If you can ever swing it, consider joining us for one of our residential retreat this year. A few images from our week:
Up with sunrise for the first meditation period.
Tara heading over to the hall to give her talk on the final evening.
New Year’s eve ceremony. Photo by Janet Merrick.
Candle ceremony before we broke silence and broke out the cookies. Photo by Janet Merrick
Teachers: Hugh Byrne, Ruth King, Tara Brach and Moi.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Who's following who?
Moving Meditation on The River
A five minute guided meditation on a foggy December morning on the Potomac River.
Soundtrack, "A Touch of Grace," by Jonathan Foust, Todd Norian and Pravina Wahler, is available on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/touch-grace-bamboo-flute-meditations/id1002618740.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
A New Year
Jonathan Foust 2015 Annual Review
This review explores three questions*:
1. What went well this year?
2. What didn’t go so well this year?
3. What am I working toward?
*This a format suggested by James Clear (www.jamesclear.com.)
1. What went well this year?
Harmony at Home
I'm blessed. I love my wife and by all appearances, she loves me. Our home is a sanctuary. I have the luxury of lifestyle dedicated to serving and savoring.
Health and Vitality
Save for the occasional migraine, I’m as healthy as I’ve ever been. I’ve been (ovo) vegan for well over a year and feel strong, flexible and clear. My migraines have decreased due to regular focused yoga/PT, eating more consistently and managing caffeine. I paddle most every morning possible, swim regularly and have incorporated more yoga and core training in my daily regime.
I’m feeling great.
Improved at Public Speaking and Teaching
This was a full year giving talks, leading retreats and trainings.
I anchored the Monday night class at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington offering a weekly half-hour meditation and 45-minute talk when I’m not on the road teaching. I also gave talks on retreats, subbed for Tara’s class and presentations in businesses and to small groups.
I continued to refine the structure I use in my talks, to develop my story-telling skills and to speak with more clarity, simplicity and empathy.
Here’s what I did this year:
• The Year of Living Mindfully program
• 45 Dharma Talks (+ over 400,000 downloads on my podcast since inception)
• 4 residential Vipassana Retreats
• 2 300-hour teacher trainings at Kripalu Center
• 6 daylong retreats
• 2 intensive weekend retreats, “The Energy Intensive,” at Kripalu Center
• 1 5-day retreat, “The Still, Small Voice Within,” at Kripalu Center
• 1 weekend on “Conscious Relationships,” teaching with Tara at Garrison Institute
• An ongoing series, “The Transformational Journey,” for a group of DC-based CEO's and business leaders
• A presentation on mindfulness at NBC news in DC
• A keynote, “Mindfulness Strategies for Healing Yourself and Others,” for the International Trager Conference
• A presentation on “Intuition and Decision-Making” at the Psychotherapy Networker Conference
• A presentation, “Going with the Gut,” on Mindfulness and Intuition at the Mindfulness Summit
• 1 wedding (officiating)
Improved at Photography, Video and Creative Ventures
I continued to refine my skills at photography, videography and in other creative ventures. These seem to be the keys to improving:
• I shoot something every day
• I moved from Aperture to Lightroom. (Thanks, Lise.)
• I moved from iMovie to Final Cut Pro
• I moved to an iPhone 6s +with a great lens system (Moment lenses)
• I’m getting more skillful at a suite of editing tools (Intensify Pro, SnapHeal, Focus, Tonality, Aurora HDR)
• I published many of my best photographs on my blog and in my newsletters
• I published a minimum of one video a month
• As of December 17, 2015, I have written every day this year. (check out DayOne software for mac and ios.)
Improved in Communications and Marketing
DNP Studio (http://www.dnpstudio.com) redesigned my website last year and provides ongoing support. My weekly talks are on iTunes as well as a youtube channel which also offers monthly videos. In addition to publishing a weekly podcast, I started a monthly newsletter in which I offer short articles, some photography and a video. This commitment keeps my creative juices flowing.
A few statistics:
Simplified
A goal this last year was to continue to simplify and streamline what I do.
I set up a Living Trust and 529 accounts for my nieces. I’ve set up automatic data back ups, scheduling, bill pay, etc. I’ve managed to keep this theme going with periodic purges of the stuff that accumulates.
