June Shakti Newsletter

Yoga with Aria June Shakti Newsletter IN THIS ISSUE FEATURED ARTICLE Summer Solstice Breath Exercise Cool Happenings Around Town THE GIFTS and CHALLENGES of EMPATHY For a paper version of this article, pick up your free copy of LA Yoga Magazine at yoga studios, cafes, and health food shops all over Los Angeles. QUICK LINKS www.yogawitharia.com Aria's Yoga Schedule JOIN OUR LIST Issue #003 June/2008 Dear Yogis and Friends, I hope this finds you happy, healthy and well. This month, I find myself looking forward to our upcoming birth. As a student of the human body and its capabilities, I am floored by this amazing process of pregnancy. Many of you haven't seen me in over a month. Let me tell ya, I feel like I have a watermelon attached to my belly. It's been an amazing experience seeing how the human form can shift to accommodate another life. In writing news: If you haven't had a chance to check out my article on Empathy in this month's LA Yoga Magazine, please click on the photo and link directly to your left. Teacher Recommendations: Many of you have asked me about teacher recommendations during my maternity leave. I've been a student of yoga for over ten years and am happy to help you find a teacher you love, but before I can do so, you must be able to tell me what aspects of a class are important to you: Is a classically structured class something that you crave? Or, do you prefer a teacher who combines styles into a non-traditional class? Are you motivated by sequencing? Music? Philosophy? is getting a good workout more important than alignment instruction? Would you prefer a teacher who does a lot of hands-on adjustments, or do you hate to be adjusted? Email me with what you love and what you must have, and I'll be happy to recommend some fabulous teachers for you. Until we meet again, I wish you all a lovely, happy summer. Blessings, Aria The Summer Solstice Sol + stice comes from the Latin words meaning "sun" and "to stand still." The month of June gifts us the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer Solstice. This year's Solstice occurs on June 20th - 21st and follows a full moon on the 18th and the planet Mercury going direct on the 19th. What an beautiful opportunity to celebrate life - three days in a row of powerful cosmic energy. Civilizations all over the world have honored the Solstice in different ways. Druids celebrated this day as "The Light of the Shore." The three days around the Solstice were known as the "Wedding of Heaven and Earth," or Alban Heruin. Christians converted Alban Heruin into St. John's Day, often portraying St. John the Baptist in rustic attire, sometimes with horns and cloven feet, like the Greek Demi God, Pan. The Celts and Slavs used to celebrate this day with dancing and bonfires to help increase the sun's energy. The Chinese celebrated this day as the day of Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. Years later, Shakespeare drew on some of these ancient traditions in his masterpiece, A Midsummer's Night Dream. How can we celebrate the full moon and the Solstice? Do something you've always wanted to do. Check out that salsa or tango class at your local community center. Take a Budokon class at Equinox or Golden Bridge. Go camping up in Big Bear or hiking in Malibu. Pack a picnic and head up to El Matador State Beach. Host a fabulous dinner party for friends that you just never have the time to see anymore. Book a massage at your local spa. Take your pooch for a mellow hike at Malibu's Winding Way Trail. Do something that ignites your inner spirit and enjoy the burst of creative energy that will inevitably follow. In our busy lives these days, we often forget about the magic of this beautiful world that we inhabit. I encourage you all to enjoy the outdoor and celebrate your life as an expression of the infinite energy all around us. June Breath Exercise Forget everything you've been told about breathing... ...and allow me to share a fun story a teacher of mine often brings up when students ask him, "How should I breathe in this pose?" He answers: "When a lion is pouncing through the forest, on the hunt for prey, do you think he's thinking about how he's breathing? Inhale on this step, exhale as I jump. Draw my belly in as I run, pump my belly out as I leap? No. He's just following what is absolutely natural to him, at that moment. He's not counting or holding his breath. He is just breathing and moving, as it comes to him, naturally." Part of yoga is balance, and within balance, we must sometimes forget about what we've been told and just do as we feel in the moment, without attachment to dogma. In the spirit of the Summer Solstice, I encourage you to relax and have fun this month. Don't worry about your breath, or what kind of meditation you need to be practicing. See if you can just let your mind go and allow your breath to emerge as naturally as possible. If you encounter moments of uncertainty, check in with yourself and notice if you're holding your breath. If you are, don't treat it as a big deal. Just relax your belly muscles and take a BEAUTIFUL, long inhale. Create spontaneity this month by following your gut and your intuition. If you really feel like you need a breath exercise, go to my website and check out my previous newsletters. They're chalk-full of breath exercises. Then, forget about what you just read and just breathe. Cool Happenings Around Town Summertime is a Season for the Outdoors... June 24th begins KCRW'S WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL at the BOWL. KCRW showcases the best talent from all over the world, and brings it to our doorstep. Bonus points - we get to watch it at the fabulous Hollywood Bowl. This festival is not to be missed. Get your tickets before they sell out. CINEMOCA: Six Saturdays of Art and Cinema. June 7 - July 12. 7pm - 11pm. Cinemoca is an after-hours summer celebration of outdoor avant garde film screenings, music, and gallery tours. Events held at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. 152 N. Central Ave. Downtown, L.A. CINESPIA. Classic Films at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary. As bizarre as it may sound to watch movies at a cemetary, I highly recommend the Cinespia experience. You will see families, hipsters, cinephiles, and everyone in between. Bring a picnic basket and a blanket, and enjoy a movie with the original stars of Hollywood. Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summertime. Gates open at 7:30pm. $10 donation at the gate. TWILIGHT DANCE SERIES at the SANTA MONICA PIER Every Thursday evening, enjoy free outdoor music at the Santa Monica Pier. You can't beat free, good music right next to the Ocean! Presented by Amoeba Music. Festivities begin June 26th. Thanks for supporting Yoga with Aria! Blessings, Aria Mayland Yoga with Aria

