August Newsletter Topics:

Push Hands Workshop | Special Events | August Chinese Medicine Tips for Self-Healing | Simple Monthly Home Practice | New classes | Schedule Changes | Practitioner Spotlight | Words of Wisdom this month

Special Events

New Classes

Schedule Changes

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Push Hands Workshop Master Class series

Conducted by Julius Baker and Shelly Mazer
August 19-20

Seminar will teach you how to:
• Effectively neutralize incoming force.
• Mobilize energy to redirect force.
• Understand concepts of yielding.
• Cultivate an alive, non-collapsed state of relaxation.
• Invest in loss.

The practice of Push Hands enhances the development of Tai Chi practitioners. It enables the student to utilize their form of Tai Chi as a tool to adapt throughout life. Push Hands can teach one to let go of their preconceived ideas about how things are and how the world is.

Saturday August 19th 9-11am and 2-5pm &
Sunday August 20th 11am-2pm
Registration $180

Julius Baker and Shelly Mazer own Baker's Martial Arts Cultural Center, which was established in 1980 in Berkeley and is currently located in Oakland, CA. Julius Baker has taught and practiced Martial Arts for over forty years. Mr. Baker holds a 7th degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do as well having studied Aikido, Judo, Capoeira and Escrima. Shelly Mazer holds a 5th degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do with parallel experience in the other arts as well. Julius Baker and Shelly Mazer practice Tai Chi Chuan under Lenzie Williams in Berkeley, California. His instructor, Ben Lo, was a senior student of Master Cheng Man Ching whose innovations to the Yang style form are practiced worldwide. In 2002, Mr. Baker and Ms. Mazer brought Tai Chi Chuan to Baker's Martial Arts Cultural Center.

Julius Baker and Shelly Mazer are a dynamic teaching duo that effectively imparts complex information in a manner in which participants of various levels can benefit.

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August Self-Healing Tips —Traditional Chinese Medicine

written by: Julie Festa, L.Ac.

It is now August. The fall clothing catalogs have arrived. The back-to-school sales are on. Even our big heat wave has taken a breather. Whoever decided that August was the start of autumn had it slightly askew, by my book. I’m certainly not knocking being prepared, but it’s not quite time to stop the big summer growth spurt just yet.
If you’re anything like me, you’re still doing some expanding. Hey, it is only August, after all. The beach is still beckoning; the bees are still buzzing; the sunlight still lasts until almost 8 o’clock in the evening. It feels to me like not just my heart, but also the hearts of so many amazing people around me, are really blooming wide open this summer. So let’s keep celebrating, loving, and softening for at least another 31 days.

Chinese Nutrition: Raw Chocolate

Health tip trivia question: What mineral can increase overall heart muscle strength, decrease blood coagulation, lower blood pressure, and help the heart pump more effectively?

Did you guess Magnesium? Then you were right! And yes, believe what you are about to read: Raw chocolate is an excellent source of Magnesium. It also provides valuable antioxidants and neurotransmitters. So, can you think of any good reasons not to go get yourself some delicious heart-opening raw chocolate and dive on into including it in dessert, smoothie, and snack recipes? You can even eat it plain if you like.

Try this: Chocolate Nut-Milk Recipe from www.rawfood.com (a great place to get your raw cacao and other yummy things). 1 liter (4 cups) of coconut water, 20 cacao beans (preferably peeled), 10 raw cashews (everyone loves cashews!), 3-5 tablespoons of carob powder and/or maca powder, 3-5 tablespoons of honey and/or agave cactus nectar, 2 tablespoons of hempseed oil, 2 tablespoons of coconut oil/butter, 2-3 pinches of sea salt (preferably celtic sea salt or Himalayan pink rock salt), 2-3 sprinkles of cinnamon. Blend all ingredients, drink, and arrive back on Earth in about 2 hours!

Chinese Acupressure: Heart 8, Shao Fu (Little Palace)

HT 8, Shao Fu, is located in the palm of the hand, between the fourth and fifth metacarpal bones. When a fist is made, it is where the tip of the little finger touches the palm. This point is the master point of the Heart. It treats palpitations, chest and heart pain, enuresis, and tongue ulcers.

