​13 Classes for the Soul After Love

 

Class 1 — Monday, August 10

Psyche's Immortality 

"The soul casts off one skin after another." - Marion Woodman

Psyche completes the impossible tasks and is welcomed among the immortals. The 2nd Century myth 'Metamorphoses' by Apuleius ends here, but the deeper journey begins: learning to live from love. Greek philosophers, such as Empedocles surmised that both love and strife are at the axis. Stillness can be found in all movement when we slow down enough to wonder how this is? Yoga is rooted in an ancient art and investigation into what is eternal whilst we experience change. We are this bodily form and we are more than just this body, the soul is immortal, atoms dissolve into something new...

Peak pose: Bhujangasana - cobra 

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Class 2 — Thursday, August 13

The Calm after the Storm

"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity." - Simone Weil

As late summer settles into its golden rhythm, our attention becomes more simple, refined and elegant. Extraordinary moments of pure calm, balance and generosity flow because we know and absorb the storms in our lives. Love is matured when strife is transmuted. Attention is like lightening, when it strikes there is an alive energy. How do we carry our energy? Is our attention inward rooting so that loving kindness is ripening? 

Peak pose: Vrikshasana - Tree 

 

Class 3 — Monday, August 17

Avatar of Harmony

"We know the range of this goddess' emotions—joy and pleasure, yet also pain and grief. Emotions engendered by love's process are an integral part of her being." - Nancy Qualls-Corbett

Like the slow, dedication of nature's bloom beneath the August sun, the deepest transformations ask us not to seek more, but to remain fully present with what is. 

Peak pose: Kurmasana - Tortoise

 

Class 4 — Thursday, August 20

The Daily Temple

"In filth it shall be found." - Carl Gustav Jung 

The pilgrimage is never over and sometimes wisdom is found in unexpected places. The sacred continues to live in every breath, every ordinary morning, every dusty corner. Is there wisdom in bringing consciousness to the darkest places? Alchemizing the daily temple with love. 

Peak poses: Mixed Class of Twists & Binds 

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Class 5 — Monday, August 24

Trust Without Proof

"Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are the multivolume set." - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Embracing immortality, Psyche no longer walks by uncertainty or longing, but by an inner knowing. This class explores the invisible confidence that arises when the soul no longer demands certainty before opening its heart. There is something profound in nature when you see nature crack through concrete. The harder we try to crystallize our control over love, we come to learn that love is always more expansive. 

Peak pose: Urhva Dhanurasana - Upward Facing Bow/Wheel

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Class 6 — Thursday, August 27

Freedom to Choose

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The great mystery chooses us in this moment. Unconditional love is acceptance, being 'enough' and loosening the knots of tension held when we hide our freedom to choose to just 'be'. No matter the outer circumstances, our inner world is our own unique environment where choice can roam freely to be what it is, whether in flux or in flow or in between.

Peak pose: Mixed asana class - Potpourri & Poetry (Bring a Journal to Class)

 

Class 7 — Monday, August 31

The Inner Marriage

"Every phenomenon, on whatever scale and in whatever world it may take place, from the molecular to the cosmic, is the result of the combination or meeting of three different and opposing forces." - G. I. Gurdjieff

The sacred union of Psyche and Eros becomes an inner reality. In yoga and Tantra, liberation is not found by escaping the world, but by reconciling the seeming opposites within ourselves. The magical three...

Peak pose: Utthita Trikonasana - Triangle 

 

Class 8 — Thursday, September 3

Love With Release

"Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom." - Rabindranath Tagore

Love matures when it no longer grasps, clings, or fears losing. The open heart discovers that what is truly ours can never be possessed. This is probably the hardest lessons on the path because we hold dearly to our loved ones. The wisdom of letting go has always been present in us, like the empty seed that carries all the substances to grow and give generously. Fear is not to be discarded; inherent within fear, when acknowledged, is brave love and tenderness. This tenderness melts the heart into transformation and release. 

Peak pose: Mixed Class of Sitting Forward Folds & Twists 

 

Class 9 — Monday, September 7

The Soul That Serves

"Her beauty derives from a vital connection to the Self." - Nancy Qualls-Corbett

Love naturally overflows. As the fields prepare for harvest, we explore how a nourished soul becomes a blessing to the world around it. Service is to oneself first and from what overflows can be shared. 

Peak pose: Mixed Class of Arm-Balancing (variations provided)

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Class 10 — Thursday, September 10

Voluptas

"Surrendered to the cosmic energies of love, she magnifies the Goddess in physical delight and spiritual ecstasy. She opens the masculine to the potency of penetrating to the divine, and the feminine to the rapture of surrender to it. The mystery of that union dwells beyond the finite bonds of personal love." - Nancy Qualls-Corbett

From the union of Soul and Love is born Voluptas - Joy, Delight, and Sacred Pleasure. Joy is not the reward for awakening; it is the fruit that silently ripens from a life lived wholeheartedly.

Peak pose: Mixed Class of Inversions - headstand & shoulder-stand (variations provided)

 

Class 11 — Monday, September 14

Reflection Upon the Landscape

"Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond." - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Pausing is the fruit of practice. When we take time to reflect upon the summer's end, our body-mind can catch up to the soul and rest in union. The hard work is balanced with a playful glance of recognition of all that was lost and gained. Like witnessing a long summer day's sunset. 

Peak pose: Mixed Class of yin yoga, pranayama, meditation and journaling. (Bring a journal to class). 

 

Class 12 — Thursday, September 17

Soul's Harvest

"The land knows who you are. You are part of it." - Richard Wagamese

Sacredness is never far. There is a living presence discovered within every olive branch, relationship, and the quiet rhythms of everyday life. The five great elements - Mahabhutas are the true immortal ones. Space, air, earth, fire and water. We give gratitude and respect in a reciprocal relationship with everything around us. 

Peak pose: Giving Thanks & Setting Intentions for the approaching fall season. Meditation and journaling. (Bring a journal to class). 

 

Class 13 — Monday, September 21

Equinox 

"And all at once, summer collapsed into fall." - Oscar Wilde

On the threshold of the Autumn Equinox, we gather what this season has cultivated within us and lay it down upon the alter. The soul that began by seeking love now discovers itself as a vessel through which love naturally flows. Perhaps death is just another transition...

Peak pose: Savasana 

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