It never seems to fail. No matter how much older and further away I get from the carefree summers of my youth, no matter how wet, cold, dreary or short that season Seattle calls “summer” actually is, I just can’t help but feel like summer is the time for loosening up boundaries and plunging feet first into uncharted experiences.

So when the opportunity to teach yoga outdoors at the Olympic Sculpture Park first presented itself, I jumped at the chance. As a yoga instructor, sculptural artist and lover of the outdoors, I was more then delighted to help bring these worlds together, but to be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect. Who would come? How many people would be there? Would they be able to see or hear? Would the practice be too hard? Too easy? Would they like me? Would the weather affect us?

Turns out the answers to all of these questions were easily defined within minutes of my first session. Who came? Everyone. We had families with children practicing on towels that had never done yoga before, older folks who felt some of the practice was clearly for the ‘younger people’, advanced practitioners who wanted full wheel every class, people from Seattle, Issaquah and even Maine and one or two people who just so happened to be walking in the park with no intention of stumbling into our yoga class that managed to do just that, anyway. Were they able to see or hear? Sometimes. Was the practice too hard or too easy? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Did the weather affect us? Certainly. Did they like me? I think so. Did any of it matter? Definitely. Regardless of who we were, where we came from and whether or not we intended to be there, regardless of whether we could see or hear, regardless of sun or cloud or rain, we were all there – I mean, really THERE. With the weather brushing against our skin, the smell of the ocean sailing through the air, the unevenness of the ground supporting our feet and with a peace and contentment that radiated beyond any confines of the moment, we practiced yoga.

Posted by: Jen Yaros

Jen also had the pleasure of talking with Akaash Saini from the Weekly Brew. Hear Jen speak more about her outdoor yoga experience and watch yoga in action at the Sculpture Park. To view the video, please follow this link: http://vimeo.com/14322339.

This Saturday, August 28th is the last Saturday to join us for Free Yoga at the Sculpture Park! Join us from 10:00am-11:00am (weather permitting).

When I came out 10 years ago, one of my mother’s biggest fears was that I would be living in a world of injustice and like any mother, she was afraid of how people would treat me. While it hasn’t always been easy, I found that part of what drew me to yoga was the level of acceptance I found in teachers and in the community. No matter where you were in your life or in your practice, yoga met you there.

Every time I step onto my mat, I feel as though I have the opportunity to shed the shell of my identity. As we begin class, we all simply become practitioners of yoga, here to explore the dance of yoga together. It’s not about who we are outside of class: our job, our culture, our identity—we are all here to explore our internal energetic world to see what unfolds and to ultimately realize that in reality we are all the same. As Desikachar once said: “Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked.” The more I practice the more I see myself connected to all those around me. Their struggles are my struggles and we become beautiful mirrors for one another. With this awareness of interconnectedness, it becomes impossible for me to judge anyone for who they are.

In very different ways, both my yoga community and my queer community have helped me to embrace who I am and love the differences I see reflected back in others. My hope is that each time I teach, my students have that same experience I have had so many times “its okay to be wherever you are and we are all there together.”

In celebration of Pride, 8 Limbs will be hosting a benefit class the Friday June 25th. The benefit will support our Capitol Hill neighbor, Gay City Health Project (www.gaycity.org), and all donations made during that class will directly support the organization. In addition, Kaladi Brother’s Coffee and Macrina Bakery have been kind enough to donate coffee and pastries for a post class brunch! The class is an All Levels Flow from 9:30am- to 10:45am. Suggested donation is the 8 Limbs drop-in rate of $16, but I encourage you to give whatever you can.

Come celebrate Pride with me and both of my families!

Posted by: Megan Costello

Last night I was able to attend “The Thin Place” at The Intiman Theatre. It pulled me to the theater with its theme of spirituality from the perspective of Seattlites, who are known as a population with less religious affiliation, but as many of us know, plenty of spirituality.

The title refers to the idea that there are times when the veil between the “real world” and what lies beyond (or within) thins. In the thin place, one can feel a direct experience of the expansive quality of spirit (my words), even if for a brief moment. Stories of faith from several voices were shared by one actor, taking on their personas (and many difficult accents) to paint a spectrum of diversity.