Savoring
"Serve and Savor" is a phrase Tara and I live by. I had some great adventures this year:
• A ten day personal silent retreat at the Forest Refuge in Barre, MA
• Some dedicated R&R and creative time on St. John’s
• Some time on the Cape
• Weekly “date nights” with Tara
• Morning paddles on the river and evening walks in the meadow
• Not least, the gift of living next to a park on the river.
Serving
I continue to serve in a few capacities:
• Guiding Teacher for the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (www.imcw.org)
• IMCW’s Mentoring Program (http://imcw.org/programs/mentoring.aspx)
• Freely-offered weekly class
2. What didn't go so well this year?
One with Everything TV We came really close to landing a sponsor for our concept of a spiritual late night talk show http://www.onewitheverything.tv, but the funding was pulled last minute. The producer, a good friend, got some interest from other parties but it meant ceding too much creative control. If this had come through I'd be writing monologues, working on my interview skills and deeply immersed into the project. With this option gone, it's left an openness to more creativity and collaboration. Financial Organization My antipathy toward math bleeds into my financial management skills. I am fortunate to have a wonderful friend / advisor who helps on the big stuff, but managing the month-to- month stuff wears me down. I need to shore things up here. Lousy follow up on promoting products I still suck at marketing. Maybe it’s inherent shyness, but in this age of self-promotion and social media, I can’t bring myself to do more than what I’m doing. Doing my one annual Facebook update exhausts me and I can't imagine doing much more. On the other hand, I’m way busy and not sure I need to do more. Migraines I got some big insights into my bouts of pain and migraines and have made some strides, but need to focus on refining my attention to what goes in to avoiding them. Figuring out the "Next Big Thing" "Should I be doing more?" is an ongoing, unsettling inquiry. Should I write a book? Should I get out on the national teaching circuit more? Should I create an online program? Should I do an exhibit and publish my photography? Should I do another product? My gut tells me to stay the course, keep the creative juices flowing, stay open and be sensitive to the best ways I can serve.
3. What am I working toward?
Cultivate Presence and Compassion This is the most important thing to name and the hardest to quantify. Harmony in my relationship with Tara is important as well as cultivating the inner experience of peace, wonder, joy and wakefulness. The doorways for me: pausing, cultivating gratitude and appreciation, immersion in nature, immersion in the creative process and opening to more intimacy in all my relationships. Continue to Simplify The simpler things are, the happier I seem to be. I made some strides last year and want to keep the momentum going. On my list: • Finish up all the details on my Trust and put it to bed • Figure out a strategy for Long Term Care • Do a regular inventory of what I own and give away what I don’t need Continue to improve as a speaker and teacher • Get more feedback on my talks • Listen to my talks • Listen to great speakers and research best practices • Focus on excellence in all my offerings. Cultivate consistent wholesome habits I’m following the adage "You can manage what you can measure." This is what I'm tracking in 2016 for daily habits: • Some morning time dedicated to being outside and practicing • Write. No word limit, but something each day (check out DayOne software for a great way to capture words on the go.) • Meditate • Yoga and focused movement • Exercise (paddle, swim, hike) • Check in with Tara • Shoot at least one photo and video clip • 20 minutes on multi-media (editing) Dedicate Time to Creativity and Put Stuff Out There Inspired by James Clear, I made a commitment to Putting Stuff Out There No Matter What. This reliably keeps the juices flowing and I’m going to stay with this commitment into the new year. This includes: Photography and Video • Shoot each day • Work on composition and editing skills • Pull out the best of my work and organize it into presentable formats • Publish at least one photo / week • Publish something video-related at least once a month • Experiment with new formats • Produce some prints Writing • Write something each day • Publish something substantive either in my monthly emails or on the blog at least once a month My sense is 'the Next Big Thing' will come out of investing into my practice and my deepest intention to serve. Cultivating gratitude, appreciation and creativity keeps my heart primed. Serve Teaching Though I will be on retreat more this year, it will also be an active year. My intention is to bring my very best to each event: • The Year of Living Mindfully program • 40 Dharma Talks, more or less • 4 residential Vipassana Retreats • 2 300-hour teacher trainings at Kripalu Center • 5 daylong retreats • 2 intensive weekend retreats, “The Energy Intensive,” at Kripalu Center • 1 5-day retreat, “The Still, Small Voice Within,” at Kripalu Center • An ongoing series, “The Transformational Journey,” for a group of DC-based CEO's and business leaders • Weekend meditation retreat at Bowdoin College • Weekend intensive in Amsterdam • YPO Presentation in Boulder Working 1:1 Mentoring I’ll continue to support the IMCW Mentoring Program as a Guiding Teacher. Savor Celebrate often. Some adventures this year: • Ten-day personal retreat at the Forest Refuge • Ten day personal retreat on St. John’s • Some time to roam in Europe before teaching in Amsterdam • Time at the Brach ancestral home on the Cape • Local adventures in the woods and on the river • A possible Foust family gathering
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Living Out Your Wild and Precious Life
Caitie Whelan Writes on the Year of Living Mindfully
Living Out Your Wild and Precious Life
Or What I Learned from a Year of Living Mindfully
I want to tell you a love story.
