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The sky was so amazingly clear and beautiful with the almost full moon last night here in Island Falls, Maine. The town is SO quiet in the winter with the snow like a sound blanket somehow in our tiny village. The house is cozy and the yoga studio upgraded with new track lighting and other features that make it truly a year round retreat as we ready ourselves for our Presidents Day week second leg of the Teacher Training and Winter Retreat. We open again for our full schedule in May but will be here Feb 13-21 and open and then St Thomas March 11-16. Wishing all a happy new year, filled with yoga, nature and appreciation! SAT NAM! (and Namaste) Donna, Kent and the cats!
ps for really good yoga books, even if you don’t do Ashtanga, we highly recommend Gregor Maehle’s books, especially good for serious yoga seekers! Chock full of help with understanding the poses and reason for doing yoga.
Winter Wonderland and our Big Blue Spruce!!
The stove that was added last January to make it all the more cozy!
Private home with pool, 3 King-sized bed suites and a chance to be in the sun for $900/person if you share a room/bed and $1200 single. Airfare not included, yoga twice daily too! Breakfast included and some communal home meals with choices for restaurants if you prefer. Limited to only 4 people! Maybe less depending on arrangements!
| What Is So Great About Multi-Tasking? Yoga is a great way to get us out of our head and into our body, breath and feelings. In this crazy world of i-pods, i-phones and all this technology that supposedly makes life simpler and easier, you can see someone walking down the street, not watching what they are doing but texting away or talking on their cell phone instead of being with the person they are with or observing their surroundings. Peoples’ favorite mantra seems to be “I am so busy”. In my first month back in NYC since being very gratefully busy at Sewall House while serving you, I am grateful now to HAVE the time to take time with things- to rise every morning early enough to do the Kundalini sadhana chants for an hour that I so enjoy, which help me clear my head and NOT jump right into doing but start the day with being. As one of our guests who was dealing with anxiety said this summer, ” The days I meditate are just better!”. Training ourselves to do one thing at a time, to really focus on that thing, helps us be more in the present moment and even stop the worrying monkey mind from jumping all over the place. The next time you find yourself blessed with NOT being so busy don’t think your life has less meaning. Grab the opportunity to do one thing at a time and with full commitment and attention, even if it is simply being and not doing! If meditation is not your cup of tea then your yoga practice can be your meditation, the time that enables you to get away from multi-tasking and simply focus your breath and your mind along with what you are doing with your body in the practice. I once worked with a very successful businessman who had been on Oprah and done many good things, especially for education: He said he wanted to learn to meditate but then could not sit for a minute without feeling he might miss something. Another (outwardly successful) client recently said his biggest battles were inside himself. Perhaps multi-tasking keeps us from really looking inside ourselves and growing from within. Next time you hear yourself saying ” I am so busy” or observe yourself multi-tasking honestly ask yourself is this making you happier, calmer, more patient. If not, try taking a break; the only chance you may get to do this IS your yoga class. Could it be why yoga is so popular despite the economic ups and downs? Yoga has the added bonus of allowing us to go into what we are feeling RIGHT NOW so we can get on to the next moment, knowing the not so good ones will pass too. |
Donna/Amrita in peace at Loon Ledge at the lake nearby Sewall House Yoga Retreat
Life Nectar 