FOCUS OF THE MONTH: JUNE - Handstands

Asana: Adho Mukha Vrksasana aka Handstand. This month as summer comes to us we celebrate Play! Children, and many adults, naturally begin to do handstands, cartwheels and otherwise frolic as it were at the freedom and ease that summer can bring. Please join us in the most joyous of inversions and its variations. In our Int/Adv classes we can practice doing Ladder Handstands in which the practitioner literally walks their feet up the wall from Down Dog and faces the wall. This builds enormous upper body strength. In our Open and Basics classes we will explore safely going upside down and slowly increasing arm and shoulder strength by doing L-Shaped Handstand at the wall and in the center of the room. Handstands are fun, handstands are empowering, handstands remind us to every once in awhile experience the world upside down and to change our perspective.

Dharma: Mudita, the joy in the joy of others, is a wonderful aspect of ourselves to cultivate. Our own sense of Joy actually increases when we practice Sympathetic Joy, one of the Brahma Viharas, or Four Immeasurable Qualities. And, we can transform our sense of loneliness, jealousy, or even just the judging mind by actively Choosing to be happy in the happiness of others. We do this by recognizing that every creature wants to be happy and to be loved and that in celebrating this in others we begin to open to it in ourselves. The next time someone has something you want, notice in your body the shift that occurs when you actively experience joy for their joy, happiness for their happiness, pleasure at their pleasure.