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	<title>NH Lakes Region Yoga Center &#38; Day Spa &#124; The Practice Room &#124; Meredith, NH</title>
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		<title>Miami</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/miami/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/miami/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:28:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[April vacation found me in Miami, Florida per my beloved who brought me there to clear my mind, take a deep breath and regroup. It was a wonderful gift in a strange place I never had any inclination to visit. Of course it is humbling to reach into the valleys we avoid; we always &#8220;find&#8221; ourselves there. At least I do. This trip was an unbelievable awe-inspired gawk at aqua blue waters, indigo skies, deep sunshine and warm temps. I became the sunbather I forgot since my teens; while I cloaked myself in SPF 30 over and over, wearing a bikini for the first time in 20 years still led to sunburn in vulnerable places. Miami is truly an International community. Late afternoons led to beautiful bike rides to South Beach. This might be the people-watching capitol of the United States. Every ride was an experience; an integration of culture in which we were a minority. Even on the beach I never heard the English language spoken. Our bike rides were a refreshing observation of the affluent, the homeless, gay men (in fish-net stockings and wigs, jogging) and women, Latinos, Spanish, French, hustlers (very colorful), and more intermingled in a rich display of vibrant energy. For some reason everyone had very small dogs&#8230;and I almost brought one home (which I secretly named &#8220;Candy&#8221;). During this time I enjoyed deep reflection along with my healthy and well-needed dose of Vitamin D. I asked for guidance and dreams and felt a strange detachment from my life at the same time. Each beach day was an unplugging from routine; an immersion in Grandmother ocean, seaweed and tides. Thong clad women were scattered across the sand interspersed with beach-bronzed body builders and heavy set mafia-types. I found myself relaxing deeply into my body, releasing any judgement I may hold of myself and finding freedom in the sun. Miami was for me a sweet letting go in a cacophony of censorial delight. But the strongest messages came through when I was poised on two wheels on the bike path, navigating precariously through walkers, runners and cyclists who dominated the path. A couple rides into the game I realized each cycle was a communication from God through the voices of the ones I passed (and crashed) into. I laughed, breathed and cried on the bike path. Our last day in South Beach I felt compelled to pull out my camera and start cataloging the memory of our trip. This created a sense of intimacy with each person we encountered and a lasting impression in my feeling body. I came upon a homeless man asleep on his dog; his head laid upon the head of his four-legged companion so sweetly. I put the kick stand down on my bike and approached him gemtly. He opened his eyes immediately and his first impulse was to kiss his dog on the head. Then he looked at me foggily and without hesitation said, &#8220;I wish the best to you.&#8221; My heart melted and I asked, &#8220;May I take a picture of you and your dog?&#8221; He said yes and put his head back down and closed his eyes. His dog never stirred. I took the picture and softly said, &#8220;I wish the best to you too.&#8221; and moved on. In my mind I always thought Miami was the epitome of vanity. When I attended a Craniosacral Training in Chichester, NY a couple of years ago I met a beautiful soul who was a yoga instructor from Miami and who had recently opened a studio there. I was curious and asked her about her experience. She said everyone was very body and image conscious and that for the most part the deeper practice was new for her students but that she felt very connected to the people. I said it must be very needed and she said she felt very guided to be there. I never forgot our interaction and when I spent this time in Miami I was delighted to revel in the uniqueness and realness of the people. We are all one people, no matter where we dwell or in what frame of mind. Very little separates us in reality. I felt small, humbled and also very much a part of my surroundings. What a wonderful feeling. As I rode down the bike path I watched my partner adeptly navigate around the busy-ness there. One fire-hydrant of a man, a runner with I-Pod intact, averted my friend before me and looked directly at my bike; I smiled and drifted right to go around him and he made a direct bee-line for me, slammed a shoulder into mine and smashed my left hand on the bike handle. I yelled, &#8220;OUCH!&#8221; involuntarily and felt deeply hurt by the experience. I rode a little further but was surprised to find significant emotion surfacing. His affront seemed intentional. My friend noticed me pull over and when he approached I let the tears flow easily. It was as if the ocean moved through my tear ducts and I was purified by the easy release. My friend told me that some men here were not friendly with women; that he had noticed several men look at me with disdain and perhaps this man was aggressive toward women. I had a hard time believing this, and even now think perhaps I misunderstood the situation. But irregardless I felt &#8220;slammed&#8221;. After a few deep breaths I allowed everything to fall into proper perspective. I stayed off my bike for a few minutes. Eventually I approached a nearby table expressing hand made jewelry for sale. A long strand of sea blue shells called to me and I picked them up and secured them around my neck wistfully. The woman vendor smiled at me directly. She said, &#8220;They bring out the blue in your eyes.&#8221; I know she saw my recent tears and as our gaze met I felt healed and grateful. I unclasped the necklace and laid it carefully on the table, thanked her and walked away. Later that evening, after eating at Johnny Rockets in South Beach we abandoned our bikes and walked for a time. A woman approached us quietly. Something about her demeanor grabbed me; it may have been the folds of skin dragging from her chin, as if she had lost a lot of weight suddenly, late in life, and the elasticity of her skin had not caught up. She asked us for a dollar or two, and I said, &#8220;How about a dollar for a picture?&#8221; My friend gave her two, and she said, &#8220;What do you want a picture of this old lady for?