In a recent interview, actress Uma Thurman suggested that one reason for the popularity of shows like Sex In the City is that many people are actually quite lonely and yearn for a tireless band of best friends to supply humor, support, charm and well... company.

Thurman was addressing the challenges of single motherhood, but there are many other circumstances of life - recent divorce or breakup, moving to a new neighborhood, a home left empty by children in college - that are ripe fields for loneliness. One pretty obvious cure for feeling alone in the world is spending time with like-minded people, and a yoga studio is a great place to start.

This April at YogaWorks we welcome you to bring someone new to class, whether it's an acquaintance who could really use some relaxation, or a friend you'd like to get to know better. We may not to be able to mix the perfect martini or lend a designer handbag, but the YogaWorks family welcomes you with open arms.

By Jillian Pransky

1. The way my son, husband and I cuddle in the early A.M.
2. Watching my students finish a restorative practice. They look totally satisfied and deeply relaxed. There is nothing like watching someone touch into a calmer deeper part of themself.
3. Mangos! Juicy, drippy and sweet.
4. Dark chocolate - the darker the better.
5. Doing yoga in Mexico in an open air palapa - just got back! I practice for two hours in the palapa before I teach to my students and it is perfect.
6. Teaching students in a retreat / workshop environment - when everyone wants to go deeper and has the setting to really sink in. I myself learn as I teach as I have the time to explain and explore the poses and philosophy in great detail.
7. The wisdom of Pema Chodron. I have studied with her for many years - 9 years now. And I have been the yoga teacher for her meditation retreats at Omega since 2000. I love working with her students. I love receiving her brilliant teachings and reading her amazing books.
8. Dancing to drums - or at a kirtan. Very liberating and relaxing.
9. Dolphins! (My parents live on the water in Florida and my father has a special technique that attracts dolphins to his boat. I turn 5 every time I see one.)
10. My new house in the 'country'! I just moved from the city to Montclair NJ. To me, it feels like I'm in a country cabin. I love my new home. The birds are already chirping. And I feel total relaxed!
11. The smell of my son's hair after he's played outside.
12. Lightening bugs (the time of year, the days so long, the lights like little fairies - it's magical.)
13. My steam room / shower - ahhhh.
14. An ayruvedic abyanga oil rub massage! (and shirodara) A totally rejuvenating and nourishing warm oil rub.
15. The Berkshires - I love the country - especially walking in the woods near the Appalacian trail. I do walking meditation there. To be quiet and enjoy the sounds of nature around me - including my feet on the crunching leaves, the wind through the trees, the brook running over rocks, the birds... etc. And we always enjoy an evening camp fire - including toasting marshmallows of course!
16. Drawing mandalas with colored pencils - very quieting.
17. Rituals and passages. I honor the equinox and solstice as they are the perfect time to recenter, clarify, and tune in to nature. Practicing yoga and meditating in a way that honors these natural cycles helps me connect to myself as well as the larger energy around me.
18. The smell of roasting coffee.
19. Cooking - especially soup and stew.
20. Cashmere - one of my secret indulgences. I love cashmere sweaters, tshirts, wraps. Soft and warm and light on my skin.

Join Jillian Pransky for a unique series of rejuvenating yogic techniques designed to bloom open your body, mind and heart in her workshop - Blooming Open: A Spring Renewal Mini Retreat.

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DOWNTOWN
Join Max Strom for OmChant a special series of healing workshops that will revitalize your spirit and strengthen your heart. In Learn to Breathe to Heal Yourself and Your Relationships we will integrate breathing exercises, and gentle movement. The effect of these done in sequence can lead to profound release and calm. Experience Max Strom's unique prana-flow class, Strength, Grace and Healing with emphasis on emotional transformation. Class will include a short talk, vinyasa-flow, non-dogmatic philosophy, breathing, and meditation. Finally The Healing Power of Forgiveness helps us overcome the anger and resentment that can destroy our lives. For the body to heal, often times what is most vital is to heal the broken heart or spirit. Failure to forgive affects our stress level, power to heal the body, discernment, and all our relationships. This class will integrate non-dogmatic philosophy, gentle yoga movement, breathing exercises, and meditation.

