Ayurveda, the sister health science to Hatha Yoga, suggests numerous ways to regulate your body and mind during a typical hot summer day in the Pitta season (June-August). One of the classic Ayurvedic sutras indicates, “like increases like and opposites balance.” This ancient wisdom can be extremely helpful when creating your daily rituals around the seasons.

During hot Summer days, for example, try to avoid adding more heat to your body and mind (like increases like) and skip the arm balances, fast vigorous sun salutations, or other challenging poses that raise your core temperature and potentially create frustration or anger. Instead, explore seated postures, use the wall for support, visualize cool cucumber water being poured over your head or into your body as you practice, and embrace Shitali or left-nostril breathing before meditation.

Other ways to maintain balance and prevent over heating are to eat frequent meals (avoid low blood sugar moments), drink plenty of cucumber water (thin slices of cucumber soaked in water for a few hours), fresh coconut milk and mint tea.

Give yourself a full body massage before showering. Coconut oil is best to use during the summer.

Last but not least, spend time in Nature, swim, and enjoy the moonlight!

Posted by: Melina Meza

Ah, summer. The days are getting sunnier (even as they grow shorter!) and the desire to spend more time outdoors exploring this and that is strong. But how do we go out and still remain connected within? Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras offers us a framework for doing just that, a tangible way to carry our practice off the mat and into our lives.
At the beginning of this year I began a weekly examination of the Yoga Sutras within all of my asana classes. We started at the beginning of the book and are working our way, sutra by sutra, to the end. We’re about 1/3 of the way through the 1st chapter at this point and reaching one of my favorite sections of the book, where Patanjali expounds the practices we undertake in route towards nirodha – the stilling of the mind. He begins by telling us that the path is this way and then in the next sutra he say, OR, it is this way and then in the following sutra he says, OR, it is this way, and this goes on for about 15 sutras. I appreciate the idea that there isn’t one set path to reach ourselves and that every way is a way inward, if we choose. So, whether we are on the mat in downward dog or walking the dog in the park, the option and ability to cultivate greater consciousness and compassion is right there with us and the Yoga Sutras can offer us the guideline towards that exploration.
Starting your day with the reading of just one sutra is a simple and quick way to orient yourself, set the tone for the day and deepen your practice. My favorite translation and commentary is Four Chapters on Freedom by Swami Satyananda Saraswati (published by the Bihar School of Yoga). Last I checked we had a couple copies at the boutique in Capitol Hill, so if you are interested in some summer reading and allowing your practice to spill over into your daily life, check it (or other variations) out or pop into one my classes (at all three studios) and explore the Sutras in a more formal setting.

Posted by: Jen Yaros

This weekend shop guilt-free at 8 Limbs and other E. Pike St. businesses such as Babeland, Kaladi, Veridis, The Feed Bag, and City Home Store during the E. Pike St. Summer Sale. We are partnering with these and other E. Pike St. retailers to collect food for NW Harvest from July 17-19. All businesses have a special offer for customers who bring 5 cans of non-perishable food items to their locations. Bring yours to the 8 Limbs Boutique at 500 E. Pike St. and receive 20% off your purchase (non-sale items only)!
NW Harvest was founded in Seattle in 1967 and now helps collect food for people all across Washington State. Help us to support their efforts, which have become all the more essential since the shift in the economy.

Posted by: 8 Limbs

An inversion is typically classified as any posture where our pelvis is elevated above our head. Inversions are powerful physical and energetic yoga practices with their roots in the practical, theoretical, and esoteric teachings of yoga.
On a practical level, the regular practice of inversions has been proven to offer many health benefits. There are four major systems within the body that the regular practice of inversions positively influences: cardiovascular, lymphatic, nervous, and endocrine.
On a theoretical level, an important concept in Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science, offers that many of the body’s impurities reside in the lower abdomen. When we elevate our pelvis above our head in inverted postures, gravity assists us in moving these toxins towards what Ayurveda calls our inner agni (fire). In this case agni refers to our “digestive fire” which is located above the lower abdomen and is said to kindle all of our biological processes.
On an esoteric level, one of the oldest surviving classical Sanskrit manuals, the “Haṭhayoga Pradīpikā” classifies the headstand, shoulderstand, and other related inverted postures under “Viparita Karani” (viparita = inverted, karani = process). According to the Author, Swami Swatmarama, Viparita Karani is considered one of ten sacred mudras (energetic seals) that “conquer old age and death.” However, this requires a daily practice of Viparita Karani Mudra for three hours!
Learn more about inversions, their benefits, and how to integrate them into your practice on July 11th at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill. All levels welcome.
What are your stumbling blocks in and questions about Inverted Poses?

Posted by: Maygen McGrew

As you head out of your regular routine into a Holiday Weekend, consider how you can personally connect to Independence Day. One can focus on July 4th as the date of our Declaration of Independence from England, or we can remember that the underlying idea is that of FREEDOM.
The word in Sanskrit for freedom or liberation is moksha. One who experiences freedom while in the body (still living) is a jivanmukti. In other words, freedom is possible in this body, in this life.
The paradox is that the freedom comes from commitment. We have learned recently that we can’t take our freedoms for granted here in America; we have to stay vigilant and fight for the rights that our country was founded upon and push to continue to expand these freedoms.
In yoga freedom comes from a commitment to practice. Even on these beautiful days, a few minutes of downward dog and some meditation can contribute to our sense of freedom when the clouds come and we aren’t getting high from the sunlight. Take your mat to the park, enjoy the calm of our studios, or wake up and sit up in bed for a few minutes.
Tell us what freedom the practice has brought to your life. And have a great “Freedom Day”

Posted by: Anne Phyfe