Posts In: slow down

Check out Yoga One’s newest class offering with Heather Fenwick, Gentle Flow with Mellow Grooves. Join us Sundays, 4:20pm-5:30pm.

Yoga One: What excites you the most about this class?

Heather: This class is exciting because we get to listen to awesome music WHILE we’re doing yoga! Oftentimes yoga teachers play soft, background music during class to keep the focus on the postures and breathwork. While this is a really wonderful idea, I also believe that listening to music can be a yoga practice in and of itself – we can tune in to what’s happening in the present moment by getting lost in a song, and let the music guide our yoga journey.

Also, doing gentle yoga on a Sunday evening helps set the tone for a well-balanced, calm transition into the work week – a pretty genius way to enjoy the weekend’s finale.

Yoga One: What are your playlist inspirations?

Heather: Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin got me hooked on proper music when I was in college, but they really just started to blaze the trail for musical inspiration from everywhere. These days, I love the Bahamas, DJ Drez, Tycho, even Thievery Corporation keeps putting out solid tunes… I’m also open to any suggestions from fellow music lovers – please feel free to hit me up on Facebook (Heather Fenwick) or Instagram (recoveringgypsy).

Yoga One: What do you hope your students will feel or experience?

Heather: My wish for these students, and for all beings, is to feel chilled out, happy, and connected. The pace of life around us moves all too quickly… so slowing down and enjoying seemingly little moments is good for our health, wellness, and ability to shine brightly in the world around us!

Yoga One: Thanks Heather, can’t wait to join you for class! You can find our full class schedule here. Ommm.

by Olivia Cecchettini

“Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life”

by Judith Hanson Lasater

Summary: You don’t have to go to a mountaintop in order to have a spiritual experience. Living Your Yoga makes it clear that spirituality can be encountered anywhere, at any time. I appreciate that this is the biggest lesson Judith Lasater wants to share because it is simple and profound.

Lasater provides examples of everyday situations that become the basis of lessons, learning and growth. Honoring the wisdom of the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, Lasater shares off-the-mat practices to guide you into deeper relationships with yourself, your family, friends, and the world.

Why I Love It: Living Your Yoga is a beautiful reminder to slow down, stay present and practice gratitude. In our fast-paced world, life can so easily feel overwhelming. It is more important than ever to meditate and discover the place of wisdom within. This book reminds the reader that there is nowhere you can physically go to find that place. Instead, you can use the tools of meditation and present-moment awareness to rediscover what is already within you.

Recommended For: This book is a great foundation for individuals starting the yogic path; someone ready to cross the bridge from the mind of yoga into its heart.

Living Your Yoga was given to be by a friend during my first Vinyasa 200 hour teacher training and I absolutely loved it. It opened my eyes to new ways of being compassionate with myself and taught me how to access a place of spirituality more readily in my everyday life.

I hope you enjoy it and I invite you to pass it along when you’ve finished. Just the same way it came into my life, let’s keep the spirit of giving going. Ciao!

Olivia Cecchettini
Contributing Writer

Olivia’s yoga journey began in 2003. She is certified in Vinyasa, Hatha, and Aerial Yoga and holds a Masters degree in Spiritual Psychology. She believes the mind, body, soul connection is sacred and encourages her students explore and expand within their own bodies and consciousnesses.

Sherri is one of the first teachers Yoga One owners Amy & Michael Caldwell practiced with when they arrived in San Diego back in 2001. She is also one of the best teachers they have had the fortune of knowing. What she teaches in the classroom is fantastic, but what she teachers through her living example is the real lesson. Vibrant, positive, active, athletic, spiritual, fun, humorous, beautiful, intelligent…you get the picture!

Sign up for her upcoming class and workshop June 6th and 7th at Yoga One here!

1. What is your favorite style of yoga? 

I love pose-by-pose practice, as in the Iyengar style. There’s so much refinement for the physical body that can happen in the depth and precision of that method, and the mind has specific points to concentrate on, which brings a natural calm. Really, I’m very grateful for having Iyengar as my beginning in yoga.

Over the years I’ve woven into my personal practice a more dance-like, fluid approach, mixing spontaneous movements with asana (yoga poses) to create a daily practice that changes and evolves along with me as my body and heart transform on this journey of life.

2. What first attracted you to yoga when you began your practice?

The physicality of Hatha Yoga drew me in – as a child cartwheels and splits and walking down the hall in a backbend were all part of a normal day for me.

But more significantly, yoga slowed me down. I was limited to the area of a mat, instead of the whole wide world that I’d been moving through, and in that confinement my soul came to the surface. I was captivated by the pain, the tenderness, and the vitality that poured out from my heart, within the stillness of practicing yoga. I’ve been following that inner thread every since, discovering more and more of my true qualities as my journey through life’s challenges and joys continues.

3. What is your favorite yoga pose right now?

That’s a difficult question for me! None of my students or friends would be surprised to hear me say downward dog! Someone quoted me as exclaiming in class one day, “You can never do enough downward dog!” or something to that effect, which is probably not at all the case, right?!

But I love practicing a simple inversion sequence like downward dog, arm balance, forearm balance, and shoulder stand to energize me and to build the internal muscles of perseverance and determination, two spiritual qualities I constantly seek.

4. What pose is still the most challenging?

Headstand for sure! I’ve had a lot of whiplash throughout my life, and then I’ve got a L-O-N-G neck – yikes. A number of years back a chiropractor friend told me my neck is giraffe-like! So it’s a challenging combination. Still, I am once again pursuing this pose with the help of some of my incredible yoga teacher friends here in town. So stay tuned for an update in this area.

5. If you were an animal, you would be: Not a giraffe – although I used to daydream as a child growing up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, of constructing a special saddle to be able to ride my imaginary pet giraffe. May we all find our way back to that level of innocence and creativity!

I feel very deeply that I would be a horse. Noble, wild, high-strung, courageous in the face of fear.

6. Describe what yoga means in your life using just 6 words: Yoga: strength for soul’s journey Home.

7. What might your students be surprised to learn about you?

My first teaching career was in Russian language, and I’m blessed to have a son-in-law and two-year-old grandson in my life to help me deepen my love affair with that phenomenal language. Thank you to Kolya and Misha for being part of my life path, and of course thank you to my daughter, Rhea, who made it all happen. She is one of my biggest teachers of all.

8. Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for new students?

Listen to your heart! Find the rhythm of your unique soul’s journey and expression in this life and on this material plane. Manifest your destiny, and don’t let anything stop you. This world needs our love, our care, our passion, our compassion. Give your heart and soul to what really matters to you. Show others how that’s done –  and stoke the fire of change and growth and transformation. Don’t lead a shallow life! As my wise sister Pat says, the Nike slogan pretty much sums it up: Just do it.