Author: Love Yoga Studios

Holiday Update & Yoga Training

Posted on December 20, 2014 by - From the Blog

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Dec. 24th 9:30am All levels Flow – no evening classes
Dec. 25th Closed
Dec. 31st 9:30 All levels Flow  – no evening classes
Jan. 1st Closed

All other classes remain as scheduled

love training

 

Kids Holiday Yoga, Free Meditation and a partridge in a pear tree…

Posted on December 7, 2014 by - From the Blog

Kids Holiday Yoga Surprise!  Saturday December 13th our Kids Yoga Class will be at 2:00pm.  (instead of noon) to accommodate for a bit longer class and some holiday surprises!!  Please let us know if you plan to attend!

Sunday the 14th, there will be a free meditation workshop at 7:30pm.  (Feel free to drop in and check it out… might be a good time for a quiet little break?)

 

Kathy Santa hat

Amanda (Pender) Mandehr RYT200

Posted on November 20, 2014 by - Instructors

My mom introduced me to yoga as an angsty adolescent because she had seen the benefits of yoga in her own life and thought it could help me, too. I practiced here and there through my teen years, but yoga came back to me in college.  I was a high-achieving student and putting way too much pressure on myself to get the grades and figure out my life/career path. Plus, I was trying to find where I belonged in a new place.
I started going to yoga classes at the campus fitness center and they were hard! As a high-achiever, I loved it. It was gratifying to get through a physically demanding, power-type class. But the more I practiced, the more I found compassion in the practice. I gained awareness around what was serving me and what was not.
I learned that sometimes self growth means doing more, but it often means doing less.
I started teaching yoga to connect with the community and to create space for people to explore what serves them (and what doesn’t). This helps create the space to practice compassion, and find balance.

Holiday Meditation tips & the Meditation Challenge with Paul Watts

Posted on October 25, 2014 by - From the Blog

Guest post today from our Meditation guide and Restorative Yoga Instructor, Paul Watts. (If you’d like to receive Meditation tips and resources from Paul on a monthly basis, email us at Love@LoveYogaStudios.com)

paul bio pics

Hey Meditators, Happy Saturday!

First, I got a question on books for meditation and progressing in a meditative practice.  There is a lot of material out there but if I had to recommend two, they would be “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle and “The Places that Scare You” by Pema Chodron.

Tolle essentially teaches mindfulness; the power of living in the moment.   The first part of the book is an extraordinarily practical guide on how you start integrating mindfulness into your life.   Much of the book is presented as answers to questions from his lectures. Questions from skeptics, frankly and most of the questions are ones I’ve wondered myself over the years.   Variations on “this isn’t working, what now?”   🙂   The second half of the book gets a bit “spiritual” and he has his own brand of what enlightenment might mean.   You might resonate with what he’s saying or not.  But I cannot recommend the first half of the book enough.

Pema Chodron is a Western teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. . . she’s probably the third most recognized teacher of Buddhism in the west after the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh.   Her book “Places that Scare You” is also a practical guide for how to use a meditative practice to start tackling some of the bigger issues you’re facing.   She has what the Japanese Soto monks call a “grandmotherly kindness” in that she mixes kind wisdom with a blunt vocalizing of the truth.  Check out her videos on YouTube.

You can find both books at the Albany and Corvallis public libraries. 

Lastly, it’s another couple of weeks until the next Meditation Workshop at Love Yoga.   But I’d like you to consider joining me in a 30 day Meditation Challenge for the month of November.   Starting Nov 1st and for the full month, commit to meditating every day.   November is a perfect month for these challenges (which come up periodically).   We’re changing seasons, changing routines and heading into the end of the year and what might be a stressful time for many of you.   Four weeks of meditation and you’ll be more centered and calm when gathering with friends and family at Thanksgiving.  

I’m going to do the challenge myself so I’m inviting you to join me.

As always, I hope you are well,

Paul