Due to a communication snafu this is late notice but…
a workshop is HAPPENING this Sunday, tomorrow, 6:30-9:30 PM, to Enhance Your Svasana (corpse pose)..ooo…what a way to celebrate the New Moon and begin that cycle with ease!

Albuquerque Stillpoint Workshops
Canada’s leading Craniosacral therapist, Robert F. Harris, will help you discover profound and rapid relaxation by engaging your ‘stillpoint’.  A stillpoint is a therapeutic technique from craniosacral therapy that instantly shuts down your stress cycle.  It allows your body’s restorative nervous system, the parasympathetics, to come into dominance and rebalance.

This workshop will be valuable for therapists, creative artists, individuals with contemplative practices such as yoga or meditation, and anyone dealing with the challenges of stress.

YOU WILL GO HOME WITH:

·      Feelings of unparalleled, absolute calm – the ultimate Shavasana

·      The ability to bring on your own stillpoint or to perform a stillpoint on others

·      Skills to transform and manage pain, stress and insomnia for yourself and others

·      An understanding of craniosacral therapy and this new stillpoint technique

·      A set of therapeutic Becalm Balls (retail value $30)

WHEN & WHERE:
Sunday April 3, 2011
6:30pm – 9:30pm
Yoga Now
215 Gold Ave., S.W., Abq.

COST: $75 (cost of the class includes a set of the BeCalm balls)

TO REGISTER: Please go to our online registration to sign up for workshops and courses.  If you are unable to register online, you may also contact us at 416-971-8674 OR send us an email at info@cranialtherapy.ca .

WHO: Robert Harris RMT, is a Craniosacral and Stress Expert and one of Canada’s leading therapists.  With his partner Alix McLaughlin, he is co-founder and director of the Cranial Therapy Centre (est.1987) in Toronto. It is Canada’s largest and longest-established CST centre.  With over 20 years of CST teaching experience and the developer of the Becalm Balls, Robert offers seminars within teaching hospitals, health clinics, yoga studios and corporate environments, alongside his full-time practice.

Greetings on this remarkably cold February beginning,

How cold is it? Too cold for chickens, I think. It is predicted to be below zero tonight and tomorrow. I decided my chickens, Gigi, Janice, Taffy and Dreamsicle, wouldn’t survive that drop and so brought them inside. They didn’t object at all when I reached inside their coop were they were roosting and huddling together. I wonder if egg production will improve? Life is such an experiment.

The media is full of yoga and meditation news.  I hope you are finding these reports inspiring, for example, did you read the article about how meditation actually changes the brain?  Here’s an excerpt:

The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/?scp=2&sq=meditation&st=cse

The idea that our brain changes can be measured and seen after just eight weeks of meditation is astonishing to me. I find, for myself, that meditation can be only 15 minutes and I feel the calming and clarifying effects the entire day, which is also astonishing.  And often when I’m confused about something in my life, if I begin the meditation with an intention of understanding the problem, the answer appears effortlessly to me during the sit. It is so easy to start – no need for worrying if you are doing it right or long enough – just start. Give yourself a break and nourishment, whenever you can fit it in!

Classes continue at YogaNow even with this daunting weather – roads downtown are open.  We welcome you.

many blessings and so much gratitude for you…and the warmth of our homes,

Meta.

Happy and Glorious New Year to you all,

As 2011 approaches, a new decade begins, and we are all given yet another opportunity to create, re-create, re-envision our lives, our ultimate work of art.  Yesterday I went to see monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery sand paint a spectacular mandala at a rug store in Sante Fe, SERET & SONS Rug Gallery, 121 Sandoval St.  This is free an is open to the public daily.

The Rinpoche spoke after the day’s work at 4:30 pm and he talked about how we are all equal, we all want to be happy, we all try to be happy, none of us wants to suffer. And we all create, with our minds, our world.  And our job is train our minds so that we can be happy. The monks then chanted in the amazingly deep and rich-throated vibration.  If you can make a trip to see this work, I think you will enjoy it.  On New Year’s Day it will be brushed away, reminding us of our impermanence.
The sand that is used is taken from stones that have been “prepared” by keeping them in a sacred cave and then removed for crushing. Below are some of the sand paint colors.

Below is  a small section of the nearly complete mandala, this one symbolizing prosperity and abundance.

You are invited to join together for a yoga class on New Year’s Day – 10 am – rejoicing in the beginning, sharing yoga and community (and even some nosh). I will play a recording of the monks chanting for the New Year’s Day class. Please join us.

Also, the lost and found will be taken to a charity this weekend so please check for your things.

