Welcome, Explorer!

EVERYTHING in this course is optional and here for you to use or not - you are an adult capable of making your own decisions and priorities.

Today is just about getting in this portal (woot! You’ve already done that!) and setting expectations. Next, it’s important that you have a sense of who I am as your guide on this 8-week journey of practice & learning, and how I interpret & teach this very popular thing we call yoga. Three important pillars to my style of teaching yoga are:

• CHOICE

  ~ AKA, learning to follow our inner wisdom instead of looking always for answers or validation from the outside. Yoga is a philosophy that explores the facets and meaning of our lives, and as such, we are meant to interpret and adapt it to our own lives and experiences. Take all information and allow it to marinate. How might it apply to your life? If it doesn't apply, let it go and move on to something more helpful. This is practicing the karmic action of non-attachment. Allow the information to come in, make a decision about its usefulness, and let got what does not serve YOU! This method of “allow - decide - release” will be practiced throughout this course.

• COMMUNICATION

  ~ Try to be honest and open about what you are experiencing, especially with yourself. Humility has been one of my personal greatest teachers. It helps us to make small steps that are in alignment with the natural energy and resources all around us. When we tap into nature and energy, magic really can happen. But it requires that we practice the first of the method above: allow. Ask questions to yourself, and be patient in finding answers from your intuition that feel true. Use your journal to document what you are noticing, where things do and don’t make sense, and what you feel about what you’re learning. Email me to ask questions or make requests if you'd like some additional insight, and let me know what is or is not working for you.

• SOLUTIONS-BASED THINKING

  ~ Join in the process of discovering what will and won’t work for you as you develop your home-based yoga and mindfulness practice, and try new things with a learner’s mentality. If something doesn’t feel right, trust that and back away. If something doesn’t feel good, be willing to step into discomfort (supported by a consistent breath) for the sake of learning. This “duality of reality” is in everything the whole universe over. When we allow ourselves to step into discomfort, sit with it, and breathe into it, eventually, over time, and with lots of practice, we step away from focusing our attention on problems and toward solutions. We learn to step into flow and ease, instead of resistance and fight or flight. 😌

Day 1 Task List:

1. memberspace.

You will use your MemberSpace login information to access the Reset & Re-Energize Online Course portal (where you are right now) as well as the Practice Project video library.

You will find links to the Reset & Re-Energize Online Course portal login at the bottom of any page on this website. ⬇️ Put this URL in your bookmarks, so you can easily come back to it!

2. Download the “RESET & RE-ENERGIZE INTENTION AGREEMENT” .PDF below:

Please read this document, mentally marinate on it, sign it, and put it someplace where you will see it and it can motivate you. It may seem silly, but there is research that shows when we set an initial intention and put our name on it, we are more likely to be successful with our intentions. Again, everything in this course is optional and for your benefit, but the more you participate, the more you will benefit! This document is a written statement of what we are both committing to in this virtual course, and it is important to set clear expectations in the beginning so that you have a positive experience. Let me know if you have any questions!

The Learning Model

The left brain contributes to our linear thinking: logical, sequential information that offers repeatable patterns.

The right brain houses our ability to think creatively: adapt, play, and make important changes and solve problems. 🤸🏽‍♀️🤯💃🏽

In this course, we will use this concept of repetition and patterns in short physical exercises which are repeated. When we play with the repetition of a structure (in this case the sequence of poses), we grow our familiarity, which then offers us the opportunity for play and enriched learning through the right or creative brain.

Think about the first time you did something. It was probably just short of awful. And then the next time you did it, it was decent. By the third or fourth time, it was ok, from there it went to great… and then the fun begins. PLAY. DEVIATE FROM THE STRUCTURE. This is the magic of the creative brain at work. And when it works on our bodies, we not only get to do that creative mind play, it expands our physical and energetic consciousness and offers deep and meaningful pathways to improvement / aka / healing / aka increased sense of self. (Potato Potahto)

Learning to discern variability within a pattern is where we get into the depths of what makes each of us unique, often called a holistic approach. Using the rhythm of breath, repetition of the sequence of poses, and frequency (daily practice) offers the right cocktail of factors to more easily grasp these variables for each of our bodies, and build our mindful self-awareness of what our bodies need.

Time Ask & Content

My goal is to help you gain a new routine that is helpful for you and that you want to do at a minimum of just 10 minutes a day. You may want much more the more that you practice, and that’s why each week the asana (poses) practice sequence adds on the last. Below is the list of resources available for you to use each week:

• Daily Mindfulness Assignments

  Check the “Mindfulness Exercises page from the index on the left at the top of this page for 5-7 weekly mindfulness assignments. Each assignment will take you no longer than 5 minutes. These assignments are drawn from the concepts of Mindfulness and help us to shift our thinking, be more present in our day-to-day, and to learn incredible coping skills for the stresses of life. It is recommended that you do them sequentially, but you may also decide to wander through them as it suits your day and mood.

• Weekly Concept & Instructional Video

  Here I will expound on the theme of the week, why we’re learning it, and some examples to help you with your practice. If you’re new to yoga and mindfulness you will likely want to watch the whole video. If you’ve been practicing a while, you may be able to skip the instructional “how-to” part.

• Weekly Audio Guides For Daily Practice

  Every week I will upload 10 additional minutes of the sequence in an audio format. If time is tight, please never skip the five-minute sequence of floor stretches to help settle our energy, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us to “Rest & Reset.” The parasympathetic nervous system aids in digestion, and releases pent-up energy such as anxiety and stress, allowing our lymph and immune system to function more productively.

  I have intentionally chosen audio to guide you instead of video so that you are more focused on feeling your way into poses and movement, instead of trying to “look the right way.” If you feel lost, please refer back to the Weekly Concept Video for help, or reach out to me via email. I encourage you to practice these 10 minutes every day. If you would like more, simply repeat one of the audio selections, or put on your favorite music and repeat the sequence on your own. Repetition offers enriched learning, as well as helping to establish a rhythm in the body, which we’ll dive into in weeks 1 and 2.
  

• Practice Journal

  One of the lessons of yoga is how to manifest that which we desire. A big part of manifestation is taking the time to “make our thoughts real.” Writing down important changes or observances throughout your practice is a powerful tool in helping guide energy toward that which you want to create in your life.

print & fold down the middle

• Seasonal Ayurvedic Cleanse

  Take a look at the seasonal cleanse available via the “Seasonal Ayurvedic Cleanse” page in the course navigation. ⬆️ There are videos to explain each component of the cleanse. This cleanse comes from the tradition of Ayurveda, which is over 2000 years old, and was a deeply developed health system out of India before it was a British colony. I personally use this cleanse a few times a year, with various modifications. You can find a 7-day supply of the recommended herbs and tea for sale on the “Calley’s Apothecary” page. I recommend buying them from me if you’re test-driving this cleanse so you don’t have a bunch of herbs lying around if you chose not to continue them. (Most store-bought varieties will offer a 30-day supply.)

~

PLEASE NOTE: Everyone responds to these exercises differently. Please take Pillar #1 (Choice) to heart and do what feels intuitively best for you and your body. I do encourage you to challenge yourself, and be willing to try new things that may be “hard,” (AKA “new”), but it is important that you discern between “discomfort” and “pain,” for your own body.

Discomfort = learning

Pain = Your body is saying something ain’t right.

Questions? Email me! I’m so very honored to guide your practice.

