Life Force
Dear Oyster Bay Yogis,
Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who stuck with me over the past 3 years in Glen Cove. It’s been an emotional few weeks letting go of that studio, and passing the torch to someone new. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate your words of support and kindness, your patience and flexibility as I close the door on that chapter of my life. Thank you.
As I open a new door in my own life, and turn the page on 2022, I get those hopeful new year feelings, and can’t help bringing them into my practice, and teaching. “Where attention goes, energy flows.” This month, our theme is “Life Force!” This new year, let's collectively channel our energy toward the things we most want to cultivate in our lives. I don’t want to use the “r” word, but I invite you to set your 2023 intention in the form of a single word or phrase you can carry with you - write it down! I’m still sorting mine out, so don’t worry if it doesn’t pop up right away for you either, give it a little time. Your yoga practice can help you do this. By learning to channel our energy/prana/life force on the mat, we become better vessels for manifesting good things in our lives off the mat.
Cheers to a happy, healthy, hopeful 2023!
Namaste,
Amy
Pose of the Month
Camatkarasana: Wild Thing Pose
This month we breakdown Camatkarasana, or Wild Thing Pose. Click to watch the video!
Sutra of the Month
Behind any accomplishment there is always a force—desire. The strength of your desire determines how easily you will attain your goal. It determines how easy it will be to overcome obstacles when they arise and indicates what kind of person you are. Knowing your tendencies and having a clear goal can help you find the level of intensity that will make the process enjoyable and sustainable. Patanjali states that there are various levels of determination within one’s own practice. Every day on our mat is different, some days we want a strong practice, other days, we look for rest and recovery. No matter where we are, we are all headed in the right direction. Steady consistency is what is most important, not the intensity of which you practice.
Oil of the Month
Our January OOTM is:
Bergamot Mint
“Uplift your spirits with the refreshing scents of Bergamot Mint Essential Oil. When you smell Bergamot Mint, it resembles a mixture of fresh citrus, floral lavender, and refreshing mint. There are many benefits of Bergamot Mint. Most notably, it is used to help calm and relax the senses while also helping boost motivation and inspiration in your daily life. Even though it is a calming oil, it is not as sedating as others, making it a good choice to use throughout the day when you need to stay productive. In addition, you can use Bergamot Mint Essential Oil to help clear congestion, support an overall healthy immune system and even ease digestive upset.” -Plant Therapy
Click here to learn more about Bergamot Mint
This month, enjoy 20% off your purchase of Bergamot Mint essential oil.
Monthly Challenge Winner
Our Monthly Challenge Winner for December 2022 is:
Jeannine Schwartz
Congratulations Jeannine! You attended 18 classes in the month of December, and you’ll get your next month of membership for free! Great job! Thank you for being such a wonderful part of our community.
Who will be our January winner?
Oyster Bay Yoga 2023 Survey
We would like to hear from you! To better serve our wonderful community, we are asking you to fill out a short 4 minute survey on what you would like to see here at Oyster Bay Yoga. Your input helps shape what we offer at the studio and we very much value your opinion! We will be collecting responses through 1/21/23. If you share your contact information, you will receive a $5 credit on your account towards any purchase! Please send any additional feedback to our email: info@oysterbayyoga.com. Thank you!
Events
Full Moon Movement, Meditation & Gong Bath
Thursday, January 5th
7:00-8:15pm
with Martha Flanagan
Full Moon Gong Meditations allow us to honor the cyclical nature of the moon together. During the class there will be a seated meditation, incorporating mantra, pranayama and mudra, gentle movement to prepare the mind and body for the healing vibrations of the Gong.
$25 to drop-in / FREE for members
Pajama Yoga
Friday, January 6th
6:30pm-7:30pm
with Diana Singh
Kids ages 4-10 can come dressed in their PJ's for a fun yoga class with stretching, games and stories to help them get ready for bed.
Milk & cookies provided!
$20 per child
Yin Yoga
Sunday, January 8th
2:45-4:00pm
with Martha Flanagan
Are you moving too fast?
