Theme for Power Lunch 12-1pm tomorrow: 
"High Noon"
(Monday 5/21
Yamoodles over Baby Mustard Greens
Topped with Yemaya's Delight
Sencha Cherry Rose Green Tea)
Maybe I watched too many silly Westerns this weekend while Jeremy was out of town…but the result is this flow. I’ll see you at Power Lunch at High Noon tomorrow! 
Tap into your strength, get on your hands, face fear with courage, and observe the present moment. Part of the charm of Wild West movies is watching the hero stand up for what is right, confronting challenges in life with courage and calm. Acceptance does not mean acquiescence, but rather a keen perception of the present moment as it is, in order to act with clarity and skill to face challenges head on. 
Here’s some wisdom from the East and the Wild West that inspired this flow:

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“Arjuna, the yogi is far superior to a hermit who withdraws from the world, to a scholar who understands everything but does nothing, or a householder who does everything without understanding.” – Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 6, Verse 46 (paraphrased by Devdutt Pattanaik, My Gita)

“Fight with honor. You will win.” – Chon Wang, Shanghai Noon

“A yogi looks within to appreciate the mind that occupies the body, the thoughts that occupy the mind, the fears that occupy the thoughts, the opportunities and threats that occupy the fears, and the fears of others that occupy those opportunities and those threats.” - Devdutt Pattanaik My Gita, pg 120

“Pride comes before a fall.” – Briscoe County Jr., The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.

“Yoga brings awareness and attention to fear. By recognizing the reality of his own fears, the yogi is able to appreciate the fears of those around him. He observes why he withdraws and why those around him withdraw. He does not seek to amplify fear by trying to control people. He works towards comforting them, enabling them to outgrow their fear. Thus is born empathy and the ability to let go.” - Devdutt Pattanaik, My Gita, pg 120

“Will you listen to this creek, Chon? You never notice what a beautiful melody a creek makes. Never taken the damn time.” – Roy O’Bannon, Shanghai Noon

“Acceptance doesn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, mean passive resignation. Quite the opposite. It takes a huge amount of fortitude and motivation to accept what is—especially when you don’t like it—and then work wisely and effectively as best you possibly can with the circumstances you find yourself in and with the resources at your disposal, both inner and outer, to mitigate, heal, redirect, and change what can be changed.” – Jon Kabat Zinn, Coming to Our Senses, pg 407 

“It means your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one, both of you.” – Doc Brown, Back to the Future III

Strong Foundations Tonight:
 “Lost in the Woods”
 
What do you do when you feel Lost?
When the world seems dark
Your path is uncertain
And you can’t see the forest for the trees…
 
Your CORE is your compass
Connect to it
Feel it deeply
Focus
Withdraw your other senses
Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana
Tune in
Feel what matters
Satya, Santosa
Not forcing a shape formed of expectations
Ahimsa, Aparigraha, Isvarapranidhana
Feel the way from the inside out
Svadhyaya
Feel the fire burn strong and bright
Lighting your path
Here. Now.
 
You are already Found.
 
See you tonight at Yoga Lab
5:45 – 7:15
 
Music: “Lost Woods” (From Zelda: Breath of the Wild)
and “Lost in the Woods” by Faraday & SNR
Turn sound on for full effect

Strong Foundations Theme Tonight:
“Graffiti on a Tuesday Night”
5:45-7:15pm at Yoga Lab

Remember fingerpaint? 
What would it be like if we painted the wall 
during a yoga practice?

Footprints
Handprints
Forearm lines
Back silhouettes
Butterfly butt prints
Knee dots
Toeprints
Fingerprints 
With each part of the body making its mark, 
what a painting it would be!
There are so many ways to use the wall!

Tonight will be a whole class at the wall -- feeling the engagement of the glutes, strengthening and lengthening the psoas, setting the pelvis to neutral, so that when you lift off you can fly and you might not even need the wall, but it’s got your back. 

Using just a wall, a mat, your body, and your imagination (since real fingerpaint would be a little too slippery)…
Let’s create some Graffiti on a Tuesday Night!
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Music: “Graffiti on a Tuesday Night” – by the Neat Beats (the inspiration for this flow). Turn sound on for full effect.

Notice I said “play with”, not “work on”. I actually believe this spirit of playfulness is key. Especially if you tend to feel fear when trying handstand away from the wall (which was and sometimes still is my main barrier), give this a try to help get out of your head and flip your fear into falling out with flair and fun!

Learning how to fall-out safely by cartwheeling rather than flipping over into a backbend is an important skill for playing with handstand away from the wall.
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Try this:
1) If you’re already comfortable with handstands at the wall, come into handstand at the wall and try picking up one hand to cartwheel out. When you pick up the hand, the pelvis follows. Set this mapping.  For a while I was stuck here. Both hands felt glued to the ground - try looking at your hand and talking to it, tell it to pick up.

2) Or, try starting with this. Do a cartwheel! Did you ever do cartwheels on the playground as a kid? Remember how fun that was? Not so scary? Tap into that memory and playfulness and try a few cartwheels without overthinking it. Feel how fun it is to go upside down and be on your hands. Notice how you put one hand down at a time and then pick up one hand at a time, and the pelvis follows.

3) Then try that same cartwheel feeling a little more narrowly, placing both hands down at the same time in front of you rather than one at a time. Still pick up a hand to cartwheel out. (You can see in the video I try this a few times testing my balance in handstand, then overshoot and cartwheel out. But right after that, I had my strongest hold of the day.)

4) Then try starting with your hands already on the floor, like 3-legged down dog. But still pick up the hand to cartwheel out. Hopefully all of that previous cartwheel play will set the mapping to pick up a hand to fall out rather than flip over.

Come and play in Strong Foundations Tonight!
See you there

Music: Lullatone “The Biggest Pile of Leaves You Have Ever Seen” ​