Mia and Elliott's Yin Blog

/

Mia and Elliott Van Veen Loeb (and Figgy's) yin blog for Love Light Yoga, 2024

“I like Sundays because then we see Danielle and I can fall asleep next to my mum on the yoga mat with lots of blankets and our Yinnie dog Figgy. Danielle’s voice is nice to fall asleep to. One day I want to make a yin children’s book with my mama because I think more kids would appreciate experiencing it.”
— Elliott, 8
“She has onyx eyes!”
— Mia, 29 (Hospital)

Mia:

In one of the earliest yoga classes after Elliott was born, her and I laughed together on the yoga mat while we moved from one pose to the next. It was such a magical moment, like we said in a secret language to each-other: We made it! The transitioning from one posture to another have since then developed new meanings and insights through studying the art of Yin.

Working as a Metal Artist, the element (arms) and lungs -metallic representation in the body. In metalwork there is a softness yet sturdiness constantly in a dynamic dance with each other.

Elliott:
Lay down and pretend that the roof is the sky

Sit with your legs crossed and say Ooooooooom

I like to just lay on the ground and relax and focus on the good stuff that is happening in your life. I have a yoga teacher named Danielle, you may have heard of her - she’s really pretty and a really good teacher. She likes yin and she likes to read. She’s very into yoga and that is so nice. Cause when you’re stressed it makes your body goes a little ‘coco’ and when you do meditation your body gets slower and calmer. Your body feels nicer to live in. And when you meditate it’s not so hard to be crazy. But if you do get a little crazy, it’s ok because there’s someone there to help you. There’s always someone who is good and not bad.

One time I drew a really pretty flower that turned out so nice that my mum put it up on the fridge so we could look at it each time we are stressed. Then we could look at the flower. And one thing that always makes me more calm - it’s a good hug. So if you ever feel stressed - it’s ok! If you don’t know what to do - here are some things you can do : To hug, To meditate, To draw, Smell some rosemary oil, Close your eyes, Find stillness, Breathe and Long exhales.

Mia:

Merging ideas from visual art and yin theory/practice, one of the thematics that inspire my work is the Fascia, the interconnective tissue that holds our body together. In a 2020 exhibition at Jane/K.O.S.A (NO), curated by Sara Yazdani, Vera Wyller and Sverre Wyller, part of the research was the conceptual aspects of Faciae.

In “ F a s c i a e ” Van Veen investigates boundaries existing within human and nonhuman bodies, things and infrastructures. Her man/made/organic fragments exist within, above and underneath bodies, technologies and natural landscapes, constantly negotiating within their surrounding environments. They are guiders, leaders, manipulators, knitters connecting as much as rupturing externally and internally, fissuring and fusing the human body with the natural world.

Even while situated in the protected vicinity of Maridalsvannet—the essential supplier of drinking water in Oslo— “ F a s c i a e ” draws inspiration from quantum physics and its relational world-view. For her installation Mia Van Veen brings forth aqueducts, signals, heatwaves, and quantas. Her focus lays on making visible hidden structures and energies by emphasizing the transformative encounters between living and nonliving matter. She makes a prothesis for water, organs (iris), and plants (iris)–in energy waves on steel, a figure with a heat pool of molten silver and tin. Her concrete skin piece calls up the smallest human cell or a grain of sand—a moment between mind, matter and technologies of nature and its forms. Behind the glass in the diorama, the sculptures model a universe where air, heatwaves and water flow, move below and above earth.

Curator's statement/text by Sara S. Yazdani, 2021

Conversation between Mia and Elliott:
M: Do you remember when you started with yin?
E: I was so little that I couldn’t remember
M: Why do you love yin?
E: Because it makes me calm and I love drawing in class.

Mia:
Metal is strong, but adaptable. It represents grief, sadness and bravery. We hold grief in our lungs and upper body, and it can be challenging and irritating to breathe in and out. Yin uses the principles of the meridians, by stretching the fascia you are stretching the meridians. These highways of energies through our bodies. It creates a kind of organized chaos, just like polishing metals-it is scratches put into order. Or a web with no weaver.

“Fascia is the felt sense”
— Danielle Hoogenboom

A short story by Elliott:

There was a girl who was going to yin and she was named Tina. Tina had a lot of talent, and not everyone had it. And she didn’t just have a regular talent, she had a special talent. She could rest and sleep. 

Good night, love from Elliott✨

“My yoga dog - she is the best dog ever, Love yin”
— from Elliott ❤

Yin Pets!

/

During the first few years of the virtual yin studio, we really got to know the pets all over the sweet yinnie world. One of the greatest surprises of the times, was the way our furry roomies showed up to join us. Enjoy this little collection of besties.

A-dZiko Simba words from our 2014 offering in Kingston

/ Love Light Yoga/

My experience of the Yin Yoga Immersion was profound and, at the same time, very subtle.

I had no expectations as to how I would feel after a yin session but the day after the first class I awoke feeling deeply changed. It was as though a heavy blanket I had been under was removed – when, I don’t know, it just wasn’t there anymore. The blanket symbolized a sense of heaviness I had been feeling about my life and that morning I felt so much lighter for no logical reason - my material circumstances had not changed but something within had and was radiating a new energy outward.

I believe part of the change was due to the practice we had done the previous evening – a practice which, guided by Danielle’s encouraging commentary and use of imagery, appeared to reach parts of me that needed realigning to the Universal source. Her comment about our feeling that ‘we’re not going to make it’ when in fact, ‘we always make it’ resonated with me and I know my meditation on those simple words was also one of the catalysts for my shift in perspective.

The third day I awoke again with a sense of a deep internal shift and had the same thought as the previous morning that ‘I hadn’t really done much’ in terms of asanas. This was one of my discoveries – the non-intrusive feel of Yin practice belies the depth that it reaches – we are deeply moved in such a loving way, we are able to release what needs to be released effortlessly. Actually a lot had been ‘done’ and probably being able to let go of the ‘I’ in the practice enabled this ‘lot’ to happen.

