It may not seem like it today, but yesterday showed spring at its best: Mother Nature is busy unthawing from winter and growing new shoots. Guess what? Our bodies are doing the same thing! To help you release the winter (damp/cold) in your muscles considering adding these following asanas into your daily practice until the sun can warm your skin.

Prasarita Padottanasana (standing wide leg forward bend)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2)
Garudasana (eagle)
Parsva Utkatasana (revolved chair)
Upavista Konasana (seated wide leg forward bend)
Gomukasana (cow face)
The inner and outer leg muscles are addressed specifically as they relate to the organs most likely to be stressed; the liver and gallbladder. Hold each pose until you feel the muscles release heat.
Learn more about creating seasonal practices for your wellbeing on May 9th and June 13th at 8 Limbs Wedgwood.

Posted by: Melina Meza

Want to hear some great music while making a difference? Join the great folks who volunteer to make Yoga Behind Bars a reality on April 12th for a Benefit Concert at the Fremont Abby, 4272 Fremont Ave N. Doors open at 7:30pm. Music by Seattle Guitar Circle with selections from Tuning the Air. Yoga Behind Bars offers yoga classes to prisoners and “at risk” populations to specifically facilitate therapeutic, conscious, human development. 8 Limbs has donated the proceeds from Thanksgiving Benefit classes to YBB and will do so again this summer with our Karma Yoga in the Park class on August 8th. Your donations will go towards purchasing needed props for the classes they offer.
Also, for those who enjoy chanting and spending an evening with other yoga enthusiasts, join kirtan artists David Stringer and Steve Gold (who led kirtan at 8 Limbs for several years) for an evening of heart opening singing at Shakti Vinyasa in Ballard on April 18th. It’ll get you warmed up and excited for Sean Johnson to fill 8 Limbs Capitol Hill with his beautiful music on May 30th.

Posted by: 8 Limbs

Last weekend I had the serendipitous fortune to experience a couple of extraordinary balancing acts. My family watched the movie Man on Wire and took in Seattle’s own Moisture Festival, a Comedy and Variety Show with acrobats, jugglers and musicians. These performers practice “balance” in extreme conditions: walking on a wire thousands of feet from solid ground, practicing a handstand on top of a moving, breathing, mountain of people. When we place or find ourselves in challenging situations, we are given an opportunity to cultivate a deep steadiness. Our world is changing rapidly. There are no longer Twin Towers in Manhattan, our economy is no longer tearing skyward like those emblems of commerce, but the ancient practice of yoga is perfectly suited to help us to navigate this rapid change, which many say is leading us to a higher level of consciousness.

If you are looking for a state of balance in your busy life, try a post like vrksasana, tree pose, to help steady your center. Start by lifting your right knee up to your chest. Flex the foot and place your foot as high as you are able into your left inner thigh. Place your hands on your hips until you feel still and grounded, then move your hands into prayer position at your heart. Want to add more challenge to your balanced state? Lift the arms into prayer overhead. Another challenge option: release the foot behind you and your arms like wings into virabhadrasana III, warrior III. Keep your hips square and your legs active. You can put the hands back into one of the earlier tree positions (hands to hips or prayer to heart) to help you find balance, or take this even further with arms forward. Release back to tadasana and do the other side. When you return to tadasana after the second time, take a minute or so to really feel your feet on the ground and the energy in your body.

How have you found balance in the midst of challenge, or even chaos? Do you ever place yourself in an extreme position to go deeper into self-knowledge?

Posted by: Anne Phyfe

Aaaah, pranaaaaaaahyama. After a solid week of the bone-crushing flu, I have rediscovered you. How you lighten my lungs, how you calm the threads of my consciousness. You give me the strength and stability to meet the challenges of each day. You beat down the anxiety that threatens my peace of mind. You are medicine for my soul.
Here’s a simple Pranayama practice to help you discover your new love:

1. Take a comfortable seat with spine long and knees level to or lower than your pelvis.
2. Begin to progressively lengthen your breath with a slight constriction at the throat.
3. Try to extend your breath to a count of 5 on inhale and 5 on exhale, sustain this for a minimum of 12 rounds. Adjust the speed of your count so that you are not out of breath but you are pushing your breath threshold.
4. Add a pause after exhale of up to 5 counts so that you inhale 5, exhale 5, hold after exhale 5. Sustain a minimum of 12 breaths. Again, adjust the count so that the ratio is 1:0:1:1 and you are pushing your threshold without feeling out of breath.
5. Release the technique and notice how you feel.
6. Repeat daily for at least a week and observe, enjoy, and fall in love!

Want some more information about pranayama and how to integrate into your daily routine? Jenny Hayo is offering her Pranayama Intensive April 10 & 11 at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe