I became inspired for the idea of this workshop in the early spring of this year by asking myself “what sort of workshop would I most like to attend right now?”  At the time I was feeling overwhelmed and out of balance.  I yearned for an opening in all the busy-ness where I might slow down and reconnect to my Self with a capital S (there is truth in the saying that teachers often teach what they need to learn most)!  As a result of this self inquiry, I envisioned a workshop infused with the healing energy of self care.  I would now like to offer this unique opportunity to all of you to recharge and renew, because I know I’m not the only one who could use a little support in replenishing their natural vitality and joy!

We will begin this 2 hour journey with self massage and Shiatsu, using our own healing hands, rolling on rubber balls, gentle movement, and breath to help move energy and ease sore and tight places where we feel stuck or stagnant. I will provide charts of traditional chinese medicine accupressure points that you can take home with you, in case you wish to continue this exploration on your own (and I hope you will).

I will also offer aromatherapy during class in the form of chamomile and/or lavender essential oil infusions, chosen for their calming and healing effects.  I have been testing different mixes and I have found some that are sublime.

The second half of this workshop will be reserved for Yoga Nidra, a most beautiful and relaxing practice. If you haven’t yet tried Yoga Nidra you really owe it to yourself to check it out. If you are already familiar with the practice then you know what I’m talking about!  During Yoga Nidra you are in a state of deep sleep with a slight trace of awareness.  Yoga Nidra is a systematic process of deepening relaxation that moves through all the subtle layers of body and mind (koshas). It is said that an hour of Yoga Nidra is more restful than 4 hours of normal sleep!  We will also learn how to create a Sankalpa — a positive affirmation or intention that helps to enhance the healing effects of the Nidra experience, and infuses the body and mind with the pure energy of your heart’s desire.

Please join me for this special event on Saturday, August 13, from 2-4pm at 8 Limbs West Seattle. Wear your most comfortable clothes (pajamas come to mind). Blankets, eye bags and bolsters will be provided. You are welcome to bring a pillow if you like. All levels are welcome, bring a friend.

See you on Saturday,
Tracy Hodgeman
www.tracyhodgeman.com

Last night I returned from a weekend of teaching at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon. 8 Limbs leads retreats at “B-bush” in April and July and I get to enjoy the sacred land and geothermal waters while teaching yoga classes and workshops to a diverse group of participants. Some are teachers learning about yoga and how to share it with others, others join us as a personal yoga retreat. All are interested in learning more about yoga and most end up learning more about themselves.

When I first met with our group I asked them to think of a teacher that had influenced them. I got goose bumps hearing the stories: a seventh grade teacher who, with two pointed questions, had helped a small town girl to think beyond “finish high school, get married, have three kids”; a yoga teacher who helped an overweight woman find the strength and confidence to moved beyond the layers she carried on her body; a strict music teacher who set firm boundaries and expectations that invited the students to stretch beyond their limitations. Their lives had been affected by these teachers, to the point of a complete turnaround.

In my eyes, these teachers had all put out an invitation. They had all seen their role as teacher as several steps beyond simply passing on information. They had asked for participation, they had seen beyond their students and had guided them towards their potential. As David Whyte says, “An invitation invites the self beyond one’s self/oneself.” You can invite someone, as the 7^th grade teacher did, out of their inheritance, beyond what they might expect of themselves.

To me a retreat is an invitation. It is a container outside of our ordinary lives. We can shed our roles, chores, jobs, phones, and use the practice of yoga to help us to see and work with what comes forth when we let go of these habits and demands.

8 Limbs we take retreats seriously. We are working right now on the 2012 retreat schedule and welcome your suggestions for times of year, teachers, areas of and locations. You can send them to ashley@8limbsyoga.com.

I am heading, tonight, on another retreat, this one my family vacation. I’ll be on a lake in the Adirondacks, unplugged, for a whole week. Enjoy some Seattle sunshine, and consider what invitation you have for own students, children, friends, co-workers, and for your Self.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

P.S. Your opportunities to retreat for 2011 are posted on our Retreats page, Embracing Change (Yoga for 50+ Retreat) with Sally Carley August 26-28 and Fall Sleeping Lady with Anne Phyfe Palmer and Melina Meza November 4-6.

Hello all 8 Limbs fans! Please take a moment to vote in the annual Seattle Weekly Best of Seattle poll, open only another two days (closes Sunday, July 17). There is a Best Yoga Studio and we’d love your support if you think we deserve that title. You have to vote in at least 5 categories, and they are fun! Here’s the link, vote now!

http://polls.seattleweekly.com/polls/sew/bestof2011/

Posted by: 8 Limbs

Soon after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11 my daughter Lily and her school friends started to make origami paper cranes. Urged on by a philanthropic challenge, they taught themselves (thank you YouTube!) how to make these beautiful shapes out of colorful paper. Our family got on board too. Lily taught all of us the steps and we had an origami night to add on to her class contribution. Lily’s class has to date made at least 1000 cranes! It was touching to see the dedication they brought to this project to send support and caring across the ocean.

