How Jeff saved Christmas

We live in amazing and complicated times. 

The holidays are a time of love and joy for some, disappointments and despair for others. We debate over the right to say Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays.

It’s a time for generosity and giving, or, a time of greed and materialism. We travel the world to experience the beauty of nature and cause ecological destruction as we do it. 

It’s a time to enjoy homemade treats and large family meals, or a time to make ourselves ill through overindulgence in alcohol, sugar, carbs and bad fats🤪. We want to stay connected with loved ones through texts and photos or we want to stay present and leave the phones turned off.

If you think too much you could go crazy.

This December a sponge sloth named Jeff captivated the hearts of students and teachers at the Yoga Centre Winnipeg. Granted, Jan, owner and pillar of the Yoga Centre Winnipeg, was taking a few weeks off, so all the love people generally show Jan had to go somewhere….. in comes Jeff!

Jeff was a gift from Claire. 

He showed up as a very small hard vaguely sloth shaped creature, with a big smile a bright eyes. The promise was that he would slowly grow to 6 times his size if put in water.

Immediately people’s minds, hearts, and imaginations were engaged and expanding!
Would he grow too big for his container? 

Would it break? Would water leak all over the computer desk?

Would someone come in one morning to find Jeff had overtaken the lobby – or would he be running the computers and helping at the front desk!!

Each day people came in and monitored his progress! 

They greeted him with the same warmth they would would a human! “hi Jeff” – “how’s Jeff today?” – “how did Jeff move up the corporate ladder so quickly?’” Jeff needs a mat!!! etc. etc..

Admittedly, there were a few: “who’s Jeff?”Or “when do I get to meet him!?” (perhaps hoping for a handsome new teacher-  only to find a smile in a jar of water instead!). 

We used Jeff’s posture to help us with our yoga alignment, and he reminded us to take it slow and easy over the holidays. He even joined the Winter Kaiut Sadhana – and gave participants a big smile when they were “walking out” their practice. 

The response could have been disdain- “enough with the sponge sloth, already” or just a frown - but honestly, even the most serious of folks cracked a smile in his presence. 

The extra special thing about Jeff is his smile – sponge or not he is the embodiment of love, joy and playful presence! As someone pointed out he will be here long after we are all gone!

Jeff’s work is done for now. He is taking a break from the vase, and has settled back to his original size. 

We’ll see him again – but in the meantime, the love, joy and magic of Jeff lives within us all!!! 

All we need to do is breath into our heart space and remember Jeff’s smile (or the smile of anyone we love)!

Once you feel it - breath it into your whole body and hold it there. 

When you are full of love you cannot help but radiate it out.

Just like the plastic sponge Jeff is made of, that love, presence and joy is indestructible and you can make it expand when you choose (just by hopping in a glass of water😉).

Wishing all love, joy, lightness of spirit, strength, peace and wellbeing in 2020

 💕

Spring Sadhana

It is the final week of our Spring Sadhana. 

This annual even has come to be a ritual of transition from the end of winter into the full blossoming of spring. Each year 29-30 students of the Yoga Centre Winnipeg plus Jan and myself make this commitment to transition together.

Each of us comes to the room with our own goals and intentions, and with our own challenges, yet the experience is shared. Each day the practice continues, the room begins to move as a unit instead of 30 individual beings.

This shared journey starts with the willingness to take on the challenge – 28 days of early wake ups - a big ask on those mornings when it still dark and cold! 
It continues with the willingness to show up and immerse oneself in the practice, regardless of what the practice asks.

In the early days we are all enthusiastic, the practice feels great and the early morning wake ups seem worth the effort. But, as with any transformation practice, sooner or later the resistance kicks in! The path feels arduous- maybe the body is tired and achy, the mind fuzzy, or the heart tender. The practice affects everyone differently, but impacts us all regardless!

The knowledge and palpable feeling that we are not alone, and this too shall pass, helps inspire us through the hard days. When we feel our resistance, we know that it is shared, and it helps us carry the load.

