TRACY’S PILATES MAT
When: FRIDAYS– 7 AM
Where: SOUTH YUBA CLUB
130 W. BERRYHILL DR, GRASS VALLEY, CA
You must be a club member to attend these classes.
Weight Lifting With Healthy Alignment
Thursday, November 14, 3-4:30 PM PST
Location: Zoom
Cost: $25-$45 Sliding Scale. No one turned away for lack of funds. Pay what you can.
Register: tracy@fulllifeyogastudio.com
Description:
In this 1.5 hour workshop we will explore the latest research about the importance of weight bearing for bone health. We will discuss the importance of considering alignment for the long-term health of your joints and soft tissue. We can apply our new understanding of bio-tensegrity to how we lift weight, bear weight on our arms and legs in yoga, Pilates, weight lifting, foam roller work and other gym workouts.
During this workshop we will look at how to create stability and how to create space while lifting or bearing weight. This will be an active workshop with some screen share imagery and discussion to better understand the body while we lift and bear weight.
If you have 1, 3, 5, 8 or 10 pound hand weights and strap on ankle weights or a weight bar at home, have those handy during the workshop. If you do not have a weight bar, have a broom handle or long dowel to work on alignment you can later take to the gym.
Big Springs – Sierra Buttes, CA | July 2025
~ Inhale Mountain, Exhale River ~
~ A Women’s Retreat in Pristine Nature ~
Big Springs Retreat Center, Sierra City, CA
with Tracy Lease & Miyu Tamamura
4 nights, 5 days of celebrating summer
July 9th – 13th, 2025
To create this women’s circle we will breathe in the mountain air, listen to the flow of water, settle into our inner landscapes.
We will enjoy Qigong with a view of the Buttes, sitting and walking Meditation in the hall and forest, Restorative Yoga and special Sound Healing Meditation with Crystal Singing Bowls in Pristine Nature!
Beautiful walking trails, state of the art architecture, delicious vegetarian meals in a peaceful setting will nurture you.
Retreat Center:
We will enjoy Qigong with a view of the Buttes, sitting and walking Meditation in the hall and forest, Restorative Yoga and special Sound Healing Meditation with Crystal Singing Bowls in Pristine Nature!
Accomodations:
- Single rooms, Shared rooms and Tent Camping available.
Dates:
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July 9th – 13th, 2025
Retreat cost:
-
COMING SOON
Participant Numbers:
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20 participants min, 25 participants max.
Registration Email:
If you are a couple or would like a mixed-gender retreat at Big Springs, let us know. If we have the interest, we can hold two retreats at Big Springs this year.
Esalen – Big Sur Coast, CA | March 2025
~ Love Your Body Now: ~
A Yoga Therapy Approach to Joyous, Full Body Awareness As We Age
A Week-Long Yoga Workshop/Retreat
With Tracy Lease
@ Esalen Institute
Big Sur, California
Dates: March24-March 28th, 2025
Press Here for Full Description of this Retreat @ Esalen Institute
Press Here for Information on Accommodations & Costs
Press Here for Scholarship Information
If interested in a scholarship, apply as soon as possible.
If you have further questions, feel free to reach out to Esalen for help by email @ info@esalen.org or by phone: (831) 667-3000, Monday – Saturday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Pacific Time.
Whether you have been to Esalen or not, this is a chance to treat yourself to the rugged beauty of the Big Sur coast, the deep relaxation of the hot springs, the quiet of the meditation hut and gardens, delicious, healthy food made for you, and a week full of yoga growth, learning and joy.
The more we awaken to our bodies, the more we can care for them well~ and the better they will take care of us. In this workshop, we will learn, through Qigong, to move into our yoga postures with ease. As we take time to experience our poses and posture we will become more aware, feeling into our joints and movements. We will learn to relax even as we work in a practice. We will study the nuts and bolts of good alignment and expand our consciousness in the body through embodied inquiry. Come find the joy in getting to know yourself better through all eight limbs of yoga.
Fun & Fascinating Fascia (and Other Connective Tissue)
Wednesday, September 4, 3-4:30 PM PST
Location: Zoom
Cost: $25-$45 Sliding Scale. No one turned away for lack of funds. Pay what you can.
Register: tracy@fulllifeyogastudio.com
Description:
In this 1.5 hour workshop we will explore the latest research about fascia and delve into our growing understanding of the very important roles fascia (and other connective tissue) play in our bodies. We will participate in a mix of simple fascial release exercises, awakening activities, and movement to create space inside our myofascial webs.
