Online Interactive Movement Meditation and Yoga Class on January 17th at 6 p.m.

Join me tomorrow, Thursday, January 17th, at 6 p.m. for an online interactive movement meditation and yoga class from the comfort of your own home. You will need to download the free Zoom app onto your phone, tablet or computer beforehand and set yourself up so that you can see the screen and I can see you.
I have been guiding online sessions for individuals for a while, the group class format is a new experiment that I am offering to make the practice more accessible to every body. I’m not sure the best time for these to be held, so I am just going to give some times a try. If you have any thoughts or feedback I am open to suggestion. The content of the class will depend on who is present but generally it will be a basic yoga class for about an hour.
Leave a comment or message me if you have any questions and if you’d like to attend send a donation at the introductory rate of $5 or more to my PayPal or contact me for other arrangements. I will send you a link that will give you access to the class.
I look forward to practicing with you.
❤

Practice video for Finding Your Own Practice Workshop 5/30/2015

A little inspiration 🙂 If you like, flow with this to start, holding any postures as long as you want and/or moving through each one breath. Inhale expand, exhale condense. Remember – backbends happen in the upper back and lengthen the lower back and forward bends hinge at the hip socket instead of rounding the back. Adapt to this. You can mute the music if you want silence or your own music – although this is one of my favorites. And don’t worry, Joe the cat doesn’t stay in the frame for long.
To find some desire to want to practice Hannah Tosi suggested coming into a posture that you know you enjoy and experiment in it to feel what you like about it. And then I suggest let it lead you into whatever comes next. If you like follow a skeleton practice that includes – vinyasa (maybe sun salutation flow of some kind), forward bend, lateral/side lengthening, balance, backbend, twist, hips and if you like inversions. As an exercise you could write a list of different postures that would fit into each of these categories. And here are the sample practices that I spoke of that you can follow and/or use as a jumping off point.
Your mental drishti/focus point on feeling yourself in your body and how the subtleties effect the posture and your experience.
If you’d like to share let me know how it goes.
Love.

The Sacred Geometry of Asana – Finding the Balance Point: Beginner/Intermediate Partner, Acro and Thai Yoga Workshop @At Om Yoga

The Sacred Geometry of Asana – Finding the Balance Point:
Beginner/Intermediate Partner, Acro and Thai Yoga Workshop
At Om Yoga
40 North Main Street, Concord NH
May 16, 2015 1~4pm

~ get tickets ~

In this workshop we will utilize asana/postural yoga to explore the balance point between opposing forces ~ right and left, front and back, leverage and lifting, expansion and compression, inhale and exhale, self and “other” ~ to find the place of suspension that holds both extremes, balanced at the center.

We will warm-up with individual postures and flowing vinyasa (movement linked to the rhythm of breath), bringing subtle awareness into the intersecting planes of the grid of our own body geometry and activating an intuitive alignment where the posture supports itself and active effort can relax. We will then expand into partner and group postures, respectfully articulating self-supporting, counterbalanced geometric shapes with each other. Each of us part of the whole, and whole and complete in ourselves.

Attuning to the balance point, the stillness in the movement, silence behind the sound, turiya ~ the underlying pure aware consciousness at peace in the midst of everything ~ cultivates our capacity to find this space, to remember this potential, anytime we want it, or need it. And pass it on.

Come with or without a partner. Nothing is required, and there are many very simple variations to suit everyone. Yoga is all inclusive.

Denise Porter Kemp has been teaching yoga since 2005 and as has studied with many teachers and students along the way, including receiving a 500 hour certification from At Om Yoga and Asa Dustin in 2007, a 200 hour certification with River Yoga and Parvati Nanda Nath Saraswati in 2010 and has completed level 1 Thai Yoga Therapy training with Still Light Yoga and Shai Plonski. She brings her traveling yoga school ~ Turiya Yoga ~ to private homes, ski mountains, music festivals and yoga studios along the east coast. Her strength is making the practice accessible to the uniqueness of every body while expressing the deeper teachings of yoga through the experiential practice of the physical form.

~ body geometry, pure aware consciousness ~

true freedom

One of my favorite physical aspects of practicing yoga is that there is nowhere on my back I cannot scratch (I am not suggesting this is true for everyone who practices yoga :-) ). One of my favorite mental aspects is the possibility that even when I feel an itch, I can feel it and not have to scratch.
I can, but I don’t have to.
This becomes more true all the time.

