Hello from Asheville!
I was lucky enough to be able to take a wonderful Bikram yoga class today at Bikram Yoga Asheville. One aspect of Bikram yoga that I love is that no matter where you are or what language you speak, you are able to connect with a community outside your own and follow along with the class.
Which got me to thinking...yoga is also community. It is the unspoken (and sometimes spoken) language everyone understands. Often times in the fast paced world we live in I find myself feeling somewhat disconnected from others. Being an avid texter and not a phone person does not help my case. A yoga studio is one place I know I can go and feel reconnected to both my Self and others. Today, during the second set of pranayama, the class took the last two inhales and exhales together without the teacher setting the pace. The room was silent as we listened to and felt the breath move in and out of our body- it was beautiful! There is something about breathing & moving in synchrony with others that fuels the fire of life within me and keeps me going back day after day to practice.
I hope this blog can serve as a community of sorts by connecting us all through the shared interest in yoga. :)
In light and love, Ainsley
About Me
- Ainsley
- Hot flow at the Glowing Body MWF 11:45-1:15 Monday night 7:45-9:15 p.m.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Speak out to keep the Endangered Species Act!
World Wildlife Fund is an organization very dear to my heart. As humans, we have an obligation to speak for those who do not have a voice. PLEASE do your part and tell your congressman to keep funding for the Endangered Species Act!! Your voice matters!
To email congress concerning funding for the Endangered Species Act, click here. Thank you!
In love and light, Ainsley
To email congress concerning funding for the Endangered Species Act, click here. Thank you!
In love and light, Ainsley
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Blue Sky Meditation
Hello again! Thanks everyone for such a warm response to my first post. :) You are amazing!
For today's post I wanted to share a meditation technique I came across in The Yoga Handbook, An Inspirational Reference for Teaching and Home Practice . (click here to learn more about the book!)
In this particular meditation technique, you begin sitting tall in a comfortable seated position (easy pose, half or full lotus) and imagine an endless, clear blue sky. See the color. Smell the fresh air. Feel the sun on your skin and on your face. While sitting there, if a thought arises in your mind that distracts you from concentrating completely on the blue sky, imagine it as a cloud and watch it as it passes by. Allow yourself to acknowledge the thought, but more importantly, allow yourself to let it pass by as a cloud does in the sky. Notice how when thoughts or distractions occur while meditating on this clear blue sky, every one passes by, leaving the sky as it was before the cloud appeared.
Now imagine yourself as the endless blue sky. You are pure, infinite, unaffected by the clouds that pass by. Often times a "cloud" comes along causing us to lose sight of the bigger picture. No matter what the size of these clouds, they can have the power to cloud our day or life only if we let them. Similarly, ignoring the cloud does not make it disappear; often times ignoring a distracting thought or event simply makes it a bigger "cloud" to acknowledge later and usually not when we are ready to do so. Just like the sky, life has clouds that come and go. Some are bigger and darker than others, but they are temporary. We are like the blue sky: infinite, vast and pure.
As you go throughout your day or week, imagine distractions or thoughts as clouds and acknowledge them for what they are. They are thoughts, they are not you. You are the blue sky.
In love and light, Ainsley
For today's post I wanted to share a meditation technique I came across in The Yoga Handbook, An Inspirational Reference for Teaching and Home Practice . (click here to learn more about the book!)
In this particular meditation technique, you begin sitting tall in a comfortable seated position (easy pose, half or full lotus) and imagine an endless, clear blue sky. See the color. Smell the fresh air. Feel the sun on your skin and on your face. While sitting there, if a thought arises in your mind that distracts you from concentrating completely on the blue sky, imagine it as a cloud and watch it as it passes by. Allow yourself to acknowledge the thought, but more importantly, allow yourself to let it pass by as a cloud does in the sky. Notice how when thoughts or distractions occur while meditating on this clear blue sky, every one passes by, leaving the sky as it was before the cloud appeared.
Now imagine yourself as the endless blue sky. You are pure, infinite, unaffected by the clouds that pass by. Often times a "cloud" comes along causing us to lose sight of the bigger picture. No matter what the size of these clouds, they can have the power to cloud our day or life only if we let them. Similarly, ignoring the cloud does not make it disappear; often times ignoring a distracting thought or event simply makes it a bigger "cloud" to acknowledge later and usually not when we are ready to do so. Just like the sky, life has clouds that come and go. Some are bigger and darker than others, but they are temporary. We are like the blue sky: infinite, vast and pure.