The fascia may be what is tight in your bodies, not the muscles. When you say, “I have tight hamstrings,” it may be better to say, “the fascial layers around and between my hamstrings are stiff, adhered to one another, dehydrated…” Come learn ways to think outside the box about loosening the body and moving with more ease, happiness and grace.
The Journey Inward: A Half-Day Retreat Honoring the Transition to Autumn
With Adam Stonebraker & Tracy Lease
October 13, 1-4 PM
Mountain Stream Meditation Center
710 Zion Street
As the warmth of summer gives way to the coolness of autumn, we are invited to turn inward, gathering the fruits of our inner work and preparing to store and nurture them through the coming months. Autumn, a time of harvest and reflection, offers us the opportunity to honor the transitions in our lives and align with the natural rhythms of the earth.
Join us for a half-daylong retreat that gently guides you inward, helping you connect with your inner source of strength and wisdom. This retreat will include restorative yoga, qigong, meditation, yoga nidra, and dharma teachings, each practice designed to support you in embracing the changes of the season and cultivating a sense of peace and balance.
Through these practices, we will explore the themes of letting go, renewal, and deep nourishment, creating space to reflect on what we have cultivated during the warmer months and how we can carry this inner harvest with us into the quieter, more introspective time of year.
Requested donation is sliding scale: $30-$100
No one is turned away for lack of funds.
This Dana is greatly appreciated and will be shared equally between Mountain Stream, Adam & Tracy.
We will practice inside and outside as weather permits.
To Register email juanita@mtstream.org
We would love to spend this enriching contemplative time with you!
Expanding the Heart’s Horizons: Appreciation as a Key Practice to Awaken our Hearts
with Miyu Tamamura & Tracy Lease
Sunday, November 24, 1-4 PM
Mountain Stream Meditation Center
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie
As a conscious preparation for Thanksgiving and the holidays, the focus of our retreat is to awaken our hearts through the practice of appreciation. As we practice noticing all the gifts of our lives, we will invite our heart-mind to linger in appreciation and joy. Through practice, we can cultivate our abilities to notice the good, the beauty, the kindness all around us. We can then practice gratitude and appreciation for our opportunities, life lessons and joys.
Our practices will be woven together with a nourishing blend of qigong, restorative yoga, breath work, heart-opening poems, meditation and the soothing and expansive sounds of crystal singing bowls. We will practice held by our half-day circle and the beautiful Mountain Stream Meditation Center.
All levels welcome!
*Pre-registration is required
*20 person limit
Suggested Dana or Donation: $85 to $115 per person
This Dana is greatly appreciated and shared equally between Miyu, Tracy & Mountain Stream Meditation Center.
To Register email tracy@fulllifeyogastudio.com
Honor the Changing Seasons with Body, Heart & Mind With Adam Stonebraker & Tracy Lease
Join us in celebrating summer through qigong, sitting /walking meditation, and gentle yoga stretching. These practices all help us to cultivate joy and happiness. Join us for three hours to tend to the beautiful garden of your consciousness near summer solstice.
June 23rd, 1-4 PM
Mountain Stream Meditation Center
710 Zion Street
Nevada City, CA
No one is turned away for lack of funds.
Requested donation is sliding scale: $30-$100
This Dana is greatly appreciated and will be shared equally between Mountain Stream, Adam & Tracy.
We will practice inside and outside as weather permits.
To Register email juanita@mtstream.org
I would love to see you for this live celebration of summer and life!
Listening into the Thundering Silence to Heal
Dear Full Life Friends,
Home. I love it here, especially in the spring time. The Sierra Foothills take my breath away. The beautiful dogwoods, like young women, standing quietly in spring kimonos, blooming pink and white in the forest.
The humming bird visiting the wisteria and then coming eye-to-eye with me, “Isn’t this day sweet and beautiful?!” The turtle crawling out of the pond onto a warm pile of ponderosa pine needles– “ahhh, the sun, the sun!”
And then another cold day of rain and I am again sitting by a wood fire, writing.
I still carry Japan with me in my heart. The reverence, the quiet, clean space, the generosity of kind people, the new tastes, beautiful gardens and cherry trees. And I am enjoying home– sleeping cuddled up next to Izzy, the beautiful new green of the oaks, the cozy familiarity. I enjoy my routine of teaching, planning, emailing retreat participants and students, inventing, dreaming, practicing, working in my yard, planning the next workshop.
And after time in community, I had a week to feel into the quiet when alone. The deep quiet of the woods at night. The stillness of early morning.
Sometimes I fill the quiet– with music, phone calls, busy thoughts, a full schedule. And this week I found Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Silence by my bed and started reading.
