Teaching Yoga

Here is my small but fun update on my Yoga "journey" (I know thats a bit new agey but I just couldnt think of another word):

Gone
Thursday Yoga at Djazzex Dance and Pilates - Just not enough peeps

Staying
Wednesday Evenings at Djazzex 8pm to 9pm - All welcome, all levels

I had fun relieving for a Yoga Teacher at a gym in St Leonards, it was fun to teach in a gym environment for 6 weeks. Welcome back Kathy!

Namaste

Everyday life

Lately I have seen a fair amount of pain going on in peoples lives. It makes me so sad to see my friends in pain, and to hear about others pain. It makes me want to do something, quickly, to take the pain away. Sometimes I can help, but often its something in their lives that I cant work out for them. Like I guess, my friends cant work out mine. 

Our modern day culture tells us to do something. Change your thinking, buy yourself the latest ..insert here..... , do something for someone else (I do like this one though). But its all about action, and I am learning that often we can begin change by just being with it. Yes, its precisely the opposite of what society would like us to do. Do nothing. Don't change anything. Just be with it. 

Currently I am reading Yoga for Emotional Balance by Bo Forbes and its great. She taps into this issue, this running away from our feelings and emotions. On page 6 she writes "Through regulating the breath and relaxing the body, we learn to be present with our issues and our pain. We learn to resist getting caught up in our reactions, or letting them define us". 

Wow. How much time and energy (and money) we could all save, if we learnt to sit with our issues and our pain. Could I, could you?

Namaste

Quote on Relatedness

Brighton, UK

In her book "The Eloquence of Living" Vimala Thakar discusses relatedness.

Here is a beautiful quote from page 17:

"You stand at the seashore perhaps knee-deep in water observing the skies, the wide horizons, the openness.

You listen to the birds; they are singing for their own joy.

You listen and the sounds do something to you.

Its a happening.

The only requirement is to be there.

In the simplicity of your being, communion takes place.

You are not seeking, but something is bestowed on you, something touches you at all levels".

Namaste.

The Kleshas

happiness

The Kleshas are 5 behaviours that keep us from experiencing calm abiding happiness. I can "see" them pop up during my average day. Patanjali wrote about them in the Yoga Sutras, which are four chapters about the path to enlightenment... or peace. 196 lines, divided into four chapters that give us wisdom on overcoming unhappiness, or getting out of our own way, so we can see how wonderful we really are. Wonderful, not in an egoic way but in a humble, peaceful, centered kind of way.

So, the Kleshas are:
1. Ignorance
2. Egoism
3. Attachment
4. Aversion
5. Fear

During an average day I would be scared (ooops, there's one already) to ponder how many of my thoughts are Kleshas.

The second line in the Yoga Sutras talks about "calming the fluctuations of the mind". So a fluctuation could be any of the five above, which are the negative Kleshas.

Now who wants to get rid of these! Well, me for sure. Its so exhausting having the mind run riot, its so reassurring to know that we can actually calm our mind, and we can begin to notice what we notice.

Which leads me to my next point, meditation. Meditation helps you get to know yourself, really know yourself. Then you learn to calm that damn monkey mind and you begin to see life play out in front of your very eyes, see the dramas unfolding and begin to see your life more clearly.

Thanks Patanjali.

Namaste.

Gratitude

Satyananda Ashram - October 2010

I love the word Gratitude. Its such a big full bodied word. Saying it makes me feel so happy and contented.

Here is a beautiful quote for the weekend:

"In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy."

Bother David Steindl-Rast.

Nice.

Namaste.

Yoga - to prop or not?

During my recent couple of months teaching I have noticed a need for Yoga props.

There are a few Yoga props that I think are valuable for Yoga practice.

These are:

Bolsters (big sturdy sausages)
Belts (great to loop around legs and feet: not to keep your pants up!!)
Blocks (many uses)
Blankets (lets raise our hips guys and gals)
Eye bags (do I really need to say anything?)

In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali refers to each posture being steady and comfortable (Chapter 2: 46). Props can be the difference between being comfortable and straining a muscle. I know which one I choose!

I choose to say "yaye" to props and just sent my order to www.iyogaprops.com.au. I want my Yoga peeps to be steady and comfortable Patanjali!

Namaste.

Mr Iyengar - Light On Life

Today I picked up a great book called Light on Life by Mr B K S Iyengar, one of the Grandfathers of Yoga.

He's amazing! I am continually spellbound by the insights of the Yoga community. I previously spent a huge amount of time trying to be ok with who I am and to learn how to handle my "difficult" people. I literally stumbled across that personality a dozen times and each time they left me miffed, perplexed and usually in tears.

So.... getting back to Yoga, well the view is that you are fine the way you are. Its how the mind operates that mucks you up. You were born a shining wonder, yes, each of us. Can you believe that, your actually ok just the way you are!

On page 11 Mr Iyengar writes "Asana maintains the strength and health of the body, without which little progress can be made. It also keeps the body in harmony with nature. We all know that the mind affects the body, for example "You look down in the dumps", or "He was crestfallen". Why not, suggests yoga, try the other way round - access mind through body. "Chin up" and "Shoulders back, stand up straight" express this approach. Self-cultivation through asana is the broad gateway leading to the inner enclosures we need to explore. In other words, we are going to try to use asana (postures) to sculpt the mind.

Wow, use the mind to lead the body. Makes sense to me. Yoga asanas take you to places you might not feel like going to, but it opens up the body in ways that need.

Thanks Mr Iyengar!

Namaste.