🌞🌚✨

Mindfulness Exercises

“Mindfulness” is a well-researched and scientifically-proven approach to developing coping skills. It is defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. Below you will find Mindfulness practices and prompts organized by category. Each one should take you no longer than 5 minutes. You may decide you’d like to try one mindfulness exercise per day and use them sequentially as listed below, or you may wish to scroll through the categories, and chose one that serves you that day.

Theme / Week #1: The Heart

1. The heart is where energy begins and ends in the body. Make a list of what you KNOW about your heart: what it IS, and what it IS NOT. See mine here.

4. May today mark the beginning of a chapter in your life with a soft, open heart, released of past pain and anguish. The back body is representative of our ability to ground, release, and... you guessed it, “Reset & Re-Energize!” Today, try laying on your back for 5 minutes, with your hands behind your head, supporting the weight of your skull, choosing whatever style of breath feels good to you. Enjoy a daydream while the muscles and tissues of your ribs, shoulders, and back get a nice stretch, opening the thoracic (meaning thorax, or chest) spine. Also don’t forget your list of what your heart IS and IS NOT as you lie there, enjoying.

5. Today is our last day of building awareness of our hearts. As such, here are one of my favorite poems and a few songs about the heart. Take some time to read this, or perhaps find a quote or poem about the heart that you enjoy.

Need a good cry?

Song: “Speak Your Heart” by Liz Wright.

Song: “True Love Will Find You In The End” by Daniel Johnston

Feeling the rockstar vibe?

Song: “What About Love?” by Heart

Wish an angel would sing you to you?

Song: “One Voice” by The Wailin’ Jenny’s

Theme / Week #2: Power

1. Get out of a piece of paper ad write down what your gut responses are to the word, “power.” Here is mine.

2. Take the notion of power - which is very linear - and write down as many places in your life that this concept shows up. Be specific! Who has more power, where are you “subordinate,” and where are you the one in power as compared to someone else? No labeling as good or bad. Examples may be a boss, someone who pays for your livelihood, someone you pay to take care of your children, your lawn, your taxes, being a parent… write as many of these examples as you can think of.

3. Verbalize out loud - or to a friend or family member for more punch! - something that you are willing to give your power away to. It could be a person, a job, a specific instance such as “I’m willing to pay top dollar to the fastest postal delivery service, and I’m happy to give away the power of my dollar because I want guaranteed fast delivery” or “I am willing to give away my need for things to be clean in my home because I have a partner who is terrible at keeping things clean and I would rather relinquish that argument than to keep my sense of power (aka control) around this issue.”

• This exercise must be written down or spoken out loud! This puts our idea into the physical plane, and we engage in the process of manifestation, which is a deep lesson in yoga philosophy. Thoughts in our heads can only work in our heads! Put the ideas out in the world, and we can start to do something productive with them.

4. Get out a recording device if you have a smartphone, or grab a friend and sit them down on the couch in front of you and do the following: Say out loud (with emotion! Conviction! Become ONE with your feelings!) one thing that TRULY makes you FEEL powerful. It might be something silly, something that seems like it has nothing to do with yoga, or something you would never say out loud to someone because they’d think you’d gone nuts. 🥜

5. Get out a journal, and write down a one-sentence intention of how you will practice being powerful in the week to come. Make it something small and achievable, something you can put into practice right away.

• Examples: committing to a daily habit

• noticing your emotions around a particular subject or person

• owning your reactions around a particular subject or person

• initiating a long-overdue conversation

Theme / Week #3: SENSING

Do the following exercises in the nighttime, which is when our bodies and minds are at their most receptive.

1. Delight your senses for five uninterrupted minutes! Here’s why 5 minutes: It takes the average person anywhere from 2-5 minutes to complete a full mind-body neurological circuit, where the neuropathways can “feel at home and present” on their path, so that they relax and a deeper sensory awareness can start to emerge, activating both sympathetic (fight or flight - aka ACT! GO! DO!) & parasympathetic (rest & re-set - aka CHILL! RELAX! BE!) nervous systems in balance.

• Smell a flower

• enjoy the detail of a piece of artwork or item in nature

• taste your food slowly and thoroughly

• listen intently to a favorite record or song

• give yourself a good nighttime moisturize session with some self-massage

• something else that feels indulgent!

2. Take one minute of resting your left hand on each of your body’s seven chakras, or energy centers. Think of each part of the body as having its own voice as you rest your hand on each of the chakras on the front of your body. Sense what that part of your body is telling you. Allow thoughts to come freely, without judgment.

3. Take the chakra that felt the most receptive. Give yourself five minutes with just that chakra, hands resting right on top of left. Close your eyes and see if you can move any energy using just your hand and your breath. Feel for the energy like water, with its own force, separate from your body. Happy sensing!

4. In an interaction with someone else (or with yourself in the mirror) notice what the body language is saying about this person’s mood. Is it consistent with the sound of their voice? The look in their eyes?

• Additionally, notice your own reaction to this body language? What thoughts pass through your mind as a reaction to your observations?

5. An exercise in resilience: Find a quiet place for five minutes. Create a supportive rhythmic pattern of your breath. Allow this rhythm to take up all of your awareness, comforting you like the waves of the ocean. Now notice where there is tension in the body. Breathe through this tension, try to stay with the feeling of the tension and use your breath as a “weapon” or “dance partner” (whichever you like better) against this tension in order to not wiggle, squirm, or otherwise “escape,” the tension. Stay rooted in your breath!

Theme / Week #4: Grounding

1. Find a “happy place” within your home where you feel a sense of peace, calm, and “at-home-ness” in your body. This could be a whole room, it could be the act of lighting a particular candle, it could be sitting in a favorite chair, or snuggling under your covers and closing your eyes. Make this some place that does not involve a screen (TV, smartphone, tablet, or otherwise). Chose a place that you feel like you can just sit for five minutes and let time pass pleasantly. Notice your surroundings. Notice what it is about this place that feels good to you. Feel your body relax more with each passing minute.

2. Go to your home happy place with a journal. Sit with your breath, noticing the rise and fall, fill up and release, expansion and contraction in your body. Sit with your eyes open or closed -your choice. Release thoughts as they come, and just notice your breath and surroundings. Write one word to one sentence - no more - encapsulating what you feel. Sit as long as you like and enjoy!

3. The Small Pile project! A big part of feeling grounded, supported, held, and cared for is making sure that our environment feels supportive. Find a small project around the house such as organizing a pile of magazines, doing a repair, or installing/implementing something new. This should NOT cascade into an “All The Piles” project! Choose one thing, focus on it, and enjoy the completion of getting it done!

4. Prompts to help ground!

NEED: Take a deep breath in: What does your heart need? Wait for an answer that feels true, even if its something small and silly like, “I gotta pee!”

WANT: Once you have your answer of what your heart needs, ask yourself what you want today in this moment. Sometimes wants get confused with needs, so you might need to go back to step one to clarify.

WHY: Why would it feel good? What is the sensory experience attached to the thing you’re craving? Freedom? Comfort? Relaxation? Ease? Excitement?

HOW: How can you create a combination of your need, want, and why into an activity that will serve your heart, body, & soul today? Something as small as enjoying the taste of your coffee, indulging in your favorite re-run / netflix, or snuggling with a pet, partner, friend, or lover!

