The Shakti Shine - October 21, 2019
Shakti Love Notes
We are always growing. I love that! And the more I grow, the more I recognize how important it is for us all to share what we're going through-- even (and especially) me.
So these Love Notes are a space for me to share with you each week-- about the studio, my life, how our community is growing.
I've been thinking a lot about letting go lately.
It has something to do with the changing of the season, I think. Watching the warm and sweaty embrace of the Georgia summer melt away and make way for golden leaves and chilly mornings feels like nature's call to release. Even the light is different in the fall, like it's starting to share a secret of what's to come...
Shorter days, see-your-breath weather, and letting go. Bare bones.
The transition feels magical yet easy to miss. Most autumns seem to pass quickly, like I turn around and all of a sudden I'm shivering to my core wondering where all the leaves disappeared to. This year feels different, though. I can sense the falling leaves before they've fallen. I'm watching for them- ready this time. Partly because summer lasted until October, partly because I've been thinking a lot about letting go.
Eckart Tolle writes about the act of letting go in his book The Power of Now. He says to just drop it. Let it go. Like dropping a hot coal that's burning your hands or putting down a heavy suitcase you can't stand to carry any longer. Set yourself free of the burden.
There's a part of the Journey into Power sequence toward the end called 'release.' It's seated forward folds, reverse tabletop, and fish. The intention of release is, well, release. Release is to set free, to let go, to allow to leave, to allow something to move, act, or flow freely. Letting go is a release.
The opposite of release is to hold on.
I think of the last fleeting moments of summer and the first cool days of fall. I always instinctively try to hold on. 'Not yet,' I think. 'I'm not ready yet.' Just one more day of oppressive heat. Just one more day of the burden.
If I were in charge, I don't think I'd ever be ready.
I'd hold on infinitely.
Holding on is like grasping at something that's not real. Holding on to what, exactly? Exactly. Holding on usually means grasping at how it was in the past or what you think should happen in the future or concocting a false sense of reality in your mind about what would be best right now.
It's not just something I do to summertime in mid-September. It's something I do to relationships, lessons, belongings, beliefs, happy moments. I hold on. I get so used to the humidity and the sweat and the fatigue that I don't even realize I've been carrying such a burden for too long.
Inevitably, whether I'm ready of not, the winds change, the leaves change, the sunlight changes, the time changes. Whether I'm ready or not, I'm asked to let go.
Just drop it.
The opposite of holding on is acceptance. Acceptance means dropping the hot coal, putting down the luggage, soaking up lung-fulls of cooler air, saying 'Ok. This is ok.' Sometimes it's as simple as saying, "I accept this. I accept (fill in the blank)."
I used to tell my friends when they would come to me for advice, "Well, girlfriend, it is what it is and it ain't what it ain't." That's acceptance.
Acceptance is letting go.
When I accept whatever is present, I'm set free- automatically. Most of the time I have to accept things over and over again. And I'm set free, again and again. Every time I choose acceptance, I choose release. Every time I choose acceptance, I'm letting go. I'm coming back to the bare bones of right now. Ready and prepared and right on time. It feels like leaning into the flow of life, allowing change, looking for the falling leaves before they fall, looking for miracles.
And the more I think about letting go, the more it feels like the magic key to unlocking the miracles I'm looking for.
xx
Ruby
Beyond the mat...
We love Athens.
And we love you.
So let's have more of that-- together.
Here's where you can see what we're up to outside of the studio.
Have ideas about where we should be / what we should check out / how we can show up?
Reply to this email to let us know.
~ UPCOMING WORKSHOPS ~
Gratitude Month is coming!
Gratitude Month means an in-studio challenge, daily gratitude prompts on our instagram via our Gratitude Workbook by Ruby, Grateful merch, & a community commitment to gratitude!
*Journals will be available in the studio by Monday, October 28th.*
Order your copy here to make sure it gets delivered to your home in time to start on Nov 1!
Or send an email here to pre-order for in-studio pickup.
SHAKTI YOGA UNIVERSITY
LEAD WITH LOVE -200 HR RYT Spring Program with Ruby
~ Inquiry Corner w/ Emily ~
We've moved IC to IGTV and the blog, but here's a teaser for the week:
Emily's IGTV Series, Combatting Diet Culture, continues!
This week's IGTV will talk about intentional weight loss, disordered eating, and "emotional eating."
Emily will also talk about walking the line between caring about what you eat versus caring too much. Tune in!
Meet the Shakti Team!
Morganne Goddard
Why do you teach at Shakti?To grow my teaching AND myself
How do you honor the roots of a yoga practice in your every day life?I practice at home as well as in a community. Yoga can be a very individualistic practice and at times practicing at home gives me a little more freedom, peace, space, and a moment to give thanks to the practice
What kind of teacher do you strive to be?
Joyful and all I strive to do is hold space for my students, whether that be physically or mentally (or even emotionally).
~(& another one!) very October playlist~
Try this *Shakti Strength* sequence:
Give No Fucks - ab twists w block (x10) x high/low boat (x3) - x5 then plan to finish
Look What You're Doing To Me - Sun A's
Kept Me Crying - Sun B's (Crescent -> Warrior II)
Me and the Devil - Lunge twist / Ext Side Angle / Handstand hops
Gods & Monsters - Reverse lunge knee tap w upright twist (5 per side) x jumping jacks (x10)
I Feel Love - Burpees w block pushups (jump up / jump back / full pushup / block under right hand push up / left / jump to top / repeat)
bad guy - wide leg squat (x10) x high knees (x20)
Leave My Body - forearm mountain climbers (x10) x forearm side plank hip dips (x5)
Waiting for You - Inversion
Moon River - Hips
Past Life - Seated forward folds / Waterfall / Supported Fish
RABi - twists
Sh'Diah - Savasana