&#8221; I told her she was interesting and beautiful, and my friend said she would probably make it into one my my articles. I asked if that was okay with her and she seemed delighted. When we parted I squeezed her shoulder with one hand and we passed love together. For two miles of walking I could not speak for the impression of her. Each experience was so varied, so beautiful and so open. I realize it does not matter where we go or where we stay, who we interact with. Every communication is precious. This week I am grateful for my Miami family, even if I never see them again. Home again I am still praying for dreams and guidance, as I always do. I feel at peace, trading 85 degrees and sunshine for 37 degrees and blustery winds. Tonight I lit a fire and I write this soft blog, taking the opportunity to connect with my heart to my purpose in this moment. Miami, this week, reminded me of the diversity of our culture, the openness of who we are and the utter acceptance we can embody. It also reminded me it is sweet to cry in the moment, let go and move on; to enjoy the day. We all, no matter who we are, are okay and in fact are beautiful in any form. What a wonderful offering. In love, Christina]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Re-Attuned: A Transmutation by Fire</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/re-attuned-a-transmutation-by-fire/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/re-attuned-a-transmutation-by-fire/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:49:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://practice-room.com/?p=2587</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently I was re-attuned at the Reiki I, II and Master Levels. I had already received previous certifications but we were running the Reiki I and II Trainings here at the PR and I thought what the heck, let&#8217;s get re-vamped. To be honest I didn&#8217;t think much about it in regards to fall-out; I thought it would be a beautiful experience, and it was. Carol Wallace does a bang-up job of delivering the message of Spirit; she totes the package with belief and inspires all in her path to get connected, feel the juice and become alive with empowerment. When I received my Reiki II re-attunment I had lots of visions and a very strong intention to release the blocks that were perceptibly holding me back. Carol mirrored my visions to me and I thought cool, validation for my path. Within one week I was a mass of tears, disassembly and absolute humility. I was barely functional in my life and praying for mercy. This is the story of my life. I love to grow and to receive the blessings of spirit, to remember I am loved through the answer to my prayers. Even if my prayers are hard and the answers are harder I feel connected when I embrace the emergence of the manifestation of my intention. In this case I was blissfully thrown on my ass and spent a week and a half crying and clinging to God. I remembered my deepest practices, I intimately connected with my deepest support systems and I released volumes of anger, grief, jealousy and sadness. At times I thought I wanted to die but for being a mother to my child. It is interesting to see what comes of healing, because we never know. It is not up to us. It is up to the intelligence of the physical body, the energy body, of our spirit as aligned with our highest healing intention and connected to Source. It takes courage to pray and then to receive the answers to our prayers. While it might feel &#8220;safe&#8221; at times to cling to what is known, it is liberating to surrender into what is unknown, to remove the obstacles from our own hearts so that we may be free to love more deeply, with greater trust. The result of my cathartic realignment is the release of old anger and hurt, the embracing of a new way to be in old relationships that is authentic and effortless. Forgiveness is bliss. The Pheonix is the legendary bird who surrenders itself repeatedly to the funeral pyre, only to rise from the ashes to live again. When we make a choice to commit to our own self growth as a means to take responsibility for our empowerment, we inevitably find ourselves on that pyre, burning. In the moments when the flames are highest and we are feeling the searing transmutation it can be difficult to remember why we choose this path to personal enlightenment. But when we experience the fire often enough we can more easily say, &#8220;Oh. Here I am again,&#8221; (in between crying, &#8220;What do you want from me God?&#8221;) In Ancient Egypt the Phoenix represented the sun; perhaps symbolically reminding us that as we fly closer to our own light, everything in the shadow of that light must incinerate. This is the incineration of the levels of our ego mind, our attachments, our misinterpretations of self as anything less than divine. Thankfully the sun is so beautiful ,the light so seductive that it lures us innocently into the flames over and over and over again. I think if the lure to the light was any less beautiful it would be an impossible journey to initiate. But there is nothing lighter than ash, and this side of the funeral pyre feels liberating to me; a burden lifted, another lesson exhausted and let go. If you are a Reiki practitioner already and you are looking for another shift in your life, through blocked places, pain, general confusion or lack of clarity, I highly recommend becoming re-attuned to at least your Reiki I and II levels. I was reminded deeply that each time we go through an energetic shift we meet it from a new place in our consciousness, based on the culmination of past growth and experience. We have the tools to endure facing our fears, feeling what has been stored in our energy system as it resurfaces on its way back out. We have the strength to endure the transmutation by fire into the Phoenix that we are. What a beautiful gift to give the self. Perhaps not for the faint of heart! But for liberation of the heart&#8230; All of my love, Christina]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bullying</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/bullying/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/bullying/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:31:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://practice-room.com/?p=2543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is comforting to know that everything we need to learn life delivers to us in short fashion. We do not even need to be &#8220;conscious&#8221; to be graced with the soul lessons we require to access freedom and empowerment. Being conscious helps; if we simply pay attention to ourselves and our lives our growth accelerates and our suffering lessens. Actually seeking out keys or tools to support this process helps even more. But regardless, from infancy to death the lessons never stop and our ability to bring ourselves to the threshold of every experience with some degree of willingness makes all the difference in the world. I love the reminders that come from the people around me that I love so much. Particularly through the little bundle of non-stop energy, joy and misery that is my six year old son. He challenges me on every level and there is no one on earth to which I am more deeply bonded. Love is the glue that helps us to remain present through the hard lessons. My love for my son is the glue that helps me to navigate through territory that I would not walk anywhere near in other circumstances. I would say, &#8220;See yaaaa!&#8221; if it was anyone else. He truly deserves credit for bringing me to places I might never would arrive at otherwise. So when he endlessly talks or interrupts or throws a fit over not getting what he wants I say to myself, &#8220;What if he was not here? I would miss these moments.&#8221; This gives me energy to dig in and do the deeper work I am capable of, that we are all capable of. Choosing to keep my eyes open means that I am willing to see the places in myself that are raw, imperfect and that need healing. My son reveals these places to me all of the time through his own insecurities and needs. As he grows older these places become amplified in part because he is better able to act out and to articulate his experience. I look for the &#8220;peak&#8221; lessons that crest periodically, and this week the peak lesson was around “bullying”. Joe came home for several weeks in a row speaking nightly of his experience of being picked on by another child in school. Some nights he acted out with anger and I would stop and say, &#8220;Hey! What happened today? Why are you so upset?