New schedule in August

Dear Friends,
What does "perfect peaceableness" look like to you? Is it the absence of trouble, stress, strife, and worry? Is it a vacation site, your couch with popcorn and a good movie, a lonely desert island, or calm in the midst of life's happenings? Is peace really possible? How do I acquaint myself with this kind of peace in the beginning of August with Oklahoma heat, new intimidating circumstances, and a hectic schedule all the while trying to improve my teaching skills by mirroring my students?

When I had the dream of having my own yoga studio and business, I asked myself one morning while in Connecticut practicing on my daughter's back porch.."What is the one thing that I want people to leave my classes having?" My answer was tranquility, peace, and contentment in spite of the swirling winds of life away from our yoga mats. Thus, came the name Tranquility Yoga.

"Contentment is a requirement for peace of mind, yet we live in a culture that fosters discontentment."
Santosha: The Ease of the Heart
by Shraddhananda
While having my meditation and study time this morning, I think I found hints of what peace and santosha may be about. Consider these thousands of years old statements. "Acquaint yourself with Him and be at peace," "I will listen with expectancy to what God will say for He will speak peace," "Guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace," "My peace I leave with you...do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled," "Peace shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds," "Peace at all times and in all ways (whatever comes)," and "Why are you timid and afraid?...a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness) came in the middle of the storm." I believe peace and contentment (santosha) come from confidence in a Source greater than ourselves and breathing through difficulties, disasters, and disappointments. It does not come through a single ideal place or time or situation because life is always right behind it arriving at a gale wind force.

Right now, exactly where you are sample peace and contentment. Close your eyes or lower your gaze and simply breathe. Take a moment to experience a break from the obligations and schedule of life by quieting your mind, inhaling and exhaling as you pause. Peace is there behind the thunderstorm, but you must make time to find it.

Namaste'
Jeanne
P.S. By the way, I do know my right from my left, but really good teachers (according to Yoga Journal) mirror their students in class. Next time you practice with me smile when I face you because I am on your same side but calling it on my body differently.

Tranquility Yoga Classes for this Week include the following:
Home Studio (by reservation only)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
7:00 p.m. Vinyasa Flow Yoga (emphasis: Asymmetrical Poses)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010
7:00 p.m. Boot Camp Is For Sissies (new class with fun cardio)

Friday, August 5, 2010
5:30 p.m. Astanga Power Yoga

Please note: Beginning Yoga classes start again next week on August 10 at 4:30 p.m. at our home studio on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons.

Thornton YMCA
Today, August 1, 2010
1:30 p.m. Pilates MVE Chair Class (free first class to members)
2:30 p.m. Vinyasa Flow Yoga (emphasis: Exploring the Bird Postures)

Monday, August 2, 2010
6:30 p.m. Vinyasa Flow Yoga (emphasis: Backbending to Open the Heart)

Saturday, August 7, 2010
7:30 a.m. Personal training
9:00 a.m. Vinyasa Flow Yoga (emphasis: Emotional Balance through the Breath)
10:30 a.m. Beginner's Yoga (emphasis: Eliminating Fear through Quieting the Mind)

Sunday, August 8, 2010
1:30 p.m. Pilates MVE Chair (emphasis: Sculpting with Weights)
2:30 p.m. Vinyasa Flow Yoga (emphasis: Turn Obstacles into Opportunities)

American Airlines
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
11:00 a.m. Office Yoga

Subbing for other teachers
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
South Neighborhood Y at 5:10 p.m. subbing for Sue Moore
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
South Neighborhood Y at 10:30 a.m. subbing for Jenny Dungan

Hope to see you soon! If you are an Owasso Public School employee, remember our Power Pilates classes start on Monday, August 23rd at 6:00 a.m. and Wednesday, August 25th, at 4:00 p.m. in the new Wellness Center. E-mail or call me at 855-6459 for more information.
Jeanne K. Doss
Registered Yoga Teacher/200 hr. level
Cooper Institute: Personal Fitness Trainer
YMCA Pilates Instructor

Contentment is serenity, but not complacency. It is comfort, but not submission to fear; reconciliation, not apathy; acknowledgment, not aloofness. Contentment is a mental decision, a moral choice, a practiced observance, a step into the reality of the cosmos.