COURTNEY ROHAN YOGA

Firsts are profound. A first kiss or a first love as horrendous or blissful as the breeze on a Spring day that lifts your skirt to the crowd or gently caresses your face.  The momentum that a first brings if we are paying attention could be the difference between something taking a year, a month, or a minute to experience. The difference between deciding that's not it, let's try again, or knowing what you want so clearly that there is nothing that could prevent its happening. That's the power of the firsts.  Asha and Sael at the Eats Festival in Oakland Since being in California, there have been a lot of firsts for me. I've been trying for the purposes of this blog to recall them all. I have been blessed with so many. We all are, everyday. And, if we really take stock, so many could be categorized as great!! Boston's first city bus ride (that he can remember) and father-led driving lesson, my first dip in the cold Pacific Ocean, my nieces Sael and Asha mee

I have been making lots of "mistakes" lately, feeling like they were happening to me as opposed to the other possibility. I was creating.  I was creating scenarios in my thoughts unconsciously, and then as I watched events play out, they were much different then I thought they should be. This is not new for me. The mature being is not tossed about by these supposed mishaps, but takes them in stride and sees the opportunity that these "mistakes" present. It is time for maturity in my life, but that is not always what I find. The opportunity to admit a mistakes happens, without fail, daily and perfectly, and sometimes it just plan comes on the wrong day at the wrong time. No matter when it comes though, the opportunity to perk up for the lesson is key. If we can make use of this, without shunning or condemning the self, we can grow character, and further, hope. If we are to call ourselves conscious creators, mature, in any sense of the term, we must practice

I can't believe that I am moving. I thought the day would never come. Living away from my husband for almost two years, waiting for the day when he would call me and tell me that he is ready for my son and I to come join him, made the day he called feel like a dream. I have had to do a lot of preparing to make this move to California, emotionally and physically. I have had to let a lot of things go. There are no regrets here, just observances (though I can't say it has been easy). However the tapas, heat, that I have had to face has melted and rounded my edges. Sleeping on the floor on a very cushy palate and chilling on my meditation mats because all of my furniture is sold has been for the better. Scaling down has shown me that we really don't need that much. The other day I asked my friend which forks I should keep, and then I knew I'd lost it. I had surrendered to God, Isvara pranidhana. With nothing to lose, there is everything to gain. Yoga teaches us this.

Inspiration for Upcoming Class An excerpt from  Practice,  by Courtney Rohan    Modified Bhujangasana Recently, I watched a movie called:  Eat the Sun  on Gaiam. Though the movie conveyed an extreme use of the sun, it reminded me how vital the sun is for the body, mind and spirit. In the movie, sun gazers look at the sun for up to 41 minutes a day! Wow! Burning the retina, but able to eat less and attempt feats of great strength as a result. Nonetheless, the benefits of sunlight are many. Though too much of anything can be damaging, we all need the sun’s light. If we can take in the amount that will allow us to flourish, and use its bounty, we can heal and do more with our time in the body. As within the  movie, we too can tap further into a deep and profound  inner strength. The Practice  June 11th will be our next opportunity to excite the practice for FREE at SC Blue, Irmo. Flow with me through the varying ideas found within the Sun Salutations and create new experiences in

My husband recently shared a song with me by Beres Hammond, "Truth Will Live On." The movement of the reggae beat and the lyrics speak of rising to the occasion. It challenges us to stand up for our rights. To accept the fact that we are deserving of the best life experience, leads me to contemplate how we evolve.   The Truth will survive forever. The truth within us and around us will take us to new levels. We will forever become anew. This is the beauty of life. We will live on and continue to change as we do. Never the same as the day before, we are ever evolving as we move through Life forever.   Flowing through life, this tangible earthly one, is to go with the stream of our experience. This means that when experience comes into our awareness, we can observe it as apart of the all that cause us to evolve. And, with this we can respond from a place of authenticity. In each experience, the truth, which will take us to new spheres, resides.  ... To read more, k

On Facebook recently, one of my friends posted: “Drop a busted picture of yourself.” How cute, I thought. I want to drop one, and then I looked through my photo reel and found none. I realized: I don’t keep the busted pictures. I delete them immediately. The perfection of a yoga picture, of any picture, is only one interpretation of the whole. The practice is long, or maybe the experience is.  Sometimes, it is hard. And, thank The Divine there are times when the pictures show ease, but the practice is more than all of this.  The experience of life is more than what we capture in a moment. Yet, as we practice, tooling through a sequence or holding poses to a complete stretch, to union with the spirit, this is perfect, though it might not always look so.  This is one of the reasons why people practice and share their journey. There is growth through the poses, through your stance each time you go there, and no matter the extent to which they try to share their experie

Do you have a yoga mat? Good, if you do; fine, if you don’t. Do you have a room, a space, green grass, a park? Good. The hardest part of a yoga practice is not having props or room to do the practice, it is what we tell ourselves.  We tell ourselves we need certain specific things in order to do the practice, when this is far from the truth. Showing up daily to a yoga practice, or whatever practice may be for you, is one of the challenges that we all face. Everyone has days when they do not want to go there, but the professional verses the amateur shows up anyway. Lisa Dietz, "Wheelchair Yoga"  www.arts.state.mn.us I do not mean amateur because you might not be able to do advanced poses; that is not always what a yoga practice looks like anyway. Pictures of people doing yoga are not a clear representation of what goes on before or after on that mat. A wheelchair bound yogi or a bedridden one’s practice is unique to their need. If you have an injury, your prac