This is AWESOME. Ok, well, first of all, I attended a Yoga workshop with Senior Anusara Yoga Instructor, Desiree Rumbaugh, this past Friday. I had studied with her once before, about two years ago, when she came to Dallas for the first time. This was her second visit to Dallas...she is so inspired and ignited with inspiration, it is completely infectious. She has been practicing Yoga for twenty-two years! It's almost mind-boggling to imagine a practice of any kind sustaining that length of time. And, she is fifty! You can watch this incredible video tribute to her which illuminates the amazing Yoga practitioner and teacher she is. She has been featured on the cover of Yoga journal several times...

I've always greatly appreciated Anusara Yoga for its inspired emphasis on physical and spiritual alignment and its focus on healing the body, mind and spirit. Anusara Yoga is the style developed by John Friend, who is actually a fellow Ohioan. He was born in Youngstown, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland and now lives in the Woodlands near Houston, Texas. Anusara Yoga has one of the largest followings on the planet, with over 200,000 practitioners, and Desiree is one of Anusara Yoga's master teachers. I'm looking forward to sharing some of the insight and openings I received from the class.

One of the things I appreciated most about the class was Desiree's enlightenment about love. When we began the class she said, we are going to focus on love. She then went on to say, most of us think of love as a feeling. But, love is not a feeling because if it was a feeling it would be fleeting. Love is our ability to give our attention fully to someone or something, including our own self. Yoga is such an incredible vehicle because it teaches us how to love our own body, and therefore our own self, and through this, we are able to love others as we love ourself. Love is our ability to be fully present. All of our life is a journey, an evolution at becoming better and better at being present, at being able to give our attention fully, to our breath, to the moment, to our body, to our self, to our lover, our community, our work, our planet, etc...

She then went on to talk about something I had heard nothing about. Apparently, we are in the age of Aquarius, and not coincidentally, this Valentine's Day was the day the stars aligned to usher in this energetic transformation on the planet. Here is a little excerpt from this article online, but you've got to read the whole thing...it's fascinating!

Aquarian Alignment Valentines Day 2009

"Remember Hair? Well.. now we have a date, February 14th,2009.
The moon will be in the 7th house. Jupiter will align with Mars. Which, if we old hippies are right, will mean.. peace WILL guide the planets and love WILL steer the stars. Finally, this IS the dawning of the age of Aquarius! (Will someone please tell Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh et al.)

In mid February a rare astrological concentration brings together a number of planets together with the North Node - denoting higher purpose - in Aquarius that energizes and inspires the possibility for transcendental breakthrough in some perhaps seemingly intransigent situations.

We measure our global sense of both space (latitude and longitude) and time (universal time - UT or GMT) from the prime meridian located at Greenwich, England. So we can perceive the collective influence of this momentous astrological event by looking at the alignment from this globally 'centered' perspective.

When we do something extraordinary and exquisite emerges.

At dawn on 14th February the day dedicated to St Valentine, the patron saint of Love, the Moon in Libra enters the seventh house of relationships. And Jupiter and Mars are aligned in Aquarius in the twelfth house of spiritual transformation.

Forty years ago, the intuitive words of a song called Aquarius, brought the dawning of the new age into our collective awareness:

When the Moon is in the seventh house

and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Then love will rule the planets

and peace will steer the stars

At dawn on 14th February the Cosmos actually embodies this perfect alignment to support our collective manifestation of love and peace and dawning of the Age of Aquarius."

Desiree talked about this incredible time we are in, and actually said, that for real, the shift that is taking place is we are realizing a transformation in the quality of our relationships to reflect this loving consciousness, knowing love not as a feeling, but as the quality of our presence with ourself and with each and everyone. This shift is bringing healing to our planet and to our relationships. She was funny when she said she is so excited about this recession! She was saying what a gift it is that this has been happening to the economy. If it weren't for the recession, our attention would still fully be on attainment, and money, and material things, which we realize, are NOT the Source of happiness. They are artificial fulfillment with temporary satisfaction. The Source of happiness is the quality of our relationship with our self and with each and everyone...this is where we find our joy, in loving one another. When we first begin Yoga, for most of us, our practice is pretty rough and not very graceful. But through dedication and time, our practice becomes gradually refined and this refinement is reflected in every aspect of our life. I am so grateful I got to study with Desiree this past weekend. I'm also looking forward to Sri Dharma Mittra coming to Dallas at the end of April. If you live in Dallas and practice with me, Carpe Yoga and YourSELF and attend this workshop! We are so fortunate this Yoga Master is coming to Dallas. Studying with him transformed my life in many ways when I first studied with him in April of 2008. So, I hope you will join me for this rare opportunity.

I also just started reading The Hatha Yoga Pradipika. This is, perhaps, a little advanced for the beginning Yoga practitioner, but one that as a dedicated Yogi, we all ought to read at some point in time. I am reading it as part of my 200 hour certification with Shiva Rea, so I will be enjoying spending much time reading and studying this, and several other books, in the year ahead as I complete my 200 hour certification with her. We are so fortunate to receive the gift of Yoga...

Namaste!
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