kg yoga - Spring Update

March 20, 2007

Blessings All! Happy Spring! During the winter season, kg yoga and I experienced several changes. The lessons learned during this period taught me how to remain mindful as I open my heart to practice compassion and concentration in creating clarity and order in my daily life. I was blessed to be able to teach what I was learning in my yoga classes. Each yoga moment that I shared with kg yoga students was delicious, rich, and filled with wisdom, laughter, and goodness. Thank you kg yoga students! Some of my winter lessons will travel into the new spring season that begins on March 21. I will embrace them and any

new lessons with gratitude. I will also continue to incorporate what I learn in how I live, practice, teach, and share yoga. My prayer is that you will do the same in your life. Please know that I am still restructuring kg yoga's newsletter, Om on My Mind. I hope to have a Spring/Summer issue published by late April. Thank you for your patience. In the meantime, I have included a summary of kg yoga highlights below. Enjoy! Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhawantu (May all beings experience the blessings of great happiness). Namaste, Ananda Leeke PS: I spent the weekend at Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts, artist-in-residence retreat held at Swami Satchidananda's Ashram in Yogaville, VA. It was awesome. It included deep reflection, group sharing, painting, yoga, meditation, and fabulous food. I learned more about integral yoga and laughter yoga which will be incorporated in kg yoga's classes this spring. To learn more about integral yoga, visit www.yogaville.org. kg yoga 2007 Highlights: A. Monthly kg yoga class themes include: 1) January - Start the new year with mindfulness by practicing simplicity (sati). 2) February - Open your heart through the practice of compassion (karuna). 3) March - Create clarity and order in your daily life through the practice of concentration (dharana). 4) April - Give yourself the gift of gratitude through the practice of being happy with what you already have and not wanting what others have (asteya). 5) May – Bring more balance into your daily life through the practice of moderation (brahmacharya). 6) June – Cultivate more ease and fun in your daily life through the practice of divine play (leela). 7) July - Learn to let go of attitudes and habits that no longer serve your highest good through the practice of non-attachment (aparigraha). 8) August – Infuse your spirit, mind, heart, and body with pure joy through the practice of contentment (santosha). 9) September – Prepare yourself for the autumn season through the practice of purification (saucha). 10) October – Discover your authenticity through the practice of self-study (swadhyaya). 11) November – Begin to lay the foundation for a fabulous new year through the practice of discipline (tapas). 12) December – Align yourself with divine order now and in the new year by saluting the divinity within yourself through the practice of surrender (Ishwara Pranidhana). B. 2007 Seasonal Focus in kg yoga Classes - Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant Kirtan, also known as sankirtan, is a powerful group meditation practice

that uses call-and-response mantra chanting to invoke clarity of heart, mind and soul. It is a part of bhakti yoga (the devotional path). It uses nada yoga, the yogic science of sound, as a means of helping individuals find their way back to their center. Kirtan can be practiced by all people. It is not about musical ability or training. Its primary focus is to open and purify the heart so that healing and transformation can occur. Some of the benefits of kirtan chanting include focusing the mind and changing practitioners' rate of breath, all of which serve to quiet the mind and relax the body. Kirtan chanting is usually accompanied by instruments. At the end of each class, kg yoga students will close their yoga practice by chanting with pre-recorded music by Deval Premal, Sista Shree, Krishna Das, or Jai Uttal. The following seasonal chants will be used: 1) Spring Om Mani Padme Hum The sound of silence. The jewel in the lotus. 2) Summer Asatoma Sadgamaya Tamasoma Jyotir Gamaya Mrityorma Amritam Gamaya From untruth, lead me to the truth From darkness, lead me to the light From death, lead me to immortality 3) Fall Om Namah Shivaya Om and salutations to that which I am capable of becoming. 4) Winter Om Bhur Buvaha Suvaha Thath Savithur Varenyam Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayath We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds: gross, subtle, and causal. I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination, and divine grace of universal initelligence. We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds. C. kg yoga's Andinkra OM

Apparel - It will be available for sale on CafePress.com in early Summer. D. kg yoga's C-OM-Munity Circles of Healing Light and Love at Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park - They will be held on the following Sunday mornings from 9:30am-10am (group will practice yoga in front of the waterfall located near the entrance facing 16th Street and Florida Avenue, NW; bring your own yoga mat): 1) April 22 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to Earth Day and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 2) May 13 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to Mother's Day and National Women's Health Week (May 14-20). 3) June 10 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to

Father's Day and National Men's Health Week (June 11 - 16). 4) July and August - Series will not be held. 5) September 9 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. 6) October 7 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 7) November 4 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to American Diabetes Month. 8) December 2 - The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to World AIDS Day. E. OM on My Mind Podcasts - A new spring/summer meditation series will be featured on OM on My Mind Podcasts in late Spring. If you find that you need more meditative moments during the hustle and bustle of your daily life, take a few minutes and listen to kg yoga's OM on My Mind’s Podcast. It features thirteen

theme-based meditations. Click on the link: http://kgyoga.blogspot.com/2006/10/kg-yogas-new-podcast-om-on-my-mind.htm.l F. Music in kg yoga's Classes kg yoga classes include music by artists such as: 1) Alice Coltrane - www.alicecoltrane.org 2) John Coltrane 3) HKB FiNN - www.myspace.com/hkbfinn01 4) Tunde Jegede - www.tundejegede.com 5) Deva Premal 6) Bliss 7) Eric Roberson - www.myspace.com/ericroberson 8) Omar Sosa 9) Sista Shree 10) Cassandra Wilson 11) Duke Ellington 12) Ella Fitzgerald 13) Kindred Family Soul 14) Susana Baca 15) Nina Simone 16) Miles Davis17) Sting18) Donny Hathaway 19) Stevie Wonder 20) Celia Cruz 21) Jai Uttal22) Krishna Das

And so many more .... Your own personal favorites can be incorporated in your class. For more information about kg yoga, contact Ananda Leeke at kiamshaleeke or visit http://kgyoga.blogspot.com.

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