Yoga for a Cure

"Love isn't love until you give it away." I have many heroes. My son, Jay, who is a Ranger, a dad, and a Captain in the United States Army, He is my hero. My daughter, Jennifer, who is a young mother and R.N. is my hero. My son, Jeff, who is brilliant and a Captain in the Air Force is my hero. My bonus son, Derek, who is my plant guru is my hero, and my other bonus son, Brandon, who is kind hearted and generous, is my hero. All of them are healthy and have active busy lives. Some of them live close and some of them live far away, but they are my heroes everyday. I love my children immensely.

I cannot imagine having a child who has Cystic Fibrosis and the continual worry/anxiety of loving them through an illness like that. Then, on top of all that, to tirelessly work to raise money for a cure to this illness is amazing. For that reason, Missy Swafford is another one of my heroes! She has a beautiful son named Brady who goes to the elementary school where I teach in Owasso. Missy is our patient and persevering cafeteria monitor; only the brave and strong should apply for that job! But, Missy does it with a smile and lots of love for the 500+ children at our school. Loving them and loving her child are two of the many things that Missy does well!

On Monday, June 6th, Tranquility Yoga is having our first annual Yoga for a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis at 6:30 p.m. It will be a minimum $10.00 donation to practice with us that evening, and I am hoping for a great showing of support and planning for an awesome beginner level class. I hope you will make plans to join us! Call 918-371-3841 for more information or directions. If you cannot make it, please feel free to write a check to Cystic Fibrosis and bring it to your next Tranquility Yoga practice.

Thank you, Missy Swafford, for being a hero to your son, to the cause to find a cure, and to all who admire you and love your beautiful smile!

Tuning in to the Present Moment

"When some basic need is lacking...
You may lack time.
You may lack energy.
You may lack money.
...consider yourself blessed. Your very lack of time, energy, or money is an opportunity to latch onto God in unashamed dependence. When you begin a day with inadequate resources, you must concentrate your efforts on the present moment." Sarah Young, Jesus Calling
This was part of our final meditation in Saturday's classes of Sunrise Yoga and Yoga + Pilates yesterday. Here is our schedule for this week's practice. Come and join us today at 1:30 as we add cardio into our yoga practice by walking or running before class at 2:30.

Sunday afternoon at 2:30 Pose Specific Yoga
difficulty level - 1 (1 = easier vs. 5 = more difficulty)

Monday at 5:30 Yoga for Core/Balancing
difficulty level - 3

Tuesday at 6:40 Yoga for Lower Body Strengthening/Flexibility
difficulty level - 2

No Wednesday class - set aside for personal training

Thursday at 6:40 Yoga for Upper Body Strenghtening/Flexibility
difficulty level - 2

Friday at 5:30 Power Yoga with Rodney Yee influence
difficulty level - 4

Saturday morning at 7:00 Sun Salutations Class
difficulty level - 3
Saturday morning at 9:00 Yoga + Pilates
difficulty level - 5

Sunday afternoon at 2:30 Pose Specific Yoga
difficulty level - 1


Please contact me if you would like to walk/run before class any day of the week that we have class. It is very invigorating to add the cardio 45 minutes before class starts and 15 minutes to cool down.

May the peace of the Lord be with you. Namaste'
Jeanne

Vishudda Chakra - Speaking Effectively with No Sorrow

Do you have a hard time expressing yourself? Or, do you say things that you later regret? A well-developed chakra in the throat helps you communicate effectively and desire to always say positive motivational truths.
I speak from the heart and let truth be my guide.
I use the power of words to make the world a better place.
Every day it becomes easier to express what I think and feel without shyness or over-efforting.

Since the most important conversation we will ever have begins in our thoughts, the words we speak begin in our innermost thinking. A positive balance is gained between our speaking and thinking when our thoughts reflect the verse in Philippians, "Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, Codirectors for the Center of Relationship Development in Seattle, "The power of the human brain is unmistakable. It does nothing less than preside over who you are." They go on to talk about the fact that the relationship we have with ourselves and others is governed by what our brain says all day long. "The secret messages you shoot repeatedly through your mind begin to cut a groove or wear a path through your cortex. These governing messages, the ones that are heard most loudly, most often, and most quickly, are the ones that define your self-talk and your relationships."
Yoga teaches us that we become aware of our thoughts and tune them in not only to the present moment, but we also guide them toward good. The negative or the prideful messages are released as not our own, and the healthy, positive thoughts are concentrated on. Many times in yoga I say to the yogis and yoginis that are in our class, "Let go of those things that do not serve you well."
Thoughts that do not serve us are unhealthy, critical, full of self-criticism, arrogant, competitive, and worse. They may be influenced by those around us, the "Madison Avenue" concept of physical worthiness, or the books, T.V., music that we allow ourselves to experience.
Any yoga poses that have to do with shoulder strengtheners/openers or the throat can help open a blocked energy in this part of our body for the Vishudda Chakra. Some of these can include the following:
Humming "Bee" breath
Lion pose
Camel pose
Bridge pose
Shoulder stand
Plow pose
Fish pose
Join us as we practice healthy thoughts, healthy minds, healthy words, and healthy bodies. One of the quotes that I dearly love is by Maya Angelou,
"People may forget what you said, people may forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Becoming aware of our thoughts helps us to communicate with other people with kindness, truth, and compassion.

