Crystal Lotus Yoga Shala

https://app.ubindi.com/MONSE.LOTECKI

Happy New Year to start the new year off right, Crystal Lotus Yoga is offering free yoga classes the first week. Monday to Friday 5:30 pm... go here to register https://app.ubindi.com/MONSE.LOTECKI or DM us for the link

Dear Crystal Lotus Community, As you have probably seen by now, Dr. Bonnie Henry has implemented new province-wide restrictions to help slow the spread of Covid-19. We've watched the speech, and read the news articles. Our highest value is you, our community. To keep us all safe, we have decided to temporarily suspend all in-studio classes until after December 7th 2020. At which time we hope to have new guidelines from the province.... We thank you for your continued support and commitment. We need to stay healthy now more than ever! So much gratitude!!! Crystal Lotus Yoga Shala

Available at the studio!! With removable pom pom! Cozy and warm for winter. Makes a great Christmas gift

We are open November 11th Beginner Hatha at 9am Vinyasa Lite at 10:30am Deep Stretch at 6pm ... Crystal Lotus Yoga 1967-B Columbia Gardens Road Fruitvale 250 231 7745

!!COVID UPDATE!! Because we have seen an increase in cases in BC and the lower mainland is back on lockdown, a few procedures we need to follow. Crystal Lotus Yoga is committed to keeping us all safe and healthy. 1. Please ensure you are well and in good health before coming ... 2. Please wear a mask until you are on your mat. 3. Instructors will be teaching wearing face sheilds. 4. Please use hand sanitizer before and after class. 5. Face shields are available for students to purchase ($5 each) to wear in studio. We will get through this

We now have these available in the studio

Yoga helps. Monday thru Friday 9am join us for hatha Monday thru Thursday 6pm join us for deep stretch and relaxation Crystal Lotus Yoga ... 1967-B Columbia Gardens Road Fruitvale 250 231 7745 #blessed #yogaeverydamnday #getyourasstoclass #knowyourself #selfstudy #ilovemylife

Yoga helps keep us in the present moment.

https://accessibleyoga.blogspot.com//if-its-not-working-fo

Some thoughts on the usages and meanings of alignment in yoga for a new blog.... find it on https://themazemethod.com/continuing-ed/ along with info about lea...rning with us. ___________________________________________________ The word alignment is used in lots of different ways in modern postural yoga (much like the usages and meanings of yoga and dharma in a more historical sense of the yoga tradition). The usages of the word, and it’s meanings, vary greatly across a spectrum of practitioners and teachers of yoga. And the term alignment may be used differently by the same person to mean different things in different contexts. Because this term is so ubiquitous in yoga-land and it is used in so many different ways and is a topic of much spirited debate, I think it’s always useful to try to understand some of the ways the term is is used, what is meant, and the context of this perspective. 1) Alignment as a shared baseline of understanding: The alignment of the pose can mean the shape of the pose we are seeking to create, whether it is in an overall sense, or more specific to that occurrence of the pose in a sequence (which I will consider more in another point). In this context, alignment essentially means something like an ‘architecture' or ‘pattern’ and is used to clarify the goal from a shape perspective. This use seeks to identify/clarify the relationships of the parts of the body, the organization of joint positions, the spatial orientation and relationship to gravity that we are cultivating. This usage of the word alignment does not necessarily imply correct/better/safer than some other way of doing the pose, but seeks to establish a common baseline of understanding. In teaching group classes, it is often necessary to articulate this alignment information, as every pose has so many expressions, every participant has varied and different prior knowledge, and there is no consistency across yoga stylistic boundaries regarding names and shapes of poses. It is necessary to start somewhere, to give certain information to everyone and then build from there. For example, Trikonasana may mean a distinctly different shape in (1) a hot yoga class influenced by Bikram Yoga where the front knee is flexed towards 90 degrees (2) and a yoga class influenced by a Krishnamacharya style of naming shapes where the front knee is extended towards 190 degrees. From a shape perspective, these look like different poses, but the same name may be used for both of them. It follows that the phrase mis-alignment may mean anything that is different from the stated alignment/goal of the pose/shape, and may not mean unsafe or incorrect in any pejorative way. 2) Alignment as a prioritization of action or variation: Following on the above point, the term alignment may be used in a more specific occurrence of a pose for specific reasons. As an example, while I generally organize the shape called "Plank Pose" as having neutral hip, neutral pelvis and neutral curves of the spine alignment, if I am using Plank to concentrically strengthen rectus abdominus (the superficial muscle of the abdomen) in a sequence preparing you for the flexed spine arm balance of Bakasana, I might teach Plank Pose with a posterior pelvic tilt and flexed lumbar spine alignment to serve this purpose. The usage of alignment in this context is again not saying that one way is better and one way is worse, but rather seeking to clarify which version of the pose we are practicing in that moment and for what reason(s). 3) Alignment as evidence based methodology: Alignment can be used to explicitly or implicitly mean that there is a better way, or even a correct way, to do the pose/movement from a scientific or evidenced based methodology. Understandings of human anatomy/kinesiology/physiology/biomechanics, as well as evolutionary biology, neurobiology, psychology, sociology can inform what we might consider alignment. I mean to take seriously the evidence and seek to understand various perspectives and think critically about them. It is also important to keep in mind that any theories or conclusions in scientific fields are debated and contested and the new theories emerge based on changing evidence. It is from the studies of human anatomy and movement that we get information on what our bodies can do and how our bodies work. We get things like normal range of motion at joints and the functional range that people use in daily activity. Understanding of the origin and insertion of a muscle can give insight into how best to lengthen, or shorten, that structure and what poses or movements would be effective. This understanding will tell you that Supta Virasasana is mostly stretching the hip flexor rectus femoris (which is part of the quadricep group) and not psoas major, and if you wanted to stretch psoas major, a different pose/shape would be more efficacious. 4) Alignment as intrinsic wisdom: Alignment as an intrinsic quality speaks to the innate intelligence and organization of of our bodies. Life is truly remarkable, and we can learn to get more in tune and receptive to our embodied intelligence. Our sensory experiences and embodied knowing is a potent and undeniably important part of ourselves. Yogic practice can give us further permission and tools to affirm and explore and trust our embodied wisdom. While the information of our senses is a valid means of cognition, it is also limited. There are layers and layers of reality, and the further we go the more remote the information gets from our sensory experiential levels of understanding. Example, if I was in Nebraska, looking west towards Colorado, my senses would tell me that the world looks flat. To know more about the world, about culture, about ourselves, we will also need to go beyond our own experience, even while we affirm our own experience. 5) Alignment as homeostasis: Alignment is the dynamic of homeostasis. Its not an achievement, it’s a dynamic process that never stops. It’s Goldilocks principle": Not to hot, not too cold. Not too high, not too low. Not to hard, not to soft. It’s just right; sattva-guna. For humans, homeostasis is right about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and every cell and system of our bodies works constantly to stay as close to that temperature as possible. Drop much below that and you are in crisis. Rise much above that and you are in crisis. While we have much in common (our DNA is mostly the same), and as adults we each have about 206 bones and 900 pairs of muscles, but we are also all different. Alignment is not a one-size-fits-all. We are not just the sum of the combinations of our genetic code, we are each our own person. What each of us needs to be homeostatic, to be healthy, to be optimal, is going to be a bit different. What is optimal alignment in a pose or movement is going to be a bit different for each of us. The point is not conformity to an objective standard of perfection, but rather the complex notion that each of us has the capacity to be healthy. What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to be in alignment? 6) Alignment as magical thinking: Lastly, alignment can be used in more of what I think of as religious thinking, or magical thinking, to advocate for a correct/superior way. The yoga tradition, as elsewhere, is rife with magical thinking and grandiose promises that when you achieve/experience/know the real pose, the true alignment, you will be cured of disease, you will experience bliss and so on... In my experience, this type of thinking in yoga is more prevalent in communities structured around a charismatic founder, often referred to as a guru, and to be a member of those communities may require agreement and conformity to the ideals espoused by the leader/founder, and critical thinking and questioning may be discouraged. The correct alignment is what the guru teaches, as the guru has attained the state of superior knowledge. Having been a member of several of these types of yoga communities in my life, I am suspicious of them and seek to not propagate or amplify that type of thinking or participate in those group dynamics. What do you think? What is alignment for you?

Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing. It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no ...longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution. It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day. A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure. True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from. And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do. It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t. It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening. If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with treating yourself and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness. It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to fix yourself and start trying to take care of yourself and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place. It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people. It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life not escape from it. -Brianna Wiest [Illustration: Yaoyao Ma Van As Art ]

Sound. As modern yogis we often like to play music in class, some would say this is our own inability to be comfortable or at peace with sillence that we are po...ssibly transferring into the space? However, in a TIY class we really need to think deeply about the what and why of adding music. The ear is a central component of the vagal system, so when stressed - by too much sound stimulus or chaotic sound - there will be an inability to relax and restore. This is a fantastic article on the details behind the why of using the right kind of sound that is healing, nurturing and promotes restoration. enjoy! https://thesoundhealer.org/sound-therapy-and-the-vagus-ne/ See more

Wonderful article from Tom Myers (Anatomy Trains).

The fundamental teaching of yoga is that we are all one. And the yoga practices we engage in are meant to help lift the veil of illusion, maya, so that we may t...ruly see that everything is indeed connected and an individual expression of source. From the moment we are born we forget this fundamental truth and this is the cause of our suffering. That we feel separate. That we feel different. That we feel alone. . Our sense of separateness creates attachments and aversions. We cling to our egos and focus on differences in all that we see and experience. This becomes the root of conflict - between individuals, communities and even nations. . On this day of remembrance, I hold the Sanskrit prayer, Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavanto, close to my heart. It says: May all beings everywhere be happy and free. And may the thoughts and actions of my life help contribute to the happiness and freedom for everyone. . I take the time to look at each person I meet and soften so I can really see them. To see beyond the outer differences and into that which makes us the same. Into our common humanity. To acknowledge that we are so much more the same than we could ever be different. To remove the veil and return to essence. To remember. See more

Take deep breaths, and then take some more. One breath at a time.