The Yoga with Eve Grzybowski Blog
I’ve been blogging for 15 years now. At first, I was quite nervous about publishing my thoughts. Because I was shy about writing, my old posts were almost exclusively photos of the view from our bedroom in our Tambourine Bay house.
Remarkably, my original Ville Blog still exists. Does anything on the internet ever go away? It ran from November 05, 2006 to January 12, 2010 and it’s still just where I left it. If you’d like to have a look, the address is http://thevilleblog.blogspot.com.au/.
These days, because there are way too many YSH posts to browse through-over 1200-I’ve put some major themes together in The Vault. I hope this makes it easier to find exactly what you want.
Relaxed Attention
One of the skills to cultivate in yoga practice – no, all of life! – is effortless effort.
This doesn’t mean lifting weights without grunting; it means applying an attitude of relaxed attention to whatever you are doing.
For instance, we wouldn’t think of doing trikonasana with tense shoulders or while holding the breath, but we might not notice the diaphragm being tight. […]
Normal
This morning, perhaps like you, I’m still reeling from the disaster that has struck Japan – a horror that will go on for many people forever.
The above photo shows how peaceful and “normal” it is here on Mitchells Island, New South Wales, Australia at this very moment. […]
Resilience
I don’t know how it’s done – how one recovers from difficulty. I’m thinking of grief, and now also, the devastation in Japan.
These things seem to work for me:
Trust feelings, find a good listener, talk, feel some more, cry. Have a cup of tea. Talk, contain the feelings, let what’s underneath surface. Receive love, cry, don’t think, feel. Rest. […]
Sequence for Grief
My mother-in-law passed away today.
I feel very much saddened by her death.
I loved her.
Her dying seems tied to other griefs, and they have surfaced to get cleansed. I thank her for that.
I’m also grateful for the gift of her beloved son in my life, as well as his seven brothers and sisters.
Everyone deals with grief in their own way. When my mother died, I “moved on”. I didn’t know then that skipping over stones isn’t possible. Grief is a stalker. […]
Stillness
I gave the group in this morning’s class a good physical workout. Towards the end of the 90 min. session, they lay down and relaxed. Sometimes I lead them through a progressive relaxation of their bodies, but today I thought I would be completely silent and give the students time to relax on their own.
Often what shows up against the background of quietude is how busy one’s mind is. […]
Intimacy
A friend and I have had a couple of beautiful conversations this week, and I feel closer to him then I ever have. I’ve wanted this sort of relationship, but didn’t know how to have it or when, if ever, it was going to happen.
The content of the talks was about my feelings. It’s so easy when I feel raw to try to foist my bad feelings on the other person. But I’ve learned from good role models that there is power in vulnerability. […]
Not in My Backyard
We’ve had a lively conversation around the dinner table tonight that was prompted by our viewing of a movie called “Gasland”. It’s a documentary that was made by American Josh Fox about the mining for natural gas occurring right across the U.S in recent years. It’s a little budget movie that’s made a big impact on environmentally-aware people and also the people who ended up with drilling going on in their backyards.
Some of these people are very unhappy about the results of drilling and gas production on their land. […]
Workplace Woes
My friend asked for some yoga help for what has been diagnosed as RSI – repetitive strain injury, affecting her radial nerve and fingers. She works in an executive position and is under much stress from deadlines, lots of traveling and long periods at her computer.
Can yoga be of assistance? I think so, but keep in mind, prevention is easier than treatment. A regular yoga practice that deals with restrictions in the upper back, neck and shoulders will most likely keep you out of the physiotherapist’s or osteopath’s rooms.
So will designing your work station ergonomically. […]
Restful and Therapeutic
Have you had a hard week and need to recharge your batteries? Or, maybe you’re recovering from poor health? Or, just feeling weekend lazy? Here’s a simple sequence for when you’re feeling sooky.
Supta Badda Konasana Bound-angle pose Equipment: blanket and a bolster.
Lie back on a bolster or several blankets folded lengthwise to support your back and head.Bend your knees out sideways and bring the soles of your feet together, with your heels as close to the pelvis as possible. Let your back settle and your chest open. […]
Comm-Unity
I’ve just come back from singing at our community choir this evening. Four of us drove out together and sang as we went.