It doesn't start off as a love story, though.
It starts off five years ago on a snow-swept Monday night in January. The kind of night that sucked the blood from my whole hands. Even though they were stuffed into my thickest gloves which were stuffed into the deepest part of my pockets.
I was walking home from meditation. With bloodless hands. And, if I were honest, a bloodless life.
On paper, mind you, things were terrific:
I had a coveted Capitol Hill job. My phone calls got returned. I could finally afford to take a cab if I were out late. I was arriving to the life I'd been aiming at.
The only hitch was I was miserable.
I was up to my eyeballs in work I wasn’t crazy about. I took really crummy care of my body. Even crummier care of my soul. And I didn't feel like I was contributing to the world in a meaningful way.
But I didn't have a clue how to reach for a life I wanted. So, I kept my hands in my pockets and stayed put in the life I had.
One night, my mother cut to the heart of it: You're plain old stuck, she said to me over the phone.
There's life in you you're not living, she continued. Go find it. Start by talking to Jonathan Foust. He runs this Year of Living Mindfully (YLM). It might open something up for you.
My meditation practice amounted to a few minutes before hot tea in the morning and an unrelenting-but-unacted-upon intention to spend more time on the cushion.
Maybe Mum's right, I thought while I took a warm shower. Maybe some long-haul mindfulness work could help get a little blood and heart and guts back into my life.
So, that snow-swept Monday night in January, I went to one of Jonathan's meditations at a cold church near the Capitol.
If you don't know Jonathan, he's a tall man with a soft voice. He uses simple words to explain complex things. He has a playful spirit and a big heart. The guy can make a cold church warm.
YLM, he told me in that great soft voice of his, wasn't an academic thing. Or a book thing.
It was - and I'm paraphrasing here - a sangha thing and a dharma thing. A living, breathing practice thing. It just might help free you up in your stuck places. Lighten you up in your heavy places. Pump you up in your deflated places.
I walked home. Hands stuffed deep in my pockets.
YLM sounded like a great thing. But it was also a big time thing. And a big money thing. Monsters and roller coasters didn’t scare me. But spending time and money sure did.
I did a week of hemming. Another week of hawing.
Bill Watterson, the Calvin & Hobbes cartoonist, once said: "With each decision, we tell ourselves and the world who we are."
At some point in my hems and haws, I realized that if I didn't do YLM, I'd be telling myself that fear mattered more to me than finding a life I loved to live.
Our lifetime is so brief. I want to spend it doing what actually matters to me.
I told Jonathan I was all in. Sent him my application. And got accepted.
YLM kicked off in early springtime.
There were about 25 of us. Over the year, we met in warm living rooms on cool nights. In airy churches on hot days.
We focused on being at ease in our bodies. Finding spaciousness in our thinking. Holding fear and doubt and uncertainty with curiosity, even compassion.
And this here is where the love part of the story begins.
Not love for a person. Or an animal or vegetable or mineral, for that matter.
But love for life. The - as Mary Oliver would say - "wild and precious" life we get handed when we come out of that small womb and into this big world.
As YLM unfolded over the year, I started appreciating things.
