LIVE Yoga & Meditation Classes via Zoom

Live Stream Yoga Schedule

Yoga Among Friends studio is closed temporarily, but we are launching live stream yoga classes via Zoom.

Use https://zoom.us/j/6309605488 for all classes. (or you can download the Zoom App - see below for links)

Meeting ID  630 960 5488

For Today’s schedule — see our Home Page

For the weekly schedule — see our Schedule Page

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**Contributions are appreciated in the amount that is comfortable for you.

These contributions help us to make it possible to keep the virtual studio going during social distancing and reopen our physical studio when it is over.

Meanwhile, use this time to hold a deeper meditation, to go inward and try to sit in stillness which is even more difficult right now. Watch LJ’s video below to hear more.

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How to Join Us for Live Yoga via Zoom

We are using Zoom to live stream our classes, which works on laptops, iPads, tablets and smartphones.

1. Prior to your first class, download the Zoom app for desktop or mobile using the same email address.

   1. For iPhone or iPad: Click here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id546505307  or search the App Store for ‘ZOOM Cloud Meetings’  and click ‘Get’

   2. For Android: Click here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.zoom.videomeetings  or search in Google Play for ‘ZOOM Cloud Meetings’ and click ‘Install’

   3. For Desktop PC: https://zoom.us/download

1. Create a Zoom account. If you already have an existing account, open up Zoom and click ‘Sign In’.

   1. Mobile:  If you do not have an existing account, click ‘Sign Up’ Enter your first name, last name, and email address. Click  ‘I agree to the Terms of Service’ and ‘Sign Up’

   2. Desktop: Click the Blue ‘Sign Up, It’s Free” Button and complete the registration.

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