&#8221; Some nights he would cry. When he came home one afternoon and revealed that he was keeping a daily tally of exactly the number of times a fellow student called him &#8220;stupid&#8221; and &#8220;mean&#8221; I sat down hard and said ok, we need to ground down to the bottom of this now. We had spent a lot of time talking about the fact that when someone picks on us they are really acting out their own pain, their own hard life. We talk about how when someone picks on us we should not take it personally, we should walk away. “Walking away” was not getting to the bottom of it with for my son for some reason. The question for me on a deeper level was, why? When my son came home angry one day from school this week he pulled my hair from the back seat of the car and told me he was going to punch me in the face when we got home. In the nearly seven years we have spent together I have never heard words like this coming out of his mouth. I thought, where did my little innocent boy go? I was silent, sad; floored. I let him work through his anger on his own, buckled in, thank god. When we arrived home I quietly said, “Go to your room.” He did his time out and afterwards we discussed the longer term consequence of his actions (no TV or treats for two days and no attending a birthday party on the weekend for a friend). When we really talked he said he was tired of being picked on at school and said, &#8220;Mom, you DON&#8217;T understand. I DO NOT want to go to school tomorrow.&#8221; The next morning I spoke with his teacher. What is consistently enlightening is that I know nothing. I love this place because it is very freeing. When I spoke with Joe&#8217;s teacher she said, &#8220;Joe needs to self-advocate. He is very kind to this boy. While you want him to keep an open heart, there is nothing wrong with saying ‘What you are doing hurts.’ &#8221; She said she would talk to him directly and give him permission to speak up in a non-charged way. She encouraged him to seek her out when he was troubled and being picked on. My son had been absorbing every affront and taking it to heart as “real” and about him. How do you teach a child to let insults “roll off” them? To walk away unscathed? My son’s emotional state was interfering with his ability to be present for his own learning; he was resisting wanting to go to school so I was deeply grateful for the input and the support from Joe’s teacher. Because Joe has no problem speaking-up at home it was surprising to hear he did not speak up with his peers. Friends of mine who are mothers have mentioned this very place; that our children are one way at home and another way at school. I work hard with my son to help him as much as I can and while my focus is him, part of the process of “showing up” as a parent involves being open to the mirrors our children provide to us through their own feelings and behavior. If my son is afraid to use his voice, if he feels insecure and part of him believes he might actually be “stupid” or “mean” just because someone tells him so, what part do I play in this? It was a relief to see that what I was missing in this experience was the place around using our voice, speaking up and validating our own experience; mirroring calmly to the &#8220;projector&#8221; that their name-calling hurts, is inappropriate and we no longer want to play with them as a result. With adults in healing work we often look at what is happening in the main energy centers, or “chakras” in the energy body; particularly the second chakra, located just below the navel, which corresponds to our inner sense of how it is that we creatively birth our lives. In order to access this place we must first have enough self worth to grant ourselves permission to feel who we really are, separate from others. If we cannot connect to ourselves on a deep level, on the level of our own needs then we have difficulty recognizing our needs and giving ourselves permission to fulfill them. And if we do recognize our needs, can we cultivate the courage required to use our voice (fifth chakra- throat center) to speak our needs to self or others? If we cannot affirm our own needs, repression results. We invalidate ourselves, typically based on lack of self worth and perhaps a history of emotional abandonment or some form of abuse which may engrain a core belief around worthlessness (an inaccurate, “misinterpretation” of self). When we “sit on” our needs without using our voice we become victim to a sense of powerlessness; we become depressed, angry, unfulfilled. Long term repressive patterning makes us the chronic victim; the complainer for whom nothing ever works out in life. When in the presence of others who seem to embody something we do not allow for ourselves (such as self worth, love, good fortune) unconsciously, as the victim, we can become angry and jealous; we can even become a “bully” to self (the self-destructive victim) or others (power-over, dominant). Either way we become the bully, powerless to the inner rage that motivates destructive behavior. Behind rage lies helplessness. Within this helplessness we feel immense vulnerability and the need to feel safe. As adults, if we have enough self love to seek healing (or enough pain) hopefully we seek out a safe container that affirms we are worthy of love. But within this context we must still “discipline” the inner bully; creating strong boundaries against repetitive negative thought forms and behaviors so that the heart has space to heal, free from constant assault from the mind. We need to resist feeding the bully with reciprocal rage and guilt, negativity or pain (sometimes removing privileges like TV, treats and birthday parties when the inner bully acts up!) Although hard work, this is fairly simple to address in adults due to our cognitive ability to grasp complex concepts, but how to we translate this to children? Even at six years old kids go through these tough lessons. They are exposed to being “picked on”, peer pressure, insecurities, the need to find their place in social and academic settings. How amazing now that even in grade school there seems to be strong education and enforcement around bullying. When I was six years old there was no consciousness around this place. Kids could go to school with knives in their pockets and no one would know the difference. Today the schools are on lock-down once the school day starts. If you want to enter the school you enter through the front doors and get “buzzed” into the main facility once you sign in and are approved for entry. As a mother I am both disturbed and grateful for this function. I am grateful for a facility that is genuinely supportive of both the one who is suffering being the bully, providing the structure and support that hopefully encourages self esteem and behavior modification; and the one who is suffering the bullying, providing acknowledgment and support. It is a tall order; our schools are overloaded with the job of trying to deliver knowledge to children on an academic level while balancing social and emotional concerns that are weighty and real. In order for this to happen the “container” must be strong; the outer structure must support the inner structure. The sealed, secure facility and the strong staff must hold the line so that the vulnerabilities of children can be present, guided, and organized into comprehensive learning. This is essentially no different than any healing modality. There is a reason why astrologically we assess our inner nature and our outer nature. I am a Virgo by inner nature; organized and concise. My outer nature is a Gemini; this is how people might see me. Gemini’s are communicators, able to see both sides of things but perhaps sometimes scattered and challenged around making concrete decisions. Despite being a “communicator” I have always been challenged around using my voice in a definitive way. My entire life to date has been a continuum of lessons around recognizing when I need to speak up and then doing so; empowering myself to use my voice, trusting my inner wisdom and vision. Now as I look at my son I realize with skipped-heartbeat that he may also need this lesson. Did I not integrate it quite enough prior to his birth to deliver this dna well? Maybe I am passing to him the unresolved lesson that he needs to self-validate and feel confident about who he really is. Certainly his life experiences contribute to his challenges, as all of our life experiences do. As I listened to Joe’s teacher I gained perspective. I realized I was only seeing and hearing one side of the story, through my son, and I was assimilating and making assumptions based on what my interaction with him contained. This incomplete picture was not helping him. I was guiding him to walk away from conflict and to not take it personally without realizing his needs were not met through voice and self-advocacy. What he really needs to understand is that he is okay; he is not stupid or dumb or mean. It is important to see the whole picture; the perspective of the hawk’s view. According to the Native American teaching of the Four Directions the hawk dwells in the “East Place”; the place of the rising sun, the dawning of insight. When we gain perspective we can access the insight required to make healthy choices and decisions in life. As children we are so easily hurt by an offender; how powerful is it to actually speak up, to a teacher or to a bully, and to own your own sense of worth? When someone hands us their power, through insult or self-diminishment, we can either take their power and believe in the wound that is present, or we can hand it back to them calmly and fortify our belief in our self, therefore having some level of compassion for the one who is attempting to hand us their power. Not pity, compassion. With perspective provided through the new information and support from Joe’s teacher I felt empowered to help my son in a more concrete way. And within this process I could see the places in him that mirror the places in me that continue to need healing; the over-sensitive one who has had to learn to use her voice and even at times still suffers her own inner “bully”. Taking ownership for these places in myself makes me feel deeply connected to my child and deeply committed to assisting him in his on-going process of self validation and self worth. Every victory he experiences to this end is a victory I experience; this IS the reward of parenting, the nectar that feeds the soul. It is a reminder that the only way out is through; the only way out of pain is through the pain. Victory lies waiting on the other side. So I reconnected to something this week, very simply. A reminder that once we have permission from self, and sometimes an outside advocate, we remember that it is okay to speak up and speak our truth. In yoga we call it “satya”, a “yama” meaning “truth”. It takes courage to feel who we really are, and to embody the predecessor of this yama, “ahimsa” which means “non-violence”. Can we speak our truth in a non-violent way? Can we drop the internal self-violence that shows us the ways we think badly of ourselves, the adopted thought-patterning that hurts and is not the truth of who we are? If we can do this we have a better chance at accessing compassion for others who are self-destructive or projecting their own pain. By releasing self-judgment and embracing the courage to speak our truth, even if we shake in our boots when we do it, we realize that the pain of another is not about us, even if they attempt to make it so. It is up to us whether or not we stand by our positive belief in self, or feed negative core beliefs that do not support the brilliance we are capable of embodying. On Saturday afternoon my son received his “privileges” back. After watching a movie together and eating dessert, Joe and I reviewed what he had learned this week. He laid in bed and contemplated. “I learned that it was nice to take a walk with you.” I smiled because what a beautiful day it was to take a walk with my son, and how beautiful that this was his first recollection. He had picked up some tree bark for me, near Page Pond, as well as two shiny rocks filled with crystal and mica that made their way to my personal altar this afternoon. I asked him to look a little deeper. After a moment he said, “Oh yeah! I learned about bullying!” I asked him what he learned about bullying. “Speak up. I can say ‘What you are saying hurts my feelings and makes me not want to play with you.’ Then walk away.” He told me he knew that he could find an adult and tell the adult what was happening. I told my son that he is lucky to be learning this at only six years old. I reminded him of the commercials about this sort of thing on TV geared toward Junior High School students and older (www.speakup.com); that if he gets this now, he can help others through all of his years at school. What a lucky boy he is. I watched him shine with this insight. I saw him gain pride and confidence and the understanding that even though his own difficult behavior led to difficult consequences for him, he gained something he can use in the future to help others. He won’t be perfect at it, by a long shot; none of us are. But knowledge is power, and integrating that knowledge over and over through experience and “right action” leads to wisdom. (This is practice.) Joe said to me, “Mommy, do you mean that I can help bullies or the ones who are bullied?” I was quiet for a moment and then I said, “Both, honey.” “That’s what I thought,” he nodded. I asked Joe what he thought was happening for a child who picks on other kids all the time. He said, “I think we don’t know what their lives are like Mommy. They probably have a tough time at home.” This weekend in our 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training program at the PR we discussed non-violence and truth. We discussed taking ownership for our feelings no matter how painful or uncomfortable, without repressing or expressing, just feeling them all the way through until the feelings dissolve on their own and the insights become apparent (tapas). We processed responding differently to the same situation that reoccurs over and over; the life challenges that present themselves repeatedly and that we want to react to the same old way but that we dare to respond to differently (changing our “karma”). It doesn’t take a yoga teacher training to get this lesson. It takes a six year old learning to believe in himself, to speak up and use his voice and to walk away from conflict instead of taking something personally, thinking it is about him. The most humbling part of my week was watching my son integrate the understanding that he has power. It reminds me to use my voice, to allow space for my own truth to be present. If he can get this at six, I think we have a chance, at any age. In love, Christina]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Intuitive Healing</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/intuitive-healing/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/intuitive-healing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:07:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://practice-room.com/?p=2501</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[All experiences are beneficial, regardless of their nature. This does not mean we have to love the experience; we might hate the experience, and that feeling may be exactly the medicine we need to create