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Friday, December 17, 2010

Winter Woodsmoke

Exams are over, final grades are in and the holidays are here!
In the morning Rick is delivering a load of seasoned birch and fir firewood from Knutsford, so tomorrow night we will be sitting around a log fire, sipping hot apple or chocolate, and roasting marshmallows. With the smell of woodsmoke and the glow of Christmas lights inside while it blows and freezes outside, we will be enjoying our own brand of cheer in sunny Kamloops.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Meru Mountain Yoga



yoga...

boosts immunity
helps manage stress
induces restful sleep
improves flexibility
cultivates a quiet mind

Janis Goad has been practicing yoga since 1986 and teaching since 2000. She trained at the Prana Yoga College in Vancouver and at the Sivananda Ashram in Val Morin, Quebec.

Current all levels Classical Hatha Yoga classes in Kamloops:


Saturday Women's Yoga
          11 am to 12:15 at Kamloops Sport and Orthopedic Clinic, 1201 Summit
          and at 1 pm to 2:15 at Let's Move Studio



DVDs available to support your home practice.
at Banyen Books Vancouver
Let's Move Studio Kamloops
www.merumountainyoga.com
by email at janisg@look.ca

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Meru Mountain Yoga DVDs

This graded sequence of DVDs will help you develop a home practice that you can deepen at your own pace. Similar to what Janis Goad teaches in her Meditative Hatha Yoga classes, these DVDs offer the right level of practice for beginners and more advanced students alike.
Each video is structured in chapters that allow the user to choose all or parts of the program according to need or time today.
















Volume 1--Gentle Yoga for Seniors and Complete Beginners



Volume 1 practice begins with an introductory flow with a chair then continues on the mat with easy variations of sitting, lying on the belly and lying on the back postures. It includes two or three forms of easy guided breathing (pranayama) and concludes with deep guided relaxation in savasana. Highly recommended for evening practice for all levels and for people who are learning tools to help manage stress. (63 minutes)












Volume 2--Yoga Flow for Beginners and Early Intermediates



Volume 2 classical hatha yoga class introduces the basic postures including cat, down dog, cobra, child, head to knee posture, seated half twist, seated side stretch, ballet, staff, dancing cat, balancing cat, low lunge, prayer twist in low lunge, locust, bow, rabbit, standing forward fold, triangle, warrior 2, extended side stretch, wide-legged forward fold, windmill, spinal lift, reverse pose, shoulder stand, and plough. It includes some different guided breathing exercises from those on Volume 1, and concludes with guided relaxation in savasana. (66 minutes)













Volume 3--Mixed Levels Yoga for an Advancing Practice



Volume 3 practice opens with 3 pairs of easy Sun Salutations, 1 pair of a more advanced version of Sun Salutations, and moves through an active, quick practice for experienced students who already know the alignment and have developed connection with their breath. It includes down dog, extended dog, lunge, prayer twist, extended triangle, warrior 2, reverse warrior, warrior 1, tree, eagle, the dancer, revolving triangle, Egyptian, windmill on elbow, side plank, dolphin, cobra, king cobra, locust, bow, shoulder stand, half plough, bridge, knees to ears pose, and others. It concludes with guided relaxation in savasana. (61 minutes)





























Volume 4--Advanced Yoga Flow for Strength and Flexibility



Volume 4 advanced class opens with 3 pairs of Sun Salutations variation 2, 2 pairs of a third variation of Sun Salutations, leg lifts, reclining hand to toe pose, shooting arrow, boat, lunge, prayer twist, warriors 1, 2 and 3, triangle, standing hand to toe posture, dancing cat with push-up, dolphin, headstand, shoulderstand, plough, half wheel, fish, camel, beautiful thunderbolt, seated forward fold, slide, seated half twist, pigeon, crow, and guided relaxation in savasana. This is a challenging, dynamic practice with a variety of standing postures, arm balances, inversions and backbends for very experienced students. (75 minutes)











Grow your own practice.


Practice at home, on business trips, and on vacations.


Never miss yoga class again.





Available at: Banyen Books Vancouver
Let's Move Studio Kamloops
www.merumountainyoga.com
Nature's Fare Kamloops
or email janisg@look.ca

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Ten Lessons in Life from the Yoga Mat

It is easy to feel stillness and peace while we are practicing yoga.

Strength





Roots
Balance





















It is not so easy to remember our connection with the Self once we roll the mat and resume our
mundane activities.

We call it “doing our practice” because we are practicing for life in the world off the yoga mat. The more we give to the practice, the more it enriches our lives.


Stillness




Courage




As you practice the asanas like the ones shown here, consider how they embody these qualities of character in you. Turning the mind inward as we practice is the beginning of the part of yoga called Pratyahara, or withdrawal of the mind from the objects of the senses to fix it on the Self. What we focus our minds on, that we become.



Trust



Grace



1. Strength: Virabadrasana II
2. Flexibility: Matsyendrasana
3. Heart: Vasisthasana
4. Roots: Vrksasana
5. Balance: Bakasana
6. Stillness: Karnapidasana
7. Courage: Sirsasana
8. Trust: Vrischikasana
9. Grace: Chakrasana
10. Joy

Joy



My graded sequence of DVDs will help support your home practice. They make an excellent adjunct to regular practice with a qualified teacher. Available at Banyen Books Vancouver, Let’s Move Studio Kamloops, and by emailing janisg@look.ca. Details on Oddities of Enlightenment YogaBlog and at Meru Mountain Yoga

photo credits: Jane Weitzel
Jaime Kowal

Monday, August 23, 2010

Grasslands Pup


August heat braised the desert river valley.







As the shallow water







disappeared downstream,







the salmon run began.







Roosting inland gulls foraged on warm sand flats, and eagles fished







while on the dusty hillsides, brush and lichen crackled underfoot, dry as tinder. Deadfall branches snapped.







Lightning strikes kindled wildfires in the grasslands, torching conifers ravaged by pine beetles.







A haze of smoke half hid the distant golden hills.







At last rain came.







Along Fiona's shady street, mountain ash bore bright berries and crab-apples ripened.







Apricots grew round and heavy then fell to the ground, but Fiona missed her friends. 
"Why did we have to move here?"  she asked.







In the emptiness beneath the rainbow, she longed for a puppy. 
"All right," said Mom.  "Let's go look at these pups at the farm."
"There should be laughter after pain, there should be sunshine after rain," crooned the tenor on the car radio.







They followed the rainbow to the ranch at Coldwater Road.







"Our farm dog had thirteen puppies," explained the lady at the ranch. "We want to find good homes for them."
The family said goodbye. The girls whispered to the puppy in her travel crate.







"Goodbye, pup," waved the sun-fresh laundry on the clothesline.







"Goodbye, pup," leaned the ladder against the unpainted plank shed.







"Goodbye, pup," nodded the sunflowers beneath clear blue sky.







There were rainbows in the garden where fences make boundaries and endings make beginnings. Gladiolus spires nudged dahlias. "Goodbye, goodbye."







At first the pup was timid in the big room. She missed her old family.
"Are you my friend?" she asked.  Fiona laughed, and sat close.
"Let's call you Soda," said Fiona. "You have freckles on your legs like fizz in Ginger Ale."







Next morning Fiona and her mother took the pup to the park. Soda liked it there. She shook off raindrops, and trotted along gravel around the bend in the road.







With a backwards look,







with a moment for rest and reflection,







in the dry grasslands, Soda pup came home like gold at the end of the rainbow.









(credit to Dire Straits for the lyrics "Why Worry" from the album Brothers in Arms.)