Jivamukti Yoga With Jessica Stickler

We spend much of our lives searching for meaning, when it is in fact up to each of us to create meaning in our lives. Death awareness can help to re-prioritize so that we can focus our precious energy on those things that give our lives the most meaning. The practice is a hamstring/hanumanasana focused practice. It could be helpful to have a belt and a coin or sticky dot to follow along with the alignment activity in surya namaskar.

Memory and Forgetting as part of practice, and part of yoga. Memory serves a key role in practice, but we also get caught up in memories as a definition of our individual personality, which can have limiting effects. We have to remember to forget what we think we know sometimes in order to advance our practice.

Spiritual practice can provide us with the means to overcome our tendencies and habits, unless it becomes another cloak for those very same tendencies. We are challenged to stay alert to the ways in which spiritual practice might provide a convenient justification to avoid our difficult experiences and feelings. Music by Matt Wiviott: liveyogamusic.com

The mother and her tongue. Recorded at Bliss Yoga Studio on a recent teaching trip to Grand Cayman Island.

Yoga is now. Our mental excursions to the future and the past are a distraction from the experience of yoga which is only the present moment.

Yogis use mantra and music to connect more deeply with our true self and with the nature of the universe. Music by Kevin Nathaniel: http://mbirasanctuary.com/

featuring original music by Stephanie Carlin http://stephaniecarlin.com/

Intelligence means everything connects -- alignment of body, breath, intention, speech, and action. Misalignment creates tension in the body or in the mind. When all component of the yoga practice are working together, harmony, serenity, peace of mind, and joy arise.

Most of us identify with our past, specifically our past scars -- the experiences where we feel someone else has hurt us. This identification with past injuries limits our perception of ourselves. The goal of yoga is to clear out all the gunk, all the baggage, all the dirt, so that we can live harmoniously, in tune with others and with nature. Music by: Bhrigu Sani http://bhrigu.basecybernetics.com/

Everything is empty of meaning from its own side, and is perceived according to the nature of the mind that is doing the perceiving. The more we are able to expand our perception, the more we are able to let go of the clinging to identity. The class is a very hamstring focused physical sequence.

The five koshas or bodies are the layers or sheaths of embodied experience. The goal of all yoga practices is to purify these sheaths to uncover the Atman or the Divine Self, or "unconditioned consciousness."

Inversions are about going upside down, changing our perspective, expanding our sense of self, and shifting the cultural paradigm. Saleiu Suso plays kora throughout the class. The physical practice includes a few tripod headstands, which you may skip or modify if its appropriate for your practice.

Love is messy. Spiritual practice is sometimes rife with doubt and questions. Embrace both darkness and light as part of the path. Use every experience to lead you closer to the light of Self-realization, enlightenment. The sequence is a little twisty and turny with lots of right/left switching. Listen carefully and do your best!

Sound is vibration. Thoughts are the subtle vibration of electricity through cells and synapses. Our thoughts affect our minds and bodies, our words, our actions, our habits. Every suggestion the mind makes, sends a direct message to the body. Change the thoughts, change the habit!

We all have a limited time in this life, and none of us knows how much time we have. Awareness of the imminence of death can powerfully change how we use our time day to day. Death awareness can be a powerful way to ensure that we live as happily and compassionately as possible in our lives and without regret. The physical sequence in this class focuses on hips and shoulders, and leads up to standing marichasana. You can always skip this peak pose and just stay in your yoga squat (malasana)

The practice of yoga asks us to examine the prejudices and preferences of the mind, and the way that those prejudices play out in our relationships with others, including animals. As we "progress towards kindness," we are able to see others as the same, as KIN, which is the root of the word kindness. The physical practice itself is a hip focused class, with lots of fun arm balances. Please find me on Facebook: JessicaSticklerYoga and Twitter/Instagram: @yogastickler

Hatha Yoga means the Union (Yoga) of the Sun (Ha) and the Moon (tha). The goal of the yogi is to become the balanced energies of the sun and the moon. Meaning that we realize the true Self (Sun) in all beings, and we become the perfect reflection (Moon) of the Self to all beings. The way that the moon perfectly and lovingly reflects the sun's light, we lovingly reflect each other's innate goodness. This is a pretty twisty, turny, snakey, squirrely sequence.... Do your best with the audio instructions and don't overthink it. It was as challenging to teach as it is to do! Its a very hips and hamstrings focused class. Crescent moons abound!!