balance in our soul development. Therefore it is pointless to question or doubt the content of our earth walk, and yet we do not use this concept as an excuse to go to sleep to our deeper needs. Everyone deserves to heal, which means that we are all worthy of liberation from suffering. Within the gravity of this dimension that forces us to use physical muscles in order to stand tall, we give thanks for the emotional gravity of our experiences that motivate us to find liberation from suffering; to stand tall within the face of emotional degradation. In my experience, when we suffer enough to take responsibility for our own healing, we accelerate the process of liberation from suffering. When we experience enough liberation, we immediately want to share this knowledge with others. This is because we truly are all drawn from the same fabric; we are all source energy, a reflection of the divine, and we want to play! We want to be buoyant, to share, to experience and give love. This is healthy and sweet and it is the nature of who we are on a soul level. Competition, hoarding, stealing, pulling, vindictiveness, are all symptoms of an injured ego that MUST recognize itself before it can desire liberation. Prior to liberation we must experience the desire for it; we can not prematurely surrender. Therefore it is necessary to listen to our own wounds, to feel them through, to gain the insight within the chaos. Sometimes this requires assistance of some form of therapy with an experienced, trustworthy facilitator, and sometimes life thrusts it upon us in a seemingly cruel way and yet we ultimately, in this lifetime or the next, find the keys to our own empowerment. If we look back through our lives where did the deepest healing source from? It comes through the true depth of our own feeling experience, when we are forced to feel, forced to take action to advocate for self. We always have the strength required to endure what the universe and our own souls call forth; whether or not we exercise that strength is a choice. We may not make the choice; we may go to sleep, bow out. But the moment we experience awakening or a stirring of consciousness is the moment it becomes very hard to turn back. Once we become self-realized we turn the amperage up; the pain of avoidance becomes seemingly greater. These ARE accelerated times; we spin ever so fast on the spiral of creation toward the center of the wheel. In these times that are fertile with opportunity for accelerated growth and development we enjoy the privilege of quick access to healing. Healing happens truly in an instant, but it demands of us full surrender; full willingness to dive to the bottom of the swamp to feel the roots of who we are. There is nothing quite so exhilarating as resurfacing with the keys to our empowerment, only to face the golden lotus that we are. And once we arrive there, what is the first thing we desire? To shout out to the world, to share the secret of liberation! Because we realize we really are amazing and the God exists within ALL of us. I have experienced deep healing in Mother Nature, deep healing on the yoga mat, deep healing on a bus, deep healing folded in child&#8217;s pose in the agony of loss. I have experienced deep healing before the Guru, before the Divine Mother, and before the beauty of each individual who honors me with their trust and presence. These healings fuel me to serve and to help myself and others to heal. Our experiences help us to become all that we are meant to become, whether we are born mentally retarded, physically handicapped, emotionally challenged, etc. This is what we choose. But when we find a moment of liberation, through exercising our spiritual might, will we share this with others? I think it is a natural, unavoidable result of health. It is the proper circulation of love that flows within the divine circuitry of this dimension. Thank God for that. In love, Christina]]></description>
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		<title>The Bus</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/the-bus/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/the-bus/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:20:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://practice-room.com/?p=2437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The smell of the bus is comforting. Eleven hours in this roaring coach creates intimacy. The passengers are transient, enjoyed in the brilliancy of the moment; they come and go, but the real bonding is with the bus. She is stable and crude beneath my ass, dramatic about every bump in the road and guttural in her expression when forced to speed up or come to a stop. At rest areas and service stations she seems triumphant, rebellious and exhausted as she spits us out to visit vending machines and public restrooms. When I walk on foreign pavement, lazy with cracks and oil stains, I smell the new and different scents that are not the bus and I feel more aware that I am alone and perhaps even a little crazy. This leg of the journey to California is somewhat easier now than the hitchhiking piece that preceded it. While it was cool to spend a night in New Orleans I didn’t care for the glom-on boy who shared the cost of a room with me (at the YMCA) and tried to convince me that french kissing goodnight is customary in his country. I let him know that in the good old USA this sort of thing could cost him a set of valuables that might jeopardize his future prospects for contributing to over-population in “his country”. He left me alone and as I drifted off to sleep I contemplated the irony of french kissing thieves in the French Quarter. The next day I wandered about through the local culture and to my delight discovered an antique button shop that in I am sure is no longer there; sadly it must have been washed out in Hurricane Katrina. But I still have a few buttons from the store. My memories of New Orleans are antique buttons and the YMCA. After this I cave to the bus. It is too hard to find rides that feel safe and get you where you want to go and I have had too many close calls. Even on public transportation I rub and tap the blade, hidden within my jeans. Prior to travel my not-so-boyfriend gave me the pretty knife and I promptly sewed the leather sheathe to the inside of my pant leg, creating a tear in the thigh that allowed the handle to protrude beneath my long sweatshirt. At the time I did not realize the dagger was illegal. 18 years naïve, it was of little consequence that my 101 pound frame could probably not efficiently wield a weapon against an adversary. Or maybe I did realize this, because the presence of this protection makes me feel a little bad and a little scared. Removing it seems like a bad idea though, plus it would leave an empty rip in my jeans. As we rumble down the road I place the 1980’s Walkman headphones on my ears and turn up my Simon and Garfunkel tape. “I am just a poor boy though my story’s seldom told…” In the container of this long ride I feel shielded from my life, relieved and empty. No one who knows me knows where I am and for the first time in my life I begin to consciously relax in a way that I am unable to articulate to myself. &#160; When night falls I watch through the dirty bus windows as the lightning storms scatter about the flat Texas floor in the distance. Speeding along the monotonous grey highway I am struck by the beauty which feels married to my loneliness. I write this poem: &#160; Touring faded grey. Far away fire blades slash dry night and light the flatlands. I can see the dirt. &#160; I left New Hampshire to travel with no particular destination in mind. Leaving