Yoga of Love and Devotion

Dear Yogis

This Friday Email is a bit lovely dovey because I am giving a reading at the wedding tomorrow of two wonderful yogis. The reading is about the love that remains after the madness of falling in love subsides. Of course, what is left is devotion and oneness. Now, how to relate this to yoga? It’s so easy! Love is one of the pillars of yoga!

There are different types of yoga named in the Bhagavad Gita, that cornerstone of yoga literature. They suit different types of personality; intellectual, emotional and physical. One is Karma Yoga – living through action and good deeds, like Mother Theresa. Another is Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge to suit the intellectual type. Raja Yoga captures the physical type – this is the one we are most familiar with through the Ashtanga system. And for the emotional type, there is Bhakti Yoga, the path of love and devotion to a higher being. Your ‘higher being’ might be ‘the universe’ or a deity or the sound Om which represents the fathomless, the root of all life.

In India and Sri Lanka devotion is an everyday occurrence – from offerings at the temple to bowing down to touch the feet of elders. Here in the west, it isn’t our custom. