Lani Jelen
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I am delighted to be a yoga teacher and here at HeartSong I teach gentle, beginning and intermediate students. My current classes are:
Level 1 Yoga, Wednesdays at 5:45 p.m.
Gentle Yoga, Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m.
Level 1-2 Yoga, Fridays at 9:00 a.m.
In addition to teaching yoga, I have other fun things that I do outside the studio that I love just as much.
I love to hike. We hike mostly in the Columbia Gorge. There are some really beautiful hikes and we are able to choose how hard we want to work and how far we want to go. If we just want a short walk, there is always Forest Park which I really appreciate having so close. I enjoy identifying wildflowers as we hike. If I see one I don't know, I save the memory of it and look it up when I get home.
I love to read. Sometimes when I am about two thirds of the way through a book I will stay up till all hours finishing it. I love a good story and I almost always have a book going that I take everywhere in case I have a little minute to wait. Movies are another source of good stories for me.
I used to be an avid birdwatcher when I owned a house. I had a “bird spa” with feeders and two bird baths; one for small birds that was shallow and one deeper for the bigger birds. One day a hawk came a took a bath. In the winter I would have a little bird bath heater so the water wouldn’t freeze and the birds really appreciated that. They would gather around in big groups, so happy to find water they could drink. I am still able to identify birdsongs and some birds. I am working on some bird drawings and paintings that will one day be for sale on my webpage GoodYogaStudio. I have held birds in my hands when they have been injured and they are like holding air, they are so light.
My other love is travel. I like to see different things and be in unusual places. I have hiked across England from coast to coast as well as walking tours in France and different kinds of travel to other spots. My favorite place is Bali and I hope to get back there some day. When you travel you have to make each day up as it comes, it is a feast for the senses.
My favorite poem is about birds and I love the way it pertains to life as well, how life is a movement and a breathing. It is by Rumi.
up to where you’re bravely working
Expecting the worst, you look, and instead
here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.
Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting
and expanding.
The two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as birdwings
