gravitational relationships

north country pop-up class + heart-centered practices for February♡

Feb 09, 2026

Hello, and a belated Happy February to you ➳❥

The end of January brought with it a foot of snow and a week of closures & shake-ups. Maryland does not handle snow as efficiently as New York, so it was disorienting in a pleasant way. I cancelled my classes and in-home client visits, my daughter’s school was closed (for three days??), we made soup and hot chocolate, played outside, went for some slippery walks and watched a lot of Little Bear. I love finding myself homebound “against my will,” and I love a last minute cancellation ♋︎

Gravitational Relationships

Last week, I themed my in-studio class around gravity. Tuning into the hug of gravity within our bodies as a way of relaxing more fully, yes— and also exploring the relationship of certain yoga postures *to* gravity. In other words, taking the same shape and flipping it around- exploring it on our backs, standing, on our sides, prone. Many of my students have knee issues, hip issues, wrist issues, and some of the more traditional poses don’t always suit them. Lizard Pose, for instance, can become Half Happy Baby — or vice versa. Utthita Hasta Padanghusthasana can be flipped on its back to become Supta Hasta Padanghusthasana. Turn it on its side and it becomes Vishnu’s Couch. Beloved (but sometimes inaccessible) “hip-openers,” like Pigeon Pose and Gomukhasana, can be practiced on your back, cradling the leg(s) into the chest in order to soften and control the pressure placed on the knee. Forward folds may be taken in seated or standing positions (or even on your back!) depending on how you’re feeling that day, and you can observe any interesting differences in sensation in the low back and hamstrings between the seated, standing and supine variations.

It’s valuable to try this out with more challenging poses, too. The arm balance Crow can be worked with on its back to build strength & familiarity. Handstand can be practiced on the belly with hands against the wall, or even standing up. You might feel a bit silly doing an “upside down handstand” with your hands pressing up into nothing, but stay for several breaths and you’ll quickly learn that bringing that same “handstand energy” into it is harder than it looks! Reimagining the way these more advanced postures relate to gravity is a great way to help you build up to them. It allows you to clearly sense and strengthen the muscles that need to engage and to understand the form that must be established, so that you can practice the pose in a low-pressure, safe, and precise way first.

When you start to recognize how often the same shapes show up in different “gravitational relationships” in yoga, it empowers you to adapt almost any yoga class to your unique body, honoring both its abilities and limitations. The teacher may call out bird-dogs during warm-ups, for example, but today your knees and wrists are tender- flip it over and do some dead-bugs instead. See what I mean?

This may contain: an old book with pictures of women doing different poses — source

North Country Pop-Up Class

I’ll be back up North for a short spell next month, and toying with teaching a pop-up class at Pinnacle Yoga & Retreat Center on Sunday, March 15th. Class would be in the evening, probably a slow flow. North Country locals, any interest?

Other things:

We have just 2 more meet-ups on the calendar for our Sunday morning meditation group. It’s never too late to join in — pop your name and email in the sign up form to get the Zoom links. I don’t record these; they are free, one-off micro practices, and I like the ephemerality of them. Check your junk folder if you signed up but aren’t receiving the emails.

This free Yin + Acupressure class from the ever-inspiring Gabrielle Harris was lovely.
We did a little midwinter simmer pot ritual a few weekends ago. We put orange & lemon slices, vanilla, rosemary and bay leaves with intentions written on them in a pot, and let it simmer all evening.
A nice (GF) apple oat muffin recipe.
All Mothers Are Bodhisattvas from Tricycle Mag.
I made this baby hat for a client who will have her baby any day now. It had been awhile since I’d done any knitting and I found this to be a gentle, low-pressure way to ease back into it, since the whole thing is done with garter stitches. This is the pattern/video I used.
Made this playlist based off of Suffragette Records’ recent “Gentle Albums for Dark Times” recs. It’s real nice in the background on a cold morning: