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October Newsletter
“In order to achieve a serene consciousness, we have to be willing to change our behaviour and approach toward the external world." - B.K.S. Iyengar
Phase 5 of Reopening
As a fully vaccinated citizen, I recognize, and respect, the hesitancy and decision, to not become so.
Week 33 – The Practice
The 8-limb path, as describes by Patanjali, is the framework in which we compassionately learn about our negative behaviours and discover what practices we need to support our positive ones.
Week 32 – The Practice
With summer winding down and schedules soon to shift, I’m making it a priority to spend less time typing and scrolling, and more time biking, hiking and connecting face to face. How about you - are you ready to be rewired and make some new connections?
Questions & Answers
An overview of our upcoming Yoga Teacher Training program happening this fall (October 2021).
Week 31 – The Practice
Meditation is everywhere. Anything that requires a sense of mental focus and concentration, is meditation (dhyana). Meditation is not about not thinking, it’s about learning how to pay attention.
Week 30 – The Practice
Writing has become an unintentional form of processing, and in processing, acknowledging and healing the stuff that has unknowingly been piling up in the recesses of my mind spilling over into my body and heart. The stuff I write about isn’t uniquely my stuff, but rather stuff that we all share and experience.
Week 29 – The Practice
You know that song where Liza sends Henry off to collect a pail of water only for Henry to discover that there is a hole in the bucket? And repeatedly he comes up against roadblocks and challenges to fix it? I’d say I’m having one of those ‘leaky bucket’ weeks myself.
Week 28 – The Practice
Like pieces of a mystery jigsaw puzzle, understanding your dharma is a practice of seeing yourself not as a collection of broken bits, but rather colourful pieces and parts that uniquely fit together thus enabling you to fulfill your life’s purpose with a confidence and grace wrapped up in the truth at your heart.
Week 27 – The Practice
We are immensely complex and layered beings, yet by way of the kosha, we can simplify our parts to more clearly see the truth of who we are. Imagine each kosha like five unique lampshades covering a light. The source of the light, is the truth of our selves. Each lampshade that layers on top of the one beneath has a different colour and density therefore changing the light we ‘see’.
Week 26 – The Practice
Sitting at home with nothing to do, my habit was to watch the boob-tube and smoke. I didn’t want to smoke any more but still found myself doing so. That’s when crafting kicked off. I could never hold a smoke in my mouth while doing something with my hands, so keeping my hands busy was huge in helping me shift to break the negative habit.
Week 25 – The Practice
When life hands out its troubles, as it does for all of us, we find ways of coping – increase your energy to deal with it, or decrease your energy to get away from the problem. It is an adaptation of the basic flight or flight response programmed into our survival instincts.
Week 24 – The Practice
Yoga is not a religion. Yoga is a way of thinking and reflecting, of practicing and behaving, and the ultimate surrender in recognizing your Self.
Week 23 – The Practice
My intention for starting this next chapter of my life is to not just create content that inspires you to learn more or to advance your career, but to help you see the truth of your potential and to boldly and gracefully express with honesty, your highest Self.
Week 22 – The Practice
Svadhaya, roughly translated as self-study, is a brutally challenging and humbling practice that requires the individual to actually take a step back and take a really hard and long look at all the ways they move and rest, connect and detach, breath, think, believe and ultimately BE in their life.
Week 21 – The Practice
I’m no expert, nor will I ever claim to be, but that experience was traumatizing. Left alone I had no choice but to sit with truth of the experience.
Week 20 – The Practice
I’m not sure where the past twenty four months have gone but they are, as they say, in the books. And with much of the last 14+ months filled with uncertainty, anxiety and fear as we all navigate this global pandemic, these last two years have also been a most incredible journey of community, friendship, support and togetherness, even when 6’ apart.
Week 19 – The Practice
Ever notice sometimes that even through your eyes are wide open you are unaware of the many things right in front of you? To really see clearly is to see through a lens of wholeheartedness and empathy, void of illusion and denial. Illusion is the belief in something that is not true; denial is the failure to see the truth of what actually is.
Week 18 – The Practice
Call them Saviours, Guardians, Holy Beings or Earth Angels, I believe that there are those who come into our lives at just the right moment who do just the right things, without necessarily knowing why, but who know in their hearts that they are to help.
