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Mountain of Memory by Emancipator – my review for LA Yoga Magazine

April 30, 2020 By Aria

Mountain of Memory by Emancipator

By Aria Morgan|April 15th, 2020|Music|0 Comments

Emancipator Artists promoting Mountains of Memory

Mountain of Memory is An Exquisite Complement to Your Next Flow

Mountain of Memory is by Douglas Appling, aka Emancipator. Emancipator is an American DJ and Producer based in Portland, Oregon, known for his downtempo, ambient, dub and trip-hop influenced sets.

Emancipator’s first album was released in 2006, while he was still in college. He has released an album every three to four years since then. Often described as the Zen DJ, Emancipator is beloved in the yoga scene as someone whose meditative music transcends boundaries and evokes inner contemplation. Emancipator describes music as “a way to transcend your earthly moments, and kind of elevate your mind to a higher place through music. And whatever spiritual energy I do feel, music is an outlet for that for me.” (VIBE interview, 2013.)

Doug DJ Emancipator

Emancipator’s Mountain of Memory, offers soft lilting melodies, juicy beats, and symphonic conversations that range from deep soothing vibes to funky, syncopated world rhythms. Simultaneously uplifting, mellow, ethereal, and funky, this album offers a perfect complement to your next yoga practice or studio flow class.

On the whole, Mountain of Memory veers towards eclectic downtempo, with a delicious inclusion of acoustic and electronic elements such as softened breaks and bass, Flamenco rhythms, Caribbean percussion, boom bap beats that harken back to late 80s/early 90s East Coast hip hop, and unique musical elements such as the Persian dilruba as well as dubbed opera singers. Throughout, there emerges a steady bubbly, afterhours, café-near-the-sea vibe.

Emancipator at the Piano

My favorite flow tracks are “Blue Dream” and Himalayan,” reminiscent of an otherworldly magical land of fairies and nymph-like goddesses. Both tracks use wavy, dreamy melodies that float through surreal expansions and contractions of energy which invite our spirits to expand beyond the elements of this concrete world.

“Forged” employs near-rebellious whiffs of violins speckled with elements of funk and soul alongside surreal cascades of avantgarde classical music arrangements and great for asanas in which we need to focus, such as balance postures, which mimic the challenge of maintaining calm in our inner, wandering monkey mind.

Overall, Emancipator’s Mountain of Memory elicits a sense of joy rising to the surface. Of Tapas burned through to reveal the purity within us all, our inner Ananda, or Bliss. The album resembles a journey into our innermost self, of wandering through deep canyons and into peaks of inspiration, a lovely parallel to the pilgrimage of life.

Album Release & Tour with Emancipator

Mountain of Memory was released April 3, 2020 on Loci records. Emancipator will be touring the West Coast in mid-July, stopping in Santa Barbara on July 22, San Diego on July 23 and in Los Angeles on July 25.

Aria Morgan
Aria Morgan

Aria Morgan is a yoga teacher, doula and music lover who finds inspiration in nature: ariamorgan.com.

http://www.ariamorgan.com

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30 min Gentle Yoga with Aria – recorded live on ZOOM – Monday March 16

March 17, 2020 By Aria Leave a Comment

Well, it’s Monday March 16 and here in CA we are on lockdown, self-quarantining due to COVID-19. On Friday, as it seemed like things were heading in this direction, I posted a rambling few sentences on FB about how wouldn’t it be cool if we could all do yoga together, something to take our minds off of what was happening, and this video is the result of that post.

I’m offering up a week of FREE 30 minutes of Gentle Yoga, recorded live on ZOOM. It’s my gift to you. An experiment in community. Let’s see where this leads.

Today’s video below: Enjoy!

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My review of the documentary “The Portal,” for LA Yoga Magazine

November 7, 2019 By Aria Leave a Comment

The Portal, a Documentary on Meditation and the Power of the Human Mind

By Aria Morgan |October 31st, 2019|Film|0 Comments
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person doing yoga in the film The Portal

How our Minds Can Collectively Shift the Course of Humanity

The documentary The Portal explores the power of meditation and the positive outcomes that emerge from committing to a mindfulness practice, such as inner stillness and interconnectivity between individuals and all living beings. The film offers up the possibility that mass meditation carries the potential to shift humanity and our planet into the next stage of our evolutionary development.

Human stories come to life through the inner minds and experiences of six characters. Their experiences are flawlessly interwoven with behavioral science and the theories of futurists and philosophers.

