We must warm the heart, feel the glow of the inner light

"It is the experience of what resides deeply in your heart that gives rise to an illuminated mind, a mind filled with wisdom and knowledge, with understanding and compassion. You can think all you want, and get no where. It is the heart that illumines the mind, not the other way around.”

–- Chetananada

I have often said that our minds are too hot and our hearts too cold, and that we must warm the heart, feel the glow of the inner light as pure conscious awareness for the mind to be illuminated in a balanced state of yoga. 

With yoga, we are able to step out of the reactive habit of worry, doubt, and/or fear and take action from a decerning place of clarity that arises from a balanced state of mind, and arising from this state is an illuminated heart; the pure essence of one’s true nature or greater Self.

In these turbulent times of unrest and agitation of the small mind, we need the tools of yoga and the mindful focus meditation to be able to live in compassion and understanding that is not intellect but intelligence. This knowing arises when we are firmly established in our witness or in our source, our soul.

Yoga is a pathway into this higher consciousness and to be able to live in a balance state where we feel stable and confident to live to our highest potential. In our busy, crazy over-extended world, these ancient practices are needed more than ever.

I never wanted to be a yoga teacher when I embarked on my first yoga training in 1989. I just wanted to learn more about this ancient science that was offering me a gateway into my inner life. Today, I have surrendered into my passion of teaching and have found endless joy in sharing my heart with my students.

After many years of going deeper into the therapeutic yoga system, I have decided to offer a teacher’s training for those students that long to go into the philosophy and the physiology of yoga in a stuctured 200 hour teacher training program. Julie Pate and I are offering this course to bring our community together and nourish those that want and desire to understand these tools for enhancing the wellbeing of one’s life.

Yoga is a lifestyle of enhanced wellbeing that starts with learning the function of the asana and breath versus just the form. We'll go deeper into self study as it links to our inner desires to live authentically and in JOY.

Julie and I will be hosting a gathering this Saturday, October 14 from 3:30-4:30pm to further explain our program and answer questions that might be presented in thinking about going forward. You can also read more about the program here.

Furthermore, I am thrilled this month to host Shelly Craigo from the Himalayan Institute as we embark on a special practice of Rudra Yaga, turning darkness into light through our personal practice. Shelly is traveling to communities across the country to spread this message on how to participate on a personal and collective level, and we are fortunate to have her here at Yoga Among Friends to share this timeless practice with us.

Enjoy each day with love and light,

Laura Jane

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200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training
Information Meeting

SATURDAY OCTOBER 14, 3:30–4:30pm

Join Laura Jane Mellencamp-Murphy and Julie Pate to learn about a very unique program that will deepen your knowledge of yoga holistically and act as a gateway to open your heart to transformation. Perfect for everyone including nurses, psychologists, physical therapists, and others in health professions. 200 Hour Yoga teacher training starts January 2018 and will meet one weekend a month.

Interested, but can't make the meeting...  No worries! We'll be holding another meeting in November. Click the RSVP button below for details.

Laura Goes "On the Couch with Pazou"

Laura gives a light-hearted, engaging interview with Tanja Pazou about yoga and living consciously and mindfully through the heart.  Watch the 3 part video.

Note: The music stops and the interview starts 1:00 minute into the first video, which is listed at the bottom of the 3 videos on Pazou's website. 

Tanja Pazou has an extensive background in performance art and education, as well as production. She graduated with honors in Munich Germany and she furthered her education in London and Los Angeles. She has a segment on her website, "On the Couch with Pazou".

Where in the world is Laura? SYTAR and the Yoga Therapy Summit

I was honored last month to be able to attend the International Association of Yoga Therapy's annual symposium in Newport, CA.

I was so excited to return to the West Coast as a speaker and presented my story of creating an intention and living a commitment to teaching and working in the holistic healing world of yoga therapy.

I have always called myself a Yoga Therapist and always preferred the heart-to-heart connection of meeting students one-on-one to refine the chatter of misdirected thoughts that no longer serve the well being of the soul.

Having left LA in the 90s, I decided to create a life in the Midwest as a yoga teacher.

People were quite surprised that I would leave sunny and beautiful southern California for what I now call the “Land of Ugly” (from Nov. to April).

Yes, I too question how and why I ended up in Downers Grove, but I headed my inner voice and moved into the great unknown.

Today I am so proud of our profession.

I presented at the Symposium On Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) on how I have witnessed the shift in mental health to return to the somatic tools of experiencing the physical breath to relieve the anxiety in the system, to restore energy in the mind that is exhausted, and to remove the fear of depression with actual yoga practices. 

I also spoke on the valuable way the medical model is now referring their clients and the ways yoga is moving into holistic health as tools for both physical and mental heath.

Yoga Therapists are finding greater opportunities to work along side mainstream health care providers to provide life changing solutions and bill health insurance for their services.

This fall I am helping to produce, The Yoga Therapy Summit, where for the first time, many of the most respected teachers in the Krisnamacharya lineage are coming together to present in one place. 

The event is open to all students, teachers, therapists and any health providers that might want to learn more about how yoga works for life changing health and healing on all layers of the mind, body, and soul. 

The event is being held here in Oak Brook, IL. 

Please consider attending as this is a fantastic opportunity to learn from some of the best in the field of yoga.

 Click for more information on the summit and to register.

Yoga is finally coming back to its true purpose of being a pathway to healing.

It coaxes the body to be as strong and flexible as possible as it removes the tension and pain in the joints and spine as well as alleviates the stresses of the mind. 

I knew in the early 80’s when I started this journey that there was a greater purpose in healing and I am grateful I listened to that inner voice that just said, "DO IT!" 

For me, that meant coming to the Midwest and today, YAF is a center of healing compassion for all that want to claim a better life of feeling the glow of one’s own aliveness!

Enjoy each day with love and light,
Laura Jane