Join Jillian Pransky for Blooming Open - A Spring Renewal Mini Retreat - a unique series of rejuvenating yogic techniques designed to open your body, mind and heart. You'll leave totally renewed after Jillian's inspiring series of detoxifying vinyasa flows, releasing restorative poses, fortifying metta (loving-kindness) practices and a deeply nourishing relaxation. This special workshop is great for all levels.

WESTSIDE
Today's vinyasa classes originate from ashtanga yoga. Come find out How does Ashtanga influence my vinyasa practice? with Lisa Yi and Jenny Meyer. Open to all levels.

EASTSIDE
Spring season is when the Kapha dosha tend to increase. If not well taken care of with specific foods, simple cleansing techniques, oils etc. gets vitiated and can create an environment for imbalance and illnesses (seasonal, allergies, congestion, poor digestion...) In the Ayurvedic Workshop: Spring Season Patrizia Faggi teaches you through simple practices such as diet, self-massage, herbs and oils how to prevent and/or re-balance usual seasonal discomforts. Understanding the interconnection between doshas/seasons/ elements, is fundamental for living in balance with the seasonal changes and return to Nature's rhythms. Open to All Levels.

Explore meditation and pranayama with Lisa Matkin. On Saturday April 26, this experimental workshop will help you learn the tools to overcome resistance to meditation.

Relax, Release and Replenish with Mona Anand on April 13! Give yourself a gift of a two-hour restorative with guided relaxations and visualizations that release deep layers of tension in your physical, mental and emotional body.

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Yogaworks is proud to introduce Zobha, the new line of fitness apparel for women, created by a teacher to perform specifically for yoga. Zobha offers superior performance with a distinctive design aesthetic. "Zobha" is a Sanskrit word meaning grace, beauty and brilliance. The styles promote easy, elegant movement with exceptional fabrication, fit and performance qualities. Pick up your Grace Top, Wrap Hoodie and Essential Pant at select yogaworks locations. Other styles include, Kate Hoodie, Halter, Essential Capri and Katherine Tank.

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I recently learned that the origin of the term "southpaw" dates back to the first baseball diamond. Traditionally pointing east, so the pitcher would always have his back to the setting sun, a left handed pitcher would have his pitching hand, his paw, on the south side. How could I have spent my whole life left-handed and not know this important fact?

We southpaws only make up approximately 7-10% of the population and have lived with a fair amount of prejudice from our right-handed society. Learning to write left handed always yielded an unattractive smudgy mess, forget trying to drive a stick shift, or play a guitar, and where is a pair of left handed scissors when you need one? My disappointment in southpaw discrimination was complete when I found that it was prevalent in the practice of hatha yoga as well.

Why, oh why, do we always do the right side first of everything? Studies have shown that whatever is done first, is actually done better because the brain has its attention there. So what happens to a lifetime of left legs, left arms with a lifetime full of vinyasa neglect? The right continues to get stronger and left gets weaker, and then, we begin to actually believe that it is not as strong of a side, not as flexible, not as sensitive.

Many years ago, I decided to do my home practice leading with the left foot and a number of interesting things happened. The first one was, that I kept messing up, and leading with the right. What fascinated me, was that the ‘moment of mess up' completely brought me into the present moment. I actually loved messing up because it made me really do the yoga of now, not the yoga I did yesterday. The other thing I became aware of, was how different my two sides were; where the strengths and weaknesses were, which side had more flexibility and in which spots the breath seemed to flow with the most ease. Lastly, I noticed a different feeling, something deep, that can only be explained by taking a moment with yoga's teaching of the subtle body.

Yogic tradition tells us that the body is made up of a complex system of ‘nadis' or energy channels in the body. It is said that there are 72,000 nadis, but the 3 main ones are the ida, pingala and shushumna. The pingala nadi, or sun channel, runs through the right side of the body and represents our external life, how we are out in the world, like the radiating sun. The ida, or moon channel, travels the left side of our body and represents our internal life, a receptive, or reflective quality. The yogi strives to bring these two energies to balance in the center, shushumna, or fire channel as a path to samadhi.

