As a tribute to our students staff and community, we want to give back.  These 10 incredible years would not have been possible without everyone’s unconditional love and support.

Throughout the month of March Samadhi will be offering very special give-aways each week.  Please check our weekly e-mails, Facebook alerts, and focus table at Samadhi to enter your name in our weekly drawings. *Hint: you can enter online AND at the studio.

SAVE THE DATE Saturday evening March 31st from 7:00pm-10:00pm Samadhi’s 10th anniversary celebration with food, music, shopping, dancing, mingling and fun!!

Special discounted price this week ONLY

Regular Price $399

Discounted Price $299

Check out our events page for dates and more information.

Please purchase flags at the front desk.

Please e-mail your image (poems words etc.) to meganrundle@yahoo.com. Please specify if you would like a large or a small flag.

Deadline for Flags is March 17th.

Small Flag $25

Large Flag $50

APRIL 21-28th!!

RECENTLY HONORED AS ONE OF THE TOP YOGA RETREATS WORLDWIDE!!  
You can enjoy rest and rejuvenation through yoga, Qi Gong, dance, drum circles, excellent cuisine, new friendships and so much more… all in the beauty of this ocean paradise!!  We so hope you will give yourself this gift and join us.

CLICK HERE for more details! 

Happy Birthday Capricorns: 

What’s Happening in January for Everyone:     As the new years starts off in the sign of  Capricorn, this would be a perfect time to outline your short and long term goals.  Devise a game plan and start taking your steps, as it is time to go after what you desire in 2012.  Embrace the Capricorn qualities of perseverance and discipline throughout each day.  All of the planets are in direct motion (no retrogrades) so this further supports launching of your new projects or goals.

Something  is ready to be birthed for you in this new year.  The Mayan calendar says this is the end of the world, and those that dwell in fear will continue to create more fear in their world.   But, from a spiritual point of view, the Mayan calendar was conveying how an old way of living was dissolving and we would be emerging a new way. One that calls for each of us to live our daily lives with more conscious love emanating from us. How can you be an initiator for this change in our world?  How can you express more love to others?

The full moon occurs on January 9th in the sign of Cancer. Cancer is a water sign and all water signs activate our emotions and intuition.  We all have our intuitive qualities, so be open to insights to guide you.  If you have an emotional meltdown, this is a sign that some clearing deep within you, needs to be healed and balanced.

Have the courage to honestly look at yourself.  Clear away, or get outside support for that old emotional pattern that needs to be dissolved.   In January establish new energy for your new way of being.    Use all the Capricorn qualities for your highest good and outline your game plan for 2012.   Happy New Year Blessings to you all.

Nansea Lee

Professional Astrologer

Licensed Spiritual Health Coach

(720)  887-2919

www.liftyuup.com

A post from Samadhi teacher Aaron Wheeler…

2012 is right around the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah… by now, everyone has heard somebody in their life talk about what may or may not happen come December 21st of next year.

There are different interpretations, ranging from “impending doom” to “quantum leap in human evolution” to “much ado about nothing.” Which camp are you in?

Maybe a better question is…does it really even matter?

Whether you believe in ancient prophecies or not, and whatever you think 2012 may be about, you don’t have to look too far ahead or behind to see that this ride is getting more interesting by the minute, and that each and every person on this planet has some choices they’re going to have to make… sooner, rather than later.

Are you just going to wait around until December of next year to see what happens first, and then decide which path to take?

It’s plain to see that attitudes are changing now on a larger scale.  A lot more people are waking up to the utter insanity of the destructive ways of looking at and relating to the world that humanity has taken for granted, even called “normal” for millennia.  These attitudes have led us repeatedly into all kinds of conflict at home, into uncounted wars abroad, and now even threaten to upset the very balance of nature.

But even as many wake up, many others are becoming even more intent on digging in their heels and defending the old ways of doing things. Maybe this is because the structures based on those old attitudes and beliefs maintain their privileged positions in society, or maybe it’s because they simply ­­can’t yet see the true implications of these ingrained habits, nor the possibility of finding a better way.