Each character shares a highly compelling life story and circumstance; each uses meditation to regain a love for and appreciation of life and themselves. The result is powerful and honest. The film evokes unwavering compassion and interest for our characters accompanied by potent commentary on the effects of meditation on the individual and the collective.

The Portal film poster

One of the film’s prominent thinkers, Robotics Engineer Mikey Siegal, relates his thoughts on interconnectivity in the modern age. “We are living in a very unique time because almost every crisis on the planet is a human-generated one. Natural disasters may be amplified by global warming and climate change, but the problem that we’re facing is a human problem.”

Siegal follows with a dynamic resolution, “By definition, if there is a human problem, then humans have the power to change it, and in doing so, the power to shift the course of humanity.”

As a cinematic expression, The Portal employs a hybrid documentary technique, making use of animation, archival footage and cinematic re-enactments alongside interviews and stock footage to highlight the narrative.

Filmed in the USA, Canada, Australia and a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, The Portal blends human experience with scientific research into Love and Empathy. Well-paced, beautifully shot and edited, it effortless weaves philosophical contemplations on the evolutionary capacity of humankind throughout.

See The Portal

The Portal opens in Laemmle Santa Monica on Friday November 1 and will be showing in theaters across the U.S.

Aria Morgan 

Aria Morgan is a writer, yoga teacher and birth coach who loves music, dancing and the outdoors. www.ariamorgan.com

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“The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to preferences…”

July 17, 2019 By Aria

Hsin-hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind

By Seng-ts’an, Third Chinese Patriarch

Translated By Richard B. Clarke


The Great Way is not difficult
for those not attached to preferences.
When not attached to love or hate,
all is clear and undisguised.
Separate by the smallest amount, however,
and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth.

If you wish to know the truth,
then hold to no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.

When the fundamental nature of things is not recognized
the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect as vast space is perfect,
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.

Indeed, it is due to our grasping and rejecting
that we do not know the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in ideas or feelings of emptiness.
Be serene and at one with things
and erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity to achieve quietude,
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain attached to one extreme or another
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the Single Way
cannot be free in either activity or quietude, in assertion or denial.

Deny the reality of things
and you miss their reality;
assert the emptiness of things
and you miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it
the further you wander from the truth.
So cease attachment to talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

To return to the root is to find the essence,
but to pursue appearances or “enlightenment” is to miss the source.
To awaken even for a moment
is to go beyond appearance and emptiness.

Changes that seem to occur in the empty world
we make real only because of our ignorance.

Do not seek for the truth;
Only cease to cherish opinions.

Do not remain in a dualistic state;
avoid such easy habits carefully.
If you attach even to a trace
of this and that, of right and wrong,
the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities arise from the One,
do not be attached even to ideas of this One.

When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
there is no objection to anything in the world;
and when there is no objection to anything,
things cease to be— in the old way.
When no discriminating attachment arises,
the old mind ceases to exist.
Let go of things as separate existences
and mind too vanishes.
Likewise when the thinking subject vanishes
so too do the objects created by mind.

The arising of other gives rise to self;
giving rise to self generates others.
Know these seeming two as facets
of the One Fundamental Reality.
In this Emptiness, these two are really one—
and each contains all phenomena.
If not comparing, nor attached to “refined” and “vulgar”—
you will not fall into judgment and opinion.

The Great Way is embracing and spacious—
to live in it is neither easy nor difficult.
Those who rely on limited views are fearful and irresolute:
The faster they hurry, the slower they go.
To have a narrow mind,
and to be attached to getting enlightenment
is to lose one’s center and go astray.
When one is free from attachment,
all things are as they are,
and there is neither coming nor going.

When in harmony with the nature of things, your own fundamental nature,
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
However, when mind is in bondage, the truth is hidden,
and everything is murky and unclear,
and the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from attachment to distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way,
do not dislike the worlds of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to embrace them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise person attaches to no goals
but the foolish person fetters himself or herself.
There is one Dharma, without differentiation.
Distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the discriminating mind
is the greatest of mistakes.

Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment, attachment to liking and disliking ceases.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams, phantoms, hallucinations—
it is foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong; finally abandon all such thoughts at once.

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.
To realize the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen without differentiation,
the One Self-essence is everywhere revealed.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state of just this One.

When movement stops, there is no movement—
and when no movement, there is no stopping.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate state
no law or description applies.

For the Realized mind at one with the Way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and the Truth is confirmed in you.
With a single stroke you are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to you and you hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no need to exert the mind.
Here, thinking, feeling, understanding, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world “as it really is”
there is neither self nor other-than-self.

