Archive for satya

Happy 2021! New classes; Yogic Thoughts on DC Insurrection

Photo by Melissa Elstein

Dear Friends and Family,

Wishing you and your loved ones all the very best for the New Year! What a previous turbulent year we have all experienced, and during just this first week of January 2021 the turbulence has continued. I had written here another New Year’s greeting, and was about to hit the “send” button when today’s historic, disgraceful and criminal attack on the Capitol showed up on my email alerts, and I (like most of you, no doubt) spent the rest of the day watching the news with horror and disgust. So I deleted my original text, which no longer seemed at all relevant, and am starting over as I struggle to digest the day’s events. Unfortunately, I cannot say that the storming of the Capitol by Trump’s desperate and unhinged followers completely surprised me given the recent similar attack on the Michigan legislature in April and the October kidnapping plot against that State’s Governor. Today’s events were additionally foreshadowed by the images of white supremacists marching in the streets of Charlottesville in 2017 bearing torches and like today Confederate flags, as well as Trump’s invitation to the violent Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during the September Presidential debates. In recent years, images of mobs comprised of hateful, angry people have unfortunately become too commonplace in this country. Many of us have rightfully been concerned about the peaceful transition of Presidential power and the protection of the rule of law after experiencing four-plus years of the dangers of Trumpism, and with only two more weeks left before the Biden-Harris inauguration, the intensity of our concerns is increasing.

As yogis and spiritual seekers, how can we make sense of these turbulent times in which we are living? Unfortunately, I do not have the answer but I find myself asking that question quite often. In past newsletters, I have discussed the Yoga Sutras, an ancient text that has many relevant sections to this day, especially the yamas and niyamas (ethical and moral prescriptions on how to conduct our inner and outer lives). One of the most important Yoga Sutras principles is “ahimsa” which means non-harming to others and oneself; the prohibition from causing physical and psychological pain, and instead the active engaging in loving thoughts and actions; and the “absence of violence in physical, mental and emotional forms.” http://www.yogapedia.com  Clearly, what I described in the previous paragraph are acts performed with the opposite intention of ahimsa. In 2021, five thousand years after the drafting of the Yoga Sutras, we still observe so much hatred and violence in our society, both political and non-political. In order to reduce such negativity, yogis examine our thoughts, words and actions as a daily practice, and understand that engaging in ahimsa is the ultimate societal and inner goal. When we understand that we can intellectually disagree with our political opponents without making them the enemy, we can engage in an elevated level of discourse which does no harm to others nor ourselves. As a society, we must learn to separate the disagreement of ideas from the demonizing of the proponent of those ideas. In a modern society that often seems to reward the bully, with his rage tweeting and other forms of violence, it may feel somewhat old-fashioned to engage in civilized discourse. But in taking the higher road, we raise ourselves up and demonstrate to others non-violent communication. What we each think, say and do not only affects us individually but also has a cumulative ripple effect as well. So our personal actions are important not just for our soul growth and personal evolution, but also because they help move society in one direction or another.  We each have the choice as to which direction that will be – towards a more enlightened society or one that devolves into chaos and violence.   

So how do the movement forms of yoga fit into this discussion? With our sustained practice of slow, mindful movement and breathing practices (pranayama), we learn to observe ourselves with honesty (satya), curiosity, and non-criticism. Our yoga and meditation practices help calm our nervous systems, and allow us to become less reactive and more reflective. With practice, we find those positive qualities surfacing more often in our lives outside of class, creating more expansiveness in the time in which we react to others, thus reducing the likelihood of a violent response in word or action. We are all on this path together, and I look forward to exploring these themes and more with you in 2021, but hoping as well that the disturbing actions we observed today in DC will not be repeated again.

Please see my schedule for all my offerings in January 2021, including new classes, descriptions and a change for the sign-up option for my Friday noon class (which will now be hosted on my personal Zoom account). Thank you for your support of my teachings!    

June Telephone & Zoom Yoga & Qigong/Tai Chi Easy™ Classes; Spiritual Thoughts on These Turbulent, Historical Times

 I hope this email finds you safe and well. We are in the midst of much planetary upheaval, with multiple "once in a lifetime" type of events happening concurrently and with much intensity. It can all feel overwhelming, scary, depressing, anger-inducing, to name a few emotions. However, the message is clear: society must change for the better if we are all to survive and thrive on our one Earth home.