I found the exploration of bone structure and body types a fascinating revelation which had me re-thinking alignment and understanding that some poses are physically impossible for some people and also that modifying a pose is sensible and required in such cases – not the ‘wimp-out’ that my ego told me it was.

The connection made between trauma and body work was made tangible working through the yin sessions – staying in the moment of finding physical stress and trauma, gently staying in the poses allowing emotional and perhaps spiritual hurts to surface and exit.

I hope my testimonial is not taken as being a dramatic road to Damascus type experience - there was no heavenly choir, I didn’t go into a Hollywood diva meltdown and no aliens descended from above to proclaim me their leader.

What I loved about Yin yoga was the humility of the practice, I guess, and through this humility, it enabled me to allow myself to have a more humble experience which then allowed me to let go of stuff.

“Danielle’s loving and generous approach was all part of the magic of our time at True Self. ”

And of course, Danielle’s loving and generous approach was all part of the magic of our time at True Self. I would not have been able to attend if the offer of negotiating a trade - bartering skills and products for training – had not been made.

I give thanks to the Universe for the opportunity to participate in the immersion training and ask for blessings of abundance to be bestowed upon Elizabeth from True Self and of course, Danielle.

Namaste

A-dZiko Simba

this yin came to me

/

Reflecting on Yin and its presence in my life, I am drawn to the fall of 2020.

Almost a year since my sister left her body due to severe illness and barely six months since dolphins began swimming in the canals of Venice because the world had stopped.

These weren’t my first yin classes in candle lit studios many years ago, where I fell asleep on mats and pillows many people had touched.

Rather, this yin came to me. Trapped in my house on a mountain of pillows, wading through multifaceted grief, by the glow of a screen. Here I found nervous system unwinding I hadn’t felt in years. I found community with a variety of people that were drawn together by the need to stop and exhale with guidance, when we could otherwise not get ourselves to do so. I found permission to be myself, my real and whatever shape or pajama’d form I arrived in, eating cookies or snoozing, I was welcomed and accepted there.

Breathing through tightness in my body, disassociated emotions and uncertainty in my being, it helped me practice presence and mindful day dreaming.

“No matter how Yin shows up in my life moving forward, I know that I needed it more than anything at that time, when I was so far from so much that I loved. It helped me land in myself, which I think is integral to healing and integration.”

No matter how Yin shows up in my life moving forward, I know that I needed it more than anything at that time, when I was so far from so much that I loved. It helped me land in myself, which I think is integral to healing and integration.

As a member of the Yin School, I have been invited to an understanding of the body that values rest and softness, surrender. I have seen it be accessible to all kinds of people that I would be unlikely to see in a studio or yang style class. It is the antithesis to my usual pushing self, and I am so grateful for the balance and yielding it helps me explore.

Thank you Yin and thank you Danielle, the Yin rebel instigator herself, for guiding us toward radical body listening.

by Ariel Amara

Circus Artist, passionate mover and future Yin rebel guide

If you are interested in learning more about our Virtual Yin School, you can read more here.

You can also email us at danielle@lovelightyoga.com and ask any questions.

Check out a live class with us soon with our Virtual Yin Studio!

Are you Yinterested in a 6 week Movement Series ?

/

We looking at adding a 6 week series that is pre-paid and committed time to bring some more yang to your practice. This is a great addition to our virtual yin studio. The cost would be $120CDN for 6 sessions. classes are live.

Danielle has taught so different styles of yoga over the last 14 years of teaching. And as the seasons change, we are looking to add a 6 week series on either Monday nights at 8pm PST or Sundays at 1pm PST.

Want to join us for these 75 minute sessions that will bring some more movement and flow, and of course a yinspired cool down. Get on the list below to join us and tell us your preferred date.

Interest for 6 Week Series

* indicates required

Level Up Vybz with the Virtual Yin Studio

/

LLY Home Yin is a feline family affair. With downward cat-on-the-mat, maybe a cat-cow, certainly a feline supine twist. The fringe benefit of virtual yoga for me has been the Level Up Vybz of set up yin the comfort of my Bungalow living room. Cozy socks and a shawl would accompany me to in-person class ... online yinning has me with candles & fireplace lit, layers of family quilts propping the ease of long holds, special medicine teas from my garden apothecary & the company of Stanley & Ashleigh, stretch out on my left stretch out on my right, sharing their sound healing cat purrs. Good vibrations!

Alyssa Dawn @the_bees_niece & www.alyssadawn.com

Prenatal Yin Sessions Testimonial for Danielle

/


Because of the work that I've done with Danielle, I now take relaxation very seriously. Before the first session I attended with her back in 2010, I found myself frustrated by yoga classes that seemed to be more about recreation or athletic skill-building, than building an integrated physical and spiritual practice. I had no idea that what I was looking for was permission to relax, breathe into poses, and take my time. I found that by going slowly and integrating a relaxing practice, I almost immediately had more energy to push myself on my bicycle, and in my daily life. It seemed so counterintuitive at the time, but taking yin with Danielle allowed me to restore so that I could bring more energy and fullness to my life.

Even though I wasn't pregnant at the time, I found her storytelling and personal stories as a birthing doula to really resonate with how I was thinking about projects, work, and personal transformation. It only made sense that in 2020, I would take on prenatal yin with her, leading up to the birth of my twins. At a time when pools and yoga classes were closing, I was lucky enough to have one-on-one zoom sessions with Danielle. I was blown away by how much attention she was able to give me and I always found it helpful to discuss what I was going through physically and emotionally. She really helped me work through tension, pain, and discomfort.


