​"Each year it is a surprise
that the world can turn green again.
It is the grandest surprise in life,
the birds coming back from the south to my open
arms, which they fly past, aiming at the feeders."
Jim Harrison

Celebrate spring with a radiant heart! From your heart push out and expand your ribs on all sides, then lift your whole ribcage up toward the sky. Try to sustain a radiant heart throughout your day. 

Photo by Ash from Modern Afflatus on Unsplash

Our "Core" is all sides of the midsection of our body, a belly band encompassing the waist and low back areas. Fascia, or connective tissue, criss-cross over the belly. In our Bowspring practice we open and lengthen the belly as we bow it forward and up. The waistline narrows and the fascia cinch strong like a Chinese finger trap. 

We'll practice strengthening our core this week in class, bowing our belly band long, forward, and up.

Photo from www.globalbowspring.com

In our Bowspring classes we practice backbends with our hips back and pelvic floor open, often with our heels hovering above the ground. Keeping our upper back full, we'll practice several backbends in class this week, including Bridge Pose.

Meanwhile watch this Bridge Sway practice with Desi Springer. Note that her groins stay below her knees.

 We'll practice spirals and twists this week in class. Join us!

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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.