Spring Yoga Schedule

Find me at Maine Yoga Fest for Full Moon Salutations on July 12th, 2014. Registration is on now at www.MaineYogaFest.com!

photo by Maine photographer Dylan Verner

Class Schedule for April/May: Tampa and St. Pete, FL 

Mondays April 21st & April 28th Flow at Yogani in Tampa 5:30-7 pm

Tuesdays Corporate Fitness at Catalina Marketing St Pete 12 Noon

Tuesday, April 8th Gentle Yoga at Bella Prana in Tampa 7-8:15 pm

Wednesdays Workplace Yoga Private Class in Ybor City 4 pm

Thursday, April 10th Slow Flow at Bella Prana in Tampa 10 am

Friday, April 18th Power Yoga at Yogani in Tampa 12:15 pm-1:45

Saturday, April 19th Hatha Yoga at Bella Prana in Tampa 12:30-1:45 

Saturdays April 5, 12, 19 & 26 & May 3, 10, 24, 31 Prenatal Yoga at Yogani in Tampa 10:30 am-12  

more tba! Check back or see the schedules at Yogani.com & Bellaprana.com

Check in with your Chart!

April's eclipses may be exciting or confusing. Is it time to check in with your chart or have some cards read for insights and to clarify whether you're acting in your own best interests?

Charts and readings are two tools I can use during personal coaching sessions. I can also just talk with you and give you some strategies for getting your head together and life plans in action! Intuitive insights or not, I will give you practical strategies and an impartial point of view. 

I've come to Robin for many readings over the past 8 years, and I'm continually struck by her insight and ability to interpret information for me in a way that moves me forward on my path.  I've relied on Robin to guide me through several crossroads over the years, and I've developed a trust in her abilities and intuition, which are coupled with her integrity and compassion. (Renee, May 2013)

Yoga or meditation specifically for you can also be part of a session. 

Personal coaching sessions are $80 an hour by phone or google chat

Most readings are $66 by email or
$80 by appointment, phone or in person

Birth charts & Relationship charts are $175

Birthday readings based on the date this year are $33 & you can receive this by email or as mp3 audio. Makes a cool birthday gift!

Wedding charts are $66.00

I've been doing professional readings since 1995 and I would love to help you define your goals and navigate through the present to discover what's next! 

Robin
robinivy88@gmail.com

Yoga Schedule for late March & Astrological Shifts!

Hi Everyone!

I'm back in Tampa after a trip to Maine and RoZoYo workshop at Freeport Yoga Company! The intensity of our workshop experience Saturday reflects the shifting of the season, the upcoming eclipses and the "Cross" in Aries, Capricorn, Libra, and Aries right now. It stirs everything up and is the impetus for tearing down, reinventing, restructuring literally or otherwise, and changing relationships. If it was wearing down, wearing away or about to break, this is a potent time where in some cases things will never be "the same".

Keep up with www.RoZoYo.com/zodiac for daily and weekly forecasts. Aries New Moon is March 29th. The lunar eclipse is in Libra/Aries April 15th followed by the solar eclipse in Taurus/Scorpio on the 29th.

This is my yoga teaching schedule for the last days of the month.

Tuesday, March 25th Corporate Fitness Private class 12 noon
Thursday, March 27th Slow Flow at Bella Prana Yoga Tampa, FL 10 -11:15 am
Saturday, March 29th Prenatal Yoga at Yogani Studios Tampa, FL 10:30am -12 

Sunday, March 30th Special Donation Benefit Class with Yoga & Guided Meditation for Jeanette Just Schaefer & family who lost their beloved son/brother recently. Bella Prana Yoga in Tampa 6-7:15 pm 


check back for more class dates soon

Robin Ivy Payton
Yoga & Personal Coaching
robinivy88@gmail.com

What You Think, You Are

I don't believe much in making the best of things in the broader sense. That may work with a rainy day when you have outdoor plans, but in the bigger scheme of life, why would you want to just make the best of how things are if they're disappointing or worse. Change your situation, transform yourself, and your joy and sense of accomplishment will ripple out and create even more good. 

Even if you're very content with your life now, the thoughts you think and what you do every day are shaping your tomorrow. Be positive with yourself. Change is stressful even if it's positive. It requires the body and brain to do things in new ways. Think about how well you're doing and keep your mind on your mantra.

What is your mantra? It can be something as simple as "I am healthy" or "I live my life free of other people's judgments and opinions" or "I have the resources to accomplish this goal". You have the power to draw those parts of you out and amplify them to the max! Repeat your mantra several times throughout the day or choose to meditate on it when you wake up and before you go to sleep (all you have to do is focus and breathe into your thought, so don't let the word meditate scare you!).

There are times when you're being called to change, when you've outgrown your situation, and you just have to get into that chrysalis so you can emerge with wings! I went through one of those times a year ago and I put my mind to what I wanted and let nothing get in the way. The change was not easy, but I am so glad I did it. I was outgrowing things and I felt so strongly that it was the right time for personal transformation. There were a lot of variables and things that were unclear. I had to swoosh that stuff out of my brain often and direct all my energy toward my mantra. And I accomplished it, and now I have new mantras. 

