Yoga with Melissa

Cycles Those of you who have an ongoing yoga practice will recognize that your spiritual journey is a endless journey of transformation. Today´s hatha yoga is about the cycles on our path. Whether these cycles come from our inner needs or our external circumstances we can respect the changes that these cycles bring about in […]

Cycles

Those of you who have an ongoing yoga practice will recognize that your spiritual journey is a endless journey of transformation. Today´s hatha yoga is about the cycles on our path. Whether these cycles come from our inner needs or our external circumstances we can respect the changes that these cycles bring about in our lives.

The cycles of our yoga and meditation journey will take us high and low and in and out. Sometimes it will feel like we are riding the roller coaster of the ascending and descending journey. We will experience a beautiful spiritual high and coast for awhile and then descend into the darkest depths. Our spiritual journey directs us on inner and outer cycles as well. There are times when we will be pulled towards our own inner work and other times when we want to be involved in our outer lives.

These cycles parallel the cycles of our bodies from waking and sleeping, to women’s menstrual cycles, our breathing and the cerebro spinal fluid that bathes our brain. In nature there are the cycles of the moon, the tide, day to night, the seasons. Cycles are all around us. There are times when we are called to grow, sustain and let go and we can honour the timing of those cycles in our lives.

Our yoga and meditation practice gives us the ground of calm abiding so that we can clearly see what cycle we are in and accept its spiritual task. Reflect on what cycle you are in right now? Currently I am going through a cycle of inner work spurred on by outer relationships. I am going through a period of clear seeing. During this cycle I can see all the ways I continually turn away from my own pain and hurt and how I contribute the the anger, aggression and drama in my closest relationships. It is a powerful and painful realization and one that is causing much grief, sadness, tenderness, compassion and a desire to pull inwards.

Jack Kornfield says that often we wish our own emotional work was done wo that we could open to the next level. However he urges us to honour the rhythms and cycles of our feelings and emotions as well.

Yoga Postures or Asana: Keyhole or Figure Four Stretch, Luv Vinyasa, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Half Squat, Moon Salutation or Chandra Namaskar,  Janu Sirsasana or Head Beyond Knee Pose, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Kilaka Mudra II

This class was inspired by Jack Kornfield´s A Path with Heart

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

If you liked today’s class on acceptance, please press that like button

Today I shared what cycle I am currently experience in my spiritual practice. I would love to hear what cycle you are currently experience in your life in the comments. Are you on an inner or outer cycle, an ascending or descending journey. Let me know.

If you know somebody who would benefit from this class please feel free to share the video with them.

Thank you so much for your donations: Sonja from Australia, Diane from Nova Scotia, Donna from Saskatchewan, Renee from Amanda Ohio.

Your donations help us to make this yoga podcast available to you each week by paying Tim and I a living wage and we appreciate that!

Today we focused on cycles. We have a moon cycle group within our membership community that supports you through the moon cycle each month with bi-monthly reflection and supporting yoga classes on the new moon and full moon as well as lively discussions. We would love to welcome you into our yoga community and support you through the cycles of your life.

http://www.melissawest.com/membership/membership-sign-up/

Weekly Yoga with Melissa 386 Photos of Yoga Poses

Acceptance

Acceptance is a theme that has pursued me on my spiritual path for well over a decade now. When I did the various levels of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Training I took, we focused on various themes from befriending, awareness, acceptance, truth, discernment, truth in action and flow. In them we wore name tags that had one of those words on them instead of our names. My name tag always said, “Acceptance.” We had to wear that name tag everywhere. I remember that being a hugely distressing experience because it was so out of alignment with the truth of my experience. I was fighting, albeit internally, with almost every situation, emotion and person in my life.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, it was a Friday morning and I had spent a particularly difficult week in pain with migraines. It was especially difficult because it had been a long time since I had last experienced such an intense episode and I was judging and turning away from my experience. I was making the experience of the migraine itself a problem, I was also making myself the problem.

Friday mornings I go to my meditation class with my meditation teacher Neil McKinlay at the Monterey Centre in Oak Bay. This particular Friday morning, Neil, an avid rock enthusiast was giving an example of how he noticed his body was turning away and resisting the early music of Chicago. It was a cute and safe example (not something that Neil leans towards) and I could feel myself getting more and more angry as I was struggling with a very deep and real experience in my own life.

I waited until Neil finished with his talk and then I asked him, tears already forming in my eyes, “What about the real stuff, the hard stuff? What about when you are in pain and your body literally shuts down?” And then something happened, I couldn’t control the experience any long and the floodgates of tears opened. I cried and cried through the entire class, the entire meditation and throughout the rest of the day. It was complete and utter surrender to the reality of my experience.

