Since Melina began her sabbatical a few months ago, I have spoken with many students who have begun to explore and enjoy other 8 Limbs teachers, but who all very much miss Melina’s classes. I myself, miss her deep, grounding classes, and the powerful poses we explored. As someone who resonates with the natural cycles, I also very much appreciated her approach of offering poses and practices geared toward each of the seasons.

While we don’t have the benefit of having Melina here in Seattle with us at this time, we do have her Yoga for the Seasons DVD available at our boutique for those students looking to have the benefits of Melina’s practice and teachings. Home practice is a vastly different experience than studio classes, however, DVDs can provide a great tool to deepening one’s own practice and are perfect for those who do a fair amount of traveling. In addition, Melina’s first DVD focuses on the Fall, so its perfect for those students looking to dive into the change in seasons we’re currently experiencing.

Yoga Journal also recently picked up Melina’s Yoga for the Seasons DVD and gave it a glowing review in their October, 2010 issue. Below is Yoga Journal staff writer, Richard Rosen’s full review (I couldn’t have said it better myself!):

“Melina Meza, co-director of the teacher training program at Seattle’s 8 Limbs Yoga Centers, has what I consider to be the three important ‘I’ qualities: She is intelligent, insightful, and inspiring. The premise behind her DVD series, Yoga for the Seasons, is that the content and pacing of our daily yoga practice should be tailored to the energetic quality of the time of year.”

“This DVD presents her fall practice: an 8-minute instruction on engaging the bhandas; a 4-minute tutorial that shoes the basics of foot placement, pose form, and self-adjustments; a 45-minute vinyasa sequence; and a 9-minute agni (sacred fire) practice, which is essentially an abdominal-strengthening sequence.  Well conceived and well executed as this sequence is, I’m not convinced it would be any less beneficial if practiced in winter, spring, or summer.  Except for the agni practice, which will give many students a run for their money, this sequence is recommended for all moderately experience students…no matter the season.” – Yoga Journal, October 2010 Media Reviews

So, while we don’t have the benefit of having Melina here with us in Seattle, our hope is that while she is away she’ll be working on more exciting ventures like this Yoga for the Seasons DVD.

Posted by: Megan Costello, Capitol Hill Studio Manager

While you are checking Melina out in Yoga Journal you can also read an article (“Legendary Poses”) in the same issue about the stories behind many of the names of yoga poses, some of them sages and deities from Hindu lore. Douglas Ridings will teach two classes on Indian Mythology Tuesdays September 28 and October 5 at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill. Only $5/class in addition to membership or class pass, $20 drop-in.

Hello Everyone,

I am celebrating my 14.5 years of being Type 1 Diabetic by running the ING New York Marathon this November!  This will be my second marathon and I am training to run under 4 hours. I’ve chosen to raise money on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

I was in the middle of my ski-racing season when I was diagnosed in January of 1996.  I had tremendous support from my family, friends, and teammates, which helped me return to training and racing two weeks after being fully immersed in what would be part of my routine for the foreseeable future. I qualified for Junior Olympics a month later and have continued to challenge myself athletically and intellectually since. Personally, I have felt that diabetes has enhanced my life and has provided a unique perspective on health and how the body performs, it has never held me back from accomplishing anything I desire. I am positively optimistic that a cure for diabetes is possible. Tthere have been incredible improvements and innovations to the way diabetes is managed on the individual level, which has been made possible from the fiscal support given to JDRF and the creative and brilliant minds of people in the scientific and medical fields.  For instance, I will be utilizing a new piece of technology when training and running the ING New York City Marathon this November, it is an insulin pump with a sensor that consistently reads the blood glucose levels and communicates it to the pump.  Absolutely incredible!

I first explored my commitment to a yoga practice while living in Venice, CA in 2002.  What I discovered through yoga was an opportunity to delve deeper into understanding myself and to become more in-tune with the needs of my overall system, which enabled me to be even more capable in supporting others. I appreciate and honor the inner-balance, grounding, and joy I experience through my yoga practice both on my mat and how it extends into the rest of my life.

In support of generating wellness for others, 8 Limbs is hosting a benefit class for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on Friday, October 8th at the Phinney Ridge studio. The class will be led by Megan Costello as an All Levels Flow from 6:15pm – 7:30pm; followed by a modest raffle and refreshments provided by Picnic. The class is by donation (sliding scale, suggested drop-in rate of $16) and all proceeds will go directly to JDRF.

Please join me in supporting JDRF and the possibility of a cure to diabetes!

