COVID-19 Update

What a week it has been! As you may be aware, we've been closely monitoring the rapid progression of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic including updates from the CDC, state, and county to help guide us through this unique situation. While this is no time for fear or panic, it is a time for extreme caution and responsible behavior to protect our community.

I have sat in deep reflective thought over what might be the next right action. Since we opened in 1998, I'm honored to share that we have never closed. In all these 22 years, we have held a commitment to the community sharing the teachings of yoga for our wellbeing.

In times such as these, our yoga is now living consciously, and so we have decided to temporarily close starting Monday, March 16 and hopefully reopen on our anniversary Wednesday, April 1. During this time, we are freezing all class passes, series class registrations, and workshop registrations so you will be able to use them when we reopen.

I know there will be some very disappointed students who feel this might be hasty and there will be others grateful for the decision. There is no one answer in how to navigate through this uncertain and unfamiliar landscape. As I write this heartfelt letter, I hope we can honor each other and help prevent the spread as we witness what is going on in Spain and France.

According to experts, one of the most effective measures in fighting the spread of this infection and preserving our healthcare system is "social distancing." Please see the potential benefit of social distancing and other control measures (such as handwashing, teleworking and limiting travel) in the graphic below.

At Yoga Among Friends, we're dedicated to going over and above to protect our amazing community. We will reevaluate the situation and provide updates as we receive additional information.

In the days that we are closed, we will be doing a massive cleaning and refreshing of our studio. Our spring cleaning is one we look forward to providing for your return.

We recognize this is an unprecedented situation and appreciate your understanding and support. Please stay healthy and safe!

Blessings from all of us at YAF

Meditation as Medicine

The spinning world is presenting some powerful obstacles to remain in a balanced state of mind. Today, I had to cancel my long-awaited trip to Spain. I was willing to go forward but unfortunately my traveling companion was not quite up to leaping into such uncertainty with the threat of the coronavirus.

Yes, all over the world, life is coming to the harsh acceptance that we are being presented with the possibility of getting sick or even worse being quarantined and stuck in a foreign country unable to return home. Today, my daughter’s friends are coming back from what was supposed to be their dream semester abroad. Unable to return to school and having to finish the semester with a self-contained isolation period.

Costco is a shocking experience with the hoarding of toilet paper and water, and Amazon has run out of hand sanitizers. Life as we know it is now shifting into a new landscape of unknown territory. And I have one word for my day, acceptance. I am humbly accepting the situation even though I don’t like it one bit. I’m sad and disappointed, but I’m asking for the courage to accept what is being presented today. 

I am looking at all of this as a practice of my daily yoga. Returning to the sutras, I am reminded that the first Niyama that Pantanjali offers as a tool of cultivating right thought is Saucha.  It means on a very literal understanding, to practice cleanliness, not just a discipline for the body but for mind and speech.

I am humbled to see the entire world addressing the virus with remedies we can all practice: cover our mouth when coughing, washing our hands and keeping the spaces around us clean. But for me, this practice is more than just my physical awareness of space and body purity. It is a constant reminder of my thoughts that link me to fear and doubt.

When I harbor resentments, frustrations, and anger, I am hoarding my light. To clear out my thoughts and shift my behavior from language directed at harming myself, I am cleaning my mind. The practice is being presented today as a way to enhance the immune system since my agitation only adds to my adrenal function being pushed into overdrive with worry and fear, weakening my entire system towards maintaining balance.

My overall health is depleted when I focus on the negative of any situation. How can I shift my habit when I’m in a state of flight or fright? I have to bring my mind into a new experience creating a better way to navigate through this unsteady time. So I go to my breath. I link my mind to the breath and on the inhale welcome in the healing light of nourishment.

Prana, the intelligence that rides on the breath, comes into my physical form and within the subtle body. I experience the release of tension on the exhales, cleaning out stagnant air in my lungs and activating new oxygenation within my respiratory system. The process is nature’s brilliant way of helping restore the immune system by cleaning my blood.

Yoga practice is not on a mat when I stand in my kitchen and remind myself to let life in and release my negative thoughts with a new samskara of positive thought by repeating an internal, "THANK YOU" on my longer exhale. My focus on the inhale and exhale breath is my ability to bring my mind inwards, allowing for a more balanced state of mind.

