AMuriel Yoga

Downtown Desert Yoga's Wednesday 7pm Yin/Nidra class will be taught by me via live-streaming beginning today, July 8. Please register prior to class on the Downtown Desert Yoga website. See you soon!

We will be using a program called Zoom for the live-streaming meeting. You will need to download the Zoom app if you haven't already. Link to download and instructions here.

Yin/Nidra with Annie (Replacing Shiloh)
Wednesday 7:00pm-8:00pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81041225085?pwd=SlBySWVDNmVGUVRCcVBpQk9ESXNGUT09

For information about my Monday and Wednesday live classes go to my previous post here or my Services page here.

I will be joining the class 15 minutes early to help people get settings right and get everyone set up with the props needed for that day's class.

May we live like a lotus, at home and at peace on the radiant journey through the muddy water.

Namaste.

UPDATE: Downtown Desert Yoga's Sunday 6:00pm Restorative class will be taught by me via live-streaming beginning today, May 31, and continuing through the month of June. Please register on the Downtown Desert Yoga website. See you soon!

We will be using a program called Zoom for the live-streaming meeting. You will need to download the Zoom app if you haven't already. Link to download and instructions here.

Restorative Yoga with Annie (Sub for Tauna)
Sunday 6:00pm-7:15pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/162710338?pwd=QWpMRklaZ3Bsa3dhTUhIS3V3aWpTQT09

For information about my Monday and Wednesday live classes go to my previous post here or my Services page here.

I will be joining the class 15 minutes early to help people get settings right and get everyone set up with the props needed for that day's class.

May we live like a lotus, at home and at peace on the radiant journey through the muddy water.

Namaste.

UPDATE: Classes are now password protected. To get the password for each class please register on the Downtown Desert Yoga website. See you soon!

I am offering my Downtown Desert Yoga classes streaming into your home during this stressful time. We will be using a program called Zoom for the video conference.


Here is a link to download the application:
https://zoom.us/download

Once downloaded and registered you can click on the class links (the same every week for each class) below at the appropriate time and it will connect you with the class.

Restorative Yoga with Annie
Mondays 2:00-3:00pm
https://zoom.us/j/683131018?pwd=MnYvTEQ0MDYyZ1VxVzF1OTJhNVZuQT09

Back To Health
12:00-1:00pm
https://zoom.us/j/497889336?pwd=N245V1VEZGJsSFpOcEJKbjhNQzd0dz09

I will be joining the class 10 minutes early to help people get settings right and get everyone set up with the props needed for that day's class.

May we live like a lotus, at home and at peace on the radiant journey through the muddy water.


See you soon!

Back to Health Wednesdays 11:45-12:45pm
Beginning January 8th
Downtown Desert Yoga
303 S. Alameda Blvd.
Las Cruces, NM 88001
575-647-9642


www.amurielyoga.com
downtowndesertyoga.com


This class presents an opportunity to learn health promoting yoga for your back.

Restore flexibility.
Help your body balance itself.
Improve alignment and posture.
Learn how to keep your back healthy.
Reset your work week in a mid-day yoga class.

Back to Health will focus on asanas to maintain
strength in your back and combat office shoulder slump and low back instability common to workplace ergonomics.

I would like to share this marvelous testimonial from one of my yoga students. Marlane honors me, not only by being in my Monday Restorative Yoga with Healing Touch™ class at Downtown Desert Yoga, but she also brings in friends and family. To show my appreciation she received an individually designed treatment; a uniquely blended session of RN expertise, yoga therapy and Healing Touch™ in my peaceful treatment room. She left me these kind words that I want to share:

"As a part of my personal journey to increase self-awareness and self-healing, I participated in my first ever Healing Touch session today. Annie Muriel is amazing! I have been participating in a weekly restorative yoga class with Annie for the past couple of months. She includes a brief Healing Touch encounter for each attendee during every class, so I wasn’t really apprehensive about attending the full session, since I knew a smidgen of what it might include.

Initially, Annie offered me water to drink while she obtained a brief medical history. She also provided a succinct explanation of the Healing Touch process and how it can interface with western medicine (she is also a registered nurse). She was happy to answer my questions. I was asked to identify my personal goals expectations from the session.

I remained fully clothed throughout the session and was laying initially face-up and later face-down on a massage table. Oceanic sounds were playing in the background. The treatment part of the session lasted approximately 60 minutes.

