a NEW AND PERMANENT meeting time and place for our gatherings!

This month's details:

Date: Sunday April 7th
Time: 3:00-5:00 pm
Place:New Earth Music Hall, downtown on Dougherty and Hull 
Who: anyone looking to deepen their yoga practice and their relationships with other Athens yogis
Cost: $5 suggested donation* 

This month, we'll explore the themes of "Growth, Self-Love and the Third Chakra". We'll keep the same general format: 1.5ish hours of led practice, meditations, discussions, mini-workshops, etc. and a vegetarian potluck to close. We have chosen this new day because of feedback that Mondays are too busy for yoga teachers, and we've chosen this new time so that we can all get home with time for productivity, families, homework, etc. afterwards.

As for the new HOME, there are SO many reasons! First and foremost, we LOVE what New Earth is all about! From their Facebook page: "New Earth is a forward thinking, environmentally conscious, and community involved concert venue/bar/event space in Athens, GA."  So much more than your typical music venue! They are particularly reaching out to the yoga community by purchasing yoga mats to keep on hand for us and other similar groups and so we're reaching right back to slap them a big ole high five and say "YES! THANK YOU! YOU ROCK!" Also, i think the downtown location will be awesome on a Sunday because people who drive can find free parking, while people who bike or walk will have a central and pleasant destination. I know it leaves bus-riders in the lurch a bit, but if that becomes a problem for anyone let me (sarah) know and we'll get you there! New Earth is also renovating their huge patio which will allow for awesome sunshine-soaking opportunities on our afternoons there.

image from: http://mytruthsetsmefree.wordpress.com

Last month's gathering felt like a huge shift, in terms of the attendance (12? 15? i forget!) as well as members speaking up with ideas about new directions. Remember that this co-creation is ever-evolving so come jump in anytime and help make this group whatever you need it to be. We will continue to vary the emphasis to highlight learning, community, practice, or whatever else is needed. You can tell I'm pretty stoked about this month and i hope you are too. See you at New Earth this Sunday at 3:00!


*Any funds collected from donations will be used to promote the Collective (fliers, ads, etc). Income and expenditures will be posted on the blog to promote transparency. NOTE: all are welcome, regardless of ability to donate!

Carrying on! March gathering is here!

Well, after a month of looking at the note "write about February Collective gathering" sit on my to-do list the time has come to also write about the March gathering! So, here we go, carrying on as an imperfect being with a long to-do list and feeling perfectly content about it :)

First and foremost, we'll be meeting Monday March 11th in the community living room above Ben's Bikes! As always, we'll meet 6:30-8:30pm and cycle through a led practice, workshop/asana discussion, and some meditation/philosophizing before we dive in to eat some vegetarian potluck goodness! Feel free to come late if needed. I will bring a few extra mats but since we're not yet set up in a permanent space with mats, bring a yoga mat for yourself if you can. Oh, and the organizing principle of our get-together tomorrow will be the second chakra, which is associated with all kinds of fun stuff including the hips, the color orange, sexuality, creativity, and finances!

image from: sevenchakrasmeditation.com

For our February 2013 gathering we had a lovely rotating cast of participants and workshopped some standing poses like the tricky warrior I which has totally different things going on in each foot. In particular I was inspired to have picked up some useful teaching cues to encourage rooting through the hands and feet.

Feb 2013 potluck above. The community living room has such a cozy dining room decorated with original artwork. I was too relaxed and comfy to focus the camera, apparently! 

Well, please let us know if you have anything to contribute or if you have any questions about the mission of the collective! Hope to see you at a future gathering!

New Location for February!

Since Whole closed a few weeks ago we have been looking for new spaces to meet for our monthly Collective gatherings. This month we are going to meet at an awesomely eclectic and counterculture space: the "community living room" above Ben's Bikes at 670 West Broad. There is no sign or name on the outside but if you're next to the porn shop, you're at the right place, come on in ;)

a screenshot of the february location (on left) from google street view

Our theme this month will be "Groundedness and the Root Chakra"; we are staying grounded during this time of transition and change for the Collective and hope you are too! As current or potential collective members we want to remind you that even as the location of our gatherings change, we are staying true to the root cause of this organization--deepening relationships among Athens' yoga community members while deepening our own understandings of yoga.

Tell all your friends and fellow yoga teachers to come get some yoga-inspiration this coming Monday February 11th and keep the second Monday of EVERY month free for Collective goodness! We do have some new ideas in the works for getting together at other times, which should be good news to those of you with Monday night conflicts. Please let us know here on the blog or Facebook what types of events or get-togethers you'd be interested in doing as part of the Collective's expanding Athens presence.

Invigorating Freshness of January

There is something to be said about carrying your mat up the stairs of Whole, with a contribution of food and a quietness of anticipation and spirit that seems to help you settle into yourself. This is what it felt like for me for my first Athens Yoga Collective meeting on Monday. Having wanted to come since its inception, I was overjoyed that January finally was the month for me to come and share, to climb those stairs and see new faces.

There are few places in the world that you can walk into and even if you don't know a single person, even if you have never been there before, you feel more "at home". The Athens Yoga Collective is one of them. I was touched by the warm embrace of the collective, not just to me, but also to my friend that I had brought with me, a visiting Korean, who did not know anyone, but who had also never practiced any yoga. We both felt the welcome and the genuine interest everyone showed in who we were and the love that surrounded the group.

