Tag Archives: yoga

Fall Yoga Enthusiasts Social

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UPDATES (10/1):
* There will an area set up for “resources,” as well – so bring your business cards, flyers, books, and anything else you think that other enthusiasts might want to know about.
* I fixed the FB Event page so that it’s now Public invite.YES4

Austin yogis, yoga teachers, and all-around yoga enthusiasts, the time has come for the next Yoga Enthusiasts Social. We would like to gather to hear all about everyone’s summer exploits – maybe you’ve gone to a retreat that taught you a lot about your own practice, or you took the summer off from teaching and had interesting reactions to it. Maybe the summer was life-as-usual for you (except, of course, very hot).

So come celebrate the change in weather – and while you’re at it, meet some new people with similar interests, catch up with old friends, hear some fantastic stories, and enjoy some mid-afternoon snacks and tea.

Yoga Enthusiasts Social
at Yoga Black Lagoon
Saturday, October 4th
2:00-3:30pm

RSVP, invite your friends, and share photos, discussion topics, and questions on the FB Event Page.

The Yoga Enthusiasts Social provides an evening of eating, socializing, and talking about yoga. YES is a recurring event, every few months, and is designed for all people interested in learning more about yoga. If geeking-out on yoga sounds like your kind of night, we hope to see you there!

For more information, check out the YES page of this site. If you’re interested in presenting, leading discussions, or coordinating, email me at percolateyoga [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Why yoga: Because I don’t “have to”

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lilliesI have spent, and still do spend, a lot of my life feeling obligated to do certain things. I guess it’s a bit complicated to explain; and, anyway, I never really noticed it until the drama of graduate school (I guess we can call that my existential crisis). I’ve noticed that many other people experience this internal belief as well—that they have to be a particular way or do certain things, and/or in a specific way. Spoiler alert: it’s all related to judgement and how we judge ourselves. But we’ll get to that later.

One thing that I love about yoga—that I didn’t notice about it until after about eight years of practice—is that it demands nothing of me. I don’t have to do yoga. I don’t have to do a downward-facing dog pose; I don’t have to do asana first, pranayama second, and meditation third; I don’t have to practice for at least 50 minutes at a time for it to be “worth it”; I don’t even have to roll out my mat every day. I don’t have to do a damn thing. It’s really such a relief.

…And yet I continue to do yoga. Over and over again, I roll out my mat and try out postures with my body. Sometimes I meditate, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I meditate without doing postures. Sometimes I practice breathing exercises in the car or when waiting in line. For nine years now, I’ve continued to do yoga—and I will (more than likely) continue to do postures until my body won’t let me anymore. Not because I have to, but because I choose to do so.

Continue reading →

Why yoga: Fear of, or Longing For, Oneness

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I’m going to try a new blog thing: I’m going to write articles every once in a while that address “why yoga?” I’ve had the idea for some time now (and I have a few drafts waiting to be finished), but I wanted to send this one out already, even if it might not be the most introductory… Oh well. It stems from my previous post regarding globalization and individuality.

One of the reasons I do yoga is because of the new truths that it introduces me to. I have learned so much about myself and the world around me because of my practice. I have also learned about other lessons… like, I’ve learned about states of deep concentration and meditation – but, let’s be honest, I haven’t actually attained them yet.

I’ve learned about the potential reality that we are all connected; we are all part of a Divine Source of Energy; etc… Sometimes it’s a cool concept, and I feel like I can see it through a microscope in myself. And sometimes it scares the poop out of me!! Anyway, here we go:

In another post I wrote: “Every moment is unrepeatable and impermanent. Objects, people, and moments in time possibly, maybe can be perfectly replicated – but the experience will always be a new one.”

Sometimes this sentiment helps us to relax and chill out about things; but taken on a bigger scale, it can be quite terrifying. We humans really REALLY want to just HOLD ON to things! But as Stephen Cope explains it, there is “suffering inherent in wanting to possess people, places, and things;..[while there is] true delight in simply knowing these objects…” (The Wisdom of Yoga, p. 260).

Our immediate human nature believes that if we possess things, we will be happy – we want to possess our unique landmarks, our Cathedrals of Junk, our individuality, our uniqueness… It seems to me that the ultimate finding of yoga is that we cannot possess these things.

The fact that we cannot actually possess anything is why we are able to have individual experiences, though! Because, as Octavio Paz so eloquently put it once,

That is the paradox of our condition…Our experiences are not historical, but we are. Each of us is unique but the experiences of death or love are universal and repeated.

