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happy women's history month!
march's e-museletter contains:
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“i change myself, i change the world”
~ gloria anzaldua
welcome to women's history month and a continual celebration of all things feminine at tranquil space. march serves as a beautiful reminder of the abundance of choices available to those willing to push edges and create opportunity. a favorite mantra of mine has been, "edges pushed, boundaries held." i believe this ties in well to a muse focused on the celebration of women.
notice during your next yoga practice, when you are being challenged to do one more chaturanga or to soften into the asana of the month, do you become frustrated with the request or experience gratitude for being challenged? i see accepting challenge as being synonymous with empowerment. your ability to push edges both on and off the yoga mat makes for a less stagnant and more dynamic existence.
spend some time this month reflecting on areas in your life that feel stagnant and in need of change. it's spring and time for rebirth. for example, how long have you been complaining about your job, relationship, or living situation? what small steps can you take to begin making changes in these areas? or is the shift needed simply a change in attitude and perspective?
empower yourself with the realization that you are in your current situation by choice, and getting out of any position that no longer serves you is also a choice. as we all know, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. let your desire for change jump-start this journey today.
in addition, bring awareness to areas in your life that beg for you to exert power and hold boundaries. putting the needs of others before your own is a sure way to lose momentum in your own life direction. remember the importance of holding boundaries in your relationships and life experiences to conserve your power for pushing the edges of your own choosing. spring is a perfect time to take stock and do some housekeeping.
being a yogi is to be mindful of actions on a larger scale — a more global view. how can you assist in a continuation of freedom for all people? for example, donate to an international women's fund, volunteer at a domestic violence or homeless shelter, start a business catered to women, read a book about a powerful woman, mentor a fellow female, participate in a big sister program, head a fundraiser that supports a cause close to your heart, create a community for like-minded people.
celebrate the women in your life. celebrate the woman you were. celebrate the woman you've become. celebrate the woman you strive to be. celebrate the women who paved the path for your freedom. may march shower you with pride, gratitude for those that challenge and empower you, and an activist attitude for improving those areas that aren't at full potential, both individually and globally.
use march to bloom what has been dormant and germinating below the surface all winter.
 blooming with you,
kimberly wilson
peruse kimberly's blog and podcast for musings on yoga and lifestyle.
escape the city for a rejuvenating spring blossom retreat this friday-sunday with kimberly. dorm spaces still available.
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| - class schedule: tiny tweak in saturday schedule to harmonize studio flow. the 9:00 a.m. yoga 1, 10:30 a.m. yoga 3 and noon pre-natal classes in the upstairs sky studio will now start at 9:15 a.m., 10:45 a.m., and 12:15 p.m. visit webscheduler for all the scoop.
- we heard your requests in the survey and are putting our spring schedule together. interested in a two-hour weekend deepening your practice series? or in an early morning sunrise series? if so, let us know your time preferences and we'll make it happen! email info@tranquilspace.com.
- please note our schedule is adjusted quarterly to satisfy your needs. enjoy our class assortment catered to various levels and moods: yin/yang, restorative, yoga 1-3, slow flow, and more!
- click here for a description of how to sign up for classes early, buy more classes online, checking your pass status, and more!
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| - in celebration of women's history month, 10% off all women's tranquiliT tees.
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| - tranquility starter kit:
- tank or short sleeve tranquil space tee, 6-class pass, and newbie cd for $105: (save $23)
- boost your starter kit with a basic mat and mat bag of choice for an additional $55 (a $70 value!)
- no other discounts or promotions apply.
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| - tranquil space house account. leave your cash and credit cards at home by setting up a house account. see the friendly folks at the front desk for all the scoop.
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| - a gentle reminder that tranquil space is a cell phone free studio. please leave your cares, concerns, shoes, and cell phones at the door. thank you.
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- thank you for your amazing response to our month-long tranquility pass special. in support of our ongoing efforts to help yogis breathe better, we have planted 332 trees through the arbor day foundation.
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| - treat your friend to tranquility in the new year! bring this coupon and a friend to the studio to get a "2 for 1" at any of our weekday noon classes. pay only $17 for you and your fave friend to practice yoga. valid through march 31.
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- we have loads of inspiring lifestyle and yoga workshops scheduled this spring. newbie 4-week series starts march 5, pranic breathing with darren main, fluid power vinyasa with simon park, core strength: tap into your power, rock climbing and yoga, and doug swenson also returns in may for teacher training 3/fluid vinyasa intensive. visit enlightening events for ALL the scoop.
- interested in free yoga? visit studio opportunities for openings.
