Autumn/Winter Yoga as Spiritual Practice

[MovnMama]

New phase of the year calls for new beginnings! I think the most important use of this thread could be to keep each other motivated. So, maybe we could try to post once a week to share...

• A reading recommendation
• A pose or sequence suggestion
• A mantra or meditation suggestion
• What your practice looked like during the week
• Any other requests or helpful discussions

I know with being early pregnant, and also worried about the potential of loss, I'll be doing a lot of gentle poses and will need a lot of help and support in quieting my mind. As a meditation suggestion, I know recently I've found that third-eye gazing during corpse and lotus pose has been helping me to "quiet the twittering" of my mind. 

What do you all have that's working well or that needs work?

Namaste,

K

PS - People of all faiths and practice levels welcome! 

Edited by MovnMama - 11/5/11 at 10:44pm

[_ktg_]

Thank you MovnMama for starting up this new thread!!

[Jessimaca]

Hi , I'm new to this board.  I'm pregnant with my first baby, so I've been following the due date board and I wandered over here because I'm always seeking ways to be in touch with my spirituality and I times I feel a little lost-- so here I am!  I am a yoga teacher-- just got certified last summer.  I live in a small town with one studio and there was just one teacher and I was a regular of hers.  She confronted me about training so I could teach at her studio.  I feel like a real newbie still!  I'm sure I will for many, many years.  So much to learn.  Anyway, I teach a beginner class (because that's where I feel I am) and I teach prenatal yoga (mostly to continue my practice  and I took some additional prenatal yoga training).  I will be here to soak up your knowledge!  And, hopefully find some inspiration and some additional direction.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MovnMama~  I didn't do much in my first 3 months.  One, because I wanted to be very gentle early in my pregnancy and two, because I felt too nausous and tired to do any exercise really.  Just started to add some exercise-- walking and gentle yoga once a week so far.  Hope to start slowly increasing that as I feel up to it.

I just read a book I enjoyed-- Yoga Bitch.  It was entertaining and motivated me.  10 years ago while in massage school I had what yogis call a kundalini rising experience, which the author discusses in her book.  In my massage training I felt like a new person and I want to find a way to get connected like that again.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

[MovnMama]

Welcome, Jessimaca! And congratulations! 

Thanks for the book suggestion - I know I'll be looking into it.

I have been feeling so "lazy" because I was doing an active vinyasa practic 5x a week, and now I caught a cold and am pg, so have done NOTHING for 1.5 weeks. I know I should be gentler with myself, and I've made sleep a priority, but I miss the meditation and connection with self from my practice. I'm teaching my after-school class today, so that should be enjoyable and help get me centered again (I hope!).

So glad you found us. I hope everyone else is able to find the new thread okay too...

[Sativarain1]

I really want to devote time each morning to yoga again......haven't been practicing in couple months.

[Jessimaca]

Sativarain~  I would love to do that too!  It just never works out, I would have to get up so early.  And now that I will be adding a baby to the morning mix I'm sure I will be even less likely to manage squeezing it in.  I would love to do something though-- like meditate maybe?  But, I just haven't been very disciplined about adding something in the morning...  Maybe you can motivate me :-)

[_ktg_]

I'm still reading "A Woman's Book of Meditation, Discovering the Power of a Peaceful Mind"  It has been a pleasant read, though slow in working through the process of meditation (including warm-ups and stretching)

I will say one thing - it has made me more concious of my hips and the amount of tension/emotion I carry in them and I'm working on more hip-releasing stretches & poses to release a lot of that energy. 

Right now I'm focusing on meditating during lunch at work to help maintain some balance and sense of peace during my chaotic worklife and dueling roles between work/home.  Alternate nostril breathing is my favorite to reestablish balance.

[Tuesday]

I try to do kundalini yoga and meditation every day.  I've been crazy busy this past week and neglected it (unusual for me) but will start again today. Even a few minutes of meditation is better than nothing!  I love the dvds of Ravi Singh & Ana Brett.

[Sativarain1]

so how's everyone doing? I've finally started adding a few minutes each day and helps a lot, it's amazing how immediate yoga affects your body.

[Jessimaca]

I went to a class on Saturday and I thought to myself 'I love this!'  Anyway, I have to modify regular classes so much cause I'm pregnant that it makes them not quite as fun.  I did start teaching a new prenatal yoga series on Monday night so that will be nice-- it's an hour of yoga for me (and I have to show up ) and its a whole class that I can do!  Which is the best part.  I would really like to up my practice to 2 or 3 times a week and I just haven't figured out how to do that-- I'm not good at home practice, but I may have to get better at it just because then I can do specific flows for me.  My goal is also to start meditating more-- any suggestions?