Across the Universe

The Beatles' song "Across the Universe," is an old favorite but I never paid attention to the lyrics until I listened to Fiona Apple's version above.  Here are my favorite lines:

Sounds of laughter, shades of earth are ringing

Through my open ears inciting and inviting me

Limitless undying love which shines around me like a

Million suns and calls me on and on

Across the universe

Jai guru deva om

"Jai guru deva om" is Sanskrit meaning, "Hail to the divine guru".  Sigh, thanks John Lennon.

Hanuman Meditation

Taming the Monkey Mind:

Hanuman is represented by a monkey in Hindu mythology and he is a reminder to me of the expression we so often hear in yoga classes "the monkey mind".  The story of Hanuman tells us that the monkey mind can be tamed, our energy harnessed and used to serve the heart instead of the ego.  Learn more about Hanuman consciousness here.  

Yoga on the Mountain at Black Balsam

Thank you Andy Herod for the poster!

10:30 am Yoga Class at Black Balsam Knob, July 14
Come get squirrely with Kimberly Drye and Mackenzie Guerin, of Asheville Yoga Center and Lighten Up Yoga at Black Balsam, July 14th 10:30 a.m. We will meet at the trail head and hike up to the bald together. Bring a mat, and either a towel or sheet for under your mat, water, sunscreen, and a snack/lunch.

Blueberries (or huckleberries?) are in season and all over Black Balsam so consider bringing something to collect a bounty in after the hike. It will be hot, but it's usually cooler at Black Balsam than in Asheville. Skinny Dip Falls isn't far either and it's on the way back to town at Mile Marker 417. It's gonna be a beautiful day! 

Sign up for the event at the facebook event page.

Please feel free to email me with questions: kymdrye@gmail.com

Cost is $20, pay day of.  Rain check date will be announced on facebook page.  Please check day of event.
More information about Kim, Mackenzie and the event can be found on their websites:
http://www.herenowyoga.com/
http://www.mackenzieguerin.com/

Dive in

Today is Summer!

Great Buzzard

The Cherokee legend of how these mountains around Asheville were created is beautiful.  The Cherokee believe that at the beginning of time, all animals were Great Animals, giants who lived in the sky.  The Earth was covered with water.  One day the Great Water Beetle's curiosity drove him to dive beneath the water.  He brought up some mud.  The mud began to pile together.  While the ground was still wet, the giant Buzzard flew through the sky. 

 He grew tired as he approached the land of the Cherokee and began to sink down and fly closer to Earth.  His great wings swooped down and hit the Earth, creating a valley, and as they swooped back up they created the mountains we see today.

These mountains around Asheville are home for me.  My family is from here and their stories help define this place as home for me.  My grandparents met at the skating rink (where the Orange Peel is now) when they were teenagers.  Their parents raised them on biscuits and pork through the Great Depression.  

 (Asheville 1940s)

My grandfather is now buried in Candler, next to the tiny shack of a house he was raised in.  His childhood poverty left him, and his siblings, greedy and power-hungry later in life--joining country clubs and anxiously counting their millions made through the boom in the eighties.  It feels right for him to be right back where he started.  

My uncle owned a bar with sawdust on the floor on Lexington through the 70s, when Asheville was in a very serious period of decline. His wife was busty, crass, and still cusses like she's sitting on a barstool, as we sit in her living room and drink tea out of china bought from the flea market.  

 I'm proud of my family's stories, because they've taught me lessons of how to live my own life.  A new story over the same ground as their old.

 Perhaps the Great Buzzard in the Cherokee myth didn't create the mountains with his giant wings, but this story helped to shape the Cherokee's perception of the world they saw around them.  Perhaps they looked out on these mountains and saw that the Great Buzzard had made something majestic from the muddy ground.  Perhaps they saw that the beauty wasn't lessened because it was accidental.  From what I know of the Cherokee, they lived their lives this way, creating magic from the Earth and appreciating the accidents of nature.

 I can't choose where I'm from and who my family is, but I can chose the stories that define me.  And I choose to see the beauty in this great "accident" of life.  I choose to embrace the stories of my past and of my family and make them beautiful in my memory.  In this way the stories create me, but I create them as well.

Bear My Soul

Gone to Yoga

Extended

Working on some variations for Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose):

This one is great because you get the feeling of the full pose with a little help from the chair.  Feels awesome. 

This is a beginners variation with the elbow on the knee.  

This is helpful if you can find a friend to pull on the back thigh for you so you can experience the freedom of having the lift in the back leg.

Weekend Warriors

I started teaching a new class at Lighten Up Yoga (60 Biltmore Ave., Downtown Asheville NC). http://lightenupyoga.com/
  
Here's the class description:


Weekend Warrior Sundays 11:30-1
"An uplifting asana class focused on cultivating both confidence and a fun, easy spirit. Detailed instruction with a focus on alignment in a laid back, playful atmosphere. Detoxifying for the body and mind.  Bring a willingness to work hard while keeping a smile on your face."

Building Blocks

Below are variations of Virabhadrasana I and II, using a block.  The block and the variations are used to help isolate certain actions  within each pose to help you build a deeper understanding of each pose as it is broken down.   Come to my classes this week if you would like a deeper understanding of these asanas.

Putting your knee against a block against the wall in Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II) is a helpful way to teach yourself to keep the front knee stable.  It tends to want to turn in.  Try to keep the knee aligned with the second or third toe of your foot as you bend it forward. As the same time, the back knee turns out to face over the second or third toe of the back foot. It feels like you are turning both knees away from each other in the pose.  As the front knee turns out, scoop the buttocks of the front leg forward.  As the back knee turns out, press the buttocks of the back leg backwards and make sure the center of your inner thigh lines up with the center of your groin.  Keep your navel pulled in and your chest lifted.  

Press into the outside edge of your back foot and push the front knee into the block at the same time, so that you are moving in two directions at once, opening up horizontally.

As the front knee presses into the wall, pull your navel in and away from the front thigh and turn it towards the back leg.  Bringing the torso to face straight ahead.  Relax the shoulders and extend evenly from the center of your breastbone towards both sets of fingertips.  

There are plenty of other actions to focus on in this pose, but this helps with the horizontal extension.

The front knee against a block against a wall is also helpful to learn some key actions in Virabhadrasana I.  Pressing the front knee into the wall helps to emphasize the rebound action of then pulling your navel away from the wall and lifting it up towards the ceiling.  The block also helps to provide stability as you press into the outside of edge of the back foot and rotate the back inner thigh in towards the midline.  The back hip (in this picture the right hip) moves forward as the front hip (left in the picture) moves back.  With the steadiness the block provides, you can focus your energy on lifting the arms and the chest upwards away from the pelvis.  

Less Resolved

Twisted Connection

I have really enjoyed linking the actions of these two poses in my classes this last week: both are closed twists that use a chair for leverage.  


Marichyasana 3 variation with chair.



Pavrtta Parsvakonasana variation with chair