Spring Classes 2017

Teaching a Yin Yoga Class

Spring Session 2016 at La Grua Center

Winter Session at La Grua Center in Stonington, CT

Half Lord of the Fishes Pose: Matseyandrasana

The intensity of this pose is not betrayed in the faces of Raya and Sausan,  my students who posed for these images in this posture after class.  It is a beautiful pose, full of grace and purifying fire, requiring great patience in opening the body to prepare it for this seated twist. 

Upcoming Yin Yoga & Pranayama Workshop

Beginner's Mind Yoga presents:

Yin Yoga & Pranayama Workshop

Co-lead by Alice Despard (RYT-200) and Liz Chabra (ERYT-500)

When:   Saturday, March 15, 2014 ~ 9:30 - 11:30 am

Where:  Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

             6201 Dunrobbin Drive

             Bethesda, MD 20816

Cost:     $35.00

Host:     Alice Despard, Beginner's Mind Yoga Instructor

             alicedespard@gmail.com

Preparing ourselves for the changing of the seasons as Spring approaches is a time-honored practice in the yoga tradition.  Pranayama, which means "energy management", is an important tool in the yogi's toolbox.  Working with the breath, pranayama helps us to optimize and regulate the flow of universal energy (prana) through our bodily systems, thereby supporting our immune system in pollen season as well as shaking off the sluggishness of the winter blahs.

The Yin postures in this workshop will focus on the lungs, heart and intestinal meridians.  These postures, which are held for a length of time, encourage a meditative and receptive mind  and so lend themselves perfectly to the introduction of breath work to begin stimulating the  subtle energy body (pranamayakosha) which surrounds our physical body.  In this workshop sequence, we will interweave Yin postures and breath work, followed by a short period of meditation to seal the practice.

Please bring your own mats and blankets if you have them and wear layers of clothing appropriate
for a yin practice oriented on the floor. We will also provide some blankets and other props.

Registration and payment in advance at this link is required to attend this workshop.

 

 

The Subtle Benefits of Restorative Practice

I received a wonderful note from one of my yoga students today;  here is the gist of it:

Solstice Full Supermoon June 22, 2013

"What a great [restorative] class that was on Saturday! My body, especially my left hip thanks you.  After class, I was talking to [another student] about it. She told me that some people do not like restorative classes-- not as rigorous, vigorous, or whatever. I was really surprised because I had the opposite reaction. I thought it worked for me because it put my body in such different positions. It helped me to isolate this place on my left hip, buttock, joint, or whatever structure that is causing me so much trouble."

This was great feedback for a yoga instructor to receive from a student; indeed feedback is what it is all about in a restorative practice:

The resistance to slowing down, listening quietly to the body is an endemic tendency with many go-go-go people.  Some yoga practitioners have a rather narrow understanding of what they wish to achieve in a yoga practice:  if it is not a sweaty "workout" it can't be a worthwhile practice.  Of course sweaty, invigorating practice has its place!  Very much so!  A fiery, rajasic practice has many benefits, strengthening our bodies and our wills in many ways.

By contrast, a restorative practice balances us out with a more sattvic, contemplative yoga practice, experiencing the body/mind complex in a radically different way.  This can balance out our rajasic nature, which tends to be highly charged and zealous in its efforts,  by bringing a cooling, calming, quieting influence by soothing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in the body, and through cultivating the equanimity and dispassionate awareness  of our higher witnessing self.  Then your whole being begins to radiate with a more coherent and conscious light!

What this student is discovering is wonderful:  yoga is indeed a practice of mind and body union, so that you become more able to isolate, (i.e. bring healing focus and awareness) to specific areas of the body which are calling for you to bring them back into wholeness--in fact, back into holiness.

The first step for some yogis is allowing this subtle process to unfold, and it is not easy for many who are focused on "doing" a practice rather than simply "being" during a practice.  But most practitioners come around to experiencing the benefits of a restorative practice if they can just make that effort of allowing the space and time to hold their bodies in gentle awareness in the postures, sometimes called "effortless effort".  This is all part of the process of evolving into our wiser selves!

Even those yoga students who are resistant to a restorative practice-- some consciously and some unconsciously--usually reap some profound benefits from a restorative asana class, sometimes to their own surprise!

Om Shanti Om