Yoga Friends,
Eric and I have arrived home from an incredible journey to Maine. What a rich, diverse landscape we have in this beautiful country! With each new encounter, I was reminded of a poem by Rumi:
I am so small I can barely be seen.
How can this great love be inside me?
Look at your eyes. They are small,
but they see enormous things.
Here in mid-June we are at a seasonal threshold, crossing from Spring into Summer. The Summer Solstice is tomorrow, Sunday, June 20th. The solstices marks when the Earth's axis is pointed most toward (Summer Solstice) or most away (Winter Solstice) from the sun.
"Solstice" comes from Latin meaning "sun stands still." The Summer Solstice begins three days when the sun appears to stay in the same location in the heavens and shines the most amount of daylight in a 24 hour period in a one year calendar. On June 24th, the light gets shorter by a single second and then gradually the daylight period gets shorter and shorter until the Winter Solstice.
In ancient Chinese medicine, out of which some of the earliest comprehensive health studies arose, including acupuncture, summer is the essential time for the natural world to expand and come to fullest expression and maturation. Each plant is following out its destiny as written in the code of their unique seed.
Summer is associated with the fire energy of the Heart and Small Intestine (think digestion, circulation and love). Archetypally, the heart is considered the Benevolent Ruler that nourishes all but controls nothing. When heart energy is harmonized, we feel that we are aligned with our personal truth and path - that our skills and passion match the life we are creating. The associated emotion of heart energy is joy and the voice quality is laughter.
In the next several weeks, we will explore these topics in depth in all of my classes, but especially the Saturday 9am Yin Yoga, the Sunday 10am Vinyasa and Yin Yoga, and the Thursday 4:15pm Yin Yoga practices.
Here are the themes of the next few weeks as we usher our body, minds and emotions meaningfully into Summer.
June 26th, 27th & July 1st The Heart and Small Intestine: The Physical Organs and Their Functions
July 3rd, 4th & 8th The Psychological and Spiritual Associations of Heart and Small Intestine (Fire Element)
July 10th, 11th & 15th The Fire Element Archetype: Benevolent Ruler
July 17th, 18th & 22nd Pericardium and Triple Burner: The Physical "Organs" and Their Functions
July 24th, 25th & 29th The Psychological and Spiritual Associations of Pericardium and Triple Burner (Absolute Fire)
July 31st, August 1st & 5th The Absolute Fire Archetype of the Alchemist
August 7th, 8th & 12th Poems to Stir and Soothe the Heart
As you create rituals of meaning in your life, you may enjoy joining me for practices and exploration through the physical, emotional, symbolic, and poetic realms of the Fire Element of Summer in nourishment of the Heart.
With love,
~Machelle