With gratitude,
July Rogan

This month, Tias Little came into town and spent a weekend at 8 Limbs, dropping some serious knowledge on all of us who attended. I think I am still buzzing from that concentrated time of sitting and listening to someone so wise. I have studied with Tias for the past 6 years and it’s been so interesting to see how his teaching practice changes and where his true passion for yoga lies. Gone were all the straps and blocks and partner work of the past. His focus was on dharma and the Middle Way and the asana practice shifted to more of the subtle movements that I recognized from Rolf Movement and Feldenkrais.

As a Rolfer, I delight in this work that addresses the functional patterns in the body. After an hour of lying on our backs, slowly reaching an arm past our heads and gazing up in that direction (among other guided movements), I found my shoulder girdle had completely changed shape. My lungs had opened up and become vibrant after my arms had been differentiated from my torso. These kinds of shifts are the goldmines of my practice when I see this in Rolfing clients.

Next month, I begin the Back Care Series that Bryce Mathern, a Feldenkrais practitioner, so lovingly taught for the past few years. As he moves on to Colorado to study at Naropa, I am excited to be taking over this 6-week series.

Back pain can be such a tricky issue. Is it from an over-tensioning of the hips and hamstrings? Is it from an under-engaging of the multifidi and transverus? Bulging disc? Scoliosis? Post-surgery or post-injury? Postural habits that put strain on the whole spine? Energetic “backpack” where we store all the emotions we don’t want to deal with?

I hope to turn a light on to all of these questions during the course. After all, I had to examine all of these possibilities when my own back pain wouldn’t go away. When I finally found out via X-ray what was nagging (and then eventually yelling!) at me, there was sadness and then relief. A new chapter in my yoga practice and my daily routine.

The workshop this past weekend with Tias allowed me to really sit in that discomfort and explore it in a safe way. All the subtle movement work took loads of concentration and patience, but at the end, I feel like I have more tools in my toolbox to deal with this particular issue in my own back. And that is what I hope for each student taking this class.

Come as you are, and together we will explore yoga poses, Rolf Movement, postural (re)education. And hopefully, at the end of the 6 weeks, we will all have arrived at a better place.

Posted by: Kate Bradfield

The six week Back Care Series with Kate begins on Monday, October 4 at 7:15pm at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill.

It’s that time of year again where you put away those shorts and shades and start dragging out the wool and down. It’s also the time of year that we begin the journey inward. The kids go back to school, the days grow shorter, the temperature drops lower and the period of contemplation and self-study crests the horizon.

For many of us this can be a truly hectic and difficult time period, trying to get everything secured and into place before the deluge of the holidays hits and we’re plunged back into another 9 months of winter. In other words, there never was a better time to reaffirm and deepen your commitment to yoga. While a regular asana practice can help keep the immune system healthy and strong and a regular meditation practice can reduce stress and bring mental clarity, why not go back to the foundation of it all and begin a philosophical study of yoga this Fall?

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a great way to begin this journey. Composed of a 196 aphorisms, the sutras lay out the path of yoga by examining what it means to be human and how you can create freedom from suffering through your practices. Which means that on the off chance that you’d like to make it gracefully through the holidays and navigate family, friends and co-workers with genuine warmth and compassion, this might just be the time for you to head back to school!

To guide your journey, I’ll be offering a once a month series on Yin and the Yoga Sutras. Each session we’ll practice asana in the passive style of Yin to deeply stretch the body and then explore the mind through a study of the 1st chapter of the Yoga Sutras.

If you’re at all curious about the system of yoga, please join us at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill for the next class on October 2 at 10:00 am. We’ll review the first 5 sutras to define yoga and move forward in the first chapter. Join us in this special study to focus the light for the years to come.

Posted by: Jen Yaros

Fall approaches, sweeping in with winds of change that we’ve felt these last few days. It beckons us inward for warmth and reflection, it brings back-to-school memories (or actual back-to-school preparations) and can be a great time to deepen our practice of yoga.

At 8 Limbs we enter into a season of wonderful workshops and series taught by our experienced staff of teachers. Make sure to view the Events Calendar to see what is coming up of interest to you!

We are also reintroducing monthly themes that teachers can bring into their teaching.

This go-round I have chosen words that start with the same letter of the month to keep it easy and fun. In September, our focus is on two words that the ancient sage Patanjali says are essential to our practice of asana, sthira and sukha. Yoga Sutra II. 46 says: Sthira sukham asanam: the seat (asana) is steady and comfortable. Sthira means steady or stable, and sukha means ease or comfort.

There are also many more amazing words in Sanskrit that begin with S. Pick one for yourself and learn a new word. Sadhana, for example, means spiritual path or practice, and sadhaka is one on a spiritual path.

From one sadhaka to another, Happy September and almost fall. Hope to see you on the mat!

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer