Yoga in the Vedic Period

Dear Yogis

Last weekend I took part in the workshops of Gregor Maehle. Please take the opportunity to study with him if you get the chance. In one of his lectures I found myself absorbed by the ancient world and wisdom that underpins yoga. The history of yoga and the intentions of the people who shaped yoga are illuminating.  Gregor talked us through the four ages of life (ashrama) and the associated yoga practice as the people in the Vedic Period (1500 BC to 500 BC) saw it.

First came the Brachmacharia stage till 25 years old. This means student of life. The paramount focus in this period was on asana to build up the body; Gregor says it was a daily 90 minute practice. Next is the householder stage, Grhasta, with a family and a profession. This period, 25-50yrs old, is about having purpose and giving back to society. The idea is that you continue asana practice and add 30 minutes pranayama. Now you have a total practice of two hours. Pranayama practice completely reorganises the brain and enables the householder to juggle the many hats needed to be relevant in society.

The third stage is the Vanaprastha, from 50 till 75. This means sea change/tree change when you move to the coast or move to the forest. (Gregor moved ‘back to the Bush’ at 50. He says that ‘there’s a certain magic when you hit 50’. You don’t feel that you have to go out and participate in the rat race! Yes!) Meditation is the main practice for this age and the householder graduates to councillor or spiritual guide. Ideally you add another 30 minutes to the already established practice. That’s 2 ½ hours now. The final phase is Sannyasa. In this phase there is no longer any interest in material things and all duties are handed to the next generation. This is the monk/nun stage with a simple, detached, spiritual life.

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

When I manage to arrange my Sea Change, this is where you’ll find me… Kythera! OK, I know the flights are complicated and it is putting people off coming. I understand. My yoga sister Lisa Maarit Lischak says: ‘Us repeaters are used to the flights and we know that a bit of awkwardness pays off’. But for first-timers, it’s a bit daunting. I can only encourage you to hold your nose and dive in! You may become addicted to Kythera’s charm… Have a look at the details of both retreats here.

Home Studio

There’s a summer situation going on, and perhaps a football syndrome; class numbers are small-to-disappearing. I cancelled two classes this week in my little home studio. Yoga studios tend to change to their summer timetable at this time of year. I may do the same. Let’s see. There are plenty of places left next week. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

Lisa will be teaching at Virgin Active Chelsea on Saturdays 7th and 14th July at 10.30. If you can’t get a ticket, steal one!  I’m due to teach Restorative Yoga at Yoga West on Sundays 8th and 15th July at 3.30-4.45pm.

Yoga in the news

The Podcast Department of The New Yorker has: “Bikram” and the Fraught, Telling Tale of a Yoga Phenomenon. Bikram Choudhury is the subject of six programmes in the “30 for 30” podcast series tracing the rise and fall of Choudhury. I’ve listened to all of them. They are fascinating and disturbing… not a happy listen but compelling like a car crash!

The Guy On The Train

Dear Yogis

By far the most important thing we do in yoga class is the breathing. “Breathing defines our experience of Yoga”, says phenomenal yoga teacher Andy Gill. See the attachment for his observations on how the breath reveals the yogi’s state of mind, not the postures.

This email is inspired by a thirty-something guy on the train that I couldn’t help watching. His breathing was noticeably fast. He was a bit overweight and slumping in his seat.  (Actually, so was everyone else!) He had no abdominal breathing, his chest was heaving and collar bones lifting with his shallow breaths. Shoulder/clavicle breathing is a sign that primary breathing muscles are in trouble. Raising the shoulders or arms to help breathe happens when the diaphragm has no room to move due to belly fat or poor posture and the elasticity of the lungs and chest wall is lost. Lifting the shoulders and collar bones is a compensation.

Poor lung function is the absolute opposite of what yoga is about. There is also a Hindu belief that is worth carrying around with us: that we are born with a predetermined amount of breaths and you can lengthen your life with breath control. It’s a great belief, telling us that our job in life is to make good use of our allotted breaths; make them long and lasting and not to spend time in stressful, short-breath situations. Above all, it tells us that the breath is in charge which is obvious but too easily forgotten.