18 Life Affirming Mantras to Change Your Attitude

Proverbs 23:7 (New King James Version)
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

18 Life Affirmations that Will Change Your Attitude and Your Thoughts
Attitude is both the power behind your intention for practicing hatha yoga and the power that ultimately fulfills your intention. Before starting your daily practice, contemplate your intention for doing the practice that day. Ask yourself, "What do I hope to gain or what do I wish to offer today through my practice?"

Your intention can be multilevel in its purpose – physical, emotional, mental, and/or spiritual. You might do your yoga practice to improve the health or appearance of the physical body, or to clear blocked emotions and help balance your emotional slate or even to promote mental clarity and peace.

Intertwined with attitude and intention is will power – a deep inner force that is a balance between self-effort and the ability to surrender. Aligning effort and surrender brings our intention to the flow of grace. When effort and surrender are balanced, the ride is smooth and enjoyable. A state of ease is experienced in each asana or yoga posture.

Here are eighteen life affirmations or mantras that go with a unique yoga pose to enhance the quality of your thought life.
• Uttanasana (Forward Fold) “I surrender to the present moment.”
• Utkatasana (Chair or Fierce Pose) “My body is no burden. It is as light as a feather.”
• Chaturanga Dandasana (Plank Pose) “My core is strong, and I am as firm as a plank of wood.”
• Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) “I am shedding old ways of being and doing.”
• Garudasana (Eagle Pose) “No matter how twisted and stressed on the outside, I am calm and centered on the inside.”
• Virabhadrasana III (Warrior 3) “I find balance in all areas of my life.”
• Vrksasana (Tree Posture) “We are all in unity like trees, and we do no harm to ourselves or others.”
• Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide Legged Forward Fold) “I let go of all the tightness in my body, soul, and spirit. I am not afraid of forward movement.”
• Utthita Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) “We are all one in unity. When my relationships are in unity, I find peace within.”
• Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle) “Dispelling any negativity in my thoughts and opening myself up, I allow my future to evolve in a positive way.”
• Virabhadrasana I (Warrior 1) “I am strong and confident like a warrior.”
• Virabhadrasana II (Warrior 2) “I invoke my warrior energy.”
• Ardha Chandrasana (Half Balancing Moon) “My body is happy and smiling.”
• Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (Extended Hand to Foot Pose) which can be done in a standing balance or on the floor as a stretch “I have an abundance of energy available to me.”
• Natarajasana (Dancer Pose) “I am delicate like a dancer, yet I am strong as a body builder.”
• Ustrasana (Camel Pose) “It is safe to dive back into past issues.”
• Simhasana (Lion Pose) “I have a voice, a strong voice, and I use it effectively.” And yes, you do have to stick your tongue out and ROAR! (:
• Each time you come back to Tadasana (Mountain Pose), bring your hands to Anjali Mudra (Hands to heart) Samasthitihi (Equal Standing) “I combine effort and surrender to find steadiness and ease.”

Our meditation at the end of class was taken from Charles Swindoll’s writings about attitude.
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are the only ones in charge of our attitudes.”

I believe that what we say to ourselves all day long is so important. Therefore, making new pathways in our brains by changing our self-criticism to life affirming mantras (mutterings), can change our thoughts which in turn changes our words, our actions, our lives. Come practice with us! We are improving our bodies, minds, and spirits by our yoga practice. A special thank you to Sarah Klein for inspiring this yoga class at Tranquility Yoga Studio.

Chakracize with the Anahata Chakra - the Heart

Last night Brian and I went to a couples' group at church about love and relationships. It was called, "Love Talk." After the initial introductions and video we got right to the point about getting where you want to go. I thought it sounded so much like "setting your intention" which is what we do at the beginning of each yoga practice. Here are some of the suggestions that were made.
1. Be a better listener
2. Stay on point in discussions
3. Don't finish my partner's sentences
4. Curb my emotions when talking
5. Be more sensitive to my partner's feelings
6. Think clearly before speaking
7. Avoid jumping to conclusions
8. Tune in to and discern the other's emotions
9. Maintain eye contact while talking
10. Be more vulnerable
11. Speak with more clarity
12. Invite and receive feedback
13. Use more humor
14. Come across personally warmer
15. Be more assertive with my needs
16. Better assess when to talk
17. Don't jump to conclusions
Love Talk by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott

I thought to myself, "WOW! I can find something I need to improve on in each of those 17 suggestions." Then the pastor, Chris Tiger, and his wife, Priscilla, did a great job of making us feel at ease by sharing their experiences. At the end Brian and I rated each other on five realms of communication and set goals for ourselves.

