Message from beneath the Moon Tree

I'm hanging out under the Moon Tree, breathing, listening to the tulips grow . . . soon, soon there will be blooms. After such a bountiful season of snow, can we not expect a profusion of growth?

Stuff to consider:

1) Yoda Nidra (Integrated Rest, Yoga Sleep)will be held every last friday of the month, starting in April. This class is truly an easy way to enter into sacred rest and heal from the inside out. Classes will most likely be at 5:30 or 6 pm. Cost $15.
2) I will start up a class, "Women, Weight and Body Image," to act as a support group. These workshops will be an exploratory examination of why those of us who are fat--or perceived as being so--carry too much weight, make unhealthy choices, and live from the neck up, either ignoring our bodies, or comparmentalizing to such an extent that we don't see ourselves anymore. We will discuss our experiencs with dieting and how this process has made us fatter. We will also examine the cult around dieting and how, where, when and why this has altered our awareness and sensibility. We will look even deeper into the void we try to fill with food.

I'm considering a 4 week class on Saturday mornings for about 3 hours a class. The first hour will be dedicated to talking, venting, crying, screaming and listening. This hour will also incorporate journaling, and some art therapy. The second hour will be all about our bodies: how to listen, respect, accept and honor the body we have. We will do guided meditations with specific themes that illustrate and invite us to go to the source of our fat on a cellular level. (I will reference data from the book, "Molecules of Emotions" by Candace Pert, Phd.) This second hour will also include poses that not only stretch but challenge us to be conscious of our bodies. As always, breathwork will be a component of everything--discussion, meditations, poses and resting. The third hour will include restorative poses with directed breathing,and a yoga nidra class structured around body image.

As we progress through each workshop, and successive weeks, each participant will be invited to suggest themes, ask questions, share and express.We will have homework: readings, writing assignments, art projects to continue, meditations to practice at home and at least one full meal of conscious and mindful eating.

The total workshop experience will cost $35 for each 3-hour session, $140 for the 4 weeks. If paid in advance, the cost will drop to $120. If paid in 2 payments, each payment will be discounted $5, so two payments of $65 totalling $130. If you pay for each session at a time, it will be the full price, $35. I am requiring a commitment for the entire 4-week session, and I will ask each person to sign a contract with themselves and others promising confidentiality and a willingness to be present (in all senses of the word.)

There, I've presented my ideas. If you have any comments, suggestions, additions, concerns, etc., please leave a comment or email me @ yogalena@aol.com.

Abundance,
Ma'lena

Snow, Moon Salutation and, um, more snow.

Welcome. Had enough of snow? Let's celebrate the Full Moon on February 20th. Class will be at 6 pm and the cost is $15.

I've been in Spokane about 22 years and this is the first winter I ever recall being up to my neck in snow. Since I live on a hill, we have some challenges getting in and out of our neighborhood. Everyone does. Every time I pull out of my driveway I prepare for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Yeehaw!

The studio was closed from Sunday, January 27th until Sunday, February 3rd when I taught a lovely and lively Stretch and Restore. We're open so bring your tired, your sore and your aching body into the studio and let's stretch and play.

Thank you for your patience.

Abundance,
Ma'lena

A New Year!

Welcome to the New Year! A New Session!

Shall we resolve to do anything? Why do we wait until this turning of the great wheel to look deep within for fortitude and resolve? Can we not ask this of ourselves all the time?

Just wondering, just offering things to ponder--for myself, for you, if anyone is reading this.

I'm offering a few things I'd like to resolve in the year of 2008:

1. Decrease my dependence on sugar. Please and thank you. Less sweet; always sweet enough.
2. Sit on the fitball and bounce and bounce and bounce my rolls away. Crunch the junk.
3. Be more temperate of disposition. Oh, who am I kidding? I am such a cranky old hag.
4. Keep the piles of paper organized, filed and contained. I crave containment of the chaos created by my acquisition of paper. What is it with paper. It seems to expand and divide, expand and divide--endlessly. Come on Kindle (see below.)
5. Um, the usual: lose weight, get rich, get fit, get lucky, get happy, get a new iPod, flatscreen TV, more stuff, toys, books, music, jewelry, paper and ink.

Okay, here's an alternative list of things I might also resolve to accomplish over the next year:

1. Work more actively for peace on Earth and beyond (inner and outer.)
2. Live authentically and with integrity.
3. Be more diligent in my yoga practice.
4. Actively aspire to create a smaller carbon footprint (how PC is that, especially from someone who used to hate recycling!)
5. Keep this webpage up to date because I know everyone out there is hankering for blogspittle from me.

Enough for now, not enough for later,
Ma'lena

Benediction

One of my students emailed this to me yesterday after hearing of the assassination:

Benizar Bhutto was "just a real woman" with the heart of a lion. She
loved the principles of democracy and human rights as much as she
loved her people. She studied at Harvard. She knew what these words
mean because she saw us living these principles. It is better to
light a candle than to curse the darkness. The men in her country
who do not value these principles killed her; because they have
power. Is compassion without action simply indulgence? When the men
in this country with power cease fighting to defend democracy and
human rights, then we will suffer Benizar's fate. Except we will
only be "just real women" with the hearts of mice. Are there so many
countries in this world where democracy and human rights prevail that
we can afford to watch one be still-born? The mother was killed;
perhaps the child will survive. Freedom or Freedumb?

Feel free to reprint it and pass it on. I'm going to email it to all
my women friends.
Written 12/29. 2007/ Lynne Haines

Yule Moon

Sunday's Yule Full Moon Celebration was small but eventful. There were four of us who braved the sloppy weather. As always, moving through these challenging poses was exhilarating and fun. At the end of the Savasana, I offered up a holiday treat by reading the poem, "The Night Before Christmas," by Clement C. Moore.

The next Full Moon class will be on Tuesday, January 22nd from 7:45 until 9 ish after the Gentle Yoga class. 

Happy New Year!
Ma'lena

Yule Celebration with a Full Moon

Okay, the Full Moon class on the 23rd is back on the schedule . . . by popular demand!

Come join us at Moon Tree Gentle Yoga and Wellness Center as we honor the Yule Moon. This December's full moon shines near both dates of the Winter Solstice on the 22nd, and Yuletide on the 25th.

The Moon Salutation is a series of linked poses--called vinyasa--that follow the phases of the moon from full to waning gibbous, half moon to a crescent and finally the dark moon. The process reverses itself by moving into a waxing crescent and half moon, then waxing gibbous returning to the full moon.

The class is about an hour and a half. We begin with a guided meditation moving into warming poses and then Chandra Namaskara (Moon Salutation) after which we cool down and end with a Savasana and another guided meditation.

$15 for the class.

Merry Everything,
Ma'lena

December's Full Moon Salutation Class

Greetings. Those of you who have taken my classes know that I adore teaching Chandra Namaskara. These series of poses are incorporated into most of my classes. From the start of opening the studio, I have offered Full Moon Salutation classes, usually on the evening of the actual Full Moon. Since December's full moon falls on the eve of Christmas Eve, and on a Sunday--to further complicate stuff--I have come to the decision that I must suspend this class. So there will be no class on December 23rd.

I'll revisit whether or not I continue to offer these classes next year.

Until then,
Happy Everything,
Ma'lena