This is why my New Years’ Resolution has nothing to do with what may or may not go down next December.

Regardless of what may occur a year from now, it’s clear enough today that things are getting out of hand, and that humanity is in desperate need of awakening before things get really ugly.

My New Year’s Resolution is to not only devote more energy than ever to deepening my own practice and thereby my own awakening, but also to introduce as many people as I possibly can to the benefits of yoga.

Are you starting to suspect that I might be in the “quantum leap in human evolution” camp, after all?

I’d sure like to think that’s what is going to happen but, again, I don’t think it really matters if anything particularly spectacular goes down on 12.21.12 or not. At least, I’m not going to waste too much energy wondering about it. Either way, I’ll be doing my part to help others around the world build a critical mass of compassionate people who utilize contemplative practices to clarify their perception, strengthen their ability to remain conscious and true to their values amidst adversity, and awaken to the truth of the interconnectedness of all beings. Seems like a pretty good way to go to me, whatever else may come.

Will you join me?

Practice at home with your friends, help a friend or family member discover yoga for the first time, commit to being more consistent in your meditation practice, or even learn to teach yoga.

Whatever you do, I hope you’ll resolve to take the lessons you learn on the mat to work with you, to the grocery store, and even into those contentious political discussions around the holiday dinner table!

Here’s to a beautiful new year!

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please post a comment below, and tell us all about your 2012 resolutions, too!

Good for any amount over $49 each. Right now get a $60 certificate for $50!

____________________________________________________

Also valid for either of the Yoga 101 Gift Packages ($49 for 4-week series or $74 for 4-week series + a new mat!) click here for Yoga 101 details

Shared with you by Beth Gurupriya Sanchez while on her Samadhi retreat to Nicaragua with co-teacher Jeremy Wolf.  Thank you Beth for sharing.

Enjoying the Fruits

Today on this path

the friends gather silently

having moved bones and blood, prana and sweat

having died for ten minutes (more alive than ever)

and come to their fruit-filled plates

the colors alone seem too rich to digest

we look, we finger, we inhale the fragrance

Upon sitting, all there is left to say

deeply, humbly, wholly

is Thank You

the green and orange skinned mandarins

how they pierce the moist air with bright lemony perfume

when peeled

papayas grow as big as watermelons here

the color of coral or salmon

all meaty flesh

the pineapples are nearly white

but still manage to taste like the sun

and I note,

as I eat

that they nourish the pineal deep in my brain

after which they are shaped, and named

(or vice versa)

watermelon in classic form – that is, triangular slices

make a universally known and cheery appearance

chew the seeds!   Don’t spit them out!

Give your teeth have some fun today

Now here’s a comfort combo; an unexpected surprise

bananas, sweet sweet meat, mashed in the mouth

and fresh café, grown perhaps an hour inland

up where the still tropical air is cool

what did they do to banish the bitters?

is it the ocean currents?

the sweet and simple farmers’ touch?

the well-meaning corruption of the president?

whatever it is, it brings out the greed in me

Questions arise:

do I really want to ruin yoga nidra just for this?

come now, how often will you find yourself in Nicaragua?

shouldn’t moderation be done in moderation?

And then there is Pitaya, which does deserve its own stanza

the Color (electric, hot magenta reaching intensely for purple)

alone determines that

we learned it is a cactus!

That added more shock.

we learned that it is not from Asia

as the name dragonfruit might connote

but in fact, it has been here since it has been at all

A million black seeds nestle

in their sweet fuchsia bed

happy, I like to think,

to be eaten by a yogi (who may also be reaching intensely for purple)

to brighten the innards of one who is turning to light

to become a smile

an exhalation

a perfectly executed firefly pose

-a trace of hot pink might be seen on that sweaty smile

maybe even an insight

The fruits of the path are here!

how they throw themselves at us!

how they willfully sacrifice their bodies!

how they carry on as human beings walking peacefully on the earth

how they know, that this being eaten is not the end

The fruits of the path?