Theme / Week #5: POTENTIAL

1. It can be challenging to remember that there is immense potential in the process of destruction. It usually requires a good fight, and a lot of work, but the opportunity to end up in a better place than you were before is at its highest!! So for day ONE of POTENTIAL, we’ll set our sights on a self-assessment. Where do you routinely underestimate your own potential? Maybe in your work. Maybe in a relationship. Maybe a talent or skill of yours that you’ve routinely been praised for. Take five minutes to sit quietly with this question, get out your journal, and write down what feels true. And enjoy releasing that info out of your body and getting it on paper! See mine here.

2. Take what you wrote yesterday about how you underestimate your own potential and come up with a way to put a barrier between you and this thinking so that there’s no more room for it.

For example: Mine was not giving into “the shoulds,” because that’s an energy killer for me. So my way of practicing shrinking space for that idea is when I think to myself, “I should... XYZ.” I instead give myself permission to think about if I NEED to do the thing I think I should RIGHT NOW, and if I could do something else first that will motivate and energize me.

3. This potential will expand on yesterday’s exercise as it was kind of a big ask... how do you edge something out when it’s lodged in your habits... so today, take a piece of paper and write down 1-3 instances where you can remember not “living up to your potential.”

4. Now - instead of focusing on the fact that you “missed the mark” for whatever reason, recall what the circumstance was at the time. What was creating the barrier to expressing your full potential? Was it something within your control or not? Is there some way you could have influenced the situation differently, or did you have to let sleeping dogs lie? Write down / unpack one situation if it’s what you have time for, or do multiple and look for patterns.

5. Write a list, or bring this notion of “reaching your potential” into a breath practice (from week 1) to think about what resources are needed to actualize your potential. Or do both! Give yourself some time and space around these thoughts and visualize yourself in the space where your potential is being realized. Do you need money? Other people? Certain clothes? Information? Skills? How will you attain these things? If you don’t know, who might? How could you “go on a treasure hunt,” to figure out a pathway to getting the resources you need? Allow your list to become a piece of artwork if you like.

Theme / Week #6: INSIGHT

1. What does the word “insight” mean to you. Take out a piece of paper, and write down the first 5 things that come to mind. Keep it simple.

2. We are all good at something, and therefore have an ability to be insightful in a particular topic or situation. Today’s exercise is to give your insight a name!

Example: This is Francesca. She has a very good time laughing behind my back (with loving affection). She sees everything while I have my eyes closed.

3. An exercise in using your body’s insight: As you eat your next meal, ask yourself the following 3 questions:

• Why are you eating it?

• What is it doing for you?

• How does it make you feel?

Try not to label as good or bad, just make your observations, and write them down if you like.

4. Today’s exercise is about , sitting with eyes closed, keeping quiet, and imagining your thoughts as a silent film. Whatever images come in are part of the film. Whatever thoughts come in are part of the film. Whatever characters come in are part of the film. After a few minutes, when it seems like the film has ended, open your eyes and write down what happened, who was there, and where it happened. Write any details you remember. Now notice if any of these people, places, or scenarios are somehow metaphorically linked to your own life. What do these characters and this “movie” have to teach you?

Theme / Week #7: Verbalize

1. Sometime this week, find a brand new person to have a conversation with. Within the conversation naturally, try to find out the following information about this person:

• their name

• where they were born

• something else interesting that’s not about the weather or the news of the day.

2. Processing our emotions verbally has been documented in various integrative medical and psychological studies as showing a positive effect on the immune system, as well as levels of happy-inducing hormones serotonin and dopamine. Today, have a conversation with yourself about how you’re feeling. You might feel a little crazy, so if you want to feel less crazy, get out your smartphone and record yourself, and anyone who looks at your funny, feel free to blame me. Say out loud the things you normally only say inside. Notice how you feel at the end of a 2-3 minute conversation with yourself. ☺️

3. Listen back to your recording! Or - if you didn’t record yourself - see what you can remember of the conversation. Get out a piece of paper and take note of what you remember. Is it the content of what you talked to yourself about? Is it that you were nervous and felt funny? Is it the exact feelings you were having at that moment? Practice observing what came out of your mouth when directed.

4. Seek out someone who is uncomfortable to have a conversation with. This might be someone who talks too much for you, or never quite seems to say enough. As much as possible, see if you can hold a conversation for at least 1-2 minutes where the only thing you say after your greeting (“Hello! How are you, Dale?” etc…) is either “uh-huh” with an affirmative tone, or “mmmmmm” or “aaaahhhh” with any other tone: shock, disappointment, disgust, anger, surprise, excitement, etc. Assign feelings to the conversation instead of words to your best ability and see what you notice.

5. Bring a sticky pad with you throughout your day, and notice what goes through your head throughout the day. Try to find 5 times throughout the day to notice what your thoughts are, and write them down. No judgment, no controlling them, no altering what you want them to be. Just write them down like you would a shopping list.

Theme / Week #8: LOVE

Love is the universal healing principle.

My words:
I believe there is one universal, and that is love. The absence of it brings chaos and the presence of it is what heals us.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Explanation of Sutra #45:
The world itself is God***. All that is outside is is God. When we dedicate our lives to the benefit of humanity, we have dedicated ourselves to God. Whatever we do can easily be transformed into worship by our attitude. We can do anything and everything as long as we do it with the idea of serving the world at large. We can serve our tables, our chairs and everything around us. If we don’t pull chairs mercilessly from one corner to another, we are serving them. If we drag them, they cry. Anything handled roughly will feel pain. There should be a gentle, Yogic touch with everything - even our spoons, forks, plates.

***Please note that I believe in the use of “God” as an all-inclusive term for that which you believe in that is bigger than humanity. Whether you call it God, Buddha, Allah, The Universe, Science, Art, Love, or the Great Poobah, I believe the intention is the same. Please use whatever word makes your heart sing.

Seasonal Ayurvedic Cleanse

 The intention of any cleanse is to make changes to our digestion, diet, and thereby “reset” our energy level and help us move forward in our lives.

Some cleanses are more stringent using fasting, juice-only, or complex lab-created blends. Some are targeted to address particular organs such as liver or kidneys.

The intention of this particular cleanse is not about targeting any one organ, but rather a general flushing the digestive system, which often has many other beneficial effects such as reducing inflammation (a common problem in our culture that depletes immunity), boosting energy levels, and helping establish new healthy eating habits.

***Disclaimer: Please note that while the outcome of this cleanse can help flush food remnants in the digestive tract that may cause inflammation, this cleanse may temporarily cause inflammation or bloating. This is intentional to get the digestive tract activated and moving. Think of it like when you eat spicy food and you feel that tingling effect in your mouth. Rice and beans cause a “tingling effect” in your digestive tract that essentially loosens old “build up,” which gets lodged in our very soft, twisty-turny intestinal system. (Gross, but true.)

Beans are part of the legume family, and rice is a grain. Both grains and legumes have been known to cause inflammation. If you are currently suffering from IBS, lupus, cancer, chronic allergies, or other auto-immune ailments, please note that this cleanse may be quite uncomfortable or even harmful, depending on the severity of your condition. You can temper your comfort level and reduce the inflammation response by incorporating less of the trikatu (herb), and kitchari, and eating more pacifying vegetables such as potatoes, leafy greens, and carrots.

This cleanse is my favorite of the many I’ve tried, and here’s why:

• It uses all-natural REAL food

• It tastes good! If you like Indian food and vegetables

• The ingredients can be found in just about any store - both ethnic and “general” grocery chains

• It’s low-cost compared to many branded cleanses

• It focuses on the “what” of what we eat, instead of on eliminating or depriving ourselves of food. Food is, after all, meant to nourish us!

