Current Newsletters - Jill Sand Consulting
Namaste All!
It seems hard to think about fall when today is such a perfect summer day! In fact, I am writing this while sitting outdoors, with kitties wandering over the keyboards! I will blame any spelling errors on them! Haha!
Below the Fall Schedules you will find a great article on summer heart opening. We have been working with this all summer long, as we lift and open our hearts. This week I shared with our yogis the idea of thinking about our front hearts being the center of our own love that we give and receive, while the back heart represents the love we receive from our Source of faith. With yoga, as with life, we work to balance the two: opening the front heart, and then opening the back heart. I love the article, because it also incorporates the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Heart.
EnJOY!
Jill
Fall Yoga Schedule
Our next ten-week session at the Home Studio begins the week of August 27. Classes will start outdoors and then move indoors as the weather dictates. I will be keeping one Tibetan Rites Yoga class, Thursday mornings from 7:45-8:15. It will precede the regular morning yoga class. This class is for all who want to continue their Tibetan Rites into the fall. We'll see if we get enough interested yoginis to make this happen!
JSC Home Studio Fall Schedule
Tuesdays 8:15-9:15AM (Regular Yoga), 6:00-7:00PM (Regular Yoga),
7:15-8:30PM (Advanced Yoga)
Thursdays 7:45-8:15AM (Tibetan Yoga), 8:15-9:15AM (Regular Yoga),
6:00-7:00PM (Regular Yoga)
These classes do fill up quickly, so please sign up right away to hold your spot.
I will be finalizing all my classes throughout the various locations in the next couple weeks, so watch for my complete schedule at that time.
Saturday Yoga Class - Partner Yoga!
Saturday, September 8 (avoiding Labor Day weekend) 8:30-10:00AM
Bring a partner or come by yourself and I'll partner you up!
$10/person
September Women's Circle - Saturday Yoga and Wellness Retreat!!
Jeff has informed me that he will be going on weekend fishing trip in September, dates not yet selected. I will be hosting a Saturday Yoga and Wellness Retreat on that day. I am pulling information together right now, and it looks to be a fun day which will include 2 yoga classes, a workshop, and a Circle.
10 classes (1/week) $75
20 classes (2/week) $140
30 classes (3/week) $195
JSC Eden Prairie Fall Schedule
Classes are starting to form at the Eden Prairie Police Department. Our new schedule there starts the week of September 3 (Labor Day, no classes) and goes through Monday, November 5 (make up day for Labor Day). This 9-week session includes bringing back our Tuesday Noon classes!
JSC Shakopee Schools Fall Schedule
TBD. All interested staff will need to send out an email to their entire staff for interest and get back to me ASAP. My schedule will fill up quickly, so to ensure you get your favorite day and time, a quick response is necessary. Thank you!
More information to follow.
Registration is OPEN!
Mayan Riviera Energy and Yoga Retreat
November 7- 14, 2012 at Casa del Sol on the Mayan Riviera
Join Laurie Wondra and myself in taking advantage of the universal energies to assist us in moving forward through the portal of 11:11:11. This timeframe is the opening for the beginning of possibilities at a higher frequency. As we open and clear our energies, we create space for these refined energies to develop. When we are able to open to these higher dimensional energies, be develop greater spiritual gifts, or we become aware of the gifts we already had. We awaken to both.
This energy and yoga retreat focuses on the 7 chakras in the 3rd dimension plane, and then understanding and moving into the 4th and 5th dimensions of higher energy. Each higher dimension's energy frequency is more and more subtle and refined.
Contact myself or Laurie at laurie@yourlifecore.com 612-584-8673 to register. This retreat will fill fast, and so if you THINK this might be the right retreat for you, you are RIGHT ON!
Yoga on the beach!!

Summertime Heart Openers from TCM and Yoga
In yoga, we are often reminded to work toward “opening the heart”. Doing so opens up the chest by creating greater space in the ribcage for the lungs and the heart. It also means allowing for the sharing of love and compassion. In the same way, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) relates to both the physical heart as well as the emotional and energetic *Heart. The physical heart pumps blood to the rest of the body. Its powerful muscles are in constant rhythmic motion. We all know that without this pump (or something to pump for it), we cease to live.
The TCM Heart connects to the Small Intestines and one of the functions of both organs is to absorb information from the outside world. The Small Intestines absorb food energy and nutrients. The Heart absorbs information about the emotional energies around us. For these two main functions, the Heart is considered the “king” organ in TCM.
Summertime is when the Heart and Small Intestine energies are at their peak, so summer is a particularly important time to practice opening your heart/Heart. In addition to practicing heart openers, you can try some of the following:
1. Feel joy. When you experience the emotion of joy, you feed the Heart as that is its primary emotion. Seek out people and things that bring you joy.
2. Give. Giving helps us connect with others and bring more joy into our lives. Remember to practice compassion with yourself as well and allow yourself to receive.
3. Eat bitter foods. Bitter is the flavour related to the Heart and many of us do not eat enough bitter foods like bitter melon, olives, dandelion greens, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy. Even coffee, yerba mate, and dark chocolate are bitter foods that have some health benefits, but it is wise to limit these particular bitter foods.
4. Exercise your heart. Practicing elevating your heart rate with exercise helps to strengthen it. Conversely, remember to practice slowing your heart rate with meditation and/or deep breathing exercises.
5. Get your essential fatty acids from supplements or foods like ground flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and fish oils. These key nutrients are important for cardiovascular health.
6. Some heart-healthy herbs and supplements include hawthorn berries (Chinese herb shan zha), coenzyme Q10, magnesium, calcium, B3, B6, B12, and folic acid.
7. Finally, manage your stress and get plenty of sleep.
Take care of your heart/Heart and long live your “king”.
* To clarify the differentiation between the Traditional Chinese Medicine organ systems and the biological organ systems, all TCM organ names have been capitalized.
Dr. Melissa Carr is a registered Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a B.Sc. in Kinesiology. After ten years of running her own practice, she has recently joined an integrative medicine team where she is still happily showing that an ancient medicine is also a progressive modern medicine.
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