The treatment began with an evaluation of my Chakras (starting at the feet and moving up). Annie recorded these pre-treatment observations.

During the treatment session, I felt a deep sense of relaxation with an awareness of Annie’s movements, consisting of a light physical touch and sweeping or swirling hand motions over parts of the body. My eyes were closed and at times I envisioned slowing changing colors.

At the culmination of the session, I felt a deepened spiritual connection. I felt supported and nurtured. I am aware that research shows that Healing Touch enhances the body’s healing process, so I’m interested to see if particular physical issues begin to improve as well.

When the treatment was completed, Annie shared her post-treatment observations and recorded them. She recommended a particular meditation technique I can use daily to address my flow of energy, along with a daily yoga position I could use to improve blood pressure.

I would highly recommend Annie Muriel’s Healing Touch! She is knowledgeable professional--informative, thorough and focused. But more important than that, Annie is sincerely caring. With her soft voice and radiant smile, it was like being touched by an angel."


--Marlane

You have a wonderful opportunity to experience body, mind, and spirit healing in one incredible class. Downtown Desert Yoga and I will be offering a Restorative Yoga class with a Healing Touch™ component. The Restorative yoga portion will have mindfully supported poses to allow natural healing to take place. Gentle adjustments might be made during the extended Shavasana to enhance alignment and receptivity for a brief Healing Touch™ treatment. Healing Touch™ is a nurturing energy therapy with a proven record of support for the entire healing process. I am a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner (CHTP) to assure the highest standard of care.  This class is perfect for all levels. Drop-ins are welcome but to provide time for personal integration of the experience class size will be limited to 10. Classes start April 29th Monday 2:00- 3:00pm and will continue weekly. Contact Downtown Desert Yoga to reserve your spot.

Grief has held me in its grip for too long.
I am trying to come up for a peaceful breath.
Each time I open my heart to let in a crack of light, the darkness seems to steal in.

Maybe the answer is not crack open a crack but to radiate light and love so brightly nothing can enter against the glow.

Hago la lucha. I make the struggle.

I am trying to let that light out, and here is a poem that has sprung forth from this process:

The Downside of Grief
  
Downside? Get it? I'm really down with this.
One of the down sides of grieving is that the
only sense of humor I have now is a morbid one.
"Good grief", what is that....exactly?

The question, “How are you?' becomes a deep abyss I will fall into
if I answer honestly.
I feel like running, screaming into the wilderness in an attempt to run
away from the realization of the truth.

Personal hygiene can take a turn for the worse.
I realize I don't care about enhancing my appearance or much else.
Actually putting on clothes for the week seems a huge accomplishment.

Every bath I take attempting to soak away the sadness
becomes a salt bath with the tears I cry.
I opt for a shower to hide the sound of sobs.
Eventually just giving up wearing mascara
as it washes off with each new tsunami.

My body feels so heavy, feels everything so deeply;
I truly understand the metaphor of a heavy hearted sorrow.

Making dinner is monumental…. even deciding to eat can take hours,
deciding what to eat can be too daunting.
Rice is the go-to when nothing else works.

Constantly guarding what I say to almost everyone so the rawness
of my grief doesn't scare the shit out of them and make them turn away.
Or worse yet, be caught unawares plummeting on the downside of grief.

Ann Muriel written 11/25/17


We all go through grief in our lives and I hope this helps others on their journey.

My beautiful talented son, Micah, died Oct.14th on a Saturday morning with a profound and peaceful sigh of relief. He was ready.... unafraid and without anger surrounded by loving kindness.

Oh, how sad I am that the struggle to survive was so hard for him that he laid down his earthly baggage when he thought he couldn't fight that battle anymore. It was time to go. I can honor that choice even as I weep.
I am deeply grateful for all the many acts of kindness shown to us proving that even broken hearts can experience the abiding love we have for each other.

It has been a while since I posted to my website. I have been inundated with grief at the passing of my beloved cousin Richard, who was found by SAR after he didn't return from a hike in the Gila wilderness. He was my cousin but that doesn't really describe our closeness, more like brother and sister. His wisdom has guided me my whole life and it still does.

