Let's Connect

Hello Tucson High Yogis,

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but now is a good time to begin again.  Normally, we would be gearing up for our fun chakra unit at school.  However, things have changed a bit with COVID-19.  We must be safe and stay away from public spaces to protect ourselves, our families and everyone else.  We will find ways to do yoga together and to learn about our chakras.  Ms. Donovan, Ms. Hoeflinger and I are in constant contact (apart) to try and bring our best to each of our students now and always.

Here are some things you can do right now to practice:
Do the practie that you memorized for our midterm...
Sit for 5 minutes and breathe....
Go onto youtube and find the sa ta na ma meditation and do it...
Go to glo.com and do one of their free practices...
Follow @darrenrhodesyoga on Instagram and do a free practice that he is offering...
Follow @yoga4youth on Insta and look for some live offerings from me :)...
Facetime a yoga buddy and do a practice together...
Teach sun salutations to your family...

Basically, any type of practice you do will make you feel better, and the great part is you won't have a teacher scolding you for not dressing out!!!!!  We have to laugh, right?

The truth is that we want to be in school with you all, but that's not the best thing right now.  So, we will do what yogis do and adapt, change, go with the flow and find the good in the situation.

Remember Yoga Sutra 1.2: yogas cittavritti nirodha  yoga calms the stirrings of the mind  You have practiced enough to know that's true.  So, now is the time to put it into practice my dear yogis.

See you soon,
Ms. Gutierrez

An Attitude of Gratitude

Well, Thanksgiving is very close, and in yoga we are learning about Aparigraha, non greed.  We have been discussing ways that we can practice this yama in our everyday lives.  Ask your student which of the 7 ways to practice this their group taught the whole class.

Students did a great job of teaching each other how to practice Aparigraha.  I have challenged all of my students, and myself, to let go of something.  That might be clothes or shoes that no longer fit or get worn.  It could be being more generous with their time and helping a younger sibling or family member with homework or chores.  It may be deleting pictures from their phone, or even letting go of a relationship that isn't good for them.  We are in this together!  Let's be generous!

Over the Thanksgiving long weekend, students will have a copy of the yoga practice that they are required to do for our final.  They should begin practicing this at home at least twice a week.  Finals are quickly approaching!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Nancy.Gutierrez@tusd1.org

Back to Yoga!

Well, the school year has begun and we are practicing yoga and learning the Yoga Sutras.
In Advanced Yoga, we are taking backbends a bit further, but still being strong and steady.  Yoga AB classes are continuing to work on basic poses and adding some backbends into the mix.

This week we are discussing Yoga Sutra 1.2; yoga calms the stirrings of the mind.  Students are asked to notice what the "stirrings of their mind" are and how they feel different after practice.  Noticing our mind and our thoughts is an important part of our practice.

Don't forget!  If you miss a class, you need to come to Conference on Mondays to make up the work you've missed.

I'm okay with change

This week in yoga we are discussing change.  Students are talking about what makes change hard or easy for them.  We learned that some changes are easier to deal with than others, but our yoga practice can help us through any change.

We changed things up in our practice this week.  We'll be doing a practice full of twists so that we can see things in a slightly different perspective.  We will also be learning a new meditation called "sa ta na ma", loosely defined as "I'm okay with change". 

Students who are missing assignments, days in class or the vocabulary quiz are asked to come to V118 during conference on Mondays and Wednesdays.  The time is running short this quarter to make up missing work.

Please remember to take photos of yourself doing yoga when you travel.  I'll be putting those photos in our new display outside of V118.