We never have to stop growing. There is always room for improvement, and we are capable of making wondrous things happen! Small dreams lead to big dreams. Begin like this. Make a list of things you can't control though you focus a lot of energy on them. Other people's choices and opinions are good examples of things that might be on that list and it may also include something like the ability to get a raise at your current job or maybe a physical limitation that can't be reversed. Now burn or shred that list. It's pointless to bother thinking about those things. It is a huge energy leak. Let. it. go. 

Make another list of things you focus on or obsess about that you can have an effect on. This could also include the ability to get a raise at work, it might include your health, the state of your relationship, your relationship with family, or things at your home that need attention. Choose one and circle it and do something about it today. It can be a very small thing to get started. Keep that list and go back to it, focusing on what you can change and trying to impact one thing at a time as you begin. You'll alleviate some stress, make some improvement, and see your own power to change things.

I don't believe in making the best of things. I believe in making things the best. 

Let go of the exact outcome you have an attachment to while keeping your vision in mind. You might get something slightly different from your goal and it might be even better than what you're aiming for. Use positive "I" statements always and work at the things that bother you most and that you have some control over. You can.  You possess the power to transform yourself and with that, inspire others and contribute to changing the world.

Namaste.
Robin
3-4-14

My approach to personal coaching can include exercises to get you in positive thinking modes, identifying mantras to achieve your goals, intuitive readings with astrology and tarot images, your own individual yoga practice, and all my other resources from life experience! The method is customized to your personal style and philosophy. I can also guide you to incredible people who can provide other services particularly in Maine. Phone or google chat sessions are $80.00. Email me to book an appointment. robinivy88@gmail.com

Poses for Leo Full Moon

Our Wednesday through Friday poses are for this Full Moon time. The first is for opening the side, heart and front body, Crescent Moon. Your arms sweep overhead and meet. Interlace your fingers and let your index fingers together point upward while all others are entwined including thumb over thumb. Reach the arms high with a deep breath and then bend over to the right forming a crescent shape in the right side body and extending all of the left side for a big stretch. Your left hip might move outside the boundary of the ankle below. You want to keep your hips level and not allow the left hip to rock back. If it does, bring it forward to meet the right side evenly.

Hold for 5 breaths then move to the other side. Repeat this two or three times on each side. The foundation is the feet so be very grounded in the feet from outer edge to heel and front of the foot. With this posture your weight can move a bit back toward the heels.

image from yogimarc.wordpress.com

Dancer, or standing bow as it's also known, is a heart opener and a back bend. Leo Full Moon is the sign of the heart and spine so this is ideal for the astrological weather. 

Ground weight in the left foot. Extend your right palm up and keeping the thumb back pointing toward the big toe and back wall, grasp your inner foot. Thumb will be pointing back to rotate shoulder outward, not inward. Inhale and expand the chest cavity, then kick into your hand and you will begin to back bend and maybe to move your upper body forward. Keep the hips level without allowing the right hip to move up high. The foot you're kicking drives the pose so keep it pressed into the hand and active.  Your foot might peek out up over your head. Your knee is behind the hip not out wide. 

photo of me by Dylan Verner of Falmouth Maine

Yoga Day 6: Horse Pose

You can take this right from the wide leg forward fold if you like!

With feet about 3.5 feet wide or so, turn out the toes to a diagonal. Heels face each other.
Make goalposts with your arms or raise them high
Sit the hips down. If you raise arms high, lower them to goalpost (or cactus shape) arms with 90 degree angles at the elbows and palms facing forward. This is a squat type posture. Take 3 to 5 full breaths then straighten the legs and take a full inhale and exhale back into the squat for another round of breaths.

This is known as horse pose or goddess pose too.

Here is a variation with blocks from amongmen.com

This is what I mean by goalpost arms and this is the posture!

Yoga Day 5: Wide Leg Forward Fold

From Reverse Warrior 2 (day 4 pose)

Come back to warrior 2 with front knee bent directly over ankle
Straighten the front knee
Turn front foot so both feet are now facing in the same direction
Hands to hips
Deep breath in (and you can back bend slightly here if a more open chest feels good going in)
Hinge forward from the hips with a straight spine from top to bottom, head to tailbone
Bring weight a little bit forward so your hips don't sit back. Align hips with your heels.
Bring your hands dow
n to the floor, palms down
Maybe your hands don't reach the floor in which case you can widen your stance some OR bring hands to your legs. (Make sure not to put pressure on the knee with your hands though)
When you find your edge with how far forward you can bend with a straight spine, let your head and shoulders drop down and totally relax.
You're most likely to feel this in your hamstrings and inner thighs.
Stretch to the point of challenge, but never to the point of pain or sharpness!

Take at least 5 full inhales and exhales. Forward folds are great for releasing mental stress. Exhale stress or too much thinking!

When you are ready to come back up, bring hands to hips again. Heel, toe the feet in a bit especially if you took them out wider. Flat back all the way up to standing. Tah-dah!

photo is from livestrong.com