::: Giving : the alchemy of love made visible :::

Giving : the alchemy of love made visible

“By giving from the heart, we elevate our soul and fulfill our destiny”                 ~ Yogi Bhajan

We have arrived to the magical process and place of transformation of self, to the alchemy of love made visible through giving. Every single one of us has an amazing, unfathomable ability to give in countless ways that will only reveal themselves by meeting life head-on and heart-on. And in beauty: we need each other, both to discover our capacity to give and to witness and receive the 

light we carry.

The wheel is turning and the energy is shifting, from the golden warmth and abundance of autumn to the slowing and contemplative energy of winter. In sync with Nature, we find our ability to be in communion with others deepened and the gold of giving is the light. For many traditions, this time is calling us to a celebration of the presence of spirit and the power of faith and hope that our dreams of unity and harmony will manifest. This time beckons us, in so many ways, to give.

In giving, we empty, allowing the soil of our being to renew, to replenish and to receive anew. In giving, we become the light.

Inspired by all the wisdom ways I have been gifted with so far, I invite you to join me. Using the ancient technology of Kundalini Yoga, the deep knowledge of my maha teacher, Yogi Bhajan, the insight of the poets and the mystics, we will continue the journey of the heart, the way of the true self ~ giving, becoming love made visible, all that is, all that ever was, all that ever will be.

Offered: Mondays 10:00 am & Thursdays 7:00 pm at Asheville Yoga Center & Fridays 8:45 am at West Asheville Yoga Center.

Week 1: 11/28, 12/1, 2          Strength to glow in all directions        

Week 2: 12/5, 8, 9                 A container from which to give

Week 3: 12/12, 15, 16           Balance & the sanctity of experience

Week 4: 12/19, 22, 23           Saying yes          

Week 5: 12/26, 29, 30           Hearing the cries of the world

Week 6: 1/2, 5, 6                   Stepping Up                 

Week 7: 1/9, 12, 13               Always Beginning

Week 8: 1/16, 19, 20             If just for a moment      

Week 9: 1/23, 26, 27             The courage to give      

Week 10: 1/30, 2/2, 3            Becoming like angels

Come or don’t come ~ no need to rsvp ~ there is always room for you, always space held with love. It is an honor & a privilege to share these teachings.

Always with so much love, Sierra

~ understand through compassion or you misunderstand the times :::::::

“Understand through compassion or you misunderstand the times.”

        ~Yogi Bhajan

The sutra above is one of 5 that Yogi Bhajan shared with us to guide us through the Aquarian age. This year, 2016, the global sadhana (practice) is devoted to this sutra, the 4^th sutra.

Clearly, this sutra is incredibly timely. From the degradation of earth and atmosphere to the unending flow of Syrian refugees, from the debacle of American politics to North Carolina’s recent House Bill 2, compassion is our only way forward.

To be compassionate is to allow our minds to be guided by our hearts, to allow our perspective to be ever informed by love. If it were as easy to practice as it is to write, the world would be a profoundly different place. As it is, the practice of compassion involves serious commitment, a relationship between head and heart and reconciliation between thought and deed.

This sutra is a bridge, a channel from what we have been to what we must be if we are to be the light. Compassion implies a singular relating to a whole, a core way of being, and a constant remembrance. Committing to compassion means that we will bow our head to our heart in any given situation so that our heart may rule.

To live this sutra, to take the guidance of this sutra is to experience oneness. Join me for our next curriculum, a 9 week series to support body, mind and soul in perceiving another way to be, another way to relate, to ourselves, each other and the world.

Offered: Mondays 10:00 am & Thursdays 7:00 pm at Asheville Yoga Center and Fridays 8:45 am at West Asheville Yoga Center.

Week 1: 5/2, 5, 6     Pituitary & the neurobiology of Compassion

Week 2: 5/9, 12, 13         The Sun shines on all of us

Week 3: 5/16, 19, 20       This body is beautiful

Week 4: 5/23, 26, 27       Apana & the art of letting go

Week 5: 5/30, 6/2, 3       Release, no room for fear

Week 6: 6/6, 9, 10           Balance, as Compassion

Week 7: 6/13, 16, 17       Synchronization, as Compassion

Week 8: 6/20, 23, 24       The head & the heart

Week 9: 6/27, 30 7/1      Infinity is a foundation

Come or don’t come ~ no need to RSVP ~ there is always room for you, always space held with love. It is an honor & a privilege to share these teachings.

