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.
Armpits, Take 2
One of the comments from yesterday’s post, a question really, is from Amanda who says:
”Eve – could you say something about ways to assist those with this problem [shoulder problems} to recuperate without surgery…I have been exploring alignment of the muscles around the rotator cuff and strengthening them also and working sensitvely with the cuff tears area/impingements…with students and self…seems to happen when people have had a regular practice (4/5/6 days a week) over many years and then irregular for some years and then come back in with a new determination, and an assumption/wish that the body will respond […]
Armpits
For reasons that are sometimes all too obvious, armpits are an often maligned part of the anatomy. Perhaps if we referred to armpits by their anatomical name, axillae, we would be more cheerfully disposed toward them. I find I feel more friendly about my axillae since I discovered the word is diminuative of “ala”, wing.
Axillae are absolutely crucial to many yoga poses. Take adho mukha svanasana, as an example.
This photo of me was taken in my pre-armpit-activating period. […]
Attitude
There’s Attitude and attitude. The monk I snapped in a Burmese market was obviously not shy about being photographed and demonstrated plenty of Attitude.
Yoga practice is a place where one’s attitude (in Sanskrit “bhava”) shows up. Putting yourself on the yoga mat, you can observe various attitudes and work with them. Here are a few ways things to consider about your attitude while practicing.
• Alignment. […]
Good For What Ails ‘Ya
I first came across this pose (above) at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, where it was used extensively for students in the “medical classes” (read therapy).
So, it seemed like a good one to pull out of the rabbit hat in the weeks after my hips were operated on nearly a year ago. I was reminded of it yesterday, visiting with Maarit who is a couple of months post-hip surgery.
The Institute’s medical classes are like a multi-ring circus. […]
Afternoon Yoga @ Church Point
Viparita Karani went down very well after bushwalking at West Head and aboriginal rock art hunting in other nearby areas.
[…]
Pune 1981
Thirty years ago this month, Martyn Jackson and I went to India together. As a long-time student of B.K.S. Iyengar, Martyn was on a mission which unfortunately turned out to be unsuccessful. He asked the great Guru if western yoga teachers could be allowed to teach at the Ramayani Iyengar Yoga Institute.
Martyn’s idea was that if western teachers could be trained to teach at the Institute, their standard of teaching would improve and be more aligned with the Iyengar method. […]
Expectations
My bridge teacher tells me that if I lead a certain card that that promises I have something to back it up. It’s like nonverbal code to let my partner expect a next play will turn out according to his expectations. Better not be misleading.
We went to a Sydney Festival performance last night which had garnered awards when shown in other cities. And the lead performer had had accolades heaped on him from past Festival events. […]
Pain in the Neck
I don’t know how it is for you, but I have a love/hate relationship with my computer. My reliance on, fascination with, and attachment to my Mac has led to many lost hours. Most times, I am productive, but other times, I admit to disappearing into scrabble playing or reading email humour.
My body suffers. No matter how ergonomically smart I am, computer time is just going to end up being one of those out-of-body experiences, like gardening or housecleaning. […]
Ultimate Relaxation
I sleep like a baby through the night.
It wasn’t always so. I used to teach early morning yoga classes several times a week. My alarm went at 5 am, but I’d try to be asleep the night before by 10 at the latest. […]
My Dance With the Inner Critic, Writing and Yoga
Writer’s Block
I’ve been thinking about what to write on ‘Yoga Suits Her’ this week and come up blank. In fact, in the last month I’ve skipped my weekly posting twice. Another of the weeks, my friend Angelika did a lovely guest post on The Beauty of Yoga Practice for me.
My Inner Critic has been wagging her finger at me.
A new post is like a blank Word document or a fresh sheet of paper – a tabla rasa. It’s a page that can be exciting for its clean spaciousness. […]
Retreat and Go Forward
January is the month of Good Intentions – the time to do a yoga intensive to hopefully kick off a year of disciplined practice or a time to go away to a writer’s retreat to finally become a writer.
Then, you come home, unpack, do your laundry, fill the empty fridge and think what’s next. Or maybe you don’t have time to think because you have to go straight back to work.
I used to lead country yoga retreats for many years. The participants enjoyed the structure of the weekends. […]
Young and Young at Heart
It’s very late, after a long day and full week at Camp Creative. It’s been a remarkable time, as evidenced and summed up by the concert of performing artists who came together this evening – a showcase of all the creative work that’s been put in across many media: instrumental music, singing and dance. Some performers were first-timers, others more seasoned, all with their creative juices flowing.
The most wonderful thing was seeing the range of ages represented. Even in my writing course, the span was from 33 to 81. […]
Custodians
At the concert tonight we were asked by the emcee to pay homage to the custodians of the Bellingen valley, the Gumbayngirr people. Then, the African drummers who were performing for us said that they were the custodians of the music of their countries – Kenya and Ghana.
This sort of deference, of respect for ancestors, is very much a part of yoga practice. […]
Extended Family
There’s a good spirit here in Bellingen at Camp Creative, despite the soggy state of the district. There were microscopic patches of blue sky today and only patchy precipitation, although I hear rain falling tonight.
The campgrounds were flooded on Monday night, and when people had to relocate, the locals opened up their homes.
Queensland townspeople are suffering loss of life and homes, and Brisbane will be even more massively flooded than it is now by tomorrow morning, with five evacuation centres filling up. […]
What Do Writing and Yoga Have in Common?
This week I’m stationed in beautiful, though at the moment sodden, Bellingen learning to be a better writer. Enrolled in a course called Life Stories with 15 other pupils, we’re part of the overall turn-out of 1,000 students of the 2011 Camp Creative.
I haven’t felt so moved and excited in a learning situation for a long time. I go into the course room, fully awake and alive to discovering some unexamined part of my life for me to dust off and bring back from the past into the now. […]
Desert Island Poses
At present, I’m exactly 180 degrees direction from the happy sunshine of a desert island. I’m in Bellingen where the creeks and rivers are threatening to overrun, the rain is coming down horizontally at times, and the pastured cows are up to their thighs in grass.
Why would anyone go to the sodden eastern seaboard for a week smack in the midst of the worst flooding in years? To do a Writing Course, so I can be a better writer. […]
And now for something completely different…
I understand that you come to this blog with an expectation of inspiring words from Eve about Yoga, life, joy, magic, nature and more. This post is different. It’s not written by Eve. You may not consider it inspirational; many wouldn’t.
My name is Daniel and I want to share something with you. And this is it:
I hope you enjoy it. If you do please let Eve know. And pass it around. […]
Paschimottanasana
Sometimes yoga poses need to be flirted with for quite some time before coming anywhere near forming a relationship with them. Not that you are being frivolous but you just don’t want to get in too deeply at first; an oblique approach works well, rather than a full frontal attack.
This is a particularly useful philosophy for paschimottanasana, the double-legged forward stretch, especially when you are in the getting-to-know-you phase. And, this beginner-ish period could go on for some months or years depending on your anatomy or various tightnesses. […]
Yoga "Abs"
A question was raised recently about cultivating “core strength” (perhaps stimulated by wanting to lose those pesky kilos which inadvertently crept on over the holdays?).
I don’t think yogis used the term “core” very much until Pilates came along and made it such a focal point. Then, as there got to be more mention of the bandhas in yoga classes, it was natural to associate them with core strength. […]
Just a Note…
If you received the previous post by email, you won’t have seen a sound player in the message. There are still two ways to listen to the recording. […]