This Thursday evening’s yoga class will be canceled for this event.

Everything else is as scheduled.

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Students,

This Thursday night there will be a special premier of the documentary, Straightlaced, at The Rialto Cinemas in Santa Rosa and I hope you’ll join my family and me there.

Last year I attended a fundraiser for GroundSpark, the organization that produced Straightlaced and was able to see some clips from the film before it was released.

I was floored by what the young people I saw interviewed had to say about gender assumptions and how their lives are affected by them.

As often happens, what the kids have to say is more profound than anything we could tell them.

The director, Debra Chasnoff, won all sorts of awards for her earlier documentary called It’s Elementary, a ground-breaking film that addresses anti-gay prejudice at the elementary school level. The film has aired on more than 100 PBS stations, and is used as a teaching tool in school districts across the country.

This one-night-only showing of Straightlaced will help benefit GroundSpark and Positive Images, a local organization providing support to LGBT youth in Sonoma County.

Please note: Debra Chasnoff’s particular gift is in making age-appropriate films that both kids and adults find intriguing.

Everyone knows their own child best, but I think the film is appropriate for a kid my son’s age (just 13). I think it’s important that kids get messages about diversity and tolerance along with the basic information about their bodies, the birds, and the bees. If your children are younger or you’re concerned about the content, consider coming without them. It’s just as important that parents, grandparents, teachers, and other adults get the messages this film delivers.

We hope to see you there.

Suzi

p.s. Spend some time exploring GroundSpark’s website (www.GroundSpark.org). There is a lot of good information about their films, and DVDs of this film as well as their others are available. They’re doing good and important work!

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Straightlaced: How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up is an uplifting and entertaining film, featuring high school youth speaking candidly about harmful pressures of rigid gender roles and homophobia. From girls who “dumb down” so they don’t intimidate boys, to boys who are sexually active to prove they aren’t gay, to non-conforming teens who face relentless bullying, the students in Straightlaced show how gender expectations are having an unhealthy and often dangerous impact on today’s youth.

Special showing:

Thursday, September 24,

Rialto Cinemas

551 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa

For more information, please contact 707-568-5830

6 p.m. – Reception with the filmmaker

7:15 p.m. – Film showing

Tickets are $10 for the film.

A $25 donation is requested to attend the reception beforehand.

Tickets for kids 18 and under are available on a sliding scale, $15-$10.

Advance tickets are now available at The Rialto Cinemas and at www.GroundSpark.org

CEUs are available for teachers, contact GroundSpark for more information.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to tell you that Saturday morning yoga, a 90-minute class from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. is BACK beginning this week, Saturday, June 13. I’ve missed it and I know you’ve missed it. This will be a happy, joyful, active class, with some musical treats. I look forward to seeing you there!

Please note: If you’re an absolute beginner (meaning, you’re new to yoga, unfamiliar with the yoga vocabulary, out of shape, at risk of injury, or unclear about your own limitations), it would be a good idea to come to a couple of Tuesday or Thursday morning classes before attending Saturday morning. It’s not an advanced class by any means, but there will be plenty of standing poses and flow sequences.

Beginning in June, the regular Tuesday evening class will move to 6 p.m. Mondays. Thursday evening will stay as scheduled.

Beginning immediately, morning classes will start at 8:30 and end at 9:45.

For the seventh year (can it really be?), I’ll be holding a yoga workshop on Jan. 1.

We’ll start at 10 a.m. with active yoga, then break for a walk up Salmon Creek Road (rain or shine!), and then have a lovely restorative yoga session before wrapping things up by 2 p.m.

People at all levels of practice are welcome.

The cost for the workshop is $20.

Reservations are required.

This is my absolute favorite way to start the year and I hope you’ll join me once again.

Namaste,

Suzi

I promised I would share with you how my New Year’s explorations into new poses are going. Here’s the first update. My final Visvamitrasana is far from perfect, but closer than I thought! (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

There are a couple of new things you might want to check out at my essay blog, Yoga Like Salt:

The site has a new design, which I think is more elegant. Although I have to say, it’s a work in progress, and I hope to gain the skills to tinker with some of the design elements even more.

I’ve posted an essay about yoga and allergies that some of you may find interesting. This is the time of year when North Coast allergy sufferers begin to feel the effects of the color yellow. Are you wondering what I meant by that? You’ll have to read the essay to find out, but here’s a hint:

Namasté & Blessed Be,

Suzi

Update: After gathering a group of yogis together for the challenge of practicing every day in January. (It was a great way to kick off the new year, and I only missed a couple of days with the stomach flu!), WoYoPraMo is continuing as an online yoga community and practice support group. Here’s an opportunity to band with yogis around the globe and motivate yourself to keep practicing in the New Year: Here’s a link to the site. Consider joining us in practice!

Gift certificates, Yoga Bodega t-shirts, yoga equipment, and yoga-inspired books and music all make great gift ideas for your favorite yoga enthusiast.

I’ve put a selection of items together for you in the new Yoga Bodega Store. Along with some favorite books and music, there are also cork yoga blocks and thin, sticky yoga mats in a variety of colors (and at a great price, too!).

Namasté and Blessed Be.

Several students have asked me if I would post the words to the chant I use to close class. Here you go!