What most captured my attention was the physiology of spirituality. The main character Isaac struggles with seizures and hears the voices of the other characters in his head. His atheist uncle realizes that he can’t see patterns and connects this to his lack of belief in a God. He gets that he is not wired for faith, others in the play attest to being born for it.

As we wind come to the close of M(ay) is for Meditation, I wonder if any of you have been drawn into this practice of using concentration or reflection, and how it has affected you, your physiology, your personality. For me, meditation has been an amazing journey that It has prepared me to drop more and more of my patterns of thought and action and has provided me a road map to my thin place. What is your thin place?
Please send me your stories to annephyfe@8limbsyoga.com and let me know if I can post them here in June (they can be anonymous).

See below for my last M(ay) if for Meditation blog post, a practice from my teacher Rod Stryker called Stilling the Lake of the Mind. Try it for the month of June. And meet me at our own lake as we head into summer swimming time!

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer
P.S. Several members of the 8 Limbs community contributed to the production. Kudos to Etta Lilienthal for her stunning set design and Sonya Schneider, playwright.

By now all of you know about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And most of you also know that I grew up in New Orleans, just across the bayou from the Gulf. This disaster has been really hard for me to stomach. It frankly breaks my heart. The Gulf of Mexico may not be pristine, but it is a vital body of water that is home to hundreds of species (including a hardy breed of humans called Cajuns) who have already experienced great distress from the gradual erosion of the coastline and the pummeling of Katrina. Read a great book about this area to learn more.

I spent many weekends and vacations with family in the islands and beaches of the Gulf, including a recent trip to Florida (see photo of myself and Coco). It has been devastating enough to see how much of the coast was destroyed by Katrina; this oil spill is a sucker punch to areas that are already struggling.

It has helped me to focus my energy in a positive direction. Want to join me? Here’s what you can do:
1. Send your thoughts to the Gulf and the people affected AND the people trying to help staunch the leak and clean up the spill. They need our mental support. Try the Unconditional Meditation I learned from my teacher Rod Stryker. Brief instructions follow, full guided meditation can be found on “Meditations for Inner and Outer Peace”
2. Join us on Monday, May 17 for a Benefit Class. All cash or check drop-in payments (and any additional donations) for the 7:15 and 7:30 classes at all four 8 Limbs Yoga Centers will go directly to the Gulf Response Involvement Team (GRIT). Checks may be made out to GRIT. Class will still be available to members or class pass holders at no extra charge. Please spread the word and bring a friend.
3. Can’t make it? Send your positive thoughts whenever and whenever, but try and join us in spirit on Monday night, especially between 8:15 and 8:30, during meditation. You can make a donation at the GRIT website: http://lagulfresponse.org/aboutus.html

Unconditional Healing Meditation
Preparation: spend a few minutes with attention to your breath. Feel a wave of relaxation through your entire body. Bring your attention to your mouth. Withouth changing your expression, feel the feeling of a smile. Then go through the organs and limbs of your body and feel the feeling of a smile at each location. Feel an open radiant smile in your whole body; every cell is smiling. Now feel rose colored light throughout your being, purifying and cleansing.
Step 1: Bring awareness to the space behind your navel at the spine. Feel life giving energy and awareness move on the inhale up your spine, on the exhale let it spread and expand into the space above the brain, in the skull. Repeat for several minutes with the internal sound AU (ah ooo) on inhale, M on exhale. Then hold your attention a the top of the head, meditate on the infinite and the sound OM.
Step 2: Now move from the space behind your navel up the spine and exhale that awareness into the throat. Repeat with the sound shan (“shun”) on inhale, ti on exhale. After a few minutes, hold attention at the throat, and meditate on peace.
Step 3: You will now share your connection to peace by projecting it to someone else or a situation (ie the oil spill). Whether you wish to help another person or positively affect a situation, you will project unconditaional awarenesss from your third eye.
When you inhale feel consciousness rise up your spine from the navel to the 3rd eye or brain center. Exhale and project unconditional consciousness from the third eye to the heart of another or situation. Add the mantra OM on the inhale and Shanti on the exhale. Continue to repeat, flooding the person or situation with your awareness. Sense that the person or circumstance is absorbing your attention and is filled with unconditional peace. You are empowering this person or situation with the healing power of nature. What they choose to do with it is up to their free will.
Now relax the technique and meditate on the object of your offering. See them/it fully enlivened and connected to the eternal stream of peace. Silently share the spirit of OM Shanti, Universal Peace. Feel that you both bask in the presence of spirit.
Bring your attention back to the space between your eyebrows. Be aware of your own foundation of happiness in your life. Seal it within yourself.
Bring your attention back to your brain, feel it descend all the way down to the navel. Place both palms over the navel. Feel that a presence is moves out of your hands and is absorbed into the navel center and abdomen.
Feel steeped and anchored in a clear sense of centeredness. Open your eyes.
From “Meditations for Inner and Outer Peace” by Rod Stryker

