Posts Tagged With: yoga online

To Comprehend and Respect Another

COMPREHEND:

Latin root “com” = together in mind, “prehendere” = to grasp it, or pick it up


To comprehend something means to pick it up and be one with it. There is no other way to understand something.


RESPECT:

Latin Root “respectus”, from the verb “respicere” to look back at, regard. Consisting of  “re” = back  “specere” = look at or look back

Respect means to look again, to keep looking with increasingly sensitive eyes.

Respect only arises when we can take another look and realize the preciousness of what someone or something has to offer.

From Thich Nhat Hanh’s “The Heart of Understanding”:

“When we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and observe it. We have to enter deeply into it and be one with it in order to really understand. If we want to understand a person, we have to feel their feelings, suffer their sufferings, and enjoy their joy.

If we are concerned with peace and want to understand another country [or our own], we can’t just stand outside and observe. We have to be one with a citizen of that country in order to understand her feelings, perceptions, and mental formations. Any meaningful work for peace must follow the principal of non-duality, the principal of comprehension [and respect]. This is our peace practice” to comprehend, to be one with, in order to really understand.”

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New Summer Schedule and Avenues for Justice

After much consideration, I’ve decided to make some changes to the schedule for the summer. Monday 6 pm will now take place at 3:00 pm and Saturday 5 pm will only take place on rainy days. 

What does this mean? Essentially Saturday night class will be on hold until the fall, but if the weather isn’t great, I’ll send out an email that day to see if there’s interest in a pop-up.

I know that sounds a bit strange, but I guess that’s one of the advantages of teaching on zoom! Unfortunately class size hasn’t warranted keeping it on the schedule – it’s summer and I have a feeling you guys would prefer some outdoor time after being cooped up inside for the last 3-plus months. New Schedule is below.

In Social Reform news…

On Friday I sat in on a live talk with Angel Rodriguez and Gamal Willis of the NYC organization Avenues for Justice, moderated by Jivamukti’s Jules Febre, who also happens to be one of AFJ’s success stories. A little bit about AFJ:

In 1979, Avenues for Justice reached into overcrowded Manhattan criminal courtrooms and found youths who might turn their lives around if they only had a second chance. We presented the courts with an idea: instead of sentencing young people to prison, judges could send them to AFJ for counseling, training, education and employment assistance.  This simple tactic — keeping youths out of prison — has saved the lives of hundreds of young lives every year for four decades. At a time when the U.S. incarceration rate is the highest of any nation in the world and a cycle of arrests and imprisonment has become the norm within many low-income communities, AFJ has bucked the trend to become one of the most successful and cost-effective crime prevention programs in America. Read more here 
One of their key initiatives right now is removing the NYPD from the school system.  When I worked as a school counselor at Landmark High School I witnessed first hand the effect police officers had on the students, as well as physical altercations. They do not belong there. If you have been pushing for the defunding of the NYPD, think about volunteering or donating to AFJ.

AVENUE FOR JUSTICE’S GOALS

Keep kids out of prison – That’s how AFJ stops New York City crime. Our goals:

  1. Intervene to divert and reclaim young people from lives of crime.

2. Provide an overloaded court system a reliable alternative to incarceration.

3. Make New York City a safer place for everyone.

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Zoom Yoga 5/27-6/1 & Feeding the Birds!

Zoom schedule below. Send me a message if you need log-in details!

In other non-zoom news, I have finally invested in a bird feeder! The box it came in says it could take up to 5 weeks for birds to arrive, but if there’s seed, they will come! I learned (on Google) that there is specific seed that squirrels and pigeons do not like, so I bought a mixture of safflower, nyjer and striped sunflower seeds to keep them away. I had one curious squirrel pop by and he took one sniff and RAN as if it were the most disgusting thing in the world, so I guess the interwebs were correct.

I also had an interested male Northern Cardinal come by already! I was super excited since the only birds that have made an appearance the past 7 years are pigeons, but unfortunately I was so excited I scared it away before he ate some seed 😦 I’ve noticed that cardinals are more skittish than other birds.But I’m sure he’ll be back!