In prenatal yin, Danielle was instrumental in helping me find relaxation and acceptance throughout pregnancy and childbirth. At 5 months pregnant, it was a surprise to learn that I was having twins. From that moment on, my care drastically changed: Regimented diets, constant ultrasounds, doctors, nurses, and more medical attention than I had imagined. This caused me to get way too much in my head. While I'm ultimately grateful for the medical care and attention I received, Danielle's warmth and creative storytelling allowed me to find my own self-expression within a sea of patient intake forms and checkboxes. She worked with me to re-connect with my body and breath, and really met me where I was at, physically and emotionally. Even with a giant pregnant belly, extremely low iron, limited mobility, constricted lungs (2 breech babies!) and brand new hormones (2 times the placenta, 2 times the hormones!), I was shocked that I could find strength and deep breaths that I carried with me towards a healthy recovery.


--

Sincerely, Emily.
randomactsofmaking.com

Yinhouse Virtual Retreat this Weekend!

/
DevonYinnie.jpeg

Many Blessings. We are hosting a special Yinhouse Virtual Retreat this coming weekend from the evening of June 18th and all day on Saturday June 19th and all day on Sunday June 20th. Peep the schedule below!

This was set and planned for the Yin School Rebels, our sweet crew of studying and sharing Yinnies that have joined us for the last year or so in our Virtual Yin School first cohort. It is a celebration of learning, studying and practicing with both lectures, classes and special guests. Part retreat, part nerd camp!

We have decided to open up the event to our larger Yin Fam, that’s YOU! Thinking about all the great ones that have passed through our schools and events over the years and I didn’t want to leave you out on this virtual yin fest.

So we are making space for you to join us live, or in the recordings afterwards. We have also decided to offer this at sliding scale, knowing that some of you just want to come for the 5 yin studio classes, and others of you are stoked for the lectures and the guest teachers. It is best suitable for those with yin experience, but also really great if you would like to bring your yin curious friend as well. It will be live via zoom and also will be recorded so you can catch up on the ones you missed.

You can register by email with Danielle at Danielle@lovelightyoga.com

Friday June 18th Schedule. All Times in PDT.

6-6:30pm Yinformal Hellos: Roll in at your own pace, say hello to your friends, get set up.

6:30-7pm: Yintroductions: Lets take a moment to Yintroduce yourselves and where we are yinning from in this beautiful world. This event can be for extroverts that want to video and chat, and also yintroverts, you can camera off and keep it to chats in the chat box. Come as you are, with zero pressure!

7-8:30pm Yoga Nidra with Dia Penning. This amazing ‘yogic sleep’ class is led by one of our LLY Lead Yinstructors Dia. Her social justice lens and equity framework live and breath in these restful practices, as our rest is our resistance, and our rest is our revolutions. Prepare yourself with props to stretch and get comfy.

Saturday June 19th Schedule: All times in PDT.

11-12:30pm Long Holds Yin with Danielle: Yin Studio Class, set up your props and lets dive in.

12:30pm-1pm: Snack Break and Digital Tea: Stay and chat, or step away and take a moment for yourself.

1-2:30pm: MyoYin with Jamie de Koning: Combining ball therapy and yin shapes to assist with releasing built up tension between the myofascial layers.

2:30-3pm: Snack Break and Digital Tea.

3-5pm: Shapes Lab with Danielle: Lets take this time to explore our shapes in community, to share, see each others favourite variations, ask questions and learn new ways to prop, support and experiment in these shapes. Part practice and part discussion.

5-5:30pm. Snack Break and Digital Tea

5:30-7pm Yin Flow with Danielle: Adding gentle flow to these yin shapes and linking a series of yin forms together to express the fluidity within the stillness.

7-9pm Sonic Yinfusion with the Di Universal Ear: Live from Kingston, Jamaica: All are invited to flow through their own motions assisted by music. Simple samples of shapes, shared by yours truly assist in real ease with rhythm. Tune een, and Yin-tegr8 the lessons as you listen!

Sunday June 20th. All times are in PDT.

11-12:30pm:Body Poetry: Yin with Danielle: Join us for the morning session that will be fulfilled with sweet poems and delicious shapes.

12:30pm-1pm. Snack Break and Digital Tea

1-2:30pm: Yinanatomy with Nurse Jenn: Our FAV Yin Nurse is back to share more about breathing and digestion in relationship to our yin practice and overall internal health.

2:30-3pm: BREAK, snack light for the next class is YANG!

3-5:30pm: Introduction to Astanga with Shakira Williams: In this all-levels workshops on the mechanics of breath (how our bodies act as we breathe), the role of Prana(yama) as a limb of the practice of yoga and how we can apply and modify these simple yet powerful principles to asana and meditation practices.

5:30-6:30pm Yintentions with Danielle: Taking this moment to reflect on this offering, and set Yintentions for the Solstice.

6:30-7pm: Break

7-9pm: Solstice Yin with Danielle: A deep dive into the sweetness of the changing seasons, a moment to reflect and a big exhale for the seasons that past.

Guest Teacher Bios

Dia Penning

As a US born, mixed race, x-large sized human, Dia has honed an ability to hold paradox with gentleness and to move between many realities simultaneously.

Dia supports clients and students in the examination of limiting patterns. In both yoga and anti-racism workshops, she focuses on breath and body awareness, bringing a deeper understanding to the to physical and psychological tensions that arise in reaction to unexamined habits of white supremacy.

Whether with twelve students in a yoga workshop, fifty board members trying to develop strategic anti-racism processes or a thousand conference attendees intent on burning the patriarchy the ground, Dia focuses on the individual needs of her clients and the collective needs of their communities. She centers transformation in the container of the body, invites an exploration of structural inequity, and demonstrate sensation as a parallel to our shared discomfort with evolution.

Shakira Williams Bouwer

Level 1 Authorised Ashtanga Teacher 

Sadhana Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga Jamaica

Shakira first discovered yoga in 1999, while looking for a way to find deep peace and relaxation with her busy work, study and fitness schedules.  In her journey of almost twenty years, she studied a number of different forms of yoga asana practice including Vinyasa Flow, Iyengar and Anusara yoga before finding the Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga method.  A daily practitioner in this method, she believes in the transformative and healing power of yoga both on and off the mat and that the practice and benefits of yoga practice should be available to all, regardless of appearance, body type, ethnicity, creed or spiritual belief.  In 2014, she made her third trip to Mysore, India to continue to study with R. Sharath Jois, the grandson of Shri K Pattabhi Jois and director of the K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute and was given his blessing to teach the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga. She continues to make extended study trips to the source of Ashtanga to deepen her understanding of this transformative method.  She has also assisted her root teachers Kino MacGregor and Tim Feldmann in further intensives, taught at the Downtown Nassau Yoga Festival in the Bahamas and at Land Yoga in Harlem, New York, in continuing to deepen her knowledge of practical instruction and application of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga.