Here are some downsides, as opposed to other product-based cleanses:

• It requires more food prep time

• It’s not as convenient as “mixing up a smoothie” or “taking a pill.”

• Some of the ingredients may be a little foreign if you’re a “standard American eater” (ghee, the herbs, etc.) though I’ve tried to help alleviate that by allowing you to buy the herbs directly from me - see below.

I encourage you to print out the cleanse guide and:

• circle the things that seem easy

• put an X over the things that seem like a “no way”

• put a box around the things that make you uncomfortable

• Try to include at least 1-2 of the boxed items in your version of the cleanse.

Seasonal Ayurvedic Cleanse Explanation

Save shopping time & $upport small Twin Cities business “Present Moment” when you purchase your cleanse herbs & teas from me.

Week 1 ~ Experiencing Breath

This week we’ll be diving into our BREATH. This is a foundational aspect of any yoga and mindfulness practice.

Think about it: all day long, your body breathes for you. You don’t have to do anything or think of anything. It just happens on its own, thanks to our autonomic nervous system. That being said, most of us only use 33% of our total breath capacity or less!! That’s a lot of potential that we can tap into.

So before we get to this week’s practice techniques, let’s first give your brain something to roll around:

YOGA

“Yoga,” is a Sanskrit term. Sanskrit is of the oldest languages known to humans, deriving from the Indian continent. (Similar to how Latin is an ancient language from the European continent). Sanskrit is the language most often associated with the practices and teachings of yoga. The word “yoga” translates to English as “union” (a noun) as well as “to yolk.” (a verb.)

What this means is that inherent to this thing we call yoga is the idea that we are practicing to pursue a purpose (a goal, an achievement, an outcome - easy for our Western minds to grasp) as well as learning to participate in a process (to be present, moment by moment, without judgement, but with discernment, or differentiation).

Read that again. Take a moment to let it sink in. Go ahead, I’ll wait. 😌🕐

~ ~ ~

Yoga is often understood as an exercise method to become more flexible. But in fact, the particular part of what we call “yoga,” which includes the poses we’ve all come to know and love, is actually called “Asana.” (Say it AH-sana). Asana often translates to “poses,” though it’s more literal translation is “seat” or “sitting down.”

Wait, what? I thought this was about moving and stretching?

It is… and the reason we do this is not just to become more flexible, relieve tension, anxiety, lethargy, get stronger, etc. etc. etc…. but it is to understand our unique and individual needs in order to become more familiar with ourselves, and achieve these goals.

It is often said, yoga is a journey to the self through the self. (Or through the self to the self, potato potahto.)

It is also said that the pelvic floor is the seat of the Self. (Self, as the capital “S” is said to represent our highest possible selves, when we are living in true alignment with our spirit… I would argue its more about living in alignment with your soul, but that’s a conversation for the next course!) If the seat of the Self exists at the base of the pelvic floor, and these poses are meant to symbolize this seat, then it can be inferred that through this physical practice of poses, breathing, stretching, trying, failing, sweating, panting, farting, etc. that we come to truly know our truest and highest selves by going through the, ahem, not-so-high versions of ourselves. We learn to go through struggles, hardships, and trial and error, which give us the perspective, the tenacity, and the gratitude to appreciate our inner strength and truest self.

Since you’re now one of the educated folk who knows about yoga’s noun-based definition as “Union,” you might have wondered, “union between what?”

Ahhhhhh, good yogi. You will see in time. For now, think of it this way:

Yoga is less a series of poses, and more a system; a map. It offers us an opportunity to understand the whole of ourselves (hence “holistic”), our unique blueprint, its many parts, and most importantly how they all relate to one another. Through practice, we have time, a place, and guidance to do the deep work of self-discovery: physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness offers us the opportunity to glimpse into the process part of our whole. At it’s root, it is the act of observing, moment by moment, without judgement, which often results in a greater capacity for discernment or differentiation. (“Ummm, yeah Calley, you already said that.”) I know. It’s important. 😌

Breathing posture

The diaphragm works best when we are sitting in such a way that our legs, hips, and shoulders are relaxed, and our spine is long and tall. I like to think of the spine as a string - imagine that we are hanging from a string out of the top of our head. This string keeps the spine being gently pulled upward, while the weight of our shoulders, arms, hips, and legs can “dangle” gently off the support of the spine.

The Breath

The breath, as we know it, consists of an inhale and an exhale. It comes in our lungs, it goes back out.

The Breath, According To Yoga

In yoga, there is a common term, “Prana.” This most often translates to “life force.” When you think about it, your breath is literally the thing giving you life. It only takes a few minutes of not breathing before your life would leave your body.

Another term that has been less popularized, but is the important cohort to prana is “Apana.” I like to think of both prana and apana as the effect of the inhale and exhale. Meaning, take a deep inhale, notice that feeling of fullness and energy filling your body - that’s prana. Take a full exhale, notice the feeling of release and settling in the body - that’s apana.

We are not just breathing for the sake of breath (the noun). We are breathing for the sake of what it does to our body -gives it new energy, fresh oxygen -aka life force- and releases unneeded energy, CO2 -a different kind of life force that plants can use. (The verb here being taking and giving, or receiving and releasing, depending on which way you look at it.)

In order to conceptualize our Prana and Apana, we will be practicing a few breath techniques this week. As you do each of these exercises please remember to not just “do” your inhale and exhale, but to “feel” them. If you’re struggling with this, it may be helpful to know that prana is said to reside in the chest cavity, surrounding our hearts. Apana is said to reside in the pelvis surrounding our pelvic floor. See if you can feel your inhales and exhales in these regions of the body as you practice each technique. Go as slow or as fast as you like.

Posture, Prana, & Apana

Breath retention and release

Alternate Nostril Breathing ~ (Nadi Shodhana pranayama)

Diaphragm strengthening

Oceanic Breath ~ Ujjayi

“Power Breath” ~ (Kundalini Yoga Breath For Elevation)

Week 2 ~ Intention

Welcome to week two, eNergizer!

Well, you’ve officially crossed the bridge of week 1 where we explored breath in the body and the energy of the heart that emits from the body… as you step onto land you might feel a little fuzzy, a little confused… you’re not quite sure what’s going on or why you’re doing it. And that’s great! You, me - WE - are all learning to step into the unknown, and trust that our sensory abilities can help guide us. We do this each and every day (maybe without being aware of it) in the moments that make each day unique from the one before it, or the ones that are yet to come.

If you’re feeling a little woozy after crossing this metaphorical bridge, go ahead and have a seat, look back at the past week, and assess what this information means for you. Do your inhales tend to constrict you? Do you have a hard time letting go of your exhales? Was it all just a nonsensical fun time? Notice how you approached something as simple as your breath. Where can you see some parallels with your reaction to your breath, and your reactions to other events in your life? No judgement, no need to label as good or bad. Just notice. Pose theses questions to yourself, and sit quietly for answers that feel true in your gut.

Now we start to put some of what we learned about our breath into practice. As we introduce asana (poses) and vinyasa (flow) in your solo body time this week, we’re going to explore the idea of intention. If this is a new and foreign concept to you, don’t fret. If it’s an old concept to you, you’ll have the opportunity to spend some time thinking about what you’ve been intending lately, and if your actions are lining up, and in sync with your heart.

