Image / Bessi via Pixabay


Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest

breathing
like the ones
in the old stories

who could cross
a shimmering bed of dry leaves
without a sound,

you come
to a place
whose only task

is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests

conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.

Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and

to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,

questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,

questions
that have patiently
waited for you,

questions
that have no right
to go away.


- David Whyte, "Sometimes",
from Everything Is Waiting for You



Dana Wyss Healing Arts
Breathe deeply, practice often, be well.
http://www.danawyss.com/

Image / WikiImages from Pixabay


What things are steadfast? Not the birds.
Not the bride and groom who hurry
in their brevity to reach one another.
The stars do not blow away as we do.
The heavenly things ignite and freeze.
But not as my hair falls before you.
Fragile and momentary, we continue.
Fearing madness in all things huge
and their requiring. Managing as thin light
on water. Managing only greetings
and farewells. We love a little, as the mice
huddle, as the goat leans against my hand.
As the lovers quickening, riding time.
Making safety in the moment. This touching
home goes far. This fishing in the air.

- Linda Gregg, "We Manage Most When We Manage Small"
from All of it Singing, Graywolf Press


Dana Wyss Healing Arts
Breathe deeply, practice often, be well.
http://www.danawyss.com/

Dana Wyss Healing Arts
Breathe deeply, practice often, be well.
http://www.danawyss.com/

Image / oleg0


"Regardless of what stage of life we're in, Yoga practice should serve to bring forth our unique skills, strengths, and talents. It should help us live with greater ease and acceptance.

In this light, always consider your practice in terms of how it can balance and serve the rest of your life. The practice should serve you: you are not a servant to the practice.

Sometimes the harder practice is not what we do on our mat but what is demanded of us off the mat. The greater practice may be in giving up part of our formal practice time to devote more attention to raising our children or taking care of our elderly parents.

It is a terrible thing if we see these periods of our life as somehow taking us away from our "real" practice. Yoga practice should not conflict with our life but contribute to it.

Whatever connects us to our essence is our practice. Whatever clears our head so we can see what is important is our practice.

We define advanced practice as any practice that brings us back toward our self."

- Donna Farhi, excerpted from Bringing Yoga to Life, pp 149-150



Vaikahara Mudra
"Gesture of the Protective Shield"

Hand Position: To take this mudra, make both hands into fists with thumbs on the outside, resting on the 2nd joint of the ring fingers. Cross your arms in front of your chest, right arm closest to the body, and place fists just under the shoulder joints on either side of the body. Relax the shoulders.

 Begin by holding this mudra for 5-10 breaths, or until you have a sense of how it effects you in subtle and physical ways. You may want to take notes in your practice journal about your experience to deepen your understanding and for later reference. Practice, and notice what you notice.



Dana Wyss Healing Arts
Breathe deeply, practice often, be well.
http://www.danawyss.com/

A daily practice to bring relief to those exposed to distress and/or trauma as part of their work or related to the current COVID-19 pandemic. What a truly lovely gift, from a generous mental health practitioner skilled at guiding others after disaster scenarios.

Dana Wyss Healing Arts
Breathe deeply, practice often, be well.
http://www.danawyss.com/