Her teaching style is Traditional Mysore-Style and the traditional Counted Guided Ashtanga yoga as well as a fun and challenging Ashtanga-based Flow called Form, Focus, Flow, influenced by the powerful principles of joyful awareness, safe and healthy alignment and loving action from other schools of asana practice. Above all, she is passionate about sharing yoga as a healing, sustainable and spiritual practice for life. She teaches Studio, Private and Corporate classes in Kingston Jamaica. 


Jamie De Koning

My name is Jamie. I am a mama lama and yin rebel.

I love to teach all different styles of yoga but true to my heart is Yin yoga and kids yoga. In today's lifestyles we are non-stop go go go. Yin Yoga helps you truly be in the present moment and enjoy the stillness of the body, mind and breath. To really listen to what our bodies, hearts and minds are telling us. Step out of a Yang world and come to the Yin side!

Kids also have busy lifestyles. Little time to "just be". I enjoy teaching kids and providing tools so that kids can find ways to stay calm, stay healthy, love and respect their bodies, find peace within themselves and of course have lots of fun doing it.

Little Lights Yoga specializes in kids yoga and yin yoga. Central Alberta's Registered Children's Yoga Teacher (RCYT).

Little Lights provides kids, teen and adult yoga classes in the Red Deer and surrounding area. Our on-site services to schools, camps, preschools, day cares/day homes, studios, community programs, birthday parties and yoga play dates bring the benefits of yoga practices to all ages

Passionate about providing tools to kids and adults through the practice of yoga so that they can find peace, love, and let their inner light shine bright 

Di Universal Ear

Man & WOMB~manifesting frequencies from all nations, I aim to share sounds that inspire healing and expansion of being. Knowing the concept of genre to be only a filter The Universal Ear channels frequency without limits, banishing bias and condemning censorship.

Having established a love for music at an early age, the desire to share music with those I love grew more and more.

From sharing selections at family link ups to carrying mix-tape and CDs to field trips... to setting up sound and playing at house parties... to sessions on internet radio... to selecting for charity events and volunteer groups... Music was the meeting place.

Swimming deeper into sonic seas... Selections and curations gave way to sound sculpting. The stage, the instruments, the band and the crowd hold a power that proved irresistible to tune into. Live music mixing is now a passion and art being explored extensively. ~~~

Always collaborating and learning from fellow musical missionaries on the field, experience has increased yet humility, patience and focus in service remains a standard.

I seek to open minds, alter concepts of awareness and states of being through musical means.

I aim to be the channel through which your auditory experience is established.

I hope to inspire those who seek motivation to be inspirations themselves.

Collaboratively harmonizing in unison, our communal effort will create clear success and memorable musical moments.

All are welcome! The Universe shall ear.


Nurse Jenn Skillen

Jenn Skillen is a nurse, an artist, and a seemingly perpetual student of Yin Yoga.  Jenn is interested in the connection between these three passions, exploring the parallels between the scientific and the spiritual, finding the science behind TCM and Yin, and creating artwork that attempts to balance these seemingly conflicting concepts.

Affectionately known at LLY as “Nurse Jenn”, recently Jenn has been sharing her knowledge of internal anatomy to enrich the education of the Yin School students, helping to create a world where Science and Yoga can live in harmony and balance.

Jenn has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and is currently enrolled in post-graduate specialty nursing education.  She teaches art workshops in between nursing shifts, and is trying to find the courage to teach yoga classes on her own.

Talk Undies to ME! Bringing you a New Brand and Product

/

My Sweet Friends!

I am pretty excited to be working on this special project with my OG pattern maker and friend. We have been working together for over a decade on the LLY clothing line and we are rocking a new venture of undes! We have been brewing some sets of our dream undies and bras and boxers that are designed and made in East Van. STOKED for this. I have been posting about it on IG and FB and LOVING the excitement. Thank YOU for your feedback and love. It MEANS SO much!

Would you take a minute to take this wee survey to talk to me about your fav undies and let me know about your feels on some of these samples! We are playing around, testing sizes, fitting bodies and working to bring you the BEST pieces we can. SO stoked for this.

1C1B3594-EBDB-4E8E-A042-A32C8CC55D82.JPG
32013FC7-BC11-495D-9C32-921A8058944B.JPG
9E7C4B06-572B-4635-B718-CDB695AD54CC.jpg
77825C02-90EA-473C-B649-F79FB2688C3E.jpg
D477F27D-6DA1-4135-B667-ACAB5168C84F.jpg
A3FF746E-0F27-4654-AA33-9813C550FD0A.jpg
IMG_5766.jpg
IMG_5621.jpg
IMG_5628.jpg
IMG_5618.jpg
IMG_5584.jpg
IMG_5597.jpg
undies pile.JPG

Virtual Yin Studio Testimonials

/

The virtual studio is a space that centers gentleness, autonomy, and accessibility. Danielle’s soothing voice offers easy yet effective guidance to yin yoga & breath connection, all while making space for our own intuitive body to lead. She offers stories of inspiration, amusement, and spirit, all to amplify the participant’s empowerment. These classes are a generous 90 minutes, but the rewards of a fresh, dewy mind and body make it feel like a 30 minute luxury. Danielle is someone who truly cares about your gifts and your curiosity, and always makes space for community connection & one on one chats before and after class. This space is a living and breathing studio, not just online yoga!  