Doing too many things at one time?
Too much "mind chatter" or just want to slow down?
Yin yoga can provide an antidote for this.
This class will guide you through a series of poses that are primarily done sitting and lying down. The poses are held for 2-5 minutes at a time to allow connective tissues (fascia, ligaments) to soften, lengthen and lubricate. A yin yoga practice compliments a yang practice and allows for a more balanced approach to life.
$25 to drop-in/FREE for members
21 Day Meditation Challenge
Sunday, January 8th - Saturday, January 28th
They say it takes 21 days to form a habit
Let’s use the first weeks of 2023 to form a meditation practice that will serve us throughout the entire year.
What does it feel like inside your mind right now? Do your thoughts run wild throughout your day? Do you feel like you don’t have any control over what happens inside your mind?
Meditation can absolutely help us clear our minds more efficiently, but it can also help us cope with, and even reframe any distressing, pervasive thinking.
Do you feel like you CAN’T meditate? Well, let me ask you this: Can you think of any time in your life when you felt completely absorbed in a task? (your work? your studies? your yard work?) Perhaps it was something enjoyable, or something repetitive (folding laundry? going for a run?). And when you were absorbed in this tasks, do you remember having a feeling of forgetting everything else? A sense of time moving more quickly? It feels really good when we stumble upon these moments of meditation in our everyday lives, right? Those moments of being completely absorbed ARE a state of meditation. We all CAN do it. However, when we sit down to TRY to meditate, oftentimes our mind picks back up its incessant chatter.
We know we WANT to get into a state of meditation, and we WANT to have that feeling of timelessness, but anything worth doing takes practice. Through this program we’ll create the routine, and train our brains to find stillness (just like you train your abs at the gym). There’s also power in togetherness. So, let’s let’s do this together, and support each other in our commitment to cultivating more peace and ease in our inner worlds. What could be more important than that?
What to expect
Week 1:
Find Your Rhythm
Learn to guide yourself into a state of meditation through simple cues you can easily learn and repeat each time you sit down to meditate.
Week 2:
Refine Your Intention
Now that you’ve found your rhythm, and feel more comfortable entering a state of meditation, you can begin to clarify and refine your intention for meditating. How we approach our meditation will impact what we receive from the practice.
Week 3:
Discover Your Center
Now that you’ve learned how to enter a state of meditation, and you’ve settled into your intention, learn to center, and re-center as you lengthen sitting time, and cultivate stillness and inner-peace.
Register for the Challenge
Each week includes 6 pre-recorded meditations you can practice at your own pace. Choose a time that works best for you. The 7th meditation each week will be “live” with Amy on a Zoom call at 7am. You can join in live, or you can watch the recording of the live meditation practice anytime.
No experience required. No special equipment required. Listen in from any device.
$79 to join the challenge
Friday Night Flow: Classic Rock
Friday, January 20th
5:30pm-6:30pm
with Anne Davidson
Want to move and groove with us on your yoga mat? Enjoy a fun all levels yoga flow class with Anne while moving to the tunes of classic rock!
$15 to drop-in/FREE for members
Yoga Book Club
Friday, January 20th
7:00-9:00pm
with Peggy Adair
Join us for a one hour all levels flow yoga class followed by an hour discussion about our Book Club pick,
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer!
BYO snacks & drinks to enjoy during the book discussion.
$25 to drop-in/FREE for members
Community Acupuncture
Saturday, January 21st
2:00-4:00pm
with Maddy Mindich
Register for a 45-min session that includes acupuncture with tuning forks and essential oils, as well as time on the BioMats and herbal tea.
When you participate in a Wellsprings Community Acupuncture clinic, you have the opportunity to receive acupuncture for general wellness and individual needs.
Benefits— reduces stress and anxiety, benefits sleep, addresses deep issues like chronic pain, digestive upset, neurological issues, hormonal imbalances AND relieving symptoms from the head to the toes like headaches, hot flashes, seasonal allergies, edema and sciatica.
