Lavender Sky Yoga is about being one with the universe
and feeling a link to all of life.
"A heart aligned with love, immersed in oneness, will affect life around it more than we can know."
– Llewelyn van lee

		Tara Engeran is the teacher at Lavender Sky Yoga, certified through the Yoga Alliance since 2001. Her studies in yoga began in 1995 in the Iyengar Tradition. She is also certified in Pilates Mat since 2000 with Physical Mind. In 2004 and 2005 Tara was certified in Vortex Energy Healing at the basic and advanced level. Tara's teacher presently is Dona Holleman of the Centered Yoga tradition. Tara travels twice a year to study with Dona in Soino del Lago, Italy. Over the years, she has studied with many other well know national and international teachers. Tara's experience as a yoga teacher in the southern Louisiana area has allowed her to work with a variety of students. She has had the opportunity to work with students who want to deepen their practice as yoga teachers, as well as athletes, children, prenatal and postnatal women, and individuals healing from surgery or illness.
Practicing Yoga is such a gift. It allows each person to open their heart more and be in community. Through practice on and off the mat, your light begins to shine more and more and you find your own Truth. Through each person this world can change, grow and evolve to a higher place of love and bliss!

We begin with an inner awareness by infusing the 8 vital principles of the Centered Yoga tradition into our yoga practice.

The meditative state of mind. Relaxation Intent Rooting or the use of gravity. Centering Aligning Breathing Elongating

When we are Centered and balanced, we can flow in everyday life. Everything is smoother, calmer, and more relaxed. When we are Centered in the body, ideally all movements should flow into the Hara and flow out of it again. This happens with the Chi energy.

Chi Energy has its center in the Hara and is more subtle than muscular force. It is the energy, the force that moves from the Earth through the feet and into the rest of the body. Your Chi is in action when you move with a minimum of effort, resulting in lightness, vigor, correctness and beauty.

The Hara is the center of the pelvis between the navel and pubic bone. The asanas are the reorganization of the various parts of the body around the Hara. Without its awareness, one loses 80% of its power as a balancing center of stability.

On the physical level it stands for the center of gravity; on the spiritual level it stands for the seat of the spirit. It is the point through which the vertical force of gravity travels and is therefore the center of gravity or the point around which the human being keeps itself in balance. Any disturbance here will disturb the balance of the body (and can contribute to the disturbance of the mind and emotions). Every asana begins and ends with your center of gravity and your body moves softly and relaxed around this center.

Wu-Wei or Not-Doing is to move fluently with the forces, the body, and the mind, not fighting our way through things. For this, the mind and body have to be in a state of quiescence in order to reflect without distortion of the here and now. Patanjali states that the mind should be colorless like a crystal which reflects whatever object it is put on. The Greeks said: gnoti seauton, or know yourself. This self-knowledge is the self-reflection of the mind and the body, emptied of all thought and actions. Then the mind and body are in direct contact with the here and now in which the observer, the observed and the act of observation are one (the core of both Patanjali's and Krishnamurti's teaching). Once the body and mind are made quiet through self-reflection, one can stay in this state for a while, or one can move back into acting. Projecting an act, a wish or intent in this state of mental and physical quiescence has extraordinary power to self-fulfill, as there are no thoughts, actions and emotions to interfere with it. This is called jan-zu, or the act-that-does-itself, and has been amply described in such classics as “Zen or the Art of Archery” by Herrigel.

Wu-Wei or Not-Doing in the Art of Yoga, as far as yoga is concerned, most students practice the asanas from the point of view of the physical body, as a purely physical exercise. This is called doing. Wu-wei or not-doing applied to the practice of yoga means that the attention is focused on the inner energy body more than on the outer physical body. Though the classical Hatha yoga asanas are performed with great mental and physical precision, they are at the same time integrated with a specific kind of breathing which forms the bridge between the outer physical body and the inner energy body. Aligning each posture on the force of gravity with its inherent rebound effect, which renders the body light and fluid, this breathing is guided to fill the inner energy body and to make it strong, resilient and vital. Thus, there is an enhanced capacity for recuperation from the negative influences of daily life. At the same time, the daily wear and tear on the body is minimized, as the body does not move from a mere muscular point of view, but rather from the vitality of the inner energy body. Moving the body from the inner energy body is called doing-without-doing, in which the postures flow like water (the-act-that-does-itself).