Kids Yoga
Once again I am offering the Kids Yoga Camp for children aged 6-13. This year the camp will run July 12-16th, 10.30am-12.30pm at Corebody Studio, 3120 Highlands Blvd. North Vancouver. Cost for the week is $125.
Ten hours of yoga in which we will be exploring poses, philosophy, nutrition and anatomy and meditation. Registration deadline is June 31st. To register your child/children Please contact me at
In our Tuesday Childrens yoga class we have been exploring Ayurveda, the science of life. Last week were talking about doshas, and here is a link to Dr.V.Lad’s Ayurveda.com and a “Discover your Constitution” quiz.
Try it out and take the first step to the further understanding of yourself! Dosha quiz.
The notorious street artist Banksy and the story of the street art movement in a new documentary. Now playing.
Bristol trip hop pioneers perform live in Stanley Park May 22nd
Shown here performing Safe From Harm Live Glastonbury 2008
This evening, as I was preparing to teach my Thursday night class, I had an interesting moment. I was writing out the Yamas and the Niyamas on one side of my whiteboard, with the “Tree of Yoga” or Ashta-Anga yoga on the other. I effortlessly wrote the sanskrit names with their English definitions, but for some reason, the Eight Limbed Tree of Yoga only had 7 limbs. I went over and over it in my mind while my students were in Viparita Karani preparing for asana class. Over and over again I chanted to myself “Yama-Niyama-Pranayama-Pratyahara-Dharana-Dhyana-Samadhi” yet I could not figure out the missing limb. I glanced through the studio, and there they were, my lovely students in an ASANA! Asana, the third limb, the one limb Western practitioners know so well! I could not see the forest for the trees. Or-was it selective knowledge? I walked to class today determined to emphasize the importance of all eight limbs, and not just getting stuck in asana practice, that I wore blinders into the studio. Funny how the human mind works isn’t it?
The second of the “Niyamas’, (the 7th of the 10 Yoga Commandments) is Santosha, or Contentment. I find this Niyama one of the most mysterious to behold, as it is constantly just within my reach, perhaps a breath or 2 away, but then elusive and fleeting.
To be content with whom we are, what we have , the present moment, our bodies, our clothes, our kids, our cars, our homes, our spaghetti sauce……………..in a world where we are constantly being bombarded with messages to have more, do more, be more, change more is almost impossible without an extremely strong yogic practice, don’t you think? Even then, we fall prey to wanting a longer hold in our headstand or a longer line in trikonasana, or a deeper backbend or forward bend instead of staying with and breathing in the place we are at this very moment in time.
I went for a bikeride on the Stanley Park seawall this evening, it was lovely. At one of the beaches there was a drumming circle going strong, people of all ages drumming the sunset beat. At first the messages in my mind were literally jumping,”Where can I learn to drum like that?”, ” I want to be in a drumming circle and do this EVERY night”, etc. until I stopped thinking, closed my eyes and actually listened. It was perfect.
I was at the beach at 8pm on a Tuesday evening, with my 12 year old daughter who “willingly” joined me on the ride. The sun was setting, the heat of the day was still upon us, it was a moment of “Santosha” pure and simple.
I used to call them “Aaaaahhhhhh” moments. Like when you slip into a natural hotspring after a day spent wet and damp trying to treck through the forest finding it, or that sweet moment just before a peaceful sleep.
Santosha- what do you call it and how do you find it?
Seeing as am the mother of a toddler, it makes perfect sense that this is the book on my nightstand, doesn’t it? It was actually given to me by a friend who now has a 4-year old and is well on her way OUT of this phase. I resisted reading it for a few weeks,( I try to stick to non-fiction “educational material”), but the other night when my partner called me from “THE MOST GORGEOUS HOTEL ROOM IN VEGAS”, and I was in our king-sized bed with our 2 girls, I decided to surrender to my domestic bliss and picked up this read. LOVED IT! Hilarious. Any mother with toddlers out there will do well to pick up a copy of this book. I actually went to the library today and picked up her teen book for my daughter and “Knocked up”, her book on pregnancy for myself.
A friend of mine sent “Keep Calm and Carry on” to me in an email the other day. I found it really resonated with me, and it became my mantra for the rest of that day. The following morning, I was watching a program on the “Food Network” which recreated the menus and provisions of war-time England. This was when I learnt that “Keep Calm and Carry on” was actually created and printed by the British Government in 1939 to instill confidence and strength in it’s nation. Seems it was never actually printed en-mass and forgotten about until someone discovered it in 2000 . Now it has been popularized internationally and can be found printed on everything from tea towels to tee-shirts.
Since every positive has a negative, like sukha and dukha in yoga, this image has now been reversed (as in the one above) and revived as well. You pick the one that rolls off your tongue and into your brain the best. My guess, it’s the one in the red……………
Sunday April 25th 2010 2-5PM
Yoga Moves, #120-1000 Roosevelt Cres. North Vancouver.
We will learn to take the confusion out of inversions and learn all the “upside-downs” of proper prop use, variations, and sequencing for poses such as shoulder stand, headstand, and plow pose. This will be a wonderful opportunity for you to build a safe and effective home-practice that will bring benefit and enjoyment to your Iyengar practice.
Cost is $40 and the workshop will be held at Yoga Moves, #120-1000 Roosevelt Cres. North Vancouver.
