30 Days Of Yoga – Wednesday Wellness Reflection

Sat Naam and Namaste, welcome to the beginning of a 30 day yoga challenge – Revisited

Today we embark on 30 days of yoga together.  A year ago I put together a 30 day yoga challenge which started April 1st, 2020, I thought it was important to repost that challenge,  today April 14th and running through the next 30 days.   I first posted this offering at the beginning of COVID, and now we find ourselves in yet another 4 week stay at home order, with so much uncertain.  I am hopeful this somehow helps you through this time.  I invite you to rejoin me for the full 30 days, as a commitment to your own self care – or pop in for a day here or there.

I love looking back at our old studio, and my families old home when we lived in town, precious memories of a chapter in my own life.  Also the first videos I ever made, yes, it’s important to laugh with ourselves, and to find the sweetness in just showing up because you know it’s important, regardless of what IT looks like.

The intention for these mini yoga videos is to help support you.  We find ourselves in the midst of a  confusing time (still a year later), and I think I can safely say, from day to day, our emotions are all over the place – this is normal and understandable given our current situation, please be gentle with yourself.  Globally, we are all affected and I think there are times we feel the collective levels of anxiety, fear, hurt, grief and sadness. We are living in a world, and a time, of so many unknowns where each of us have been affected in our day to day rhythms.

Embrace the moments where you do feel peace, where you experience the joy and miracle of life, the moments when you feel inspired at next steps in your own life, where you feel steady and filled with hope for what is on the other side.

Yoga may not be something you are leaning into right now, and if this period in the history of your life is calling for a break from your practice than you need to honour that.  You also need to honour whatever it is that is helping to hold you and bring you back to your center.

A year ago I decided to commit to 30 days of providing you with little 5 – 20 minute practices, my personal commitment is what’s kept me okay during this time.  The practices I offer you here area all accessible yoga, movement, focused postures, pranayama and meditations – each chosen to help to build your resilience, to help ground you, bring you back to your center, nurture your nervous system, and to support you to invite daily movement into your body, and to remind you you’re not alone.  This yoga challenge is my way of extending my support out to you in your homes during this time of social distancing and self isolation.

Please join me for the next 30 days (or every couple of days), I’m going to be practicing right alongside you, revisiting this support, made a year ago.

These videos were created April – 2020: (Please be kind, this were my FIRST ever yoga videos, all these videos were recorded at our old place in Almonte, in the forest and in the old studio space.  As I too dive into this 30 day commitment, I am in awe as my sons look so young – amazing so much change in a year and all the places those changes are reflected)

View Day One Here

View Day Two Here

View Day Three Here

View Day Four Here

View Day Five Here

View Day Six Here

View Day Seven Here

View Day Eight Here

View Day Nine Here

View Day Ten Here

View Day Eleven Here

View Day Twelve Here

View Day Thirteen Here

View Day Fourteen Here

View Day Fifteen Here

View Day Sixteen Here

View Day Seventeen Here

View Day Eighteen Here

View Day Nineteen Here

View Day Twenty Here

View Day Twenty One Here

View Day Twenty Two Here

View Day Twenty Three Here

View Day Twenty Four Here

View Day Twenty Five Here

View Day Twenty Six Here

View Day Twenty Seven Here

View Day Twenty Eight Here

View Day Twenty Nine Here

View Day Thirty Here

There are many health and wellness guardians here in Almonte (and all over the globe for that matter), I am so grateful for the work everyone is doing to help support one another.  Taking this time to really accept all the changes and Keep moving forward.

As a result of all the changes this pandemic has brought, including our Heritage Court doors closing and our collective of teachers doing what they needed to personally to do move through this time, Surya Daya  has definitely seen some transitions.  I’m now offering an online yoga studio, video subscriptions, a hub for my upcoming breast health offerings, a supportive blog, personal one – on – one yoga therapy sessions, outdoor and nature based yoga,  work with hospice and Carebridge, I’ve recommitted to my massage practice, and working on a few projects – all around having my boys home.  Thank you for being on this journey with me, I am excited to see how we continue to evolve over time, and grow together as a community.

One day I dream of us finding a community space again, a healing safe hub, I keep that vision alive in my heart.

Yours in health and happiness, with so much love and gratitude,

Amber

If you’d like to practice with me I teach weekly live online zoom classes , and as an additional support for you to practice on your own schedule I’ve created a video library and a monthly video subscription

Don’t ever hesitate to reach out, my support is here holding you in my heart.

Welcome to Day 1 of Amber’s 30 days of yoga support – Riding the precious waves of gratitude

Welcome to the beginning of our 30 day journey together.

Thank you for accepting my invitation – this is truly an invitation for you to become better acquainted with yourself and with the gifts of a practice infused with gratitude, as we explore our breath, movement, traditional and exploratory postures as well as some beautiful meditation practices.
Beginning on Thanksgiving Monday is no coincidence, as this 30 day challenge is anchored around the vibration of deep appreciation and the pure exchange of kindness in our experience of life.
We are living in wild times, but one thing that remains certain and can give us stability is our daily practice and the daily acknowledgement of gratitude.  
Gratitude can help us to understand the light at the center of the darkness – and to appreciate the darkness around the light.  Consciously exploring gratitude reminds us to celebrate the small miracles of our moment to moment life, and helps us to not take the gifts in our life for granted –  food, nourishment, friendship, family, a roof over our heads, the sun shining, a simple breath, the moonlight, the fire that warms your hearth – we have much to be thankful for, and it can be all to easy to forget.
For these next 30 days we’re going to cultivate and nurture an attitude of appreciation, remembering the importance of gratitude.  Often our biggest challenges can hold within them amazing gifts and growth.  The more we attune to what we feel gratitude towards, the easier it is to recognize these gifts, and the more it would seem we have to feel grateful for.   As we build on this practice, we attract more of what we need to feel supported in our heart of hearts, and we begin to notice we feel happier, more open to life,  and more connected to the people and the earth surrounding us.  
“Enough.  These few words are enough.  If not these words, this breath.  If not this breath, this sitting here.  This opening to the life we have refused again and again until now.  Until now.”
                                                                        David Whyte
Today we begin with setting intentions and connecting with our breath. I encourage you to grab a journal, take a few deep breaths, acknowledge and embrace the life in front of you – even if just one tiny element of your life, and let us begin.  Click here to view today’s practice video.  
If you want to follow along with the whole 30 day challenge, daily practices will be posted on my patreon page
(as above)
If you’d like to just check in throughout the 30 days; Day 1, Day 10, Day 15, Day 20 and Day 30 will be posted additionally here on our Surya Daya blog, as check in points.  Even if you just join me for today I AM SUPER GRATEFUL!
May these practices nourish you, bring you balance, and help you to feel more at home in yourself.
With so much love
Amber