May 04, 2017

Featured Pose: Vrksasana, Tree Pose

May 04, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

//Vrksasana: Tree Pose

At the moment, life is moving in all sorts of directions. Providing me with the opportunity, let’s be real, the challenge, of staying tuned into my center. New opportunities and life changes that are worthy of pursual have the habit of arriving all at the same time. Keeping in alignment with my center, my truth, during the busier times of my life is a two-part act. Part one is being honest, and part two is being balanced. In that order. I have found, more often than not, that it is a very fine line between utter balanced bliss and fulfillment, and the feeling of being completely overwhelmed and out of sorts by the amount of to-dos. We will always shift and move between both existences, back and forth, side to side, to some extent. With a little self-awareness, honesty, and compassion for our journey we can dwell in our center and maintain our balance.

March 22, 2017

Featured Pose: Supta Matsyendrasana, Reclined Twist

March 22, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

//Supta Matsyendrasana: Reclined Twist

Spring is upon us. I am not sure about the rest of you, but winter seemed to linger a bit longer than was welcome in this household. The stagnant air hanging about the hallways and the clouds from the Pacific lingering close to the dampened earth, perpetuating a state of grey and creating a sense of staleness. I am ready for beginnings again, and just in time, they are here. I sense them as I take my morning walks. The birds are in full chorus and the perennials are bravely popping out of the chilled soil sprinkled from the rain. It feels fresh, clean, and full of possibilities.

Nonetheless, beginnings are a fragile business. We can see this truth in the world around us. Seedlings hang close to the warm blanket of the earth and take comfort in her nutrients while trying desperately to root and create a system of sustaining and maintaining its growth in collaboration with its surroundings. All the while, facing the inevitable digressions of bad weather, other creatures invasions, and lack of sustenance. If not for the haven of earth’s soil, the miracle of rain, and the power of the sun, life and progress would not be possible for this little plant. Just like the seedling, our beginnings are just as fragile, not just the beginning of our life, but all the little beginnings we take through our life. It is essential that we create a suitable place in our body, mind, and environment to nurture our becoming. There are two essential elements to this movement: a sense of grounding and a sense of release. With these two pieces in place we can create a confident space for transformation and possibility.

February 15, 2017

Featured Pose: Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog

February 15, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

// Urdhva Mukha Svanasana: Upward Facing Dog

I can find so many reasons to close my heart. To protect it and hide it. As the days pass, and the seasons change, as the ball of my life continues to roll on and on, I age, and I begin to acquire more painful experiences both personal and worldly, as every other human does. Sometimes it can seem impossible to look into the mirror and grieve the failures, the loss of loved ones, and the sheer brokenness written over my body and over the body of the world. Some days they feel so imprinted and vast that I cannot imagine there being any additional space for more broken hearts. This is utterly paralyzing.

Our Yoga practice calls us to show up, each day, and face whatever it is in front of us. When I want to retreat and hide behind my scars, my practice asks me to stand up, step forward, and reveal my face, to look at it, for as long as I need to in order to see the truth. When I, objectively, look into the mirror and engage with what I see, the imperfections and pain are not the only items of note, I begin to see much beauty and much hope. Then I think, maybe, I can do this again, take a chance, step up, reveal myself, and if my heart is broken again, and it will be, that I have everything I need to pick the pieces up.

It takes a tremendous amount of strength and courage to open our heart and spread our light, but when we do, we can be renewed. The featured pose for this month urdhva mukha svanasana, upward facing dog, is an extroverted pose. It calls us to show up, open our hearts, and share our light. The opening of our chest is invigorating. Mentally, this motion can increase self-confidence and aspiration. Instead of feeling paralyzed, we can feel motivated to promote change, engage with hope, and unabashedly love.

Somatically speaking, up dog is a strong, powerful pose. It strengthens nearly the whole body: arms, wrists, legs, core, and back. It provides a deep stretch for the chest, shoulders, belly, and hip flexors. One of the greatest benefits of this position is that it combats our greatest enemy; sitting at a desk all day long hunched over. To learn how to do this posture, read on.

December 14, 2016

Featured Pose: Anjaneyasana, Crescent Moon Lunge

December 14, 2016/ Brenna Kramer

//Anjaneyasana: Crescent moon lunge

I am feeling very full at the moment. The experiences from the last year, some joyful, some painful, are within me. It is time for me to move inward, to reflect on the positive and negative transformations I have taken over the last 12 months, and begin the process of letting go. Like a snake shedding her skin, or an aged phoenix turning into ash, I release the old ways and avail myself to rebirth. I practice forgiveness with myself and others, accept the imperfect, and extinguish beliefs that no longer serve me. Like the moon in her fullness ready to retreat into the new, I am eager to enter into the New Year with a lightness of being, and the courage to try again at being me and a creature of this great world.

November 02, 2016

Featured Pose: Uttana Shishosana, Puppy Pose

November 02, 2016/ Brenna Kramer

//Uttana Shishosana: Puppy Pose or Melting Heart Pose

Hello again, Gratitude. You’re the friend I’m reminded of this time of year, and the one I try never to forget. You seep into my practice daily, working your magic through each posture to yoke me to the Creator. Gratitude reminds me that my practice is enough, that my breath is enough, and that I am enough. More than enough: worthy of wild, unadulterated praise.

Uttana Shishosana (puppy pose) is a simple, feel good motion that stretches the shoulders and spine, invigorates the mind, and relieves stress, tension, and insomnia. Also referred to as melting heart pose, this mild inversion invites the opening of your heart to the earth and the humbling of your being to the heavens. In this reorientation of the body, we are able to recognize an imperative notion to believing in gratitude, that we are all connected and bound together by something greater than ourselves. With our heart open to the earth, we receive all of its bounty, we acknowledge that we are not alone and that our existence and breath is nourished by all creatures great and small. In this I am humbled and grateful.