You might ask me, "Jeanne, that is a nice story, but what does that have to do with YOGA?"

Smiling, I would reply, "Those 17 suggestions are all about what happens in a yoga class, and they are all practical recommendations for every practice that we participate in with yoga."

In yoga we open our hearts and unleash joyful fearlessness in order to stretch, expand, and strengthen. We leave with a feeling of being empowered and blissful. Receiving feedback and having a sense of lightness with humor makes us let go of the ego-attachments related to pride or self-criticism. Alignment, attitude, and action go along with every yoga posture just like these three go along with relationships. I remember hearing someone say one time that love is not a noun; it is a verb, and that means it should be something that we live and do not just say.

The heart chakra or Anahata Chakra is in the center of the chest and spine. Anahata means "whole or unbroken." This is the seat of love and compassion. People with warmth, lovingkindness, tolerance, and compassion for others in their immediate circle of partner, family, friends, and beyond have an openness in their fourth chakra. Those with a poorly developed or blocked Anahata Chakra have difficulties with relationships and the proper balance between giving and receiving of love. They often complain of loneliness (even with a partner) and feelings of isolation. A weakened or blocked heart chakra prevents one's inner feelings from unfolding.

Just like the couples' class that we attended, all of us need to work on our seat of compassion and lovingkindness. In yoga practice we use variations of chest opening postures to help open up this area of our body. This might include cobra pose, locust pose, camel pose, bow pose, fish pose, and other backbending postures. Also similar to the potential goals we went over in class, we set our intention to open this chakra through our practice and end with life-giving affirmations in final relaxation. Some of these include the following:
!. My heart is open to giving and receiving love.
2. I lovingly accept myself as I am.
3. I give and receive with an open heart and bind myself to all living beings.

We will be doing heart opening postures this week in yoga, and I would love for you to join us. You can e-mail me back at tranquilityyogastudio@gmail.com for more information on class times and receive a weekly newsletter. Join us this week and set your intention to be more open and receptive with supplies of energy for all aspects of love, joy, and surrender.

Namaste'

God grant me the serenity

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. ~Author Unknown

Change is good for us. I believe that when we learn to let go of our attachment to not changing; changing can benefit us in so many ways.

Due to our big snow in February, our school day has become longer. As an elementary teacher, I must adapt to the change. Therefore, all of our classes during the weekdays will move to 5:30 p.m. We will compensate by having a Sunday afternoon class for beginners and intermediates at 2:30. Saturday mornings our yoga practice offers two different time frames. One is Sunrise Yoga at 7:00 a.m., and the other is at 9:00 a.m. for Yoga + Pilates.

I apologize for the change, but I know that life brings events that often change us as we learn to accept the inevitability that nothing is permanent.

So, how is it that when life is spun around by circumstances, benign or otherwise, some people flail, while others sail? Why do some of us wallow in that place where we're so shocked and unhappy about an unexpected turn of events that we resist reality and find ourselves mired in bitterness or fear or hopelessness? Instead of accepting change with grace, we dig in our heels and suffer through each day of things not being what we think they should be. What's the secret to riding each new wave gracefully—regardless of whether it deposits you gently on the beach or wallops you down to the seafloor?

"I hear a lot of people say that change is exciting, but they mean a specific kind of change," says the Reverend Frank Jude Boccio, an interfaith minister and yoga therapist in New York, who is the author of Mindfulness Yoga (Wisdom, 2004). "We all have an aversion to change that we'd rather not have. Certain change is appreciated, and some is not."

The funny thing is that as a culture, we seem determined to celebrate change. "Change is good," we tell each other, and, "Everything happens for a reason." Thoreau himself volunteered, "All change is a miracle to contemplate." Yes, we praise the virtues of change religiously—until some unwanted, unscripted change occurs. Then, mostly, we long for permanence. For all our professed faith in the benefits of transformation, we are a species that falls to pieces upon learning that something we want is sold out. Generally, we cement where possible and panic where not. The smallest nudging of our routine can send us into a tizzy, while big disruptions send us into therapy.

How can you learn to accept change with equanimity, absorbing each phase in stride and learning from each new experience? The answer may come from dealing with change in these stages.