was my motivation, pure freedom from oppressive circumstances. When I prepared to leave I was honest about my intentions, my mode of travel (hitch hiking) and limited means. Dad was pissed because he was sure he would never see me again and he knew he could not control me. I was pissed that he was pissed because how could he not support me in my wishes and dreams? When I yelled at him and said, “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to me?” He said “No! Because I know I will never see you again! You are going to die out there!” He told me this is NOT a good world, that I would surely be raped and killed and what was the point of saying goodbye? He was already moving on into reconciling my demise within himself. &#160; That kind of sucked but in my youth I wrote him off, while at the same time smugly registering that he really did care about me. This was news of a sort; my father was short on affection and long on self-absorption. But he had integrity and I loved the hell out of him. Later, after I survived my several months of vagrant wandering unscathed and returned home again, my father would proudly boast about my escapades and laugh heartily at my courage. (Go figure.) And now, as a mother, I vomit at the thought that my child may ever put me through what I put my parents through. &#160; What I could never explain to my father was that this world is not so bad; it depends on what you focus on. Protection exists, guides and angels are real and it is safe to feel to the bottom of things. At the bus stop in Los Angeles I was surrounded by sketchy moments, prostitutes and unsavory solicitations by men; that was not new at this point. At the truck stops in New York and Pennsylvania it was the same; there are threads of this current everywhere around the country like meridians crimped with shadow culture in the divine circuitry of the land. But in LA I was exponentially more nervous because I was truly out of my element; my cocky survivor arrogance meant nothing here. As I registered this reality a huge cowboy walked up to my side and told me in no uncertain terms he was my escort. He was lively, funny and articulate, his face shadowed beneath the brim of his cowboy hat and I trusted him instantly, with a strange sense of relief. He must have seen my vulnerability and felt obligated to protect this pitiful female a fraction of his size. Sure enough he led me to the places I could not find, safely navigating us through the yucky, stinky, questionable areas until I was lined up and ready to board the next bus. I looked down to adjust my bag and when I looked up to thank him he was quite simply, inexplicably gone. We had been standing in a wide expanse of bus terminal space; this man was easily 6’ 5” tall and as broad as a healthy Texan might be. But of course he was gone. &#160; I couldn’t explain to Dad that protection exists, angels exist and that my intuition told me I would always be okay. Because there are too many people who are not okay, too many people who get hurt. But I knew I wouldn’t be one of those people, and perhaps by simple coincidence I was not one of those people despite the fact that I pressed the edges and the odds. &#160; Today on the yoga mat, a short 25 years later, I think about the rumbling security of the bus and the divinity of the Cowboy to whom I have always felt deep gratitude. Through the years I have refined the type of container I seek, one that helps me to relax and take the deeper breath so that I can gaze with perspective across the flatlands of my life. The container I choose now is stable, a little crude beneath my ass but a little less dramatic about the bumps in the road. Instinctively I think we are drawn to what offers us protection and nourishment, enough space and time to think a straight thought. Healing only happens when we relax. My first healing didn’t happen in therapy or on the yoga mat, it happened on the bus where I could feel utterly alone, with no demands and nothing to do but be present in the moment, watching lightning storms on the horizon; my own private savasana on wheels. On the bus for eleven hours of my life at 18 years old I stared out the windows, recorded my insights and poetry in my little journal, witnessed and breathed. I was doing yoga without quite being aware of it, and through relaxed integration I was releasing the accumulated dross of my existence. &#160; Now I know that the difference between peace and panic is the length of the breath; a shallow, rapid breath induces fight or flight reaction while a deeper, slower breath regulates the adrenal glands and helps us to down-regulate the central nervous system, slow the heart rate and calm the mind and body.  But not having that knowledge then did not cheat me of the experience of peace. Knowledge is power, but it is not wisdom unless exercised through practice. Today I do not need the secret dagger on my thigh for protection; my life has purpose beyond my means and I recognize this container as sacred. It is safe to feel, to be vulnerable and to simply be present. Now I know when lost in the story of my life it is time to exit the drama and get on the bus. Witness the storm through the windows, take a deep breath, relax and let the faded contours of the road of life pass beneath me. &#160; I do believe that Buddha tried to tell us this through the example of his experience beneath the Bodhi tree: it happens in a moment. All of life culminates in her beauty through one breath, one realization that in this moment, we may relax and find utter connection and peace. We return here over and over through our practice, and for me the first meaningful practice was on the gritty bus, listening to Simon and Garfunkel, holding space for my life. We never know when it will come, but once it does we recognize it again and again. THAT is practice. Bring it on. &#160; In love, Christina]]></description>
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		<title>The Therapeutic Agitation of Root Chakra Issues</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/the-therapeutic-agitation-of-root-chakra-issues/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/the-therapeutic-agitation-of-root-chakra-issues/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:29:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://practice-room.com/?p=2334</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a challenging time. Yogi Amrit Desai used to be fond of saying that &#8220;life is a perpetual, therapeutic irritation.&#8221; Right now in particular it appears we are experiencing the therapeutic agitation of root chakra issues, among other things. Located at the base of the spine/pelvic floor area, the root chakra (&#8220;muladhara&#8221; in Sanskrit) is one of seven main energy centers in the body (there are hundreds, but seven main &#8220;heavy hitters&#8221;). The root chakra relates to foundational issues: identity, survival, security, safety, a sense of being grounded in the world, structure, finances, etc. A balanced root chakra indicates we feel vital and alive in our body, our sexual energy is healthy, our sense of self worth is strong and we experience trust and playfulness in our lives. We also have a healthy relationship with abundance and the ability to manifest. Lately in this country, as well as within our larger, global community, we seem to be experiencing a real root-chakra shakedown. We see it in the economic crisis many are experiencing; home foreclosures, lay-offs, the folding of &#8220;giants&#8221; in the corporate world (i.e: Borders Books). This &#8220;therapeutic agitation&#8221; is not all bad. At the root level it allows us to clear