May Shakti Newsletter

Yoga with Aria May Shakti Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE Newsletter Topic Savasana Exercise Cool Happenings Around Town QUICK LINKS www.yogawitharia.com Aria's Yoga Schedule JOIN OUR LIST

Issue #002 May/2008 Dear Yogis and Friends, I hope this finds you happy, healthy and well. Aria Writing News: I have some good news on the writing front. Some of you recall I've mentioned an article on empathy several times, now. Well, it is finally print time. Yup, that's right. Check out Aria's article on Empathy in the upcoming June issue of LA Yoga, available for free at yoga studios and health stores all over Los Angeles. Yoga with Aria News: A deep thanks to all of you who have supported me, and my yoga teaching. I'm eight months pregnant, now, and in preparation for the arrival of our baby girl, I am taking the summer off from teaching. I hope to see you all in the fall and hear your summer stories. In the interim, I encourage you all to enjoy deepening your yoga practice, exploring the amazing teachers this beautiful city has to offer. I will be in touch with any fun and exciting news, and of course, if you ever have any questions or would like a local teacher referral, I am always available at: aria@yogawitharia.com. And for those of you who are curious about my sprained ankle - it is getting better. I'm off of crutches, but still taking it very easy, not walking on it very much, yet. Thanks for your calls and offers of support. Blessings, Aria Savasana: Your Magic Restart Button Ever wonder why you leave a class feeling that yoga bliss? It's because of savasana, or Corpse Pose, the 5 - 10 minute final relaxation at the end of every yoga class. The yogis believe that these final moments of rest in savasana are more beneficial for the body than the physical practice of yoga, or asana. By allowing our bodies to engage in conscious relaxation, we invite our mind to still and provide the energetic space for our body to integrate the changes that we've cultivated during our physical practice. Modern science agrees with the ancient yogis. Savasana has been found to: reduce high blood pressure, stimulate blood circulation, alleviate fatigue and nervousness, and even help reduce the effects of asthma, constipation, diabetes, indigestion, and insomnia. My First Few Savasanas Back in 1998, I was introduced to yoga at Bryan Kest's Power Yoga Studio, in Santa Monica. As a former high school bodybuilder, I was thrilled to have found a work-out that not only challenged me physically and mentally, but left me feeling relaxed and calm, afterwards. By the time class ended, I always welcomed savasana as an excuse to just let go. There were even a few times when I relaxed so deeply that I drifted asleep. Although sleeping during savasana isn't a bad thing, I later learned that savasana's true purpose is to cultivate a state of conscious relaxation. In order to do so, this requires our mind to be blank, open, and unattached, existing in a state of relaxation. Sometimes, this is remarkably easy to do. But, sometimes, savasana can trigger our inner A-type. I've definitely been in classes when I'll lay in savasana, unable to relax. Either I've been fidgety and tense, or my mind has been strung up on some life issue or problem. At times, there was no clear-cut life issue, just a nagging feeling of, "When is this going to end?" "What am I supposed to do?" The result? Instead of relaxing, I found myself becoming inwardly tense, the exact opposite of what I was supposed to be doing. If this happens to you, begin by reminding yourself that the only reason you're feeling this way is because you're in a state of re-action. You are reacting to a habit, and habits are hard to break. This habit happens to be all around us. It's a product of the modern age and the American Way of Being: a program of constant productivity. Either we're supposed to be productive, or we're made to feel guilty because we're not as productive as we might be. However, as we all know by now, constant productivity is not possible to sustain without injury.To fool ourselves into thinking we can do so is an addiction, an example of this highly prevalent modern-age disease. It's only in the last fifty years or so that as a society, we've devalued the importance of relaxation. Instead, we force ourselves onwards at great cost to our endocrine and adrenal systems. We feed ourselves a diet of stimulants and stress, so that we