- our specialty spa includes more on-site tranquiliT treatments, including pregnancy massage, deep tissue massage, and more! save the date for an upcoming girls' night and spa kick-off on saturday, may 13. visit the redesigned treatments page for more information and to treat yourself to a treatment!
- contribute to tranquility — start your yoga practice as soon as you walk through the front door. read our student tips to assist you with your yoga practice on and off the mat!
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- read all the scoop on our bethesda studio.
- community celebration: our way to celebrate tranquil space yogis' honors and developments! please share your celebrations with us by emailing newsletter@tranquilspace.com.
- congrats to newbie series graduates: bonnie, vanessa, candie, saiko, denise, arnita, christina and sue! we can't wait to see your yoga practice unfold and grow!
- check out dc's own carrie bradshaw, tranquil space yogini melanie boyer, as she chronicles her own dating and mating misadventures and follies as the washington city paper sex columnist — about last night.
- congrats to former tranquil space yogini katharine tillman, who submitted the scientific manuscript she's been working on for A YEAR AND A HALF, and has a creative writing piece coming out in a couple months!
- congrats to former tranquil space teacher lisa farmer-richards, who has found a new studio home in denver at om time.
- congrats to kimberly wilson for being a nominee of the real hot 100. the REAL hot 100 is a list featuring young women from around the country who are breaking barriers, fighting stereotypes, and making a difference in their communities or the nation.
- share photos of you wearing tranquiliTees around the globe! to be featured in next month's newsletter, send photos to newsletter@tranquilspace.com. this month's feature is a blast from the past — terri doud in rome!
anne thiel
 i am afraid a lot — of a lot of things, a lot of the time. i can't tell you how many days a week i wake up in the morning anxiety-ridden, fantasizing about all the things that could possibly go wrong, convincing myself that the world is against me. often i don't even know what i am afraid of, i am just afraid, almost as if by definition. sometimes i think that i was simply born with that harried look on my face, that my constant worrying is a congenital abnormality that i simply have to live with. i have often felt trapped by these fears, especially when making important choices, e.g. about lifestyle or career, simply out of fear.
this does not mean that i have just been sitting in a glass house all of my life and have not accomplished anything, mind you. in fact, some would say i have accomplished quite a few things. i have delivered 500 babies, obtained a phd in german studies, moved to another continent. and yet, many of these things i did because i felt i had to, because i wanted to meet expectations and make other people happy — but not because i was dying to do them. in fact, somebody asked me not too long ago, what it would look like, if he gave me an empty canvas and asked me to paint on it a life according to my heart's dreams and desires. i didn't know. it would have been empty, i guess. whenever i tried to listen to my ‘inner voice' there was just plain silence. maybe the microphone was broken or the line disconnected, i wondered, or maybe it had left me after all these years of having been ignored?
 i wish i could tell you that magical yoga story at this point — the one, you know, in which you are an all-time stressed-out wreck the one day and then you go to one yoga class and you are a new person. only — it wouldn't be true. and yet, yoga has done a lot for me and my anxieties. it has taken me on a journey in which i first of all realized that i was afraid and that my fears were limiting me substantially. yoga taught me to simply witness these feelings and to examine what was behind them.
in addition, yoga has made me sensitive. learning that how the way i place my foot and ground my toes has an effect on whether my thigh and hip are externally or internally rotated, to discover these relationships, has made me sensitive to the effects feelings and thoughts have, where they trap me, color my day. it has, in other words, enabled me to look at the jail i was/am in, at the bars that were trapping me, at the story lines that constitute these barriers in my mind. and slowly, very slowly, i have been able in some cases to carefully dismantle the barriers one by one, or, in other cases, have found ways to move forward in spite of them. i am far from done with this process and have needed a lot of help, but i can see the bricks and bars coming down, little by little, one by one. and i see a bit more light, a little but more space in my life every day. i even was able to resume the conversation with my inner voice again, unearthing hidden dreams, uncovering layers of buried hopes.
 i was going to end my story here. but then something happened. on the day the photos you see embedded here arrived, not only was one bar removed, but the entire scaffolding developed a big crack and its foundation grew shaky. when i eagerly ripped open the envelope with pictures my aunt had sent me and looked at myself many years earlier, i burst into tears because i suddenly understood what yoga philosophy has been trying to teach me for the past six years. when i saw this little girl curiously examining the climbing bars, smiling excitedly at the (then) risky process of climbing down a set of stairs, joyously playing the harmonica, i realized that i am not these fears that keep revisiting me and that there need not be any self-limiting barriers in my mind and heart.
it made me incredibly sad and incredibly hopeful at the same time to look at the little girl in these pictures; sad because i felt i had left her behind many years ago; hopeful, because it meant i could re-invite and welcome her into my life — and with her that joy and trust that she carried in her heart so long ago.
and so i hope that going forward, with this hope in my life, my inner voice will become louder and louder and tune out all other distractions so that i can find and walk my very own path.