As you go throughout your day or week, imagine distractions or thoughts as clouds and acknowledge them for what they are. They are thoughts, they are not you. You are the blue sky.
In love and light, Ainsley
Monday, July 25, 2011
My first blog!
Hello fellow bloggers! Welcome! For those of you who do not know how clueless I am when it comes to technology, this blog is a HUGE accomplishment.
My intention for this blog is to share with whomever may stumble across this page my path with yoga and anything that might relate to yoga...which, conveniently for me (see ya writer's block!), is everything!
This intention raises the age old question, "What is yoga?"
....Fellow RYTS (Registered Yoga Teachers), all together now.. "Yogas Citta Vriti Nirodhah" Yoga Sutra I-2. Translated, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali states that "the restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga".
But what is yoga to me? For me, yoga is life. Everything, at all times, is yoga. Yoga literally means "to yoke", to bring together. For me, every second of every day is part of my yoga practice. Yoga is the breath that moves in, out and around me; it is my asana practice, the classes I teach, my relationships with others and most importantly with my Self. Yoga is joy, knowledge, connection, integration, satisfaction, ananda ("bliss"); however, it is just as much pain, suffering, confusion and challenging. If it were not dualistic, it would not be the infinitely powerful force it is. Yoga is about finding that light within and acknowledging the infinite potential of your Self and that light. Yoga is prayer, meditation, relaxation and stress relief. I have been fortunate enough to have been brought so low at times I didn't believe I was meant to make it through. Yoga has been the path back to the light and gives me the tools I need to find the good in all things. Yoga has been the anchor in my life, either consciously or subconsciously, since the very first class I took my junior year of high school. What keeps me hooked to this ancient practice is the continual learning process about myself, others, yoga and life in general. Yoga has taught me just how incredibly precious each breath we take is and that the joy truly is in the journey. Knowing that I get to share yoga with the world for the rest of my life makes my inner joy fountain bubble over in abundance (note to reader- my words may be cheesy but they are always heartfelt!). Yoga is life, and boy do I LOVE it!
What is yoga to you? I am new to this blogging thing, but I would to keep a continual dialogue answering or commenting on this question...let's "yoke" them all together! :)
In light and love, Ainsley
My intention for this blog is to share with whomever may stumble across this page my path with yoga and anything that might relate to yoga...which, conveniently for me (see ya writer's block!), is everything!
This intention raises the age old question, "What is yoga?"
....Fellow RYTS (Registered Yoga Teachers), all together now.. "Yogas Citta Vriti Nirodhah" Yoga Sutra I-2. Translated, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali states that "the restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga".
But what is yoga to me? For me, yoga is life. Everything, at all times, is yoga. Yoga literally means "to yoke", to bring together. For me, every second of every day is part of my yoga practice. Yoga is the breath that moves in, out and around me; it is my asana practice, the classes I teach, my relationships with others and most importantly with my Self. Yoga is joy, knowledge, connection, integration, satisfaction, ananda ("bliss"); however, it is just as much pain, suffering, confusion and challenging. If it were not dualistic, it would not be the infinitely powerful force it is. Yoga is about finding that light within and acknowledging the infinite potential of your Self and that light. Yoga is prayer, meditation, relaxation and stress relief. I have been fortunate enough to have been brought so low at times I didn't believe I was meant to make it through. Yoga has been the path back to the light and gives me the tools I need to find the good in all things. Yoga has been the anchor in my life, either consciously or subconsciously, since the very first class I took my junior year of high school. What keeps me hooked to this ancient practice is the continual learning process about myself, others, yoga and life in general. Yoga has taught me just how incredibly precious each breath we take is and that the joy truly is in the journey. Knowing that I get to share yoga with the world for the rest of my life makes my inner joy fountain bubble over in abundance (note to reader- my words may be cheesy but they are always heartfelt!). Yoga is life, and boy do I LOVE it!
What is yoga to you? I am new to this blogging thing, but I would to keep a continual dialogue answering or commenting on this question...let's "yoke" them all together! :)
In light and love, Ainsley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)