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

Though I am a big fan of people coming to things in their own time, being challenged can have a potent effect. Eight years ago I started to practice pranayama because of a dare from a teacher while on retreat. He told our group that there would be no contraindications with pranayama practice (see below for the scoop about safety in pranayama) because we wouldn’t do it with regularity. That was enough to get me practicing breath awareness 10 minutes a day as soon as I returned, which changed my nervous system, and my life.

Last month our Managing Director Ashley made a commitment take a yoga class every day for 30 days. It began after the Haramara Yoga Retreat with Melina. She felt so good after doing yoga and eating amazing food every day that she first scheduled several yoga classes per week into her work schedule. The process had a ripple effect on her life – the 30-day commitment was a natural next step (and now is on day 40!).

This gave me the idea to challenge our community – teachers, students, and staff – to practice meditation every day in May. That could mean 5 minutes of sitting and listening to sound, 10 minutes of watching your thoughts like waves rolling on and off the shore, 15 minutes of mantra, or 20 minutes of silence. Whatever gets you to the mat…just do it!

Meditation has had such a profound effect on my own life that I now crave it. My brain wants it, needs it, loves it. I call it “mental floss.” I started by using guided meditations by my teacher Rod Stryker. Every morning I’d put on the headphones and twenty minutes later it was like a new day had dawned.

We’ll call this challenge “M(ay) is for Meditation”, and see how it goes. If you start late, no worries. Miss a day? Just get back on track the next. We are posting free open meditation hours at all four studios. Check your individual studio or our blog for those days and times. Since May starts in two days, we’re giving you this heads up to get ready, get set…

Never meditated? Start with a simple 5-minute Ujjayi Meditation from Rod Stryker:
1. Take a comfortable seat (on blanket or bolster) with spine tall.
2. Begin with smooth ujjayi breathing.
3. Count to 5 as you inhale and 5 as you exhale, in other words, match your breath in to your breath out.
4. After doing this for at least one minute, without strain, begin to pause AFTER exhale for 5 counts. If this is too much, count faster or use a count of 4
5. Continue for a few minutes, then release the pause
6. Release the extended breath and bow your head to conclude the practice.

Another simple practice is to sit and listen to sound. Don’t follow or allow thoughts to gather around the sound, just practicing the art of listening. This is easier to do in the morning or after an asana practice, but it’s also OK if it’s hard! Just try it.

Like having someone tell you what/how to do it? Find a guided meditation. As I mentioned, Rod has guided meditations you can listen to. Ujjayi Meditation is one of the three practices on “Meditations for Inner and Outer Peace” and “Three Meditations to Live By” is just that, for me. It includes a Heart Empowering practice that is simple and wonderful. Check these and others out at the 8 Limbs Boutique.

Need some scientific evidence? Check out my June 10, 2009 blogpost on The Science of Yoga.
Take a leap and commit to this month of practice by writing a comment here or sharing it with a close friend. Keep checking this Blog (or subscribe) to hear from other teachers about their experiences with meditation. At the end of the month, send me an email about your experience and we’ll post selections to inspire others (just let usknow how much anonymity you want, initials, first name, full name, etc.).
Happy M(ay) is for Meditation!

