Madya Vikasa Chidananda-Labha, Sunday June 6th, 2010

Theme: Madhya-vikasac chidananda-labhah

"The bliss of consciousness is found in the expansion of the center"

What you hold at your center as the object of consciousness is what you illuminate in the world around you.

I used several examples that I thought of during a sequence I taught during teacher training on this same sutra. They came to me during prayer while I was on the mat:
...You are reading a book and notice other people carrying that book or reading it in a cafe.
...You are driving a car and see that same model of car on the freeway or parked along the side of the street.
...You wear a certain style of clothing and notice someone else with the same style as you as you pass by.

How this applies to yoga: We cultivate recognition of our own divinity and our highest and best intentions so we can illuminate the best qualities in the world around us and notice them.

Quote from President Barak Obama at 2009 Nobel Lecture: "So let us reach for the world that ought to be - that spark of the divine that still stirss within each of our souls."

Class Sequence:
1. Cat/Cow with alternating arm/leg balances
2. Uttanasana - Cobra - High Lunge
3. Uttanasana - Cobra - Low Lunge with a twist
4. Uttanasana - Cobra - Iguana
5. Dhanurasana
6. Sphnix with thigh stretch
7. Padottanasana with shoulder stretch
8. Parsvakonasana
9. Parsvottanasana
10. Virabhadrasana II
11. Trikonasana
12. Ardha Chandrasana
13. Vrksasana
14. Padangusthasana
15. Utkatasana w/ Twist
16. Malasana
17. Bakasana
18. Demo - Handstand at the wall with legs in L
19. Maha - Ahdo Mukha Vrksasana at wall
20. Tricep Dips
21. Request - Ustrasana (focusing on opening the heart)
22. Jathara Parivartanasana belly twists
23. Eye of the Needle
24. Happy Baby
25. Sivasana