SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the Big Sky Yoga Retreats monthly newsletter! We've got lots of exciting things planned, including full yoga class podcasts - so keep watching this space!

Like our retreats, the newsletter will offer you the best seasonal selections for yoga and health tips that you can use everyday. While coming on a retreat is the ultimate gift you can give yourself, people always wonder how they can bring some of the benefits home too. That's what our newsletter is all about.

Montana Musings - what I learned this summer

My teacher this summer was a horse named Belle. In an earlier newsletter I talked about the new experience of horseback riding; three months later, I am past the shock of newness and enjoying the process of discovery my learnings with Belle bring about. I've been reading a lot about the horse-human relationship and its fascinating history, and evolving my yoga on horseback - in fact, my riding instiuctor Annie (pictured with me on Piper and Belle above) and I are about to start a yoga for equestrians program at the stable. I am a little bit nervous about reassuming my teacher role in the presence of my teachers, especially Belle - when I am instructing how to use yoga on horseback to relax and connect with your horse, will she be thinking to herself, why don't you do that more?? I've learned that being the teacher doesn't necessarily mean that I know how to employ the lesson itself all the time. But that in itself is a major lesson, and ongoing reminder.

Learning to communicate with Belle has been amazing. Optimal horse-human communication is mostly silent, through body language and emotion. It is a challenging thing to learn when we are most used to expressing ourselves with words, but it reminds me of yoga. Whether we know it or not, we become drawn to yoga for its ability to put us in touch with our bodies and what we are truly feeling. It cultivates authenticity - are we being authentic to our true selves, or are we hiding behind an identity that isn't a true reflection of our nature? Recognizing this can often be a painful process that evolves along with our yoga practice. I am sure that most of you have had the experience of a yoga pose bringing on a sudden and unexpected flood of emotion. It may come as a surprise, but afterwards we feel that some real part of us has been revealed, and that can be a huge relief.

A book I recently read called The Tao of Equus examines the horse-human relationship in detail, and how horses can awaken our intuition; in fact, it goes so far as to suggest that we cannot establish a meaningful interspecies connection without first being "emotionally congruent". In short, horses know when we are lying to ourselves and they won't tolerate it. Similarly, we won't grow in our yoga practice if we are not open to the process of self-discovery it causes. How wonderful to have another being be a mirror for our true selves. There are moments when I feel I have connected with Belle that have brought on powerful and pure emotion. These are moments where I am truly present and authentic, as when I am able to be present in my yoga practice. The parallels continue to astonish me.

The following quote from The Tao of Equus could be applied to either horse or yoga experience: "Ultimately the willingness to relinquish accepted concepts and respond authentically in the moment [leads] to an increasing ability to navigate through the unknown, to become more fluid and adaptable, to embrace all experiences and emotions as meaningful information." I love the idea that my horseback riding is an extension of my yoga practice, and that Belle is my teacher. I hope to share this with you on a future retreat - watch for our summer 2008 schedule of yoga and horseback riding retreats.

Here's our recommended recipe and yoga pose for the start of a new season:

RECIPE - so it's not quite cooled off yet, but it's not time for hearty fall fare either. It's healthy and enjoyable to tune into the weather for your eating inspiration. Here is one of my favorite transition time favorites - it's got soba, Japanese buckwheat noodles, which provide vitamins B1 and B2, several minerals, and nearly twice the amount of proteins found in rice. Soba also contains rutin, a powerful antioxidant that includes the catechins of green tea and the polyphenols of red wine.

Sesame Salmon with Soba

6 oz soba noodles
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
4 skinless salmon fillets
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
3 scallions, coarsely chopped

*Cook's Notes:
If you don't get the salmon skinned, don't worry about it, it just makes it a bit easier.

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the soba noodles according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, combine the soy sauce, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the ginger in a small bowl. Lightly brush the salmon fillets on both sides with a little of the soy-ginger mixture, and then dredge in sesame seeds.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the salmon and cook over medium-high heat until the sesame seeds are golden and the fish is just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
4. Add the sesame oil, scallions, the remaining tablespoon of ginger and the remaining soy-ginger mixture to the soba noodles and toss to combine. Serve salmon atop soba.

POSE - vrksasana, or tree, is super-grounding and just what we need in times of transition, like during a change in season. Balance poses are great because they require that you really be in the moment - if you are not completely mindful you will fall. Having a crazy day? Take a time out for tree pose. It will stop your mind from racing, it will soothe your nervous system and it will ground you in the present. (Unlike this picture of me, which is from way in the past!)

HOW - Stand in mountain pose and gaze softly at a fixed point in front of you on the floor, about 4 or 5 feet away. Shift your weight to the left foot, keeping the standing foot firmly connected to the floor, and bend your right knee. Reach down with your right hand and grab your right ankle.
Draw your right foot up and place the sole as high up on the inner left thigh as possible; press the right heel into the inner left groin, toes pointing toward the floor. Center your pelvis over the left foot.
Lengthen your tailbone toward the floor. Firmly press the right foot sole against the inner thigh and resist with the outer left leg. Press your hands together at your heart center. Maintain your drishti (gazing point). If you fall out of the pose at any point, slowly and deliberately go through the process again. Do not rush. Stay in the pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Return to mountain pose and repeat for the same length of time on the opposite side.

HEALTH TIP - Seek a non-traditional teacher - I highly recommend the four-legged kind. It may be the most you ever learn.

Welcome the possibility that comes with the start of a new season.

Namaste,
Margaret

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May 2007
June 2007
July/August 2007
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October 2007
November 2007