Heart beams of gratitude

Alisha 

Reclined Butterfly.jpeg

3 Yin Poses to Cope with the Covid Crazies

/

Hey Yin Lovers and Yin Curious:

These have been crazy and complicated times, with so many moments of pivoting that have been both peaceful and painful. We have all coped with the changes, the adaptations, the modifications and all the spaces in between. I want to remind you that: YOU ARE DOING GREAT. 

These are unprecedented times and we are all navigating uncharted territory. I want to tell you, you are doing SO WELL. I mean, here you are. Reading, curious and ready to add some yin to your life. Welcome. This practice is both super easy and kinda hard. Its both fantastic and super frustrating. The beautiful awkwardness of this world and practice all centralize around the idea that moving towards the uncomfortable, unknown and unhealed is the most potent journey to long lasting change. These times are breeding grounds for greatness - when we can compost the crazy parts, find the glorious moments, harvest happiness and burn down the old feelings/systems/stories that no longer serve us. We are writing new collective times together. Yin is perfect for these times. Finding more stillness, less distractions and hella time with oneself. I love the deep moments at late hours, when I can sit with my seat and sassy sides.

I am biased though. I have practiced this philosophy and the shapes of yin for over a decade. I also spent nearly three years struggling with the ever-awkward and painful healings of two concussions. The forced change, the total overhaul and the no chance but to modify, pivot and preserve. Resiliency becomes your essence and it becomes clear that moving towards and accepting the new normal is the best way to move forward. The wanting what was, is no longer possible. Things have changed, and you are changing with them. 

I always laugh when people comment about one’s strength or perseverance. It is really the intensely hard times that push these needed shifts. In my own spiritual practice, I am ever reminding myself that following the calls of one’s heart will lead you in the right direction. To listen to your heart and soul and slowly walk that walk is a lifetime's work. It also takes the sharpening of the our listening tools, and learning the languages of our hearts, and the old stories of our bodies shine to the top, so we can shift, learn and reorganzine our worlds around these things timings. 

These moments in time are unique. The loving guides, spirits and ancestors are absolutely in control, participating and cheering you on... What is for you will find you. What is not your will finds ways to run, fly and free from you. What is lost was lost for us. What we want and need is looking for you. Remember these lessons when in your shapes - in these still moments, remember to listen to other spaces, places and calls. I hope this practice brings you peace, love, happiness and the radiance to remember you are truly these things AND I hope they poke at the tigers and bears within you and let you roar out all the big feels and ride the waves of change. The Feels are real, but you must feel it to heal it. 

Looking for something practical? Here are three poses you can add to each day, to help smooth out the spirits, unwind the mind and help you cope with any Covid crazies in your being. Yin is a practice that is seated with long slow holds on the ground; sometimes with props, always with the full and sweet breath. There isn’t one way to do it. It is your exploration and liberation of the holding patterns in your body, and your consistent practice of clearing the mind. Do your best to relax your muscles while slowly deepening the breath. Take these moments to move energy, free frustrations and shift the form. 


  1. Seated Forward Fold. 

Sit with your legs extended out long in front of you. Consider taking a little pillow under your bum to lift and tilt the pelvis slightly forward. Let the feet be about hips distance apart. Inhale and stretch the arms tall over head, exhale and fold forward over the legs. Let the back relax and round. Soften the head and neck. If it doesn't feel good to let it hang, add some pillows so there is support. Let the feet relax and do their thing. Soften the knees. You might even add a little blanket under the knees. Breathe slow and all along the length of the spine, soften and melt on the exhales. It is totally ok if you feel ancient and sticky. JUST breathe. Consider taking your feet wider or more narrow as you feel the add to make more space and bring more awareness to your legs. Stay here in the 2-7 minute zone, and don’t mush, but do soften. Let these shapes do you as much as you think you are doing them. When you come up. You can use your hands to lift your head, and consider taking a shoulder roll, ankle circles and some long sighs. 

IMG_4722_edit_SQ.jpg




  1. Reclined Butterfly.

Bring the soles of your feet together and your knees wide. The pinky toe edge of your foot is one the ground and the distance between your heels and your pelvis is up to you. The closer the feet to the body, the more inner thigh feels often. You can also add any props or pillows under the knees, hips and thighs. Think less effort. Let the body feel supported, and also let it seek out and drop into the tension out of the body and into the world. Stay here for 2-10 minutes. Use your exhales to soften. Let your spine feel long on the earth. Keep shifting the shoulders and pelvis untilt it feels like they’re in the right place ... take this breath by Breath. 

IMG_4443_edit_SQ.jpg




3. Supine Twists.

That is fancy talk for a twist on the ground. Starting in the centre line of the body, with your knees bent and feet on the earth, press into your feet, and shift your hips over to the right a few inches, and then let your knees fall all the way over to the ground on the  left side of the body -  knee on knee, ankle on ankle. Think of a chair that fell over and you left it on its side. Slide the knees so they are in a line with your hips, and look to see your heels are not close to your bum, but are moving to the left. The arms will be spread out wide to the side of the body, palms face up (like a ‘T’ shape). Shoulders sliding under the body. Breathe into the ribs, and along the side of the body. You can stay there for 2-10 minutes. The head and neck can look toward the knees, and when it feels right, you can change sides and repeat on this side. Make space in the spine. And get comfy seeing different perspectives and getting into the sticky sides of the body. 

We know these times will forever change, and we know we are capable of the great changes. We are being pushed to expand, grow and heal at speeds we can barely believe. Change demands that we drop what we know and want, and see what is directly in front of us. 

Taking a small handful of moments each day to feel these changes, embrace the awkward and find ways that ground the body and also free up wild energy and currents. 
These are the times where we learn ALL new things about ourselves - day by Day. Sending you love to continue to grow, change and shift as the times call. We have been training for moments like this in the world.

IMG_2977.JPG

Awkward Lockdown and The Yin Arts.

/

I have been meaning to write this blog for months, to capture all the feels, the times and spaces and all the curious things happening in this world. 

