Happy New Year yoga friends,

I’m feeling energized and inspired in the new year, and I'm also feeling the tug of winter hibernation (I can tell because I look forward to getting underneath a blanket on the couch and reading). My intention for my own yoga practice is to supply a balanced energy to turn my inspirations into action!

In this newsletter learn about upcoming class themes and a balance workshop coming in February. And get a bonus recipe – a healthy treat (that I let my kids eat for breakfast)

Upcoming Class Themes

This time around, we have both a philosophical theme and an anatomical theme.

For the philosophical theme, we’re going back to the 8 limbs of yoga. The yamas and niyamas are 2 of the 8, and we can think of them together because they are ways of relating to self, others, and the world. The first of the yamas is ahimsa, or non-violence. To make ahimsa something we can do instead of just avoid, we can think of cultivating its opposite – love, kindness, compassion – to ourselves, to others and to the earth.

For the anatomical theme, we’ll work on adductors – your inner thigh muscles. They are important for balance, for walking (there'a a moment of one-legged balance with each step) and they contribute to pelvic mobililty too. For many people, tight adductors may limit some of the wide-leg standing poses in yoga – opening your front knee in warrior 2 or straightening your front leg in triangle pose. Since tightness and weakness often go together, we’ll stretch and strengthen your adductors. In yoga, there are many poses where a muscle group is doing both of those things at the same time (an eccentric muscle contraction)

We’ll work with your adductors while keeping ahimsa in mind - observing and honoring where you are and being patient (compassionate) towards yourself as you progress.

**If you are taking my Mt. Airy Learning Tree classes, your class theme is set for that 8 weeks. If you are interested in these slowly changing class themes, check out one of my on-going weekly classes! There are two each week that you can drop into: Blue Banyan on Tuesdays 9-10am and Slow and Strong Sundays on zoom 10-11:15am. jmayyoga.offeringtree.com for more info

Better Balance Basics – Workshop in February

I’m excited to offer a workshop on balance, which is a skill that most people find difficult, regardless of age and physical fitness. Fortunately, you can improve balance with strategy and practice!

What you’ll learn in the workshop are four to-do’s for improving balance: connecting to your deep core, strengthening your feet and ankles, strengthening your adductors and abductors, and practicing balance in a variety of ways. Some of the exercises will be familiar things we do in class, but with handouts and more discussion.

Details:

Saturday February 18, 2-4pm; $30

Chestnut Hill United Church (Anders Hall) 8812 Germantown Ave. 19118

register at jmayyoga.offeringtree.com

An Adductor stretch to try with a wall

Here is a pose that we normally do with a strap (supta padangusthasana), but if you have tight adductors, it can be really nice to do it with some wall space so you don't have to hold a strap in hand. Lie parallel to a wall and maximum one leg length away. Set up the pose by looping a strap around the ball of your foot and extending that foot towards the ceiling at first. Your other leg will be extending along the floor. Slowly open your leg out to the side and let your foot land on the wall. Then let go of the strap and let the wall support your foot.

And the bonus recipe: chickpea bars

These are like peanut buddy bars, but made with chickpeas, oats, and maple syrup. They are just sweet enough, and they have some protein and fiber.

https://www.theleangreenbean.com/peanut-butter-chickpea-bars/