At the same time 8 Limbs Designer Kirsti Rochon started working on new t-shirt designs and by chance she made one with a paper crane illustration. We decided to go with this design and donate a portion of the sales from this limited edition shirt to benefit the Japan Relief Fund through Global Giving.

Thanks to Lily and her classmates for the idea and for the beautiful cranes we are using on our display. Come get yourself a summery turquise short sleeved Paper Crane tshirt while supplies last!

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

Last fall 8 Limbs yoga teacher Jenny Hayo introduced me to “Insights at the Edge,” podcasts posted by Sounds True founder Tami Simon that interview visionary poets, teachers, artists, speakers, business owners (et al!) on their current edge and contribution to the world on the level of consciousness raising. I have tuned in as often as possible, often during runs in the Arboretum or walking up the hill to work. I have found this solitary physical activity while listening on earbuds to amazing information quite transformational. The podcasts are free and I want everyone to know about them!

My favorites have been Richard Freeman’s Living Yoga, Tara Brach’s Radical Acceptance, Ken Wilber’s Integral Transformation, David Whyte’s Being at the Frontier of Your Identity, and Peter Levine’s Healing Trauma. But I have honestly barely scratched the surface myself. Most all that I have even tried have been amazing. Tune in, let me know what YOU enjoy hearing about at annephyfe@8limbsyoga.com. You can get them through the Sounds True website or iTunes.

Sounds True’s slogan, “many voices, one journey” is by divine accident very similar to our new slogan at 8 Limbs: “many paths, follow yours.” We are both committed to sharing their diverse wealth of information that is available to assist practitioners in their practice. And we are both businesses that strive to succeed at what Sounds True contributor Patricia Aburdene calls Conscious Capitalism. We believe that putting those words together is not only possible, but essential for the sustainability of our economy, our planet, and our own lifeforce.

Thank you for being part of this conscious capitalism experiment. We will continue to do our best to be a wonderful place for you to practice yoga, and for our staff, a wonderful place to work. We value your support and your presence at 8 Limbs. Namaste.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer (from the May Newsletter)

For years we have talked about creating an 8 Limbs Video/DVD to be able to share the 8 Limbs class experience with those of you traveling, practicing at home, or relocated to distant neighborhoods, states, or continents. Finally we are on the way to that reality! In early April a local DVD distribution company Topics Entertainment contacted 8 Limbs to produce a Yoga DVD Box Set for their catalog. In one month we assembled a team of six 8 Limbs instructors who worked together to create and practice four yoga practices: Basics, Vinyasa, Yoga for Core, and Yoga for Strength. The team consisted of Chiara Guerrieri, Jen Yaros, Jay Holby, Dawn Jansen, Angela Gayle, and myself.

The big shoot was last week, Thursday and Friday May 5 & 6 at 8 Limbs Phinney Ridge. After weeks of constant focus on this project it was exhilarating to watch the amazing teachers in action during the shoot, moving in unison with amazing precision and calm.

The following people were instrumental in helping to make sure the shoot looked professional: Etta Lilianthal designed the gorgeous set (with a bench loaned by Dennis Montgomery and Jeff Wildenstein, thanks guys!). Laura Bailey of Samara Skincare helped to get us ready, Erin Orden of Orden Beauty was an artist with our faces, Tova Ramer of Evolve Salon addressed our tresses, and Melissa Lundgaard, the 8 Limbs Boutique Buyer, helped us to track down the right clothing. A big thank you to all!

It will be several months before the DVD set is available in Blu-Ray, and a little longer for regular DVD. We’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime we are also working with My Yoga Online to offer our classes online. They will unobtrusively film the following classes on Monday, May 16 at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill: 12pm Level II Flow, 4pm Level I, 5:30pm Prenatal and 7:15pm Level II Flow. Filming will focus on the teacher and there will be room in the studio for those who don’t want to be in the filming at all. We’ll let you know when the classes are available online, or check out My Yoga Online, Melina Meza has a few already available.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

A few years ago I found myself resting deeply in savasana at a yoga class in New Orleans while on vacation. As I drifted in relaxation a sound began to emanate from the front of the room. It quickly moved to fill the room with a low vibration. Every atom in my body and the air and objects around me seemed to also vibrate with the sound. It created a feeling of oneness that was quite profound.