Covid: What a strange time. One of my best friends had it in France and it was an amazing experience to witness and doula her through the crazy times and get a close to me version of what is surely a wildly loaded subject in the world. We spoke A LOT in as she was recovering the thing that stood out in her explanations of the experience was the feeling of needing to focus on her breath, and keeping her whole system as calm as possible. She spoke a lot about dropping totally in and dropping totally down - that the stress and inflammation was what gets you. It made me think: isn’t that what always gets us? 

Yin is the awkward lockdown within yourself. 

Yin is the space, time and experience that transmutes a necessary change of pace in habit, thinking and responses. It is the attention to the movements, the interactions, the spaces, the cleanliness of all our spaces -- inside and out. Yin is a collective reflection on our health and the ways we interact with our environments. 

Now, I want to acknowledge that our experiences of COVID on the west coast of so-called Canada have not had the same intensity of the world, so I know I am speaking from a more relaxed state of privilege. But when there is time and space for things to be different, we must embrace that we are not returning to the world we knew before. And we shouldn’t.

It is not the same, but it has the same feelings for me as the concussion experiences of myself and so many other people in my world. Shout out to the TBI Crew. Our collective experience right now - the sudden shifts and changes, the awkward stumbling, and then ‘the new normal’ - we see this echoed over and over again. We witness those who have already struggled with mega change and challenges, who have limited abilities and access, and those that have already died a few deaths and consciously decided to rise again. It is those of us that although we work endlessly and put our efforts into the world, we still end up just making it by each and every month. The systems of speed and growth are not the great spaces of yesterday that we strive to repair.  Covid and times of isolation are places to reflect and brew. There must always be a ‘retreat to advance’ moment in time. The world is calling for a new place and relationship. These are the times that should forever change the states of our existence, kinda like when yin as a practice shifts your entire structure, being and mind. We don’t know we are held in an unwell place, until we start to feel the well feeling. 

I actually propose the opposite: Don’t look back. Change it all. Shift it all. Take way more time at home, change your work to more home based if you can.  Spend less money, buy in bulk, buy local, support curated efforts of small business. Eat at home. Make sure waste. Take time to connect and check in on your community and friend family. We shouldn’t have to have a pandemic vibration to look to our communities to make sure all the needs are met. We need to be caring for our weaker link. Bob Marley said, ‘Help the Weak if you are Strong’. I have always lived a tucked in and simple life, regardless of what my world travels may look like. I value my kitchen, my communities and the ways we reproduce waste, limit our pressures on mother earth and shift the corporate corruption in the world.  Take these times of wildness with grace. Don’t fall for the illusion of the inability for humans to deeply adapt and heal. We are the miracles of the world. We are shifting the way we move in the space and world. We are examining patterns, habits and the things we know are overdue for a shift. It is hella awkward times. These are super painful times. And they are times of great change.  These times are a forced slow down - a bringing in. And it makes me think about the new world that is coming, the slow blooming of a more balanced way. The powers and values have shifted. They can’t go back. We are using the greed maginiged in the world. 


The more hours in your home, the cooking of all the meals, the new cycles and flows: These are all the things to embrace and carry forward. "The world's habits and functions were bound to change and crumble - and we are the fortunate ones who get to witness and rise. And it is raising from the compost that we must look at. The ability of this world to slow, stop, shift and change is a testament that it is possible. The Yin speed and lifestyle and philosophy are well matched to this new world. What if every single moment in time was instead a great pivot towards a new greatness?  In these times we must examine the great changes that help in short amounts of time. Yin is like this, the hard efforts, the seemling crazy long holds. They are the things that shift the norm, shift the holding and identity new patterns and ways of being. Seeing the world’s waterways clean up, animals taking over cities, ancient creations returning. This Covid Tuck YIN is shift and pattern that should hold as long as it can. Not just for the safety of vulnerable communities, but for the finned, hoofed, feathered and fur family of this world. We been racking against natural laws of consumption and being. Mother Earth is so grateful for this Great ReOrdering.

IMG_7896.JPG

The Yin Virtual Studio Monthly Scale

/
June.jpg

We launched our Virtual Yin Studio in  March to connect the Global Yinnies together in one place and found ways to ground and focus in these changing times.  It has been a JOY. We have connected with five countries, many different time zones and have met each others’ pets and shared great stories, laughs and real truths. When friends become friends, my heart swoooons. 

We launched as a weekly offering and very soon after added more classes as per request. Gotta love the loving presses from the yin rebel family. We now have five live weekly classes that are also kept in our Virtual Yin Library.  We also decided on a new monthly model to have a flexible sliding scale way for you to join us on your terms. Let’s face it….time is quite strange, the feels are ever-shifting and we are doing our best to adapt Yin Powers! 

These prices reflect what you are able to pay in these times, as well as letting you choose a membership that reflects the amount of classes you are planning, the ways in which this practice benefits you and your ability to contribute to these offerings. I know this model doesn’t always make sense to everyone, and it does call on you to make some decisions (how yinnie). It actively allows you to decide on the ways you are able to participate. It asks you to yin out. Take a minute to reflect and feel and make the right choice for you. I know this is a new way of being for so many, but this is new way of commerce in my humble yin opinion 

At LLY, we also gift many places in our classes for community members that can not afford to attend at this time. We believe in accessibility as a strong core value that often seems to be missing from the modern yoga environment. It has been a joy to create a container that is accessible for those with limited mobility and those with limited resources. If you are able to pay more for your membership, you directly make it possible to continue to extend these offerings into our communities. LLY is a small female-run business and is also quickly pivoting all our works.Thanks for helping us stay grounded in these times. I hope we are able to offer the same to you, a moment of peace, space and grounded exhales. 

We just launched our June Monthly membership this week:

Tuesday 6pm PST 

Thursday 12 and 6pm PST 

Sunday 11am and 8pm PST

You can purchase May or June tickets here. Thus the beauty of sliding scale flexibility. 

Looking forward to seeing you in the virtual land soon.

Virtual Yin Studio Launched Last Week!

/

We launched our virtual yin studio last Sunday it and it was amazing.

