Big Changes for Yoga with Natalie

Just returned from my third weekend in Long Island looking for a place to live with my partner, Peter. He accepted a job at Stony Brook on the North Shore.  We have chosen a very cute single family home to reside in starting July 1st.  It feels good to get this off of our chests and know that we can finally focus on building our new lives.
I never ever thought I'd leave Cambridge and if I did, I always thought it would be to Western Mass or upstate New York; somewhere really liberal with a lot of hippy joints.  Well, our new place is only 10 minutes drive to the beach, so that can't be bad!  Peter has been so supportive with my yoga business he is urging me to turn the living room into a yoga studio which I plan to do. I am so grateful to have a partner who never doubts me nor lets me doubt myself or my abilities.  I am excited and scared to start a whole new business out of my home and with strangers!  But I guess that's how it started almost 5 years ago in the quirky ole' Lily Pad in Inman Square.
I am looking forward to the absence of city noise, the sounds of nature, and a quiet practice in my home.  I'm looking forward to new beginnings with the love of my life.  It may be that I've had more time to process this so I am now in the acceptance phase but I have been on an emotional rollercoaster these past few weeks.  Yoga is the one thing that has kept me steady and focused on the positives.
Classes at the Lily Pad will continue with Kira Pullig taking over in July.  I will be returning to the area for a Retreat in late September, Thanksgiving Yoga in November, and a workshop in February. I then plan to do a Spring Retreat in either the Catskills Or Vermont.
This whole process has made me so grateful to all of my students, the fact that this was possible to begin with, and to the changing nature of life itself.
Peace!!!
Natalie
CLASSES WITH NATALIE CONTINUE UNTIL END OF JUNE.

The Art of Attention: Who do you need to Forgive?

Over the last year, I have watched my practice change so much.  Where before my practice was a "thing to be done," now is a thing that is happening at every moment.  I suppose this is how I became so drawn to Elena Brower as a teacher, a virtual one on yogaglo.com but still!  I have really enjoyed Elena's mix of philosophy, alignment, and transformative approaches to yoga.  Her new book is such a joy that I would love to spend my "attention" fully on it.  At $50 a pop, this is a real gift to oneself and should be ingested like a strong puerh tea, not missing any notes of orange outside of the chocolate.

The practices look wonderful and are structured in "waves" getting you closer in towards your true nature, but the art work is beautiful too. The first chapter of the Art of Attention book is about Reducing Tension and Finding Forgiveness.  I know that I will use this practice almost every day.  Don't we always have to forgive someone and ourselves?  I find that working with the public, I need to constantly be aware of how I'm coming across and how I'm receiving others energies, words, and intentions.  I forgive the people who do not treat with me with the respect that I think I deserve. Maybe they returned a frown after my smile.  I forgive myself for being short or judgmental with others.  Yes, it's wonderful to forgive and you do feel a whole lot lighter and clear, but the main quality that comes out of this is the ability to be aware in the first place that you are behaving in a way that does not serve the highest goal which is connection, love, and peace.  Everyone is your brother, sister, mother, husband, wife, child. We are all but drops of water from the same ocean! Forgiveness is the ability to constantly re-evaluate behaviors and let them go, replace them with respect and love.

I plan to delve deeper into this notion of reducing tension and forgiving as I glide into my week.

Happy Patriots Day to all and please breathe!