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer
P.S. To avoid problems in pranayama:
1. listen to the sound of your breath and create a long, subtle, smooth flow
2. don’t make your inhale longer than your exhale
3. don’t hold your breath after inhale longer than your exhale

Ever wonder what 8 Limbs instructors do other than study and teach yoga? Jen Yaros, who teaches at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill, Wedgwood, and West Seattle, is also an artist. First Thursday in April you have an opportunity to see her next show at Shift Collaborative Studios, 306 S. Washington, Ste, 105.

Yaros searches for meaning by exploring the existence of the self according to Buddhist, Yogic and Taoist philosophies in this large-scale print installation. Inspired by her work as a yoga instructor and her study of classical eastern texts such as The Yoga Sutras, The Dhammapada and The Bhagavad Gita, Jen questions how letting go of the notion of the self and accepting all forms in life as fleeting and impermanent could lead to greater awareness, less conflict and potentially reduce suffering.

In addition to teaching yoga and creating art, Jen is a teaching assistant in the Print and Letterpress Departments at Pratt Fine Arts Center. She has a degree in Economics from the University of Washington and has worked in commercial photography and theatre lighting design. Jennifer works with a variety of media ranging from printmaking and book arts to fibers and most recently, sculpture.
 
Shift is a collaborative artist’s studio that opened in the fall of 2004 in the renovated Tashiro Kaplan Arts Complex. Shift was established as an artist-run space with the primary goal of supporting emergent, practicing, Northwest artists. For more information, visit www.shiftstudio.org.

All drop-in class payments for Friday evening classes at 8 Limbs Phinney Ridge and 8 Limbs West Seattle will be donated directly to Doctors without Borders to aid their relief efforts in Haiti.

Friday, January 22, 2010
8 Limbs Phinney Ridge
6:30 – 7:30pm All Levels Hatha Yoga with Megan Costello
8 Limbs West Seattle
5:45 – 7:00pm All Levels Flow with Amelia Gailey

Drop-ins are $16, please bring cash or checks made out directly to Doctors without Borders.
Please spread the word.

Posted by: 8 Limbs

We’ve been sleeping at the blog wheel for a few weeks while driving another car steadily towards the finish line. 8 Limbs Phinney Ridge is ALMOST complete, and will now open on Thanksgiving Day with a Benefit Class for Solid Ground with Chiara Guerrieri. For info on our Benefit Classes at all four 8 Limbs, click here. They are an 8 Limbs tradition all over Seattle and we are excited to open with this offering to the community. Bring a friend or your whole family!
Our Grand Opening is Friday, December 4th. Doors open at 4:00pm, we’ll play in a Parent/Child Yoga Class at 4:30pm, bless the space with the musical assistance of Gina Salá, and close with an All Levels Yoga class at 7:00pm. Bring the whole family! More info at the Phinney Ridge webpage.
We’ll bring the blog back to life very soon. See you soon!

Did you know that today is International Day of Peace? If you are looking for a way to celebrate through practice, join the Group Meditation today, Monday, September 21, 2009 at The Seattle Center. The event is sponsored by The Seattle Center and The Life Bliss Meditation Center of Seattle, as well as 8 Limbs and other local yoga studios.
4:30 – 6:00pm
International Fountain Lawn
Seattle Center
www.PeacePrevails2009.com
Come join hands with the local meditation community in a mandala group meditation for world peace, while millions around the world pause and do the same.

PEACE!

Posted by: 8 Limbs

Join 8 Limbs for a free outdoor yoga class:
Wednesday September 9, 2009, 10:00 – 11:15 a.m.
Gas Works Park, 2101 Northlake Way, Seattle
Gas Works Park will be a beautiful setting for yoga as artist and master kite flyer Seth Abramson launches 121 brilliant white kites into the air that will fly over the city all day long. Commissioned by the Credit Unions of Washington, the Kites Over Washington project is a moment of calm, created to give people a peaceful hiatus in the city. Join us to enjoy asanas in the park and experience this spectacular art project. The Kites Over Washington will also be the subject of an upcoming documentary art film. Please wear as much white as you can, 8 Limbs logos welcome but avoid other logos or patterns. You are giving filmmaker permission to use footage by participating in class.
Reservations are suggested but not required at annephyfe@8limbsyoga.com
Even if you can’t make it to the yoga class, look up in the sky over Gasworks on Wednesday, it should be an amazing sight!

Posted by: 8 Limbs