To know this Reality directly
is possible only through practicing non-duality.
When you live this non-separation,
all things manifest the One, and nothing is excluded.
Whoever comes to enlightenment, no matter when or where,
Realizes personally this fundamental Source.

This Dharma-truth has nothing to do with big or small, with time and space.
Here a single thought is as ten thousand years.
Not here, not there—
but everywhere always right before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small: no difference,
for definitions are irrelevant
and no boundaries can be discerned.
So likewise with “existence” and “non-existence.”

Don’t waste your time in arguments and discussion
attempting to grasp the ungraspable.

Each thing reveals the One,
the One manifests as all things.
To live in this Realization
is not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live without separation,
and in this non-duality you are one with your Life-Source.

Words! Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is no yesterday,

no tomorrow

no today.


Imagine Being Here

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Longer Exhalations Are an Easy Way to Hack Your Vagus Nerve (repost from Psychology Today)

June 13, 2019 By Aria

Article take-away  – take long, slow, deep breaths. Emphasize a longer exhale than inhale. 

I love it when ancient practices and modern science resonate…. long story short – yogic breathing has scientific roots. My favorite quote from this article:

“It’s reassuring to have fresh research corroborate that each of us can trigger a “relaxation response” (Benson et al., 1975) simply by focusing on the inhalation-to-exhalation ratio of our breathing and consciously extending the length of each exhale while doing breathing exercises as we go about our day-to-day lives.”

Longer Exhalations Are an Easy Way to Hack Your Vagus Nerve

Respiratory vagus nerve stimulation (rVNS) counteracts fight-or-flight stress.

Christopher Bergland

repost: Psychology Today

Sebastian Kaulitzki/Shutterstock
Vagus nerve in yellow.
Source: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Shutterstock

Two years ago, I published a nine-part series, “The Vagus Nerve Survival Guide to Combat Fight-or-Flight Urges.” The genesis came from an “Aha!” moment when I noticed a pattern of diverse scientific literature published by researchers correlating unexpected lifestyle factors (e.g., positive social connections (Kok et al., 2013), narrative expressive writing(Bourassa et al., 2017), and self-distancing (Grossman et al., 2016)) with improved heart rate variability (HRV).

This post is a follow-up to “Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises and Your Vagus Nerve,” from that earlier series of posts. I’m excited to update what was primarily speculation a few years ago with some new scientific literature (Gerritsen & Band, 2018 and De Couck et al., 2019). These studies corroborate that longer exhalations are an easy way to hack the vagus nerve, combat fight-or-flight stress responses, and improve HRV.

What is HRV? Heart rate variability represents the healthy fluctuation in beat-to-beat intervals of a human or animal’s heart rate. During the inhalation phase of a breathing cycle, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) facilitates a brief acceleration of heart rate; during exhalation, the vagus nerve secretes a transmitter substance (ACh) which causes deceleration within beat-to-beat intervals via the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

HRV is used to index the robustness of someone’s vagus nerve responses and vagal tone (VT). Higher HRV is associated with stronger vagus nerve function, lower chronic stress levels, better overall health, and improved cognition.

Although clinical research on HRV doesn’t always discuss the vagus nerve, it’s well established that HRV is an effective way to index vagal tone and gauge the robustness of someone’s physiological ability to counteract SNS-driven fight-or-flight stress responses.

Nota bene: I grew up in a household with a neuroscientist father, Richard Bergland (1932-2007), who was also the author of The Fabric of Mind. My dad idolized Nobel-prize winner Otto Loewi (1873-1961), who discovered the first neurotransmitter (acetylcholine), which is the chief neurotransmitter of the PNS. What we now refer to as acetylcholine or ACh was originally coined “vagusstoff” (German for “vagus substance”) by Loewi around 1921.

In a simple but elegant experiment on frogs (that came to Loewi as aEureka! moment in a dream), he found that a tranquilizing substance squirted directly out of the vagus nerve onto the heart, which caused a frog’s heart rate to slow down immediately. (See, “How Does ‘Vagusstoff’ Calm Us Down?“)

 Wikipedia/Creative Commons
Diagram of the frog heart preparation used by Otto Loewi. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) slows heart rate while accelerator (sympathetic nervous system) nerve stimulation speeds up heart rate.
Source: Wikipedia/Creative Commons

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As a tennis player, my father used the same breathing techniques he used in his neurosurgery operating room to stay calm. He taught me the basics of how to use deep, slow breathing techniques to hack the vagus nerve and slow down my heart rate, just like a frog in Loewi’s lab.