Practicing Intention with attention

As you begin your practice each day, first take at least 1-2 minutes to just breathe, slowly and mindfully. This allows our thoughts to settle, our bodies to sync up with our brain, and allows us to set intentions from a more truthful place for where we are in our lives in this moment, without attachment to the past, or anticipation of the future.

If you’re more into science-speak, this slow, mindful breath helps to balance the relationship between our sympathetic nervous system and our parasympathetic nervous system. These two components make up the “two halves that make the whole” of our autonomic nervous system, which is the part of our brain that sends signals to our vital organs, keeping us alive all day and all night without us even having to think about it.

THINK ➡️ FEEL ➡️ GO

First, when we learn anything, we need to understand it mentally. This is the outer cortex of the brain where learning happens and familiarity is built.

After enough repetition, we start to let go of basic structure and form (do this with my hand, leg goes here), and we are able to settle our attention and focus on feeling and sensation, awakening the limbic system in the brain.

After many repetitions, when we become SO familiar with a sequence that we no longer have to think about it, we can simply trust our body to move where it knows to move, go past even feeling and sensation, and focus entirely on our breath.

Use these tracks in repetition as needed to get very familiar with this basic flow in your body. If you find you are ready to move faster, start to go on your own, following the rhythm of your breath.

If you do nothing else in this course,

please practice the 12-min sequence below every day. Tell me you don’t feel a significant difference in 8 weeks!

Practice Content

Music to go with your practice - curated by calley

Find me on Apple Music to follow me, and find the playlist I built intended to go with this sequence!

Additional help to Find Users From Your Mobile Device

Week 2 Playlist

Why Apple Music?

As a former professional musician, I give my monthly subscription money to Apple Music over Spotify because they pay the artist two and a half times MORE PER STREAM than Spotify.

Support Musical Artists! ~ Join Apple Music!

Week 3 ~ Focal Point

Well, Energizers, we’re onto week number three!

Know that everything in this course was built with practice tools that are intentionally simple, intentionally slow, and intentionally methodical.

A Yog'i’s Take On Practice

When I first became committed to my yoga practice in 2008, there was a common phrase that I often heard. It goes:

“Yoga is 99% practice, and 1% theory.”

Think about that: 99% practice. As such, know that the best thing you can do for yourself is to practice your 10 minutes on your own every day.

If it helps you: Accountability check! See what you feel / think about Week 2 by downloading the reflection worksheet below.

If it does not help you, but rather induces anxiety, self-loathing, etc. then please ignore :)

It can be challenging to drown out “the noise of life,” and be self-directed, even for just 10 minutes each day. So in week 3, we will talk about ways to help us focus.

We’ll be repeating the established sequence from last week (Sit with the breath, roll out the neck, come to stand, repeat Sun C’s with the low lunge on either leg) and we push the pace just a bit, and add on a few poses.

Start At the Root ~ The Bandhas

In classical yoga traditions of yoga (which is where we get styles like Ashtanga, Iyengar, and many of the modern “power yoga” styles such as CorePower, Baptiste, LifeTime LifePower yoga, etc.), there is an energetic focal point in the body called “The Bandhas.”

Watch this week’s video exposition for an explanation of what the Bandhas are, and how to find them in your body.

Connect the Mind To the Body ~ Mantra

There are many traditions of yoga, meditation, and other related practices that utilize the concept of “mantra.” Mantra is a word, phrase, or idea that is gently repeated in order to keep the mind focused and connected to the breath and body.

A mantra can be anything that is helpful for you:

• Something you want to focus your attention on.

• Something you want to let go of.

• Something you need to problem solve.

• Something idyllic that helps you stay focused and consistently observant of the feelings in your body.

  Below are some mantras I’ve written, which you are welcome to steal as is, or adapt to something more personal for you. This week as you practice, in your 2-5 minutes of breathing before you begin to move, choose a mantra that you will softly repeat inside your head to yourself throughout your time on the mat.

PLEASE NOTE! You will “fail” at remembering to say the mantra the entire time! And that’s ok! Think of this like bicep curls for the brain. Of course you’ll get tired, annoyed, lose track, etc. This is part of the process - notice what grabs your attention away from the mantra, and as they say in Transcendental Meditation, “Gently favor the mantra,” over your other thoughts.

Calley’s Mantras

1) I feel my breath in my ______(insert body part)___.

—> Good for monkey mind.

2) I notice my ___(insert body part)___ react to my breath.

—> Good for anxiety.

3) I am loved. I am whole. I am loving. I am safe.

—> Good for tension / fatigue about external situations beyond our control.

4) I am loving. I say what needs to be said. I am intelligent. I think outside the box.

—> Good for gaining momentum / motivation.

Write your own in your practice journal and try repeating it for a few days of practice. Your mantra should suit the day.

Are you tired of repeating the same behaviors, attracting the same type of people, or getting the same results over and over? Choose a mantra that encourages you to sit with a concept that is slightly uncomfortable for you. (This is where we grow.) If the discomfort is only slight, you can allow it to be in the background as you focus mostly on your breathing.

Are you always taking care of others, but frustrated that no one seems to be taking care of you? Try a mantra about self-care, worthiness, or love from a divine source.

As you practice, notice: what comes up? Write that down in your journal too.

If you’re stuck for ideas, trying just sitting with your breath in body presence for a few minutes. Still stuck? Always feel free to schedule a consultation with me to talk things out.

Content For Practice

Look for the Week 3 Playlist on Apple Music!

Find & Follow me on iTunes. Not sure how? Read the how-to in Week 2.

Week 4 ~ Rhythm

Get a nice cup of tea, bunny, because this week I’ve got a little reading for you before we dive into practice.

But first! Download the reflections worksheet below for week 3 to check in with how your practice is going!

Dharma

There are universal rules. The laws of physics. The speed of sound. Newton’s law: an object in motion will remain in motion (until an outside force interrupts it).

My role in this course is as the guide to expound on these “rules” of yoga as “the expert.”

Ahem, let me polish my apple and adjust my glasses. Ok, I feel like an expert:

~ ~ ~

There is a term in yoga philosophy called “Dharma.” It has been interpreted as “the work,” which is a verb - a great interpretation for when you are ready to get to work.

But as we talked about in the intro week, the term yoga itself can be used as:

1. a verb -to yoke- meaning to take the time to harness something… your body, your breath, your mind. Yoga can also be

2. a noun: the union. The union of what? Your body, your mind, your breath…

…and I would take that many steps further to the external factors (your relationships, your sense of purpose, your diet, levels of stress and amount of sleep) that affect your internal blueprint (your body, your mind, your breath):

What is your body going through? At work? At home? In love? With food? With friends? With family?… etc. etc. etc. These factors are a part of your whole - your union. The noun that is your life. You must understand these individual pieces that make up your life - your union, your noun - before you can start to productively harness them… yoke them, and be the ones holding the reigns.

Dharma is also said to be “the path to yoga.”

So if “yoga,” or the endpoint goal is a fully yolked mind body and spirit, “doing the work” is the path to get there.

No biggie, right? Easy peasy. It’s only everything that makes up who you are. (We’re breathing, we’re breathing…)

...(breathing, breathing, breathing)…

So let’s back up, and take this one step at a time:

In much the same way, Dharma must be understood before we can just jump “to work.” The other definition of Dharma - that I prefer to think of and use much more often than it’s verb counterpart - is “the higher order of things.”

Um. What?

In plain English, this implies - just like Newton and Darwin, and Einstein have helped us understand rules - that there is a map which explains a process to this “path to yoga.”