Balance upsidedown ~ Inversion Workshop

Balance upsidedown
March 3 The River School House Yarmouth, ME
April 1 Insight Therapeutic Massage Concord, NH
6-8:30pm
$30
Buy tickets for Maine
Buy tickets for New Hampshire

Don’t let the image intimidate you. It is meant to be visual art 🙂

The art of balance is something that can be learned, cultivated, honed ~ by becoming familiar with the subtlety of the balance point, the place where the pairs of opposites come into alignment and effort can relax as the posture supports itself. We do this effortlessly all the time standing on our feet, the trick is to be able to access that awareness and find the balance when things get turned upsidedown.

In this workshop we will warm-up with fluid vinyasa (flow yoga in rhythm with the breath), standing balance postures to access the balance point in stillness and movement and utilize various held postures to prepare the body for inversions and then experiment with:

~ standing forward bends as inversions (as well as access points to lift into inversions)
~ setting up a stable base for a shoulder stand (including the use of props and variations)
~ setting up the base for headstand along with many variations and methods for lifting into the full pose
~ forearm stands and variations
~ partner, group, wall and freestanding handstand warmups, practice and variations

You can try as much or as little as you like and there will be possibilities for everyone, beginner to advanced. Great for teachers too – learn new ways to teach these often challenging postures in a way that makes them more accessible as well as get to play with how you engage with balance in your own practice.

Denise Porter Kemp has been teaching yoga since 2005 and has studied with many teachers and students along the way. She brings her traveling yoga school ~ Turiya Yoga ~ to private homes, ski mountains, music festivals and yoga studios along the east coast. Her strength is making the practice accessible to the uniqueness of every body while expressing the deeper teachings of yoga through the experiential practice of the physical form.

~ body geometry, pure aware consciousness ~

The Sacred geometry of Asana: Finding the Balance Point

The Sacred geometry of Asana:
Finding the Balance Point
Beginner/Intermediate Partner, Acro and Thai Yoga Workshop
Feb. 3 River School House Yarmouth, ME
Feb. 11 Insight Therapeutic Massage Concord, NH
6-8:30pm
$30
Tickets for Maine
Tickets for New Hampshire

In this workshop we will utilize asana/postural yoga to explore the balance point between opposing forces ~ right and left, front and back, leverage and lifting, expansion and compression, inhale and exhale, self and “other” ~ to find the place of suspension that holds both extremes, balanced at the center.

We will warm-up with individual postures and flowing vinyasa (movement linked to the rhythm of breath), bringing subtle awareness into the intersecting planes of the grid of our own body geometry and activating an intuitive alignment where the posture supports itself and active effort can relax. We will then expand into partner and group postures, respectfully articulating self-supporting, counterbalanced geometric shapes with each other. Each of us part of the whole, and whole and complete in ourselves.

Attuning to the balance point, the stillness in the movement, silence behind the sound, turiya ~ the underlying pure aware consciousness at peace in the midst of everything ~ cultivates our capacity to find this space, to remember this potential, anytime we want it, or need it. And pass it on.

Come with or without a partner. Nothing is required, and there are many very simple variations to suit everyone. Yoga is all inclusive.

Continuum

A definition of yoga could be the continuum that spans and contains both extremes simultaneously, balancing at the center. The equal and opposite polarities complementing and defining each other rather than canceling each other out.

We experience this with physical hatha yoga asana…finding the place where the pairs of opposites come into balance ~ left and right, front and back, grounding down to find leverage to lift up with ease, expanding out from and holding strength at the center, strength and flexibility, inhale and exhale…each pair two sides of the same thing. In this balance, the posture becomes self supporting and active effort can relax. And as the yoga sutras and other teachings suggest, when we bring ourselves into this balance, spontaneous presence, effortless awareness, a meditative state, pure consciousness, a deep underlying silence, spaciousness, insight, arises.

The events of my life often embody this principle, equal and opposite extremes balancing each other. Either side alone feels almost overwhelming, yet together they make a balance that brings insight. Perhaps this is life, and sometimes it is more obvious than others.

These pinnacle times, like physical yoga, give us the experience of the potential of this balance. All sides of the spectrum, simultaneous, defining rather than canceling each other out.

We are the synthesis, the balance that holds all extremes.

