…also called “gastric ructions”, caused by peristalsis, are the bane of some yoga relaxations.
There’s something diverting about getting to the quiet time at the end of a yoga class when the teacher has soothed and cajoled the group into a semi-somnolent state, when suddenly the low- pitched rumbling from some quarter starts up. […]
Yoga teaching
Tribes
This weekend I’ve enjoyed the privilege and delight of practicing yoga with friends and students.
Visitors from Sydney, Carol, Martin and Peter joined Mitchells Island local, Maggie, Daniel and me for a yoga session on Sat. morning. There’s such a lovely feeling of conviviality and camaraderie when kindred spirits practice yoga together. We form a temporary community, “fill our boots” (as Judy says), and then go our ways, happier for the experience.
I also like the experience of practicing alone. […]
Tough Love
Tough love is an expression that goes back to the late 60’s, that was used for someone who would treat another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run.
My friend Peter who is visiting us on Mitchells Island at the moment has been using the phrase to describe a gardening technique that involves severe plant culling.
I’m not very good at getting rid of plants that seem to me to still have some life in them. […]
Driving Lesson
Do you remember when you learned to drive? I can remember it just like yesterday because I was so worried about crashing. The driving inspector kept telling me to behave like I was “master of my ship”, even though I felt like a a navvy. At 16 yrs old I got my license and a week later crashed my mother’s car.
Today I had my first go at driving our ride-on mower. Daniel and Rick had made mowing look so simple. […]
From Sleep Deprived to Sweet Dreams
I had the good fortune to meet a number of great yogis while teaching recently in Byron Bay, NSW. One of them, Jenny Beer, put me on to an “affirmation” she uses for nights when sleep is elusive or broken. I love the words and intent of this affirmation. It reminds me of some of the yoga teaching “mission statements” that the trainees I instructed at Nature Care College in Sydney wrote to help steer them in their new careers. […]
Clear Thinking
Yoga practitioners and teachers are not always known for questioning dogma and beliefs. For instance, as a new yogi, you might take in unreservedly all that your teacher says in class, even though it may be somewhat esoteric to you. A commonly repeated phrase is “do your poses with effortless effort”. […]
"Excellence is not a skill: it is an attitude."*
This morning when I was doing backbends in my yoga practice, I was reminded of how important attitude is in doing yoga. Working the body too hard makes it feel brittle, especially on a cold winter’s morning. Being slack feels like not showing up for the event. I thought of a few attitudinal things that I could communicate when I taught my class this evening.
1. Yoga works to unite the body and the mind through involving the whole person: we are meant to focus our mind meditatively on each movement. […]
Sunday – A Rest Day
When I worked through the week in the city, I had the weekend for “home work”. You know what I mean – doing wash loads, gardening, grocery shopping, catching up on correspondence, cleaning. Maybe there was a little time left over for sparking friendships that may have needed rekindling, or being a culture vulture. […]
Yoga = Belonging
Yoga equals union. Everyone who knows a little about yoga knows that is how yoga is defined.
Is there any relationship between yoga (union) and one’s sense of belonging? I think so.
I had a big epiphany a few months ago and the spin-off from it was that I felt like I belonged with people.
This may sound funny but prior to the Epiphany, I always felt like I was trying to belong. I’d done it for so long that I’d accepted trying as normal. […]
From Chilly, Cloudy Byron Bay
I came across this bit of writing in my email today and it struck a chord. We yogis try to be good, gooder, goodest through doing various practices, to varying degrees if success.
Natalia describes what happens:
” Often when we come off that mat, and head back into our daily lives, we miss the point. We do not fully realise that we have just spent the last hour and a half digging up our inner child and his/her hurts, or rekindling that old love affair, or revisiting that less-than-realised soul we called mum or dad. […]
The Older You Get…
…the less you know. I’m convinced of it. Ooops. Have I just said I know something?
I think two things happen as you mature and age: 1) you collect more conflicting information along the way, i.e., all those studies you read in the newspaper about the benefits/disadvantages of drinking coffee, alcohol, eating chocolate. One day, the suggestion is “go for it”, and the next it’s “stop”, “whoa”, “ya’ better watch out.”
No. […]
Gym or Hospital?
An inquiry from an old student got me thinking today about why people come along to do yoga. Or, I guess, even why people teach yoga.
Is it to get a workout and build stronger, more sinewy bodies? Or is it to fix up bodies broken by disease or injuries, and minds run over by stress?
It’s pertinent to hang out with the questions as I head off to teach in a yoga therapy course. Trainees will learn to take case histories, do client assessments, and design programs. […]
Here and There
One of the big draws to living in a beautiful setting in the county is just that: there is so much to sense, look out on and appreciate – distant purple hills, green fields, cocky cockatoos, big-bellied cows, water views, clean, crisp air….
Since moving to Mitchells Island, I’ve become less efficient and probably less productive, too. It’s taken me weeks to prepare for my teaching this coming week in Byron Bay. […]
Really Sad
More than 20 years ago, I was friends with a “de-frocked” Buddhist monk. Tim (not his real name) had been in a monastery in Burma for years and chose to leave the order to live as an ordinary person. […]
The Crack in Everything
Today’s blog is something new for me. I decided upon listening to one of my favourite Leonard Cohen songs yesterday that I would update one of the most popular posts that I’ve written. It gives a nod to the composer’s well-loved tune, “Anthem”, which has the refrain:
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
I’m of the opinion that the song’s sentiment is so popular because we humans don’t want to have work so hard at being perfect. […]
Twinges
Twinge sounds like such a harmless word when it’s applied to conscience, a little tweak, a tiny tickle. Perhaps so inconsequential that it can be overlooked or overridden.
Is it just me or somehow does a twinge seems more significant when it has to do with the body? My husband Daniel learned the hard way (meaning enduring many physiotherapist visits) that he needed to give due respect to any back twinges. A stab of pain works as an early warning system for what might turn out to be a storm of discomfort or even incapacitation. […]
Healthy Blood Pressure = Healthy Brain
The weekend Sydney Morning Herald, mostly bought so we can pit our brains against the quiz, also offered some fascinating anti-dementia news.
More than doing sudokus and cryptic crossword puzzles, we ought to be working on keeping our blood pressure as normal as possible.
High blood pressure contributes to vascular dementia that’s caused by having a stroke. But there is some evidence that keeping BP levels healthy can help prevent Alzheimers, too.
Where does yoga fit in? Obviously as a holistic form of exercise; it helps lower blood pressure and provides blood flow to the brain. […]
Paid Forward
Back in Sydney, back at Simply Yoga tonight to be taken in a class by Jen Taylor. A class, as she described, taught with a restorative approach.
Such an amazing thing to be led through a class by someone whom I’ve taught for years and then mentored as a yoga teacher. In this evening’s session, I had an experience akin to being held lovingly in my own hands. […]
For Winter – Everybody Upside-Down
Some yogis love their inverted poses while others struggle with them or find them fear-inducing. Some wonder, “Why bother?”
I admit I’m biased. I’ve been doing headstand and shoulderstand for 35 years. But I’ve also never had whiplash, compressed cervical vertebrae, or even much neck stiffness. […]
East Meets More East
An amazing invitation came across my desk today enveloped in an email from the BKS Iyengar Association of Australia. A China-India Yoga Summit is being held in Guangzhou City June 16-19, 2011, which will feature “the greatest yoga master in the world”, Guruji himself.
Advertised as perhaps the last time that Mr. Iyengar, well into his nineties, will teach for the general public, the Master will be accompanied and assisted by a retinue of hand-picked teachers. […]