I am deeply grateful to you all and for our shared space of yoga,
With love, passion for yoga and you, and the knowledge of our fleeting moments, like sand in the mandala,
Meta.

Thank you to the cosmic media who have recently offered two reviews of Vital Yoga: A Sourcebook for Students and Teachers:

LA Yoga

http://www.vitalyogathebook.com/home/reviews/la-yoga-december-2010/

and our own Local IQ

http://www.vitalyogathebook.com/home/reviews/local-iq-december-2010/

THANK YOU!

humbly and with great gratitude,

Meta.

Greetings and December Salutations!

I hope your holiday season is going so well and that you are able to find an inner peace in these sometimes raucous times.

I was recently interviewed by Lynn Thompson on Women’s Radio a web site with the mission

to provide sustainable communication models to women, minorities, and all stakeholders to speak-up and lead by example.

To hear the interview, click this link and leave a comment if you are so moved:
http://www.womensradio.com/episodes/Vital-Yoga-on-Purpose/7261.html

I’ve been in a baking mood and some of you have requested the recipes so the first is at the bottom of this post: Two-Tone Loaves which I served yesterday and two Sundays prior.

My baking mood is motivated by two impulses: One is to warm my kitchen with the scent of baking bread and the other is to honor one of the wonderful parts of my childhood.  It seems like we are all so good at knowing where are childhood was difficult and have plumbed the problems of our past (and clarity about our truth is important), and we are so much more than that.  So I wanted to honor some of the nourishing warmth of my past which included cooking with my mother and my grandmothers. I’ve also been wearing one of my grandmother’s outrageously gorgeous ring to remember her. Yoga teaches us that what we focus on gets bigger:  I’m thinking of more baking.

Two-Tone Loaves

4 cups unbleached flour
1/4 c sugar
3 teas salt
2 packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cup milk (I used vanilla soy milk yesterday)
1/4 c butter
1/4 c brown sugar (add hot water to make liquid)
1 1/2 – 2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 – 2 cups unbleached flour, set Oven to 350

In large mixer bowl combine 4 c flour, sugar, salt and dry yeast. In saucepan, heat milk and butter until milk is warm. Add to flour mixture.  Blend til moistened; beat 3 mins at medium speed.  Cover, let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size about 45 mins.  Stir down, place half in another large bowl.  By hand add brown sugar and whole wheat flour to half the yeast mixture to form a stiff dough.

Knead on well-floured surface until smooth and longer sticky about 3 minutes (this is the fun part!).  Set aside. By hand, add 1.5-2 cups of flour to remaining yeast mixture to form a stiff dough and knead until smooth and no longer sticky (more fun).  Divide each dough in half. Roll out each to a 12×6 in rectangle, place 1 dark rectangle on 1 light (or vice versa like yesterday’s). Roll up tightly, seal edges and ends, please seam-side down in well-greased cookie sheet.  Repeat with other two rectangles.

Cover, let rise in warm place until light and double in size,about 1 hour.  Bake 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  cool. enjoy! (from Pillsbury’s Bake Off Breads Cook Book, 1968)

May your days be nourishing with food, memory and experience,

with love and blessings,
namaste,
Meta.

Happy Thanksgiving to you ALL!

This national holiday is a terrific opportunity to count our blessings, and seriously, the community of YogaNow, the students who come to class, the students who want to come to class, the students who read the blogs and live near and far, and our wonderful teachers, you are all my blessings and I thank you.  There is one class on Thanksgiving, 10 am with Robin.

I want to offer gratitude for more and start a list…perhaps you will start your own…

I am grateful for:

• This community of yogis at YogaNow who have become my family, and I know I’ve promised a blog with the recipes for the recent Sunday morning treats – Poppy seed Coffee Cake and Whole wheat/white bread – and that will come in a later post, I promise!
• The fourth (seriously, really?) award for Vital Yoga received Friday night as a Winner in the Health category from the New Mexico Book Award.
• The many many uses of old yoga mats (another blog soon to come, will be a vlog actually)- here’s an example:  My daughter in rainy Northern CA had a car window that wouldn’t close, yoga mat to the rescue, works like a charm:
• The sound of the chickens in the morning
• That amazing FULL moon this week
• Calvin Coolidge, believe it or not, because of his words that inspire me to keep on going:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

• The crazy funny stuff the web offers, like this site where people offer all kinds of services for $5http://www.fiverr.com/
• As well as wonderfully inspiring words from the great sages of our tradition as in this site from Eknath Easwaran: http://www.easwaran.org/page/220

May your holidays be nourishing, inside and out!  and don’t forget you can always do some Thanksgiving Yoga with your clan, this vlog from last tday:

With love and enormous hugs all around,

Meta.

