Fall Equinox

Over the weekend, one moment, our night equaled day. Early Saturday morning, on the 23rd, at 12:03 AM EDT, our orbit ushered in the new season.

Some view fall with dread as this time brings an end to summer adventures and sun. Yet, the coolness of the air brings a freshness and harbors a time of rest and rejuvenation.

As a perpetual student, I've always viewed this season with excitement because of the new beginnings - with empty notepads of blank pages and stiff books smelling of glue.

I encourage you to foster those activities that renew your focus and reconnect you to others.

Fall is a time of preparation and reordering. And, of course, I hope yoga - which means to unify - is a part of that renewal and reconnection.

Fall Schedule and Class Plans for Fall Classes

Yoga resumed with enthusiasm and laughter at nilambu last week. Clients found their base again with a foot massage to wake up the feet - the foundation of all standing poses. Each week, the physical postures (asanas) concentrate on one area of practice such as standing, balancing or twisting.

And new this fall, in honor of nilambu's mission to provide stretches for the mind, we also bring our attention to a philosophical principle of yoga such as truth, enthusiasm or contentment.

A few classes still have space available. If you're interested in getting started or restarted - please email me at cass@nilambu.com.

Also, if you have two or more friends and would like to set up your own class, I still have free time available to accomodate an additional class.

Finally, as always, privates and semi-privates are a great way to focus your practice or to address a special challenge. For more on that and on all of nilambu : a personal yoga studio's services, click here

On Happiness

Five years ago,on September 11, this month also became forever tinged with sadness. In response to that, I've been reading a book by Matthieu Ricard called Happiness. I'm not far along, but already I'm learning new ideas.

Many yogis are familiar with sukhasana. A cross-legged seated pose, many translate the posture as "easy pose," or sometimes as "pose of happiness." (Some with tight hamstrings find it anything but easy or happy!)

But sukha in Sanskrit means something more beautiful and more encompassing. According to Ricard, sukha is "a way of being that underlies and suffuses all emotional states...A happiness so deep that, as Georges Bernanos wrote, 'nothing can change it, like the vast reserve of calm water beneath a storm.' " Find Out More about Ricard's Happiness

If you wish to read something shorter on happiness, try the provoking article on happiness by another favorite author of mine, Sally Kempton - click here. Perhaps building on that definition of sukha, Kempton tells us how "yoga teaches us that happiness is always available to us, no matter what our circumstances." Find Out More about Ricard's Happiness

Practice Yoga on the Washington Mall!

This Saturday the 20th on the National Mall, the Library of Congress sponsors the National Book Festival. (For more information on the line up of literary events, click here.)

Ah, but this e-newsletter is on yoga, and so I must let you know that the following weekend, on Saturday October 7th, DC's own John Schumacher, one of the top Iyengar teachers in the US, will be teaching yoga on the Mall as part of a day long celebration of Eastern culture.

Show up at 8 am with your mat at the plaza in front of the Freer Gallery and be a part of history! All are welcome - absolute beginners to advanced. If rain falls, the event will be canceled. But let's pray for sunshine! And if you plan to go, let me know so we can meet up.

For more on all the events associated with celebrating 100 years of Asian art at the Smithsonian...