Sentenced to Life

Sally was an amazing woman. She had cancer for several years and lived each day with purpose, a smile and a positive attitude. Her diagnosis was not a death sentence, but a life sentence. She actively extracted more enjoyment out of each day than most. Last week I got a call from my sisters and mother urging me to come home to Tucson. My father is quite ill and this may be my last chance to have some quality time with him. I am telling you this to reassure you that, I love teaching yoga, but will be away for 2 weeks from Thursday Dec 29 until Wed Jan 11 and yet I have friends who will teach my classes while I am away. Keep your commitment to your practice strong, because this is really the practice of self realization.

In this time of New Year's soul searching and goal setting, I hope you take some time to compassionately reflect on your attitude for the coming year. You have been sentanced to life. What are you going to do with it? What do you want to become, what are you willing to give up, or put in to reach your aspirations? Trust that we are all works in progress, there is no real failure. We all learn the lessons of the past and employ with courage what we have learned.

I look forward to seeing you live the life you would like to, full of passion, meaning, and grace.  Namaste,
Michelle

Illuminating news~Adding Class Tues 9:30 am

With the decrease in day length, you might be feeling an affect, especially when it is cloudy and cold. We crave pick me ups such as sugar and caffeine to fill the feel-good-gap.  Our practice nutralizes those external affects. Yoga is a wholesome treat you can give yourself, gain more energy, strength and mental clarity and peace while at the same time cultivating friendships.

Next week we focus on illumination and we will make simple inexpensive gifts to give others- from the light of the heart! I have added a Tuesday morning class so now you can attend morning classes on Tuesday at 9:30 am! I am so excited to give you this extra day so you can better incorporate yoga into your life. Here is my schedule at the Davenport School of Yoga's Bettendorf location:

Mon 6:00pm
Tue   9:30am
Wed  7:00pm
Fri     8:00 am (beginner)
         9:30 am

Between the Known and the Unknown

The path of the heart is the middle path between contrary compliments. We are not good or bad, light or dark, brilliant or dull. We are not only male or female, but have attributes of both often with one dominating.  This concept is the key to Shiva Shakti Tantra and it is a path we walk in order to recognize ourselves along the way.

When we have a great deal that is known in our life, we feel confidence, stability, continuity while the unknown provides a fertile bed for the seeds of chaos, mistrust and fear to grow. The trick is to balance to recognize the unknown as the alluring mystery and the known as the stable place we leap from and return back to.

The more you know, the more you don't know. Engaging myself in this new Davenport School of Yoga Bettendorf is a bit of the known and the unknown. I know I am surounded by truly wonderful teachers and students. We all don't know if the community will support it by showing up and receiving the gifts we offer at every class, but I hope so. It has been a thrill to see so many familiar faces coming into the studio. I look forward to seeing you again this week. 

Perhaps this Deember, you will find the balance you need as your life gets busy. My wish for you is that you are so familiar with your still calm center- that not even a gale force wind of can blow you off your path.
Namaste,
Michelle Campbell

Change is good!

Aparigraha, is one of the yamas, or ethical codes in yoga and translates to non-atachment or non-possesiveness.  We seek to rid our lives of the distractions, the inconsequential, the unimportant and fill our lives with the more substantial. This doesn't mean we forsake responsibilities or commitments, but it does ask us to reevaluate those frills in our lives that pull us in so many directions until we feel frayed. Instead, we focus on what is truly most important in our lives. In yoga class we need to be less attached to where we place our yoga mats and more on the experience of being present to the practice of yoga.

Related to yoga, I have said good bye to the evening class at the Bettendorf Community Center. It's a nice place, but our class has already outgrow the space, so it was quite wonderful that a new opportunity to teach in a dedicated yoga studio in Bettendorf came up.  I am honored to be included in the diverse community of yoga teachers that will be teaching at the new Davenport School of Yoga's Bettendorf location. The studio is located behind the Fareway and Healthy Habits and next door to the Pichiotti Chiropractic Center and will offer almost 40 classes a week! You will have so many opportunities to practice yoga in this new space with wood floors and blue and gold walls. We will even have a rope wall and props for you to use! The address is 3420 Towne Pointe Drive

So I ask you to practice aparigraha as we venture into our new space beginning November 7th for weekly classes on Monday at 6:00pm and Wednesday at 7:00 pm.  Friday morning yields 2 more classes you could take from me, an 8:00 am and a 9:30 am class. I will still teach the Tuesday and Thursday class at 9:00am at the Bettendorf Community Center.  And lastly, Oct 29th at 9:00 am,  I am teaching about how to create a yoga class of simple poses and meditation to establish your hOMe practice at the BCC. This is part of your session package, or counts as a $10 class.

Change is good! Namaste~ Michelle Campbell, your resident Anusara inspired yoga teacher

Fall Kitchari recipe

Monday class is at 6:30 pm for Oct 3rd only, thank you. I am so appreciative of all you dedicated yogis who are coming to Monday night Yoga class! It a great way to power up your week. Come even if you don't feel like you'll have the energy- beacause you will leave with more than you left!!! That's because Life is better with yoga and even better with yoga friends!