exist in hyper mode all the time. And in the last fifty years, we've seen the immense repercussions of our behavior in the frequency and severity of stress-related illnesses that we suffer from. Savasana Promotes a Healthy Mind and Inner Balance One of the surest ways to balance out stress is to learn how to do the exact opposite: relax. Ahh, such a hard thing for us A-types. But, so incredibly important. That's why, for me, I tend to enjoy the stronger, more physically challenging classes. I thrive on challenge. It helps me relax mentally. Some may call this is a weakness of mine, but I look at it as just me being honest with who I am. The important part is not judging how we function best, but working with ourselves and finding a teacher and a practice that encourages us to function at our best. To ignore this is to ignore one of the most crucial aspects of fitness, a fit and healthy mind. Far too many systems of exercise focus on getting a perfect body without recognizing how much a fit and healthy mind affects our bodies. Professional athletes can be some of the worst promoters of this philosophy. How many times have we heard of renal failure due to steroid use? Or entire teams being demoted due to performance enhancing drug cocktails? Sure, many athletes don't take it to this extreme, but they do push themselves beyond their healthy physical limits. No pain, no gain only results in physical injury, let me tell ya. After injuring my shoulder from going too hard, and eventually having to have a complete ACL replacement in my left knee, I believe I'm qualified to tell the tale. And yet, the answer is so simple, it's right in front of us. The ultimate mark of health and fitness is a body that can sustain activity well into its old age, not one that fails due to either overuse or the opposite, neglect. But, in order to achieve this, we must be still and listen to our bodies. We must encourage balance, in all things that we do. Savasana, our Magic Restart: In many ways, what we do during yoga class is install a new software, a new program of being into our bodies. Ever tried to install new software without shutting down all other applications and restarting afterwards? What happens? Your computer needs to restart in order to understand the software you just installed. Without that restart, the software is not recognized. Our bodies are very similar to a computer. Of course, they are far more complex of a machine than any computer in existence. But just like a computer, they operate on a consistent program, or template of behavior. And just like a computer, in order to upgrade that program, or template, we need a restart. If you think of every yoga class as a software upgrade, then it's easy to understand how every savasana is incredibly important for that software to take hold. During savasana, all of the physical, mental and emotional effort that we've exerted during a yoga class sinks in on a deep cellular level, allowing us to think, act, and differently than we did before we walked into that yoga room. Moreover, savasana is great training ground for a future meditation practice. Please understand that I'm not claiming that savasana or meditation is crucial to you living a healthy, happy life. However, I will guarantee that it can help. So next time you enter savasana, if you find your mind going ba-zonkers, just remind yourself that this is incredibly important time for you. In fact, all you A-types out there, you now have an assignment during savasana: relax completely. If your busy-mind surfaces with reasons why you shouldn't relax, just turn down the dial on that busy-mind to zero, and turn up the dial to your relaxed-mind to eleven. Trust me, you can come back to all your problems and life issues in 5 - 10 minutes. That is, if you still want to. Savasana Exercise In lieu of a breath exercise,... let's explore a savasana exercise. It may be helpful for you to read this out loud, first, or record it, so that you can truly let go and enjoy the experience. Lay down on your back. Begin with squeezing your knees into your chest and bringing your body into a tight ball. Take a deep inhale, and then on an exhale, let everything go. Let your arms fall out to your sides and allow your legs to open naturally, so that your toes point outwards just a little. Close your eyes completely. If you feel awkward at all, roll from right to left a few times and balance your hips and back out. Beginning with your toes, now - relax them completely. Let any kind of stress or tension fade away. Allow your awareness to shift to your feet and ankles; Relax them completely. Let any kind of tightness disappear. Now for your calves. Relax any tension in your calf muscles. Imagine any tightness melting away. Allow your knees -- your kneecaps, as well as all the ligaments and tendons in the backs of your knees - to completely relax. Moving up your thighs. Allow all four muscles of the quadriceps, the large muscle that runs up the front of your thigh - to completely melt. Allow the inner and outer thighs to completely let go. And the hamstrings - the backs of the thighs - imagine that they just melt into the floor. Feel how relaxed and long your muscles feel in your legs. Allow your gluts, your bum, to completely relax. As the gluts relax, allow the low back, the pelvis, and the sacrum to just melt into the floor. Know that you are completely supported. There's no reason to hold onto anything, here, anymore. Allow your bellow to soften. Let your breath become very soft, very still. Allow your ribcage to relax. And your chest -- allow it to feel open and relaxed. Visualize your shoulder blades - where they begin, at the upper spine, all the way up to the tips of the shoulder blades. Allow them to soften completely, so that they support your heart. And then, let them melt into the mat. Allow the muscles in the shoulders to grow heavy, and relaxed, and the bones in your shoulders to soften and melt. Imagine that the muscles in your upper arms just let go. It's as if they melt over the arm bones. Allow your elbows to soften. They hold no tension. Allow your forearms to soften. And your hands, your wrists, even your fingertips uncurl. Everything softens, melts, and lets go. Allow your neck to relax and lengthen. Let your jaw open slightly, so there's no tension in the TM joint. Allow the skin over the nose to relax and soften. Allow the eyelids to soften. And imagine that the eyeballs grow so heavy, it's as if they sink towards the back of your skull. Finally, allow the skin on the back of your skull to soften and melt into the mat or the floor. Lie in complete relaxation for as long as you wish. You can also complement savasana with a few minutes of meditation, afterwards. Cool Happenings Around Town Memorial Day Weekend is ripe with possibilities... If the rain lets up, go out and enjoy a swim at one of the many public pools all over the city. I just recently discovered the Santa Monica College Pool, which is one of the cleanest and least chlorinated pools in the city. They're open this Memorial Day, too! Lap swimming for you, or fun splash time for the whole family. For more info, call (310) 458-8700. Lightening In A Bottle. For those of you who need to shake it to a groove, the biggest event this weekend is an outdoor camping, art, and music festival in Santa Barbara. Gates open Thursday at 4pm. Event goes through Monday, May 26th. Tickets vary. Day passes are $70/day. Camping on site recommended. The WET party. Saturday, May 24th, 1pm - 10pm, at the Custom Hotel, in Los Angeles. If you're craving a DJ party, this is guaranteed to be one of the hottest events this weekend. An after party follows for those who just can't stop dancing. Presale tickets $30. Click here to purchase. Want to dance, but looking for something a little less par-tay and a little more chill, something to even bring the kids to? How about Funky In the Middle's Custom Sundaze Memorial Day Party, at the Custom Hotel. 8639 Lincoln Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90045. Monday, May 26th. 1pm - 9pm. Kids are welcome from 1pm - 7pm. Event is FREE with RSVP: Enjoy browsing local art? One of my favorite galleries is a tiny place called LAB 101. These folks put up some of the most creative art pieces around. Browsing is always free. Gallery open Wednesday through Friday, 12pm - 6pm. Saturdays, 2pm - 6pm. 8539 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232. You can also view available artwork, prints, home decor, books, and other fine sundries here. For photography enthusiasts, check out LACMA's current show with Phillip-Lorca diCorcia. His photographs feature an unusually lit single person in private spaces or public settings. LACMA is currently hosting works from the artist's series, including: Lucky 13, Hustlers, Streetwork and Heads. May 23 - Sept. 14. Ahmanson Building. Thanks for supporting Yoga with Aria! Blessings, Aria Mayland