Try this: Hold the acupuncture point with firm pressure on your left hand (left is the side of the actual heart organ and of the Chinese Heart pulse). Now close your eyes. Breathe deeply in and out two or three times. When you open your eyes find something you honestly appreciate right now. Rest your eyes on the object of your appreciation long enough to really feel what it feels like in your heart to focus your attention on that object. This practice will soothe insomnia and restlessness, regulate cardiac arrhythmias, clear heat, and fortify the fire and passion of the Heart.

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Simple Monthly Home Practice -

Standing Backbend to Forward Bend

Written by Cheryl Rich

Sixteen years ago, my only son was killed in a car accident; although I had been exposed to Yoga before, it wasn't until I experienced such a life changing moment that I needed something more; Yoga kept me from committing suicide.

I have seen a lot of benefits from my Yoga practice. Normally, I'm the one with the fattest stomach in the Yoga class. Finding a way to continue to enter into Yoga rooms has helped to increase my self-esteem by leaps and bounds. Falling out of poses has been the most valuable lesson. One must fall to appreciate being able to stand. Two months ago, after 3 years, it hit me, "Cheryl, don't let your ego continue to whip your behind".

The standing backbend caused me to pay a dear price. I used to bend too far back without lengthening first, and engaging my core. Because of this, I now suffer with low back pain; however it is now healing because I have learned to focus on alignment; and needless to say, if you don’t focus on the breath THROUGHT-OUT the practice it all becomes a waste of time. Lesson... be patient with yourself and don't let the mind (ego) make you rush through your practice, or your life!

STANDING BACKBEND

	STANDING BACKBEND

Tiryan Mukhottanasana
Tiryan=upside down Mukha=face uttana=stretched out Asana=posture
1. Come to a basic standing posture with your feet hips width apart, make sure your feet are facing straight forward and not turning out.
2. Spread your toes and the soles of your feet, root down through your feet as if you are sinking into the earth.
3. Roll your tailbone and bellybutton together. You should feel the muscles right below your bellybutton engage. Keep this engaged throughout the excersize.
4. Raise your arms to the ceiling, palms facing each other, fingers spread.
5. Relax your shoulders, begin lengthening through your front and back ribs.
Keep pressing your fingertips to the ceiling. This should feel as if someone where pulling you up by your hands.
6. Push your arms behind your ears, keep rolling your tailbone and bellybutton together, engaging your core.
7. Keep lengthening your trunk and pressing your arms behind your ears and lift your ribcage towards the ceiling.
8. Look up towards your hands but keep your forehead relaxed.

As you lengthen and press your arms back, you will naturally come into a backbend that is an active line of energy from your heels out through your fingertips. Do not pinch the low back, instead lift and lengthen the spine by lifting the ribs up towards the ceiling. Focus as much attention on rooting your feet down into the earth as you do on lengthening and lifting up and back. If you have pain in your low back from backbends, you should seek the help of a teacher.

Benefits: Corrects bad posture, rejuvenates the spine and is energizing. Backbends lift the spirit and open the heart.

STANDING FORWARD BEND

	STANDING FORWARD BEND

Padahastasana
Pada=foot Hasta=hand Asana=posture
This is the counter pose to the backbend and helps release the spine in the opposite direction.
1. From the standing backbend, bring your feet hips width apart and bend forward at your waist.
2. Bend your knees as much as necessary to insert the palms of your hands under the soles of your feet.
2. Draw your belly in and up.
3. Press your bellybutton towards your thighs and lift your head and chest.
4. Keep energizing the legs, pushing the feet into the earth.

This is an excellent counter pose for the forward bend, it stretches and lengthens the spine in the opposite direction, creating balance.

Benefits: Tones the abdominal organs and aids in digestion, relieves bloating. Forward bends consolidate one’s energy and are rejuvenating.

Throughout these asanas (postures), focus on the quality of the breath. Try to breath in and out of your nose evenly. Erratic breathing is a sign that your mind has wandered or that you are pushing to far into the pose without keeping the principles of alignment.

Practitioner Spotlight

This month we are featuring Cheryl Rich, who wrote this month’s Simple Home Practice for us.

Cheryl has been practicing yoga for 3 years. On days that she cannot make it into class, she practices at home. She currently works with a Non-Profit Assemblies in Motion, where At- Risk youth visit Juvenile Centers and share the "Healing Spoke Word" which promotes peace, understanding, and inspiration in an environment that does not encourage
such emotion

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Monthly Words of Wisdom:

“How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against it’s being, otherwise we all remain too frightened.”

-Hafiz