Work From Ome

Dear Yogis,

A new yogi very, very generously gave me the reasons he was apprehensive about coming to class. He said that “it's the feeling of being an absolute beginner, being embarrassed, being unable to perform the moves, and being stiff as a board”

Well! He came, he saw, he conquered!

I think it’s incredible how people overcome all kinds of worries and doubts and come to class and then, so quickly, they make it their own. As long as you breathe lovely long breaths - the most important thing we do in class – it’ll be fine, I promise! That’s how to train the nervous system, slow down the heart-rate, ease the muscles into stretches, relax and discover mindfulness. That’s how we de-clutter the mind and make friends with the body. I found this lovely, short, how-to You Tube about ‘Ujjayi’ breathing (‘Victorious Breath’). Take a look. Come to class and be victorious!

Home Studio

My rip-roaring success of an Ashtanga class - the new Tuesday class at 6.00 to unpick the Ashtanga practice - had two whole people this week! We learnt the Sanskrit count and how to practice Sun Salutations while counting. We learnt the Ashtanga Opening Chant and we closed the class with practicing AUM (Om) and feeling the effects. In this class there will inevitable be repetition so sign up – you haven’t missed out.

Yoga in the workplace

Work from Om! Give it a go. I have a newly freed-up morning so if you would like to try to introduce yoga into your workplace and the benefits of starting the day with fun and positivity, give me a call.

Yoga in the News

Valley Fontaine asks on the BBC World Service this week: ‘Yoga, Why Do We Do It?’. A little while ago, Naga Munchetty did a yoga TV programme, Bend it like Britain, despite knowing nothing about the subject. Valley Fontaine ends her radio programme with trying Downward Facing Dog... and giving up. It occurs to me that if you want to write a proposal/‘treatment’ for a radio programme about yoga, I’ll help you!

Have a lovely weekend and good luck with your April Fools tricks.

Like to the lark at break of day arising

Dear Yogis.

Clocks forward fold this weekend as we donate an hour to the early dawn. Now that the lightness of the evening shines positive energy upon us, it’s time to make plans for workshops, retreats and weekend events. If you’re looking for a suggestion, I’m going to the Yoga Connects Full Moon Glastonbury Festival, July 7-9. There are over 20 teachers, and what would it be without a ‘holistic area’ and ‘healing lotus yurts’! I’m familiar with the names of some of the teachers in the line-up (Ambra Vallo, Stewart Gilchrist, Eugene Vegan Butcher) and other teachers I can’t wait to practice with (Jim Tarran and Keef Miles). Why don’t you come!

Home Studio

You’re so inspiring! I’m sure most of you would make great yoga teachers. You could teach your skiing buddies, your rugby, running and triathlon buddies; you could teach in your workplaces, pubs and schools; you could teach people with injuries and conditions; you could teach your own age-group or tiny children. The House of Fraser is apparently introducing champagne bars and yoga studios! More places will follow and need teachers! Come to class – there’s plenty of space in my Home Studio next week and let me know if you want to be on a waiting list. (This week was a week of cancellations!)

Training

A yoga teacher that I love to learn from, Jenny Fearnley, is teaching the Full Primary Series this weekend at Yoga West. I urge you to give it a go (Saturday 1:15 PM - 3:15 PM). In our one-hour classes we barely get through half of the series. It’s worth finding out what comes next: Boat Pose; Arm Pressure Posture which turns into crow... with the help of a miracle or two; Tortoise pose; Headstand. Let Jenny guide you through the delights and horrors.

Yoga in the news

I know many of you only come to my classes for the plank pose so I couldn’t resist this report from The Mirror: ‘Amazing athletic baby holds the plank yoga position for an impressive 34 seconds’.  On a different note, I know that some of you are interested in weight loss so this article from Lifehacker UK tells us that ‘Yoga Burns Serious Calories If You Do It Fast Enough’. The study tells us that you can speed up and burn 5.42 calories per second instead of 3.3 if you do a slower practice! The article very helpfully gives you a sequence and a timer to get you on your way! Try it and report back! I’ll do the same.

Have a lovely Spring weekend.

You're out of your mind!

Dear Yogis.

About a decade ago I had depression. I spent a lot of time sleeping on the sofa! There was absolutely no way of lifting my energy or positivity. Today I don’t have depression and I can hardly comprehend what it’s like to have it. When I was in it, I couldn’t imagine coming out of it. I wish I had understood yoga better then but the inner ruminations of the practice was not something that was ever mentioned!

I’m reminded of this because of passages in the book about Sri K Pattabhi Jois that I am finding all-consuming at the moment. The following thoughts on integrating the body and the breath are from Graeme Northfield, a trained nurse with a rare spinal condition before he took up yoga. He says we should aim to practice with feeling... ‘to actually feel our body, to have sensation in our body.’ ‘Westerners tend to be in their minds. It’s important that we transform from being in our heads to being in our bodies in a feeling way.’ ‘You want to get out of your mind.’ Graeme Northfield says that’s how we let go of the chitter-chatter of the mind and become conscious of the feeling in the heart – where you find acceptance, non-judgment and being present.

I think if this had been explained to me, it might have helped. Who knows! Once you learn the repetitive Ashtanga system you move through it instinctively, just watching the breath and letting go of the mind. This isn’t just for conditions like depression. This is for all of us. Taking a break from the chitter-chatter is the whole point of yoga. It's how we attempt to make the mind a more skilful instrument for daily use.