April Shakti Newsletter

Yoga with Aria April Shakti Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE Article Headline Breath Exercise Cool Happenings Around Town QUICK LINKS www.yogawitharia.com Aria's Yoga Schedule JOIN OUR LIST

Issue #001 April/2008 If you are receiving this in error, my apologies. Please scroll down to the bottom and click "Safe Unsubscribe" to be permanently removed from this list. Dear Friends and Yogis, I hope this finds you all happy, healthy, and well. Welcome to the new look of my newsletter! After some hiccups the past few months with email delivery, I've sprung for a service that manages my list. Yey for technology. :-) This month, my newsletter focuses on acting consciously without attachment to the outcome. Sometimes, that means simply being at peace with where we are in our life process so that we can remain balanced. Sometimes, this means making a conscious stand to fight against tyranny. Neither choice is simple: both demand that we remain strong without falling prety to attachments and worry. And that's the hardest part of all. In writing news: I have a review of the Krishna exhibit at Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum (ongoing through May 12) in the April issue of LA Yoga magazine. Look for "Tales of the Blue Lord." For those of you that missed my article on Bali in the March issue, I'll soon have it linked online for you. To skip forward to the Breath Exercise, Cool Happenings Around Town or my teaching schedule, please click on one of those fancy links to your left hand side. Thanks for supporting Yoga with Aria. Blessings, Aria :-) Stepping Up To Our Heart's Challenge Acting Consciously, Without Attachment One of the most troubling dilemmas I've been facing lately is how to take a stand for something while still maintaining inner balance, and not falling into worry or frustration about the outcome. On one hand, I believe that our experience here on Earth is just an experience, one in the midst of many that we will undertake. Ultimately, this means that on a soul level, there is no good or bad in experience. It simply is. This belief requires me to be unattached to the outcome of my experiences, so that everything from incredible luck to incredible suffering is merely a choice that my physical form (body) is having. And yet, there's another part of me that reacts incredibly strongly to experience, especially when I perceive others: people in pain, countries in conflict, animals in suffering. Just watching the Humane Society's video, this week, of baby seals in Canada being beaten to death for their pelts or reading about the injustices of war puts me into a state of tears. So how do I reconcile the two? Here I am, having a very emotional reaction to a human experience. And yet, I believe in non-attachment to outcome. Does this mean that I need to stand up against these things, if they move me? Or, do I merely waltz through life, being totally unattached to everything? Arjuna and the Bhagavad Gita Let's detour for a moment and examine the story of Arjuna, the great warrior and of Krishna, the deity who is both Arjuna's friend and his illuminated teacher. Krishna urges Arjuna into a sacred battle, but Arjuna hesitates: he will have to fight members of his own family. Arjuna learns, however, that has no choice: this battle is part of his destiny. He was born to fight, to be a warrior and to uphold righteousness, without consideration of personal loss, consequence, or reward. Arjuna goes into battle, looking into the face of his kin as he charges forth. This is a beautiful parallel for me, because it tackles so many difficult subjects. How can war be righteous? How can killing your own kin be justified? Though the study of the Bhagavad Gita is another subject entirely, what we can gather from this pared down story of Arjuna and the great battle is that human beings will never be free from war as long as there is injustice and tyranny in the world. War ought never be the first or second or even the tenth choice that we undergo when in a state of conflict, but if it is the only and final choice, it is one that we must embrace, with full consciousness, without consideration to outcome. Duality of Human/Spirit Experience Herein is the key to all of this for me: the duality of existing in spirit and in body means that, on one hand, we must look at all experience, from a soul perspective, as neither good nor bad. Therefore, war and death and tyranny and beauty and evil are all just words that we place on experience. However, from a human experience, there are emotions and experiences that exist as good and bad. We can all agree, for example, that the murder of a small child is a horrific thing. From our human perspective, then, we ought to prevent the murder of small children and if necessary, are justified in going into battle to uphold this belief. And yet, from a soul perspective, everything, us going into battle, is just an experience. Duality is a mind bender, I agree, but this is our challenge here on Earth. Our duty is to fight for what we believe in, to stand up for whatever causes our