Summer Solstice Newsletter - Honoring the Light! Online and Retreat 2027 Info
Summer is here! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season, Solstice time, Juneteenth celebrations and whatever you get up to in this warmer time of the year……
Newsletters/Updates are going out once a quarter from now on. Occasional email for specific events or offers will appear from time to time but no more monthly updates. Each newsletter will have an article, news about workshops and online classes, a poem or 2 and often a free practice and/or links to recommended practices. If you do not want to receive these emails in the future please Unsubscribe at the link below rather than putting this email in your spam. I totally understand our need to keep the inbox slim, and I also do not want to send these often personal emails with special offers to folks who may not be interested in this work. I treasure and respect this online community greatly!
BACK TO THE OCEAN! For Online Yoga in July - We are staying fluid and cooooool this summer……
ONLINE:
Summer Online Yoga continues with our usual schedule on Tues, Wed and Sat ams with up tp 15 classes a month during July and August
Special Offer for newbies or those we haven’t seen in class this year: 2 months for 1 month
Auto or July only Subscribers sign up here Auto subscribers receive recordings of all classes.
8/1 Sarvangasana Special - FREE to auto subscribers - $50 for everyone else.
RETREAT 2027:
April 21 - 25 Outdoor Meditation and Yoga at Pomo Tierra, CA - Sign up by 9/1 for major discount! We want to fill this workshop by 9/2/26
May 11 - 17 Gray Bear TN, Presence in Yoga Yes! We are back again in this exquisite part of the world - see link for details.
Summer CA Retreat 2027 - Check this link after 7/7/26 to see if there will be another retreat early July 2027 - This retreat fills fast so stay in touch.
FREE Meditation on Wheels!
This audio file by MP is a walking meditation focusing on earthing oneself in the middle of the storm, which is also suitable for sitting or practicing in a wheelchair. There is also a pdf of a chapter from Kaira Jewel Lingo’s book ‘We Were Made for These Times’ that inspired part of this meditation.
CUBA IN CRISIS
6/21/26 9 -10am ¡Yoga Va! Meeting to discuss what is happening, be updated by folks who know much more about what is going on there than mainstream media and to consider how we can be of service to these amazing yogis and their families at a horrendous time in their lives. and the fate of their beautiful island is in the balance. This meeting will be attended by a small group of our Yoga Va! core but you are welcome to attend if you wish to find out more and support Cuban yogis.
Zoom Link for Meeting.
Mariela tries to cook in Habana when there is no propane, no electricity and constant blackouts. See Update
FREE Gentle Yoga Practice - Audio File - 25mins
to soothe and cool after the heat of a summer day
HONORING THE LIGHT!
We enter the Summer Solstice this weekend and the longest day of the year. What a year it has been so far! 2 new wars, attacks and murders of citizens who protest. Last week a trillionaire was announced while corruption at high levels exceeds all possible expectations. And we keep going, moving towards the light. As I write this, a very significant election was announced that beat back the right wing in the UK (for now!) and the recent change around in Hungary has given many of us some sense of possibility in the middle of this muddy lotus of life.
I rely on poetry, imagery and the great outdoors to keep myself on a functional plane. The recent retreat here at our little collective farm and at the Gray Bear retreat in Tennessee remind me of how important it is to move, sit, converse, build sangha and just be with the plant world, the non human and the very human world in these times! Blessings to all Yogis and Light bearers!
Below is a poem I selected to honor Juneteenth and the power of image in the face of tragedy. I first noticed this poem by Ross Gay in an eclectic anthology called “Leaning Toward the Light” - His work is infused with the poignancy of close observation and also the joy accessible in the city, in the garden, everywhere he meanders. In our Yoga Salon, we have been “Taking Flight” with inspirations from the bird world and I enclose here a short chapter in a book of daily essays by Ross that we shared in a recent session focused on pigeons and doves. The simplicity of seeing our fellow humans feeding birds. Enjoy!
A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay
Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, continue
to do what such plants do, like house
and feed small and necessary creatures,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
like converting sunlight
into food, like making it easier
for us to breathe.
Wishing you all a cosmic, luscious Solstice, a heartfelt Juneteenth, and all the joys of Summer wherever you bring your own special light to beam.
Artist: Sophie Blackall from a link sent by a student, Cathy, about Poetic Ecology and the Biology of Wonder
