Imagine practicing yoga surrounded by the delicate beauty of spring—wildflowers nodding gently in the breeze, the scent of fresh herbs and tea leaves in the air. This is the magic of the Tea House, where nature and mindfulness intertwine to create a space for deep connection. We invite you to embrace the season’s rising energy in our April yoga series.
Meditation is not a linear journey. It’s not about achieving a specific state or reaching a final destination. Instead, it’s a variable practice that shifts and evolves. This fluidity makes meditation an opportunity for exploration rather than a pursuit of perfection. It invites us to let go of binary perspectives such as good or bad, right or wrong, failure or success.
Do you feel like meditation just isn’t for you? You’re not alone. Meditation is often seen as a gateway to calm, clarity, and balance. But the truth is, sitting in silence can feel anything but peaceful. It’s important to understand that meditation isn’t about achieving peacefulness. It’s about learning to focus on a single thought, noticing distractions, and gently guiding your attention back.
As the calendar turns and the new year approaches, it’s easy to get swept up in the tide of resolutions and the pressure to “start fresh.” We draft lists of goals and set rigid expectations, believing that January 1st marks the start of a perfect, linear path toward self-improvement. But what if we approached the new year differently? What if, instead of rigid resolutions, we embraced curiosity, intention, and a willingness to ease into this next chapter with grace?
The sacrum, often overlooked, plays a vital role in both spinal health and overall movement. It's not just a single bone but a fusion of five vertebrae that occurs as we age, usually completing the process in our 20s. Despite this fusion, the sacrum is part of a dynamic system that requires awareness and movement to stay healthy.
Step out of your mind and connect with your heart in our upcoming four-part series: Heart Centered Yoga and Meditation on Mondays 8:00-9:15 a.m. March 6–March 27, 2023.
The heart center is the energy point for unconditional love, compassion, and joy. By inviting awareness to our heart space through the practice of yoga, we choose love as the guiding principle in life and open ourselves to a greater sense of fulfillment.
Instead, a more practical and long lasting approach is to set a New Year Intention, one that is not associated with an external habit. When you set an intention, you plant a seed in your subconscious that blossoms into a new thought pattern, which in turn allows one to change their mindset and ultimately change behavior.
In the simple words of Bernie Clark, “you are unique – so is your yoga.” This uniqueness is defined by an array of biological strengths and limitations that constitute who we are. When we practice yoga from a functional approach, we recognize and honor our anatomical differences to move safely and effectively and minimize the risk of injury. Rather than limiting ourselves by the notion of what we think a pose should look like, functional yoga emphasizes the felt experience that arises when performing a pose. When we focus on the intention of a posture, as opposed to its aesthetic appeal, we develop a practice that will support us in maintaining healthy movement patterns for the duration of our lives.
Friday Night Yin Yoga returns December 2nd @ 6:15 pm EST. Sam invites us to spend time in places we live in less to build our ability to not need an active state. Although each Yin pose is practiced on the floor, Sam offers numerous variations of the poses that will target the correct area but honor your individual body type and medical history.
Life is filled with things that we enjoy, raga, and things that we dislike, dvesha. The turbulence of seeking enjoyment and rejecting aversions keep us in a never ending cycle of desiring, of always wanting something more. Yoga teaches us to recognize our ragas and dveshas so we can be aware of what is driving us. Once we know what drives us, we learn to react with objectivity and embrace all that comes our way.
The NC Botanical Gardens, Bev Dyer and the entire team at Dogwood Studios invite you to be in our community of Hope. The full day Art and Yoga Retreat at the NC Botanical Garden has been rescheduled for March 11! Registration for the new date is now available. Spend a day immersed in nature enjoying art, yoga, mindfulness and connection. Explore what inspires your hope.
