I’ve experienced the deep bone-weary tension of walking into a studio or temple after a full day of “doing” and feeling like I have to wrestle a boa constrictor before I can relax into my practice.
It took time for me to recognize the insidious pressures and misconceptions that arise with contemplative practices like meditation and yoga; especially, when we encounter hardcore folk — teachers and students alike — who translate noble silence and the noble postures into perfect control and transcendence of bodily realities (neglecting to acknowledge or offer accommodations for ability, injuries, illnesses). So grows the ill-formed notion that the moment our butts touch the cushion or we stretch into our first pose, we will instantly be filled with peace and relief…Oh! and be infused with the superpower of levitation.
As a teacher, I’ve witnessed the struggle in practitioners who then expressed frustration at not being able to get things “right.” After observing the cues of many students who would walk in early, immediately drop from exhaustion on their mats, close their eyes, and beg for restorative poses, I shifted my approach and started each class with deep relaxation. For my sake and theirs, it was essential to honor the fact that our brains and bodies need ample time to spin down and transition from one activity to the next. Reclaiming the space to transition from the rhythm of striving to the rhythm of relaxing and finding refuge enabled us to bring our biological, emotional, psychological, and energetic layers into alignment. We gave ourselves time to catch up in body, mind and heart in the present moment.
I drew upon the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (the core of my personal practice) and began guiding practitioners through an embodied self-awareness sequence that supported our capacity to cross the threshold of any room and allow ourselves to fully arrive. Breath by breath, inch by inch, we learned to first unravel the tensions in body, heart, and mind in order to relax completely. Once we felt relaxed, we could awaken and inhabit our bodies with full awareness.
Listening deeply, seeing clearly, responding skillfully
to whatever showed up.
Greeting and acknowledging our sensations, thoughts, emotions and perceptions with compassion.
Taking refuge in the rhythm of our breath, we could gently align body, heart, and mind and then joyfully abide in this state when we transitioned from the privilege of an intuition-led practice back into the world around us (whether a casual gathering with friends, a family celebration, or an office meeting).
Arriving is the first of four guided meditations in my series, Embodied Self-Compassion: The Four Energies of Mindfulness.
I shared this practice during the healing session I taught at the Allied Media Conference in June and, afterward, had the honor of being interviewed about it for MIT’s CoLab Radio: How to Awaken Self-Compassion Through Meditation.
A 3 Jewels Yoga + Ari Chillman Production.
Recorded June 2016 at Sherwood Forest Live.
As a child growing up in this Southside neighborhood, I have a lot of memories playing and swimming at Moores Park.
In recent years, it has become a place of refuge where I’ve hosted free walking meditations at the labyrinth each spring and summer. This year, 3 Jewels Yoga has officially adopted Moores Park through the City of Lansing Park and Recreation’s Adopt-A-Park program!
On June 12, Sangha participated in our first mini “cushion-to-community clean-up” and will continue our efforts to maintain the beauty of this park and the labyrinth through the practice of environmental stewardship after every meditation.
#WalkingTheLabyrinth | 12 June (“Do-Over” after the previous Sunday was rained out)
Official #AdoptAPark Letter
A Bowl of Dandelions
Exuberance
Sharing Dandelions
The Gifter of Flowers
#TouchingTheEarth
Landmarks to the Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is nestled in the lawn just a few steps off the Lansing River Trail, where its path funnels in from the Beal Avenue parking lot. It is bordered by two black benches and, perched above on a hill to the south of it, is a Pavilion (which can be rented out for parties).
Trivia + other points of interest: The Grand River, Michigan’s longest river, runs along the northern perimeter of Moores Park. This segment of the river is intersected by the Moores Park Dam, which provides power to the city’s oldest power plant. Also sitting across the riverbank is the GM car assembly plant.
Inspired by Sangha’s spring series on Body As Nature, my dear friend Ann Lapo and I are delighted to combine our shared interests by offering three extended practices of movement + meditation at the Labyrinth.
JUNE 26 | JULY 24 | AUGUST 7 | SEPTEMBER 11
10 – 10:45 am ~ Gentle Yoga
11 – 12 pm ~ Walking The Labyrinth
12 – 1 pm ~ Cushion-To-Community Park Clean-Up
Food + Fellowship
Ann is passionate about the practice of Yoga in all its manifestations in our daily lives. Whether through a formal posture sequence to gain awareness of the body and breath, meditation, a walk in nature, the notes in a song, a commitment to ourselves or making a deeper connection to others in work or play, Ann welcomes it all into her teachings.