“this is the hard work of your life in the world, to make it all up as you go along, to acknowledge the introvert, the clown, the artist, the reserved, the distraught, the goofball, the thinker. you will have to bend all your will not to march to the music that all of those great "theys" out there pipe on their flutes. they want you to go to professional school, to wear khakis, to pierce your navel, to bare your soul. these are the fashionable ways. the music is tinny, if you listen close enough. look inside. that way lies dancing to the melodies spun out by your own heart. this is a symphony. all the rest are jingles.” ~ anna quindlen
each month we choose a pose to focus on in each class through strong attention to alignment, variations, and/or modifications as a way to grow and expand our yogic horizons.
 headstand
benefits
- calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
- stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands
- strengthens the arms, legs, and spine
- strengthens the lungs
- tones the abdominal organs
- improves digestion
- helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- therapeutic for asthma, infertility, insomnia, and sinusitis
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this title is reserved for yogis who have shown a strong dedication to their practice, are enthusiastic about their growth, and enjoy sharing it with others.
 lisa gusty and jeff galyon
lisa:
i had wanted to try yoga for a while when my friend jeff suggested we check out tranquil space. i was immediately impressed with the care they took in introducing new yogis to the practice, and with all the charitable works the studio does. the readings teachers share at the beginning and end of classes often provide a thought to reflect on during the following days. these are things i would miss if i were just taking an exercise class at a gym. plus, everyone at the studio is always so nice and welcoming. danielle's saturday morning class is a time i look forward to every week. she helps me to work to my edge in familiar asanas, and introduces new, not-quite-yoga-one challenges to add to the list of things to explore. whenever i am daunted by a new pose, thinking i will never get it, i think about how difficult downward-facing dog once seemed, and how with practice and guidance it became attainable, and eventually almost natural. yoga is one of the strongest reminders that it's all about the journey. i am so happy to be practicing at tranquil space. it is truly a special place.
jeff:
i'm so honored and happy to be chosen yogi of the month. learning more about yoga over the last couple of years was one of the best decisions i ever made.
i love yoga! it has truly changed my life in so many ways:
- i feel great
- i'm much more fit and flexible
- i have more energy and stamina
- and i'm more positive and compassionate
yoga is an ideal fit for me and my urban lifestyle. after a yoga class i feel alive and connected. i'm more balanced and happy, and i feel more able to sustain my sense of equilibrium. as a matter of fact, yoga even helped me to realize that i might be more fulfilled in a different career as i recently began to explore massage therapy training.
i'd like to say a special thank you to danielle polen, an instructor at tranquil space. she inspired me from the start to learn more and reach further in my practice, and i'm so glad to know her. i've come so far since that first yoga class almost 2 years ago. and i feel like i've only scratched the surface.
what impresses me regularly is the gently supportive environment at tranquil space. i love the "go at your own pace" approach in class. and i've never felt any competition between yogis. who knew it would be possible to work out and have fun at the same time? i'm such a fan that i tell everybody i know to explore yoga at tranquil space.
i am genuinely grateful to be part of the yoga family at tranquil space.
namaste
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this title is reserved for members of our team who embody the tranquil space values, excel in their role at the studio, and have a passion for their practice.
 kevin waldorf-cruz
do you ever get bowled over by work, deadlines, commitments, should-have-dones, will-dos, and the like? do you feel that the mounds of things to do are insurmountable? when this happens, what happens to your breath? are you breathing? probably not. if you're like most washingtonians, your stress levels soar, your jaw clenches, your shoulders round forward, and your body goes into fight-or-flight mode. not a great place to be — well, at least not most of the time.
yoga helps bring balance to this chaos. through practice i have found the ability to "just breathe." as simple as breathing sounds, before yoga i don't think i did it too effectively. this took practice, frustration, more practice, and then finally allowing my breath to flow without hesitation. through yoga i've found a place where i can surrender my frustrations, awaken to my sensations, and just breathe. now that i've found it, i know i can always return to it.
the chaos of the world will always be there baiting frustration and aggravation. that will never go away. however, there's a way to soften one's reactivity in the midst of chaos. this is a journey that takes mindfulness, discipline, practice, and a smattering of compassion for self and others. it may not always be an easy trip. however, now that i have my tool-bag of yogic skills, i come back to it whenever chaos arises. facing the chaos with less resistance and being open the to the possibilities that exist. just breathe.