Week 17 – The Practice
This feeling of shame is something I have been working with for as long as I can remember. I don’t know how it came to be but it’s there and it has grown roots. When shame rears its ugly head, I eventually find the will to relentlessly blaze my way through, even if it is only a spot of light in the darkness.
Week 16 – The Practice
Opportunity exists in all of life’s experiences. If this pandemic has taught me anything, it has taught me about how much I rely on and need human contact. It has taught me how much I thrive on connecting and working with people, not screens. And more than that, I’m realizing how important it is that I regularly and genuinely connect with the people and places that fill me up.
Week 15 – The Practice
Complacency is a crutch. It’s my way of hiding or avoiding that which I know is best for me. I know when I get complacent I get this F*CK IT attitude that washes over me and quickly start sinking into the muck of unhealthy gratifications grasping for quick ‘fixes’ and emotional comfort. And then, like a hamster, I just keep running around and around the ‘good enough’ wheel until I reach my limit.
Week 14 – The Practice
I study Ayurveda because I feel it is a comprehensive system of communication that breaks down and simplifies the patterns of psychological habit, relational responsibility, emotional conditioning, kinetic action, dietary necessity and spiritual discernment all based on the inherent qualities, and more importantly rules, of nature.
Week 13 – The Practice
After a good number of hard trekking kilometers, and a number of checkpoints found, we made it to the Restigouche River where the next leg of our adventure had us canoeing down stream. Laughing giddily to each other, we gloated at how easy this portion of the race was going to be. So we nonchalantly laughed with each other as we refilled and repacked our packs and loaded the canoe, smugly smiling at the sun shine over head. After all, it was a beautiful afternoon, the scenery was spectacular, and the company was the best ever.
The Spring Thaw
As much as it serves us to hibernate during the winter months cuddled up under cozy blankets nestled beside a glowing fire, to remain this way, unchanged, as the world around us changes, can cause ill effects on our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Ayurvedically speaking, late winter through spring, Mother Nature depending, is the time of year where Kapha dosha is naturally increased.
Week 12 – The Practice
“Gratitude is the key to healing, growth and fulfilment. Taking the time to document what you’re grateful for on a daily basis will be one of the wisest actions you’ll do.” - Dr. John Demartini
Week 11 – The Practice
I’m the kind of person that when life throws its curve balls, I need a kickstart to re-inject energy and life into my actions towards my goals. I need an accountability partner. Someone who is not only there for me, but who equally expects and deserves my energy and consistency to show up for them. Having someone expecting me to be there for them literally forces me to show up. In showing up, the work gets done.
Week 10 – The Practice
...and in the sanctuary of the woods, took to pondering the purpose behind my business. Why did I decide to open another yoga studio? And what are the core values that I believe are the root of my personal practices which ultimately nourish the foundation of my business?
Week 9 – The Practice
It is said that you manifest in the physical form to fulfill a life’s purpose. The Chopra Center states that, “When you live in harmonious flow of dharma, the entire field of pure potential opens to you. You’re able to create as much happiness and wealth as you want because you’re aligned with the domain of spirit, the unlimited source of all manifestation.”
Week 8 – The Practice
Fear is like a cloud that hides the sun. Even though I know the sun is up, sometimes clouds shroud it causing a darkened, diluted, or and depending on how thick that cloud is, a lustreless sunlight. But the intensity and brightness of the sun itself hasn’t changed at all - I’m just not able to see it in all its brilliance from where I am standing.
Week 7 – The Practice
in the 90 minutes session I had with the physiotherapist, I learned more about my undercarriage than I have in 43 years of experience. She took such time and care in explaining how and why bladder leakage occurs. It was as much a health counselling session as it was an anatomy lesson.
Week 6 – The Practice
If I have learned anything in these last two decades it is that teachers come in all shapes and sizes, and almost always when you least expect them but always when you need them most. And each of them, with their own unique gift of realization as to the message of this timeworn practice, whether they realize it or not. All of them have helped shape my understanding and application of this rich concept that is to be in and of the Self.
Week 5 – The Practice
“…researchers have discovered that sitting time itself is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, even in those who exercise regularly. Regular bouts of exercise do not undo the effect that sitting has on the body. The link between sitting and cardiovascular disease has to do the with physics of how your blood flows through your arteries..."
Week 4 – The Practice
When I was in high school my English teacher noted in one of my report cards that writing was not my strong suit. I remember hearing him and my mother talk during a PT meeting where he stated, “give Michelle a subject to talk about and she could talk for hours. But when it comes to writing, she struggles with that.”
Week 3 – The Practice
Standing in the bathroom one night this week as I readied myself for bed, I stopped, toothbrush hanging out of my mouth, as I caught my reflection in the mirror. I honestly couldn’t believe what stared back at me. Encircled in dark and heavy shadows, a pair of exhausted, sore, and sunken but swollen eyes started right back at me. They watered under in the soft bathroom lights and struggled to hold focus.
Week 2 – The Practice
So, that morning I had something different for breakfast, I put on something I haven’t worn in years and I went for my first run in a very long time. Later on also said no to something, I stood up for something else, and signed up for something new. I also took time that evening to clean and purge a closet, reorganize a drawer, rearrange a room and reaffirm the importance and purpose behind my journaling and meditation practices.
African Peanut Soup
Here in Nova Scotia, the weather often changes by the minute. One moment it's bright and sunny, the next heavy cloud cover and rain, sleet or snow. This deliciously warming and satisfying soup is a perfect balance for helping regulate Vata & Kapha dosha.
Week 1 – The Practice
Even before the new year rang in, I started to ask myself questions about my personal health and wellness practices; What do I need? What is getting in my way? What, where and how do I need to help my body, mind and heart feel healthier, stronger and like my old self, only better?
Sadhana – The Practice
And just like that, 365 days have come and gone. The proverbial ‘goose’ has been cooked, a fresh new calendar spine is cracked, and I am so ready for a realignment on my personal health and wellness practices.
re-RE-opening
Well, holy sweet mustard pickles. We are able to re-RE-open on Monday, December 21st. YAY! I did not see that coming and through for sure we'd be closed until after the new year.
Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
I am no baker by any stretch but I do love to try new recipes every so often. Having made gluten free Ginger Snaps in the past, this year my son and I want to make our own Homemade Gingerbread Houses for Christmas so I needed to find a new recipe that could 'stand up' for to the construction phase.
Virtual Reality
The social media world is a very real virtual reality that we are somewhat forced into cohabiting with. I say somewhat forced because really no one is forcing me, or us, to scroll, click, comment and share. But as human beings, whom from the dawn of time have sought out ways to find others, to create community and to live collectively with other humans, being and staying connected to those who hold our sacred selves in their hearts is vital to our health and wellbeing.
Mantras & Melodies
I got the change to ask KD for some advice on how I go about leading a Kirtan. His response, "Start where you are." Simple as that. So here I am, stepping into new, yet in some ways familiar territory. There are a few simple recordings of some of the mantras I have learned and regularly practice with. I hope you enjoy them as much as I love to sing the melodies.
Our Response to COVID-19
As we re-open our studio for public classes, we are working diligently to ensure the health and safety of our teachers, staff and our students, is a top priority. Therefore, we are taking necessary action to ensure that the Nova Scotia Health Authority guidelines are adhered to. Please take a moment to review the policies and procedures that are now in place so that we can all stay safe, healthy and active together.
Community is Everything
It’s been over 2 months since the studio temporarily stopped offering regular classes. I’m not sure where the days have gone, but they are gone! As I chatted with a dear friend earlier this week about the whole global
Introduction to Ayurveda
The foundation of Ayurveda is the simple principle that we (our body/mind continuum) is a microcosm of the macrocosm. To simplify, the entire universe is composed of five elements, or in Sanskrit terminology, pancha mahabhutas, and so too is our body. Earth, water, fire, air and space/ether are the elements from which all things are comprised.
The Journey Continues
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Gluten Free Morning Glory Muffins
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Accepting What Is
I’m not sure why I force myself to try and write a blog post each month. I find it so frigging hard! I start with great intention, write a paragraph,
When the Student is Ready the Teacher Arrives
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The Light of Grace
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Tiger Spice Smoothie
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Yoga Online : Coming Soon
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