Free From Time

If you are like me, you frequently feel there isn't enough time for all you want to do. What I find fascinating and downright irresistible about Yoga is that ultimately we are able to transcend time, in a big way.

I don't just mean Yoga's claim that inversions reverse the aging process. (For Marco Rojas' Inversion workshop in February, see sidebar!) What I mean is much more basic and elemental.

Verse 1.1 of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: "Atha Yoganushasanam" is usually translated "Now begins the practice of Yoga." But it can also mean: "Yoga is the practice of Now." Yoga trains us to live in the ever-eternal present, free from the continuum of past-present-future.

This is such a central teaching in world faiths. "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment" taught the Buddha. "Don’t worry about tomorrow" said Jesus, Matthew 6:34. Again, "Before Abraham was born, I Am."~John 8:58. He did not say "I was"; he said "I AM." The eternal present is where God dwells. It's where meditation and prayer can take us, briefly, or, for dedicated practitioners, more and more constantly.

The practice of being present in each moment, not tethered to future anticipation or worry, past longing or regret, affects not only our spirit, but our immune system, aging, and healing processes.

It explains why Socrates, the old guru in Dan Millman's "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" says he is ninety-six, "by your time." He's not an extra-terrestrial. He's an extra-dimensional. He dwells in the present moment. This "present" exists outside of "our" linear timeline. Living there lightens time's drag on the spirit and body.

Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now" describes the lighter effect of time upon bodily cells when we live "in the now," in his chapter "The Inner Body." I excerpt a paragraph, at sidebar. There is much more in that chapter.

THE YOGA SUTRAS

Valentine Yoga

♥♡♥ Wow. Valentines Day is on a weekend and on a Sunday no less! Plus, it is Chinese New Year's the same day! Come see your favorite Chinese person ♥♡♥ ~ or BRING your favorite Chinese person! ♥♡♥

Valentine's Day celebrates love, and so does Yoga, from "Yuj" in Sanskrit meaning to unite or yoke, whence we derive "Union."

This Valentine weekend, love and Yoga unite in partner yoga workshops all over the five boroughs, some for couples only, some for yogis to come alone or with a friend. Check one out at your favorite studio or with your favorite teacher! I have four, between Friday and Sunday night! Please see sidebar, or my website, for locations and flavors. Treat yourself, with or without a partner. Give and receive loving-kindness through breath and touch, through partner poses and through Thai massage.

♥♡♥

MARY'S WORKSHOPS

Lululemon Window Flying

"Mom, mom, I wanna grow up to be ~ a flying mannequin!" Don't think I ever actually said that, but I knew I grew up dreaming of flight.

It's certainly a pleasure to perform AcroYoga® flying flows while watching street scenes, viewing Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center or the Flatiron Building upside-down as I'm wont to do these past two years!

It's fun watching pedestrians stop, smile, gawk, applaud, and whip out their cameras too.

Saturday, February 6th, if you walk by the Lincoln Square Lululemon store at 64th and Broadway, between 2-4PM, glance at the window. And if you'd like to fly in the window, step inside and ask to sign a waiver, to be flown by the crazy joyful Acroyogis in the window.

Future flying dates are to be found at the Events page in my website!

MARY'S EVENTS

AcroYoga®: High Union

Yes, I'll admit it, I love Yoga. I love teaching Restorative like I loved being pregnant and nursing my newborn. I love vinyasa flow like biking free through winding roads. I love AcroYoga® flows like becoming the birds I dreamt of being as a child; and becoming the wind that enables others to become free birds as well.

In 2007 I had been practicing Yoga 12 years and teaching it full-time 5 years, when I took an AcroYoga® Foundations workshop. My Yoga uplifted, upturned, and took on heights of new power and joy. In 2008 I became AY® certified, one of 120 AcroYoga® teachers worldwide, a "tight" global community that loves to train, learn and teach joyfully with one another, year 'round.

For local or global listings of AcroYoga® see their central website. There is a community page for New York City. You can click on a point on the world map and see what classes or workshops are nearest. And you can find any AY® teacher under their "Instructors" list. For even more Acro connections, Reply to me. A few upcoming AY® offerings are at sidebar, FYI.

ACROYOGA WEB SITE

Haitian Help

My AcroYoga® teacher friend Jean-Jacques is a new father and a shining soul who teaches Yoga in prisons among other gifts of love. He was born in Haiti. He writes of his 80-year-old grandmother, and his cousin, opening their still-standing house to feed and care for devastated neighbors. Jean-Jacques shares five grassroots NGOs, non-government organizations, that directly aid locals. He urges us when donating, to research our choices, for maximum benefit to the people, and not just the infrastructures with the power to solicit funds.

http://www.shelterbox.org/
sends aid boxes with water purifiers, tents, blankets, some food, and other emergency materials, even including a small child friendly package.

http://yele.org/
is Wyclef Jean's organization, one of the most trusted by Haitians, rooted in culturally rich community empowerment.

http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Haiti-message-from-the.html
is an organization with a history of work in Haiti rooted in having Haitians direct their education and development.

http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
Partners in Health is Paul Farmer's organization with 20 years experience providing healthcare to Haitians.

http://bassinzim-edf.org/
is a seed-saving organization helping to empower local farmers in rural Haiti to feed themselves.

