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July, 2022
Yoga Newsletter
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The Biology of Belief
"To fully thrive, we must not only eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving, fulfilling lives that stimulate the growth process . . . Learning how to harness your mind to promote growth is the secret of life . . . living in love and living in fear create opposite effects in the body and the mind. "
~ Bruce E. Lipton, Ph.D., The Biology of Belief
It felt good to return to Whidbey for my first in-person practice since February, 2020. I'm looking forward to gathering in-person later this month and in September!
As always, our practice was situated in the context of challenging times AND deep connection. How is it that soothing the nervous system and allowing external stressors release their grip on our bodies/minds, offers a felt experience of the underlying presence of compassion?
An increasing body of research using cell communities as role models is unraveling the mysteries of how the environment influences the behavior of cells without changing the genetic code. These studies define how beliefs drive behavior and genetic activity and consequently, the unfolding of our lives.
In his book The Biology of Belief, Bruce E. Lipton, Ph.D. shares research indicating that in response to environmental conditions, endothelial cells (cells that line the blood vessels) retreat from toxins just as humans retreat from danger (a protection response) and gravitate to nutrients, just as humans gravitate to nutrients (a growth response).
These responses are essential for human survival but they cannot operate optimally at the same time and are profoundly effected by prolonged stress - 'a sustained protection response inhibits the creation of life-sustaining energy'. This suggests that our hyper-vigilant lifestyles generated by chronic fears, concerns, and acquired habitual, limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs, can severely impact our health, inhibiting the growth/protection mechanisms of the cells essential for our vitality and survival.
"The very presence of your breath and of your body is one of the most astonishing things in the universe, and it offers the continual opportunity to start over. This awareness allows us to start the entire project of our life over, to reinitiate all the threads of our thought, grounding it all in the immediate experience of the body. What an incredible relief it is to understand that the ultimate place of pilgrimage is right in the center of our very own heart . . .
So whenever we practice yoga we take another look . . . We look again for the first time at our breath . . . We look once again at each other, at the world, and at the mind - all anew and fresh, without the preconceptions that come from past experience. Looking into the mirror of yoga there is something deep, completely mysterious, extraordinarily joyous, and most of all very familiar."
~ Richard Freeman, The Mirror of Yoga
In this newsletter:
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George Herrick Lasua's 'Earth's Embrace " artwork with companion poem
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Parsley Pesto Recipe & Pollinator Gardens
Abundant Blessings,
Wendy
Next Online Practices, 'Live' or by Recording
July 13, 15, 27 & 29th
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Chair Practice - Wednesday, 10:30 - 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time
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Centering Practice - Friday, 9:00-10:15 a.m. Pacific Time
In-Person Practices on Whidbey
FULL - Join the Waiting List
Saturdays - July 23, September 17 & 24
9:00 -11:00 a.m. Pacific Time
Summer practices (online and in-person), will provide a space to inhabit your body with sensitivity, unlock tension, and restore efficient and supple movement patterns within a caring circle. This is the essence of practice (sādhana) - inner alignment - to refine your capacity to return to what is arising and subsiding in the present moment.
In-person classes will explore in more depth asanas, breath and awareness practices that when practiced regularly, recover strength, balance, resilience, and return the nervous system to a calm and centered place. We'll play with variations to acknowledge and respect individual differences, and to enhance your ongoing home practice.
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Join the Waiting List for
In-Person Classes
The Essence of Practice
Saturday Mornings
9:00-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time
July 23, Sept 17 & 24, 2022
Greenbank, Whidbey Island, WA
- Pay what you are able for 1-3 classes. Drop-in is not an option.
- Your payment is your registration.
- You will receive a confirmation with the address and further details.
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Join
Summer Centering or Chair Practices
'live' via Zoom or by recording:
- Pay what you are able for a 4 or 6-week series or drop-in.
- Your payment is your registration.
- You will receive a confirmation.
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Learn more about
One-on-One Sessions
(Individual Mentoring),
online or in-person
and contact me:
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'Earth's Embrace'
by George Herrick Lasua
'Earth's Embrace' represents the artist's vision of the abundant grace of Mother Earth. She nurtures, supports and sustains us. As Earth embraces us, so we must embrace her. This reciprocity of caring brings hope and promise for the future, symbolized in her rainbow halo.
Within the Earth's embrace
Wonder blossoms,
Strength rises from its hiding places,
Peace chants its soulful aria.
Nature's textured tapestry
Warms the gallery of life
In such embrace,
A gentle power
Opening the heart.
The original painting was included in an international exhibition at the National Institute of Art in Taipei, Taiwan.
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Parsley Pesto
In April I began planting a pollinator garden on the roof of our townhome in Seattle. It includes culinary and medicinal herbs, flowers, and native plants and trees to attract Insects, caterpillars, butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and other birds. I have an abundance of parsley!
An excellent resource on pollinator gardens is Nature's Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy: https://www.workman.com/products/natures-best-hope/hardback
photo and recipe adapted from Elise Bauer, www.simplyrecipes.com
Prep Time 15 minutes, Servings: 5, Yield: 1 1/4 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 cup shelled raw walnuts, about 3 1/2 ounces
- 2 cups chopped parsley, about 1 bunch
- 1/2 cup chopped mint
- 1/2 cup grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese - for lactose intolerance or vegan use yellow nutritional yeast
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Method:
- Roast the walnuts in an iron skillet until lightly browned. This adds flavor and aids digestion.
- Pulse ingredients in food processor for a few seconds to combine.
- Drizzle in the olive oil: While the food processor is running, drizzle in the oil enough to incorporate it and form a paste.
- Use the pesto immediately as a dip for veggies (snap peas are in season); as a spread for all types of wraps - wheat, spelt, almond; or on pasta - wheat, rice, veggie, chickpea.
- Stays fresh chilled, for several days.
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