April Update - Ah! Retreat Free Warrior/Daffodil Class
Let the Spring energy revive and restore you! Join us on Retreat and/or try Free Daffodil/Warrior Class below.
Last newsletter before Summer Solstice; I will be limiting my newsletters to quarterly ones and occasional specific event emails. Check out this recent interview with local radio station - feedback appreciated.
In Person:
4/8-12 Outdoor Meditation and Yoga Retreat - LAST CALL - Scholarships available
5/1 - 8 Gray Bear 3/5/8 day Retreat
Yoga in Ukiah 5/11 - 6/22 - Mon, 5.30-6.45pm - New 6 week series
7/2-7 - Summer Retreat in Albion - FULL - Waitlist only
Online:
4/1 Online Classes begin - Tues, Wed, Sat am classes + one restorative - One Month free for newbies if you sign up for a minimum of 3 months.
FREE CLASS BELOW…
Apple Blossom will be in full bloom at Pomo Tierra Retreat
AH Retreat!
On an interview with our local radio station, I found myself marveling at folks who don’t have a regular practice with everything that’s going on these days. To some extent this is true of regular retreat time. I notice that it’s almost as if the barnacles start growing around my heart like an old boat, if I do not have the opportunity to mindfully and kindly scrape them off in an annual or biannual retreat myself. The urgency and chaos of these times makes making this commitment challenging and there is always the financial outlay and the letting go of our multiple responsibilities to make this stepping away into quiet, into nature, into yoga or meditation or both, easily dismissable as unessential or indulgent even.
This week I finally signed up for a silent meditation retreat, knowing that no matter what is going on - and there’s a lot personal and political! - I need this little space, a “Clearing” in the forest as Martha Postlethwaite would say. However I found the price of this retreat, in a large center where “work meditation” is required and the food is wholesome but simple, breath taking! And that is before one has considered dana for tuition. It’s unbelievable how the costs of retreats have skyrocketed over these decades and I know some of my retreats are expensive for some because of these costs. Many of us don’t want to ask for special treatment, scholarships etc feeling that there are many others who need that help more than us even if our own budgets are very tight.
So I signed up, knowing the benefit will outweigh the angst at the cost! And the reason I am writing about this is to encourage those of you who also need this clearing, this special time on retreat, to do whatever you can to get away, restore and revive in these charged times - whether that is a retreat or a more informal period of time in wildness, alone, quiet, wherever it is available.
If an actual retreat is possible and you enjoy camping and being surrounded by apple blossome, do consider our outdoor retreat. Right now we have a few spaces left that we would like to fill. Just as I am amazed at the more commercial centers costs of the retreat I will be attending, I am also amazed that this particular retreat is not full with a wait list, while the July retreat in Albion has been full for awhile. It is incredibly cheap! And if you are penniless, you can get a scholarship for the basic fee. Tuition is based on dana so only what you can afford. If you know someone who needs a retreat and is a camper outdoor person, please send them the info asap. https://www.maryyoga.com/calendar/ptretreat26
On this retreat, I will be teaching yoga in shorter sessions 3 times a day and the emphasis is on silence, the natural world and meditation. Kirsten Rudestam is an extraordinary teacher, having many years of wilderness and ecology experience and is a magical meditation teacher who became beloved by our residents here and all last years attendees.
If you are on the East Coast or more central, consider Gray Bear May 1-8 - and the option to do a 3/5/8 day retreat. I never know if this is going to be my last retreat there. And I sincerely hope this will not be my last, but who knows what will occur with travel, with ageing, with life. This retreat is also, for a popular commercial retreat center, very reasonably priced with the most delightful setting and dwellings to support a deep quiet restful and invigorating oasis in one’s life.
Dear reader and practitioner, whether you retreat or not, take time, step away from the weirdness and complexity and enjoy a few days of breathing, moving, nourishing one’s thirsty “barnacled” heart and soul.
FREE - Warrior - Daffodil - Cylinder Online Practice - 60mins
This practice is from 2024 and is a Basics Practice, typical of our Wed 8.30-9.30am online class. The intention is to connect to the upward rising spring energy and bring that into our dynamic warrior poses in a balanced and easeful way. Suitable for a wide variety of practitioner from beginner to teacher. The inspiration of the daffodil runs through the practice and is reflected in Dennise Gackstedder’s beautiful poem. Below is another more recent poem by Dennise that has been inspirational to many of my online and in-person students. So relevant to these times.
This zoom practice is available til 4/14/26
If you would like to join us online in April and beyond, go to this link. Free month for newbies
LET’S PLAY-Animal Yoga for All Online yoga 9-9.45am, 3/15
CUBA IN CRISIS
Please see previous update on Cuba in Crisis. I am putting relevant news articles and podcast info on the Yoga Va website and on my web page - Crisis 26 Please send me anything that breaks this blockade of silence and it will be posted. Currently there is a flotilla supported by an alliance of humanitarian organizations arriving in Habana with food and medical aid.
Another amazing Dennise Gackstedder poem - Go to the end of the zoom recording above to hear her Daffodil poem.
Dennise Gackstedder A Perfect Union
I think of the bones
of the unsung rib cage,
the way they protect
the heart. How bone,
too, is living, how it constantly
renews and remakes itself.
I think of how ribs engage
with other ribs
to expand, to contract,
Moving together so the body can breathe,
even as they cradle all the soft organs inside.
And because they do
their solid work,
they allow the heart to
float between the lungs
on cushions of air.
This is what I want--
to be a rib in the body
of this country,
to work with others
to make a safe space for love.
There is so much
that needs protection now.
