I hope this finds you all happy, healthy, and well.
I wanted to share with you my teacher profile on Brad Keimach. Check it out in this month's issue of LA Yoga magazine.
Also, my Intro to Yoga Basics Alignment Workshops are almost full. If you are interested, please e-mail or call for more information. Aria
Thanks for supporting Yoga with Aria (!)
Blessings,
Aria
Cultivating Beauty
I've been thinking a lot about the power of choice. Sometimes, my inner state of mind is unbalanced and this deafens my will to choose. Other times, it's easy, like being a kid again and playing pretend. It just happens, without much work on my part. Just this week, I was reminded of an old Egyptian story that echoes this sentiment:
There was once a very poor man whose daily meal consisted of bread and rice. This man, though he was poorer than most of his neighbors, had a fine sense of smell and often described, to a tee, the meals that were being prepared in homes around him, naming the exact spices used, and in which proportion. His neighbors, curious, asked him how he knew so much about cooking? “Join me for dinner tonight,” he invited them.
Later that evening, as a few neighbors came around, the man said, "Tonight, we will taste some of the most exotic food in Cairo. Come, let's take a walk." They walked into town, up to a posh new restaurant, where the man guided his neighbors underneath one of the restaurant's windows.
They sat down underneath the window, delicious scents wafting past them. Their stomachs churned with hunger. “Ready?” the man asked? They nodded, excitedly. The man took out a piece of bread, broke it into pieces, and handed out a piece to everyone. He lifted his nose up to the window and said "Close your eyes and take a deep breath." Everyone did as instructed, "and take a bite of bread,” the man said.
The man bit into his piece of bread. With a huge smile plastered on his face, his eyes still closed, breathing in the scents from the restaurant, he commented on how subtle the saffron was, and how rich the sauce tasted. A few of his neighbors stood up and cursed the man, saying that he was laughing at them, but the man answered them calmly, saying that if they chose to see a piece of bread in front of them, then that is all they would ever see.
"Can't you smell," he asked, "how perfectly the eggplants are cooked. The succulents and fruit drip with honey. And the pastries, all filled with meats and exotic spices. Why, we're eating at the best restaurant in Cairo," he said. A few of the neighbors sat back down, but others, unwilling to suspend their reality, left.
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What a simple story, full of promise. Either we can cultivate beauty out of the ordinary, or we allow the ordinary crush us into submission. Who cares if the beauty that we create is just pretend, at first? Pretending to see beauty will most certainly lead to seeing more beauty, which leads to seeing even more beauty, and so on.
The key to allowing beauty to thrive is keeping ourselves in balance. Since we are passing through the astrological sign of Libra, which represents Balance, I thought it fitting to revisit one of our balancing breaths. Next time your inner magic feels threatened by imbalance, try this breath:
Supreme Breath
Please find a quiet spot where you can sit undisturbed for 3 - 5 minutes.
Sit comfortably, with your back supported, and your sit bones feeling evenly grounded. Begin to lengthen the back of your neck. Adjust your shoulders over your hips. Take a deep breath, into your tailbone. Let that breath rise through every vertebrae up the spine, and exhale, sending that breath back out the tailbone. Do this a few times, until you feel that your spine feels relaxed and long.
With your right thumb, plug your right nostril and breath in through the left nostril. Breathe in for as long as you want to. When you're done, use your third and fourth fingers to plug your left nostril. Hold the breath for as long as you wish. (If you are pregnant or have high blood pressure, don't hold your breath. Just pause as you shift from left to right.)
When you're ready to exhale, release your thumb, exhaling out your right nostril. Continue, in reverse. Keeping your fingers where they are, inhale through you right nostril. Plug both nostrils and hold. Exhale through your left nostril.
Do this for as many rounds as you like. The idea is not to count the breath, but just to inhale for as long as feels good, hold for as long as feels good, and exhale for as long as feels good.
Enjoy!
Pranayama Science: Every hour or so, the body tends to breathe more heavily in and out through one nostril, and then, it switches to the other. This natural cycle balances out the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. If our natural cycle is disrupted by stress, this breath cycle may also become disrupted. Once the breath cycle is balanced, the bodies systems began to fall back into balance.
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Yoga NEWS:
Donation Yoga Wed (Pico/Fairfax): Mixed levels yoga going on strong at the Wilenskys, every Wed. from 8:00pm - 9:30pm.
Intro to Yoga Workshop Series: Includes Free Yoga Class, Afterwards.
Yoga with Aria continues with her bi-monthly series of 1 hour workshops tailored to break down the most commonly encountered yoga poses: Down Dog, Plank, Chaturunga, Cobra/Updog, Warrior One, Warrior Two, and variations on these poses. This Saturday we will work on Chaturanga to Cobra/Updog to Down Dog.
This is an appropriate class for all levels of yoga – those of you who’ve been practicing yoga for a long time, but may never have received alignment instruction; and those of you new to yoga, who would like some foundational training. It’s also a great class for anyone nursing an injury. In fact, think of it like a small-group private.
The workshops are limited to a maximum of 10 people. Each workshop includes a free 1.5 hour Mixed Level Flow class afterwards, so you can practice what you’ve just learned.
More info online: http://yogawitharia.com/workshops.htm
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Cool Happenings Around Town
LA DECOM - This Saturday, October 13th, downtown Los Angeles.
Experience some Burning Man, back home. Get out your favorite costume and come on out. The festivities begin Saturday afternoon and last deep into the night. www.LA-BURNINGMAN.com for all information.
YOGATHAN at GOLDEN BRIDGE YOGA - October 13, 14.
This 26 hour event benefits Amrit Davaa and World Health, a NPO that provides humanitarian aide, health/wellness education, and healthcare to children and families in need. Featuring Tej Kaur Khalsa, Natasha Rizpoulous, Vanessa Hopkins, Gurumukh, the Golden Bridge Choir, and much more. www.goldenbridgeyoga.com. (323) 936-4172
ARGENTINE TANGO with MURAT and MICHELLE at Shakti's Elements. Saturday, Oct. 27th.
For anyone with a passion for tango, don't miss this opportunity to study with two of the most well respected teachers in the business, visiting L.A. for one day, only. For more info, contact: Coco Baran
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ONGOING PUBLIC CLASSES:
Mondays 7:15pm - 8:45pm Level 2/3 Vinyasa Flow at Silverlake Yoga
Wednesdays: 8:00pm - 9:30pm Donation Yoga at the Wilenskys. Pico/Fairfax area.
Thursdays 3:45pm - 5:15pm Core Yoga at Silverlake Yoga
Saturdays 5:00pm - 6:30pm All-level Vinyasa Flow at Bodies in Motion, West L.A.
The first two Saturdays of Oct and Nov: 9am -10am Intro to Yoga Basics Alignment Workshop, followed by a complimentary Slow Flow Class, from 10:30am - 12:00pm.
For an updated daily schedule of where I am teaching and subbing every week: yogawitharia.com/schedule.htm
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