Welcome to September! We are excited to share the pose of the month and class schedule with all of you!

Now in its fourth month, the pose of the month is a pose that one of our teachers selects and shares insights about in this message. As the month unfolds, teachers take up the challenge of incorporating this pose—or variations of it—into their class sequences.

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!

September’s Pose of the Month

Balasana (Bah-lahs-anna) or Child’s Pose
Bala = child
Asana = pose

“We must be still and still moving.“

I use these words by T.S. Eliot as a reminder.

The excitement and spirit of September can be insane and full of hustle and bustle. Often it seems as if everyone we meet during this time is breathless and in a hurry. Our lives appear to be on auto pilot-mode—time spent thinking about what happened in the past and what needs to be done in the future while not giving notice to what IS happening to our heart, minds, bodies, and relationships in the present.

Balasana is a great pose for the notice of our heart, minds, and bodies. It is a restful pose that can be sequenced between more challenging asanas. It is also a restful pose that can be sequenced within a challenging day.

Child’s pose helps to stretch the hips, thighs, and ankles while reducing stress and fatigue. It gently relaxes the muscles on the front of the body while softly and passively stretching the muscles of the back torso.

This resting pose centers, calms, and soothes the brain, making it a therapeutic posture to relax the stress response. When performed with the head and torso supported, it can also help relieve back and neck pain. Sometimes used as a counter pose to backbend, child’s pose restores balance and equanimity to the body.

—Cre

Updates and events:

• Labor Day class at 9 a.m.  Looking for an opportunity to practice on the holiday?  Join Sydni Elhubishi at 9 a.m. for a mixed-level class to which everyone is welcome!  As is our tradition on holidays, this will be our only class on Mon., Sept. 2.
• Introduction to Yoga class offered.  Do you know someone who would like to begin or revive a yoga practice?  Invite them to sign up for September’s Introduction to Yoga class with Leslie Weigel on Sat., Sept. 21, at 11 a.m.  Read more about what the class will cover and register from this post.
• Book club meets. We are delighted that our quarterly book club, facilitated by Tori Treangen, will meet on Sun., Sept. 8, at 1 p.m. This quarter’s book is Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness:  A Guide to Finding Joy in Unexpected Places by Sam Chase.  More information about the book club, including a link to download the e-book from the Warren County Public Library, is elsewhere on our website.
• Register now for Yoga@the Museum and Meditation@the Museum classes.  Want to practice at The Downing Museum in September?  Check out this post to learn more about both classes and their teachers—and for the links to the registration forms.  (Note:  the meditation class is already nearly full from the “soft release” of its Facebook event, so please sign up soon if you’d like to attend.)
• Drop-in meditation classes continue.  Each month, Alice Simpson offers two drop-in Mindfulness Meditation classes in our downtown studio for our usual $5 class fee.  Whether you are new to meditation or an experienced meditator, please join Alice on Sat., Sept. 7, at 2 p.m. (in the studio) and Tues., Sept. 10, at 5:30 p.m. (in the lounge at the studio). Read more on this earlier post.
• 4yoga marks 8th anniversary!  We are excited to recognize the studio’s eighth anniversary on Sept. 27!  Look for opportunities to celebrate together in October, and let us know if you have ideas for ways to mark this milestone!

For a full list of September 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.