old, accumulated debris and to create a solid personal foundation. All levels of our being are being asked to come into alignment, however on a foundational level I believe we are being directed into the depth of healing that demands personal sustainability and non-negotiable connection (for better or for worse, like it or not). Resist Nothing Our level of resistance to the process of growth and change is directly proportional to the level of pain we experience. That does not mean that by resisting nothing we will feel no pain; it simply means our journey becomes more fluid and tolerable and we are better able to take nothing personally, to relax into trust. When life becomes heavy, it behooves us to lighten up. The level of pain we experience is equal to our level of resistance. Resist nothing. As we contemplate what this means we illuminate our attachments. As we illuminate our attachments we can relax our grip and simply let go. As we let go, we renew our faith and trust that we are held, that at the bottom of it all we are grounded in the knowing that it is all ok. We are all going to be alright. It IS possible to live in love; we simply have to remember to let love flow through us. We do this by being love, by giving love, acceptance, understanding first to ourselves and therefore to one another. The depth to which we can accept our own flaws, feel our own pain, and accept ourselves is the depth to which we can love one another. At the bottom of our experience we retrieve the pieces of ourselves that we have lost. It is safe to dive; it is safe to love. The Way of the Phoenix Who we are on a pure level remains intact through the process of transformation; it is the foundational belief systems that no longer serve us (the ones we do not need anymore and that keep us from love) that have no choice but to disassemble at this point within the evolution of consciousness. Collectively and individually we are experiencing a massive restructuring of relationships, life and career paths, finances, physical issues, and more. Major life changes are happening for us all in an effort to create greater, higher alignment. We either move willingly into that disassembly and reassembly, or we remain attached to negative self-concepts and victim consciousness. It can be a painful process, but ultimately embracing change seems to attune us to the resonance of self-empowerment and connection. In the end we always arrive, regardless of the road we take to get there. When we forget we are part of a larger whole we can take these experiences very personally because they affect us so deeply on a personal level. The &#8220;universe&#8221; does not have it out for us, on the contrary; despite our tragedies and our challenges, on the other side of the &#8220;shakedown&#8221; life tends to align more completely with who we REALLY are, not who we thought we wanted to or were supposed to be. If you are in throws of change right now, give it a few minutes. You won&#8217;t be in this place forever. It requires conscious awareness, a seedling of faith and trust; willingness, essentially, to point yourself in the right direction. Collapsing for too long into the hopelessness of the wound won&#8217;t get you through the night. If you are there right now, you deserve a support system; you deserve some help. You are not alone. Life is only what we make it. When times are tough we have a choice: cave into the destruction, or to go the way of the phoenix. The phoenix can only rise from the ashes when there is nothing but ashes left; to become the ash we must feel deeply to the bottom of our experience without avoidance and with complete surrender to what is. We must resist nothing, feel everything, and remember we are loved. If we forget we are loved, blow isolation to the curb and reach out. A dear, dear instructor at The Practice Room once posted a message on Facebook to the effect that she was not &#8220;feeling the love&#8221; and wanted to know that people were out there. The response and the support that came her way was amazing, which only tells me that we all need the same thing, desperately. If you are needing love, reach out; chances are a whole lot of other people are needing the same thing, but may not have the courage to ask. Smile first, so others smile back. It is the easiest way to connect and remember love. A Return to Light Times are hard for many and for those of you who are in a position within yourselves to embrace service to self and others, what you do is deeply needed. A return to the positive light that is who we are is critical; doing this together as a community only supports and strengthens that light. It is not a matter of finding it or cultivating it within ourselves; it exists already. It is a matter of choosing to feed that light rather than traveling sideways or down into the wounds that are surfacing on a collective level for healing. We face, we feel, we heal, but bonding blindly with the wounds in self and others is a denial of our own potential to embody the radiance of our own souls that is most needed now. The practice of yoga teaches us to witness our feelings and our reactions and to become allowing; to forgive our process and to simply return, over and over, to the safety, security and true peace that exists when we are centered solidly on a foundation of connection. In this peace is acceptance of self and the understanding that we are okay, everything has always been okay; in this knowing we can afford to embrace others in any phase of their own healing process. Our Intention The intent of The Practice Room is to be a container for this work; a place where the shadow debris can be released and transmuted so that we can all participate in healing connection, freedom and lightness of being. We as practitioners (practitioners of yoga, healing, of life; it does not matter) need to remember not to align with the clearing debris, rather to compassionately allow it to move through as we align with the positive light that we all are. Every person is that light. This means when we see the shadow material in self or others we don&#8217;t judge it; we recognize it but do not use it against one another to make ourselves feel better than OR worse than. It means we hold witness to the changes around us and we ground into our own center so that we can feel what &#8220;home&#8221; feels like inside of ourselves, so we know where to return when we forget and stray too far from this place. Peace Unchanging A wonderful quote from Swami Vivekananda was just sent out in a recent &#8220;Shunyam Productions&#8221; eflyer. I appreciate it so much because it speaks exactly to the potential within us to be that which we we already are. The world of duality exists; however we can meet that level of duality in self and others with the understanding that while there may be two sides to one coin, there is only one coin. &#8220;After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains &#8211; one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the nature of the Atman is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only wash away the dross and see it. Let us put forth all our energies to acquire that which never fails &#8211; our spiritual perfection. If we have true yearning for realization, we must struggle, and through struggle growth will come. We shall make mistakes, but they may be angels unawares.&#8221;  ~ Swami Vivekananda When the root chakra issues are stirred up, don&#8217;t take it too personally. Connect to your needs and recognize this is an opportunity to become more whole and self-sustaining. Becoming self-sustaining also means realizing we are not alone. When we find our direct connection, we recognize we are all part of that same connection, the same coin. We are that. We all deserve to live in love.    In love, Christina]]></description>
