Namaste, Happy International Yoga Day!

The simplest form of Yoga can be practiced in five minutes or less:  Namaskar

The Meaning Behind the Traditional Indian Greeting

Happy Solstice!  May the pure light within you guide your way on!

Saint Soldier: Namaste

Namaste, Yogis and Yoginis!  Have you heard of Saint Soldier, Canada's own Sikh rapper taking on gang violence and other weighty social issues here and in India?

"Do you feel it? Love's the realest..." Saint Soldier, Namaste

Mahatma Gandhi, Saluting the Great Soul

Image Source

October 2nd is the day we celebrate the birth of Mohandas K. Gandhi, known the world over by the honorific title Mahatma or great (maha) soul (atma).

Each year the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace hosts a garlanding ceremony at the statue of Bapu (an affectionate term meaning "Papa" or "Father") in the plaza immediately south of the Stanley A. Milner Library in downtown Edmonton.

The event takes place at noon on Sunday October 2nd, 2016.

It is free of charge.  All are welcome to attend the brief talk and ceremony, to offer a Mala (garland of flowers) and wishes for peace.

Happy Spring 2016!

Image: Shutterstock

Spring has sprung, and with it, wonderful new beginnings!

Raja Yoga Spring Session:

Wednesdays 7-8:30 pm until June 8
Drop-ins are welcome.

Email tarawoltjen@yahoo.ca for details.

I'm also excited to announce my first workshop at Mystical Stone in Stony Plain, Let's Start with Ganesha!

Saturday June 4, 1-4pm.

Mystical Stone Yoga Studio

With his colorful clothing and elephant head Ganesha is one of the most recognized and beloved deities in any spiritual tradition. In Yoga he is heralded as the "remover of obstacles" and is saluted before beginning any path of study or new endeavour. 

Are you ready to make a change in your life? Do you have obstacles you wish to overcome? Begin by celebrating your own inner wisdom, strength, and sense of humor, symbolized by Ganesha, through stories, songs, mantras and balancing the Muladhara (root) Chakra.



Raja Yoga Summer Camp 2016 is coming soon!

This is our fourth year of Wednesday evening gatherings and special events including study nights and field trips to local temples and cultural events.

Email at tarawoltjen@yahoo.ca and I will be happy to put you on the e-vite list.

We're All in This Together

Namaste, oneness, unity in diversity, compassion for all beings, seeing "others" as our Selves...

I know, some days these yogic practices may seem like lofty ideas, like intellectual exercises, like airy-fairy philosophy, like sappy slogans, like sentimentality rather than scientific fact. 

But consider this:

"Quoting geneticists, Guy Murchie says we're all family. You have at least a million relatives as close as tenth cousin, and no one on Earth is any farther removed than your 50th cousin.

Murchie also describes our kinship through an analysis of how deeply we share the air. With each breath, you take into your body 10 sextillion atoms, and--owing to the wind's ceaseless circulation--over a year's time you have intimate relations with oxygen molecules exhaled by every person alive, as well as by everyone who ever lived. Right now you may be carrying atoms that were once inside the lungs of Malcolm X, Christopher Columbus, Joan of Arc, and Cleopatra." 

- Rob Brezsny, freewillastrology.com

Kali's Kitchen is One Year Old!

I can hardly believe Kali's Kitchen is a year old already!

Thank you to all of you for reading, and for your beautiful comments and feedback!

There's lots of good stuff to come, so please keep visiting.  And let me know what you'd like to see in the coming year.

Namaste!

Curvy Girls Do Yoga Too

 

Wide-Leg Seated Forward Fold (Upavista Konasana)



Modified Child's Pose (Balasana)


I hate to admit it, but these photos have been hanging around in my files since Autumn of 2008. 

My Mom took them for a project that never quite saw the light of day.

Although I could have posted them here long ago, I didn't.

Why not?

Downward Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Well, frankly, I didn't like the way I looked so I didn't want anyone to see them. 

In fact, I didn't want to have to look at them myself.

But yesterday I came across some inspiration - a community of  curvy yoginis who practice with passion and ahimsa, look awesome and aren't afraid to show it!



Anna Guest-Jelley of Curvy Yoga in Nashville is gathering photos for her gallery as a loving response to the lack of representation we curvy girls (and big guys for that matter) get in yoga magazines and marketing.

Reading her body-positive posts and the feedback from her readers inspired me to send a few for her to choose from. 

She selected this one of me in the Bear Pose which she called "Totally fab!". 

Thank you Anna!  Namaste!  I really REALLY needed that!

Drawing on her courage and community I decided to, as Anna puts it, "grab life by the curves" and share them here too.
 

Bear Pose (Urdhva Upavista Konasana)

Wonder where the name of the asana comes from?  Nature, of course!  Need some proof?

Photo by : Meta Penca/BNPS

Look at Santra the Bear practicing one of several yoga asanas that are part of her personal stretching routine at Ahtari Zoo in Finland!

Click here to read more about Santra the Bear's Yoga routine!

I guess curvy bears do yoga too!  Jai!

Greeting the Mirror - Namaste!

Yogini Shyama with her hands and heart in Namaste.

In Yoga we often greet one another with a special hand gesture known as Anjali Mudra, accompanied by the beautiful Sanskrit word Namaste. 

It is a common greeting in India, the birthplace of yoga, and among yogis worldwide.  It is a humble yet noble and peaceful gesture which acknowledges our seeing one another, and our joy at that meeting. 

Most commonly in the west, Namaste is translated as, "The Divine in me sees the Divine in you."  or "The Light in me sees the Light in you". 

But I like to think of it more simply as, "I see me in you and you in me." 

For me, this translation emphasizes the mirror-like reflection of the Self in each being we encounter and emphasizes our divinity, unity and similarities over our differences. 

In other words, it reminds me that regardless of appearances and circumstances, we have more in common than not.  We are part of the same whole, and we share the same goals of happiness and freedom.

Alberta Singer/Songwriter/Yogi Brian McLeod

My favorite translation of this greeting came from an old Ayurvedic doctor I met at the Sivananda Ashram in Grass Valley, California. 

He told me that in Namaste, we bring the strength in the right side of the body (ha/pingala nadi/masculine/wisdom/active energy) together with the love that comes from the heart (left/tha/ida nadi/feminine/compassion/passive energy) in service to our fellow beings.

Later I found this definition by Mahatma Gandhi which unfortunately, I've long since lost the source of, but share with reverence to this day because it captures the deeper meaning of the greeting so beautifully in such a simple and heart-felt way.

Namaste

I offer you peace.

I offer you love.

I offer you friendship.

I see your beauty.

I hear your need.

I feel your feelings.

My wisdom flows from the highest source.

I salute that source in you.

Let us work together in unity and love.

-Mahatma Gandhi

If you would like to read more about the origin and importance of Namaste, click here for a wonderful article titled, Namaste - The Significance of a Yogic Greeting, on the Exotic India homepage.

Thank you to all of the enthusiastic yoga teachers in training at Yoga for Today! It was lovely to share this with you on Saturday as we closed our session on the chakras, the subtle body and the psychology of yoga. 

I look forward to seeing you again in November when we study the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita! 

I trust that our reunion will be enriched by our understanding, and our greetings all the sweeter because of it!

Namaste!