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

Summer Solstice, the peak of the year, has come and gone. It always comes too soon! If you haven’t already arranged a holiday or retreat, consider coming to Kythera with me for some Greek sun and Kythera warmth. Kytheran people have an easy and genuine friendliness towards visitors that you will struggle to find elsewhere in the world. I’m teaching the first week’s retreat and Lisa Maarit Lischak is joining me for the second week. Have a look at the details of both retreats here.

Home Studio

Yesterday’s International Yoga Day started with new yogis in a corporate class and, to make the day complete, I had the privilege of introducing a new yogi to Ashtanga in my little Home Studio. It couldn’t be better. There are plenty of places left next week. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

This Saturday and Sunday, 8:30 to 4:30, I will be doing a weekend at Indaba with Gregor Maehle. The workshops are named ‘Integrating the eight limbs into a cohesive whole’ - how asana prepares you for pranayama, which prepares you for meditation. Gregor Maehle has studied Iyengar and Ashtanga in India, lived as a recluse, and studied anatomy, Sanskrit, yogic scripture, and philosophy. Come with me!

Andy Gill is responding to popular demand and holding another Ashtanga Yoga and Ayurveda workshop with Justin Robertshaw tomorrow. The last time was Easter 2017 and it was fascinating and I can’t recommend it highly enough. You can e-mail Andy to book at andy@andygill.yoga. 

Yoga in the news

Al Jazeera has a lovely picture story, ‘Thousands celebrate International Day of Yoga’, showing the massive, humungous crowds in India celebrating International Yoga Day.

The Telegraph has; ‘Bend it like Ryan Giggs: how athletes fell in love with yoga’. It says that Giggs added “another 10 years” onto his career with yoga practice. “Yoga was first about injury prevention, but later it became about recovery,” he said. “The day after a match, the adrenalin would still be in my body. But the following day, when I got out of bed, everything would hurt, so I would do yoga then.””

The Independent has the best article of all: ‘How a yoga holiday in Kent could help refugees’. Let’s go!

Ayurvedic Treatment for Sciatica

Dear Yogis

I had the most enlightening conversation about sciatica this week with an Eden Fitness yogi, Reena. Her husband suffered with sciatica and one summer they found themselves an Ayurvedic Clinic in India where he had seven Ayurvedic massage treatments plus recommended herbs. He hasn’t suffered since. As part of her own Holistic and Spiritual Growth she went from being a dentist to studying Ayurvedic healing, Reiki and Energy Field Transformation and Spiritual Development. She very generously gave advice, which I attach. The truncated version is this:

To treat Sciatica, she says, you can do this yourself. Sciatica is crying out for lubrication internally and externally. With cold pressed Organic Sesame Oil, do this:

1. Take a warm teaspoon of sesame oil (heat over a gentle flame in a small saucepan or tablespoon) in the morning and at night. Wash it down with a herbal tea, no caffeine. 

2. Apply warm oil to the affected area(s). First of all circle your oil into the skin in an anticlockwise direction. That releases toxins. Then circle in a clockwise direction. That’s for nourishing and rejuvenation.

3. You can apply warm oil in this way before a bath or shower or sauna or steam. Leave for a minimum of 20 minutes in between application and shower.

4. You can apply warm oil to a painful area before yoga class but wear clothes that you don’t mind getting oil on, obviously!

5. Ever heard of oil pulling? Give this a go. Take a small amount of warm sesame oil and place it in your mouth. Swish for 30 seconds, hold for 30 seconds and repeat. Spit out the oil (do not swallow and rinse mouth thoroughly after. Use your normal toothbrush to go ahead and give teeth and gums a good clean and massage.

You need to combine this treatment with elimination of accumulated toxins and bringing pacification and balance back into the bodily systems… with diet and Sun Salutations! See attachment for that advice. And if you want a consultation, get in touch with Reena via Livelaughlovemuch@outlook.com

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

A couple of places have come up on the second retreat with me and Lisa Maarit Lischak. Her spectacular afternoon workshops, where everyone achieves something amazing, are the reason people keep coming back. Have a look at the details here.  (Just a word about travelling to Kythera: you may require a night in Athens. Please don’t use booking sites to buy your flights; please go directly to the airline. You can check out Aegean and Sky Express for flights to and from the island.) And if you’re interested in the first retreat – Ashtanga in the morning, Yin in the evening and holiday in-between – click here for details.

Home Studio

It’s International Yoga Day on Thursday 21st, the day of the summer solstice. Have a great day; 17 hours of sunlight! If you want a yoga class at work to celebrate, let me know. We will, of course, celebrate in my little home studio in the evening’s class. There are places left. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

On June 23rd and 24th I will be doing a weekend at Indaba with Gregor Maehle who will teach pranayama, meditation and the Yoga Sutras. Come with me.

Continuing the subject of Ayruveda, there will be another Ashtanga Yoga and Ayurveda workshop with Andy Gill and Justin Robertshaw on Saturday 30th June. I went to the last one and loved, loved, loved it. You can e-mail Andy to book at andy@andygill.yoga. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in Chakras, James French will be at Triyoga on the 30th with his fantastic and eye-opening Chakra Workshop. I loved, loved, loved this one too.

Yoga in the news

The Guardian has an article about Dog Yoga and it’s quite a good read. Journalist Rhik Samadder says: “in every other yoga class I feel awkward, Lycra-lumpy, alienated by some Blake Lively-alike telling me I am more than enough. The involvement of dogs changes everything. It’s impossible to feel self-conscious in the presence of a boston terrier curious as to why you are trying to turn into a bridge. Dogs puncture the absurdity of all human behaviours.”

The Fitness Goddess and the Yoga Guru

Dear Yogis

My weekend of yoga in Kythera with Kristina Karitinou Ireland was, as I hoped, drinking from the cup of a ‘senior teacher’. She talked a lot about her late husband, Derek Ireland, who, with Radha Warrell were the first teachers to bring Ashtanga yoga out of India and into Europe. She filled in some unexpected history of Ashtanga once it left India.

She said that Derek Ireland changed the way Europeans viewed yoga – the only thing they could compare yogis to in the 1970s were the Hare Krishnas. Yoga had to be translated from the Indian Mysore method which, she says, was only for senior students who already knew what they were doing. In a class, teacher Pattabhi Jois would only say: ‘Ekum (one) inhale. Dwe (two) exhale…’ That’s it! The student had to know exactly what to do. Derek’s contribution was to add more instruction, adjustment and variation.

One day Derek was watching fitness goddess Jane Fonda and her TV workout because he was curious to see how she taught. He saw how much instruction she gave about the postures and introduced that teaching method into Ashtanga classes. So, when we enter a posture and during our five breaths in a posture we receive a lot of information, unlike the Mysore method. In Downward Facing Dog, for example, we might hear:  ‘Encourage the heels down, lift kneecaps and quads, pull the navel in….’ This is because Jane Fonda (now 80!), with her big hair and 80s tights and leotard and ankle warmers, inspired Derek Ireland with the effectiveness of her instruction.

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

It’s all coming together after my weekend visit to Kythera. I’m attaching a couple of photos taken at Porto Delfino where we will be staying to inspire you to join us. The first is a view taken while I was doing my morning practice, watching  the fishing boats returning one by one surrounded by a dance of hopeful and happy seagulls.  The second is a view from the restaurant at breakfast. Ahhhhhh! Click here for details.

Devon Retreat

If you’d prefer a staycation (!) then I’m teaching on the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat run by Deborah Smith, International Positive Psychologist and Mindfulness Expert. The Complete Wellbeing Retreat; Happiness workshops, Yoga and Mindfulness sessions will be held in a villa on the River Dart in South Devon.

Home Studio

Our yoga room is repainted and refreshed and waiting to welcome you. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

Valentina Candiani’s newly graduated Yoga Teachers will be teaching their first community class as part of their practical exam this weekend. It’s FREE to attend! Tomorrow, Saturday, there are 2 spaces left in the 10.00-11.00 class. On Sunday there are 3 spaces left in the 10.00-11.00 class. See you there. If you practice at Eden Fitness you’ll recognise one of our number. Also if you’re coming from New Energy Yoga, Winchester, you will see one of your yogis. To reserve a space write to valcandiani@hotmail.com.

Yoga in the news

Talking of Jane Fonda, The Telegraph tells us: ‘Channel 5 revived TV keep-fit with a live yoga class – so I tried it at home’. Tom Ough is the writer and victim. He says: ‘I struggled to get a sense of where each of my ungainly limbs should be’. ‘I tottered through the eagle pose…  and collapsed out of an attempted headstand’. ‘I strove through to the end, only occasionally thinking that TV exercise classes feature more than once in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984’.

