Happy #YogaMonday: My Favorite Yoga Poses Since 1995

Photo Credit: http://womenshealth.gov/nwhw/
Photo Credit: http://womenshealth.gov/nwhw/

 

Photo Credit: http://womenshealth.gov/nwhw/
Photo Credit: http://womenshealth.gov/nwhw/

 

Happy #YogaMonday!

It’s National Women’s Health Week, an annual health celebration I have used to recommit to my wellness commitments over the past decade. Practicing yoga on and off the mat is one of my wellness commitments that started in 1995.

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I came to yoga as a 30-year-old runner, Type A legal and finance professional, artist, and writer who needed to release stress, stretch my body, and focus my mind. Child’s pose and downward facing dog were my favorite poses. They still are as I live my life as a 49-year-old (approaching 50 in December) artist, author, creativity coach, digital communications professional, and yoga teacher.

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Side twists and savasana (final relaxation) pose also became some of my favorites during my yoga teacher training at Flow Yoga Center in 2005.

When you started practicing yoga, what were your favorite poses?

What are your favorite poses now?

Happy Yoga Monday! – 5/13

Photo Credit: http://womenshealth.gov
Photo Credit: http://womenshealth.gov

Happy Yoga Monday!

In honor of National Women’s Health Week (May 12-18), I am celebrating the many contributions women yoga teachers make to women’s health and wellness. Sariane Leigh, a Washington, D.C.-based yoga teacher, health activist, blogger, writer, and wellness instructor uses her Anacostia Yogi web site, blog, podcasts, classes, and workshops to promote health awareness and yoga for women and individuals recovering from trauma-related experiences such as HIV/AIDS diagnosis, conflicts, natural disasters, poverty, and institutional racism. Leigh’s healing approach marries Hatha and Kemetic yoga principles to the psycho-social healing tradition from African-American women’s spirituality.

Photo Credit: AnacostiaYogi.com
Photo Credit: AnacostiaYogi.com

In October 2012, she wrote a guest blog, “Sisters of the ‘Yogic’ Yam: bell hooks and the Yoga in Self-Recovery” for TheFeministWire.com that discusses her healing approach.  To learn more about her work, visit http://anacostiayogi.com.

Who is your favorite yoga blogger?

OM #YogaMonday OM!

Check out Ananda’s May, June & July Events – Yoga Classes, Book Readings, Social Media Workshops, Radio Interviews & Creativity Coaching Sessions

1) Start National Women’s Health Week by participating in Ananda’s kind and gentle yoga class on May 9 at 11:00 am EST in Malcolm X Park in DC.  Click on the link for more information: http://yoga.meetup.com/584.

2) Take Ananda’s online yoga class on May 10 at 7:00 am EST to honor National Women’s Check Up Day. Click on the link to watch the class: http://stickam.com/anandaleeke.

3) Participate in Ananda’s FREE four-part social media workshop series  on Ananda Leeke Live! UStream.tv on the dates below:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ananda-leeke-live.

  • May 15 at 8:00 am EST – What is social media?
  • May 16 at 8:00 am EST – How to develop a social media plan
  • May 22 at 8:00 am EST – How Ananda uses social media as an author, artist, coach & yoga teacher
  • May 23 at 8:00 am EST – Ananda’s social media lessons learned since 2005

4) Watch Ananda’s kg yoga life practices class on Mom TV on May 19 at 8:00 pm EST. Click on the link to see the show: http://www.momtv.com/kgyogalife.html.

5) Tune into Sisterhood the Blog Radio on May 24 at 8:00 pm EST for the launch of the Women in Social Media series (May – December 2010).  The first show will feature Ananda’s interview with Lynne D. Johnson,  Senior Vice President, Social Media for the Advertising Research Foundation.  Click here to listen to show:  http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/42015 .  Parts of the Women in Social Media radio interviews will be included in Ananda’s next book Sisterhood, the Blog: Soundbytes from the 21st Century Women’s Online Revolution (December 2011).

6) Join Ananda for a creativity coaching session on how to identify your inner critic on May 25 from 9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. EST on Ananda Leeke Live! UStream.tv. The session will include exercises from Ananda’s new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery.

1) Celebrate DC Digital Capital Week with Ananda by taking her yoga and stress relief class for computers users on June 12 at 10:00 am in Malcolm X-Meridian Hill Park in DC.  The class will be taught in front of the reflecting pool and waterfall located near the entrance facing 16th Street and Florida Avenue, NW. U Street/Cardozo subway station is located near the Park.

2) Attend Ananda’s book reading for her new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery on June 12 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washingtoniana Division, 901 G Street, NW, Washington, DC (located at Metro Center subway station).

3) Register for the Blogging While Brown conference in DC (click here to register) and take Ananda’s yoga class for social media users on June 19 from 8:15 am to 8:30 am at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place Northwest, Washington, DC (located at Mt Vernon/Convention Center subway station).

4) Watch Ananda’s kg yoga life practices class on Mom TV on June 16 at 8:00 pm EST.  Click on the link to watch the show: http://www.momtv.com/kgyogalife.html.

1) Spend an afternoon with Ananda at a book reading for her new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir on July 10 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Flow Yoga Center (Shakti Studio Room), 1450 P Street, NW, Washington, DC (located several blocks from Dupont Circle subway station).

2) Watch Ananda’s kg yoga life practices class on Mom TV on July 21 at 8:00 pm EST. Click on the link to watch the show: http://www.momtv.com/kgyogalife.html.


Ananda kicks off National Women’s Health Week early with her pledge to live healthy

Happy May!

Today I kicked off National Women’s Health Week a few days early.  I started with a juicy yoga and meditation practice which focused on incorporating more joy or mudita (a Sanskrit word) in my healthy living practices.  Listen to my audio blog below on Cinchcast to learn more about my pledge.

I also completed my pledge for National  Women’s CheckUp Day on May 10 (see above) and committed to doing the Woman Challenge beginning May 9 and ending on July 3.

What are you planning to do for National Women’s Health Week? I am teaching a free yoga class in Malcolm X-Meridian Hill Park in DC on May 9 at 11:30 am.

Are you doing anything for National Women’s Check Up Day? I am teaching an online yoga class on May 10 at 7 am on http://stickam.com/anandaleeke.

Are you going to do the Women’s Challenge?