Kitchari

Ingredients 1 cup Basmati Rice 2 cups Mung Dal (split yellow or red lentils) 7 cups (approx.) Water a bit of Salt 2 Tbs. Ghee 3 tsp. Mustard Seeds 2 tsp. Cumin Seeds or Powder 2 tsp. Turmeric Powder 2 tsp. Coriander Powder 2 tsp. Fennel Powder 1 pinch Asafoetida (Hing) ___________________________________________ I don't know what hing is, but the rest is just wonderful and easy to find. Both balancing and nourishing this porridge is a great way to transition your metabolism into reving up for fall as is consuming warm soups and teas. You can make this anytime as a restorative and simple meal. Thanks to the Avervedic Institute in New Mexico, a great resource for the sister science to yoga. Find out more at learn more about ayerveda Namaste, Michelle Campbell

Polar opposites

When two groups of people don't agree with each other and get the opportunity to tell everyone about it, we call it politics. When  two parts of our bodies fight, we have pain, and then we might pop vitamin I (Ibuprofin), but there is another way Y-O-G-A! Good biomechanics will get your body back into allignment, and your committment to your practice can keep it there. This way everyone wins, the tight spots loosen, while the weak parts strengthen.

This duality begins at a mental level,"where the mind goes the body follows". In yoga studies, you might come across the Malas. These ancient concepts are relevant and help us to understand whats going on today. Mayiya Mala is like a dust that covers a mirror of the self.  It is a partcularly nasty dust because it polarizes. Something is either good or bad, love or hate, left or right,  too hot or too cold, too spicy or too bland- always polar opposites. Yet when we see this tendancy of the mind, we can use the windex of our yoga practice to remove this dust. When Mayiya mala is dissolved, we can experience Unity, Love Compassion and we see the other side is not so far off from us. Do you think Politicians should be required to study yoga? The world would be a much different place because...life is better with yoga.

Fall Transition

A tree's strength lies in its ability to bend. This statement is a little counter intuitive. Isn't ridgidity better? Physics and trees tell us not necessarily. To be able to bend with the wind instead of snapping at the first change of the wind's direction is more successful.

Bernding, changing, transitions are the ever changing spiral pattern of our lives. Each transition in the year involves a mental and physiological change. Our bodies remember how to increase our metabolism to keep us warm in the cooling coming months. The decreasing day length means trees are getting the stimulation to draw down vital nutrients and store them away in their roots for next year leaving colorful leaves behind. Squirrels gather nuts and stash them away with renewed ferver. And we get to decide how we will react to this change, with dread for the ice possible in our path in a few months or with delight that we are able to experience the first fall furry of leaves and ripening apples and pumpkins. Each colorful leaf, spiky seed pod or ripe fruit, nut and pumpkin is nature's celebration of the bounty of summer.

In class this week we will remain balanced even through change, using shoulder loop and pelvic loop to bend safely. The results will help rev up your internal fires to prime your fall metabolism and keep your spirits bright!

Adversity yields unity

Our strongest asset as a community is our ability to come together during (or after) times of adversity. Take for instance, when the Mississippi is jumping its banks, hundreds of Iowans come together to fill sand bags.  If you have ever experienced a barn raising as I have, you have felt the productive unity of a community coming together for a common goal. Everyone has something to share, something to offer. We all offer different attributes when we come together, but each one of us is needed.

We are drawn together at such times of adversity because each of us desires wholeness. In our bodies if we experience a diminishment of one sense, the others make up for it. If one of our limbs is not functioning properly, the others will often work harder to keep us in balance. Let's see how we can explore unity through adversity on the yoga mat during one of our next classes. Meeting Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00 am and Monday evenings at 5:30 at the Bettendorf Community Center.

Spanda

Spanda is an attribute of the spirit and translates to pulsation. In truth all matter is vibrating, or pulsing even things that appear relatively stable and solid.  Each cell in our bodies pulsates as does spirit.

We acknowledge how our spirit pulsates with a divine luster in the Anusara invocation, but how could it sparkle if it didn't dim just a little.  Spanda translates in our movements as a drawing in so that we can expand out in a dance of compressing in towards the source and then expanding outward in all directions delighting in the freedom of doing so.

Spiritually we will have times when we sit at the oasis in good company and drink from the deep well. Other times it feels like we are crossing the desert in isolation. The trick is to know that when we are traveling through the desert, it is on our way to another oasis where the water will be sweet and refreshing and the fruits of experience will be deeply nourishing.