“Mindfulness gives you the inner space and quietness that allow you to look deeply, to find out who you are and what you want to do with your life.” With Thich Nhat Hanh’s words in my mind, I made the choice not to make certain phone calls. I practiced yoga in silence. I meditated. And I felt my nervous system quiet. I walked Izzy without my phone. I took a nap with my phone far away– in the car in the garage. I invited quiet.
Thich Nhat Hanh says there is a sound to no sound– the thundering silence. He says when you establish this silence, “you begin to hear the deepest kind of calling from within yourself. Your heart is calling out to you. Your heart is trying to tell you something…”
I instinctively believe he is right. My mind often gets cluttered. And when arriving home from travels, that is one possibility… catching up with emails, with chores, with friends, with worries… Could I feel into the thundering silence?
And inside that silence, I feel the hum that sang inside my heart in Japan, still vibrating. And inside that hum is a moss garden with many people walking through in silence. Inside that hum stands Kannon, the Goddess of compassion. Inside that hum are moments: I feel my laughter, inside the silence, as Karen and I receive our sixth of nine courses at dinner, I see her bright eyes and smile above her beautiful Yukata gown, hear our shared laugh of joy. Inside my own thundering silence, memories and emotions flow, and they carry me back into this current moment, sitting on my yoga block meditating, staring out at the trees blowing in the storm.
All the wonders of life are already here. They’re calling to you.
As I write to you, I feel the warmth of the woodstove. I am comforted by Izzy curled in a ball beside me, the sounds of my mother getting ready for bed in another room. I think of all my friendships. I feel them inside the silence too.
I think of the upcoming Big Springs retreat and the emails I exchanged with participants the last few days. Four days of mindfulness, together, in the mountains in July. We will practice this silence– we will have time to listen like Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Deep Listening. We can listen for the five sounds that can heal the world. There are still a few spots left if you would like to join us as we listen to these sounds:
The first is the Wonderful Sound, the sound of the wonders of life that are calling you. This is the sound of the birds, of the rain…
The second is the Sound of the One Who Observes the World. The sound of listening, of silence.
The third is the sound of om, of aum, the Brahma Sound.
The fourth is the Sound of the Rising Tide. The sounds of the Buddha’s teachings, which can help to clear away misunderstanding.
The fifth is the Sound that Transcends All Sounds of the World. The sound of impermanence.
I want to take more time during my days for silence. In the silence I know I feel my mind, body and heart settle. And in the silence I feel gratitude for Miyu, our friendship and co-creations, for the wonderful communities we are sharing. I feel grateful for Tom and Nadine lending me their truck last week, and feeding me delicious soup and sending me home with roses that smell divine. I am thankful for my friend Carol, and her book, The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, and her willingness to read excerpts and share the ongoing story after a potluck at my home this coming Saturday from 5 to 8 PM. You are all invited. Respond to this email, if interested.
I want to listen– to the sounds of the birds and the rain… I don’t want them to just be background noise. I want to really listen, just to them. I want to listen into my own listening. I want to listen to the lessons that come my way– through yoga, Qigong, mindfulness. I want to hear, and better understand, the sound of impermanence.
My mom and I sat on the couch today, talking and sharing. We are here, together, now. And there is someone missing. My dad isn’t here. We are both learning to live without him. This is part of impermanence. And so today, I took my mom to dance. In the past, Dad wouldn’t have wanted to go, and Mom would have stayed with him. Today she came– and she danced a little, and watched all the beautiful moving bodies, and met friends. Afterwards, smiling, she told me, “It is so nice to see where you go– you have been talking about dance for years. And now I know where you swim too. I’ll be able to picture it.” And we get to know each other better. Perhaps this is all part of the sound of impermanence– a stretching and opening movement into constant change. I feel it all a little differently when I spend some of my time in silence.
With much love,
Tracy
Move Slowly & Fluidly To Better Feel Compassion, Kindness & Generosity. We Are All One
Dear Full Life Friends,
I sit with Jan in the cafe of the Ana Crowne Hotel, Kyoto after saying goodbye to the rest of our group. She and I will leave tomorrow– a train to Osaka, a plane to San Francisco– we will travel 12 hours back through time and lose 4 hours somewhere along the way.
Time, what a strange ever-shifting concept. Our 12 days feel like their own lifetime, full and rich with new tastes, textures and moments. We visited temples, gardens, museums, shops. We learned about Kannon, the goddess of compassion and mercy– and were awed by her statues in temples– with her thousand and one arms and eleven faces, all offering compassion to those in need, in every direction.