Photo Thanks; Privacy; Reply; Forward

Thanks this issue for photos to: Lululemon Athletica Lincoln Square, Greg Franklin, Andy Eisner, Becky Hahn, Jake Brenner, Metta Murdaya, Brian Yuen, Wendy Louie, Mitch Gerbus, Maren Hill, Laura Clarke, Monica Alethea Lee and friend, Kristina Cubrilo, Shelterbox.org, Nikki Borodi, Joy Radish, Sam Prestidge, Matt Giordano, Greg Ciresi, Guy Hubbard, Audrey Judy Tobias Davis, Jaimie Shaff, Herb Zoota, Michael Baer, and any others!

I value your privacy, and I do not share email lists. I love extending Sangha, community, through ENewsletter updates and I invite you to Reply, Forward, or Unsubscribe at any time.

May your walk be present and joyous. Shanti.
Mary

MARY YOGA WEBSITE

In This Issue:

Inverting with Marcos

Do inversions reverse aging? I dunno, but I'm upside down a lot, and I feel like a five-year-old! Marco Rojas repeats his successful Inversions workshop February 20 at Pure Yoga Eastside with a support team aiding students to free themselves from their fears of inverting.

INVERSIONS: MARCO ROJAS

Energetic "Inner Body"

Teaching Zenyasa over the holidays, I explored Eckhart Tolle's "inhabiting the inner body" technique with students ~ feeling the energetic light body within our physical body. Consider this fascinating Tolle excerpt when you think about Dan Millman's book's "Socrates" character and his seeming agelessness: "ninety-six years old, in your time."

"When you become identified more with the timeless inner body than with the outer body, when presence becomes your normal mode of consciousness and past and future no longer dominate your attention, you do not accumulate time anymore in your psyche and in the cells of the body. The accumulation of time as the psychological burden of past and future greatly impairs the cells' capacity for self-renewal. So if you inhabit the inner body, the outer body will grow old at a much slower rate, and even when it does, your timeless essence will shine through the outer form, and you will not give the appearance of an old person.

"Is there any scientific evidence for this? ... Try it out and you will be the evidence." (Pp. 122-3)

I invite you to feel for and inhabit your Inner Body, on the mat, in your meditation seat, and in your life walk .... Be the evidence.

THE POWER OF NOW

Peaceful Warriors

In his simple tale of a college jock who takes the path of enlightenment, Dan Millman acknowledges that nothing he's teaching is new; but rather retold to remind yet another generation of some timeless teachings. Dan Millman's "Peaceful Warrior" books, lectures, film, and retreats, have been the first step into a journey of self-discovery for many modern warriors.

WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR

My Acro Playground

Come play with me and playmates Thursday nights 7PM at beautiful Pure West with luxe lounges, showers and steam! Great single class and 4-pack rates, just for AcroYoga®!

PURE WEST THURS EVE

Om Factory

My "Acro 101: Sweaty & Sweet" workshop at Om Factory rocked so sweet, I'd love to do more 101's, 202's, 303's there! Watch for them ~ and for Acrobatic workshops from visiting European teachers Tobias Frank and Jaqui Wan in Spring.

Next week begins senior AcroYoga® teacher Adam Rinder and Kathryn Ulrich's awesome 4-week February Acrobatic series, Wednesdays 7-9:30PM. Sign up below for the series if you meet the pre-requisites!

Chris Loebsack teaches Open level AcroYoga® Friday nights 7:15, followed first Friday of each month by Acro Jam! See you there.

OM FACTORY NYC

BE MY VALENTINE

Here are my Valentine gifts. Studio links below.

1) 7:15-9:15 Friday 2/12: Partner Yoga/Thai Massage. Pure East. Come alone or with a partner.

2) 1-3PM Saturday 2/13: Yoga & Love, with Becca Krauss. YogaWorks SoHo. Bring a partner.

3) 2-4PM Sunday 2/14: Couples Yoga/Thai Massage. Pure West. Healthy beverages follow. Bring a partner.

4) 7-9PM Sunday 2/14: Couples Yoga/Thai 'N Fly, with Becca Krauss. Om Factory. Wine & chocolate to follow. Bring a partner.

MY WORKSHOPS