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clothing, accessories, and specialties to enrich your life on and off the mat
 tranquiliT boutique is a fusion of fashion and passion in celebration of yogis' bodies and spirits! tranquiliT boutique carries a delightful selection of comfy and chic lines that transition from the yoga mat to the market or museum. all pieces are hand picked by kimberly, made of luxurious fabrics that stretch with your body, and designed for nurturing your yoga lifestyle.
tranquil space's own line of yoga clothing and accessories, tranquiliT, is designed for the style-conscious yogini and has been featured in shape, lucky, fit yoga, the washingtonian, and the washington post.
tranquiliT boutique's featured item this month is the tranquiliT legging. this season's must-have for wearing to yoga, under skirts and tunics. lowrise waist and lettuce edging at the hem adds a feminine, fun touch. during the month of march, the tranquiliT legging is 15% off (in studio only). no other discounts apply.
specials valid through march 31, 2006
bring the tranquiliT trunk show to you. couple it with a yoga practice for your fave girlfriends, add chair massage to help destress, or simply set up for retail therapy. for all the scoop, contact info@tranquiliTboutique.com.
to receive seasonal updates and discounts on the tranquiliT line, along with musings on yoga for the modern girl, click here. read the latest edition of tranquiliT times.
in alignment with our values, a portion of the tranquiliT proceeds are donated to my sister's place — a local organization committed to eradicating domestic violence.
 at tranquil space we believe that yoga is a lifestyle. the tranquil space specialty spa is an urban oasis where you can nurture your body and soothe your soul with tranquiliT treatments — specialty services that cater to the yogi spirit.
how can tranquiliT treatments benefit you:
- reduce stress and enhance relaxation
- relieve muscle tension and stiffness
- reduce muscles spasms
- aid healing of strained muscles and reduce formation of excessive scar tissue
- provide greater range of motion and joint flexibility
- promote deeper and easier breathing
- improve circulation of blood and lymph
- reduce blood pressure
- improve posture
- strengthen the immune system
- enhance capacity for calm thinking and creativity
- increase awareness of mind-body connection
- develop and enhance your practice on and off the yoga mat
- foster a feeling of well-being and peace of mind
for information about transformational life counseling with peg, see our tlc page.
our spa menu includes:
| - join tranquil space in penn quarter on tuesdays at noon. your dupont class pass is transferrable. sign up for class online. click here for details!
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- rent the studio for your own practice or event.
- baby corner: be part of our prenatal and baby & me programs. to receive the special tranquil space newsletter catered to moms-to-be and new yogini moms, email anne@tranquilspace.com or carol@tranquilspace.com. share your beloved babies with us. send photos and names to webmaster@tranquilspace.com. view our latest additions!
- private sessions are available at the studio or your home.
- create a tranquil space at your office! tranquil space offers classes at your office and office yoga workshops! to schedule yours, please contact gina@tranquilspace.com.
- please familiarize yourself with tranquil space's student tips.
- sign up in advance for class, check your class pass status, and see who's teaching with webscheduler.
- please arrive 15 minutes early to guarantee your space.
- share your thoughts: a suggestion box in the swirlie hallway and a mailbox on the studio line (202.223.yoga) awaits any comments, praise, or requests our yogis may have. or fill out our online studio survey. view our our comment corner to read our replies. thank you for sharing your practice with us!
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deepening your practice:
• core strength: tap into your power (sunday, march 19, 12:30 - 2:30 p.m.)
• pranic breathing: advanced yogic breathing, with darren john main (sunday, march 26, 12:00 - 2:30 p.m.)
• seasonal reflections with yin yoga (sunday, march 26, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.)
• fluid power vinyasa, with simon park (sunday, april 2, 12:00 - 2:30 p.m.)
• rock climbing and yoga (sunday, april 9, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
• float into yoga 3 (sunday, april 30, 12:30 - 2:30 p.m.)
• teacher training 3: fluid power intensive with doug swenson (may 19-21)
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special studio celebrations / charity events:
• doga in the park (saturday, may 13, 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.)
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 the mission of tranquil space is to provide a nurturing environment that encourages the unfolding of a creative yoga practice that is carried off the yoga mat into one's daily life.
 the vision of tranquil space is to use yoga as a catalyst to live life fully and consciously.
tranquil space dupont
2024 p street, nw
washington, dc 20036 |
tranquil space bethesda
7475 wisconsin ave, suite 8
bethesda, md 20814 |
tranquil space penn quarter
first trinity lutheran church
4th & e streets, nw
washington, dc 20001 |
© 2006 tranquil space, llc. all rights reserved.
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