No wonder it is called paroxysms of grief. How hard it is to celebrate a rebirth of hope and life when I feel as if pieces of me are ripped away with each new paroxysm! And they still come so fast that I feel blindsided by a tsunami almost every time.

Richard comforted me when Abuela, my grandmother and his Aunt Lucie, died. He comforted me when Geary, Arielle's father, was lost and found dead after 4 months. He comforted me when my sister Susan was lost in the wilderness and never found. He comforted me when Bob, my uncle, died, and when Mike, my brother died alone in a hospital. Oh, how will he comfort me now in this fresh and too raw grief, when it is he who is gone?

When I wrote this my husband Mike had left me alone for the first time. It was much harder than I imagined. Irrational fears of him being suddenly gone too. Today may be a bit better. Yoga and meditation helps me some; just as in the past. I hope you who mourn can receive that blessing too. Kind thoughts and hugs help. Eventually painting will help with the melancholy. I had my daughter Arielle and her daughter Willa visit; baby laughter is the best and I know how to let that sweetness ease the pain.

It seems a big thing to not wake to see the new day framed in a rime of salt. This grieving business is such hard work whether it is done as you watch your parent decline or as a sudden heartwrench taken from us too quickly. The only way through for me is to cherish that capacity to love, to mourn, and to honor the person's passing.

It is a very delicate balance to maintain my calm center in this Sufi swirl of mourning. Yoga helps with the grief now as it did when Geary disappeared and I spent an agonizing 4 months not knowing what happened to him. No Search and Rescue was called for him despite my reporting of his suicidal communications because he was judged to be a normal adult male making a decision to leave a wife and newborn daughter. SAR would not have saved him from suicide but may have found him, and answers, sooner than the spring thaw.

I started doing yoga with Lilias Yoga and my infant daughter on the bedroom floor. I was free to dissolve into tears or spend as long in Savasana as Arielle would let me. It was difficult to imagine going to a yoga class but eventually I did and it helped, of course. It was a very long time before I even knew there would be a light at the end of the long dark looming maw of grief. Yoga and Arielle's best lessons were to be present, to never blind yourself to beauty or kindness, nor stop your ears to laughter and joy.

Susan was so far into the back country that just reporting her missing and initiating SAR took 2 days. It left our family shaken to the core but with a shared purpose to find answers and to support each other in grief. Most of those answers were excruciatingly vague, leaving us with more questions. Each of us had to make their own way thru grief. Some more gracefully, some with great pain, some refusing acceptance of the inevitable. All having to come to grips with maybe………. never knowing. It taught me to confront the separation in the family, whatever it might be and heal it quickly. Life turns on a sharp edge, ever ready to sever the tightrope we walk.

Knowing that Richard is embedded in my soul and will never be apart from me helps to ease my corporeal sense of loss. Oh! the awful prospect of never hearing his voice again and my heart cracks again so loudly even Richard heard it. His smell, like sunshine on water.

I developed enough resilience to make it out of that grief with a more discerning capacity for joy and gratitude.
I hope I can make it out of this one, also.

February 11th was a beautiful day for a visit to the Southwest New Age Expo. The vibrations were harmonious and accepting. I made wonderful connections with spiritually minded folk. The introduction of my original art slideshow was received with interest. I'm looking forward to the upcoming launch of my art page on my website where prints of my art will be available for purchase. Thank you, my IT Angel, for dedicated on-call assistance. Stay tuned!

NEW Yoga Class:
Back to Health is a yoga sequence I have taught often in corporate classes to combat office desk shoulder slump and low back instability common to workplace ergonomics.

Join me for a Hump day yoga class after work, 5:30- 6:30pm, in my home where I can provide lots of individual attention. Props are all furnished but feel free to bring your preferred yoga mat. Paying for a 5 class punch card upfront assures your place every week and gives a psychological boost to commit to your own health. By the end of 5 classes a participant will be comfortable incorporating the asanas into their own health maintenance program. All classes conclude with a luscious savasana, guided imagery and Healing Touch. Please call to reserve your spot and get directions.

I've been enjoying going through artwork to determine what I can make available to the public. Since 1992 I have been working in a variety of media, although mostly watercolor, to capture the wonder of the world around me. I am making these pieces available on a selection of presentations, from custom prints to greeting cards. I am really excited to finally be able to share art that is so close to my heart. I hope it inspires you to cherish beauty wherever you go.