Like the taste of hot tea. And the touch of warm showers.
And I started noticing things.
Like how I was now spending some time doing scary stuff (back-of-napkin brainstorming about where I wanted to take my work). And spending some money doing healthy stuff (seeing a nutritionist).
There was no denying it: I had some blood pumping in my life again.
It was no presto-chango transformation type thing. As the designer Debbie Millman would say, "Expect anything worthwhile to take a while."
But with YLM, transformation wasn't a solo journey. I was alongside 25 like-minded practitioners.
There were hands in the dark when I got lost. Lifts up when I fell off the bandwagon. And a common experience of walking the road together.
If, as they say, we are the average of the people we spend our time with, here were some people I wanted to be the average of.
So, when all was said and done, what did I get from that Year of Living Mindfully?
Well, I got all shook up and all freed up. I got new practices and new friends. I got guts and gumption. And I got my hands out of my pockets and into this beautiful, messy world of ours.
And what did I do with all that I got?
Well, last year, I left the security of my Capitol Hill job. Took one of those back-of-the-napkin brainstorms - one that I loved, believed in, was terrified of failing at. And made it real.
In the spring, I launched The Lightning Notes, a short daily post to help us move the world forward. It features great ideas and striking stories to remind us that we matter and that improving the world is our matter.
The Lightning Notes has no ads or paywalls. I don't like those as a reader and it's not kind to serve a guest cake I won't eat. So, it's funded solely by big-hearted monthly donors.
It's all a big risk; I've never done anything like it before. But I did it knowing I can hold the uncertainty and fear with curiosity. Maybe even compassion on my good days.
Plus, this risk matters to me. And I want to spend my life doing what matters.
Now, I told you I'd tell you a love story. It's not a conventional love story. I don't get the boy.
But I do get my life.
The Year of Living Mindfully helped me find the wild and precious life in me - you've got it in you, too; every last one of us does - and, boy, do I love it.
And there's one other bit of love in this story:
The first official donor to The Lightning Notes? It was a friend from YLM.
Caitie Whelan is the Founder/Noter-in-Chief of The Lightning Notes, a short daily post to help us move the world forward. Prior to that, she was a Senior Foreign Policy Advisor on Capitol Hill, co-founded a school in India for lower caste musicians, and raised pigs in Italy. She’s a graduate of Brown University, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and is a 2007 Truman Scholar.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Waiting for Sunrise
Generosity as a Path to Liberation
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores the profound and elemental teachings on generosity.
You’ll learn how central generosity is to both philosophy and practice, where to begin, how to practice and how generosity is a direct path to liberation. The session ends with a flute meditation and a reflection on the generous heart.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
First Light
Practicing at Your Edge and Your Path to Balance
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how to determine what practices are best suited for you at this time in your life.
You’ll lean about the power of truthful self-assessment, the importance of identifying your patterns of resistance and how to maintain a practice that feels alive for you.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Lost
The Heart Practices: Cultivating Equanimity
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores what is considered the flowering of spiritual practice: Equanimity.
You’ll learn what it is, what it isn’t, a practice to cultivate equanimity and some thoughts on how to navigate change with ease and grace.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
The Relational Field
Tara and I are just back from leading a weekend retreat at Garrison Institute in Garrison, NY on relationships.
The intention to ‘wake up’ is arduous for the lone traveler. The Buddha described the process as ‘swimming upstream.’ You are going against the grain of your own conditioning as well as the conditioning of the culture. You come in contact with everything between you and feeling free.
Throw a few more people in the mix and it gets complicated!
As painful as relationships can be, when we truly connect with another there is a deep understanding of the principle of seeing ‘Self in Other and Other in Self.’
We begin to recognize anxiety and fear is not an individual experience as much as it is commonly shared.
Here’s a classic teaching story:
You are walking in the woods in a park and see a cute puppy. You walk up to the puppy to pet it. It lunges at you. Suddenly your relationship with the puppy has changed from openess and curiosity to fear and self-protection. Then you realize the puppy’s leg is in a trap. You shift again from fear and self-protection to compassion and empathy.
If we can remember this little story when someone is unskillful in their actions through ‘fight, flight or freeze,’ we can more quickly open to empathy.