We could spend a year on this concept alone, but let’s keep it simple for now with an example:

You’re trying to get to your new job, from home. You know where home is. You know where the job is. You need to figure out the best way to get there that works in your life. Your options are:

• Take the bus (slower, but gives you time to read, catch up on news, meditate…)

• Take the freeway (stop-and-go, but you love that morning radio show.)

• Take surface streets (keeps you moving and is scenic, though may be slower than the freeway.)

• Rideshare (you give up some control, but you might make new friends)

• Take a cab / Lyft (it’ll cost you, but you have a whole silent, speedy ride just to yourself.)

You can’t avoid this process of transit to get from home to work, A to B. But you do have some choices about what that process looks like.

In the same way, the path to “yoga” (a fully-yolked body, mind, & breath, AKA “self”) must be participated in certain ways: conditioning the breath, exercising the body, and training the mind are the verbs we must do. But intricately understanding our breath, our body, our minds… this is the practice.

Thanks to the autonomic nervous system, whether or not we are paying attention to the patterns of our breath, the patterns of our body, the patterns of our minds… they will continue to behave with or without our attention. Your heart will beat, your lungs will breathe, your brain will fire, your body will move, you’ll speak without thinking, you’ll react without effort, etc. This is what in classical yoga is called “conditioned existence.” Your knee-jerk reactions to things based on what you’ve always done because you’ve learned these responses through your experiences.

Up above I talked about my role as the “guide.” This means presenting this information in bite-sized pieces with examples to make it relatable.

In order to find the way you can behave within “your highest order” or Dharma, your role as the student / participant is to be observant… discerning… honest… humble… about where you are in your own practice. It is also your role to be confident, self-aware, and decisive about how to adjust the parameters of this course to suit you, your life, and your practice. In theory, when we’ve discovered our own Dharma (also sometimes interpreted as your heart’s true desire), we can live in ease, harmony, and greater resolve and sense of self, without being “thrown” by the outside world.

So, this week we’re going to bring in a friend to help us observe and break down what your individual patterns are. A friend called, RHYTHM.

Cadence

Rhythm is at our very foundation of existence. It is the beating of your heart, the cycle of your breath, the firing of your neurons. These are the life rhythms that are so essential that if any one of them stopped, very quickly we’d be dead.

Bringing this concept onto our yoga mat, we start to understand the importance of repetition in order to find cadence and rhythm.

You know the saying, “you don’t know until you go?” You must take the time to learn the basic poses, practice the sequence so you’re familiar with it, and do it over and over and over again, trying it faster or slower so that you can find what cadence - or pace - works for you and your body, mind, and breath.

If you’ve been using the recordings in this course to practice at home, bravo.

If you’ve memorized even a few of the poses in the sequence bravavissimo. (Ok, I don’t think that’s a word, but it follows the rules of rhythmic & musical language, so I’m owning it!)

Finding your own cadence is about speed. Finding the speed that works for your body, on that given day.

Finding the feeling of flow within the cadence is rhythm: when everything feels synced up, and you no longer have to think about what you’re doing, you just do it and enjoy how it feels.

And if you get lost or are struggling to find a rhythm that feels free and aligned - come back to your breath!

Practice with Cadence to find your rhythm

As such, if you have not taken the time to practice the sequence thus far to the point of memorization, I encourage you to do so. Here are some other ways to find your rhythm:

Week 4 Playlist

Find & Follow me on iTunes. Not sure how? Read the how-to in Week 2.

Content For Practice

Week 5 ~ Resonance

Hello my beautiful bunny souls. Welcome to week 5 of Reset & Re-Energize.

We’re half way. Can you believe it?

Now, if that causes any kind of anxiety, self-judgement, etc. STOP RIGHT THERE.

Technically, you’re only 1/4 of the way through your access to all this material here in the portal. And of course I didn’t expect - as stated on the Welcome Page - that you would do everything in this course. This practice is ultimately about noticing what comes in - the judgement, the impatience, the fear, the frustration, the joy, the peace… all of it - and also letting it go, so that we can be fully engaged, full available, fully present for the next moment.

Now, if it’s helpful, download the Week 4 Reflection below. If it doesn’t serve, leave it be.

If you want some help with accountability, send me your filled out form in Voxer!

What Resonates With You?

I want to check in with your heart for a moment.

Remember that thing? It beats for you all day long, so kind of it. Let’s take a moment to just reflect on the last four weeks. We’ve actually covered quite a bit!

• Here in the portal, we’ve played with Breath, Intention, Focus, and Rhythm.

• In the mindfulness exercises via Voxer, we’ve explored our hearts, the concept of power, our sensory abilities, and the notion of grounding.

If you’ve never heard a yoga teacher in a class talk about resonance, consider this your introduction. This is my very favorite topic in the whole wide world. Not only does it encompass what I love about music - which is very much a part of my heart and soul - but it invites the idea of the mystique of the soul. There are facts, and there is science, and there are rules, and rituals, and recommendations… but what about… YOU?

What lights you up?

What gives you a sense of purpose? A sense of passion?

What makes you feel loved, and valued, and cared for?

We are all worthy of heart fuel: love, joy, happiness, elation, desire, and yes even anguish, sadness, loss, and loneliness. Even these “negative” emotions are there to serve us. They teach us about what is important to us, showcase when we have a need that is not being met, and allow us to better understand and appreciate both ourselves, and the elements in our lives that bring us all the positive emotions. Our hearts were given to us as the literal physical place where we can process these things in the body, and send signals back to our brains that we need to make specific choices for ourselves. What a magical thing, right?

Think about if you bought a brand new car - all the bells and whistles, heated leather seats, navigation, a virtual assistant, moon roof, etc… and then never put any gas in the thing? It’s just silly. Don’t do the same thing to your dear, sweet, heart.

When we resist our feelings, we resist our humanity, and its ability to express our soul’s needs and desires. While our bodies are certainly a conglomerate of bones and tissues that need to be taken care of, it is of equal importance that we take care of our souls.

So… what does that mean? How do you even begin to release the responsibilities of life, the turmoil the COVID-19 has wreaked on our world, the uncertainty of the future? How do you settle your mind, tap into your humanity, and listen to your soul so that it can tell you what your body needs today?

The answer is different for us all.

So this week, I want to offer you some resources of inspiration to find your resonance via your feelings. Feelings aren’t everything - we also need good information, measurement, discernment, wise choices, etc…. but in a world where we spend plenty of time cultivating those other things, today let’s just focus on you, and your personal gateway to your soul: your feelings.

Finding Your Will, Drive, or Desire ~ “Iccha”

In Sanskrit there is a word used to explain the first necessary step in one path to yoga: Iccha. (Paths are many, truth is one.) Last week I mentioned that Dharma can be a verb (a doing word), or a noun (the explanation of a concept). An important part of taking a concept and turning it into action so that we can manifest that which we want to see or have or do in the world is having the will, energy, drive, or desire to do such.

Iccha is not something that can be given to you. It must be discovered from within. It’s why things like art, and music, and meaningful conversations, and inspiration are an important part of being human. All of these things give us a sense of zeal, of drive, of will to keep going.

On Sunday I read this article in the NY Times about a 49-year-old very active and healthy man was on a ventilator for 32 days from COVID-19. On a week where I was releasing the pain and tension of a migraine, I myself was in need of a good cry. This article was just the ticket, I got some goooood tears flowing from this one. I won’t spoil it, but there is a very curious component to his healing that explains this need for our soul’s will.