Dad kept his neuroscience lessons on the tennis court simple. He’d say, “If you want to maintain grace under pressure, visualize squirting some vagusstoff into your nervous system by taking a deep breath—with a big inhale and a long, slow exhale—as you bounce the ball four times before every serve.”

Without going into too much detail, my father taught me that by increasing the duration of my exhale after taking a deep breath, I could trigger my vagus nerve to squirt out some stress-busting “vagusstoff” on demand. This “stuff” was like a self-made tranquilizer that would relax my nerves and help me avoid choking or double-faulting during match points.

Later, as a student at Hampshire College, I practiced yoga regularly and was guided by an instructor who also emphasized the importance of focusing on the inhalation/exhalation ratio during yogic breathing exercises. Although he didn’t mention anything to do with neurobiology or psychophysiology, it was clear that many of my instructor’s breathing techniques emphasized longer exhalations, just like my father had taught me.

Based solely on life experience, I saw a parallel and had a hunch that these centuries-old methods of shifting the inhalation/exhalation ratio that often had long-winded Sanskrit names such as “bhastrika pranayama” were ancient vagal maneuvers unwittingly designed to hack the vagus nerve long before Otto Loewi discovered vagusstoff.

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It’s reassuring to have fresh research corroborate that each of us can trigger a “relaxation response” (Benson et al., 1975) simply by focusing on the inhalation-to-exhalation ratio of our breathing and consciously extending the length of each exhale while doing breathing exercises as we go about our day-to-day lives.

Wellcome Library/Public Domain
Early anatomical drawing of the “wandering” vagus nerve.
Source: Wellcome Library/Public Domain

New Research Identifies Multiple Benefits of Longer Exhalations 

In 2018, Roderik Gerritsen and Guido Bandof Leiden University in the Netherlands published a detailed theoretical review, “Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity,” in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. This review presents a wide range of studies that illustrate how slower respiration rates and longer exhalations phasically and tonically stimulate the vagus nerve. Using diaphragmatic breathing techniques to kickstart the calming “rest and digest” influence of the parasympathetic nervous system is referred to as respiratory vagus nerve stimulation (rVNS). (For more on traditional VNS and non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) see here, here, here, and here.)

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Throughout their paper, Gerritsen and Band explain how the latest research on rVNS fits into a historical timeline of other techniques used to harness runaway fight-or-flight stress responses and calm the autonomic nervous system. The authors write:

“The breathing techniques used in contemplative activities (e.g., meditation, yoga, tai chi) include, but are not restricted to, slowing down respiration cycles, shifting to longer exhalations compared to inhalations, shifting the main locus of respiration from the thorax to the abdomen (diaphragmatic breathing), or paying attention to “natural” breathing. Especially slow and deep breathing with emphasis on long exhalation is dominant across traditions, including zen and vipassana—though there are a few practices stimulating faster respiration patterns (i.e., the yoga technique “breath of fire”). The [vagus] nerve, as a proponent of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), is the prime candidate in explaining the effects of contemplative practices on health, mental health and cognition.

Frequently adopting these respiration patterns (slowed and with longer exhalations) can explain a significant part of the efficacy found within contemplative activity practice. Though contemplative activities are diverse, they have shown a similar pattern of beneficial effects on health, mental health, and cognition: mostly in stress-related conditions and performance. This pattern can be explained by these controlled breathing exercises.

Clearly, these functions all move the system towards the rest-and-digest mode of operation and away from fight-or-flight. Not only does [the] vagus nerve control heart rate and slow deep breathing; slow respiration rates with extended exhalation could also activate the PNS by vagus nerve afferent function in the airways. This is a form of respiratory biofeedback. Slow breathing techniques with long exhalation will signal a state of relaxation by the vagus nerve, resulting in more VN activity and further relaxation. Though VN involvement can explain the effects on health and mental health, the link with cognition is less clear. One of the links between respiration and cognition is HRV.”

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Another recent study (De Couck et al., 2019) published this month, “How Breathing Can Help You Make Better Decisions: Two Studies on the Effects of Breathing Patterns on Heart Rate Variability and Decision-Making in Business Cases,” reports that just two minutes of deep breathing with longer exhalation engages the vagus nerve, increases HRV, and improves decision-making. These findings were published in the May issue of the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

This two-pronged study was conducted by researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. The first arm of this study found that both slow deep “symmetric” breathing patterns (with an equal ratio of inhaling/exhalation timing) and skewed “vagus nerve” breathing patterns (with a longer exhalation than inhalation) significantly increased HRV.