A few weeks later I took a refuge vow with Dharma Ocean and my teacher Neil, an oath to relate directly to the truth of my life, not the distractions or the diversions, not my hopes and fears of how I want my life to be, but the truth of my life as it was. During that ceremony, each person who took the vow was given a name. It is not a name to replace your given name, but one to invite clear seeing into the truth of your nature. My teacher Neil laughed a little as he approached me to give me my name, he said, this name will make you laugh sometimes. My given refuge name was, “welcomes without exception.” This name lit something in me with recognition and aspiration. It has been one of the greatest gifts I have received on my spiritual journey.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

If you liked today’s class on acceptance, please press that like button

Today I shared one of my many experiences of bringing acceptance to the moment to moment unfolding experiences, emotions and people in my life. I would love to hear how acceptance touches you in your life in the comments. Let me know.

If you know somebody who would benefit from this class please feel free to share the video with them.

Today we focused on acceptance. We have several more Yoga with Melissa Classes on Acceptance:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdFcYtDajz20mbPtS06aG2VZTcYMzIMnI

This yoga class also focused on hip and shoulder openers. In our yoga membership community we have two series of classes hippy shorts and

Acceptance Acceptance is a theme that has pursued me on my spiritual path for well over a decade now. When I did the various levels of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Training I took, we focused on various themes from befriending, awareness, acceptance, truth, discernment, truth in action and flow. In them we wore name tags […]

Acceptance

Acceptance is a theme that has pursued me on my spiritual path for well over a decade now. When I did the various levels of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Training I took, we focused on various themes from befriending, awareness, acceptance, truth, discernment, truth in action and flow. In them we wore name tags that had one of those words on them instead of our names. My name tag always said, “Acceptance.” We had to wear that name tag everywhere. I remember that being a hugely distressing experience because it was so out of alignment with the truth of my experience. I was fighting, albeit internally, with almost every situation, emotion and person in my life.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, it was a Friday morning and I had spent a particularly difficult week in pain with migraines. It was especially difficult because it had been a long time since I had last experienced such an intense episode and I was judging and turning away from my experience. I was making the experience of the migraine itself a problem, I was also making myself the problem.

Friday mornings I go to my meditation class with my meditation teacher Neil McKinlay at the Monterey Centre in Oak Bay. This particular Friday morning, Neil, an avid rock enthusiast was giving an example of how he noticed his body was turning away and resisting the early music of Chicago. It was a cute and safe example (not something that Neil leans towards) and I could feel myself getting more and more angry as I was struggling with a very deep and real experience in my own life.

I waited until Neil finished with his talk and then I asked him, tears already forming in my eyes, “What about the real stuff, the hard stuff? What about when you are in pain and your body literally shuts down?” And then something happened, I couldn’t control the experience any long and the floodgates of tears opened. I cried and cried through the entire class, the entire meditation and throughout the rest of the day. It was complete and utter surrender to the reality of my experience.

A few weeks later I took a refuge vow with Dharma Ocean and my teacher Neil, an oath to relate directly to the truth of my life, not the distractions or the diversions, not my hopes and fears of how I want my life to be, but the truth of my life as it was. During that ceremony, each person who took the vow was given a name. It is not a name to replace your given name, but one to invite clear seeing into the truth of your nature. My teacher Neil laughed a little as he approached me to give me my name, he said, this name will make you laugh sometimes. My given refuge name was, “welcomes without exception.” This name lit something in me with recognition and aspiration. It has been one of the greatest gifts I have received on my spiritual journey.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

If you liked today’s class on acceptance, please press that like button

Today I shared one of my many experiences of bringing acceptance to the moment to moment unfolding experiences, emotions and people in my life. I would love to hear how acceptance touches you in your life in the comments. Let me know.

If you know somebody who would benefit from this class please feel free to share the video with them.

Today we focused on acceptance. We have several more Yoga with Melissa Classes on Acceptance:

This yoga class also focused on hip and shoulder openers. In our yoga membership community we have two series of classes hippy shorts and

Body Positive Yoga

Today I have a special guest for you.

Amber Karnes from Body Positive Yoga.

Amber offers accessible yoga that allows you to make peace with your body and be happy in the body you have today.

I love Amber's message of fully inhabiting your body without shame or apology and so I know you are going to love this yoga class that she has created just for us here at Yoga with Melissa.

Do you feel like yoga isn't for your body?

Does your body "get in the way" or do you have "stuff running into other stuff?"

Let's explore some common yoga poses using props for more freedom and expansion!

This body-positive yoga class begins with mindful flows using the chair as a prop, progresses into strengthening standing poses, and leaves you with a backbend, twist, and a relaxing savasana.

You will need a chair without arms, two blocks, and a strap for this class.