Picture of my new bird feeder below 🙂

See you on the Zoom mat! ❤☀🕶Love,April

Suggested donation for classes is $10-20 sliding scale or free if you are currently without income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please be honest about this as teaching Zoom classes is currently my only form of income.

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Zoom Yoga 5/13 – 5/18 & More on the Greenbelt

Zoom schedule below!

If you missed last week’s dharma talk in the 90 min classes, I shared a story that was sent to me by a student (with her permission) about the Greenbelt in Staten Island. Here’s what she had to say in her own words:

“My dad, an environmental journalist, grew up on Staten Island and got his start working at their local paper, the Staten Island Advance. During that time, there were Moses-era plans to put an interstate through the Greenbelt, which sparked local action to preserve the open space. My dad covered it all, and it was probably the first land preservation work he ever did as a writer (now that’s all he does).
“Save the Greenbelt” was the slogan, postered all over Staten Island. I even have one of his old t-shirts that says Save the Greenbelt. In the newsroom, it became an adage, “Save the fucking Greenbelt” you might say with an eye roll, as if to say, “just get the job done,” if somebody was complaining or exaggerating (intoned like, “ah, get over it”).”

This story fits in perfectly with the Jivamukti Focus of the Month – Spiritual Activism. If you’d like to read this month’s focus, written by Jivamukti Yoga co-founder Sharon Gannon, you can find it here.

While the first part of the essay focuses on veganism, the concept applies to any cause you are fighting for – whether it’s saving a natural habitat, or fighting for social/civil rights, or protections during an epidemic. (read last 3 paragraphs if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing!) “To think well of another and to want that person’s happiness, even though you do not agree with the person’s current thoughts and actions, is the key to spiritual activism.”

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Zoom Yoga 5/6-5/11 & the Greenbelt of Staten Island

I’ve been trying to use my free time wisely – exploring nature right here in NYC and I’m in awe of what surrounds us.

Did you know there are 2800 acres of natural woodlands and creeks right in Staten Island (with the exception of Moses Mountain – which is man made, but still very cool!)? I have lived in NY my whole life and had no clue this was here! It’s called the Greenbelt, and it’s amazing! I felt like I was upstate yet was only 15 minutes from my apartment in Brooklyn! So crazy, and my new favorite spot! Before now SI was mostly just a way for me to get to the mainland US, and to occasionally attend a Passover Seder or SI Yankee game. Who knew!!

I imagine that this, along with the marshlands I’ve been exploring, is what most of NYC looked like before it was built up. It’s filled with wildlife – just yesterday I met a raccoon, chipmunks, squirrels (of course), turtles, a red bellied woodpecker, bluejays, gray catbirds, great egrets, and canadian geese. Oh, and chickens (!), but I think they belonged to someone. There are deer also, but I did not have the pleasure of seeing one. I can’t wait to get back!

Zoom teaching schedule and some photos from my outdoor (socially distanced and face masked responsibly) adventures.

See you on the Zoom mat!

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Zoom Yoga 4/29-5/4 & Blackout Poetry

To close out National Poetry Month, below you’ll find some “blackout” poetry by my friend Lauren Krauze. Yes, the same Lauren that brought you “Short Sweet Poems.” Check out her Instagram page for more – she’s been posting a new one everyday!

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Zoom Yoga 4/22-4/27 & Short Sweet Poems

My dear friend Lauren Krauze is a poet and author and for a while was writing haiku that she called Short Sweet Poems. These poems brought such imagery to my mind with such a small amount of words that I found myself drawing them.

In addition to this week’s Zoom schedule, below you will find some drawings I did a few years ago based on Lauren’s poetry.

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Zoom Classes 4/8-4/13 & National Poetry Month

It’s National Poetry Month! Each week a different poem will be featured as the dharma talk in my 90-minute classes! Along with this week’s schedule below, you’ll also find a poem by Rumi called The Guest House.

Log-in for Zoom classes is available by email only. If you are not currently on my mailing list, but would like to attend class, please send me a message!

The guest house ~~ Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent,
As a guide from beyond

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