Effort and Effortlessness: The Wild Geese

The October/November issue of Whole Life Times has just published my article on a Whole Life Approach to Asthma.  You can read it online http://www.sopdigitaledition.com/wholelifetimes/#/20/

and below.

If you suffer from lung constriction or you know someone who does, please pass this along!

Many blessings and deep, full and wide breaths for all, Love, Meta.

Greetings and Sweet September Partings, October arising,

As part of the 2010 New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival Anne Lamott spoke this past Tuesday at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe.  She was funny and moving and finally, uplifting.  Asked how she “works” her life so that she manages to be so prolific, here are a few notes from her response:

I say “no” a lot. “No” is a complete sentence.  I’m really careful what I say yes to and I do many fundraisers a year for good causes. I don’t talk on the phone (okay if someone really needs me, I will). I don’t do social meals with chit chat. I have a dinner date once a week with a best friend, see my family, another date once a week with a close friend. My community [which seemed to be largely her church] supports me and I know with their help, I can get through anything life dishes my way. I don’t diet as a radical act.

When Anne spoke about her supportive community, I was reminded of our Sankalpa Sangha last Sunday evening. It was a warm and loving group gathering with delicious food and awake company. I look forward to our next Sangha for the Solstice in December and our next monthly puja October 8th. May we all know from our hearts how we spend our time most happily and find that simple sentence of “no” when needed.

I am honored to be included in the New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival and will be giving a presentation, No Time for Yoga, Take Yoga Everywhere this Saturday at 2:30 pm.  You are most welcome to attend this free event at the New Mexico History Museum on the Santa Fe Plaza.  There are many other authors and artists speaking, here’s the event listing: http://www.newmexicocreates.org/press.php?id=6

Small detail – a few of you have mentioned the font size is too small to read so this is now larger, is it easier to read for you?

Many blessings and smiles all around,

Meta.

Greetings and Salutations as the Seasons begin to Slide,

I’ve been thinking about the difference between batch and continuous operations lately.  It started when I was in a limited time frame for getting out the door to teach.  I was watching the clock in minutes to be sure I was on time and got the essentials done, like eating and putting on clothes, the basics.  And so in that 15 minute period I was aware of minutes.  And then, without  much forethought, I went to my computer to just “quickly” check emails. Okay it’s true I have more emails accounts than most people have fingers and that is another quirk of my life, but when I was done with a very peripheral check, six minutes had elapsed.  I mean,  I didn’t even respond to anything.  And six minutes of my 15 minutes were gone.  I was shocked at the time the task took.

And I thought to myself, Batch It, Hirschl.  Just do email once or twice a day, don’t do it as continuous flow.  This sort of thinking goes back to my days in manufacturing supervising, one of my many work incarnations.

When I was in the Brewing division of Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and making beer, it was most definitely a batch process, meaning the workers sat around a lot and checked temperatures and opened valves occasionally.  I supervised and also was required to be on the QA taste test panel to check that the beer was good before moving on.  This wasn’t exactly hard labor.

Contrast this to the bottling line where the bottles and cans go by continually as our ‘batched’ beer flows through pipes to the mechanized line.  Hey, there was no doubt which was a better job, besides the inherent fun in making beer (seriously foam might just overflow from fermenters right down into the streets of Miller Valley and then baby, the plant manager was in your face).

So now I’m seeing choices in email and other activities:  what can I group together and waste less time, and what do I do on a continual basis, like, well, how about:  taking a breath, pausing and smiling.

Speaking of choices, I had the occasion to drive through Texas recently, to attend a 50th wedding anniversary of my Aunt and Uncle, a celebratory event especially in these days of fragile marriages. Driving through Muleshow, Texas I noticed the MacDonald sign in the picture, which I’m sure is in Albuquerque too, but somehow when I travel I see differently. It recommended a new bacon cheese snack wrap.  When I went inside the store, I talked with the friendly clerk who let me know it is one of the new healthy snacks.  Well, I must have a different idea of healthy.

So my idea of healthy and worth recommendation:   I came home to harvest some eggplant and basil to make an Eggplant Parmesean meal, which in my humble opinion was scrumptious (if you want the recipe, please leave a comment and I’ll put it in my next blog).  This is the picture that made my eyes sparkle:  

FINALLY, don’t forget the GONG BATH this Sunday, August 29 at 7:30 pm.

Sending you big hugs, smiles and hopes for fresh yummy food, for anyone’s garden,

namaste,

Meta.