heart to sing and fight against whatever diminishes our soul. In doing so, however, we must release our attachment to the outcome. Should we die during the process, it is merely a choice our soul made. Should our loved ones perish, it is merely part of experience. In fulfilling our destiny, we must sometimes go into battle against our family (which can also represent our belief systems.) However, in remembering that we chose this human experience so that we can feel, live, love, and learn, we are only doing what we chose to experience. This doesn't mean that we ought not to react with sadness or happiness to life. We are, after all, human. But we ought not to get stuck in these reactions. We ought to strive to live in truth in each moment and simultaneously surrender our experience as one experience amongst many, in this experiment called Life. Living Consciously, In the Now This is living in the now-- living without attachment, and yet, living in complete and honest truth. This is the hardest part of all. It's easy to wax judgment about others without doing a darn thing about it. It's just as easy to engage in a constant state of anger and protest over what we don't believe in, without ever feeding the positive aspects of what we believe in. The hardest single thing is maintaining inner balance while living in the present moment. Sometimes this means working for the side we believe in. At times, it may mean going into battle against the side that we feel is being tyrannous. But always, it means doing everything with complete consciousness, in complete passion, choosing to do so because that is exactly what your soul asks of you in that particular moment. And then, releasing any attachment to outcome. This is a question I have to ask myself: Can I act in conscious awareness, no matter what I choose, no matter where my path might lead me, and no matter how the end result might be? It's springtime. Time for new beginnings. Time to sprout new seeds. Time to engage with life. Thanks for reading. Breath Exercise Alternate Nostril Breath - Ultimate Balance To welcome springtime energy into our lives, let's revisit Anuloma Viloma, or alternate nostril 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. a. With your right thumb, plug your right nostril and breath in through the left nostril. Breathe in for up to a count of twenty. b. Use your third and fourth fingers to plug your left nostril. (Step c asks you to retain your breath. DO NOT DO THIS if you are pregnant or have high blood pressure. Instead, skip ahead to paragraph d.) c. Both nostrils now plugged, hold your Breath for up to a count of twenty. d. Lift your right thumb, exhaling out your right nostril for up to a count of twenty. (Your third and fourth fingers are still plugging your left nostril.) e. Continue, in reverse. Keeping your third and fourth fingers where they are, inhale through you right nostril. Plug both nostrils. Hold only if this is appropriate for you (see paragraph b, above.) Exhale through your left nostril. Do this for as many rounds as you like. Feel free to hold the breath for as long or as short as you like. The main idea is to keep all breath inhalation, retention, and exhalation even. 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. Cool Happenings Around Town April is Earth Awareness Month Perhaps some of you already kicked off Earth Awareness last weekend and participated in Earth Hour. For more info, check out: Earth Hour Saturday, April 5: Groove Armada Outdoors, Downtown, L.A. 6pm - 11pm/midnight. If you like to shake your groove and love that bass, don't miss this sure to be fabulous show on the steps of City Hall. Tix still available: Groove Armada Tickets Saturday, April 12: Santa Monica Earth Day on the Promenade. 10am - 7pm. Free. Stroll by the beach while you enjoy a fantastic array of exhibits and booths, all dedicated to promoting awareness about products and lifestyle changes that can reduce carbon emissions and lessen the effects of Global Warming. Live music and animals make it fun for the whole family. On the Third Street Promenade Body Worlds. California Science Center. $11.50 - $18.95 IIf you didn't catch this fascinating exhibit last time it came through town, you must not miss it, this time around. Body World showcases plasticized bodies interacting with their environment, as if frozen in time. Some jump in mid-air, some are partially costumed, and all have their inner workings exposed. Muscles, tendons, joints, bones, and organs like you've never seen them before. Body Worlds Info Friday April 24 - Sunday April 26: Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival. 11am - Midnight. Over the past nine years, Coachella has grown into one of the most well respected and spectacular music festivals in the world. If you've never been before, this one is not to be missed. How can you go wrong, dancing with thousands of folks, outdoors on a grassy polo field, surrounded by palm trees? Coachella Thanks for supporting Yoga with Aria. I hope to see you all, somewhere out there, on the beautiful springboard of life, sometime soon. Blessings, Aria

