The seasons are changing.
I'm allowing myself to feel the change-- right down to wearing long sleeves. I'm also trying not to get too wrapped up in it. SwamiJ says that witnessing = observation + non attachment ; Rolf says "easy come, easy go."

TEAMWORK
MERIT
BADGE @LIVELYOGINI

1

the
feather
of the
peacock

do you want ease?

Most folks can jump higher than a tree.

He got real cocky.

Another day at @theyoga.club
with @judydcz

a duck haiku

hit by car, fucked wrist
end of April, healing up
funny pose to like

Drills for inversions
Sped up 9x

In December of 2021, I began two months of living in Mexico. My parents moved down to the Yucatán right before COVID hit— my brother and his lady lived down there first. It had taken forever to sell my parents home— and the future was looking bright. Then my brother died. Then Leigh died. And my folks were locked in and locked down.

On the one hand, I was glad they were safer there than here. On the other, I was presented with profound grief. Those months in Mexico, replacing my yearly sabbatical to India, provided time with my first and most influential teachers: my mom and dad.

Plus, yoga on their roof looks a lot like some of my other favorite and meaningful roofs.

Having a consistent practice helped anchor me when things were truly terrible. If you’d like to learn a simple set of practices that match your unique needs, feel free to DM.

work stuff 😍👨‍🔧

ankles getting better.

My friend from @theyoga.club Liz @lizzoouli suggested I record my practice to check in on some asymmetries I'm balancing. She’s worried I don’t get enough time with a teacher for myself. I broke my ankle and rib last year getting hit by a bicyclist, and my wrist about a year before that getting hit by a car. I am really proud of my generally good attitude, outside of one meltdown phone call ( thanks @made_by_mara !!). Yoga has instilled patience and persistence, pragmatism and a solutions focused growth mindset. 10/10, would recommend. The yoga, that is. The getting hit by stuff is a 2/10.

If you need some support in your practice or healing journey, hmu. This stuff works.

Here’s some stuff I do in order to wrestle with the nature of reality and the infinite. It’s mostly stuff to affect physiological change towards general well being layered with meditation and mindset. These disparate systems encourage an emergence of something greater than the sum of their parts. It looks some kinda way.

Ashtanga Yoga is a system of yoga.

A system is a dynamic network of components that interact to produce specific outcomes. It includes:

1. Elements: The individual parts that make up the system.
2. Interconnections: The relationships and interactions between the elements.
3. Function or Purpose: The goal the system aims to achieve.

Systems exhibit lifelike qualities, even if they consist of nonliving elements. These characteristics include:

• Self-Organization: Systems can arrange themselves into orderly patterns without external direction.
• Self-Repair: Systems can mend themselves when disrupted within certain limits.
• Resilience: Systems can withstand shocks and continue functioning.
• Evolution: Systems can give rise to entirely new systems through innovation and adaptation.

While the cats away

peer support initiative

A really fun session

Learn how to use your practice to live better. Ashtanga Yoga can impact our physiology in life changing ways. This and much more at https://ashtanga.tech/ @ashtanga.tech

The modern yoga industry has shifted away from teaching a practice that once ecnouraged and even required ongoing learning, self-reflection, and personal growth. Instead, the commercial interests have been prioritized over genuine education. This shift has left both students and teachers navigating a system that often exploits their desire to learn and grow. Nowhere is this tension more evident than in the yoga teacher training system, which, while serving as a lifeline for the industry, has become deeply flawed.

Read the rest at michaeljoelhall.com

Where do you see yourself in 10 years

Yoga is meant to create a greater awareness of the totality of human experience – – and that means all the joy and the sorrow along the way. But I know for sure, when I’m practicing Yoga, I feel better— it reminds me I’m alive.

There was a time when I practiced Ashtanga yoga and I had a real idea of getting ahead— more poses, prettier, stronger. But as many of you know, ive had major challenges along the way—body and mind. But my spirit… I noticed that when my feelings around practices moved towards sorrow or frustration, a friction would arise. Sometimes you just have to watch yourself get hot, ya know? Its so important not to flinch or look away from your feelings! Periods of difficulty or ‘stink’ are just inherent to pursuing ambition.

The frustration I experienced within my yoga practice is of what I think I want my practice to be, and it has a way of stealing the joy from whatever my practice is. Youve heard these things before.

Once youve seen it, the way that our reactions dont align with our espoused beliefs— and appreciating the humanity in it - it takes hypeocict and turns it into levity— its FUNNY to be so bent out of shape about something so full of joy.

Healthy ambition must exist in the realm of non harming, and so when our desires for advancement bring us suffering, we must know it isn’t just about advancement— be ause a real yoga is equimonious. No, it’s about fear of death and the reality of dying before i get some brass ring (or perpetually moving goalpost).

But like I said, once youve seen see it, you cant unsee it.

And, ya know, im still having fun.

And when I’m not, I say something like “try to have a good time before ya die, wouldnt ya, hall?”

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back.

Inquiry and curiosity are powerful allies in reckoning with fear and helplessness.

These feelings are a tell that the prefrontal cortex has been impacted. This part of the brain has been demonstrated to be an important structure for executive functions.

No wonder we feel stuck. But feelings aren’t facts. If we can notice this stuff, we can start breaking the cycle by using our techniques. Thats the yoga.

So, be curious.

In love, in life, in your practices.