Hands to Heart: Claim Your Light, Embody Your Radiance | Upcoming Nourishment Series
“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.” — Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati
This week’s listen: Garden music by Kevin MacLeod
Dear wholehearted friends,
Let this note be an invitation to arrive again. Atha. Now.
New Offerings & Upcoming Series are listed at the end — including Garden Yoga, Online Practice, and The Nourishment Series (small group yoga therapy). Scroll down if that’s what you’re here for. And stay tuned—there’s a little something for everyone.
Now, perhaps you can find a pause to relax into your seat. Take in a few nourishing breaths, loosen your shoulders and jaw, and feel your heart soften open. Just as the rose, delicate and vibrant, let your heart be a bit more open. As always, you are invited to come as you are.
Have you stopped to smell the roses lately? Picked & enjoyed the apple, leaned into the moment, or simply acknowledged the life around? Within you?
The sweetness of summer, the scent of a rose, the vibrant play among animals, call me back to the heart. If you’d like, place your hand there. Feel your own presence. Thank your hand—creator, connector, carrier—and your heart, for all the ways it shows up for you. Both literally and metaphorically, these parts of you work in harmony to live, give, and glow.
It’s already Tuesday, and July draws toward a close. I welcome this moment to pause and sit with you. A gentle check-in, an offering or two. If you’re curious how I often begin my yoga therapy sessions, I’m sharing a short therapeutic centering practice with light movement and nervous system support—a free 11-minute invitation to explore. A little gift from my heart to yours.
This Week’s Reflection: Brahmacharya & Soulful Radiance
This week, I’m reflecting on the yogic principle of Brahmacharya—not as renunciation, but as a reminder to walk the middle path, to preserve and wisely direct our energy, our prana.
Brahma — the divine, the essential truth
Charya — to move, to connect, to engage with
How do you engage with the divine in your everyday?
How do you steward your precious prana?
Summer often pulls us outward in celebration, connection, and creative effort—which is beautiful. And: we also need to come back home. To remember our center. Smriti. To replenish what allows us to give from a full place.
Leo season brings its own medicine—the invitation to shine, to embody our soul’s glow.
Sheleana Aiyana asks:
“How can we embody the soul of the artist, the healer, the creator, and the lover within?”
From hands to heart, from inner resource to outward expression—let us claim the light we may be withholding.
Let your light lead you forward, illuminate your path, and warm those around you.
One of my favorites to share—Robert Thurman says:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.”
That is how we serve—by living from what brings us alive. And it can change. Can be discovered, uncovered. Just as the seasons evolve, so too we evolve, shift, rediscover, and begin again anew.
You might consider a visit, or revisit to the Gayatri Mantra for the 3rd chakra. Or a Hearted Centered Compassion Mindfulness Practice for Rumi's wisdom & loving-kindness to yourself.
This week:
Follow the glimmers. Nourish your heart and hands. Your body with thoughtful ingestion for digestion. Offer yourself grace when you overindulge, and tend to what remains.
Focus and flourish.
Be tender. Be bright. Be messy and real.
Like the rose—both delicate and thorned—may you embody your full bloom.
In radiance & rest, in love & light
Maya
Yoga Offerings This Week
Garden Yoga at the Farm
Thursdays at 9:30 AM
A gentle, grounding morning practice surrounded by nature.
• 🕰 Thursdays, 9:30–10:30 AM (arrive at 9:15)
• 📍 3935 SW 91st Ave, Portland – Humberside Farm
• 💼 $20–$45 suggested | All levels welcome | No one turned away
• 🌾 Farm stand open after class – fresh local produce 10a-4p
• 🐐 Meet goats, donkeys, chickens, and a duck :). Pictures in the link below.
→ Reserve your spot
Weekday Warrior (Online Yoga)
Wednesdays at 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET
Strength, presence, restoration & heart in 60 minutes.
• 💻 Live on Zoom | Sliding scale
• 📼 Replay available for 2 weeks
→ Full Schedule & Details
Yoga Therapy 1:1 Sessions (In Person & Virtual)
Nervous system support | Trauma-informed care | Embodiment tools for healing & integration
• 🌱 Sliding scale
→ Learn More
Supporter Membership
✨ Access 60+ on-demand classes, practices, and meditations
→ Join Supporter Membership
Bonus: Members' playlist updated 🎶
🌟 Bonus Practice
New Freebie: 10-Min Therapeutic Centering Practice
A gentle sequence from a recent yoga therapy session: breath awareness, vagal toning, and mindful movement to support grounding and calm.
→ Watch on YouTube
🔁 Revisit Past Blogs & Practices
• 🎶 Coming Home Playlist – grounding & heart-lifting soundscapes
• 🌬 Sitali Pranayama – 5 min Cooling Breath
• 💧 How Water Blossoms – 12 min centering with mantra
• 🔥 Tending Passion w/ Presence : 3rd Chakra & Summer Blessing
• 🎵 Gayatri Mantra Visualization & Chant (3rd Chakra)
• 🔥 Blossom Into Passion – Dance Between Water & Fire
• 🌊 From Seeking to Savoring – Tending the Waters
→ Insights & Inspirations Archive (Photos + titles worth the scroll 😊)
💛 New Offering: Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy Series
The Nourishment Series @ Heart Spring Health SE Portland
Small Group Yoga Therapy for Nervous System Care
A 6-week trauma-informed yoga therapy series for emotional resilience, gentle healing, and embodied self-care. Blending breath, movement, somatic tools, and the wisdom of the five elements in a supportive, small group setting.
🧘♀️ Ideal for those navigating anxiety, burnout, trauma, caregiving, or life transitions.
• 📅 Wednesdays, beginning August 20
• ⏰ 6:00–7:30 PM
• 💛 Cost: $150 for the full series
• 👥 Limited to 8 participants
→ Register now to reserve your spot
You’ll receive a follow-up with what to bring and how to prepare.