There is nothing wrong in feeling a little diminished every now and then, because we build up a thirst for self discovery. One of my favorite teachers, Douglas Brooks describes it as the divine's game of peek-a-boo. We forget so that we can delight in the revelation of discovery. The uncomfortable realization  that we are not realizing our potential, is powerful catalyst for growth. Come join the good company of fellow travelers at the oasis that a regular yoga practice creates.
Namaste,
Michelle Campbell
River City Yoga

Summer's succulent fullness

For a gardener, their is no better time than late summer. Spring weeds have stopped their assault, the vines have slowed their wandering, and everything is in the process of ripening, producing as much juicy fruit and vegetable as possible. Sunshine, rain, wind and rich earth are transformed into red ripe tomatoes, fiery hot chilis, architecturally impressive squash, and jade green beans. 

This mind blowing alchemy is also going on in our own lives. Our life grows with the seeds we dreamt of in Winter then planted in Spring. Do you remember what your intentions were back then? How are your dreams growing? Maybe you are harvesting the fruits of your labor today on this Labor Day. If not, I have good news. There is still time to do a corrective pruning, or replant into a sunnier place or richer soil. Recommitting yourself to your yoga practice maybe just the experience you need to get your mind clear, your heart open and grow deeper roots that will nourish you through winter. Namaste!

Michelle Campbell
Anusaara Inspired Yoga Teacher

unmask thyself!

Imagine a glorious masquerade ball. People have spent great amounts of time, energy and money to create elaborately ornamented costumes and masks. The mask helps to create a persona that we may think is bigger and better than we really are. It helps us to say and do things we wouldn't without the mask.

Its all wonderful fun until we realize we prefer the mask to our own face or we have forgotten what we look like without our masks. Quite possibly it will require drastic intervention to remove this security blanket we have become accustomed to. Quite possibly God will intervene and give us the opportunity to see ourselves for who we really are. Perhaps something will shake your world up like a career or relationship change.

It is a magical moment when we realize we are most beautiful when we are unmasked, that we are already whole, complete and perfect.  Learn how to reveal more of yourself at our next yoga class every Wednesday at 5:15 at the Betttendorf Community Center on Grant Street. 

Spring Cleaning

The other day I poured my morning cup of chai tea with almond milk into my mug and took a big warm gulp. Aaaacccchhhhh! It had a strong soap resdue that I had forgotten to rinse out the night before. This is NOT an example of spring cleaning.

Just as our homes, gutters and closets need a good cleaning, so do our bodies. You can help your body's natural renewal process with a spring cleanse. Apply it for a week and you will help your body heal and balance itself. You will feel lighter, clearer, more energetic, and clean from the inside out. According to eastern health practices, a spring cleanse gives the body a chance to rest and reset the digestive system and behavioral pattern. 

Ayerveda is health and wellness sister science to yoga that developed in India. In the change of seasons, we naturally change our patterns of behavior, drinking hot soups in the summer and fruit smoothies in the summer. Ritucharya is the practice of intentional changes to eating and behavior in response to a change in seasons. Moving from winter into Spring, we will need to eat lighter foods, including lots of fruit and veggies. Here is the skinny, which just might help you get into your skinny jeans.

For a week impliment as much of the following as you can:
Reduce/ Avoid
DONT'S
Sugar
Cafeeine
Alcohol
Refined grains
anything processed
Don't eat anything past 7:00 pm

DO/ Impliment
Daily sesame oil massage of the body and feet
Drink plenty of liquids
During the day only eat smoothies with fresh fruits, and nuts, dates
for evening meal make a light meal of cooked vegetables with spices like curry ginger and turmeric and brown rice
Eat simply and eat small 1/2 cup portions with plenty of water. (Eat as little as possible and more often- just enough to keep you functioning)
Be intentional, journal, meditate, be quiet, be artistic- and follow these suggestions as much as you can for a week.

Green Goddess Smoothie:
1/2 avocado
1 banana
1 kiwi
1T matcha green tea  powder
1T ground flax seed
Blend with enough water or 100% fruit juice like apple or white grape to make it smooth and drinkable

Kitchari
1/2 onion chopped and sauteed in butter or olive oil
add 1/2 C rice or ( I use soaked brown rice) and 1/2 cup yellow dal and stir
add 1T ground ginger or 1tsp powdered ginger, and cumin, coriander, turmeric or add 1 T curry spice
Stir continuously until spices are fragrant, then add:
2 cups chopped veggies of your choice- add to the onion  and saute 3-5 minutes
1 cup broth add this to the sated veggies and put lid onn and turn on low 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy by eating slowly with intention.

Its time for a new paradigm

I wanted to share quickly 3 things to remember daily that helps remind you of your goodness.
1. You are Divine
Something deep within you is so magnificent and radiant, beautiful and good and it is always there.

2. You are Whole
Complete, perfect, pure, already. Anything that says otherwise is untrue.

3. You are Worthy
You deserve to be a part of the many wonderful opportunities and people in your life.

That's it but it goes to the core,

You are Divine, you are Whole , you are Worthy

As every Wednesday at 5:15 pm you have the opportunity to practice these truths during yoga class.
www.RiverCityYoga.com