Inquiries into yoga, meditation, sound, and related practices that cultivate peacefulness and clarity
About a year ago I started incorporating harmonium and chanting in my yoga classes. Those have become regular features at the beginning and end of my classes. Now I'm offering yoga classes with (live) sounds throughout.
On Thursday (October 20, 2022) at 6pm I will be teaching another free yoga class at the Minnesota Arboretum. Whether it's indoors or outdoors, an evening class or a day-long retreat, I always seem to enjoy teaching in the Arboretum. It feels beneficial.
As the years tick by and I continue to go deeper and deeper into yoga, I feel more focused than ever. I prioritize activities like volunteering to teach at the Arboretum and let go of other pursuits. Happiness increases.
Starting tomorrow, September 20, 2022, I will be leading a new, weekly, online mindfulness meditation group for onelove.yoga every Tuesday at noon Central. You can register here.
I'm not sure what to call it. Biking meditation. Bike yoga. Meditation in motion. Meditative biking. Maybe just mindfulness meditation while biking.
But I know something happens on my bike. Riding by myself, unplugged, no earbuds, outside in nature feels good. It relaxes me. It helps me let go of concerns about the future or past. If I have a problem I've been trying to solve, I often arrive home from a ride with a solution. Especially if I was not trying to solve the problem.
Last weekend I attended a 4-day retreat put on by a nonprofit organization called onelove.yoga. The title of the retreat was: "Moments of Silence Yoga and Meditation Retreat to Grand Marais." As is often the case for me with meditation retreats, I left feeling nourished. Even better, I had a breakthrough. I realized why this weekend led to feelings of relaxation, renewal, and joy.
I woke up this morning and I saw something that annoyed me. I noticed almost immediately how unhelpful it was for me to be annoyed, which gave me a temporary sense of satisfaction. But I still went down the rabbit hole. The details are unimportant because I am sure all of us could easily relate: "How could that person possibly have made that choice? Don't they know how inconvenient their choice will be for me? Don't they know what I want?" I could just sense the anger bubbling over and I felt almost helpless.
