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November 22, 2015 Come learn yoga, listen to local jams by Jeffrey Lee, and drink wine this Sunday at #TuscanHillsWinery in Effingham, IL   RSV1 Class for you and 1 class for your kiddo (5+) Please join Haley McGrath & Jolene Wright in a yoga session. 1 class will be taught for the parents and at the same time we will be having a kids yoga class. You do not have to have kids to join the adult class and you do not have to join the adult class if you want your child to engage in the kiddo yoga class. This 2 in 1 Kiddo & Me is welcome to everyone of all levels of experience, especially beginners. All poses of yoga will be explained for the beginners and there will be advanced poses for individuals who have experience. The kiddos will have fun learning yoga poses and breathing exercises through games and stories that will encourage creativity and imagination. $20 for 1 Adult & 1 Kiddo plus $5 for additional Kiddo $10 for 1 kiddo attending Kiddo Yoga ages 5+ Please RSVP or contact Jolene 217-649-9913 Location: Masonic Temple 105 E Jefferson St Sullivan, IL 61951  It has been a year since I have taken the leap to pursue yoga teaching. It’s been an amazing experience and I am still motivated more than ever. Actually, I am more motivated because I am not only seeing progression with myself as a teacher but I am also seeing progression with clients that take yoga with me.  I opened a yoga studio in Sullivan IL, started teaching at Amara Yoga & Arts in Urbana, IL, and you may find me at BE Yoga in Decatur, IL. It is amazing to see the connection and to be apart of the growing yoga community. Within that year, I have also accomplished hosting my first yoga retreat in Costa Rica and BALANCE Yoga Retreat 2016 has been launched! Also, on the side note, my application has been accepted to teach yoga at Phases of the Moon Music & Arts Festival. With patience on my side, visions have come to reality. I did get the chance to find a space and call it a yoga studio. After some time, I realized it wasn’t quite what I wanted to do with yoga. I was very attached to the thought of managing a studio but my intention was that I just wanted to simply teach. I saw letting the studio go as a failure and letting go has always been a challenge for me. I always forget the fact that once you close one-door five doors will open up for possibilities. I had to let go of what was not working, refocus, and aim higher. When I did this, I found a shared location to teach yoga to the public. The space is much larger for my classes to grow, it is still located near the square, and I get to simply teach yoga. I spend a lot of time thinking about self-reflection and tend to spend too much time here. What do I want? What do I not want? It goes back and forth. In reality, I need to listen to those soft whispers I get from the beginning and keep that trust within myself. I know what I want in life. I want to be a good person. I know there will be struggles and I may not always get what I want. If I trust myself with an open heart I should be able to make decisions that serve me. That doesn’t mean decisions will always be easy but life is short and needs to be lived to the fullest. Thank you for everyone who has supported me on my adventure.  “I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible; to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom, and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.” While I was living in Colorado I got the privilege to attend Wanderlust Yoga festival. This was a very interesting yoga speakeasy I very much enjoyed. There has definitely been a huge shift in the yoga practice. Lets be groovy!  I got back home from Costa Rica about a month ago and I think I am still super energized from the adventure. I am thrilled to be approaching goals I have set for myself almost 2 years ago. I definitely could not have done it by myself. Having fellow friends that have the same dreams as me is a rewarding feeling. It makes me want to continue to grow and advance my yoga teachings. I hope that I too can be an influence on these friends and future attendees of future retreats. Balance Yoga Retreat gals will be continuing the adventures in 2016. Start thinking now in advance and see if you can make a retreat happen. EVERY TIME I HEAR THIS IT MAKES MY JAW DROP AND MY HEART WILL POUND, SO PURE... It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love for your dream for the adventure of being alive. It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon... I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy mine or your own if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful to be realistic to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes.” It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.  In 2014 I made a commitment to handstands. 1 handstand per day for 365 days. There were a handful of days that I missed due to 2 surgeries but I believe I still averaged about 18 handstands a day in 2014. Impressive! It has been such an experience watching my body transform and being able to feel the alignment and the strength of my body .  Barefoot Freedom & Bad Ash Voice _ Mid year, I started teaching 10 classes a week. It was a must to slow down my yoga practice otherwise, I felt an injury would be the end result. Also, for about a month I struggled with the alignment in Downward- facing dog (Adho Mukha svanasa). adho = downward mukha = face svana = dog. Frustration grew with myself as I slowed down my practice and struggled with the alignment of a "simple" pose. With guidance in my 300hr teacher training (Kindness Yoga, in Denver, CO) I found a new Downward-facing dog and it completely changed my practice. Change the smallest alignment in a yoga pose and it will shift the whole body. The most advanced yogi’s look strong and limber but in reality every step on the mat is always the first time. Once you start practicing yoga you will always practice as a beginner. This was a great lesson for me to learn as I faced frustration and challenges on the mat. Slowing down my yoga practice and having to change alignment in my body was frustrating to me only at first. However, looking back I can easily see the most frustrating events only helped me recognize I was becoming stronger. The end result was my handstand transformation brought me a great work out, many laughs, and the best damn meditation ever. FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: jojo_barefootfreedom For the year of 2015, I would like to make a commitment to jump from Downward-facing dog to a seated pose. The challenge has begun! |
Photo used under Creative Commons from Sweet One