After savasana I discovered that the sound came from a singing bowl played by the instructor. It opened my eyes to the power of sound. Since then I have also had the benefit of receiving a Gong Bath (gongs are played and you are literally bathed in sound) and a massage treatment with Acutonic tuning forks. Each time I am amazed at the depth of this work. It quickly takes you deep, to a primal place accessed through the power of vibration.

Megan Costello, our Capitol Hill manager and a sound-healer, will bring her knowledge of this power of sound through training in Acutonics to a Yoga, Sound & Meditation Workshop with MJ Daniels this Sunday, May 1st at 8 Limbs Phinney Ridge. Join them for a “tune-up”, combined with yoga and meditation, to bliss out and connect with the power of both sound and silence.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

Yoga Journal Magazine is at the tail end of a voting process to have its readers select a cover model from thousands of submissions. Wouldn’t it be fun to see a familiar 8 Limbs face on the cover? Take a moment and vote for our own Melina Meza through the following link on the Yoga Journal website:

http://talentsearch.yogajournal.com/view/1676

You have three more days to vote (and you can vote daily), the last day is Friday, April 15.

Melina has been with 8 Limbs from the day we opened in 1996a and has been an integral part of 8 Limbs ever since. She decided to take time off from teaching weekly classes in the fall and has been living in Austin, traveling to teach workshops and retreats, and playing music. We are excited that Melina will return to Seattle for the summer to teach classes at 8 Limbs Wedgwood. Come and practice with her when she’s back!

Thanks for voting!

Posted by: 8 Limbs

It has been a week now since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I find myself reeling daily with the news of the devastation, loss of life, and potential for even more damage on the nuclear front, not to mention the simultaneous events in Libya. Wow, again? It feels like our earth has been dealing with one catastrophe after another. Manmade, natural, it hardly matters. We are interconnected and the wheels or karma are turning, seemingly faster and faster. It would be easy to find either numbness or compulsive attention to the newsfeed to avoid or process this reality, but living consciously asks us to step back and consider how we can best serve a situation with our given resources, be they energetic or monetary.

I have found that to be pulled down by tragedy is a response that is easy to move to but highly ineffectual. Like wallowing in S*(&$%, it serves no one. Instead, we can offer our deepest presence and a wish that those who are suffering become free and find joy again in their lives.

I learned the mantra Loka Samasta Sukhinoh Bhavantu from my first teacher Kathleen. The meaning I was taught and eventually passed on myself was “May all beings be happy and free.” This is so sweet and lovely that it can sometime feel to me a bit trite, as if “well duh” could be sarcastically added at the end.

I recently decided to dive a little deeper into this perfect package of a translation and learn the actual meaning of the words, thanks to Google and a Sanskrit dictionary.

Loka has many meanings, one of which is room, or place (location, anyone?). It also means humankind, folk, wide space, and earth. Samasta means combined, united, put (or thrown!) together. Sukha is joy, delight, comfort, or ease, and sukhinoh is one who is in that state. Bhavantu means they shall, and I believe relates to the word Bhavana, which I was taught is an attitude or an intention that you choose and direct one’s attention toward.

Ah, now the mantra has a little more traction for me, and I can offer it across the ocean with a deeper sincerity. YES, we all have the capacity for joy, for delight, for ease. YES, we are all united on this planet, for better or worse. YES, they shall become free and full of joy once again. YES, this is what I wish, what I hope for and I can offer my practice, my efforts, towards this wish.

Please join me for a special practice this Monday, March 21 at 7:15pm at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill. We will focus our practice twofold: sending both supportive energy and awareness to our neighbors in Japan and donations to Mercy Corps and their disaster relief efforts. No donations required to join us, just a willing and open heart. Should you choose, please bring cash or checks made out to Mercy Corps. 8 Limbs will donate all drop-in payments for class to Mercy Corps.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

This past Saturday at 8:30am I had the privilege of teaching yoga at Seattle Asian Art Museum surrounded by Buddhist, Jainist, and Hindu sculptures that echoed the postures we breathed into. As part of the Gardner Center Saturday Lecture Series “World Little Known: Central Asia, Its Histories and Place in Today’s World” 8 Limbs teachers lead an All Levels by donation yoga class from 8:30-9:10am Saturdays through April 16.

There were plenty of regulars who attend the weekly lecture series, and I spoke with a few who enjoy moving their bodies before feeding their brains with new information. Two new participants made the experience three generational (and quite fun) for me: my daughter Lily and father Tom.

We dedicated our practice to the people of Japan, to support them with our efforts and our hearts. The $75 in class donations will go to disaster relief.

Mark your calendars if a nice short yoga practice is how you’d like to start your day in Volunteer Park this spring. Make sure to sign up for the lectures early as they often fill, but yoga class is drop-in, just bring your own mat and any cash donation you would to make to the teacher.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer