COURTNEY ROHAN YOGA

“Practice and all is coming.” - PattabhiJois There is usually a mixed review on cumulative work when I speak about it in the 7 th grade classroom. Cumulative work that is a culmination of bad ideas, practices, or grades, for instance, is not such a good thing. No one wants to have a whole heaping lot of bad things that follow them around and add up to their experience or affect their standing. However, cumulative positivity, whether that be intention or action…now, we are talking. 7 th graders, well, everyone loves that. One of my yoga teachers on Gaiam, Shannon Paige , expresses yoga as a cumulative practice. I agree and love this idea. How awesome to know that when you revisit various asana, kriya, meditation, scripture, daily or consistently, your body remembers, hold and processes the effort and intention you have placed into it! How wonderful to consider all the positive intentions that you set filtering your not-so-positive thoughts to a higher ground, leading you to

Circumcision of the heart by the Spirit? Just exploring this idea here. Romans 2:29. "  No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise [ a ] from God, not from people." What does this verse from the Bible really mean has to transpire? I have a confession. I love ancient, relevant text. The Bible is most definitely one of my favs. I love the enormity of the ideas, the way Spirit then reveals itself, always the same. God is enormous. I just wanted to let you know before I rant about how I love this scripture. I love this scripture!! It reminds me that there is nothing that we can do to be in his graces. It means, there is nothing to do? Did I read that right? The heart is purified by the Spirit. You may be one of the beautiful ones that would like to argue with this thinking—

I just learned how to relax. I’m so excited!  And, it took me being completely out of my comfort zone to truly understand what it meant to do it, to relax. I’m doing it right now as I type this. I have never relaxed at the beginning of a writing, so this is new. It feels good to let my shoulders slide down and away from my ears, everything open, not forced open, but subtle, and easy, at the beginning. If you relax, the inspiration, and then the thought will come. We have to take the time to listen as we relax into knowing that it will be. This meant for me, for years, I have had moments where I felt relaxation, and then long stretches, where I found it a chore to relax. I am not sure if this sounds familiar to anyone. But I am sharing this any way because it felt very familiar to me. It was my existence. And no one really wants to live uncomfortable in their skin if they've ever felt the alternative. I feel for everyone who has and continues to feel this way. Really, trul