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		<title>New Age Vocalist Ashana to Perform at The Practice Room</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/new-age-vocalist-ashana/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/new-age-vocalist-ashana/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:57:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://practice-room.com/?p=2171</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are truly graced to have one of the premiere healing music artists and New Age vocalists of our time, Ashana, perform at The Practice Room this Friday, October 7th at 7pm. Weaving together soaring, angelic vocals and the celestial sound of crystal singing bowls, Ashana’s original sound is the forefront of an entirely new genre of healing music. She has received worldwide acclaim for her extraordinary blend of Western and ethnic instruments with the unique drone of the crystal singing bowls, along with mantra, chant and song, creating a harmonic fusion that provides the ultimate transcendent music for healing, relaxation and meditation. Ashana’s new CD, “The Infinite Heart,” was released this summer and has received rave reviews. This stunning and elegantly crafted work features sacred chant, mantra and song celebrating the divine feminine. Breaking new ground, Ashana blends her signature sound with Sanskrit and Sikh mantra, Tibetan and Native American chant, a song of devotion to the Virgin Guadalupe in Spanish, a hypnotic version of The Prayer of St. Francis, and an angelic choir of voices singing music inspired by 11th century mystic, Hildegaard von Bingen. From the first note, no one can escape the power of love emanating from every piece. This is, perhaps, Ashana’s finest work to date. In addition to the Friday night concert, Meredith is one of only seven cities selected to host the artist’s “Crystalline Activation Ceremony for Profound Manifestation and Healing.” This event will be held on Saturday, October 8th from 6 – 10 pm. This one-of-a-kind experience is a powerful and highly interactive evening that opens a floodgate of divine energies, pouring tremendous light into the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual bodies. The result is a deep clearing of limited, contracted energetic patterns and realignment with your innate soul blueprint and connection with your Higher Self. Profoundly relaxing and peaceful, this sound meditation and candlelight ceremony is a time to create and hold powerful intentions in sacred space accompanied by the resonant healing vibrations of over 50 master alchemy crystal singing bowls. Ashana will also offer a very special “Crystal Singing Bowls Workshop” on Sunday, October 9th from 1-3:30 pm. Attendees will enjoy a hands-on experience to learn how to play the crystal singing bowl for personal and group sound healing and contemplative practices. No experience is necessary. Listeners the world over describe Ashana’s live music events as “ecstatic,” “profoundly healing,” “breathtakingly beautiful” and “indescribable joy.” Join Ashana for a magical evening of sacred chant, song, and mystical poetry accompanied by keyboards and vibrant world percussion. Ashana’s exquisite new renditions of sacred chant, mantra and song from the world’s traditions have the power to carry you literally to the angelic realms, transporting you to transcendent states of deep peace and inner healing on the gentlest waves of devotion and compassion. Classically trained, with a degree in Voice from the prestigious Mannes College of Music in New York City, Ashana rose to the very top of the healing music genre with her first three CD recordings, “All Is Forgiven,” “Jewels of Silence,” and “Beloved.” Her intuitive vocal improvisations and masterful crystal bowl playing are featured in the documentary film “The Sound You Feel: Vibrations of Healing,” released by Beyond Words. Admission to the Friday night concert is $35 in advance, $45 the day of the event. Registration for the Crystalline Activation Ceremony is $75. A combined concert/ceremony discount package is available for $99. Cost of the Crystal Singing Bowl Workshop is $45 in advance, $55 the day of the event. Click here to purchase tickets.]]></description>
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		<title>Kirtan Concert with David Newman on Friday, Sept 30</title>
		<link>http://practice-room.com/david-newman/</link>
		<comments>http://practice-room.com/david-newman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:21:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>practiceroom</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[david newman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[durga das]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kirtan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://e404themes.com/spicy/?p=183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;re so very excited to  host international Kirtan Chant Artist David Newman, also known as ‘Durga Das,’ this Friday, September 30th at 7 pm. He will be performing with his wife Mira, a celebrated devotional singer, recording artist and percussionist. As Yoga continues to spread its wings in America, a component of the ancient tradition is emerging as part of the new spiritual music movement. It is called Kirtan. A Kirtan is a group gathering where sacred mantras are sung together in a call and response style. It is a unique concert setting where music and singing are treated as meditation and the audience is as much a part of the band as the band members themselves. All throughout the country the awareness of this ancient practice is growing. David Newman travels extensively sharing Kirtan, devotional music and the spiritual, meditative and musical aspects of Yoga. Also known as Durga Das, David is recognized for his artful blend of songwriting with Kirtan chants in a way that makes the experience deeply accessible and even familiar to listeners of modern music. David&#8217;s CDs include Lotus Feet: A Kirtan Revolution, Soul Freedom, Leap of Grace: The Hanuman Chalisa, a CD/DVD set entitled Into the Bliss and his critically acclaimed Love, Peace, Chant on Nettwerk/Nutone. To follow up Love, Peace, Chant, David collaborated with three time Grammy® Award winning producer Trina Shoemaker. Shoemaker who had worked with artists such as Sheryl Crow and Emmylou Harris, joined renowned drummer Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney) and a host of seasoned musicians to record in Woodstock, NY’s legendary Dreamland Studio. In addition, David’s wife Mira, a devotional singer and percussionist, played a prominent role in the recording, adding her unique rhythmic groove and delicate angelic vocal style. The result was David’s most intimate and expressive record yet entitled To Be Home. To Be Home is a beautiful fusion of sacred song and chant in an acoustic roots musical landscape. It is a bountiful and genre transcending tapestry of spirited sound poetry weaving elements of the past, present, east and west into a mystical and magical elixir for the heart. David has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and has appeared in Yoga Journal, Yoga + Joyful Living, Yoga Magazine UK, Natural Awakening, In the Spirit, Yogi Times, Australian Life Magazine, Yoga Chicago as well as others. Admission is $20 in advance, $25 the day of the event. Click here to purchase tickets.]]></description>
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