Always with so much love, Sierra

~ free the heart

In recognition of love, in hopes of celebrating a love that is accessible to all, I thought I would share one of my favorite meditations. As a child, I did a similar meditation to the one I am sharing- never knowing that it was a meditation and also not knowing that the flower I imagined was a lotus flower. Years later, when I began to practice yoga, one of the many delights was understanding that the flower of my childhood imaginings was a lotus flower and that the lotus is symbolic of our efforts as yoga practitioners. I was pleased to find this much better version of my childhood efforts in Yoga Journal quite a few years ago and just as delighted to find that Shiva Rea was the author. I share this as it originally appeared in Yoga Journal.

Dwelling in the Lotus Heart: A Meditation by Shiva Rea

By visualizing your heart as a lotus flower, you can begin to create a safe, comfortable place for your mind to settle.

In yoga and meditation, the heart can be visualized as a lotus flower unfolding at the center of the chest. Like a lotus that contracts and opens according to the light, our spiritual heart can be awakened through various yoga practices from asana practice to Pranayama, chanting, and meditation.

The following meditation focuses the awareness on the seat of one’s lotus heart. For some, this will be a very natural sanctum to rest the awareness. Others may observe that the restless nature of the mind does not subside so easily. This meditation serves two purposes: First, to learn to focus the mind on any object as an internal seat, and second, to receive the healing benefits of being connected to the heart as a place of unconditional love.

To begin, find a comfortable posture for meditation (seated on a cushion or blanket, in a chair, or against a wall). You may find it helpful to set a timer for 10, 20, or 30 minutes so you can deepen your meditation without wondering about the time. You may also want to gently ring a bell at the beginning and end of your meditation.

Place your hands on your knees in Jnana Mudra (index and thumb touching), with palms facing up to open your awareness or palms facing down to calm the mind. Scan your body and relax any tension. Let your spine rise from the base of the pelvis. Draw your chin slightly down and let the back of your neck lengthen. Now plant the seeds for meditating on the lotus of the heart.

Meditation Practice

Step 1

Begin by quietly reading this passage from the Upanishads:

“Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.

Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes lives in the Self-the source of love.

Realize the Self hidden in the heart and cut asunder the knot of ignorance here and now.”

—The Upanishads (Translated by Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, 1987)

Step 2

As you inhale, draw your awareness from the base of the pelvis to the center of the chest. As you exhale, concentrate on the sensations that you feel in your chest. Stay with those sensations and allow your awareness to deepen. Do you feel heat, tingling, lightness, density, tightness? As you inhale, breathe into your heart.

Step 3

Begin to visualize a lotus flower inside your chest that is gently spreading its petals open with each inhalation. And as you exhale, just dwell inside the lotus flower. (Note: If visualizing a lotus flower is too poetic for you, an alternative is to focus on a cave in the heart with a flame in the center, or a fire illuminating your heart.)

Step 4

You may choose to stay with visualization of the lotus or you may focus on the sensation of an expanding heart. When feelings arise, allow them to pass through you like the changing light of the day, or imagine them resting on the flower like water on its petals. Dwell inside the lotus of your heart, feeling the qualities of unconditional love emerge.

Step 5

When you are ready, bring your hands together in Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) and complete your meditation with a moment of gratitude, reflection, or prayer to integrate the energy of your meditation into your life. You can bring your awareness to your heart anytime throughout the day to come back to the seat of unconditional love.

~And, always there are reminders of how connected we are, how magical this world can be. As I searched for an image of a lotus to illustrate this post, I found another blog with the same image and same offering of Shiva's meditation. Clearly a friend of the heart, you can find more about Natalie and her Lotus Flow Movement here.

winter solstice remix

Last night, I spent my winter solstice in the Swannanoa Women’s Correctional Facility, sharing the practice of yoga. And while it was different than every other winter solstice celebration of my life so far, it was beautiful and perfect and right where I needed to be.

And because we are all one, because the only way to understand anything is through compassion, I would like to share 10 facts about incarcerated women. I am paraphrasing from an article that was originally authored by Becki Ney, a Principal with the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP) and Project Director of the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women (NRCJIW). If you would like to read the original article please follow this link.

1.  Women pose a lower public safety risk than men, typically entering the criminal justice system for nonviolent crimes that are often drug and/or property related. As well, once in the system, incidents of violence and aggression by women are extremely low and women released from incarceration have lower recidivism rates than men.

2.  Women entering the criminal justice system are much more likely to have experienced poverty, intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, and/or other forms of victimization often linked to their offending behavior. As well, Women are much more likely to have co-occurring disorders- in particular, substance abuse problems interlinked with trauma and/or mental abuse.

3.  Women’s engagement in criminal behavior is often related to their connections with others- relationships are often paramount for women and their exposure to dysfunctional and abusive relationships can elevate their risk for victimization and the perpetration of violence.

4.  Women entering jails and prisons overwhelmingly report histories of victimization and trauma and continue to be vulnerable within correctional settings.

