On The Mat Yoga Blog

By Linda Malcomb 03 May, 2020

“There is a light in the core of our being that calls us home—one that can only be seen with closed eyes; We can feel it as a radiance in the center of our chest. This light of loving awareness is always here, regardless of our conditioning. It does not matter how many dark paths we have traveled or how many wounds we have inflicted or sustained as we have unknowingly stumbled toward this inner radiance. It does not matter how long we have sleepwalked, seduced by our desires and fears. This call persists until it is answered, until we surrender to who we really are. When we do, we feel ourselves at home wherever we are. A hidden beauty reveals itself in our ordinary life. As the true nature of our Deep Hear is unveiled, we feel increasingly grateful for no reason—grateful to simply be.”

—John J. Prendergast, PHD, The Deep Heart  

By Linda Malcomb 02 May, 2020

Seems like it’s been rainy, windy, dreary for eons. Which may have helped us shelter inside a bit more. I remember reading years and years ago in a Seth book that weather can be influenced, and even created by mass human emotion. Why not? We are far more powerful than we currently acknowledge, and science is beginning to validate many phenomena that had seemed inconceivable before. Those seemingly endless days of “bad” weather seemed congruent with the emotional tone of covid her in New England. And now SUN! Glorious, warming, invigorating, hope-filled Sun! Today I will be outside basking and gardening and thanking. And I’m sure the whole neighborhood, and most of New England will go outside, stand with our faces to the sun and breathe a huge healing breath of joy. And maybe the collective energy of that will resonate out across the word as a promise of brighter days to come.     


By Linda Malcomb 01 May, 2020

Quiet is great. Quiet feels essential to what is being asked of me during this time and I’m meditating more and deeper than before covid… and then yesterday I needed to get loud. I put on some old favorite music, sang my lungs out (an added bonus of working from home) and danced in my chair like no one was watching (another bonus). I felt a huge burst of release from all the heavy, dreary, rainy days that seem to be part of this. Yes yoga is fantastic in every way AND crazy uninhibited dancing to ecstatic music is also manna for the soul.

By Linda Malcomb 01 May, 2020

Every time I remember this Tibetan Buddhist practice, I am stunned by how it shifts my state. At the start of an activity, offering that all being benefit through my actions, opens my awareness to the interconnectedness of Being. As my husband and I walked in the woods yesterday, I remembered to greet the forest and honor its gifts of beauty, clean air, and profound demonstration of emergence and dissolution. I could feel a Presence acknowledging my greeting and it felt so right to offer our walk to the healing and benefit of all beings all over the world. I remember how it stunned me in teacher training to read the Bhagavad Gita where it said we are responsible for our actions, but not entitled to the fruits of our actions; that is up to Lord Shiva (the Absolute). I’m asking to remember more and more with each thing I do, to offer that all beings be blessed. And when I add the physical movement of putting my hand on my heart, it compounds the intensity of the expression. It may not go any further than my own Presence, but in that, it does everything.

By Linda Malcomb 29 Apr, 2020

I’m starting to get anxious. I have a full time job as a graphic designer and all our work has dried up since the world has stopped holding conferences. Thankfully my boss assures me that she won’t lay me off, but days and now weeks of little or no work are stoking the anxiety machine in my brain, which is well-oiled and running on all cylinders already. The brain notices this discomfort and offers that something to eat will make me feel better….and WHOA! Those chips are AWESOME. So I pound down several thousand calories worth. And YIKES! Now I feel WORSE! Better have more chips so I don’t have to feel this. No Bueno. My coach always says notice that the worst that can happen is a feeling…WHAT? And 100% confidence comes when you are willing to actually feel all the feelings. So today I will feel the call of those chips and sit and breathe YES to the tsunamis of anxiety. I will soften the dam of resistance and unwillingness and simply sit and breathe and be with all of it…but OMG those chips are AWESOME!

By Linda Malcomb 28 Apr, 2020

With all this “extra” time on my hands, I should have a spotless house, a pristine garden, a checked-off “to do” list. Nope.  All the drives and ambitions to build my coaching practice, market my art, start a podcast, seem to have lost their charge right now. Instead, the stillness calls me to take this pause and explore it. Slow down even more and feel deeper into not-doing. The shouldstorm ruffles my feathers and I get up to do something and notice it lost its charge. Stillness calls me back to witness this slowing down. For the first time ever, the incredible acceleration of the world’s doings is being forced to pause. Something is asking us to feel deeper inside to an authenticity that is connected to nature, to honoring, to something far more sublime than doing — BEING. So I go into the woods and feel it all; the decay and growth, the eating and being eaten, the full spectrum of Life arising and dissolving back to the Oneness. I let the shouldstorms do their rain of guilt and shame, and rest in spacious Wonder that has infinite room for all of it.     

By Linda Malcomb 27 Apr, 2020

The human brain is hardwired to filter for dangers and threats. Finding them, it puts the whole system on alert with hormonal and electrochemical readiness for fight, flight or freeze. And this creative human brain offers us a continuous stream of potential catastrophes, thinking it is helping us prepare for whatever comes. The brain goes on overdrive, our muscles tense, our breathing gets shallow and choppy, and bloodflow is diverted from organic to muscular systems, so we might notice digestive issues, sleep challenges, inability to calm the mind and body. And then we come to our mat and re-member, drawing all the bits and pieces of attention from the “out there” to the exquisite sensations of muscles moving, breath deepening, and feet finding their roots. As a person who has struggled with anxiety for decades, I find refuge through yoga and meditation. Dropping out of that narrative in my head down into the depths of sensation through breath and movement is the medicine that reliably and consistently offers me relief from this overactive brain. It would not be an overstatement to say yoga has been my salvation, and it is my greatest privilege and honor to share that with this community. Think of it — our yoga practice gives us the tools to manage our state and become the healing presence that ripples out to our loved ones, and beyond.