$50 for 45 minute session
Maddy Mindich, LAc., graduated from Bastyr University in 2016 with a Master's degree in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine. Maddy believes strongly in community and collaborative wellness and helping implement lifestyles that will lead to greater individual, social and earth health. Her interests include chronic pain, digestive health, neurological health, auto-immune disorders, pregnancy and postpartum and the advancement of acupuncture into an integrative setting.
She uses her knowledge of acupuncture and East Asian medicine to provide you with tools that put your health in your hands and increase your experience of well-being.
Yin Yoga
Friday, January 27th
7:00-8:15pm
with Martha Flanagan
Are you moving too fast?
Doing too many things at one time?
Too much "mind chatter" or just want to slow down?
Yin yoga can provide an antidote for this.
This class will guide you through a series of poses that are primarily done sitting and lying down. The poses are held for 2-5 minutes at a time to allow connective tissues (fascia, ligaments) to soften, lengthen and lubricate. A yin yoga practice compliments a yang practice and allows for a more balanced approach to life.
$25 to drop-in / FREE for members
Crystal Grid Workshop
Thursday, January 26th
6:00-8:00pm
with Barbara Kataisto
Come join in for a crystal grid making session, a fun and easy way to connect with your crystals. I personally love to combine crystals with essential oils, affirmations and Reiki so we may add a little of that too to enhance our crystal grid intention. There are many different methods and ways to combine these vibrational tools. This is just a simple and easy method that has worked well for me. Let your imagination and your intuition guide you as you select crystals and affirmations that will best support you! We’ll keep it simple yet intentional.
In this class we’ll go over:
What a crystal grid is, it’s purpose and energetic connections
How to set your intention
How to choose a grid formation and samples of different types
Components of a crystal grid
Make your own grid
How to activate and maintain a grid
$50 per person (includes materials)
10% off for members
The Vagus Nerve
Sunday, January 29th
10:30am-11:30am
with Emily Loeb
The vagus is the tenth cranial nerve. It is long and complex, traveling from the brain all the way down to the colon, along the way relaying messages between the brain, respiratory, digestive and nervous system. Since our breathing, digestion and heart rate are all connected to the vagus nerve, this neural pathway can help the body and mind find homeostasis through a variety of practices. These include many yoga postures, conscious breathing and mindfulness exercises that stimulate the vagus nerve.
This class will introduce a variety of breathing techniques and yoga poses that activate the vagus nerve and increase our overall sense of well-being. These practices help us come into the "rest and digest" part of our nervous system, known as the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps decrease anxiety, stress and inflammation. We will integrate these breathing techniques into our asana practice, discovering how combining these practices can elevate our feelings of comfort and safety. You will leave feeling restored and refreshed, with new tools to help manage stress and anxiety both on and off the mat.
$25 to drop-in/FREE for members
Upcoming Events & Schedule Updates
EVENTS
(Re)Align & Flow: New Year’s Day Class: Sunday, 1/1 at 10:30am with Sydney Matuszak
Full Moon Movement, Meditation & Gong Bath: Thursday, 1/5 at 7:00pm with Martha Flanagan
Pajama Yoga: Friday, 1/6 & the 1st Friday of each month at 6:30pm with Diana Singh
Yin Yoga: Sunday, 1/8 at 2:45pm with Martha Flanagan
21 Day Meditation Challenge: Sunday, 1/8-1/28 with Amy Garvey on Practice at hOMe
Friday Night Flow: Classic Rock: Friday, 1/20 at 5:30pm with Anne Davidson
Yoga Book Club: Friday, 1/20 at 7:00pm with Peggy Adair
Community Acupuncture: Saturday, 1/21 at 2:00pm with Maddy Mindich
Crystal Grid Workshop: Thursday, 1/26 at 6:00pm with Barbara Kataisto
Yin Yoga: Friday, 1/27 at 7:00pm with Martha Flanagan
The Vagus Nerve: Sunday, 1/29 at 10:30am with Emily Loeb
SCHEDULE UPDATES
Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter. I look forward to seeing you soon. Until then, stay well.
Amy
