Let's Celebrate the great MAHA (mother). Moms Practice for FREE on Mother's Day!

My Dear Friends,

I want to thank again everyone who supported our benefit for the trees of Gray Bear and the many who expressed concern for the property. We raised over $1500 and I know that the energy will only continue to grow in the months ahead. 

We have some special ideas for fundraising which we hope will inspire the community to participate in our upcoming workshops and events. I have found a passion in nature and understand on a profound level that the environment around us will only thrive when we commit to the respect of our inner landscape.

Healing is actively happening all around as we are witnessing the vibrant color burst of new life unfolding in the grace of spring. The dogwoods and magnolia trees are in full expression this week, and I am thrilled to see the animals starting to be born. 

I am always in awe of nature and the wonder of how the grand intelligence just returns each spring as a reminder of faith. My joy is to get out and walk later into the evening or get up earlier to the sound of the birds. 

I hope that we can remember how important our practice is in facilitating the wellbeing and vibrancy of our own aliveness in our relationship to nature. The mental mind must think less as the deeper consciousness of our intrinsic nature is experienced with the ability to live in pure contentment in the present moment.

Nature can bring us to that moment. To trust in nature is to live in the wonder of beauty whether the sun is shining or not. To link to nature in our meditations is the most direct path to the heart. The heart being the seat of our soul and our true nature.

As Mother’s Day approaches, come celebrate the great Mother Earth. Let everyday be in gratitude for our ability to breathe and share in life’s abundance. Respect ourselves, each other, and our inner environment of humankind.

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Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13, 2018

Honor your mother by bringing her to yoga on Sunday, May 13. Pay for your class, and your mom practices for FREE.

Limit one mom per paying student. Valid for 9am Hatha Vinyasa or 10:30am Vinyasa Flow Class. Must arrive at least 15 minutes before class starts to register. 

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Many blessings and ENJOY this season celebrating the great MAHA (mother).  

P.S. Here are some photos from our Earth Day Fundraiser class.

Namaste,
Laura Jane

To keep balance restored in our beautiful earth, we need to remember our inner balance.

Happy Spring! I love the study of yoga and how it offers balance of the mind, body and emotions in holding the space of the opposites. All pairs of opposites come into the equimity with the path of the middle way.

To hold the opposites with our world today is embracing the true understanding of the word compassion. I want to be held accountable for what is my truth and to be able to keep open hearted to the extremes of bias opinions that keep pulling on my soul. I want to be able to listen and not judge that which I don’t understand. I want to walk in someone else’s shoes with a clarity that is experienced by being open to differences.

I understand that balance is not being rigid to what is seen through my lens, but to hold a respect for all beings, knowing that we all see differently through our various memories, which color our life experiences both joyous and painful. Can we just find a way to use words to convey deeper connections of the heart?

Our intellect gets in the way as fear leads to anger, and anger leads to rage, and rage leads to separation. In coming together as a community, we need to embrace our different stories, lifestyles, and beliefs, from not only the logic of intellect, but from the depth of our soul.

Embrace the mythos of our journey by sharing the concept that life is precious and a blessing. I am not here to harm you, but to join you in kindness and respect. I want to share my table with an abundant attitude that life is greater when engaging in service. 

On Earth day, I am hosting a benefit for the trees, my spiritual oasis in found in nature. As a child, I grew up in the woods surrounded in what I still believe to be the magical realm of the gods. I would walk for hours lost in my deeper thoughts of make believe and create all kinds of games that only children can do in the woods.  

Lounging in the woods at Grey Bear Lodge

Today, I long for my trips back to Grey Bear to renew my spirit with the magic of those acres of trees. Unfortunately, because of my schedule this year, I will not be hosting a retreat, but instead offering a day of gratitude to practice yoga and meditation in honor of my sacred home.

The property is having some major financial challenges. They must come up with much needed assistance, or they risk losing the acres that keep their property out of the hands of developers.  

Please join me on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22 for a special yoga class and fundraiser, and I promise to take you into balance as we celebrate the gift of nature and our profound relationship to the source. To keep balance restored in our beautiful earth, we need to remember our inner balance. Hopefully, we can hold that space for all souls to thrive in a world nourished by the grace of Mother Earth.  

Enjoy each day with love and light,
Laura Jane

Tree Warriors Needed! An Earth Day Fundraiser

It takes a community to protect a forest

Last March, 200 acres of pristine forest adjacent to Gray Bear Lodge, the holistic retreat center in Tennessee where we've held past retreats, were slated to be cleared cut.

This pristine area is home to dogwood, hickory, red oak, and maple trees, beautiful streams, majestic waterfalls, tall pines, wild turkey nesting grounds, inspiring cliff faces, and fields of wildflowers. Gray Bear's goal is to purchase the land and preserve its silent sanctuaries--the bamboo meditation gardens, the hiking trails, and the abundant wildlife. Preserving this adjacent forest will help ensure a place to listen to the exotic woodpecker calls, to take in glorious sunrises and sunsets, and to watch starry night skies.

Pose with a Purpose

We hope you'll strike a tree pose and help us sponsor Grey Bear's Earth Day Fundraiser. Our goal is to raise $1008 through April 30, 2018 to preserve 1 acre of forest. 

Donation Levels

• Donate $25 (Tree Warrior) and a picture of yourself in a tree pose (or hugging a tree), and Gray Bear will add you to their digital forest mosaic
• Donate $108 (Tree Protector) received by April 30, 2018, and a picture of yourself in a tree pose (or hugging a tree), and you will also be entered to win a R&R weekend at Gray Bear!

Your payment can be made in several ways.

• Cash or check— (payable to Friends of Gray Bear) and drop off at Yoga Among Friends
• Paypal— you can use the app on your phone and send payment to paygb@graybear.org or click here.
• Apple Pay—use your Apple device and the messages app to send a message to paygb@icloud.com Please note you need to have Apple Pay set-up on your Apple device.
• Venmo—you can use the app on your phone and send payment to paygb@graybear.org. Learn more about Venmo.

Don't forget to send us your tree pose submission. Include your first and last name, email, and if desired, indicate "in memory of"
or we can take your photo for you when you drop off your payment.

If we can collectively raise the $1008 by April 30, our studio be entered to win a R&R weekend!

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Earth Day Yoga

New! Laura Jane will be leading a benefit Earth Day yoga class on Sunday, April 22 with all proceeds going to Gray Bear's forest preservation project. Learn more and join us on Earth day!