By Judy Bramhall 26 Apr, 2020

A friend sent me this poem she found.

"And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened
More deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
The earth began to heal
And when the danger ended and
People found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed."

By Judy Bramhall 25 Apr, 2020

Is anyone else baking bread? Slow boiling chicken carcasses? Planting vegetable seeds? Having meaningful conversations over a home-cooked meal? Playing board games? Have we time traveled back to pre-Industrial Revolution days? Does Mother Nature have something to say? I’m a ponderer and at the moment, I can’t stop pondering. I just can’t fathom what’s going on. In fact, everything’s going on. Not enough food. Too much oil. Disappearing jobs. Vanishing income. Grounded airplanes. Cancelled sports. Cancelled school. Shuttered stores. Shuttered movie theaters. Closed restaurants. Closed yoga studios. Closed museums. People sick and people dying. Overwhelmed hospitals. Life is now lived in our homes. Because we have to stay home, because our entire families are now under one roof all day long, naturally we’re trying new things. At least I am. Time has slowed down enough for us to catch up with ourselves and with each other. We’re learning new things about ourselves and about each other. I think I was born into the wrong era. Slowed down time actually energizes me. And surprisingly, my days are busier than ever. More meaningful than ever. And I’m not even getting into my car. I’m reading more, cooking more, gardening more. There is so much to learn, so much to practice, so much to do. There is a sense of urgency in the air - with so much unknown ahead of us, it feels vital to be productive, to expand our reach and to stay involved. Daily jobs, for those lucky enough to have one, gives structure to our days, so the unstructured time, the time we once used up on our commutes, feels like a privilege, an opportunity to try something new. Whatever we choose to do with this time, I hope its value will endure when we’ve returned to our normal lives, if they’re ever normal again.

By Judy Bramhall 24 Apr, 2020

Alone on my mat, I’ve discovered the joy of sun salutations. They’re all I need for a complete yoga practice. When time is limited, or I’m easily distracted, I often do a short warm up and then do Sun Salutations till my mind shuts up and my body loosens and nothing else in life matters. Whether it’s A or B series, repeating repeating repeating soothes tension, calms nerve endings, strengthens our immune system. The more sun salutations I do, the more I release emotional crap built up in my muscles causing sluggishness and pain. One breath, one movement never works better than during a smooth-flowing sun salutation. I did a little digging and learned that some yogis, probably the most hard core traditionalists (or Vicki), practice 108 sun salutations in a row. This practice is reserved for the change of the seasons, the winter and summer solstice, and the spring and fall equinox. Some yogis like to practice 108 Sun Salutations for the new year, and for other big life events, like a marriage or a birth in the family. It sounds a bit daunting. I’m generally good for about 5-10 of each series before I feel I have to move on, but it does seem like a formidable challenge in these days of formidable challenges. For now, I’m thinking small. My next Sun Salutation practice will be facing the sun, soaking up its strength, its warmth and its dose of Vitamin D. That’s all I can ask for in these strange and unknown times.

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By Linda Malcomb 03 May, 2020

“There is a light in the core of our being that calls us home—one that can only be seen with closed eyes; We can feel it as a radiance in the center of our chest. This light of loving awareness is always here, regardless of our conditioning. It does not matter how many dark paths we have traveled or how many wounds we have inflicted or sustained as we have unknowingly stumbled toward this inner radiance. It does not matter how long we have sleepwalked, seduced by our desires and fears. This call persists until it is answered, until we surrender to who we really are. When we do, we feel ourselves at home wherever we are. A hidden beauty reveals itself in our ordinary life. As the true nature of our Deep Hear is unveiled, we feel increasingly grateful for no reason—grateful to simply be.”

—John J. Prendergast, PHD, The Deep Heart  

By Linda Malcomb 02 May, 2020

Seems like it’s been rainy, windy, dreary for eons. Which may have helped us shelter inside a bit more. I remember reading years and years ago in a Seth book that weather can be influenced, and even created by mass human emotion. Why not? We are far more powerful than we currently acknowledge, and science is beginning to validate many phenomena that had seemed inconceivable before. Those seemingly endless days of “bad” weather seemed congruent with the emotional tone of covid her in New England. And now SUN! Glorious, warming, invigorating, hope-filled Sun! Today I will be outside basking and gardening and thanking. And I’m sure the whole neighborhood, and most of New England will go outside, stand with our faces to the sun and breathe a huge healing breath of joy. And maybe the collective energy of that will resonate out across the word as a promise of brighter days to come.     


By Linda Malcomb 01 May, 2020

Quiet is great. Quiet feels essential to what is being asked of me during this time and I’m meditating more and deeper than before covid… and then yesterday I needed to get loud. I put on some old favorite music, sang my lungs out (an added bonus of working from home) and danced in my chair like no one was watching (another bonus). I felt a huge burst of release from all the heavy, dreary, rainy days that seem to be part of this. Yes yoga is fantastic in every way AND crazy uninhibited dancing to ecstatic music is also manna for the soul.

Show More
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