It’s not unlike the body. Our bodies are a community of cells that function together to make up what we call 'me'. Part of the yoga practice is learning how to bring awareness and life to the individual parts of the body. At the same time we are learning to move and connect these parts so that they function as one. In straightening my leg I touch my psoas, as I tone or release my psoas, I affect my breath, as I change my breath, I open my heart and calm my mind.

Some days different parts of our bodies cry out for individual attention- the wrist aches, the hip hurts, the mind checks out. It’s necessary to honor and care for each part independently, yet healing happens when we tenderly hold that individual part within the context of the whole.

As instructors Jan and I are very much part of the experience, yet we also have the privilege to witness the transformations taking place individually and collectively. Arms are getting stronger, legs straighter, breaths deeper and smiles bigger. Focus deepens as the group begins to breathe as one, move as one.

There is something magical about this merging of the individual and group transformation- perhaps it is that it is a reflection of how we walk through life. Each of us an individual yet we are always part of the whole. When we recognize our individuality yet rest in the awareness of our place in a family, a community, a planet, and a very giant universe, we are humbled and whole.

Namaste
Shauna

Come in From the Cold

2019 has been an exceptionally cold and snowy winter.

I am grateful for the Yoga Centre Winnipeg for providing me with a space to share the teachings of yoga, and also grateful for the hearty Winnipeggers that make their way to class on a daily basis despite the cold and snow. 

The cheerful smiles and committed approach of all who show up demonstrate how the Yoga practice extends beyond the stretching and breathing.  Whether they know it or not the individuals making their way to class are bringing Patanjali's 5 Niyamas to life!

The Niyamas are inner practices that we can cultivate in our daily lives to foster well-being and wholeness.

The 5 Niyamas are:

Saucha- purtity/cleanliness

Santosha- contentment

Tapas - fire, burning zeal, commitment to practice

Svadhayaya- studying of the teaching, as well as self study.

Ishvara pranidhana - surrender to grace, opening to our true nature.

The practice of yoga asana is traditionally viewed as a practice of purification. 

The postures bring energy and awareness to places in ourselves that are often neglected or dormant in our daily life. We store emotional wounds, fears and stress in our bodies in the form of physical tensions and postural habits. By stretching, moving, breathing and feeling into these areas, the holding patterns are released. As the body relaxes and opens, thought patterns, emotions, and stored up energy can be released.

The result is we feel better!! Contentment creeps in!!

Personally, one of the biggest challenges of the cold weather, is the tendency to tense up against the feeling of cold- as my body tenses, my thoughts and feelings shift to a negative bias! However, it only takes a few minutes connecting with the breath and moving the body to drop the holding and move into a positive space! It's so powerful, and so simple.

 When I feel that shift, I remember that the tensing and the emotions and thoughts attached to it, are not me, they are states that change like the weather. I am reminded that my happiness is not defined by the weather outside, or the weather within - this too shall pass!

Yoga gives us the tools to make the shift from feeling frozen and stuck, to feeling open and free, by turning our attention inward and moving with awareness.

To feel it, we must make a commitment to contentment and show up -whether to a class, or to our mat at home. That is Tapas. Tapas is showing up even when we do not want to- tapas means using the memory of the shift to contentment to inspire us to stick to our commitment.  

Svadhyaya, is what we cultivate by coming to class. Studying the teachings whether it is in the form of asana or meditation technique, or the philosophy and readings shared in class. Svadhyaya is also demonstrated in knowing oneself and how to overcome the resistance to coming to class, or whatever our resistance is.

As we practice these teachings, we deepen our self knowledge and our inner awareness.

When we turn our attention inward and make this commitment to growth and contentment, we contact something that is unique for each one of us. Some describe it as stillness, or ease, while others call it wholeness, joy or space.

In whatever form we experience “it” this is Ishvara Pranidhana, our connection to our true nature and to something much bigger than our individual self.  When we are willing to surrender our resistances enough to experience our true nature, this is living Yoga.

It is this true nature that radiates from the smiles of the people coming and going from the Yoga Centre Winnipeg!

 It warms our hearts on even the coldest of days!

Thank you!

Shauna