Buddha Mommy

As we move past the winter solstice and back into the light, we find many opportunities to improve our lives and the planet. I am talking about those pesky New Years resolutions. We really don’t need New Years to make changes in our way of being, but it does seem like a good time marker (” I started this on Jan.1. It’s been three weeks since I started….”). I have a friend who takes up pages listing her resolutions each year. I think it may be a good place to start, writing down all the things that come to mind, but I don’t really think we can change more than one thing at a time (successfully, anyway). I have many ideas at the moment of what I’d like to focus on, but haven’t narrowed it down to one.
One thing I have committed to and will continue to commit to for 2012, is continuing our Monday evening yoga practice. Each Monday evening at 6:30, we practice until 8pm at the UU Church of Fresno in the sanctuary. On January 2, 2012, the first Monday of the month and new year, we will have a Yin yoga practice. Perhaps your intention this year is to bring more peace and grace into your life. We’ll be there to walk with you on your path!

As hard as it is to believe, Christmas/Hanukkah is here! The solstice has occurred, and now we slowly make our way back into the light. On Monday evening the 28th, we have our last practice of 2011 together at the UU Church of Fresno (from 6:30-8:00pm). As we move into 2012, our little yoga community will celebrate 2 years together. Amazing! It is never too late to begin your practice. We welcome you when the time is right for you!
See you for the last practice in 2011 and let’s move forward together for a healthy and peace-filled New Year!
The Santa above was gently and loving “lifted” from yogadork.com.

I am grateful for each season of the year. They each bring a special rhythm, feeling and quality that I love and honor. The coming of the winter months inspires in me a time to look inside, clean out the cob webs (AKA old habits and patterns), set new intentions and begin again. Some years, I continue my intention from the prior year, as long term change doesn’t happen in a heartbeat. New positive patterns and as difficult to set as ridding yourself of the the old patterns.
Our Monday nite practice this week will be focused on the winter solstice. Come join us for a time of releasing old patterns and extracting blessings for the coming seasons. We meet on Monday nites at the UU Church of Fresno on Alluvial in Clovis (from 6:30-8pm). Happy Hanukkah and happy solstice!

As we move toward the winter solstice each year, I find myself in conflict between being quite and inwardly focused and the pull of the holidays. I enjoy the festive lights, music, smells and chill of the year, but the pace and attitude makes me want to run and hide! Yoga gives me that brief respite from the world around me, helps me refocus my own attitude and move more gracefully through the holidays.
I offer you that opportunity once a week on Monday evenings from 6:30-8pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno. Take an hour and a half away from the season of the year and find the season of your heart. We welcome you! See you on the 12th!

Depending on your perspective, we are slowly/rapidly moving toward the Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice season. It is a time when life should be slowing down, but it speeds up for many because of the pressures the holidays bring. The pressure is there only if we allow it to occupy our heart. Rather, let us allow the love of the season occupy our hearts, slow us down to appreciate each other, our individual and collective gifts as we share those gifts. We who have been given so much for so long tend to forget how fortunate we are. We tend to fill the season with “more” : more food, more spending, more drinking. Let’s fill it with less or these and more of what helps us connect: love, sharing and joy.

If you are in the Fresno/Clovis area you have an opportunity on Saturday, December 3 from 5:30-9pm to share with the people of Haiti and your yoga community in a benefit/yoga practice. This event is designed to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti while providing a time of group sharing and enjoyment. It will be held at the UU Church of Fresno, the same location as our weekly Monday nite practice. For more info on this event, follow the link:www.erinoglesbyyoga.com.

This coming Monday December 5, also join us for a regular Monday nite class from 6:30-8:00pm. It is the first Monday of the month, so we will practice Yin yoga. On this blog you will find links on Yin yoga. Hope to see you at both practices!

While I have so many things to be thankful for this year, I want to say a special thanks to my yoga community. I feel so privileged to lead yoga classes every week with people who appreciate the practice and the time together. My goal for completing yoga teacher training was to share the practice with all who wished to learn it. I never expected such a overwhelming and consistent response! It is very rewarding to me to provide yoga to so many people.
Don’t forget our weekly class on Monday nite from 6:30-8pm at the UU Church of Fresno. We will get together again this Monday, Nov. 28th.
Again, thank you for this wonderful addition to my life and my path.

I have found that living simply a struggle. A struggle worth pursuing, but a struggle none the less. I think this is because it goes against the grain of normative society. It is such a radical change in attitude, that much like the act of being present, we accomplish simplicity in small successes. While we work on being thankful at this time of year, we are presented constantly with the notion of having more. Tough stuff this simplicity!
In the book Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin, the author uses a dictionary definition of simplicity that expresses the depth and breath of this quality: ” being direct and clear; being free of pretense or dishonesty; free of vanity or ostentation, and undue display; free of secondary complications and distractions”. So, it’s not just about consumption and acquisition. We return to the theme you find throughout this blog, its about intention.
We “intend” on having our regular Monday evening yoga practice on November 21 from 6:30-8pm at the UU Church of Fresno (on Alluvial Ave in Clovis). Bring your intention to give thanks and stretch your body. Hope to see you then!

This is the time of year when gratitude takes the center stage. I love having a time of year that the media is focused on being thankful. It is the anthesis of the usual media message. The media seems to be the way to get any message out there. So, I am happy to use it toward a positive end, rather than the usual end of pushing fear.

To me, gratitude and simplicity go hand in hand. The less I have, the more I am able to focus on what is in my life, and to be grateful for it. For me, when there is “too much”(stuff, I mean), I cannot focus on what is truly important. This means I am a really lousy consumer and probably single-handedly keeping the recession going! Practicing simplicity takes you out of the mainstream mind set and into the group who is “prolonging the recession”. It’s a choice we make. We are responsible for our own choices.

We choose how to invest our time and our precious energy. Why not consider sending yours caring for your body, mind and spirit? Join us November 14 at the UU Church of Fresno on Alluvial in Clovis. We practice yoga from 6:30-8:00pm. Bring yourself and your grateful heart!

I have been having an on going dialogue with a fellow yogi and friend about our life paths. What happens when we know our life path, yet our circumstances make following it the way we desire not possible?
This in itself is the essence of being on our path. We recognize our direction, evaluate our current ability to progress on our path, and adapt to what we can do right now. If following our path was straight-forward and direct, our learning, patience, creativity and balance would not be honed. The saying, “its not the destination, its the journey” is so true. Those who know their dharma, can honor it but creating a life that allows us to follow that dharma in the present moment (within our present circumstances). There is always a way to honor the path, while we continue to honor our responsibilities.

If yoga is part of your path, come join us in asana practice each Monday nite. Monday, November 7, we will be practicing yin yoga. There are links and blogs on this site for you to explore what yin is. We meet from 6:30-8:00pm at The UU Church of Fresno on Alluvial in Clovis. Hope our paths intersect!

How is it that you listen to your life? Do you meditate, take time to yourself to reflect (as in a retreat), pray, spend time in nature? There is so much wisdom available to us if can take this time to listen. Yoga offers us techniques that can assist us on our journey of listening. Within Patanjali’s 8 Limbs of yoga we find find four ways to aid us: pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (intense focus) and dhyana (meditation). Each requires practice and are very attainable for everyone.
Our Monday nite yoga practice at the UU Church of Fresno provides a weekly opportunity to sharpen our practice of these 8 limbs of yoga. Please join us this Monday, Halloween, October 31 from 6:30-8:pm. No tricks, just the treat of caring for ourself!