We love that YOU are part of our Sangha

Love will save the day, every day, as we recognize that we all practice Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of love and devotion. Furthermore, as all of life is a “practice,” let us resolve to practice Bhakti yoga all the more, and especially in the month of February, which honors “love, the mother of all emotions.”  Bhakti yoga is not always easy and positive; it requires courage to face our true selves, even the hard and attention getting places, learning love and acceptance of our self first.  Love challenges our willingness to be dedicated and to surrender all parts of our life as an act of worship. It recognizes that all of life is a spiritual practice laced with the challenge to evolve as we learn from our experiences while sharing our gifts.

The Upanishad’s tell us that we do not love others for their own sake but for the Divine that dwells within them. Therefore, bhakti is intense love for God/Higher Power, that which is eternal and constant.  In the practice of bhakti yoga we use all of our senses, emotions and actions to manifest in expressing love throughout our daily actions and relationships, as an offering of devotion to God/Higher Power.  Whether you are folding the laundry, guiding your children, working a stressful job or practicing meditation, do it with love.  On occasion we find ourselves in a hard corner, where our efforts have been challenged and we are empty. When we turn in, become still with attention for awareness, we are surrendering to “our higher Self,” the Divine within us, an internal, humble surrender that allows us to receive Grace. This may come as signs of obvious guidance and a renewal of inner strength.  We fall and rise from such hard times throughout life, yet if we are aware, we can embrace the opportunity to receive Grace in a greater capacity each time, overcoming hurdles, as our journey toward enlightenment progresses. This is motivation, to deepen our practice. 

Thus, here at Essential Yoga Practice, in this month where we are focusing on intention and awareness, we have arrived at this: if we learn to expand our awareness in our devotional habits, perhaps we can invoke a life of love, happiness, acceptance and peace, for ourselves and for our loved ones.  We have created a few Valentine aromatherapy blends, consider using them in a diffuser or creating a gift to use/share by adding to a 5 ml roller bottle and top of with a carrier like fractionated coconut oil. Enjoy adding these mesmerizing blends to your yoga practice, to “hold you” and warm your spirit. Access pure essential oils HERE.   Share your yoga and aromatherapy practice in our social media, we’d love to hear from you!

• EYP Exotic Blend: 2 drops each Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, and Wild Orange

• EYP Intoxicating Blend: 2 drops each Sandalwood, Lavender and Wild Orange

• EYP Warm Fuzzy Blend: 2 drops each Lavander, Ylang Ylang and Wild Orange

• EYP Spicy Blend: 2 drops each Cinnamon, Ginger, Ylang Ylang Pink Pepper and Clementine

• EYP Love Struck Blend: 2 drops each Wild Orange, drops Bergamot, Grapefruit, Geranium and  Siberian Fir  

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day this weekend!

We hope you have a weekend of peace, love, joy and pampering. And that while Mother’s Day can be triggering because we focus on where we wish we were this year (or in this stage of life), remember that your Mother’s heart is kind and nurturing at its core, and that you are doing the best you can. We believe that as women, we contribute to the world on a one-by-one basis as we ‘mother’ or nurture each other – this can look like a smile, a small service, extending friendship on any level. So we want to pay tribute to women everywhere and their female energy which is the special ingredient that makes us mothers.

Diffuser Blends just for you:

A Little Slice of Wonderful:

·         4 drops Grapefruit

·         3 drops Vetiver

·         2 drops Ginger

·         1 drop Sandalwood

In Love with Life:

·         3 drops Bergamot

·         2 drops Clementine

·         3 drops Geranium

·         4 drops Sandalwood

Peace and Calm:

·         4 drops Wild Orange

·         3 drops Patchouli

·         1 drop Ylang Ylang

·         3 drops Sandalwood

Embracing Change

Change is inevitable. How we react and/or respond is connected to our habits and the stories that narrate them. As we journey through life, there are opportunities to refine and change how we handle the unexpected. Yoga is a great tool, with so many subcategories that we can lean into and use. 

A present day sage Pema Chodron shares, "You are the sky, everything else is just the weather.”

