Sun & Shadow: Harmonizing Through Focus & Light
"I am focusing on what I can do — one day at a time."
— Morgan Harper Nichols
Welcome, dear seekers,
We arrive again together on this Monday, April blessings. Take a moment here to pause. Recenter. Allow yourself a few fuller, cleansing breaths. Close your eyes if you wish, feel your feet grounded beneath you, and take ten soothing, balanced — sama — breaths. Let yourself arrive, right here.
We are moving through the last parts of Aries season, where the surge of spring rises around us. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, spring is associated with the Wood element — the energy of growth, flexibility, and rooted expansion. April is prime time for our arborists, and we, too, are called to tend to our inner gardens. In our Yin and our Yang practices both on and off the mat.
Spring invites action. It invites patience. It invites humility. New life unfurls slowly, with great care, and sometimes with growing pains. Not everything blooms overnight. You are here to keep nurturing your jewel in the lotus. Om Mani Padme Hum. As we keep learning, the season reminds us to pay attention to what is asking for nurturing and what needs to be pruned away.
This week and next, our practices continue building upon the light — stoking the fire of Aries — while focusing on the Wood meridians in our Yin practices, and awakening the Bhramana energy in our Yang practices. Through Yoga, we journey through the koshas: from the dense, to the energetic, to the mental layers, inviting balance across all levels of our being.
As we honor this passage into deeper vitality, we also recognize the nature of the gunas: Rajas (activity and passion), Tamas (inertia and heaviness), and Sattva (clarity and harmony). We observe how the vibrant energy of spring stirs Rajas, and where Tamas may linger, pulling us back into old habits. Our aim is not to banish these energies, but to notice, to befriend, and to gradually cultivate more Sattva — the state of luminous equilibrium.
We cultivate Brahmacharya — the wise use of energy — as a guiding principle. This asks us: Where do we choose to put our attention and life force? How do we take up space in the world? It invites us to discern where our prana is being dissipated, and to instead nourish the inner flame, focusing our efforts with care rather than reacting or responding unskillfully.
We are always shaping and reshaping ourselves, smoothing out the rough edges of our samskaras — the patterns and impressions etched into our consciousness. This path asks for innovation, for inner adaptability.
You are not static. You are potential. You are growth. You are ever-becoming.
From forcing to allowing. From aimless wandering to focused becoming. We invite the healthy stress that is in service to our greater growth.
"Your immediate reaction does not tell you who you are. It is how you decide to respond after the reaction that gives you real insight into how much you have grown. Your first reaction is your past. Your intentional response is your present."
— Yung Pueblo
Allow the warmth to emanate through you. Just as the sun passes through the trees, may it also pass through you. Hone its benefits to nourish your greater becoming. Initiate with the power of mind and thought into this vibrant energy of spring.
Invocation:
Oṁ namaḥ śhivāya gurave
Satchitānanda mūrtaye
Niṣprapañcāya śhantāya
Nirālambāya tejase
We honor the teacher (Shiva) within — which is composed of truth, consciousness, and bliss — which is ever-present, dispels darkness, and brings peace — which needs no conditions to radiantly shine.
Yoga This Week & Next!
In-Studio @ YoYoYogi
• Mondays @ 6 PM – Mellow Monday: A 75-minute integrated yin practice. Learn More
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- Next week- 4/21 Mon @ 9am- 60 min Flow! 4/23 Wed @ 7pm- 60 min Yin
Online via Zoom
• Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 8 AM PST / 11 AM EST – Morning Yoga: Rise, Move, Pause: A 35-minute accessible, pay-what-you-can class. $8 recommended, $12+ includes replays. Register Here
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Mantra:
May I nourish my inner flame with care and clarity. May my choices be guided by wisdom and rooted in love. May I blossom steadily, in my own right time, into the fullest expression of my becoming.
With gratitude and growing light,
Maya
4/14/25