I’ve been thinking, writing and talking a lot about the topic of community recently for several reasons. The main one is that I’m going to be speaking on the subject at the April Yoga Australia Conference – http://www.yogaaustraliaconference.org.au/index.php
As a result of all this cogitating, I’ve come to appreciate more and more this thing called community. […]
Between Two Breaths
I’m a late bloomer when it comes to doing yoga breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation. If you are a person who likes to be active, both mentally and physically, if might take you awhile – perhaps lifetimes – to settle down enough to savour the sweetness of these practices.
Until till then, you’ll be like an untrained puppy, bucking the leash. Probably more like me till more recently.
This morning, at the end of my physical yoga practice, in a lying down position, I played with lengthening my inhalations and exhalations. […]
Getting Older
Now there’s a title to send the reader running out the back door, or checking the bathroom mirror for chin hairs or eBay for exercise bikes.
It’s just a fact of life. Really. We all are getting on.
The Good Weekend Magazine is meeting the need to educate the public on this topic with “The Getting of Wisdom: Lessons Learnt from Life” column. I read it avidly. Last week Colleen McCullough, author, age 75, featured in it.
If you missed it, here’s a couple of gems.
Getting Older – Old age is an ordeal, of flesh and mind. […]
Joy
I remember being surprised hearing from a friend who ran a bush regeneration business that we shouldn’t have to do big scale native planting to help bushland recover. We just needed to get rid of the nasties – opportunistic plants, trees, weeds. We had to get horses, sheep and cattle off the land to let it recover. The seeds and sprouts of beautiful natives that are being crowded out and trammelled simply need the right conditions to flourish again.
There’s a connection with yoga in the above view. […]
Sitting Thinking
As I have been staring at this blank page for some time, by now I should recognise that I have a head empty of wisdom and inspiration at this time. I should turn off my computer and head for bed.
But, no, I feel compelled. I want to say something. To connect. Even if I am temporarily rendered unwise and uninspired. […]
Non-Possessiveness
I caught myself today being at odds with one of the important yoga precepts, aparigraha, which is often translated as non-possessiveness.
A friend, traveling south in her motor home called in for an overnight visit. She wanted to fill up her big water tanks here before hitting the road again tomorrow morning.
When she asked, I felt it would be impolite to say ‘no’ and, at the same time, my first reaction was I didn’t want to share our water. […]
A Good Week, and It's Not Over
Many lovely things have happened to me this week. Just at this very moment, I can think of two:
1) Being given “The Irresistibly Brilliant Blog Award” by fellow blogster (terrible word) from “Composting A Life”, a great site for writers, philosophers and other humans – http://compostingalife.wordpress.com/
2) Being given a copy of The Radiance Sutras, a book comprising 112 meditations “for opening to the divine in everyday life”. […]
Up Your Sleeve
Two yoga practices that are very popular among yoga teachers are the sequence for “boosting the immune system” and the one for “fighting colds”. Too often, instead of taking time off to recover from an acute illness, teachers try to push through, even though they know better, and even though they tell their students to rest and recover. […]
Songlines
It’s a very beautiful thing to be present in yoga practice – to do our postures connecting the mind to each part of the physical body. It’s the most subtle kind of touching, the intelligence awakening internal and external anatomy.
Since it’s impossible to simultaneously quicken all of one’s body, the best that we can do is rouse the parts sequentially, a miniscule hammer vibrating piano strings.
I like the image of indigenous songlines, unseen paths that cross land or sky, like invisible Chinese meridians or the Indian nadis of our bodies. […]
Tendrils
It was so beautiful coming home to Mitchells Island after 5 days away because of:
• The Yoga Shed – I did Richard Miller’s “Meditative Heart of Yoga” practice and fell back into myself (Essential Self).
• Strawberry cuttings that neighbour Mandy had so generously left for me to plant in our garden.
• Fresh cucumbers delivered from Jacqui’s garden to our dinner table.
• A heavenly lavender sunset framed by a balmy, breezy atmosphere.
• My four beautiful yoga students who came for their lesson this evening, and left with love shining on their faces.
This is perhaps […]
On the Road
A jolt coming into Sydney this evening in rush hour traffic. Not quite a dog day but hot and humid enough to feel your blood thicken and rise.
It was still pristine on Mitchells Island from the recent heavy rains as we left home, green everywhere you looked.
The air in Alexandria where we met Ben and Jade for a drink stung my nostrils – acrid.
Here where we’re staying tonight before pushing on south is high density living. I can hear neighbors through the walls. […]