Self Merged With SELF
My week's Redefining Balance retreat in Rincon, Puerto Rico was a rest for my mind and a growth spurt for my soul, with the body and spirit simply serving as a channel for learning.
Living in Nature, the first thing I noticed: my daily morning Ashtanga that I began in early December now takes in the sky, surf, flora and fauna, so I am simultaneously in the exact same center that I am when I practice daily in my living room and at: the JFK boarding gate prior to flight, the mysore studio, or on the grassy lawn before the waves of our private beach. All those "rooms" are now catalogued and present with me whenever I roll out my mat; I am alone; I am in, with, all and everything.
I experience the same profound message during Kadri Kurgun's beautiful yoga for surfers class. When we are one with nature, he reminds us, "the mind drops away, and we are just awareness, body, spirit." We feel this with the ocean when we surf. We feel it with our bodies and breath on the yoga mat if we listen for it. We feel it in partner acrobatics when we listen in with sensitivity. We feel it on the rock face; on a slackline.
What we feel is the ancient yogic wisdom, that we are each a wave on the ocean, while thinking ourselves separate, in actuality we are essential, intrinsic to the ocean.
If we allow ourselves to receive and accept that union of "Self" to our "self" there is more rest for the mind. There is more peace for body and soul. There is more access to healing, exterior and interior. And you surf better! And enjoy all those mind-body-spirit balance states better. They are, after all, all states of achieving meditation: Mind drops away, living in sheer Awareness, Body, spirit.
May we all, in this new year, find the simultaneous merging and presence of the Self with our self, in our yoga practice, and find the simultaneous presence of our own center, and every beauteous place yoga may ever take us, has ever taken us.
Om shanti!
Redefining Balance: Adi & Kadri
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Movable Ashram
My life is a daily trek that I look on as an exciting challenging adventure race. My teammates are my assistants, students, studios, fellow teachers, friends and family members.
What keeps it centered is the moveable ashram that is my moving temple: shrine, caretaker, spirit. That is body, mind, soul.
"Ashram" from the Sanskrit "ramati" toil, penance, austerity, defines a "usually secluded residence of a religious community and its guru." I have referred to our mats as our portable ashrams, in class, and I maintain that it is possible to have not only an urban ashram right in a yoga room within your gym or studio, but right in your shoes.
"Mobile Ashram" may sound like a downloadable app, but I feel like it is my urban life! A personal practice, both AM and PM, to reset you, whether you do 10 or 90 minutes, solo or led, can set a retreat structure for your day. Then, your treks through the city, working, learning, traveling, can be a part of your retreat day. The whole day can feel meditative, like part of your interior practice. Even gregarious sharing can all be part of your personal portable ashram experience.
Adventure Races in the Wild
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Winter Schedule Snapshot
Here is my schedule overview. The events are listed separately in sidebar at right, with links to each for details and registration.
*Sunday Slackline Series, Brooklyn Boulders:
Jan 20, 4-6PM
Feb 10, 3-5PM
Mar 10, 3-5PM
May 5, 3-5PM
*Retreat in Bethel, NY:
Feb 1-3 Winter Wonderland
*Restorative Workshops:
Feb 16 Valentine's 4:30-6:30pm
May 11 Mother's Day 3-5pm
*Restorative Teacher Training, Pure East:
Feb 22-March 3, Fri's-Sun's, 2 weekends
*Weekly Classes, Pure East & West:
M~10:30 Slow Flow Meditation, ES
T~12:30 Restorative, ES
Th~11:00 YinYang, WS
Th~5:30 Vinyasa, ES
F~10:30 Chakra Slow Flow, WS
F~5:30 Restorative, ES
*Om Factory Flight School:
M~ 5:30-7 Acrobatic Flying Basics
M~ 7:15~8:45 Jedi 1 Intermediate Flying Transitions Series ~ January: Spinners!
Sat 1/26 ~ Winter Acro Jam, 2-5PM
Click on my web page link below for schedule with hyperlinks; that page will always be current and you can go to it any time at:
www.maryaranas.com
My Web Schedule
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Slackline Series at BKB
Learn to kneel, stand, sit, arm balance, & lie down on the line. Try an inversion! It's all possible and mind-opening; great core conditioning, and conditioning for the mind, too!
1/20 & Future Slackline Classes |
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Winter Wonderland Feb 1-3
My Winter Wonderland Weekend Retreat in Bethel, NY is fast approaching! Click on link to the registration page, below. You can read more & see more pictures too, from the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/maryaranasyoga
Wagging Tail Yoga Winter Retreat |
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Valentine's Restorative Feb 16
What better way to love yourself on Valentine's Week than go inward with two hours of blissful Restorative Yoga, pleasuring your five senses and balancing your seven chakras while resting fully supported on bolsters and blankets in restorative yoga postures?
Enjoy my meditations and scents and sounds and the loving care of my assistant team and myself. Gift of a doTerra essential oil for every guest. All levels welcome, & loved.
Feb 16 Restorative: Pure East |
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Restorative Teacher Training
My signature Mother Mary Restorative Yoga Teacher Training is for yoga teachers and anyone seeking to find rest for body and spirit through a restful yoga practice for oneself and for the world. It takes place over two weekends at Pure East and encompasses 10 days' membership at Pure to encourage attendance at the weekly Restorative classes of all teachers. It includes a Certificate of Completion, Mother Mary's Restorative Yoga Teacher Training Manual, and 30 hours of CEU continuing education credit for registered teachers. Read more by following the links.
Mother Mary Training |
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Photo Thanks; Privacy; Reply; Forward!!
This issue most of the photos are from my iPhone. Photo thanks in addition to Chris Martucci & Amanda Nash, and to Geri Roucaute pictured in Sleepy Slacker, and Chris Martucci basing on the rock and in the cave.
Your email privacy is honored and I do not share email lists. Please feel free at any time to Forward, Reply, or Unsubscribe.
If you received this ENews via a friend's Forward, feel free to Subscribe to receive future months' issues, that will let you know where / what I'm up to, yogically, in the world at large!
Shanti! Enjoy surfing your self within the Self! Know that all our adventures and challenges are but to meet the inner crags to climb, waves to ride, demons to tame and to surf upon! Expect the best, assume the best, impute the best, in yourself and in others. Forgive, enjoy, love! And see you up on that board, that rock, that line, those feet; on your mat!
Ommmmmmm Shantih! Peace! Till next month's update. Ommmmmmary
My Facebook Yoga Page |
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