WikiVisual/Creative Commons
Source: WikiVisual/Creative Commons

The second arm of this study asked one group of participants to perform two minutes of skewed vagus nerve breathing before taking a 30-minute decision-making test. The control group watched a video and did not focus on breathing patterns. Notably, participants in the group who focused on breathing patterns with longer exhalations for two minutes reported lower levels of stress and provided a significantly higher percentage of correct answers to business-related test questions than controls. The authors conclude, “These studies show that brief vagal breathing patterns reliably increase HRV and improve decision-making.”

A myriad of breathing patterns can improve HRV. That said, based on the latest research, practicing rVNS breathing via longer exhalations for just two minutes appears to be an easy way to hack the vagus nerve and calm one’s nervous system.

One gadget-free way to track the timing of your inhalation-to-exhalation breathing cycles per minute is to use a 4:8 ratio of four-second inhalations and eight-second exhalations. This breathing cycle takes 12 seconds which equates to five inhalation/exhalation cycles per minute. Based on road-tested outcomes, I really like the 4:8 ratio because it’s easy to use my right hand to count up to five with each digit and use the fingers on my left hand like an abacus to keep track of each one-minute cycle.

Anytime you want to hack your vagus nerve to reduce stress or improve decision-making, a simple self-talk script could be: “I’m stressing out. In order to calm down so I can perform better on this decision-making task, I’m going to take two minutes (right now!) to do 10 rounds of vagus nerve breathing based on a 4:8 inhalation-to-exhalation ratio.”

During the four-second inhalation phase, I’d recommend breathing in through your nose—as you relax the back of your eyes and visualize filling up your lower diaphragm with oxygen—and slowly count to four. Then, I’d recommend exhaling through pursed lips (as if you’re blowing out lots of candles on a birthday cake) as you slowly count to eight.

Remember: If you’re feeling especially stressed out, you can increase your rVNS breathing time to five minutes or a total of 25 twelve-second 4:8 breathing cycles. Repeat as needed.

References

Roderik J. S. Gerritsen and Guido P. H. Band. “Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (First published online: October 9, 2018) DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00397

Marijke De Couck, Ralf Caers, Liza Musch, Johanna Fliegauf, Antonio Giangreco, and Yori Gidron. “How Breathing Can Help You Make Better Decisions: Two Studies on the Effects of Breathing Patterns on Heart Rate Variability and Decision-Making in Business Cases.” International Journal of Psychophysiology (First published online: March 1, 2019) DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.02.011

Kyle J. Bourassa, John J.B. Allen, Matthias R. Mehl, and David A. Sbarra. “The Impact of Narrative Expressive Writing on Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, and Blood Pressure Following Marital Separation.” Psychosomatic Medicine (First published: May 8, 2017) DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000475

Bethany E. Kok, Kimberly A. Coffey, Michael A. Cohn, Lahnna I. Catalino, Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk, Sara B. Algoe, Mary Brantley, and Barbara L. Fredrickson. “How Positive Emotions Build Physical Health: Perceived Positive Social Connections Account for the Upward Spiral Between Positive Emotions and Vagal Tone.” Psychological Science (First published: May 6, 2013) DOI: 10.1177/0956797612470827

Igor Grossmann, Baljinder K. Sahdra, and Joseph Ciarrochi. “A Heart and A Mind: Self-distancing Facilitates the Association Between Heart Rate Variability and Wise Reasoning.” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (First published: April 8, 2016) DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00068

Alli N McCoy and Yong Siang Tan. “Otto Loewi (1873–1961): Dreamer and Nobel Laureate” Singapore Medical Journal (First published: January 2014) DOI: 10.11622/smedj.2014002

Herbert Benson, Martha M. Greenwood, and Helen Klemchuk. “The Relaxation Response: Psychophysiologic Aspects and Clinical Applications” The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine (First published: March 1, 1975) DOI: 10.2190/376W-E4MT-QM6Q-H0UM

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About the Author

Christopher Bergland is a world-class endurance athlete, coach, author, and political activist.

In Print:
The Athlete’s Way: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss
Online:
www.theathletesway.com
 
 
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Free Pregnancy Workshop with Aria and Susan at Goorus Yoga

October 28, 2018 By Aria

Free Pregnancy Workshop with Aria and Susan at Goorus Yoga

Goorus Yoga Birth workshop with Aria and Susan

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