Greetings and Happy New Year, dear friends! I have just recently returned from a short, magical trip to the big island of Hawaii, and I did my best to bring some sunshine back with me! Practicing yoga outside is one of my favorite activities, and I was so grateful to have the opportunity to do that and also to design some sequences which I plan to offer in my Sunday morning Hatha class this week. I hope to see many of you there!
I also have been meditating on the themes of the year ahead – setting intentions and opening to what wants to emerge. In February we will enter the year of the dog – this happens to be my Chinese zodiac sign, and I’m excited to enter this time with the themes of loyalty, community involvement, and cultivating wisdom. Our new year coincided with a full moon, and we are still feeling its effects – it is a good time to get grounded and set intentions. Courage is a big theme that seems to be emerging these days – we need to be brave enough to be vulnerable and to share our unique wisdom. We need to participate fully in both giving and receiving – whatever we do, we must be all in! It is time for us to truly come together in communities and take risks, voicing ourselves and extending our hands to others who may be faltering. Take this time to fully rest when you have the opportunities, and during those times meditate on what you’d like to create, what you are grateful for, and on what you value. It is like taking a breath before you sing – we must open to fully receive the breath, allowing it to drop all the way down, while also inviting the slight lifting of a smile to emerge, and at the same time imagine the note we are about to sing! This sounds like a lot, but if we stay playful and curious, it will flow naturally.
I personally will be working on focus and full engagement this year, as well as deepening love and connection and allowing myself to be vulnerable. What are you working on? I invite you to journal and draw your intentions, sing them and speak them, and feel free to share them with me so I can support you in them. Many blessings of health, happiness, and joyful singing to you for 2018, and Namaste.