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

There are times when you are in tune. You feel this on a subtle level first, whether you know it or not. The life that you see materialized is first the energy that is not seen, but felt. These energies swarm about and through the physical body constantly. They flow through our thoughts. Flowing is the important word. These subtler energies can at times become stagnant, with blockages. This is not a death sentence however, it is just about awareness. We can do something about the way that we feel. When we realize that life is happening inside of us first, and then radiates into being. In the practice of yoga, we feel this when we realize that movement can be inspired. Breath can move through the body at varying degrees. We can sing, dance, chant and move energy as we need. This idea of "being able" is hard to accept with ego intact. Ego wants to make us the victim, the prosecuted. Ego complains rather than does. Reacts rather than responds. It will take awareness th

While detoxing it is essential to move, and it is essential to entertain activities to enhance your well being and focus. With movement, you move toxins out of the body, move lymph, aid digestion, breathe deeper and fight stress. Though these activities are not just about movement. Here are some things you can do while you are detoxing, to not only move the body but to increase your overall well being. Please remember that while detoxing your water intake will be a must. So, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!!! Add lemon to your luke-warm water to alkalize the water, which increase blood oxygenation, balances the bodies PH and better assists in cleanses the molecules in your body. Starting the day with this lemon water will kick start your metabolic systems and begin the body on the journey to a great detox. And by all means, Take your mushrooms! Stretch before all of your physical activities to avoid injury. If you need suggestions about what stretches to do, consult:   http://

After meeting Leukemia head on two years ago, I realized that there were definitely some things that I needed to work through, mind, body and spirit. I thought that as I am a praying, practicing yogini that everything would work out. But what I found on the other side of things "working out" is that the process of living your best life in each moment entails the breaking down of false constructs to rebuild anew. And I was not sure what to do to approach my systems' needs fully. Things that I did not think were a problem began to show themselves to me. It was then I realized I needed a holistic approach, one that involved healing on many levels of my being. A friend of mine recently asked me what I learned from having cancer. My response, though I am not sure it fully encompasses the truth of all I have learned, is that I have moved through many different attachments and false beliefs about life. They have been broken down. My authentic heart, which I tried to hide, ex

"Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Matru Rupen Sanstitah... Namastasai Namastasyei Namastasei namo namaha."        ( I bow to the divine feminine conscious that is within us all, over and over again. ) I have always been nervous about chanting. I am not anymore. I know that we are always saying things over and over again in our heads with intention, and that is chanting. And some of the things we are constantly chanting are unfortunately not that nice. On the other hand, when is there a time that you deliberately entice the divinity within yourself and others? When do you take the time to acknowledge that the love within you is also the love within others? Or that the God that rocks out for you, rocks for both of us in equal strength and power? Do you take time to say things like these, over and over again? I used to be scared of the idea of chanting because growing up in a Christian household, I thought that this was idol worship. I thought that this meant I was not worshipping