Hello my dear friends,

I’m so excited to share some updates with you regarding the Foundational Yoga Course I've been working on, and to share some of the content. There are 3 main things I would love to share with you here:

1) The yoga philosophy concept of Sthira-Sukham Asanam.

2) The release of a new video, containing some of the foundational yoga poses.

3) New Digital Content section of my website, which houses some FREE material

I’m learning a lot from this process, and I hope that helps me to provide you with better resources to help you on your yoga journey. Thank you for your patience as I do this.

I could probably speed things up if I use ChatGPT.... but it freaks me out. Then again....it might be a good idea to get to know my future AI overlords....lol

_______________________________________________________

Sthira-Sukham Asanam

Sthira = Strong/Firm Sukham = Ease/Comfort Asanam = Posture

The practice of standing postures help us to not only bring strength and stability to the physical body, but to the mind as well. This brings me to the yoga philosophy concept of “sthira-sukham asanam”.

According the the Yoga Sutras, which were written by a sage named Patanjali, the postures should contain both strength/firmness (Sthira) and ease/comfort (Sukham). Who exactly Patanjali was is a bit of a mystery. Some beleive he was an avatar of Adishesa, a 1,000 headed king of serpents on which Vishnu rests. Many believe he was a teacher/sage and that he's the author of 3 main texts in related to yoga:

1) Text on Sanskrit grammar

2) Text on Ayerveda (life-science), the sister science of yoga.

3) The Yoga Sutras

Sthira and Sukha are similar to the idea of the middle path, or Right Effort in Budhism.

Another way I’ve heard this explained, is

“Effort without tension and relaxation w/o dullness”.

-Uknown

Wish I could give credit to the genius who said this, but I can’t remember who it was.

I love this bece ause the idea of being strong can easily be misunderstood. We can try to muscle through and create excess tension, which prevents us from having the sensitivity necessary to find the optimal alignment for our own, unique, individual body.

Ease on the other hand, can be confused for chilling out and not working hard enough. We need to find a balance.

“Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence, and benevolence of spirit”.

-B.K.S Iyengar from Light on Life

“Sthira means firmness, fixed, steadfast, enduring, lasting, serene, calm and composed. Sukha means delight, comfort, alleviation and bliss”

-B.K.S Iyengar from Light on Life

_________________________________________

New Video Conatining Standing Postures and a Guided Relaxation

Here's the new video I mentioned earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa4U41bo8Yw&t=3s

So, if you would like to practice with this video, or any other, ask yourself 2 fundamental questions:

1) How can I bring my awareness, my consciousness throughout the entire body? Where am I not aware or feeling the posture?

2) How can I make this posture a little easier? Is there tension that is unecessary?

I hope you find this useful, if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them.

_________________________________________

New FREE Digital Content on Website

I'll certainly be adding to this as time goes on, but this is what I have now. I'm so excited!!!!

https://www.yogawithdeb.com/online_store

_______________________________________

If you would like to join us for Thursday night yoga class, we'd love to see you. Please don't hesitate, even if it's been a while for you, you're welcome any time.

Here's the link:

https://www.yogawithdeb.com/offerings

Prices are per household and recording will be available as well.

Namaste,

Debbie