On a metaframe, it is fascinating to look at many different "poses" we were led into by the entire group. Thanks to Sarah and Katelyn, we were led here to this place, led into a "collective" - a group of like-minded individuals, all ready and willing to share and serve one another, and to experience joy together. Their vision itself is like a pose. Focused, yet flexible, challenging, but necessary and needed for the soul. Then you have Elizabeth whose voice and gentle, yet firm, command of the class lead us through asanas and produced, in at least me, the intent of every practice - a loss of self and sense of body, through the body. Her arrangement and flows enlightened and worked us. At the end we were lost in the the peace and stillness that resonates after such a great class. And then of course, Yogi Jacob, who, in his articulate nature, painted vivid pictures in our mind of our mind. The unique and valuable mediation he led us in was eye-opening, set at the perfect pace to steady the heart and steady the mind, while at the same time, pushing us to see and view not only the world, but the intricate and immaculate world within us with Divine eyes. He showed us the depth that is always before us and in us. Erica demonstrated the pose of courage and cheerfulness, venturing into a group without knowing anyone and leaving with many friends. And Julie showed the grace of sharing - whether it was through her revelations during practice or her eagerness to help my friend. This I think is how you have to see the yoga collective - as a collective. It has to been seen this way because that is how it is felt - as the pose that each person brings to the group, whether they are teaching, leading or simply enjoying.

While there is literal food, that was delicious and nourishing, these Monday meetings have surely become the sustenance for our greater selves. It is a joy and an honor to be brought together, to serve one another, and to be invigorated by joy. It is a delight to delight in others. It is a blessing that this group exists, not just for me, but for you too. I hope that you too are led back and into this home.

Namaste,
Elizabeth

December Re-cap

As always, beloved local teacher Meg was incredibly thoughtful in planning a sequence for us. Rather than focusing on the forehead itself, a rather literal interpretation of our third-eye theme this month, Meg structured the class around twists as a way to move energy up the shushumna to stimulate insight. The flow got us ready to workshop Marichyasana III.

image: http://iyengar-yoga.freepage.de/abhyasa8/adhyatmik_sastra.htm

 And since DOUBT is an emotion that obstructs intuition/perception, we started off the asana practice with several minutes of practice with eyes closed. For me, it was the first time that I've ever had two times in a row that I landed lightly jumping up in the sun salutation series! As you other practitioners know, it's the littlest things that can really wow you in your practice sometimes! It's not as if I just managed to "float" up or to "jump through" but it was an awesome realization of my capacity nonetheless.

"let your third eye lead the way!"

No, that wasn't something meg said because she's not cheesy like me. but since i put it in quotes, i will let you imagine that that was our mantra for the evening.

Since our meditation and chakra expert Katelyn wasn't able to be there, Jake jumped in and led us through a beautiful chant incorporating the downward spiraling of energy with a silent "OM" and the upward spiraling of energy with a vocalized "shanti". We sent this peace offering (shanti=peace) to Katelyn and her kitty who is not well. Thanks to Jake for jumping in with this offering on his very first collective visit!

Whole has recently re-arranged things so we ate in the cozy couch room. I have to say, this monthly ritual, even with the variations in who attends, is really starting to feel like family time!

As a fairly unrelated side note, I found this awesome website when I was looking for pictures of Marichyasana III in which a woman talks about accommodations for larger yogis. I really liked this post this image came from "tips on making friends with your belly". there is an awesome rap video she links to too called "let your belly hang out"!

http://yogawithnadine.com/2012/09/19/modifications-for-yoga-twists-and-tips-on-making-friends-with-your-belly/

Last collective gathering of the year, coming up!

We are meeting once again on the second Monday of the month! That's in just two days, December 10th. In this busy season, come take some time for yourself and your practice. And eat some HEALTHY food. We have consistently had warm, nutritious, WHOLE foods show up at our potlucks :) The most delicious kind of food.

We are exploring themes related to the third-eye chakra...you know, simple things like enlightenment!


I'm really excited to see what Meg has in store for us. This will be our first collective to experiment with combining the practice portion with the workshop portion of the evening. But this is right up Meg's alley, as every class I've been to with her is like an anatomical treasure hunt, discovering muscles you didn't even know you had, and then walking away with knowledge about how to ENGAGE them!

Katelyn will continue in the tradition of leading us through some chakra-based meditations and philosophical discussion over dinner. I am so looking forward to it, come get in on the best yogasanghapotluck in town!

November Reflections....

We had a great meeting in November on a blustery night.

John Rogers led a practice with a very creative twist on the theme of communication that got us thinking and discussing a lot about how the receiver's INTERPRETATION of a message is such a big part of communication. He called out one adjective at a time and then we interpreted those adjectives with our bodies moving through our chosen version of Sun Salutation. "Sloppy" was a big hit ;)

Lindsey provided materials from some of her favorite anatomy/asana books and we spent time dissecting several poses. In particular, I got a lot out of working on this beauty here:

image from: http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/2303

Katelyn charmed as usual with her philosophical and poetic selections related to the fifth chakra, communication, and the color blue.

this guy seems to be smashing some kind of wildcat. i'm not sure what the yogic significance of this is, but i'm sure there's a good explanation!
image from: http://energyfanatics.com/2009/07/20/the-seven-chakras-throat-chakra/

other highlights:

• John Rogers brought some adorable miniature card-type thingies with inspirational messages. mine just made my night.
• We started a new tradition of an ongoing group journal/sign-in book!
• The food was particularly amazing---it just so happened that two complimentary curries were in attendance and that Sarah brough quinoa which was a great base for both of them. Culinary serendipity.