And of course, when we can recognize how our leg is caught in a trap as well, true healing is possible.
Deep conversation
The chapel
Sunset outside of Baltimore
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
December Greetings from Jonathan Foust: The Heart Practices, 5 Breaths - 5 Scenes and More!
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Welcome!
With the exception of the beech trees, whose leaves stay through the winter, it's now 'stick season' here in the mid-Atlantic. The deer are rutting, rushing and crashing around heedless of roads and cars and the fox are yelping nightly and establishing their territories.
One nice thing about bare trees is that it's easier to see raptors along the river's edge. In the last month I've discovered where the bald eagles like to hang and a red shouldered hawk who has a tree it seems to call home.
I wish you well as you head into the winter months.
The Heart Practices
I learned how to open my heart at a silent retreat at Spirit Rock, the Insight Meditation Center in California. In addition to hours and hours of daily mindfulness meditation, each afternoon of that month we dedicated time to the heart practices. The first week the practice entailed offering kindness and compassion to ourselves. The classic phrases I like: May I feel happy. May I feel peace. May I feel safe from inner and outer harm. May I feel free from suffering. The second week we turned our attention to a 'benefactor' and to those we know are 'on our team'. These can include pets, friends, family, ancestors, well-wishers. The third week we turned our attention to a 'neutral person.' We were instructed to select someone with whom we felt no particular charge - no strong attraction and no strong aversion. "Try the guy at the post office," one teacher suggested. I chose our retreat manager. She struck me as a fine, but unremarkable person. Each day I would think of her and wish her happiness, peace, safety and freedom. About day four of that week, at the end of a meditation I opened my eyes and noticed her coming into the hall. My heart soared. "My beloved has arrived!," I thought as my heart started gushing. I was falling in love with our retreat manager! There is a saying that goes like this: "Where the attention goes, the energy flows." When you turn your attention to healing your heart, things happen. First you'll notice what's between you and openness, but with patience and persistence, you may well find and experience states of immeasurable kindness, compassion and joy. If you'd like to listen to the series, you can go here: Loving Kindness Compassion for Self Compassion for Others In future talks I'll be exploring joy and equanimity. You can sign up for the podcast here and online streaming here.
Upcoming Events
December 4-6:
Relationships Retreat at the Garrison Institute with Tara Brach Learn More
December 7:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 14:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 21:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 28:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Images from Last Month
While each month on the river celebrates change, this month offers more drama as we move into winter.
The wind can tear up and down the river and quickly strip the trees of leaves.
Sunrise around the tip of Gladys island.
Morning light illuminates the barren woods.
Mature Bald Eagles on a cold and windy sunrise.
A few days later, an immature Bald Eagle on a more balmy sunrise.
Five Breaths/Five Scenes: November on the River
One of the most efficient and powerful ways to shift your physiology, consciousness and quality of presence is to change how you breathe. This "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video features mostly stills from this most recent month on the Potomac. Just five, slow breaths can help you refresh your mind and heart.
Year of Living Mindfully
If you live in the DC area and are interested in dedicating a year to practices that support transformation, you might like to check out The Year of Living Mindfully.
I've not yet updated the site with all the details, but if you'd like to check out last year's course description you can go here.
Stay tuned for more information down the road.
Latest from the Blog
The Heart Practices: Compassion for Others
The Heart Practices: Compassion for Self
A Meditative Journey: Diving Deep
Announcing: Monday Night Yoga at UUCA
The Heart Practices: Loving Kindness
Morning Instructions on the Final Day of the Fall Retreat: Focus, Flow and Let Go
Guided Metta Meditation on Pain
The Call to Practice: Concentration and Mindfulness
November Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Relational Dharma, Releasing the Barriers to Love and More!
Bringing Kindness to Pain
I hate migraines. I've been getting them since I was about six and still dread the first sensations that indicate I'm due for an extended visit. When we're in pain, we contract. This is an utterly natural response that can allow us to tolerate what is arising. Equally naturally, though, is the tendency to harden and calcify around unpleasant sensation. Kindness can be a kind of salve or lubricant that allows you to feel what is there and find new ways to be with it. Imagine you've stubbed your toe. One strategy is to stay angry and upset. Another strategy is to soften, relax, maybe even hold your toe in your hands, take a few deep breaths and offer it a little compassion. Whether the pain moves or not, the second option is a lot juicier. I led this meditation at a recent IMCW Retreat. It's a buffet of experiences for working with pain in the body. I hope you might find it helpful.