Aria's February Shakti Newsletter: Intuition is the Spice

Dear Friends and Yogis,

Since the beginning of this year, I feel like Time has cradled me in wings of "no time." Everything is going by quickly, as if in a dream.

A lot of this has to do with me being pregnant. Yup, that's right. For those of you I haven't seen in awhile, Aria is about 5 months preggers. We are expecting a baby girl sometime in late June. Other aspects to this are varied and personal, nothing bad nor good – just reworking my inner dreams, thoughts, hopes, etc.

I am also writing again for LA Yoga. In the March issue, look for my story and pictures on the Balinese New Year (based on the Hindu Lunar New Year.) Also in the March issue in the Community Section, I'll have a brief review of the Fit Yoga Conference, which I attended, several weeks ago. And remember that article on empathy I mentioned a long time ago? It looks to be coming out in the April issue.

I hope this finds you all happy and well in the month of Love - February. Ahhhh. And, with Mercury in retrograde, I kindly urge you all to not get too upset with your lovely computer or car or stereo or ipod or shower if it breaks down on ya. All will change.

In fact, change is the theme of this month's newsletter.

Blessings,
Aria

Warning: Maybe it's because I didn't write you all last month, but this month's newsletter is quite long. Enjoy, or skip to the end for Cool Happenings Around Town. my Class Schedule, and How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe.

FEBRUARY SHAKTI NEWSLETTER

Sci Fi Yogis: remember this quote from Dune?

"The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel…He who controls the spice controls the universe."

What a tantalizing proposition! And what a beautiful metaphor for every person's inner quest to find the spice of inner peace and harmony. Lucky for us, our journey doesn't have to take us through vast deserts, but it does require inner work, change and metamorphosis. Nothing exists in stasis. If an organism or a belief remains static, it is already dead, withered by its own rigidity.

We are born, grow older, change, live, and one die, will all die. But through our life process, everything around us changes. It can not stay the same. Same with yoga, and yet, so many yogis in today's world exist within the rigidity of one system, denouncing others as incomplete, untrue, or lacking the source. Why? Isn't yoga, like everything else, an evolving experience? Those who tell you it isn't are lying.

A brief history of yoga asanas:
Yoga began as an approach to calm the body and mind so that people could meditate. It evolved to include a series of postures, which have evolved to include 8,400,000 asanas (postures), according to the yoga scriptures. Imagine that (!) I bet you that no school you or I have ever practiced in has ever approached even a tenth of the possibilities in yoga asanas.

Please ask yourself an honest question: are getting what you need out of your exercise, meditation, or yoga practice? If you are, blessings be to you. Skip the rest of this newsletter. If you aren't, please begin to question why. Perhaps it's because you've been locked into one school of yogic beliefs and have never ventured beyond it. Or, perhaps you have explored other systems, but through a too-critical lens.

With the Breath, One will Find the Spice
In yoga, our breath and our mind control are keys to finding our Spice. This is what extends our life. This is what expands our consciousness. This is what helps us get through life's crap and difficulties without becoming bitter, stodgy, old fudge-crumplers.

Please, don't stay with a system out of some outdated notion of loyalty if you are no longer growing within that system. There is nothing wrong with seeking out teachers who inspire you. You can still stay loyal to your primary teacher(s). You can still be of one school or belief system, but please, expand and seek out change if you want to grow.

If this resonates with you at all, and you're not sure where to seek out different schools, please, contact me. I'm here to share my experiences with you. Contact me with any questions, anytime. Above all, please understand that I'm not pushing any one style, most certainly not my own. What I am pushing, however, is change.

Intuition is the Spice
The only way to change is to access our intuition so that we can rid ourselves of habits that no longer serve us. The yogis call these habits samaskars, belief systems that we acquire over the years. How do we access our intuition, though? It's easy to say, "I'm sick of being this way and want to change," but so much harder to do so.

The only way I've found is to do so slowly, little by little, becoming more and more aware of who we are and what we do. Eventually, we begin to access those moments of insight that let us understand why we do what we do. And then, can we choose to change, or not.

