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Chair Yoga

5:30 pm Tuesdays
at the Bowie Lions Club
8-class sessions for $80
$15 drop-in fee

2023 Next Session: May 9- July 11

What is Chair Yoga? Maybe you’ve heard of all the benefits of a regular yoga practice, but are unsure if you are in a strong enough place to start or maintain a regular practice. Using a chair to support your yoga practice can enhance your practice in many ways: supporting balance and stamina, protecting tender knees and backs, allowing longer stretches. We open each practice with seated stretches, flowing with the pace of our breath, and add a fun bit of seated aerobics. We stand by our chairs as we move through all of the classic warrior poses and balance poses before returning to our seats for our final stretch, relaxation, and meditation.

Who should take Chair Yoga? Chair Yoga is a great way to enhance your flexibility with your current fitness activities. It is also a way to continue your practice as you move through health challenges such as pregnancy, post-op recovery, and the complexities of aging. Maybe you are like me, still rebuilding my fitness and stamina post-pandemic. Whatever your motives, Chair Yoga is gentle practice that will enhance your calm, strength, and balance.

How do I join the class? My chair yoga practices are available by zoom and in-person at the Lions Den in Old Bowie. If you would like to join via zoom, please email me at least 30 minutes before class: ann@annspeacefulpractices.com. We can work out payment through Venmo, CashApp, or good old-fashioned cash or check. Please watch the video for some pointers before starting your practice at home.

If you are practicing with us at the den, please arrive 5 minutes early so we can get all set up and start on time. If you are running late, no worries – just slip in and join us when you can. Life is unpredictable, and a little yoga is better than none! I have extra mats and chairs that will be set up and waiting for you.

8th Grade Teacher

I do love teaching.

I mean the actual moment when a student is drawn in,
A connection made
A question forms
When the hand shoots up
Or they can’t even wait to be called on.

That moment.

Or when the ideas flow
And they build on each other
When they feel the freedom of poetry
Or the elegance of a balanced equation
Pride in their work.

Some days those moments happen.
Sometimes they’re smothered in the
Chaos that is Thirteen

Their emotions swinging wide
Their family stress taking its toll
Their hormones ganging up on them
Their bodies aching from stretching bones
Feeling the weight of the world for the first time.

It’s all woven together, the good and the bad
Can’t have one without the other.

And here it is, May.
I’m longing for summer break
At least as much as the kids,

And the truth is
I’m going to miss them.
Next year will bring a new batch.
And on those days when chaos has won,
I will come back to this poem,
And remind myself why I chose this path.

New Vision

Dad is delighted post-cataract surgery
mostly.

He can read again,
Can see the clock.
He can drive freely again,
Go to new places, even at night.

As a child, this retired astronomer
Damaged his vision
Looking at an eclipse.
Now he can see the stars again,

Including the constellation of
Age spots that have bloomed
On his bald pate.
Not to mention all those
wrinkles.

Aqua Yoga!

One of my favorite variations on yoga is a water practice in my backyard pool. A few times each summer I’ll schedule a group practice for a little fun in the sun.

We begin with mindfulness of sunlight and water, the serenade of cicadas, your hands outstretched to the blue sky. We turn to the wall for aquatic sun salutations, keeping our downward dogs just above the surface. The buoyancy of the water allows for a deeper warrior series. And you’ll love your half-moon in the pool.

We get creative with swim noodles, using them for arms, abs, and balance. If we’re all feeling playful, I love to create a whirlpool and then reverse it. Meditation is afloat, and I love to see the stillness of the water with everyone enjoying a moment of bliss. The hot tub is the cherry on top of the practice.

If you’ve read this far into the post because you’re considering attending an upcoming practice, here’s what you need to know. Come around the side gate into the backyard. Feel free to change in and out of your swimsuit here. You’ll only need sunscreen if our practice is early: my pool’s mostly shaded by 4pm. You’ll want a towel, and if you have a swim noodle, please bring it along. I have several. I’ll have ice in the coolers if you want to stash any beverages for after our practice too;)  And you can see from the picture above that my pool will max out at about 12 for water yoga, so please RSVP via email and I’ll send you the address. I’ll have a box by the water for your $10 class fee. I hope you can join in the fun!

Atwater Village, Los Angeles

June 9, 2017

Despite all the pavement and visible litter,
the Los Angeles River still hosts much life.

Snowy egrets stood watch on the stones while the gulls swooped around.

In the shallows, black-necked stilts, mallards, and coot were all busy pecking and dipping for something tasty beneath the surface—
Except the cormorant, piously sunning himself,
arms outstretched like Moses.

I ventured down the steep paved banks,
wondering if the textured sides had a sincere engineering purpose.

Up close you could see some pink froth clinging to the grasses,
as if the river recently convulsed,
or more likely in LA, was just stumbling in,
still soiled and drunk from last night’s revelry.

Down at the river’s edge,
the soothing babble was louder than the traffic noise.
I crouched to catch a video and noticed
an eddy of orangey froth
with a plastic water bottle caught in it’s vortex
bobbing helpless in place.

I headed back up the steep embankment,
and passed a weathered Latino
wearing a “Hulu Casual Season 3” t-shirt.

I watched him turn off the path,
down to the riverside I just left.

