ADDENDUM: To new schedule post

I failed to specify when Kat will be teaching the 7:00 am- and that's on MONDAYS.  I will continue to teach the 7:00 am wednesday class.  My complete schedule is below.

Lots of love,

P 

New Schedule

Fall is starting on Saturday, and with that, come all new classes!

Go Yoga has amazing new teachers and two new express classes.

Quick Fitness' beloved yoga teacher Cass Ghiorse (a student of one of my favorite teachers, Elena Brower) is going on maternity leave and I will be taking over her alignment based classes on Thursday at 9:00 am.  Katherine Colla, a dear friend, is now teaching the 7:00 am vinyasa yoga at Quick Fitness, Moriah Ray starts teaching restorative yoga on Sunday nights, and Hannah Gruber takes over the Wednesday and Saturday classes.

Get on it!  Because practicing yoga is better than _________.

Love,

P 

Yamas and Niyamas, continued

Aparigraha (non attachment)

Whether you just started your practice or you're a long term yogi/yogini, Aparigraha, or non-attachment, is another one of the Yamas (the last of the 5, per Master Patanjali) that is commonly used and heard around classes, blogs and yoga-related articles. 

Non-attachment on the mat starts from the beginning of your practice.  The moment you sit down and close your eyes,  in order to embrace your practice, you must separate yourself from the residues of your day.  We carry around the emotions and responses of our day, whether we know it or not (snappy, anyone?).  Sitting down on your mat before your practice and setting an intention to "let go" is the first step to begin a peaceful and refreshing practice. 

Secondly, non-attachment should be practiced in every pose in two different ways, firstly, removing the need to attach yourself to a result of the pose ("I really want to do that pose the student did") and as result, accepting your body and where it is at this present time.  Competition is part of the human condition, and seeing a room full of yogis, it is hard not to compare or watch those around you and see how they practice.  However, we are all different.  What you may be able to do is not what your neighbor may be able to do, and vice-versa.  Let go of what those around you are doing, and concentrate on your practice. As you do this, you will see that every step of the asana becomes important, rather than the end result. 

To practice Aparigraha outside of the mat is a lifetime goal.  There are monks that meditate on the practice of letting go for hours at a time.  After all, we are almost programmed to use our memories as a puzzle and attach everything in our lives to our experience.  Non-attachment is HARD!  I am sure that you can think of many things you are currently overly attached to (shoes?  that restaurant?  Your boyfriend?)  Non-attachment takes constant practice and effort.  Paying attention to the present is an easy antidote to being overly attached.  Also, being generous to others helps remove that selfishness. 

Lastly, to practice Non-attachment you don't have to give away all your material things and let go of everything, it simply means that if those items were to be taken from you, you'd be accepting of your present.  

With love,

P

P.S. I am super excited to be teaching the 9:00 am Thursday class at Quick Fitness!  If you are local to the Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhoods, the yoga community in this gym is a gem, and very hard to find in other gyms.  If you're interested in passing by, please let me know.