciousness.

 

Okay, be honest: Did a voice in your head just tell you “Oh, please, that will never happen!” Or, “Maybe others will have this experience, but not me.” Listen up, y’all: Those voices are not your friend. If you feel drawn to yoga, trust that intention. Show up at a class—that’s the essential step. As the old Nike ad said: “Just do it!” Set your aim.

 

B.K.S. Iyengar began his practice with physical limitations and he stayed with the practice—for decades—modifying it to suit his abilities as he aged. You, too, can do this, because the practice is for and about you, not about him. Yes, he is an inspiration. Yes, Mary and Eddy’s detailed teaching inspired us by showing us what we can accomplish when we stay present. If you start with what you experience in your own body right now, you will be amazed where the practice will lead you!

 

We each have an opportunity to make a difference in our own well being by aiming in the direction of honest and compassionate self-discovery—starting with our body, as it is now. Truly, no body is too stiff or too old to begin yoga. And, really, isn’t your own well being important enough to you to spend some time with yourself—to show up for yourself? If you don’t show up for you, who will?

 

May you enjoy the practice and the results of your practice.

 

Love and Namaste,

Cindy

 

 

 

 

 

According to yoga teacher, psychotherapist, and author Michael Stone, every aspect of our life has a part to play in the greater ecological system. In his new book, Yoga for a World Out of Balance, he asks us to think about how we bring this large view to our yoga practice. Stone believes that our responsibility as human beings is to live in a sustainable and respectful way. He says two things need to change. First, we need to understand the relationship between our actions and the effects of our actions. Second, once we see the effect of our actions in the human and non-human world, we need practical skills for learning how to make changes.

 

Using the five principles (yama) described in the Yoga Sutras, Stone offers a basis for rethinking ethical action and the spiritual path. B.K.S. Iyengar wrote the book’s inspiring foreword.

 

Please join us on Sunday, September 21, from 5:45-7 pm  to discuss this engaging book. You can purchase a copy at One Center. The last 15 minutes of book club is a meditation.

In 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services designated September as National Yoga Month, one of a select number of national health observances. Since then, the initiative has taken root as a global awareness campaign, educating, inspiring and motivating people to achieve a healthy lifestyle. 
In honor of the holiday, we are offering 20% off our blocks and blankets through September.

 

If you haven't done so already, please take one mindful, generous minute and do two things: "like" us on Facebook and post our link onto your Facebook page. These two small clicks will help us spread the news about our classes, workshops, and other yoga-related topics with an ever-widening audience. When you love something like we know you love One Center, please share it with others.

 

 

 

 

 Come awaken your spirit, your passion,