So, after a lifetime of practicing with my right side first, I took a moment on the left, a moment to honor the ida, the moon, receptivity, the journey within-and it did. Instead of my practice radiating out into the world, it became a way to travel inward, to focus on softening, getting quiet and actually allowing myself to receive instead of trying to control (a pingala attribute) all the time.

Don't take my word for it, try it yourself. Next time you are alone (please don't do it in class or I'll have to answer to a lot of angry teachers!) try a B Sun Salute leading with the left leg first. And since we are leading with the left, the ida, the moon channel, let's call it a Moon Salute. See how it feels for yourself. I've been doing this for some time. Mostly, I do it on the new moon and the full moon as a way to remind myself that to be a balanced hatha yogi, I need both the ‘ha' sun, and the ‘tha' moon.

Right handed snobbery even penetrates our language. Our English word "sinister," derives from the Latin "sinistrum," meaning left. Many left-handers were forced to learn to write with their right hands. Even the southpaw's hero, Jimi Hendrix, had to play his guitar upside down, before he got his left-handed Fender Stratocaster. Yogis have always been on the forefront of change, so please join me in the new tradition of the moon salute, we can call ourselves, "The Sinister Yogis."

Sara Ivanhoe currently teaches at YogaWorks in Santa Monica. To contact Sara by sending her an email - click here

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As the weather oscillates between warm and cold this month, bacteria or "germs" that were dormant during the winter restart growth and making us easily susceptible to infection.

To prevent the spread of bacteria, here's how to clean up without harm and augment your immune system so any infection doesn't stand a chance!

• A squirt of your hand sanitizer may wipe out almost 100% of germs, but many alcohol and chemical-based formulas have proven more harmful than helpful.
• Steer clear of active ingredients like alcohol (it's very toxic if ingested -- especially for kids) and Benzalkonium chloride (linked to respiratory problems) and beware of products that say "natural"-- they may very well still contain alcohol or Benzalkonium chloride.
• Try a botanical based hand sanitizer that likely contains oregano which has anti-bacterial properties.
• Best bet for getting clean....wash your hands frequently with warm water and chemical free soap.
• Supplement with some of the following Goldenseal root, Echinacea (2T/d for a 2wks then stop), shiitake, selenium (Brazil nuts), zinc (oysters, beans and nuts), green tea, NAC, vitamin C (jicama, broccoli, kiwi), and astragalus.

Please contact our Director of NutritionWorks, Julie, with any questions regarding the sale and 2008 New Year Detox - call 646.442.6203 or email Julie at juliem@yogaworks.com.

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Keeping Workplaces Healthy

You care about your co-worker's happiness and you know that good health equals high productivity. Yoga is an easy, cost efficient way to ensure that all levels of employees in your company are looking forward to coming to work.

Our YogaWorks at Work programs offer high quality classes, professionalism, and a diversity of teachers and styles.

For more information about our YogaWorks at work program contact Marsyr@yogaworks.com.

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Congratulations to the following YogaWorks students, they won the raffle prizes for our Easy Green promotion! We also want to thank all of you for updating your contact information. We want to make sure we keep you in the YW loop!

1 winner
Unlimited 1 year of yoga:
Anne Easton - Newport Beach

4 winners - Manduka EkO Mat:
Yuki Quinones - Westwood
Michelle Yacoel - Costa Mesa
Myriam Barenbaum - Westchester
Hye Jun Park - Eastside

8 winners - Coffee Tumblers:
Mary Shuller - Main Street
Eric Foster - Pacific Palisades
Andrea Bronte - CFY
Lauren Richter - Mission Viejo
David Diamond - Newport Beach
Amy Culligan - Hungtington Beach
Mandy Evans-Brown - Westside
Matthew Flynt - Westside

8 winners - Tea Infusers:
George Goy - Pacific Palisades
Ben Vanderveen - Main Street
Carolyn Moore - CFY
Dayle Haldeman - Mission Viejo
Barbara Rier - Huntington Beach
Mij Kim - Downtown
Jay Whittaker - Downtown
John Gunther-Mohr - Westchester

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