The Object of your desire ~ “artha”

Sometimes it takes a bit of doing an impulse check-in with what actually gets us in the gut. Desire is just a word to describe a feeling. If you need something a little more concrete to hang on to, try the following exercise.

Of the 8 concepts we’ve covered in the last four weeks, probably one of them has seemed more true for you, held more meaning, or impacted you greater than the others.

Try This:

Take ONE FULL MINUTE to take some deep breaths. Close your eyes, or let them wander around the room and just notice what is around you as you notice your breath inside of you. Then, when you feel ready, mind cleared and settled, take a look at the following list, and just notice where your eye is drawn immediately:

Breath

Intention

Focus

Rhythm

heart

power

sensING

grounding

What was the first thing you were drawn to? If you got immediately distracted, go back to breathing, maybe for 2 minutes, and try this over again. Whichever word pulled your attention, might I suggest that you allow this word to be a question you ask yourself for your 10 minutes of practice each day? What about this word is needed in your life? Where does this word show up in your life? Is it met by a person? A place? A thing? Is it being delivered to you in the way that your heart truly wants?

Be intentional with this - take the time to slow down, set aside stressors, clear out your room, light a candle, do 10 jumping jacks first… allow yourself to really spend some time with this word. Go back to the reading in the portal, or the exercises in Voxer. If you want to be bold, tell everyone else on the Voxer thread what word you are working on in your practice this week.

~ AND ~

Notice if the word loses meaning for you quickly, and you need to chose a different word. Different day, different circus. Go with the flow, my energizer bunny.

The knowledge behind our will ~ “Jnana”

If you are the type that needs some proof for buy-in, below are a list of resources that help to explain mind-body science from a Western research perspective, as we know it today.

Week 5 Playlist on Apple Music

Find & Follow me on iTunes. Not sure how? Read the how-to in Week 2.

practice content

Week 6 ~ Dance

Energizers! It’s time to DANCE!

You might be saying, “wait, what? I did NOT sign up for a dance course…”

Don’t worry. I’m not literally going to make you dance. But I AM going to tell you that in a very loose interpretation of the word, you’re already dancing…

But first things first. Download the “Week 5 Reflections” worksheet below to just do a lil’ check-in with #1.

Now! Onto THE DANCING!

(I kid, I joke…)

In Sanskrit (the original language of yoga) the word for “dance” is “Nataraj.”

There is a pose - dancer pose - called “Natarajasana.” And there is a common phrase within the philosophy of yoga:

The Dance of Shiva.

Now, we’d better back up and talk about who Shiva (or Siva, as it is often spelled) is.

Shiva is an archetype (or character) in one of the many stories that are told as a part of yoga philosophy. We use these stories to relate to and understand the many circumstances that we go through in life. The same way that we have all grown up with stories from movies and children’s fables.

So, who is Shiva and - equally important - who is his consort (or partner)?

(We’ll cover the consort part next week)

Shiva

Shiva is the lord of the whole universe. He owns the process of liberation, is the ruler of thought, helping us to have a calm mind, and keep sorrows at bay. He embodies the qualities of the divine masculine and the concept of “pure consciousness.”

Think of the word, “conscious.” You know that its a state of being. If we are unconscious, we’re knocked out - not quite sleeping, but not present and aware of what’s going on. So pure consciousness is less a thing that we can tangibly touch and see, and yet we understand that thoughts are real, and therefore, consciousness is real.

“Pure” consciousness implies that ideas exist in a plane that is very real, and yet we cannot touch or see it in the gross plane of our physical reality. It’s esoteric, and abstract because it has no form yet.

Think about if you had never seen an apple before. You would have no image in your mind, no taste in your mouth, no understanding that this is a fruit that grows on trees and comes in a multitude of colors. And yet, as humans we can create new hybrid fruits - the kiwi is one such example. Before they existed in our real physical plane, they existed as “pure consciousness” in the energy field of the fruits from which they were derived.

We, as humans are much the same. We are born as an egg during the time that our mother’s sex organs are being developed in her mother’s womb.

Think about that:

You already existed in some physical form the entire time your mother has been on this earth.

Now, if you have children, your children were not yet in the physical manifested plane of what can be measured or poked at, but does that mean your children aren’t real? No, it means they were still existing in the unmanifested plane as “pure consciousness.”

To a certain extent, this is what quantum physics seeks to understand and measure!

So this is what shiva represents. You might think of “pure consciousness” as potential. (Which was the theme of last week’s mindfulness exercises.)

Shiva The Destroyer

Shiva is often called “The Destroyer.” The reason for this is that in order for an unmanifest idea to become a reality - for us to realize our potential - there is a mountain of work (or Dharma), backed up by a truckload of will (Iccha), and change that must take place. That process is often chaotic and seemingly destructive. After all, in order for something new to come through, it must displace something else.

If you want to put a face to Shiva that we can relate to he might be like Arnold Schwarzenegger: Strong, confident, calm, a ruler by nature, very much a master of will, might, and physical force, without flinching to the difficult tasks at hand.

Dance

As Shiva brings forth is wisdom of pure consciousness, potential, growth, and inevitable destruction, there is a process that he must go through. Next week we’ll talk about Shiva’s partner (or cohort as they are often called in yoga philosophy) with whom he dances, indefinitely through all of eternity…

But for this week, I want you to think about the last time you

just

let

loose.

Danced (like no one’s watching, as they say). Allowed yourself to be free from inhibitions, throwing obligation and propriety aside? Like that time you went to uncle Larry’s wedding to his 3rd wife, and you really didn’t want to make small talk with the extended family so you had one too many of the bad white wine and decided “what the hell? There’s no one here I really care about impressing,” so you BUSTED LOOSE on the dance floor.

Remember that time? Remember how fun it was? Spontaneous? Unplanned? And how, you actually enjoyed yourself, and surprisingly, the next day, you didn’t feel too bad, despite the bad wine?

When we allow ourselves to “step into the dance,” without needing perfect conditions, we are allowing ourselves to let loose of expectations.

This week, my dear Energizers, I want you to find a time to LET. LOOSE. Maybe this will be on your mat. Or maybe it will be somewhere else entirely - after all, yoga does not only happen on a modern yoga mat made in a factory in China. ;) Yoga is happening all the time, throughout our lives.

Dance, bunnies, dance.

week 6 Playlist on Apple Music

Find & Follow me on iTunes. Not sure how? Read the how-to in Week 2.

Week 6 Practice Content

 Week 7 ~ Resistance

Dear Energizers,

The time has come for “a little less conversation,” as Elvis would say.

Go ahead and download the week 6 reflections worksheet, if that’s been helpful for you to track your patterns:

Shiva’s Cohort (partner) = exemplifying Balance

In many eastern philosophies there is an understanding that balance is where health exists. In Western science we call this place “homeostasis.” Now this isn’t balance like, standing on one leg. (Except in dancer pose / Natarajasana, ironically this happens to be exactly the case…)

This is about understanding the simple notion that we as humans are meant to live a dynamic life, where the factors that make up our lives are in balance with each other. It requires that we understand the inherent duality (two-way) of everything. Here are a few other ways to think about this:

• Opposites attract

• For each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

• Night follows day (Day follows night)

• When one door closes, a window opens

• One person’s trash is another’s treasure

Here’s a few ways this shows up for the components that make up our health:

• Plenty of good sleep / to balance / plenty of activity & exercise

• Fats, oils, & grains / to balance / fruits, vegetables, & legumes

• Free time & recreation / to balance / focus & hard work

• Support through love & affection / to balance / frustration, & challenge.