Skillful Use of the Past

Someone asked me hopefully the other day, “It’s all about being in the now, isn’t it?  We’re always either stuck in the past or living in the future, but we just need to be in the now, right?” Which seems to be a common mantra right about now, and in its essence, holds a lot of truth. 

I’m reminded of Utah Phillips’ and Ani DiFranco’s song, Bridges, on the album The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere, when Utah says, “I always thought that anybody who told me I couldn’t live in the past was trying to get me to forget something that if I remembered it would get them into serious trouble…” (if you’ve never heard the song check it out here: http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Bridges/iTzz7?src=5 and really listen to the words).

I find it useful to make a distinction between living in the past, or being stuck in the past, from how Utah describes the past as informing the present, and that the lessons of the past are available to us in the present when we are open to accessing them.  And what Buddhist monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu refers to as a skillful use of the past in his insightful and practical writings on meditation and how the lessons we learn through meditation translate into and are applicable to the rest of our lives (which are distributed for free online here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/meditations2.html).

A skillful use of the past means paying attention to intentions and actions and noticing the results as they unfold in the present moment, allowing discernment, perspective, and wisdom to grow as the present becomes the past, preparing us to deal as skillfully as possible as the future becomes the present. While each moment is a completely new experience, for the variables have never come together exactly as it is right now, the present is created by the past and directs where we are going in the future.  It’s all a continuum.

“Time is an enormous long river…and I am standing in it just as you are standing in it…My elders were the tributaries, and everything they thought, and every struggle they went through…flows down to me…And if I take the time to seek…I can build that bridge between my world and theirs…I can reach down into that river and take out what I need to get through this world…bridges…from my time to your time, as my elders from their time to my time…” Utah Phillips…

Being in the now is not tunnel vision, it includes an awareness of all that came before and all that will become in the future, in the peripheral vision, like a visual dristhi in asana, or physical yoga practice.  By focusing on the present, or the breath, or the visual focus point, we still see everything in the periphery, without having to stare or block anything out either.  We are focused at the center.  Which helps keep us from getting thrown off balance.

“We all put into the river, and it flows away from us…till it no longer has our name, our identity, it has its own utility, its own use, and people will take what they need and make it part of their lives…” U.P.

asymmetrical adaptation

Something that I have noticed experientially through my own yoga practice and in working with others is that our bodies are not symmetrical, and we benefit from working with each side of the body uniquely as well as a part of the whole organism.  I often do slightly distinct sequences on each side in my own practice and when working with others individually, adding in extra poses to help prepare one side for a pose that is difficult on that side, or holding some postures longer on a tighter side and others longer on a weaker side.  Finding approximate balance within the realities of an asymmetrical body by working with each side from where it is coming from.

While teaching group yoga classes though, I have been taught and have found it is functional to do the same sequences on both sides, and hold each side the same amount of time.  As teachers, we are offering a general potential template to fit a wide variety of students, and while we can offer suggestions on placement and alignment, and variations we have seen be useful for others, and assists that accentuate the possibilities of the posture, it is ultimately up to each student to experiment with the template and find what fits the uniqueness of their bodies.  In class I often suggest exploring in each posture to discover what is useful from the internal experience of your own body, rather than trying to fit your body into a preconceived idea of what the posture is meant to look like from the outside.

This is one place where individual instruction and personal practice can really be useful, both on its own and as a compliment to group practice.  Without the pressure of keeping up with the class, you can take the time to listen and respond to the cues of your body, exploring what is useful in that moment.  Being willing to notice what isn’t useful too, even if that is in conflict from what you think you want… This point is an essential ingredient to keep from ignoring what you don’t want to see, and only taking in what you like.

All of this can be done in a class setting too, yet an individualized practice allows the sequencing and timing to cater specifically to your own eccentricities.  And practicing on your own can help facilitate discernment through the yogic principle of svadhyaya, or self study, of when we are listening and responding to subtle cues versus pushing our own will, by noticing the intention behind the action, and its result.

All of which helps train our minds and our intuition to notice and adapt in other areas of our lives as well.   Then in the moment, in yoga class or anywhere, you can take in what is being offered generally to the whole and mindfully experiment with how it uniquely applies to you – and in terms of asana, or yoga postures, to each side of your body…

The way to balance, adaptation, depends on where you are coming from…