She is proud to have been an educator for over 25 years, loves playing guitar and singing with best friend/life partner, Jeff, loves the land, and cherishes this beautiful life with loved ones near and far.
We have not forgotten nor begun to recover from the massacre in Charleston on June 17, 2015. And here we are once again, nearly a year to the very day in a month that has become bloodied by another act of terror against people who were simply being themselves in what was thought to be a safe haven to celebrate, dance, laugh, connect with others.
With hearts heavy with sorrow, let us turn toward and abide in light to cast away this looming darkness. I bow deeply to dharma teacher Rev. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel for the healing wisdom she offers in this relentless cycle of violence and recent loss of 49 precious lives in Orlando.
For All Beings excerpts from the chant written by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
May all beings be cared for and loved, Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views,
Be accepted for who they are in this moment… Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated.
…Be treated as if their life is precious, Be held in the eyes of each other as family.
…Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet, Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes, Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm…
We could not have asked for a more beautiful day to kick off this new community yoga series at Hunter Park, which drew families, friends, first-timers, and experienced students!
Organized by artisanal ice pop-maker and long-time yoga practitioner Danielle Welke of MI Pops with support from Joan Nelson, director of Allen Neighborhood Center, MI ICE Pops Yoga will be offered once a month through September.
My friend and fellow teacher Lacey Ingrao and I will alternate as Lead and Supporting Teachers:
June 16 – Lead: Tara
July 21 – Lead: Lacey
August 11 – Lead: Tara
September 29 – Lead: Lacey
a couple years ago, i volunteered to teach yoga and mindfulness to elementary schools in my district. when the coordinator shared the announcement that i (and a fellow yoga teacher friend) would be offering 30-minute sessions for 4 weeks, she was met with overwhelming requests from teachers who were eager to introduce these calming, focusing practices into their classrooms. that spring, i was able to teach about 45-50 kids in 3 classrooms at 2 different schools.
since then my focus of my programming has been rooted deeply in the call for spiritual self-care that fosters compassion, skillful understanding, authentic connection and healing justice. and, as such, focused on serving adult practitioners.
i had oodles of fun co-creating adventures–stretching our imaginations into silly stories and bodies into silly shapes–and teaching my new little friends to wake up the bell and to listen closely to the sound as it faded.
the joy in sharing this practice with children for as little as 20 minutes: the sweet connection that develops when we offer themour attention, care, smiles, laughter, and the freedom to make a contribution. bursting with energy and kindness, they helped arrange, reset, and roll up the mats; fed me snacks; hung out with me between sessions — sticking close by as i enjoyed a chair massage (where i could hear the middle of 4 siblings explain that she was waiting for ‘my yoga teacher’); and even took over my camera to get silly with the selfie stick and snap a dozen random photos!
when we nourish kids with the gift of our compassionate listening and empower them with mindfulness, they will shine.
Celebrating the transformative power of compassionate parenting and mentoring! Bowing to mothers and all others who honor the humanity of the little ones in our lives.
In this, my 6th year of motherhood, I am celebrating my power to radically design a life for my child that does not conform to anyone else’s standards or conventions. I am crafting a life that resists the call to pass on legacies of unexamined dysfunction and empty rituals embedded in played-out cultural traditions shaped and sullied by the whims of industry, technology, politics and religion. Shrugged off and unquestioned… because, well, it’s always been done that way.
Long before I imagined myself a parent, I stood in line at a roti shop on Washington Avenue in Brooklyn and chewed on the island wisdom I overheard from an elder:
Yuh doh raise chil’run. Yuh raise cattle and corn. Yuh teach chil’run an lead ’em…
I recall nothing else about that moment — what sparked his statement, who he was speaking to (if anyone at all…because in my experience with my…
of Yoga in all its manifestations in our daily lives. Whether through a formal posture sequence to gain awareness of the body and breath, meditation, a walk in nature, the notes in a song, a commitment to ourselves or making a deeper connection to others in work or play, Ann welcomes it all into her teachings. 
tscottmiller 