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please signup here.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
The Heart Practices: Increasing Your Capacity for Joy
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores the art and science of cultivating joy for yourself and others.
You’ll learn about the transformative possibilities that arise when you can sustain attention on healing your heart, the emotions which stand in opposition to joy and how to work with them, a guided meditation on joy and finally, how joy leads to a powerful state of non-dual awareness.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Five Breaths/Five Scenes: November on the River
One of the most efficient and powerful ways to shift your physiology, consciousness and quality of presence is to change how you breathe.
This "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video features mostly stills from this most recent month on the Potomac. Just five, slow breaths can help you refresh your mind and heart.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
The Heart Practices: Compassion for Others
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how you can offer compassion for others.
You’ll learn about the the nature of compassion, the essential elements of the practice, potential pitfalls and the relationship between compassion and karma.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
The Heart Practices: Compassion for Self
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how you can cultivate compassion for yourself.
You’ll learn how you lose your connection to compassion, ways to reconnect and heal and some pointers on the path of awakening the heart.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
A Meditative Journey: Diving Deep
This Saturday 65 brave beings showed up for a day of practice. We explored ‘moving from the gross to the subtle,’ beginning with vigorous moving, shaking and sounding, intro free-flow movement, then breath, seated meditation, then the ultimate resting place, a long, deep lying-down meditation.
Lying-down meditation can be quite the remedy for many of us who are chronically over-stimulated and exhausted.
When you take this on as a regular practice, you may notice you fall asleep every time. As you start to feel more rested, you’ll notice more aliveness and wakefulness. You’ll notice over time you can sustain attention even in the deep cycles of the brainwaves of sleep.
As yoga says, "The more dynamic your rest, the more dynamic your activity."
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Announcing: Monday Night Yoga at UUCA
Would you benefit from a tension-melting movement session before meditation class on Monday night?
Are you curious as to how yoga and mindful movement can enhance your meditation practice?
Whether you are a seasoned yoga practitioner or brand new to yoga, you're invited to join this freely-offered gathering.
Yoga was originally designed to prepare the body for meditation. By performing postures designed to release muscle tension and emotional stress, the body and mind can calm dramatically and increase your capacity to access a still and restful place inside.
In this 50-minute session you'll explore practices that will energize and strengthen you, help you release deep-seated tension and cultivate a sense of presence and well-being.
A few details:
* The session starts at 6:30 on Monday Nights. Come early to set up.
* Bring your own yoga mat and a blanket.
* Please let the instructor know any issues you may have so they can best support you.
* From brand new to experienced. The flow is suitable for all levels.
You'll start with an brief introduction, practice breathing techniques, guided postures and end with a lying down meditation / relaxation.
The class is secular and does not promote or aspire toward any religious philosophy.
The session ends at 7:20 and gives you time to transition to the guided meditation and class starting at 7:30.
This class is offered freely. Your donation helps cover the cost of the room, supports the teacher and ensures no one is denied access to these profound practices.
The Teachers:
Rita Naomi Moran is a Kripalu-trained yoga teacher and owner of a private physical therapy practice that has the mission to help people reach their full potential. She has been a member of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington for 10 years and a kayaker and nature lover for many more. Anna Johns grew up in India where yoga was a part of the culture. She has training in yoga from an Indian master, a 200-hr certification in the US and a Certificate in Therapeutic Yoga for Seniors from Duke Integrative Medicine. Lynne Weir is a Kripalu trained yoga teacher and owns a private physical therapy practice and teaches yoga classes in Alexandria. On the Potomac you will find her coaching sculling (rowing). She has participated in Insight Meditation evening practices for the past 5 years and is excited to join other yoga teachers in offering a practice for the Monday night group. This is a drop in class and you are welcome anytime. For more information, please contact: Rita Moran at 301-452-8924 or Send Email
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.