This simple practice is the beginning of meditation where I link my awareness to the sweet ease of witnessing the belly expanding and contracting. I feel the presence of the moment and choose to nourish myself in light of the healing sun. Inhale with a silent, “yes”, and exhale my silent gratitude with a simple, ”thank you”. To feel this creates a new better experience than my previous tight, tense body and mind resisting what is being presented and stirring up my negative mood.

Meditation is my medicine, my daily practice of cleaning out the old and bringing in the new. Let’s not forget the tools of yoga now as we build up our immune system with loving, nourishing mindful breathing. This is a respiratory dis-EASE of our humanity, and we all need to go inward, taking time to clean out our old habits of rushing and doing. Ask to slow down, appreciate where we are as we might not be able to travel or get to work or leave our homes.

And yet, this might just be an opportunity to reconnect to our inner selves and cultivate the tools of yoga as we journey forward with this new landscape. The inner landscape of the possibility to be still and ask for the courage with humility to help humanity in loving kindness.

My daily practice might just help others as we are all in this TOGETHER! I offer you my commitment to our center staying as clean and safe as possible with your help. Please stay home if feeling ill, take care to wipe down your mat when you are finished with your practice, and respect your fellow yogi.

Let us continue to live life fearlessly and to know you have a welcoming place to practice.  We hope that all of us can work together to keep our community and world healthy and vibrant as we journey forward and inward.

Blessings,
Laura Jane

Teacher Feature: Joyce Owens, RYT 200

Get to Know Our Very Own Joyce Eickmeyer Owens

Joyce has taught at Yoga Among Friends since we opened our doors in 1998. She received her teacher training from White Lotus Foundation.

Her own "slow flow" style of yoga is gentle yet powerful. As an instructor and musician, she brings a harmonious flow of body, mind, and spirit to her classes. Joyce says, "When we value our bodies as rare musical instruments, we create our own music." 

Here are some fun facts about Joyce Owens in her own words:

If you could pick one song to play every time you entered a room it would be..."Any selection from the CD 'The Best of Wah.' "

In a perfect world, we would communicate via..."Person to person so we could see each other with our eyes, listen to voice inflection with our ears and reach out and give a hug if needed."

My favorite animal is..."I love all animals but my personality is more aligned with a lazy, chubby, laid back, furry-purry cat."

Favorite Pigout food..."Ice cream."

Last show I binge-watched..."I've never binge-watched anything, but I love British comedy and drama series, and I could probably binge-watch all the Poldark series.

A good book I'm reading.." 'Hearing Beethoven' by Robin Wallace."

Favorite place..."On the mat or on a piano bench."

When I'm not on a yoga mat, I'm..."Reading non-fiction, researching history and genealogy, piano, knitting and trying to find time to get my oil paints out once again."

My life mission is to..."encourage, honor, and uplift other people's talents and gifts through yoga."

The most important thing yoga has taught me..."At this point in my life, yoga has taught me to honor the aging process instead of giving in to the concept of getting "old." Aging is a natural progression of life and I want to be as strong, flexible, and open as I can be when along the way."

A pose I struggle with..."I can't say I struggle with a certain pose because each pose is new to me each time I do it no matter how long I've been doing it. Maybe I was late to class and I'm unable to throw the stress of that off. Maybe my sciatica is flaring up, but then maybe that certain pose I had been struggling with was spot-on and I said, "Wow!" out loud in class. Energy is different all the time.

A pose I love and why..."Plain ol' down dog. Love that pose and I don't know why."

My most inspiring yoga-related experience(s) has been..."yoga retreats at Good Hope in Jamaica."

The biggest reason I teach yoga is..."It took me a long time to find my voice in life. When an incredible musician friend and mentor passed away, I came to realize how many gifts of learning and knowledge of music he gave to me. At the same time, along came Laura Jane with her brilliance and yoga and opened a door for me that changed my life. With her encouragement, I found myself in California at White Lotus becoming a yoga teacher. I could no longer hold on to or keep inside the gifts I had received. I had to pass them on as best I could so they would live and give outside of me. I found my voice - and became a teacher."

I want my yoga students to...."Enjoy yoga. Enjoy what you can do. Enjoy the poses that feel good. Enjoy the poses you don't like. In music, it's practice, practice, practice. Same with yoga. Enjoy the practice - it's the practice that sustains us.

Find Joyce Owens on the drop-in schedule on Mondays at 10 am for Vinyasa Flow, L1. And on Fridays at 11:30 am for Yoga for Healthy Living. All levels are welcome.