Paris Yoga News… from San Francisco

A personal note followed by a tight edit of Paris yoga and meditation recos

The moon setting over San Francisco © Design + Know-How

Apologies for not keeping to a regular dispatch schedule around here. Since October 31st, I have been in San Francisco taking care of family things.

By family things, I mean: moving my parents into an assisted living facility so that my mother, who has dementia, can receive appropriate care and my father, who is legally blind and slowly losing his marbles, can be watched over by competent carers.

I have tried as much as possible to press my yoga into service — channeling Aparigraha, meditating, breathing with awareness, unrolling my mother’s mat for a little asana from time to time — and it has been as helpful as it has been humbling. To be able to experience even one minute of transcendence while in the midst of packing up books for donation, scheduling hazardous waste removal, unearthing my teenage angst-filled diaries, has been deeply comforting. I am grateful for these yoga tools which continue to give me the courage to step into the current of life without getting swept out to sea.

What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.

Pour yourself like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.

—Rainer Maria Rilke, from ‘Sonnets To Orpheus, Part Two, XII’

After the jump: mindful ideas to soothe mind, body and soul whether you’re in Paris physically or only in your imagination…

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© Cafe Comets

NOVEMBER SELF-CARE RUNDOWN

• Our friend Marine Parmentier is back in Paris to lead her signature class, R&B Yoga, at Makodanse (Marine’s former Mirz Yoga studio!) in the 19e. So happy Marine’s going to make traveling from the Drôme to Paris a regular thing… R&B Yoga, 10h-11h, November 23rd, 2024.

• Deepak Chopra doesn’t believe you’re too busy to meditate. Advice from someone who claims to be “happy all the time.” (WSJ)

• The Musée National Jean-Jacques Henner is closing out 2024 with two yoga sessions in its intimate Salon Rouge. December 2nd (8h15) and December 14th, 2024 (10h). Reserve here.

• For optimum cognitive health, your brain needs to take out the trash — and proper sleep will help it. (NIH Research Matters)

• One of our favorite record store/cafés, Café Comets, is back to hosting short (20mn) ambient concerts called Musique Fragile led by Variéras (you may remember him from sound bath events at Mirz Yoga). These events are FREE. December 10th, 2024 and January 21st, 2025.

• The Ashtanga Yoga world was thrown off balance by the news of Sharath Jois’ recent sudden passing (gift link) at age 53. The Sharath Yoga Center has scheduled a memorial on November 24th, open to all of his former students.

• A reminder that Centre de Yoga Sivananda de Paris hosts free meditation classes called Satsang all year long. The next dates are: November 23rd and November 24th, 2024, 18-19h30.

Hit the ❤️ to make it easier for other people to find Do Yoga in Paris!