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Individuality, Globalization, and Art – musings from Marfa, TX

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What if we woke up one day, and there was no more unique individuality? Like, what if the Cathedral of Junk in Austin was no more unique than any other landmark anywhere – or even, that versions of it existed in every city? Is this a potential consequence of globalization? Will everything be the same everywhere?

…

… Continue reading →

Yoga, the potential escape

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A few months ago I read Finding Your Inner Yoga: From Zero to Infinity (a Huffington Post Interview with Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman Yee, reposted on Yoga U), which I found fascinating. I wanted to expand upon some of the things they mentioned. Here is one quote that I really liked, as well as a development of one of my responses:

“One of the things we always teach is to use the practice to feel what is. Not to become something necessarily, but to focus on the unfolding of the present moment. There’s so much joy and so much beauty being offered to us in every moment.”

A yoga practice is an opportunity to feel what is – not a recourse to feel things as we want them to be. This can be scary, because some feelings outright suck. Sometimes it’s exceedingly difficult to recognize that a certain moment has any iota of joy or beauty in it. Continue reading →

Flow & Restore tomorrow!

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Extra! Extra!

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Tomorrow from 12-1pm, I will sub the Flow & Restore class at Gallery Black Lagoon. Come by for an hour of “aaaaah“-inspiring yoga practice. Starting with a warm, breath-oriented flow and culminating in a delightful restoration for your body and mind, we’ll get you ready for the rest of the week.

Flow & Restore
12-1pm, $10
Yoga Black Lagoon
4103 A Guadalupe Street

YES 2 – Coming Soon

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Who’s ready for the next social event of YES? I sure am! And so, I bring you – YES! 2!

Yoga Enthusiasts Social, 2
at Yoga Black Lagoon
Friday, April 18th
6:30-8:00pm
“After Party” at the Parlor next door 😉

Yoga Black Lagoon is hosting a second event of YES – Yoga Enthusiasts Social. And this time we’ll focus on the idea of saying “YES! …but, to what?”

The practice of yoga often invites us to “open up” and accept postures, emotions, and new ideas that we might have ignored before. In a sense, our practices often ask use to say “Yes” quite often – sometimes, even when we don’t want to do so. This event, we’ll have a chance to hear and discuss when we say “yes,” when we say “no,” and everything in between.

Join us at 6:30 in the evening for some yoga practices, discussions, and a potluck dinner. ***Please bring a dish to share.*** If geeking-out on yoga sounds like your kind of night, we hope to see you there!

RSVP, invite your friends, and share photos, discussion topics, and questions on our Facebook Event Page.

The Yoga Enthusiasts Social provides an evening of eating, socializing, and talking about yoga. YES is a recurring event, every few months, and is designed for all people interested in learning more about yoga. For more information, or if you’re interested in presenting or coordinating, email me at percolateyoga [at] gmail [dot] com.

A Yoga Exhibit!

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Intro

So I went to San Francisco about two weeks ago for a friend’s wedding. While riding in the cab to the reception dinner, I drove past this:

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Asian Art Museum | San Francisco, CA

An exhibit about Yoga?! Sign me up!

Long story short, I almost didn’t get to go – but I made it happen on my last day there. Continue reading →

Percolate UP: A new Percolate Class, Wednesday nights

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Lookie lookie, a new class!:

Percolate UpHappy Spring, friends! Spring cleaning has starting sweeping through closets, living rooms, and yoga schedules everywhere. I ended up having to drop my Wednesday afternoon class at Black Lagoon (but you can still catch me there every Thursday night!) – BUT I have added a new class to my schedule. Now on Wednesday evenings, you can catch a 75 minute slow-flow class at the Up Collective Art Gallery and Yoga Studio.

I am stoked to expand into another studio – especially another art-&-yoga studio – and super grateful to have the opportunity to teach for two totally sweet groups of people. This new class will draw a lot on Vinyasa/Flow and Viniyoga – so there will be some sweaty sequences, but also slow movements and static poses to encourage meditation, reflection, and peace of mind.  This class is an opportunity to get into touch with the prana in your body, as well as to relax and take a break from the busy world.

Come check out my first class next Wednesday, March 19th! And maybe even see me again on Thursday night at Black Lagoon =)

~ Peace, love, and snickerdoodles ~