But, one thing is certain: we must evolve. Our practice must evolve. Our bodies and minds must evolve. Our lives must evolve. If we don't, we become stagnant, dead creatures.

Breath Exercise: 2x/day. 2-5 minutes/time.

BREATH OF CHANGE

Begin by slowing down life. Pause and focus on the now. Stop what you're doing and listen to your breath. Twice a day, for 2-5 minutes at a time.

Notice: Am I breathing deeply? Quickly? Shallowly? Hardly at all?

Standing or seated:
Adjust your shoulders right over your hips. Now, take a deep belly breath. Breathe so deep that your belly sticks W A Y out, as if you were pregnant.

Now, letting the belly relax, start to breathe into the base of your spine, into your hips and low back. Release that breath.
Slowly increase the length of your inhale, until you're breathing into your sides and your waist. Just as slowly, relax the breath.
Slowly, increase the length of your inhale until your breath reaches your chest and shoulders. Just as consciously, relax the breath.

Continue to increase the length of your inhale until you feel the breath rise as high as it can go, maybe into your jaw, maybe into the crown of your head.

Now, repeat the process and slow down the breath just by 2 percent. That's all.

And notice what happens:
Is your mind calmer? Are you more focused?

Next time, you find the desire to change, but don't know where to start, begin with this breath. Soon enough, I promise you, the breath will lead you to "a-ha!" moments, moments of insight into your intuition.

Like the sacred spice in Dune, our intuition is the spice of life. It expands consciousness. It extends life. It allows for change.

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COOL HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN

Chinese New Year Golden Dragon Parade. Saturday Feb. 9 (2-5pm) and Sunday, Feb. 10 (10am – 5pm). Chinatown. (FREE!) This year is the Year of the Rat. (Earth.) For those of you turning 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, and so on, this is your year! You are a clever person with good, expensive taste, capable of transcending your materialistic nature if you so choose. You are best described as a logical realist, shrewd, ambitious, and inventive. You are also bright, sociable, and family minded. A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. This is a great year to get a new job, get married, launch a product, or make a fresh start. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient and let things develop.

The Chinese New Year Events take place on Hill and Ord Streets, up to Bernard, and back down to Broadway.

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Morikami Exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA – only two more days. This exhibit leaves February 11th, 2008. This international traveling perspective of Takashi Murakami's Art features over 90 exhibits of sculpture, wallpaper, movies, paintings, and bizarre experiences. For lovers of pop art gone down the twisted end, you must see this.

Hint: Buy your tickets at the regular MOCA station, on Grand Ave. Your tickets are valid for both MOCA locations, and will save you waiting in a 40 minute+ line at the Geffen. J

Directions and info: http://www.moca.org/museum/visit_home.php?

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U2 in 3D, at the IMAX - ongoing.

Okay, I have to be honest and admit that we haven't seen this, yet. But those who have can't rave enough about how amazing this experience is. In fact many are returning to see it more than twice. So if you're a U2 fan and you want to feel Bono singing less than an inch from your face, come check out U2 in 3D!

At the IMAX Theatre at Citywalk. 100 Universal City Plaza. Universal City, CA

For more info: www.u23dmovie.com

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MUSIC: Funky in the Middle presents Sunday Outdoor Afternoon Pool Parties at the Custom Hotel. 1pm – 9pm. FREE with RSVP. Every week is different and sure to please those who like to get their groove on, outdoors. Funky, fun, and chill, the Funky in the Middle crew is wowing L.A. with their no-attitude Sunday afternoon pool parties at the Custom Hotel.

The Custom Hotel is at 8639 Lincoln Blvd., just South of Manchester. Los Angeles, CA 90045. You must be 21 and over to attend.

RSVP for free entry to: wiseacre@funkyinthemiddle-la.com

ONGOING PUBLIC CLASSES

Mondays, 7:15pm – 8:45pm. Vinyasa Flow at Silverlake Yoga.

Wednesdays: 8:00pm – 9:30pm. Donation Yoga at the Wilenskys.

Saturdays: 5:00pm – 6:30pm. All-levels Flow. Bodies in Motion.

For an updated daily schedule of where I am teaching and subbing every week: yogawitharia.com/schedule.htm

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