We are excited to share the August pose of the month and class schedule!

In its third month, the pose of the month is a pose that one of our teachers selects; she then shares her thoughts about and experiences with it in this message. As the month progresses, teachers take up the challenge of incorporating this pose—or variations of it—into their class sequences for all but our yin and restorative classes. Since this month’s pose is also a yin pose, though, it may appear in those classes, as well.

We look forward to exploring this month’s pose with you, and we are grateful to Cre Dye for selecting it and contributing the following information about it!

August’s Pose of the Month: Agnistambhasana
Agni = fire
Stambh = log
Asana = pose

Agnistambhasana—also known as “fire-log pose” or double pigeon pose—is an intense hip opener that stretches the groin and hips (with special stretching to the piriformis) while releasing unwanted emotions like stress, anxiety, and tension.

First things first on getting into this pose: go s…l…o…w……..

When going into this pose, I like to keep the root word “Agni” in mind. In the Vedas of Ancient India, Agni, the two-headed fire god, fueled the sun, the stars, and lightning. Now for those of us with tight hips (usually from sitting at a desk or in a car), we certainly can connect to this fire force when in this pose. That’s why it’s important for us to be nice and warm, relaxed, and centered with the breath as our tether when in this pose. Those with low back or knee injury should use caution or welcome a variation for this fire log pose.

—Cre

Updates and events:

• Welcome new teachers, Trudy Burkeen and Susan Stanton. We are thrilled to be practicing with two new teachers in August, Trudy Burkeen and Susan Stanton, and we hope that you can join them for a class to help welcome them. To find out more about Trudy and Susan and their journeys with yoga, see our recent website post.
• Registration open for all three @the Museum classes. Want to practice at The Downing Museum in August? Sign up now to reserve your space! Check out this post on our website to learn more about all three class options—hatha yoga, yin yoga, and meditation—and their teachers, and to find the links to the registration forms. [July 31 update: please note a new date of Aug. 31 for Yin@the Museum, necessitated by the museum’s schedule.]
• Drop-in meditation classes continue. Alice Simpson offers drop-in Mindfulness Meditation classes in our downtown studio on the second Saturday and second Tuesday of each month for our usual $5 class fee. Whether you are new to meditation or an experienced meditator, please join Alice on Sat., Aug. 10, at 2 p.m. (in the studio) and Tues., Aug. 13, at 5:30 p.m. (in the lounge at the studio). Read more on this earlier post on our website.
• Book club meeting in September. To preview our September schedule, we want to let everyone know that our roughly quarterly book club, facilitated by Tori Treangen, will meet on Sun., Sept. 8, at 1 p.m. This quarter’s book, selected by attendees at the most recent meeting, is Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness: A Guide to Finding Joy in Unexpected Places by Sam Chase. We look forward to discussing it together!

For a full list of August classes, please see the calendar page of this site—or pick up a hard copy at The Pots Place. We also post an image version of the schedule each month and the day’s classes each morning on our Facebook page, should you find it convenient to keep up with us there.