Our planet pulses with life. In our physical bodies we can feel the pulsation of our breath and the beat of our heart. We can celebrate this pulsation of the heart in our practice this week of Valentine's Day. 

Our Bowspring practice is dynamic. We pulse up and down in our poses. With every exhale we root down from the center of the low belly through our hips, legs, and feet, and with every inhale we rise up through the central channel to the top of the head.

Enjoy this pulsation in celebration of the heart this week in class.

​"MartinBuber."AZQuotes.com.WindandFlyLTD,2020.07February2020.https://www.azquotes.com/quote/848683

​Sunday, February 2, is Groundhog Day. Folklore says that if this day is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. If it's cloudy and the groundhog doesn't see its shadow we'll have an early spring.

This week in class we'll focus on our own shadow, the shadow side of our heart. We'll breathe into the back side, the shadow side, of our ribcage. From our heart we'll expand our ribs on all sides, including the back side, and lift them up. We'll explore the shadow side of our heart.

Join us this week as we move into the unknown, the shadow side.
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Photo by Danny Wage on Unsplash

Where do we stand when the going gets rough? Can we stand strong in our foundation, our roots? Practice with us this week as we work to build strength in the roots of our body, our feet, legs, and hips. We need strong roots to weather the storms in our lives. Let's strengthen them together in class!

Consider the Central Channel of energy in your body that runs from your pelvic floor to the top of your head. Think of this Channel as a serpentine tube the width of your neck that curves with the natural curves of your spine. Open and lengthen this Channel, keeping its curvy shape. Pulsing with your breath, with every exhale root down through your toes, and with every inhale rise up through your Central Channel to the top of your head.

Join us this week, the first week of a new 9-week session, as we open our Central Channel with the breath.

Photo by Chirag Dulyan on Unsplash

Check out a baby or young child's foot. Notice that much of the time their toes softly curl down, the top of their foot is nice and full, and the ankle is slightly flexed. They often walk with a little bounce, a spring in their step. This is the foot we try to obtain in our practice, allowing us to put a spring in our own step! 

Aligning our foot in this way affects the alignment of our legs, hips, back, our whole body, helping to relieve pain and elevating our mood. We'll focus on our feet this week in class and feel the effect our feet have on our whole body. Join us!
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Photo by Isaac Del Toro on Unsplash

This Saturday, December 21, 2019, is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. It's the shortest day of the year. After this day the days will gradually become longer.

Solstice comes from the Latin word sol, meaning sun, and sistere, meaning to stand still. The sun appears to stand still, or pause, on this day as it reverses its path across the sky.

So in class this week we'll pause, we'll stand still, in the breath and in our poses. We'll enjoy these moments of stillness on the shortest day and longest night of the year.

To align our hips we move the groins back and widen the sitz bones, then we draw the glutes up and in toward the sacrum creating a curve in the low back. We draw the top of the sacrum in by engaging the back of the legs and mounding the glute muscles upward.

Tipping our pelvis forward using the back side of our legs and hips -- that's our theme this week. Join us!

Thanks to Josh Wechsler in Austin, Texas, for this photo.

This week in class we'll spread our wings, our hands, arms, and shoulders. From the heart in the center of our ribcage we'll spread our wings wide, forward, and up. Our shoulder blades will expand out to the sides and lift up toward the top of the head creating more space for the heart and the breath and creating a buoyancy to our posture.

Join us this week!
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Photo by Tikkho Maciel on Unsplash

"You're ahead of me, striding into the arch of oaks that opens onto the fields
and stone walls of the road--
as a V of geese honk a path overhead, and you stop--
in an instant, without thought, raising your arms toward sky, your hands
flapping from the wrists,
and I can read in the echo your body makes of these wild geese going
where they must,
such joy, such wordless unity and delight, you are once again the child
who knows by instinct, by birthright,
just to be is a blessing..."
from "Moment" by Margaret Gibson

In our Tuesday class this week, this week of Thanksgiving, we'll celebrate the joy of being by raising our V-arms toward the sky. We'll flap our wings like the wild geese, embodying the delight of being.

Join us 9:30-11am Tuesday, November 26, at Matthews Community Center. Drop-ins $12. No classes November 27-28. 

​This week we'll focus on our roots, our feet, legs and hips. First we'll bring them into healthy alignment. Then we'll work to strengthen all sides of our roots, alleviating pain from improper alignment and enabling us to move easier and more freely.

Join us! More information on our homepage.