How rich, how sweet, how clear!

The Bodhisattvas

are everywhere.

Pacific Coast, Rivas, Nicaragua, November 2011

From Beth Gurupriya Sanchez’s writings on her Samadhi retreat to Nicaragua alongside Jeremy Wolf.  

We are not this body, the sages say

we are not carbon-based, upright, bi-peds

not flesh and bones

nor enzymes oozing here or there

we are not the pinnacle of monkeys

nor the sum of brilliant thoughts

not the conquerors of nature, or time, or death

or anything

is there any use in arguing otherwise?

Today on the mat, the joints might ache

the back may seize

a wave of nausea will migrate through

keep breathing carbon-based-upright-bi-pedaled friends

in ten minutes, that will transform

the rush of a trade wind up the nose

will billow the lungs like a wide-open sail

no, not a body indeed

in fact now, a ship!

next there is fire, cooking the thick meat

of the thighs

later, our lover will say we are juicy

and good

there may be a hunkering down

a person who means to take refuge in this body,

which they are not,

but after 10,000 times contracting

instead, he will start to bloom

Next we are a bird (of paradise), or a plane

a flower, animal, or sage

next a tube of light, standing on the earth

peacefully, mindfully, skillfully

breathing

we realize, in fact, that we are already beamed up

why?

because we are Here

and we know we are Here

alive in this moment

radiant and free

At last we will lay these bodies down

the ones that we are not,

and the bones will be swallowed by the earth herself

we do it willfully

how crazy is that?

is it really that we know we are not our bones?

or is that we want our mother

to take care of them for just a moment

while we turn into a radiant field of light

now there is a body lying on the mat

its tummy moves

there is a pulse at the throat

but it pretends to be a corpse

I do not know what it is to not be a body,

at least not entirely.

But I do know the joy of this masquerade

of nature taking delightful forms

countless and unique

I do know what it is like to see

with these eyes, that I am not,

colors and sleeping monkeys, the bright smiles of yogis

and the endless sea

I do know how to look at the twisted supine friend next to me

and see beauty

even if it is a bag of blood and bones

And I do know what it is like to wrap my arms

around a dear one

and cherish the respiration

of the living human body (that they are not)

I know what it is like to regard life as precious

impermanent

and good

And for now, I will take the words of sages

on faith

and love these bodies anyway,

the ones that we are not,

with all my heart

Pacific Coast, Rivas, Nicaragua,  November 2011

not a bad time or place really

but there was snow

and the hard ground

the stiff bleached straws sticking up

I vaguely recall the last minute rush of things

the pulling of the jacket closer

the contraction of the muscles, when I stepped outside

(Honey’s eyes did make it seem warmer)

Five days in the tropics

makes all that hard to relate to

what is easy to conjure

is the first breath of air at 11 degrees north latitude

the thickness of the embrace

the rush to throw off the clothes

the sense of returning home to the

Tropics

the place from which we all evolved

I recall that fable, by Aesop

the one where the wind and the sun made a wager

who could get the man

to remove his shawl first?

no need to retell it

the warmth always wins

It is easy to understand, while strolling in the surf

why Tahitians were mostly naked

all the time

how the skin becomes the sensory organ

most paramount and keen

how the downy air is continuously french kissing everything, everywhere

how the palm leaves reach out

fingering passing bodies

Certainly it is pleasant

to have those long green digits

caress a bare shoulder

a naked waist

a nipple passing by

I am not saying I actually felt that

(but I am not saying I did not)

It is easy here

to live in the animal body

we eat

sleep

stretch

shit

shiver

stroll

we shine

I don’t know that anyone is fornicating

but if they can, I hope they are

We talk of poop, and gratitude

our fears and lovers too

we laugh because we can

we cry for the same reason

we may be caught doing tricks on the beach

or peeing in the ocean

our sidelong limbs are lean and sturdy

our hair,

messy

and free

Pacific Coast, Rivas, Nicaragua,

November 2011