Here,  sky represents your truth and the weather represents emotion. There is emotion around change, but just like with everything, there is  impermanence around each situation with many lessons. While we are allowed all of those emotions, our yoga practice gives us the tools to sift through them and get past them, using the experiences as a springboard to better navigate the next hurdles along our journey. The new reflective ways begin to erase the old ways of reacting. We tap into our intelligence, our seat of intuition, the heart, that place which guides what is right for each of us moving forward. 

Try this short energizing yoga asana practice which helps us take what we know in certain standing poses and apply movement with intelligence. This allows us to stay safe while enjoying new ways of exploring familiar poses. 

Happy Spring from Essential Yoga Practice!

With the official beginning of Spring, the warmer weather fills us with a sense of wakefulness and inspires us to follow along.  It is time to renew our take on life and the transitional steps include spring cleaning, physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

Ayurveda recommends spring cleansing as a way to “fertilize” all areas of life so as to nourish the soil for well-being into the rest of the year.  Please refer to your copy of Essential Yoga Practice book on Amazon, and both the book and DVD at www.essentialyogapractice.com , which further explain our following recommendations, to include a detoxifying asana practice:

1.  Clean the air in your home, car and workspace.  Use a diffuser with any of the citrus oils as they both cleanse the air from pathogens and are emotionally uplifting!

2.  Make your own cleaners using citrus oils (anti-viral)  and tea tree (anti-fungal) essential oils to clean and purify.   In a 24 oz. spray bottle mix water, a few teaspoons of vinegar and 10 to 15drops each of a citrus essential oil and tea tree and use as an all-surface cleaner.

3.  Declutter so as to practice of Saucha, cleanliness, the first Niyama of the eight limbs of yoga (see page 6 in your Essential Yoga Practice book).  This ideal includes being neat and tidy, being pure in thought, as well as using pure products in how you care for body, mind, spirit and living space.

4.  For the next month, try using a couple of drops of a pure, internal-grade citrus oil in a glass of water once daily – this can support healthy functioning of the GI Tract, coat the throat, and bolster immunity.

5.  From the recommendation of Ayurveda,  massage the body daily with carrier oils, before showering, to pull toxins to the surface that will then wash away.  Refer to pages 22-24 of Essential Yoga Practice for more information, or simply use coconut or sesame oil.  Massage toward the lymph nodes to assist lymphatic drainage.

6.  Support the skin, your largest organ, after showering by using skin-nourishing carrier oils or lotions.  Consider making your own blend using carrier oils infused with a few drops of skin-safe essential oils for a grounding aromatherapy (like Cedarwood and Petitgrain) to support vata dosha, as we all need to pacify vata tendencies in the spring. See pages 15-16 of the book. It is important to use pure essential oils to keep from adding toxic load to the body. Look HERE (www.lifefityoga.com/lifefit) for pure oils. 

7.  In your yoga asana practice, use poses from the categories of folds and twists to detoxify the body. 

8.  Get enough sleep.  Springing forward sometimes takes a while to get our body clock back in sync with the time change.  Allow yourself to be prepared and ready for bed by 10 pm when melatonin production is at a peak and falling asleep is easier.

9.  Start or renew a meditation practice to include attention for spiritual growth.

10.  Find a fun and inspirational way to learn something new for enhancing your wellness practice.  Need help?  Join a virtual class on a weekly basis and show up live to be accountable to the group and for your self care. Remember and repeat some of your favorite parts of class as you continue to build your home practice. Join some of our Essential Yoga Practice students with classes HERE, or use the last page of each of the 6 sequences in your Essential Yoga Practice book, placed at the head of your mat, to see your "Sequence at a Glance." 

Seasonal cleansing allows us to clear away old habits/toxins and to introduce new ways of bringing balance to our daily wellness practices, leaving us feeling renewed with more energy and joy, fostering resilience during times of change. 

Want to win a bottle of pure lemon essential oil?  Like, comment and share/tag 2 friends on any of our EYP social media pages and then tune in on April 22 as we announce the winner! Don't forget #EYPspringcleanse