Check out below at some friends are saying about the classes. We are meeting each and every Sunday at 11am and 8pm PT. The classes are recorded and you get a video link and a sound link after.

You can check out the tickets in the shop March 15th, March 22 and March 29th.

Read about the studio here.

We also do private sessions if you want to try it out before you join the group. Blessings and Yin LOVE! Danielle

Jennreview.jpeg

A virtual yin session with Danielle is the best of both worlds - I get to cozy up in my pjs at home with my tea and blankets, but also have the direction of a teacher to suggest variations and a community to keep me accountable. Having a Sunday yin practice reminds me to slow down and spend some time resting each week. The best part is I don’t have to waste any time or energy going to and from a studio, and I can stay in savasana as long as I want!

DoriReview.jpg

Testimonial from Peggy, 65 years old. 

As I want to sleep I started to subconsciously taking very deep breaths, which I don't normally do. So that was interesting that that stayed with me. And then! I woke up this morning and I swung around the edge of the bed as I usually do but automattical sat up so straight and thought to myself what the heck holy cow!

Lunar Eclipse: TarotYIN with Heidi

/

tarotYIN: RANTS

with @tarottimeswithheidi

Tarot.jpeg

Today about THE LUNAR ECLIPSE 

Leaning into it ….. today is the day of the lunar eclipse… and I can tell you that I have been FEELING it. It’s on the full moon - gateway to all the big energies. My sun sign is in cancer & so is this full moon & lunar eclipse, so its been really close to me. HELLO MY MOON and wow has it come for me. 

Saturn is conjunct Pluto in this eclipse; which means boundaries, hard lines, physical things, schedules (HELLO SATURN) coming into direct relationship with mysteries, occult, spirituality, personal growth, the shadow, the unknowable and infinite (HELLO PLUTO). 

I am a tarot reader & psychic & hello moon you are talking to me DIRECTLY.

I met Danielle in art school & recently read for her (epic session) and afterwards she asked me if I wanted to do a thing for her newsletter because yinnies go deep & would appreciate my metaphysical journey & musing. I am SO GAME! There are 2,000 OF YOU on this newsletter and you’re all on this epic journey, I think this is AMAZING and INSPIRING. A total privilege to share!

So I’ll share with you about this moon. Eclipses are doorways into things. Energy comes in & leaves during them. It’s a time of drastic change. You can lean in as deeply as you want to. If you are unconscious about it, you will feel it but you don’t get the gift of being actively engaged with it. The energy last for about 3 days before & after, so it’s still lingering as you read this. 

It’s a full moon too - amplifying the ability to let go of things and wane with it. We move with the moon. We are water. The moon controls water. It’s our guide. Looking to the moon doesn’t just make sense as a part of being a part of the energetic anatomy of the earth, it makes sense physiologically too. It’s happening.

Saturn x Pluto bring up boundaries. Spiritual boundaries & valuing your work. In what ways are you seeing your leaks? In what ways are you protecting your energy? This conjunction is very clearly showing you what drains you and asks you to step out is that.

It’s hard to rise. It’s hard to justify that you can be you & follow what you need to do. Whatever you know you have to do (your soul knowledge essentially), your ego will tell you that it’s a bad idea and these are the 10 reasons you should not do that terrible thing. Ego WANTS to stay alive. It WANTS a loud voice. It WANTS a platform. 

Your soul wants what it wants and you know what it is, but you always have to very specifically die to your ego. Every time. It never gets easier, but the trust builds, which is like a soul guide. 

Your soul will tell you what it wants and if you listen to your ego you sabotage your deeper knowing. And you know it! 

This eclipse is like NO. DON’T EVEN. Please respect yourself. Please guide yourself to where you know your need to go and TRUST. Trust that your soul knows and can bring you through this & that it will be better than what you left.

Your ego is a deal maker LoL. It will try to confuse you and make it muddy. Sit with yourself. You always know. You ALWAYS know. 

Haha whenever I’m in a reading, half way through my clients will be like YES I KNEW THIS because it’s your soul coming through. I’m reading for them, but they are LIVING with themselves. The soul knows.

Submit to your own beautiful mystery & I’ll see you on the other side. 

BLESS YOU!!

tarot3.jpeg



NEW MOON MUSINGS WITH NATALEO

/

Our skies offer us a dynamic new moon seed to sow at 4 degrees of Scorpio on October

27 th . The great awakener, Uranus, stands directly across Sol-Luna in steady Taurus,

injecting an unexpected, liberating, or perhaps disruptive influence into your life.

This external force of change initiates you into the polarity of Taurus-Scorpio: should

you hold on or let go? Save or spend? Protect your personal boundaries or merge in

vulnerability with another? Trust your sense of values or allow yourself to be altered by

another person’s perspective?

Pay attention to how you consume and expend resources during this lunation - be they

financial, emotional, sexual, or physical. Money, feelings, intimacy, and vitality can each

be used to strengthen our own positions in life, to help other people, or to manipulate

others.

Mars as the ruler of this new moon is in particularly challenging circumstances. In Libra,

Mars is far from home and forced to weigh the needs and desires of others instead of

speedily fulfilling his own desires as they emerge. This compromised position of our

instinctual nature emphasizes the dynamic tension and complicated webs that

relationships weave within our lives.

Cutting someone loose and moving on isn’t so simple this lunation. There are pieces of

information to collect and difficult conversations to have. Powerful emotions gurgle

under the still surface of Scorpion waters. The Uranian influence does indicate liberation

is possible, but there is a process involved.

Themes of collecting, analyzing, feeling, sorting, integrating, and discussing is amplified

by Mercury’s impending retrograde station, which occurs on Halloween a few days after

the new moon.

Mercury’s retrograde begins alongside Venus in the final degrees of Scorpio, a region of

the sky that teaches us about loss and detachment. Here is where we disentangle

ourselves from relationships that threaten our personal sovereignty; we do this by

removing our life force energy from these attachments and draw it deeply back into

ourselves, much as the barren trees do through the cold season.

