And I’m not going to lie and say that I do it anyway…because sometimes I don’t.

And I have to be gentle with myself and trust that I’m not going to be struck down by a lightning bolt in the event that I skip a day of yoga (although Pattabhi Jois may be rolling over in his grave!).

So I exchange the asana for soaking in a hot bath, making a jigsaw puzzle, catching up with a friend on the phone, or just general lounging and relaxing. I also remind myself that yoga is more than just an asana practice. So much more!

When you need a break from the physical practice, in what ways do you nurture (rather than punish) yourself ?

Choose love,
Grace

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I discovered this super cute board game on Tiffany’s Green and Natural Parenting blog called The Yoga Garden. It’s meant for ages 4 and up, and my niece is only 3, but I decided I really wanted to buy it for her for Christmas this year.

“The Yoga Garden is a cooperative game where the objective is to plant a flower garden before night falls. As players move the bumblebee marker around the board, they learn classic yoga postures, as well as have the chance to invent their own!”

I think it’s so important to introduce children to healthy habits when they are young, so that they become part of their lifestyle from the very beginning. And not to be too cutesy, but I love the idea of planting the seed of yoga in the garden of her mind when she is so little and then watching it grow as she grows!

It turns out, she loves the game. She loved rolling the dice, planting the flowers, and showing us all the yoga poses that she is familiar with. I think as she gets older, she will enjoy making up her own  yoga poses as well.

Her Daddy has been playing it with her at home, so even when I’m not around, she’s still getting a dose of yoga goodness. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I love sharing the yoga glow…

Did you share your love of yoga with anyone this holiday season?

Choose love,
Grace

[I purchased The Yoga Game on Amazon.com: the opinions I shared here are my own, and I was not paid to write this post.]

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I love taking bubble baths, and I lived for one loooong year without a bathtub. I didn’t think it would be a very big deal, but man, did I miss those baths. They are my time to unwind, relax, let go, and surrender. It’s a sweet treat at the end of the day.

My Mum shared a newsletter with me from Christine Arylo at Dare to Live You! She mentions that we all want to feel loved, and we can do this for ourselves (rather than waiting around for someone else to love us). She offered a list of suggestions, and the self-love soak is my favorite:

Take a Self-Love Soak. Candles. Bath. Bath Salts. Music. Lip Liner. Beautiful Bar of Soap. Undress. Write words and sonnets of love all over your body with the lip liner. Get into the bath. Gently rub the soap over the love words and feel them soaking into your cells.

When teaching yoga classes, I often talk about letting the vibration of OM soak into your cells, so that last sentence resonated with me quite a lot.

In shifting out of 2011 and into 2012, what action can you take to feel a little more loved today?

Happy New Year!

Choose love,
Grace

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She made a suggestion that I wanted to share:

This idea has really resonated with me!

Sometimes I have my students choose a card before class to help them set an intention (purpose) for their practice. I have a fun deck of “power thought cards” from Louise Hay that I’ll often use. And more recently I won a deck of Nadine’s awesome yogAttitude cards from Rachel’s blog, so I just started sharing those with my students as well.

The card they select is usually spot-on with whatever message they most need to hear in that moment. The Universe works in mysterious ways, and the Universe just KNOWS. It’s pretty cool. My students will often giggle or sometimes even roll their eyes- because they’ve picked the perfect card (just because we need the message doesn’t mean we want to hear the message)!

My dear friend Cris gave me “The Book of Runes” by Ralph H. Blum many years ago, and I’m thinking it’s time to reconnect with the book and the runes. I would like to share them with you!

Here’s my plan: I will post a note on Facebook once a week, offering to choose a rune for the first person who e-mails me that day (with “Weekly Rune” as the title). I will then send this person the message associated with the rune that I choose. It is up to you to interpret the message that you receive. Bonus: if you e-mail me that day, but are not the first person, I will pull a simple yogAttitude card for you and send you the word that I chose. I don’t want anyone to feel left out!

Be sure to “like” Front Porch Yoga on Facebook in order to participate in this unique opportunity!

Choose love,
Grace

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When did I get so old?

My joints creak, groan, ache. Scar tissue accumulated from old injuries whines and complains. Emotional wounds cause prana (life force energy) to stagnate in my body, presenting frustrating areas of tension.

Each morning I have at least one achey spot in my body when I wake up.

I can choose to be gentle with my body: get a relaxing massage, take a calming yoga class, soak in a tub full of bubbles.

But my body will never feel like it did when I first started practicing yoga. I wish I could go back seven years and have a conversation with the girl that I was then, and remind her to be very, very grateful for her strong, comfortable body!

Despite the “old” factor, sometimes when I’m practicing yoga the term “extraordinary machine” runs through my mind over and over again. I can’t help but think how amazing my body really is.

Today, I choose to be grateful for my body, as it is, right now. A big part of that gratitude is taking good care of my body, so it will serve me well in the years to come. One of my tricks is yin yoga*, which stretches and stimulates the joints through long, restful holds.

Are you grateful for your body, as it is, right now?

Choose love,
Grace

*I teach yin yoga at Emerald Necklace Martial Arts on Sunday evenings at 6:30pm. It’s a lovely way to start your week!

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