First Street Yoga - Newberg, Oregon

With spring finally here, we’re ready to break out the summer clothes and get outside. The Northwest is known for all of it’s outdoor activities, hiking, biking, swimming, jogging and more. This 4-week series is geared towards toning and strengthening the muscles needed for these activities as well as stretching and lengthening them. We will also focus on the breath in our poses, which is so essential to these more strenuous outdoor exercises.

Yoga helps us to become more balanced in everything that we do. We learn to cultivate self-discipline or tapas through strengthening our bodies by using effort. We also learn how to become compassionate, karuna, with ourselves by stretching and lengthening those stiff and hard muscles.  And finally, through the breath, we learn to relax and find joy, mudita, in being in the moment.

Join Alison on Saturdays, June 2nd-23rd from 11:00-12:30 pm. This class is appropriate for beginners. If you know anyone who might be interested, please let them know.

The Wednesday 4:15 Vinyasa class with Alison has been cancelled. The last class will be May 9.

In the past, we have offered classes other than our basic Levels 1 and 2. Recharge classes moved at a slower pace; this vinyasa class moved more quickly. As teachers, we believe many of you students would benefit from these options, however, we haven’t had sufficient interest to continue with them. We’re curious: are you interested in these options and did we just pick an inconvenient time? Or are you satisfied with just the two levels? Please let us know — in person, by phone or on-line, we’re always interested in how we can make First Street Yoga the best yoga center around.

Tonic n. 1. a medicine taken to give a feeling of vigor or well-being. 2. something with an invigorating effect.

Join us to shake off the dark and heaviness of winter! In this workshop, we will use the tools of classical yoga to refresh and invigorate ourselves: gentle stretching and exercises will help the muscles let go of old habits; twists will bring heat and energy while cleansing the internal organs; mindful breathing exercises will soothe and strengthen the nervous system. In the long and wise tradition of spring cleaning, a yoga tonic clears away the old and prepares us for new experiences.

Who should attend? If you are feeling lethargic, you will learn how to take yourself to greater energy. If you are feeling congested, you will learn how to let go of old patterns, physical and mental. If you are feeling bored, you will be reminded of the tremendous power and opportunity that is available in each moment of a thoughtful life. This workshop is appropriate for all levels: beginners will experience the profound change a yoga tonic can give; more advanced students will gain additional knowledge in how to use the tools of yoga to support a happy, healthy life.

Call or email to reserve a spot, or simply show up and attend first-come-first-served. I hope to see you!

Whole Person

Classical yoga is unique in its approach to problems in that it targets the whole person, not just the part that hurts. Long ago, people realized that many of our problems were caused by conflicting desires – the mind knows we need more exercise, but the body may feel lazy, or the heart craves friendship and connection but the mind is afraid. Whenever we find it difficult to make chosen changes, the problem is usually caused by such conflicts. Yogis found the greatest success when they deliberately addressed all parts of the person: body, mind, and spirit. Whether the problem is back pain or anxiety, yoga offers physical exercise to sooth muscles, breathing exercises to organize the nervous system, and meditation to strengthen the brain.

This is the great, wonderful economy of classical yoga: physical trainer, breathing coach, and therapist all rolled into one. But for yoga to address the whole person, it really needs to be whole yoga, not just the physical exercises popular in gym class and advertising.

Whole Yoga

By whole yoga, I mean deliberately and systematically addressing the breath and mind, as well as working and stretching the muscles and joints. A good yoga session should take you safely through the physical exercises as well as any gym class. But it should also help your understanding so you can develop individual strategies to manage ordinary aches and pains. Clear focus on correct physical alignment develops this knowledge and lays the groundwork for deeper meditation. Especially in our physical practice, we want to use the mind more than muscle and the breath more than mind. When we practice in this way, asana becomes a laboratory where we are free to experiment with the ancient wisdom of  Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Only through long-term personal engagement can we understand how this wisdom underlies everything we do at First Street Yoga, from stretching a hamstring to managing the business.

Next time you practice, notice: are you all there? If you’re thinking about lunch or the person practicing next to you, your session is not as effective as it could be. As Patanjali taught: tatra sthitau yatnah abhyasah (I.13). Practice is the effort to be here now. All of you.

This week (2/20), I’ll be teaching restorative poses in all my classes, and Alison will teach restoratives next week. For those of you who are new to the practice, restorative poses are the passive poses of relaxation. Depending on the position, they might offer a lot of stretch, but they require minimal physical effort.

When I was a beginner, they weren’t my favorite poses. If I did get stuck in a restorative practice I felt restless and impatient. Restorative poses were easy to do; why bother practicing them? One day, struggling with this, a voice in my head finally asked me: “if these poses are too easy, why are they so hard to practice?” I’ve been exploring that interesting question ever since.

It takes at least 10 minutes of release for the body to really relax. My bossy mind was so convinced of its own importance that it could not, at first, see the value in any pursuit that didn’t actively require its skills. Patience was my first lesson. When my mind finally began to settle down, I got to experience the physical benefits of restorative poses. When we relax deeply, we support all those things we do without thinking about them – digestion, respiration and circulation, fighting disease, cleansing the body. This support balances the nervous system and clears away the many negative effects of stress.

We invite you to come in and unwind. Whatever else is going on in your life, give yourself an hour and a half to set your burdens down. Come in and see what happens when easy is your teacher.