 The start of this new decade has been beyond turbulent. Going into 2020 we understood that this was the last decade to confront and curtail climate change to prevent its most devastating, runaway effects. Yet massive forest fires (some due to manmade illegal deforestation) raged across the globe in places such as California, Australia, the Amazon rainforests, and Indonesia. Then the global pandemic followed, likely stemming from a Chinese "wet market" at which wild and often poached animals are sold for food and medicine, either illegally or with insufficient governmental regulations. These markets have long been criticized for animal welfare and potential human health issues. However, consumer demand continues to create a reduction of biodiversity and wilderness areas throughout the planet as humans have encroached further into the forests. If the health effects of the pandemic were not worrisome enough, with over 400,000 worldwide deaths and 7 million cases as of today, the mandated social distancing/shutdown rules have led to economic turmoil and massive unemployment levels - numbers we have not seen since the Great Depression. As businesses began to prepare for a slow reopening, traumatic videos of unarmed black men being killed by current and former white police officers went viral, and were the final straw for our nation that was originally built on a racist legacy of white European domination over and the murder of Native Americans and African slaves. So entrenched was slavery, that only after a brutal Civil War, and approximately 100 years after our Declaration of Independence had declared that "all men are created equal" with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, was slavery abolished. Yet, we know racism (and sexism) and white supremacy movements have remained very much a fixture of life in the United States (and elsewhere) to the present day. This past week has seen marches for racial justice in numbers not seen since the 1960s, and due to social media connectivity, international marches in solidarity never experienced before. The status quo is being challenged in all respects, and revealing the many ways in which our "normal, business as usual" is harmful and unjust.   

 Tragically, "I can't breathe" is the mantra of 2020 so far - chokeholds, neck restraints, pepper spray and tear gas choke our populace; the respiratory-borne coronavirus attacks our lungs; mandatory mask wearing inhibits our breath; lockdowns and quarantines have kept us inside apartments with reduced access to fresh air; fires and smog have polluted our air and exacerbated asthma, which in turn make us more vulnerable to Covid-19; anxiety, fear and panic constrict our muscles of respiration; and worry makes us hold our breath. As practitioners of yoga and qigong, we know breath is prana, qi, life force energy. Breath is all. We all deserve to breathe.

 How can we utilize our spiritual practices to help us individually during these challenging times, and improve our society as a whole? I certainly don't have all, or many, of the answers to such a complicated, layered crises, but I always hope to be of some service to others (which I find also uplifts myself). As a yoga teacher, we talk about breathing throughout the class. Physically in yoga class, we learn how to deepen and manipulate the breath through different yoga poses, breathing exercises and deep relaxation, keeping the lung tissue healthy and the accessory breathing muscles toned. Slowing and deepening the breath in a mindful practice relaxes our nervous system, releases healing hormones in the body, and helps to focus the mind away from repetitive worrisome thoughts. We coordinate breathing with our movements in an individualized practice even in a group class. Using visualizations, we send the energies of our breath to areas of our bodies, such as muscles, organs, glands and blood cells. With intention, we breathe in the positive and exhale out the negative. Physiologically, we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon, in a reciprocal relationship with our environment - the trees which convert carbon into oxygen. 

 In our spiritual studies, we learn that all is one, that we are energetically connected to one another and to all parts of the web of life, and that our actions create karma (consequences). We learn that our true, deeper selves are not our bodies, emotions or thoughts but rather we are immortal energies or souls in temporary muscular-skeletal vessels learning life lessons on this Earth plane. We are not defined by our skin colors or genders. Our lessons are both individual and collective, interwoven as we all progress towards higher ideals through lifetimes. In yoga practice, to assist us with our spiritual lessons, the Yoga Sutras (one of the most ancient yoga treatises) espouse numerous moral and ethical principles for living a peaceful life and creating a peaceful society, such as ahimsa (non-violence in action, speech, and thought), satya (truthfulness; seeking truth; honesty; non-lying), and asteya (non-stealing; generosity; charity; non-greed). These principles are applied to oneself and to our relationships to one another and the Earth. As we navigate our way through the myriad of crises we are currently experiencing, I hope that the physical, spiritual and ethical teachings of yoga and other spiritual practices can bring us some comfort at this complicated time, and help to advance us to a kind, healthy, equitable, and just future. 

I was very inspired and wanted to share with you this beautiful video of some “Moments of Kindness and Solidarity During George Floyd Protests”:
https://youtu.be/dTypsyd3rvs


Although my in-person classes at Dorot for Seniors, Integral Yoga Institute, and the Children’s Dance Program at Steps on Broadway have been cancelled until further notice, my Dorot University of Walls telephone series continues through the end of August. I have years of experience teaching seated qigong and Chair Yoga over the phone, combined with meditation and visualizations, and I find this medium works very well – especially if you already have experience with those modalities. My in-person Chair Yoga, Qigong and Tai Chi Easy™ fusion classes for Integral Yoga and the Dorot Center for Seniors are now Zoom classes. See below for more details on these classes and descriptions, as there are differences between the two online classes. Please email me any questions you may have about my teaching schedule, and I would also love to hear from you with the sincere hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well.

                Photo by Melissa Elstein