He dropped his backpack
pulled out a bag

and began throwing breadcrumbs to the mallards.

Reiki Healing Sound Bath

Join us on Friday evening June 8, 2018 for a supremely soothing experience as we combine two of our favorite practices: Sound Meditation and Reiki Healing.  (Details here: Sound Bath June 8 flyer.)

The lovely Jennifer Mullin (pictured) and I have so enjoyed hearing about everyone’s experiences at our recent Sound Baths in the winter and spring, that we’ve added this early summer experience. We appreciate hearing all the ways this soothing meditative practice has calmed anxieties and stoked creativity. Building on this positive feedback, this time we are adding a sample of hands-on Reiki to heighten your healing frequency.

We will have yoga mats and blankets for you to get cozy, but feel free to bring your own and maybe a pillow so you can drift in the pure vibrations of these simple instruments for about an hour.

Song of My Self

Swirling clouds of ice and rock
Pulling into their own gravity
Forming Earth in the cosmos
Billions of eons ago.

Earth’s water, her rocks,
Are older than herself
Existed in another form
Before she came to be.

And I too am made of parts that
Are older than I.
These molecules of carbon and water
That form my being
Existed before I did.
Will exist still when I am gone.

I will ride on the air,
Wash down in the rain.
Soak into the soil
Home to worms,
Stash for the squirrels’ acorns
Feel roots nudge through me.

Rising through stem and leaf,
Carried off by a bee
Distilled into honey

How long before those molecules That used to be me are
Human again?
Perhaps some already are.
Perhaps some never will be.

I am ancient and new.
I am infinite.

My Yoga Mat Speaks

I came into her life to keep her calm and grounded, especially for her travels, but also for home. Our relationship was intermittent at first, she only using me occasionally, preferring my thicker sister she needed at work. But we would meet in her home office, when she had been sitting long hours at the computer and needed to break from that digital world. She could hear herself again when I was there, a sounding board for feet, hands, knees, and forehead. I have felt her grip, her sweat, the tremor of her muscles. I gave her the courage to venture out.

I went with her to New York City, stretching out beside a Brooklyn fire fighter who was excited to share his practice. I drove with her through the Alleghenies and supported her efforts to calm a chapter of sorority girls. I’ve gone to beach houses up and down the east coast, providing a quiet balance, a sanctuary from too much family togetherness. She has used me and neglected me, leaving me helplessly covered in cat hair.

Recently I flew with her on a plane to California. She laid herself over me and I felt the jumbled energy in her mind, hope and doubt in an awkward, rhythmless dance. She laid me in the dust of a dozen studios and she searched for her tribe in this new territory. She used me to ground her writing at the makeshift standing desk, trying to stay connected to her own energy while she wrote about violence and evil.

And now she has unrolled me in the desert, grinding sand into me as she reached for the brilliant tangerine sunset. I know it was my presence that gave her the cool curiosity to watch a giant spider head out for the evening after a day in his desert grass web. Ancient energy pulled up from deep beneath me, passing right through me and into her feet, shooting through her fingers into the deepening blue. Together we create an antenna, sending and receiving energy in the universe.

Enough is Enough

Although greed is considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins,  throughout Western culture, greed is considered good, is encouraged, and admired. How many commercials try to get you to want something you don’t need? Or consider the portion sizes in restaurants. Think of your collections, closets, attics, sheds, and storage units.

Aparigraha, one of the teachings from the ancient writings of Pantanjali in the Yoga Sutras, means non-attachment, or non-grasping, turning away from greed to be more self-sufficient. Non-attachment is not the same as detachment. We are letting go of the expectation that these external factors are not the source of our happiness. Letting go of our attachments to the narratives and labels we have created for ourselves. In letting go of these things, we create space for new ideas, new relationships, and new self-awareness.

You can combat the impulse to want more and more in a few simple ways. Consider a gratitude journal or donate from your stashes to charities. Avoid impulse buying – especially after wine, late at night;) You can practice the “I am enough” mantra that follows too.

Meditation
Take a moment to settle in to your favorite mediation chair, making sure your are comfortable and relaxed from your toes to your face. Once your are ready, try the sinking breath, allowing your exhale to get a little longer than your inhale. Letting go of more air allows us to breathe in more deeply.

On your exhale, move each of your four fingers to contact your thumb, repeating the mantra below, either in your head, or aloud. You might try to repeat it several times.

I have enough
I do enough
I am enough
I live with plenty

Return to simple sitting and breathing, bringing the phrase “I am” to mind whenever you notice that your mind has wandered.

Late Spring Evening

June 5, 2017

It’s dusk on my front porch,
a cool evening
still at the last of Spring.

The red maples are turning green.
The pear blossoms have given way to leaves.
The primroses are thinning as
the four o’clocks rise up around them.

The swallows cheerfully chirp as they swoop around,
eating hopefully most of the mosquitos.
They settle into the trees and the sun fades,
making quite a racket
as they tell each other about their days.

The lullaby of the crickets rises up from the ground.
The birds settle in for the night.
The peepers croak in a bass line.

Every now and then,
the traffic noise quiets,
and I imagine
I am in a deep forest,
as it was in centuries past,
before we paved so much of it.