Ashtanga Yoga South Bay

Full Moon 🌕 tomorrow. Ashtanga Yoga South Bay will be closed. Happy Solstice ☀️ See you Monday

We are aiming for Yoga Sūtra study on the beach after led class tomorrow if it’s not TOO grey… otherwise we will grab coffee and retreat indoors

Ashtanga Yoga South Bay is observing the new moon tomorrow. See you on Friday for led class

Just a reminder that from tomorrow Mysore classes shift a little earlier, 6.15am to 8.15am Mondays thru Thursdays.
Led classes remain 6.30am to 8.00am on Fridays.
We commence Chapter 2 of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali on Friday June 14th after led class.

Full Moon tomorrow 🌕 See you Friday for led class!

Ashtanga Yoga South Bay is observing the new moon tomorrow. See you Thursday

Tomorrow we continue our study of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras with verse 30 of the Samādhi Pāda, discussing the obstacles to yoga (and what we might do about them) after led class @ 8am

Rumi told us that the wound is the place where the light can enter.
Khalil Gibran told us that out of suffering emerges the strongest souls, that the most massive characters are seared with scars.
Marcus Aurelius told us that the impediment to action advances action, that what stands in the way becomes the way.
Napoleon Hill told us that every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seeds of an equal or greater benefit.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross told us that the most beautiful people we have known are those “who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.

These writers have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.”
That “beautiful people do not just happen.”

When Joseph Campbell outlined the hero’s journey for us, the premise was that at the moment of the deepest and most unmoving difficulty, the protagonist recognized that it was they who must change. That which seemed to derail the path was the pinnacle moment at which the true path was actually revealed.

In each case, the epiphany is that the presence of the challenge is the initiator. If we are lucky, our lives will continue to grow as we are presented with new paths, and various obstacles among them. To heal is not to arrive at a place where we are absolved of that difficulty, but where we no longer interpret the presence of it as our finality, our ending. Rather, we come to see it is as yet another beginning in support of the continual unfolding of all we will one day know ourselves to be.

In a world where most of us die before we are dead, where most of us hyper-fixate on what we cannot control and leave to ruins everything that we can, where most of us fear our humanness and our vulnerability — I hope you find the courage to try. I hope you will come to see that just maybe, beneath the journey you fear to take is the life you had been waiting for, all along.~
~ Brianna Wiest
Original post on Sacred Dreams FB page)

Art by Annie Hanman

New moon tomorrow. Rest and reflect ✨🌒

Happy Weekend, watching the storm roll in… and ever watchful of the heart and mind…

Ashtanga Yoga South Bay is observing the full moon tomorrow. Take rest, see you Tuesday

Yoga Sutra study after led class tomorrow 📖 We observe the full moon and take rest on Monday March 25th ✨🌕

“When the mind runs after the wandering senses, then it carries away one’s understanding, as the wind carries away a sailboat*⛵️ on the waters” B.G 2.67 (Winthrop Sargeant translation) *ship

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the blessing, 'A Morning Offering,' found in his books,
To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

We observe the full snow ❄️ moon 🌕 tomorrow. Even though it’s sunny 🌞 Ashtanga Yoga South Bay will be closed until Monday

Tomorrow: Led class at 6.30am followed by a brief exploration of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras

New Moon Tomorrow. Please take rest and find some spaciousness and silence nián kuài lè rù píng ān

“Either you do it like it’s a big weight on you, or you do it as part of the dance. When you understand the thought is the thought of the thoughtless, your singing and dancing is no other than the voice of the dharma. Singing and dancing - insurance, savings accounts, jobs, responsibilities - Shiva’s dance of life. Do you do from ‘ugh’ or do it like ‘ah?’ Do you surf through it all, or do you carry it around like its a load?” – Ram Dass 🏄‍♂️

Art by

There’s a reason for the stickers! Please follow the instructions;)

Ashtanga Yoga South Bay remains open despite the rain and inclement weather. Come practice if it’s safe for you to travel 🔥💧

Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken will have time to knit and heal. You will be able to return to yourself. In this stillness, you will engage your soul. Many people miss out on themselves completely as they journey through life. They know others, they know places, they know skills, they know their work, but tragically, they do not know themselves at all. Aging can be a lovely time of ripening when you actually meet yourself, indeed maybe for the first time. There are beautiful lines from T. S. Eliot that say:

'And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.'

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Anam Cara,
25th Anniversary Edition.
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Lough Inagh, Co Galway, Ireland - January 2024
Photo: © Ann Cahill