Woman’s Health this week will tell you:; ‘The Best Yoga Pose For You, Based On Your Zodiac Sign’. Mine turns out to be Boat Pose. Oh joy!

This is interesting. The Times tells of KPMG’s strategy for supporting their workforce: ‘Salvation for a stressed-out auditor: compulsory yoga’. ‘In the UK its auditors are facing an investigation by the Financial Reporting Council into their work for Carillion in the years before the outsourcing company’s collapse…’ and therefore need yoga? I love yoga but it isn’t a plaster and the wound isn’t a graze!

Menuhin, Musicians and Yoga

Dear Yogis

Greetings from Kapsali, Kythera. I find myself on the international yoga teaching circuit! I arrived in lovely Kythera yesterday and taught Yin yoga to some players of Chris Shurety’s Allcomer’s Orchestra who are performing tomorrow. They sound superb. Musicians are interesting to teach. Their bodies adopt a certain position, probably asymmetrical, around their instrument and, inevitably, aches, pains and strains result. I remember David Williams (yoga royalty!) talking about teaching Pavaroti’s orchestra and deciding not to teacher Shoulder Stand to the flute player, who had held his shoulders and arms in a fixed position for decades, for fear or finishing his career.

Yoga and musicians are perfect for each other; appreciation of the rhythm of the breath is crucial to both. But backs are rounding, shoulders are fixed, the upper body is working and the lower body isn’t. Sound familiar?  It’s very similar to workplace keyboard warriors.

Yehudi Menuhin and BKS Iyengar (more royalty) had a friendship of many years. Menuhin said of his Iyengar yoga practice that he got: ‘less tension, more effective application of energy, the breaking down of resistance in every joint, the coordination of all motions into one motion, and…the profound truth that strength comes not from strength but from subtle comprehension of process, of proportion and balance.’ (Couldn’t this describe yoga for any profession?) He also said: ‘behind all violin technique exercises and hours of practice, the main goal is improved awareness, and that is the very goal of Yoga practice’. Amen!

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

I wish I could show you Kapsali. Those who have been here know this; you feel immediately lighter here. You breathe. The shoulders come down. The heart opens. All thoughts of rushing or stressing are vanquished. You tread your path in life easily... it’s a simple path; a sea-kissed, bay-side road, trodden languidly to the tick-tock of flip flops. On our retreats we frame the idyllic day with yoga. Ahhhhhh! Click here for details.

Devon Retreat

If a day of flights to Greece doesn’t float your boat then don’t forget the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat. I’ll be teaching Ashtanga in the morning and Yin in the afternoon on the Complete Wellbeing Retreat; Happiness workshops, Yoga and Mindfulness sessions. It will be held in an 18th Century Palladian Villa and is run by Deborah Smith, International Positive Psychologist and Mindfulness Expert. 

Home Studio

There are no classes this Monday. Back on track on Tuesday. To come to my Home Studio you can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here. Please don’t forget to let me know if you are observing Ramadan and need a calmer practice.

Training

I meant to mention last week… while I’m away try other teachers in the area. Cath Barnes-Holt is an Iyengar teacher at Triyoga Ealing and also teaches in West Ealing and Northfields. Ladan Soltani has classes in Ealing Town Hall and West Ealing. And what about Free Yoga? Lululemon in Westfield, Shepherds Bush, has free yoga every Sunday at 10.00. You can see their events on here.

Props

Tiger in Ealing Broadway have yoga belts for £4. They are excellent belts with non-slip buckles. These are the ones I use in my Home Studio.

Yoga in the news

Exciting news according to Biz Asia: ‘Swami Ramdev set for International Yoga Day in UK’. He’ll be in London, Coventry and Glasgow.

The Times last weekend gave us ‘Why real men should do yoga’. The grammar of the first article is petrifying. Scroll down to the third article on the same page: “It’s as good as weight training.” Peta Bee on how yoga transforms the male body. She quotes: yoga ‘helps you regenerate muscle cell quickly by releasing muscle tension, an essential step in the muscle-growing process. This decreases muscle recovery time and helps you get back to your workouts sooner’.  Also, muscles that are more mobile and flexible reduce ‘tension caused by pulling the attached ligaments and tendons. Not only does this bring immediate relief from daily aches and strains, it reduces the risk of common soft-tissue sports injuries’. Nuff said!