Loosen Your Grip
When any unscripted change comes down the pike, there's an overwhelming feeling of losing control, and that's perfectly normal—and also perfectly delusional, says Herdis Pelle, a teacher at the Berkeley Yoga Center in Berkeley, California. "We're moving into unknown territory," she says. "Deep down, we're never in control."

Separate Your Feelings
Once you've accepted your utter lack of control, it can still take some doing to accept the emotions that often accompany a sudden unraveling of your expectations. Even minor setbacks challenge us. Take Frank Jude Boccio's experience of returning to his Hudson Valley home after time away; the famous fall colors had just faded. "I was really disappointed," he says. "I found myself wishing I could change it back, or have come home earlier. And that wasn't right."

By that, Boccio doesn't mean that his disappointment was unjustified—that he should learn to see winter's colors as just as pretty as autumn's. His idea is more nuanced: you can be disappointed with certain changes, but you accept that disappointment the same way you'd accept delight.

What does that mean? Surely you can't be expected to rate disappointment the same as delight. No, says Boccio, but you can separate your feelings from your response to them.

By distinguishing your core emotions from those that pile on afterward, you don't limit your emotional life; on the contrary, you unclutter it. As Boccio says, it's the clutter that leads you away from your true experience and into murkier territory.

Mitra Somerville, a teacher at the Integral Yoga Institute of New York in Manhattan, looks at major life changes and their constellations of angst in terms of what is, and isn't, permanent. Your duty, he says, is to recognize that in the midst of radical transformations, you, yourself remain stable. If you can come to an understanding of this—through asana (yoga posture), breathwork, meditation—you can soothe the discomfort brought on by external changes. "The yogic thinking is that there's part of us that's unchanging—the spiritual part of us that has peace and joy and love," he says. "The nature of the world, however, is in flux."

Tap Into Wisdom
Learning to make peace with life's calamities—lost jobs, romances, dreams—does not mean you have to be passive.

"Sometimes we try to provoke change in our lives," Boccio says. "Rather than just be with sadness, anxiety, or anger, we want to change it. And that inability to sit with what's happening is duhkha, suffering."

"We practice so that we can be guided from within," says Somerville. In stilling your thoughts, you free up a more reliable inner wisdom. "The more peaceful your mind is, the clearer and stronger your intuition is, and the better able you are to make the proper decision."

Expect the Unexpected
Prepare for life's ups and downs with a daily practice. Frank Jude Boccio offers some ideas for a change-friendly inner life.

Accept Impermanence
Every morning, I repeat a mindfulness verse: "Great is the matter of birth and death; impermanence surrounds us. Be awake each moment; do not waste your life." Much of my practice has to do with aligning myself with that. Then, ideally, my action comes from the situation, rather than from a false perception of what's happening.

Practice Mindfulness
Come back to the present moment. Great teaching points out that you can be happy in a pleasant situation, but then it's all too easy to lose yourself in the pleasure.

Take a Breath
When faced with a change, pleasant or otherwise, I try to tune in to my breath, and how I'm feeling in my body. Tuning into the breath gives me time to respond better to an unpleasant situation. Chris Colin

Hope to see you at 5:30 or soon after for yoga practice on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday evenings.
Namaste'
Jeanne

Restorative Yoga at 2:30 Sunday afternoon

"The primary aim of yoga is to restore the mind to simplicity and peace, to free it from confusion and distress. This sense of calm comes from the practice of yogic asanas (postures) and pranayama (breath work). Unlike other forms of exercise which strain muscles and bones, restorative yoga gently rejuvenates the body." Often in our fast paced world, we look for fast paced exercise. However, even too much power yoga and not any restorative yoga can be hard on the body and mind.

Today is our make-up class for last week's snow day on Wednesday evening. We are doing a restorative yoga class which is pose specific and uses a lot of props. It is for beginners and intermediates, and you are welcome to bring a friend to punch off your Tranquility Yoga card since it is February friend month.

If you haven't been to yoga in a while or are a new beginner, this class is for you. If you are a heavy duty exercise person, this class is for you. If you only like power yoga, this class is for you. If you like a slower class with longer holds, more blankets, even a chair, this class is for you. If you dislike slow restorative yoga, this class is especially for you.

"Yoga can heal parts of our bodies that have been injured, traumatized, or simply ignored and neglected." Bring an open mind, willing spirit, and come in comfortable clothes.

Hope to see you today at 2:30 in the afternoon!
Namaste'
Jeanne

"The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life." B.K.S. Iyengar
--

Jeanne K. Doss
Tranquility Yoga
Registered Yoga Teacher 200 hr. - Yoga Alliance
Certified Personal Trainer - Cooper Institute
Pilates Instructor