Home Studio

My new Beginners’ Ashtanga class on Tuesday 6.00pm was a rip-roaring success – no one booked! I have a feeling you’d like another stretchy class. However, I will persist. We will learn the ‘opening chant’ and the names of postures and go into some anatomical detail of postures – you can bring a notebook and take notes. There’s plenty of space in all of the classes next week. You can book here.

Yoga in the news

Uh oh! This is worrying. We yogis are polluting the seas with the fibres from our yoga clothes! The Times (subscription only) and ABC News tell us that ecologists in Florida found that microfibres from synthetic fabrics are more common in the seas than the micro-beads recently banned from cosmetic products. ABC reports on one clothing company that is supporting research into microfiber pollution ways to minimize microfiber shedding in laundry. Uh oh!

Runners

The London Marathon is just around the corner and I’m lucky enough to teach a lot of runners. They will know that yoga is not an hour of excruciating judgement on how flexible they are! It’s about improving range-of-motion and minimizing injury when pounding the pavement. This a lovely article on why runners should befriend their yoga teacher! (PS. Runners come to class with a lot more strength than most and therefore have an advantage in many postures.)

This Sunday has perfect weather for running! Enjoy!

Full Moon Yoga?

Dear Yogis.

This week, a yogi and I stood at the front door after a Home Studio class and admired the moon – a Waxing Gibbous! (Put that in a sentence today!) On March 12th, in two days, we will have a Full Moon and you may find yoga teachers cancelling classes or teaching only Yin and Restorative classes. Does this leave you perplexed? Some people feel that their energy is reduced, sleep patterns disturbed (there have been Western studies on this) or they are prone to snapping during a full moon period. Over in the East many people prepare for a temple day by dressing in white, perhaps buying flowers and incense and cooking special foods to take as offerings. (Over in Sri Lanka I remember seeing a sea of people dressed in white and flowing towards the temples, carrying white flowers.) All kinds of tradition attend the day. (I remember that we even prepared special rice for the temple crows!) A day off has been marked out by ‘shastras’ (commentary on Buddhist or Hindu scripture) and so, of course, they carry folklore and ancient ways of thinking. Shlokas (poetry/chants) have carried these beliefs through time. If you’re interested, the attachment from my favourite book of the moment gives a sense of those who unquestioning believe in this tradition.

Home Studio

It’s been a lovely week in my Home Studio, so I’m adding another class! From this Tuesday (14th) I’ll be adding a new regular 6.00-7.00 Beginner’s Ashtanga class. I have added it to the website for booking in the normal way. We will take time over postures, the sequences, learning the names of poses and learning Sanskrit numbers. In yesterday’s ‘Ashtanga-based’ class we worked our way up to Astavakrasana – the eight-pointed posture named after a sage with a body that was bent in eight places. If there is a posture you want to work towards, let me know.

Yoga in the News

Time Magazine, the very one that made Donald Trump their Person of the Year, now helpfully tells us that Yoga Helps Depression. Guess what... it’s the breathing that does it! The New York Times offered a long article last year on the Benefits of Deep Breathing with the very helpful quote: ‘It’s meditation for people who can’t meditate’!

Podcast

I enjoyed this episode from Jason Crandell which addresses some pretty detailed questions about asana: Do you jump back to straight-armed plank or bent-armed chaturanga?; The ideal look of the yoga pose verses what shape the body can make?; Alignment and hip position in Triangle? Jason Crandell says that Triangle pose has been ‘taught wrong’. He does his best to tell us why. This might be a podcast more suitable to teachers, or it might give you a break from normal radio fare.

Vicissitudes of Life

Dear Yogis.

A yogi who is very dear to me is upset at work. Things haven’t turned out as expected and my treasured yogi is angry. That upset me. This describes a lot of us in past or present circumstances. By coincidence I was reading about the unshakeable spirit of Sri Pattabi Jois in the face of the vicissitudes of his life. When asked to describe him, a friend compared him to this: ‘I recall a passage from the Ramayana where King Darsharatha summons his son Rama and tells him to assume the throne and later, through a quirk of circumstances, orders him to go into exile to the forest. The passage wonderfully illustrates the level of equanimity that Rama showed on both occasions. Apparently, he was unmoved, untouched, and completely bereft of excessive emotion... It says that Rama’s face not once betrayed even a hint of anger or animosity when he was ordered by his father to forfeit his kingdom. His face was calm as the day as he was asked to ascend ceremonially to the throne’. Yoga is trying to show us how to be calm and unshaken in storms and circumstances. Our task is to try.

Home Studio

Next week I have unexpected spare time on Wednesday 8th so I’ll teach an extra class at 6.00pm. It will be an Ashtanga class. The following class is at 8.00 so we have time, if you can stay, to go a bit further than normal. Let me know if you would like to come.

From the following week on Tuesday 14th I’ll be adding a new regular 6.00-7.00 Beginner’s Ashtanga class. Closer to the time I will add it to the website for booking in the normal way.

Yoga in the news

Which Prime Minister said this: “Today, when the world battles challenges posed by terrorism and climate change, yoga has become more relevant than ever before as it shows the way to peace” ? I’ll give you a clue. It’s not ours. 

This ‘article’ is self explanatory: 23 All-Too-Real Thoughts That Go Through Your Head During Yoga.

Feedback

I enjoyed this in an email from an esteemed yogi: ‘The latest OmYoga mag has an article 'Is 2017 the year of men's yoga?' It won't be if W H Smith carries on putting yoga mags in the Women's Lifstyle section and the mag follows this article with 20 pages of 'Yoga Style Guide' devoted entirely to women's clothing. Just getting that off my chest!’ (I enjoy all of the feedback I get from you. Thank you for taking the trouble to write.)

Wishing you an unshaken mind this weekend.