5.  Corrections policies and practices have been developed by managing men, not women.

6.  Jail and prison classification systems can result in unreliable custody designations and over classification of female inmates.

7.  Women have different risk factors than men- including depression, psychotic symptoms, housing safety and parental safety- all related to their criminal behavior.

8.  Women are more likely to respond favorably when correctional staff adheres to evidence-based, gender-responsive principles. Understanding trauma and its effects on women, using trauma informed strategies when interacting and engaging in cognitive problem solving with female inmates has been shown to enhance facility safety and security for staff and inmates alike.

9.  Transition and reentry to the community can be challenging for women. Women are more likely than men to have primary child-rearing responsibilities and are often single parents. Women report greater levels of poverty and less employment history preceding incarceration. Finding safe housing where women can live and support their children is very challenging.

10.             The cost of women in criminal justice is high- given what we know: low risk, parental responsibilities and significant needs- and strategies we can employ to improve outcomes- we can understand that we are failing this population when we understand that 60% of women released are re-arrested. The negative impact of involvement with the criminal justice system has- besides the direct cost of incarceration- a generational impact as the children of female offenders are 5 times more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system.

Quite simply, we can do better than this. Another yoga teacher posted a poem by Margaret Atwood as her caption for a winter solstice themed photo. I share it now as it inspired the practice that I shared last night as well as spoke to me about where we are now, not only with the criminal justice system, but with everything. Personally and collectively- is there a difference?

“This is the solstice, the still point

Of the sun, its cusp and midnight,

The year’s threshold

And unlocking, where the past

Let’s go of and becomes the future;

The place of caught breath.” –Margaret Atwood

Light a Path works to create resilience through connection, showing up for people in communities of need. Light a Path has programs in local correctional facilities as well as local schools, utilizing yoga and other somatic practices as a way to health, healing, self-esteem and positive direction. We would love your support. Visit us online at www.lightapath.org

sharing the practice

I am a body person, meaning, so much of the joy in my life comes from the physical experience of being in my body. Body people tend to be the runners, the yogis, the athletes, the massage therapists and more. It makes perfect sense for a yoga teacher to be a body person. In spite of all my body knowing, it is only in the past few years that I have come to understand that the experience of trauma can drive us out of our bodies. That there are those of us that are as disassociated from our bodies as possible, disconnected because the pain of physical, sexual, mental and verbal abuse that has been received makes it too painful, too dangerous to really inhabit the body anymore. These are some of the kids I do yoga with.

In addition to encountering trauma survivors at the college I teach at, I also have worked with area high schoolers that are deemed “at-risk” by school staff. I spent a year sharing yoga in a rural high school with youth that were designated in this way. The opportunity to share the practice with these kids has been one of the most profound experiences of my life.

There are children in our community that go home to broken homes. Not only broken in the sense of missing parents but quite literally broken: no heat, no food, leaking roofs, no safe shelter. Many of these same homes have adults that are vicious, drug and/or alcohol addicted, mentally unstable or a combination of all. Most of these homes contain an abuser, be it verbal, physical or sexual. Imagine yourself in this situation. Can you?

These are the kids that make me cry at high school graduations. If they even make it to graduation. Because these are the kids that seem to disappear: dropping out, moving away, becoming a teen drug or pregnancy statistic or worse. I think of all the ways in which I support my own children and I know that not even the least of these things are happening for these kids. This is the portion of our population that defines a good day as one in which no one hurts them.

These kids are living the hardest yoga, the yoga of survival, day in and day out. The very least I can do is to show up and share some time on the mat with them each week. I too thought that sharing yoga was a small thing, inconsequential in the long run but my experience taught me otherwise. Yoga can really make a difference in the life of any trauma survivor, of any age.

The latest scientific research confirms what we know in our hearts- that child abuse has a long-term impact on a child’s life. Children who experience abuse develop toxic levels of stress. Consistent high levels of stress not only impact quality of life, they actually damage the developing architecture of a child’s brain. This ultimately results in adults who are rarely able to navigate the world in a positive way.

There are a number of studies that cite the benefits of yoga and meditation to the youth-at-risk population. If you are interested- please- follow this link and this one and this one as well. But what I really want to share with you is not a list of studies, it’s this: these kids go from pretending they don’t care about yoga at the start of the year to shyly sharing that “yoga saved my life” by the end of the year. And in between the start and end of the year, behavior improves, attendance improves, impulse control improves and self-esteem is gained.

I have seen the benefits of sharing yoga and meditation with youth-at-risk in a very real way. I know that yoga is changing these lives for the better. Yet I also understand that I am changed, bettered, uplifted, humbled, broken, made whole by this exchange as well. And I am the one that is shattered by the knowledge that we have to do better. In 2014 more than 128,000 children were referred to local DSS (Department of Social Service) for possible abuse and neglect.  That same year, 25 children died at the hand of their caregivers. These statistics are unacceptable.

