In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

Spring has sprung. It might not actually FEEL like spring...we've had a lot of rain, it's cold out...but the days are longer and we feel it in the air. It's coming. The earth always knows how to transition and we...accommodate.

Our bodies need time to transition from the cold, more sedentary energy that keeps us indoors more, comforted with heavier clothing, food, rest and hibernation. We need a little time and effort to allow the stagnation of winter to move out of the body and mind and get ready for the light day, air, clothing and food we are about to imbibe as weather becomes warmer.

Yoga has a sister science called Ayurveda and whether you are versed in it or not it is actually an instinctual draw our bodies and minds cling too during the seasons of the year. There are constitutions, Kapha, Vata and Pitta.

I won't go into all of that now, but just know, that right now, we are in Vata which, simply speaking is related to air. It's related to our assimilation and elimination of things. Air moves things in and out. It's related to our circulation and nervous system. Winter is about Kapha, earth, and water, grounding, in balance. It's ruled by the heart and lungs. Out of balance it can be heavy, lethargic. Vata is about lightness, often attributed to transition. As we transition from one season to the next, Vata can be ever present. It's most important, during our transition times to find the grounding we need so that we don't fly away with the wind. Most simply, we need to engage in routine, sort out sukha or happiness...a happy place in our homes or our minds or a little totem or symbol we can place a grounding word, thought or intention into. Make this place or thing clear so that we can go to it when we feel out of sorts, all over the place or ungrounded.

There are many physical, yogic postures we can engage in to ignite the agni or fire within so that we can stay mobile but grounded, release any stagnancy that the winter or kaphic months produced so that we can remain clear in the body and mind and open to all that life has in store for us, all that we work hard for.

The pulse of life is quickening now as the earth warms, flowers bloom and the sun stays out longer for us to play under.

It's obvious as we look out doors that the April showers are here, that the May flowers are starting to blossom, but what about us? We need a little acknowledgement and nourishment for ourselves to spring effortlessly into Spring.

Asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), meditation, routine and a diet of light and regularly scheduled dining times should help us find our season within.

Uncover the space within and outside of yourself to find regularity. If you have a regular schedule each day, this should be easy. You wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, practice or work out at the same time and go to sleep at the same time. Sukha! - Happiness/balance/good space.

If your schedule is rather irregular, set up some regularity when you can, find that little space in the home or symbol/totem that you can keep with you or go to so you can separate yourself from work and obligations and tune in, even for a moment to breathe or move. If you have time for a yoga practice at a studio, great, squats and hip opening postures like chair (utkatasana) pose or wide legged squat (malasana) help to create heat, in the joints, improve mobility in the joints and aid in the digestive process, increasing circulation.

Deep Ujjayi breath, sun salutes and warriors in flow classes or the holding of postures in hot yoga classes (typical to the Bikram style) help to ignite the agni, heat within, without over exerting the body, allowing the stomach, chest, throat and head - the energetic points of Kapha to release any stagnant energy.

Just as much energy as you give to contracting the muscles, you should give to consciously relax internally. It's a dual effort. Each breath in focus on the work, each breath out, focus on the effortless within the effort...the letting go.

Try to engage with the idea of grounding through the legs and feeling the lightness and lifting of the upper body. Find the yoga or balance of both dualities.

And mostly, be gentle with yourself. Any yoga practice, any day, has its challenges. Whether you are on the mat or in the world, it is always possible to take one moment to step back and look at wherever you are at and face it with the fervor and delicateness that your situation needs for you to grow and progress. Never react. Respond as much as you can with both dualities, strength and softness.

This is true for any season.

Mindfulness, passion, love, nature, renewal, rebirth, spring-cleaning!!

These are all things we can enjoy if we tap into and remind ourselves that everyday is a new day to experience. Enjoy the transition and allow yourself the ability to observe the changes in nature and within.

Also, just a side note but a note of importance, the earthquake in Japan is just awful. The suffering and tumult that the people of that land are enduring are great. We can support them with our mind, our skills, our time, money and intention for relief and assistance and strength for them to get through this time.

However, the earth quaked. It was felt, mostly - 'over there', but when the earth quakes, it is the entire earth and media aside, it is impossible to ignore that the earth has moved creating MORE imbalance not just in the region it struck, but everywhere. We ARE of this earth. We feel it even thought it wasn't FELT.

We have to acknowledge that the unsettling feeling so far away has also affected us, not only from what we see but also from the earth beneath us. It has affected our balance, our practices, and us.

When you come to the mat and work out what you need to, please remember that we are ALL in this together and if you fall or can't hold a pose you were able to hold last week, it's not because you suck or that you are week or distracted, but that you are effected. We are all affected and connected.

Think of it not as a failure or downfall, but that just as you are trying to find your balance or strength, the effort you are making is helping, in a way, those people far away that need strength to.

Might sound ethereal but it's true. It's yoga.

You might think, as I sometimes do, that a helping hand is better than a praying hand, but if that's all that you can do, sometimes, that is all you can do. Use your practice, balancing on one leg, if you will and strength and send it like a ripple effort to those that might find it even harder to stand on two feet with the world they once knew in disarray. Our intentions and strength have power and it's just as strong as the earth and it's ability to move beneath us.

Just saying.

And so, here are the quotes I used in class. They are Spingspired.

So much to do, so little done, such things to be.

It's all about hope, kindness and a connection with one another. - Elizabeth Taylor

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go. ~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~Hal Borland

Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment. ~Ellis Peters

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. ~Robert Frost

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~William Shakespeare

Out with the cold, in with the woo. ~E. Marshall, "Spring Thought"

The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. ~Arthur Rubenstein

An optimist is the human personification of spring. - Susan J. Bissonette

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.- Anne Bradstreet

Sweet springtime is my time is your time is our time for springtime is love time and viva sweet love. - e.e. cummings

Spring is when life's alive in everything.- Christina Rossetti

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again. -Sarah Ban Breathnach

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower -Albert Camus

It is strange that the years teach us patience, that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting. - Elizabeth Taylor

I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors opened and I'm not afraid to look behind them. - Elizabeth Taylor

Stability, Spring and diamonds,

Lady