20-minute All-levels Yoga Flow for Grounding and Awakening!
My sister requested a 20-minute class. Here you go. Return to it as much as you like. This is a great way to kickoff your morning. Enjoy!
40-minute All-levels Yoga Flow for Strength. Enjoy!
Spinal movement with an open heart and loving kindness practice. This is 45-minute all-levels gentle slow flow. Enjoy!
Schedule Changes:
CLASSES AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS ARE CLOSED UNTIL APRIL 1 or LATER.
I am creating online content available on youtube for free here.
Sundays 4 pm Vinyasa at NOW Yoga on N. Williams
Wednesdays 6.45 pm Alameda Yoga Studio
I sub classes at Yoga Pearl. Please check the schedule.
Please also check the studios listed above for online classes.
This is an image from my first online class. The class runs about 40 minutes and includes about 10 minutes of meditation. If meditation does not serve you, this can be a 30 minute class. (I highly recommend meditating with breath during these times. This class is available on youtube and a gentle slow flow for all levels. This class is meant to help with breath, peace and grounding. Please feel free to email me your thoughts or comments.
Thank you.
Did you know?
I have practiced yoga since 1998 and have loved every minute of it since then. I have practiced numerous styles with many lovely teachers, only to find amazing teachers each time. Each teacher cares about the students’ practice, and that is a great teacher to me.
Did you also know?
I have been practicing daily yoga for almost four years. This began on my sabbatical to South America. At the time, I was nursing a hip injury. Without daily yoga and practicing the exercises given to me by my Physical Therapist, I could not walk more than 10 minutes without pain. Running was out of the picture. Cycling and swimming were sometimes available. I continue to this day to meditate and move each morning. Before a daily practice, I awoke every day feeling full of rage, yes, every day. I thought that was just who I was, and I was not a morning person. Often awakening each day with rage caused immediate stress and trauma to my mornings, making it difficult to meet my daily functions, like arriving at work on time ready to work. With daily meditation and movement I now wake up excited, or at least happy, and ready for my day. My anxiety attacks are reduced in quantity and intensity, or I can go an entire year with zero incidents. My relationships have become stronger, especially that of mine and my husband.
I share this, because I am curious if you have a daily practice? Or do you have a method to deal with past trauma and stress of the present day? What does that look like to you? Feel free to respond in email to share. I am curious and excited for what works for you.
Finding five minutes each day to be with your breath is invaluable. You have the time. Maybe that time is in the middle of the day or before bedtime, but it is a time that works for you. I also find the free audio meditations on the site below to be useful. Thank you to Jill Knouse for sharing.
https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations
Please find time for you. By practicing loving compassion for yourself, you may find this compassionate love being shared with all beings in your life. It’s worth a try.
I am here to guide you through a physically, mentally and spiritually healing practice.
Previous Posts:
Find space in this season of gratitude.
I look forward to guiding you through this practice. See below for class offerings.
Guiding Vinyasa Flow each T, TH morning at 7 AM at NAMASTE ON WILLIAMS.
and
Thursday, August 8, 6 PM Yoga for Climbers
at PORTLAND ROCK GYM W’EAST STUDIO.
Friday, August 9, 6PM Flow and Restore
Check the schedule at
and
PORTLAND ROCK GYM W’EAST STUDIO
for updates to classes I substitute.
Finding Space in the Season of Abundance and Gratitude
It is this season of abundance, gratitude and giving. Observe and acknowledge the significance of this time of year, and the feelings that arrive with that. These feelings can range from pure delight and intense gratitude to immense loneliness or being overwhelmed. It is important to take time to stop, observe and acknowledge. Try the following:
- See beauty and abundance. Stop to see all of the beauty around you. Acknowledge it. Smell, listen, observe.
- Practice gratitude. Note one thing you are grateful for each day and write it down.
- Breathe. Soften to inhale through the nose for a soft count of 1, 2, 3, 4, and exhale gently through the nose for the same count of 4, and if possible close your eyes while doing so. This can be done while at work, in your car before exiting the vehicle for your next obligation, while waiting for the bus or train, pausing on a walk, etc.
- Find quiet. Seek out a quiet space and allow your thoughts to fall to the background, just hearing these thoughts like the wind in the background, aware but not obsessing. Setting a timer for 1 minute minimum can help, up to as long as you like, suggested 4 minutes.
- Practice kindness. Be kind to yourself, aware of self-defeating thoughts and turning these into self-appreciative thoughts. This kindness to self will transfer forward in kindness to others. This kindness to others will transfer forward in others practicing kindness.
- Connect. Know that we are all here connected to one another. Practice listening. Know your tribe is there for good and for bad. We are all hear for one another. If you have been going to a yoga class regularly and always see the same few faces, take a moment to say hi to someone new and show your appreciation. We all need a little more love and support.
- Peace.
Remain quiet.
Discover the harmony in your own being.
Embrace it.
– Lao Tzu
Notes on Embracing Change
Autumn brings upon a time for change. The air cools, the colors become warm, the sky darkens. It is a time to settle in and ground while also embracing that new challenge in your life.
Sometimes we choose the change, and other times the change chooses us. It may not always be a welcome change of events. Embrace whatever change you have decided for yourself or that has come your way. Sit with that. Know why it exists. Look at this event. The change that we control and that we don’t control can open opportunities for us. Dig deep within. Know why it can sometimes be dark. Also know what is genuinely good there, finding the value you bring and gratitude for all that surrounds you and that you offer. Embrace change.
Photo credits: Jeff Markovics, dirtbagslittlehelper.com
Notes on Mindfulness
Be mindful. That’s what we hear. Mindfulness has become a buzz term. Why? What does it mean?
Mindfulness means many things. Below are notes on what mindfulness means to me and methods to incorporate mindfulness into your day.
Mindfulness means taking time to pause, to listen to you, your body, nature, all of the beings that surround you. We can pause before we react. Mindfulness occurs in yoga and meditation but also in our daily activities.
Observe.
Notice how you move from one place to the next. Are you staring at your device? Is the goal to just get there? Or do you give attention to your surroundings, your space, yourself? If you walk to the bus or your car, take note of one foot being placed in front of the other, noticing the heel and then the ball of the foot meet the earth. Notice the wind, its direction, how it feels on your skin, ruffles your clothing or hair. Take note of the new blooms and growth on your typical path. If you drive, try turning off the radio and just observe, your breathe, the buildings trees, and people you pass. If you are on the bus or train, allow your eyes to scan the objects you pass, the hills, the buildings, the trees, the people, the birds, just observe. If you bike, notice, the wheel meeting the pavement under you gaze, the spinning, the movement of your legs rotating the pedals.
When frustrated or anxious, try taking a few of those long deep belly breaths, before reacting.
Rather than opening your favorite app on your device, delete that app, and just feel the device as an object in your hand, noticing its weight, how the button feels, how this object feels as you move it around in your hand and return it to your pocket.
Be kind to yourself, in your thoughts and your actions.
Try these simple ideas. And if you want to try some yoga, practicing mindfulness of the breath with your body and spirit, maybe you will enjoy the classes I offer and listed here.
Peace.
Erin Lauer Yoga 