Yoga Poses or Asanas: seated sun salutations, sun salutations with chair as a prop, side angle pose, warrior 2, wide legged forward fold, bridge pose, bound angle pose, seated twist, savasana

https://www.youtube.com/user/bodypositiveyoga

http://bodypositiveyoga.com/7-day-yoga-exploration

http://bodypositiveyoga.com

 

Body Positive Yoga Today I have a special guest for you. Amber Karnes from Body Positive Yoga. Amber offers accessible yoga that allows you to make peace with your body and be happy in the body you have today. I love Amber’s message of fully inhabiting your body without shame or apology and so I […]

Body Positive Yoga

Today I have a special guest for you.

Amber Karnes from Body Positive Yoga.

Amber offers accessible yoga that allows you to make peace with your body and be happy in the body you have today.

I love Amber’s message of fully inhabiting your body without shame or apology and so I know you are going to love this yoga class that she has created just for us here at Yoga with Melissa.

Do you feel like yoga isn’t for your body?

Does your body “get in the way” or do you have “stuff running into other stuff?”

Let’s explore some common yoga poses using props for more freedom and expansion!

This body-positive yoga class begins with mindful flows using the chair as a prop, progresses into strengthening standing poses, and leaves you with a backbend, twist, and a relaxing savasana.

You will need a chair without arms, two blocks, and a strap for this class.

Yoga Poses or Asanas: seated sun salutations, sun salutations with chair as a prop, side angle pose, warrior 2, wide legged forward fold, bridge pose, bound angle pose, seated twist, savasana

https://www.youtube.com/user/bodypositiveyoga

https://bodypositiveyoga.com/7-day-yoga-exploration

Body Positive Yoga

 

Yoga for Worry

I was writing an exam for a course and even though it was a take home exam I experienced a lot of worry. My body was jumpy and on edge. I could feel my jaw tighten. My breathing was tight up in my chest. My shoulders lifted and my neck got sore. I could feel myself trying to control things as the restlessness, agitation, and nervousness heightened. I felt my temper shorten with my husband Tim and my daughter Trinity. Can you relate to those sensations when worry arises in your experience?

More than that, even though my task was to sit and write my exam and in particular finish the final question it felt impossible for me to sit still. This exam was for a course on Tibetan Buddhism and so we had protocols about how to be in our bodies in a calm and relaxed manner and yet I was not able to connect with my breath, be in my body or feel the stability of the earth underneath me.

The exam question I was working on was a simple fill in the blank and maybe ironically I was drawing a blank. I panicked. My mind was spinning in circles and I felt like a complete failure. I couldn´t believe that I couldn´t recall the material from the course that should go in the blanks. And so I did that thing that I do when I worry. Instead of staying close in, in my body, connected to the earth, and my breath I watched my energy scatter. I frenetically searched through all the course material for the answers.

Sometimes when I worry it looks like checking my email, checking my social media, doing more work any work, cleaning the house, eating some juknk food that will temporarily make me feel better and then soon after make me feel worse, going shopping. Out, out, out, disperse, disperse, disperse. Impossible to stay present.

After searching high and low through all the course notes I found some answers that fit somewhat in the blanks and I handed in the exam. I wanted to get it off my plate. I didn´t want to worry about it anymore. Not surprisingly, 2 days later I got the exam back from my teacher saying, you passed all the questions except the fill in the blank question, go back to the text referenced in the question and try again.

Jack Kornfield says that worry often comes in response to pain that we don´t want to feel. Iḿ pretty sure in this situation I didn´t want to feel like a failure. I didn´t want to feel the sting of failure and all the trauma of past educational testing and grading held deep within my psyche was rapidly rising to the surface through this exam.

And yet, as my story shows too, worry is an impermanent state of conditions that are bound to change. When I got the exam back to rewrite the final question, I was able to find the quoted text for the first time in the textbook and fill in the blanks with complete ease. From that place of ease and steadiness, it was the easiest question on the exam.

Teachings inspired by Jack Kornfield´s A Path with Heart

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Yoga Props: Yoga Blocks, Bolsters, Yoga Strap

Yoga Postures or Asana: Heart Bed Pose, Bridge Pose or Setu Bandhasana, Supta Padangusthasana or Hand to Big Toe Pose, Child´s Pose or Balasana, Triangle Pose or Trikonasana, Legs Up the Wall Pose or Viparita Karini, Sphinx Pose or Salambha Bhujangasana, Janu Sirsasana or Head Beyond Knee Pose, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Mushti Mudra

Today I was stretching myself as a teacher and attempting to teach from a story. If you like being taught from a story, please let me know by pressing that like button.

Also, all the teachings are included in the story. I know you are all incredibly intelligent, many of you are yoga teachers and know so much about anxiety and worry already.

Yoga for Worry I was writing an exam for a course and even though it was a take home exam I experienced a lot of worry. My body was jumpy and on edge. I could feel my jaw tighten. My breathing was tight up in my chest. My shoulders lifted and my neck got sore. […]