We met Miyu’s eccentric, kimono-artist father in his studio where Jan modeled his beautiful, hand-crafted silk kimonos. She looked radiant in the array of colors and shades of silk and we imagined these as her wedding dress. Afterwards, a cat lover, Miyu’s father showed us his cat tail windshield wiper on his car and we all laughed.
On our final day at Myoshin-ji, the Temple of the Enlightened Mind, we practiced Qigong, and then deeply rested in the middle of things to the vibrations of Miyu’s singing bowls, absorbing our last moments in the Big Heart Zendo. We ate our final breakfast, shipped our big suitcases to the final hotel, gave thank you gifts to the staff of our inn, and then, toting our small bags, headed by train to the Ryokan Inn at Konosaki Hotsprings.
We settled into the pleasure of soaking in mineral waters that have been enjoyed by people for 1,300 years. And after our nine course dinners of amazing delicacies of fish and steak and tofu and miso and a lovely variety of vegetables, including burdock, bamboo shoots and lotus root, we walked outside in our Yukata robes and Geta sandals (or our own shoes) to digest and enjoy the evening air before going to bed in our traditional rooms overlooking the beautiful gardens in the moonlight. The final night, we felt like royalty as young women came to help us dress in fancy Yukata gowns. Then we fed the coy fish, laughed and took photos, reveling in the beauty and generosity of Japan.
It was so nice to spend time in a small town in the mountains, walking and riding a tram up to a temple whose care has been handed down through one family for three or four generations. A monk chanted for us and we each got to pinch some incense into the coals and make a prayer. It was so heart-warming to watch each member of our group move up to the altar, pause for prayer, to see the incense lift skyward with the monk’s deep, resonant voice– both carrying our prayers. And then the matron of the temple served us a delicious cake and tea, so happy to see us enjoy her food, so happy to see her friend Miyu again. Only later did we learn that she had baked us each a bag of several different treats and given us a calendar from the temple. Generosity in Japan seems to know no bounds.
I am still not sure all the ways I have grown and changed on this trip. I do know that I did awaken a little more each day. I did grow and expand as I tried my hand at calligraphy with Miyu coaching– “It’s like Qigong, move slowly, fluidly.” We painted the characters for peace and joy over and over again– our new friends coaching us and clapping at successes we couldn’t recognize. To us our creations looked wobbly and off-kilter. We had to be humble, kindergarteners all over again. “Feel the peace before you start, feel the joy,” Miyu instructed. Calligraphy as meditation.
Each step of the way our hearts seemed to open more– to the experiences, to the people who so graciously helped and served us, to the beauty all around us. We felt the presence of the Jizos, the stone statues of guardian spirits, of bodhisattvas, enlightened beings, who return to guide people on the path to enlightenment. These small statues particularly protect children and travelers. People tie little bibs around their necks to ask for their protection. When the bibs are red, like they are in Jori’s beautiful photo above, they offer their protection to unborn babies and children. People also leave the Jizos sweets, coins and flowers as they ask for protection for family members. As travelers, we also felt thankful for these spirits who were along roadways and trails, and in small shrines throughout town, thankful they were watching out for us as we traveled through the mountains of Japan, closer to our plane trips home.
Our final night together, transitioning us back towards the west, Miyu took us to a lovely Japanese- Italian restaurant in Kyoto where again we enjoyed the beauty and tastiness of each elegant dish. And after dinner we wandered through this new neighborhood and into a Shinto Shrine lit by many lanterns. We saw wooden hearts full of prayers and small rabbit figures. Nature and animals honored. So much honoring. So many prayers. So much compassion and gratitude.
My dear friend Miyu, “Arigato Goziamas,” thank you so much. Bow, deep, low, full bow for all you have given us in this experience.
Kannon and the Shinto Shrines, the Jizos and the members of our group swirl together inside me, melding with the Qi and prana moving through us all– through the crane, the bear, the dragon and tiger, through the deer and the beautiful trees that help us to root and ground. Through one qigong form and then another. Through the ink of the calligraphy brush into joy and peace and each other. Through the cherry blossoms, the moss garden. Through writer and reader and all our loved ones.
As we end this trip, because of this loving group of humans, and the kind people we met in Japan, I feel hope for humanity. We are one, we have the capacity to honor each other, we all felt it– and expressed it in our closing circle.
We are one across cultures and oceans. And even as we face frightening conflicts around the globe– I believe we have the capacity to remember.
Denel Kessler, author of the Kyoto poem above, has been here. In his poem the speaker feels it too. We have the capacity to remember, to honor, to love.
We are one.
See you in class Tuesday, or at a future retreat or private session. And thank you once again for being a part of this growing Full Life community.