Mars is also in a very close and very tense conversation with Saturn-Pluto, suggesting a

clash between our personal goals and desires with larger systems of power and

authority. Saturn can help Mars though, as Capricorn energy has affinity with both of

these planets.

Saturnian assistance might appear in the form of receiving stern but ultimately useful

guidance or instruction from a competent elder. Given the challenges faced by Mars this

new moon, and the influence of retrograde Mercury and disruptive Uranus, it should be

a strange, frustrating, mystical, and ultimately freeing, lunation.


Surrendering to the strangeness and compassionately attuning to what emerges

through our struggles could be fruitful. You might ask yourself the following:

Where are your weak spots, especially in terms of correct use of energy and right

relations with others? How does being shaken out of your ‘normal’ urge you to confront

these weak spots? What kind of feedback are you receiving from other people?

Generally, a great challenge this month is to remain flexible, as there is much energy

through the fixed signs all month and anyone who is too rigid might ‘break’ when the

Uranian influence blasts through our lives.

On a final note, consider honouring Mercury’s ancient role of psychopomp, he who

carries departed souls to the next realm, by connecting with your people on the other

side. A Mercury retrograde through Scorpio on Halloween could not be a clearer

invitation to expand our sense of relating to those who have come before us.

Nataleo is a forever student of the humbling and ancient art of astrology. You can read

her blogs, sign up for her newsletter, or book a reading with her at www.nataleo.com.

Nato.jpeg

Yinterview with Melanie Green

/

Yin and Social Justice. Melanie Green is one of our co-teachers for our 200 Hour offering.

This is me just scratching the surface of the question. This is an ongoing dialogue that I have within myself and also with other yoga teachers. Before yoga will actively change people and create a just world, we have to bring these ideas of power, privilege, acceptance, non harm, the eight limbs, to the conscious level, so that we may act, instead of react, so that we may share our love of the practice, so that others will be moved/inspired by what they see and experience in the classroom and in the world.

Yoga is meant for all people who want to practice, for all people who wish to dip their toes in. Yoga is for anyone and everyone who breathes. And if we are living, we are breathing. I mean this for all eight limbs. The eight limbs teach a way of living that incorporates justice, being fair and reasonable, not doing harm, not judging, but accepting.   If these qualities are not present, I don’t think it can be called yoga. There is no “unjust yoga”. That shouldn’t exist. There is no place for it. 

There is so much injustice in the world. We can change the world with yoga. If all people practiced the eight limbs, truly practiced them, valued them, and understood them, we would have a different world to live in. If we started with yogis and yoga teachers first, this would make a huge difference in the world of yoga. And maybe from there, it could trickle out into the rest of the world. I know it seems like a huge undertaking, but it is our responsibility as yogis, as yoga teachers, to start this in our classes, in our communities, in our small sphere of the planet. Each person’s life we touch will then be inspired to do the same, act the same, and this would then trickle out beyond the small sphere. The yoga has to come off the mat and into daily life with how we treat each other, even when it is inconvenient or scary or uncomfortable. 


There is definitely unchecked power in the “yoga community” which causes oppression. Anytime power is unchecked, or wielded, or accessed without transparency, there is oppression. And, the yoga world, unfortunately, is not immune. I don’t think there is “a yoga community,” though. There is no homogenous group of yogis. Yogis are as different as each individual. Each style of yoga, and each yoga teacher, and each group of yoga students, are different and have their own distinct communities. I teach all students who want to come to my class. I see them as individuals, value them as individuals, make space for them as individuals. This is one of the ways I work to combat oppression. I am constantly aware of the power I hold in the room and outside the room, as a yoga teacher. I am constantly aware of the privilege I hold as a white woman. I take my job as a yoga teacher very seriously and am conscious of treating all students who I come into contact with equally, regardless of any personal trait or physical limitation, regardless of race or body type, regardless of sexuality or gender, regardless of any yoga outfit or gear. At my studio, we do not sell anything and this is an intentional decision. This is another way that I combat oppression as no one has to feel obligated to buy something or feel differentiated because they can’t or don’t want to buy something. It is a simple act to create an open and clean place with less to clutter the mind or distract the body. My yoga studio is close to BART and the bus and is in an urban area where people have access. It is a clean, open space to practice yoga, to learn to delve inside, and to feel seen.

Melanie Green
Co-director, Berkeley Yoga Center

Melanie Green came to yoga as a way to heal from chronic discomfort from scoliosis. After over 25 years of practice, she still feels like a beginner.  Melanie makes yoga accessible to all and encourages her students to dive deep and focus on their breath, drishti, and bodily sensations.  Yoga is a way to create inner transformation, and by so doing, to transform, albeit little by little, the world. When teaching, Melanie creates a space for students to listen in, arrive in, and honor their body. She values the spiritual aspects of yoga integrated with the asanas, focusing as much on the profound inner lessons of yoga: who am I? what is the point? how can I be here in this body?  Melanie's yoga background includes extensive study in Ashtanga. She has also trained in Iyengar, Pre/Postnatal and Vipassana Meditation. Ashtanga is an intense physical practice that requires attention to the breath, letting go of thoughts and ego and perseverance through practice. Melanie believes strongly that the world would be a different place, a more accepting, just, and kinder place, if yoga was practiced and valued by all. In class, she invites each student to be fully seen. 

Melanie practices yoga every single day, whether on her mat, or in her life. Her daily practice informs her teaching which is always evolving. She integrates lessons from her own yoga practice into her daily life with her teenage children and wife. Melanie has also been volunteering her time for over a decade teaching yoga to children; currently her volunteer work also takes her to the Edible School Yard in Berkeley and the front desk at Berkeley High. In addition to her regularly scheduled classes, Melanie offers private yoga instruction, wellness coaching and special weekend workshops. Melanie is director and co-owner of the Berkeley Yoga Center and has an MA in Women's Studies where she focused her work on women's bodies, sexuality, and oppression.


BalanceCali-TeacherSquare-Melanie.jpg