Last week we talked about Shiva as representing pure consciousness, and being known as The Destroyer. (Arnold… just think Arnold Schwarzenegger.)

Shiva, in order to do his work, live in his truth, and exist as he should in alignment with his dharma needs a buddy in existence. Enter Shakti (or Sakti)!

Shakti ~ Energy ~ The Power of consciousness

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, in a long-ago time, in a space of divinity, there was a divine feminine being. This gal was of such wisdom and power that she was said to have been the creator of everything.

She represented “Energy.” The energy of everything - the wind in your sails, the spring in your step, the grunt in your groan. She enabled men of fear to act, children of anticipation to plot, and whole communities to move mountains when the herd was in danger.

For certain, she was often faced with resistance. “No!” Her opposers would shout. “We should just sit still! God will save us!”

“Ignorant fools!” Shakti cried. “God is but the whole that is created when I am united with Shiva, and I deem that worship without action is but a rotten fruit. No one likes a bad apple.

God helps those who manifest, ahem, help themselves.”

And so wars were fought. Bridges built. Land tilled. Babies birthed. Cows herded, skills cultivated… you get the idea.

(By the way, I totally made this story up. But the reference is true of what Shakti represents.)

Shakti teaches us to lean into the ties that bind us.

In order to do this - and be successful- we must gather all of our resources: wisdom, knowledge, discernment, will, drive, desire... As we break through to liberation, Shakti hands us off to Shiva to dance into the new unknown of that which we have created.

Shakti helps us to stay focused on the rewards that Shiva promises, as we fight our way towards our own liberation.

Fighting barriers, setting intentions, protecting assets

When we want to achieve something new - something different than what we currently have - Shakti reminds us to gather our courage, wits, and brawn to fight whatever comes our way; she reminds us to anchor into what is most important to us - our intention - so that when the going gets tough, we remember why we are fighting; and she requires that we be willing to make difficult decisions to protect that which we need to fight our battle.

This last part is where the lines blur into the work of Shiva - we must release certain ideas to attain a new state. Sometimes this means making difficult choices, or different choices than we would have previously. Which is why we must set our intentions true to our heart, and we must be willing to go to battle in the first place. (We aren’t silver-spooned babes, now, are we?)

Week 7 Playlist

Find & Follow me on iTunes. Not sure how? Read the how-to in Week 2.

Week 7 Practice Content

 Week 8 ~ Breakthrough

Welcome to our LAST WEEK Energizers!

I hope you have enjoyed creating a new routine of paying attention to the voice of your body, and listening to what it has to say to you.

It is my hope that the recordings in this course, the journal, the downloadables, and the journey of weekly terms and concepts from yoga philosophy have given you some things to think about for your body and your life.

Now that our virtual classes are complete, know that you have two more months (till July 31st) with the content in this portal - AND -

I gotta surprise to share with you ;)

I’ll be adding NEW exercises to the portal each week (in order, one through eight) to help you connect the dots between your body, your practice, and the philosophy, and get you into that creative side of your brain - which is our problem solving, evolutional brain.

But before we all go crying in our cereal that we won’t be spending virtual time together anymore, let’s get to Week 8.

Go ahead and download the week 7 reflection worksheet, if it so serves:

Karma & Enlightenment

Ok: you know those moments in life that feel like a snapshot of perfection? When time seems to slow, and we suddenly feel at peace… like we’re exactly in the right place at the right time… we have that perfect sense of clarity, energy, calm, and relaxation.

✨True Bliss.✨

Or: those times when you’re talking to someone and they say something that suddenly helps you to connect the dots on something seemingly unrelated?

✨Brain Sparkle✨

Or: you meet a person and feel like you’ve known them your whole life and you just understand each other, and can talk forever, and you leave feeling 10X better than before you met this person?

✨Chemistry & Alchemy✨

~ ~ ~

To my mind - this is enlightenment, or as close as we’re going to get to it here on Earth in our lives. “True” enlightenment, from what I interpret of the spiritual side of the practice of yoga, is about liberation from the bonds of the physical world. AKA, when your soul leaves your body. This is the approach offered by classical yoga. (Ashtanga, Iyengar, Core Power, LifePower, and many other popular styles.) AKA you hope you did what you could in this life to not come back as a dung beetle. gulp.

But, equally, or perhaps more important, is the idea that what you do now, creates a ripple effect on what will then reverberate back to you.

As much as WE ALL want to come back as something lovely, karma teaches us that what we do right now, day in and day out, is the process - the actions - that will allow our bodies, minds, and breath to be in alignment with our souls.

You may have heard someone say “karma is a b*tch.” This would be based on the implication that we are now paying for something we did before. This could be something you did last week, five years ago, or some energetic trait you were born with.

But here’s the lovely catch:

Karma is not fixed.

Its fluid.

Meaning that it’s not like we’re born with some kind of pre-destined outcome that we then must live chained to for the rest of our existence. We can influence our karma each and every day by living in integrity. (with our soul, our communities, our Earth, etc.)

The interesting thing about karma and enlightenment, is that just like Shiva and Shakti, they work in congruence with one another. I like to think of karma as efforts that we put forth - the part we have some semblance of control over - while enlightenment is like the surroundings we find ourselves in as a reward for walking our karmic path. AKA the fruits of our labor.

That said, just as Shiva and Shakti must dance, in and out, back and forth, ever changing and being willing to sometimes lead and sometimes follow, we must trust that both karma and enlightenment are at work as we move through our lives. If we become too attached to “doing the right thing” with every breath and step, and then wait around for little moments of enlightenment to bless us, stuck in the idea that the “process is perfect,” we’ll likely be waiting a long time. By the same token if we avoid stepping into any action - regardless of whether or not the situation, resources, etc. seem to be ideal - we haven’t even dared to dance in the first place, and enlightenment will never find us.

These little breakthroughs - moments of understanding, truth, joy, connection… these little traces of enlightenment are indeed worth the effort to beget them.

✨

Dear explorers, as I set you loose to practice on your own with these ideas, concepts, and tools for the next two months, FEAR NOT what you should or shouldn’t do.

Do what feels right for you, in your body, in the moment, in your life.

Notice.

Notice your breath. Notice your choices. Notice your body and listen to it’s voice.

THIS is how we take the practice of yoga, and weave it with the practices of Tantra to live fully and joyfully in this life, in this body, in this time.

As one of my favorite Zen quotes says (in various renditions, across various sources):

“The teacher must have clean hands. (S)he must be humble of mind in the art of passing on, not letting a sense of “I” be present in the teaching, but letting “it” teach what “it” will. He therefore has no pride in success and makes no claims at all. Why?

Because in truth, he has nothing to teach. And none can take ought from him. (S)he can but point the way and at most, as Suzuki once told us, bring back into the right direction the efforts of those who, for the moment, seem to have lost it.”

I absolutely, un-shamefully fail in this effort, because I’m a woman with many thoughts and feelings that I love to share! But I hope that at the very least, I have inspired you to continue to invest in yourself, continue to practice, and continue to learn about the vastness of your own heart, soul, mind, body, breath, and spirit.

I am light.

(Most days.)

And I see and honor your light.

(Also most days. Hey, we’re all human.)

✨Namaste✨

Week 8 playlist

Find & Follow me on iTunes. Not sure how? Read the how-to in Week 2.

Week 8 Practice Content