Author: Sharon

Changes in the Light

August 24, 2008
Posted by Sharon
Leave a comment

A little bird was making the most glorious call outside my window at dawn this morning.  It sounded like a last hurrah or a gathering of spirit for the change in season.  While life is a series of transitions, a study of seasonal changes provides a glimpse at the delicate folding and unfolding that occurs on the spectrum of tremendous change.  As the birds sing a different tune and the evening light comes to cloak our homes at an earlier hour there is a gentle call to return your focus to your own folding and unfolding process.  What does the autumn wind call to you?  How will you use your voice this season?  Is there something that should be uncovered?  Covered?

This is a most exciting time for the studio as new instructors start and beloved instructors return and we welcome new students into the supportive community of those who already share their practice at “The Mat.”  If we haven’t seen you for a while, don’t be shy!  Just dust off your mat and shake your well summered self over to the studio.  If you’ve been meaning to “try that new studio on Negley” for the past year, we can’t wait to meet you! 

Do you have any questions about the new schedule or where to start?  Please do not hesitate to contact me.  I hope to see you at our first “First Friday Karmic Salon” on September 5th.  After a soothing restorative yoga class, there will be some snacks and child friendly live music with Chris Fennimore playing guitar, Wendy Mackin on her banjo and other live music treats!

Putney Girl

July 3, 2008
Posted by Sharon
Leave a comment

I once spent a most beautiful summer in Putney, Vermont.  Although my skin is that of an urban flower, the rivers of my soul belong to nature.  My arrival in Putney marked the end of the long strange trip of my junior year of college which had included the accumulation of a new fluency in Mandarin Chinese and a taste of adult pain that had included the cuisine of the death of a dear friend and two broken hearts; the one I broke and the broken one I carried with me.   These dishes were seasoned with the delights of love in another tongue and the great peace that came with finding something I wanted to know with my great young heart and open mind.  At the pit of the meal, was an accumulation of evidence that I carried equally the burden of adulthood and a serene liberation from the confines of childhood.  So when the administrator of the school where I was working announced that staff was welcome to adopt newly born kittens from the farm, it was a naive and genuine newly minted sense of stability and responsibility that encouraged me to accept one of these most beautiful new kittens as my own.  With great confidence that we’d always be living elsewhere, I named her Putney.  At the end of the summer, she returned to Philadelphia with me and kept my feet warm and my apartment feeling like home until I traded in my tissue-thin stability for a one way ticket to China a year later.  My mother, an absolute sucker for anything less than 30 pounds with furr, whiskers and a desire for catnip,  stepped-in and mothered Putney for the next 13-years until tonight when I was given the great gift of the opportunity to accompany Putney as she took her last few breaths.  As she started to drift, I reminded her of some of our most special adventures and I felt her purr and release under the palm of my hand.

Put-Put Girl!  Put-Put Girl!  Put-Put Girl! 

Goodbye.

Yoga and Grief

January 26, 2008
Posted by Sharon
Leave a comment

Many of you know that my beloved Grandmother passed away last week.  So many of you have been supportive and kind and I appreciate everything that the Yoga Matrika community has done to make this time gentler for me.  I have been most overwhelmed by the way grief has settled in my body and I have found a new appreciation for my yoga practice. The gift of a regular practice is that you notice the micro-changes.  In my first practice after the funeral I  noticed immediately that my thighs were tight, my hamstrings and life nerve choked and I had significant discomfort in my neck.  The additional gift of a regular practice is that I have a method to both be physically present with my sadness and to work through these emotions on a physical level.  I also purchased the most fabulous ocean green yarn at KnitOne and I plan to make a special wrap to keep me warm and remind me of this most beautiful, empathetic, intuitive and creative woman who taught me both to knit and to swim.  The fabric of water is the fabric of our muscle and bone.  We can use the waves of our energies to create peace in our heart-minds, bodies and world.  This is our yoga.   Your yoga practice is a gift to the fabric of peace that creates a beautiful light in our studio, in our community, in our city and in our world.  Do not underestimate the power of your practice.

New Teachers and Students

January 10, 2008
Posted by Sharon
Leave a comment

Hello and Peace to the Yoga Matrika Community!  I would like to extend a special welcome to Wendy Mackin who is teaching a mindful class at “The Mat” on Thursdays at 10:00am.  I had the great fortune of taking this class today and I have felt like I was walking on sunshine for the entire day.  Wendy had us focus on moving and breathing from our navel centers and I can’t honestly say that I got in touch with this during the class, but it changed the way I felt all day.  I definitely sat and walked taller and felt confident and light.  This experience reminded me that we can explore our practice and experience our bodies in so many different ways that yoga truly offers a lifetime of challenges and opportunities for inquiry and growth.  Thank you Wendy!  Cindy Warden is teaching at 8:45 on Tuesday mornings now and I highly recommend this class to anyone who is looking for a fabulous and energetic class.  Cindy offers great techniques for opening the body and deepening your practice.  Finally, have you noticed that Julie Straub is going to start offering a 5:45 class on Thursday evenings and that I will be offering two Sunday flow classes this month?  Take advantage of the new student $30 for 30-days of unlimited yoga or the $125 for unlimited yoga in January and February (it’s STILL worth it!) and deepen your practice this winter.