Light a Path is working to bring the benefits of yoga and meditation to youth-at-risk. We know that through the consistent shared practice of yoga and meditation, these kids are able to feel safe and supported as they reach for their somatic connection with the physical self. They are able to find peace and a sense of well-being within their bodies again. Everyone deserves that access. And maybe, just maybe, they have the chance to learn that, in spite of what they’ve been told, they are perfect, beautiful, and whole and have every right to be here.

last best book ~

This review originally ran on Yoga City NYC's page . Check out their "Must Read Book Club".

Sierra Hollister: Strand’s book is about our relationship to the dark, to the organic night without artificial lighting. It's about the consequences of not having the dark and how this is impacting not only our health, but also the health of our planet. It's a fairly quick and easy read and I found myself reading out loud, to whomever might be in the room as it was always fascinating enough to share. 

YCNYC: Favorite quote?

SH:  “All time is ancestral time. We stand atop Mothers and Fathers without end. Waking up in the dark helps us to remember that great reality, and helps us to remain connected to it once we do.”

YCNYC: What one person would you recommend this book to?

SH:  Humphry Davy, the creator of the first electric light in 1800.

YCNYC: What moment or part resonates with you the most?

SH: My favorite part of the book might be where he quotes from the Song of Songs- “I sleep, but my heart is awake”. This section of the book is about the time between what Strand refers to as “our two sleeps”. This was the time when we would turn to our beloved and share ourselves or perhaps turn inward and communicate with the divine from our deepest selves. There was no real fear of the dark as the dark was natural, part of the cycle and full of love and the mystical. 

This book is full of eloquent reminders of what our hearts know, what our souls know but what we have lost in our modern, busy lives. Reading this book has been an affirmation, moment after moment of remembering what I know in my deepest self: that the natural world holds the key to our wellness in more ways than we can begin to guess. 

You can purchase Waking Up to the Dark, Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age here.

Have a Must-Read book to recommend? Email us here.

—Interview by Allison Richard

~ do you know me?

Asheville Yoga Center runs a sweet little feature on a different teacher each month. This month, it's me. You can check it out online at their website - or, below.

Why do you teach yoga?

It seems to me that we are yoga; that the union of body, mind and spirit is our true state. If we are lucky, the time on our mats is a remembering of a way back to our true selves, a way to experience our infinity, as well as our accord not only with ourselves but with all life. Yoga has been the path to the altar within my own heart- to think that I could illuminate that path in any way, however small, for another person is my reason for teaching.

What is your teaching history?

I began sharing the practice at Ahimsa Ashram in Washington, DC in 1992. We left DC in 1994 adn did some traveling, arriving in Asheville in 1995. I have taught in various studios in Asheville over the years, as well as Warren Wilson College. I have been with Asheville Yoga Center since they opened, in 1996.

What is your favorite pose at the moment?

I give my best effort at loving which ever pose I am in, at any given moment. With that said, I am experiencing a special fondness for inversions lately.

What's your sign? (astrological)

Gemini #AirSign #AirIsLife

What is your most challenging pose?

Kurmasana. I am somewhat resigned to never experiencing this posture in full, along with a few others, due to shoulder injuries.

How long have you been practicing yoga?

Since sometime in the mid-eighties. Then it was quite sporadic and more of a gymnastic mind set for me than the way I've viewed my practice since 1992.

Describe yourself in three words: 

Learning, Loving, Grateful

What is your favorite quote?

Aadil Palkhivala said this and it inspires me every single day: "True yoga is not about the shape of your body but the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; yoga is to be lived. Yoga doesn't care about what you have been; yoga cares about the person you are becoming. Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, its essence must be embodied."

What is your favorite word?

Always changing. Right now it is luminous.

What are you reading right now?

Reading Love Letter to the Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh; An Open Heart- Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life by the Dalai Lama; The Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche. I've just finished Waking Up to the Dark: Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age by Clark Strand and it was an awesome read!

What are some favorite songs on your playlist?

Lean In and Rivermouth both by Rising Appalachia, off their newest release, Wider Circles. Nectar Drop by DJ Drez, and re-appreciating Krishna Das, all songs.

What is your favorite food?

I really love leafy green salads and smoothies with superfood add-ins

What is your favorite movie?

My absolute favorite movie is I heart Huckabees

What inspires you?

Kindness, Compassion, Authenticity, all efforts to participate in co-creating the more beautiful world that we know in our hearts is possible.

Sierra's classes at Asheville Yoga Center happen:

Mondays 10:15 am & Thursdays 7:00 pm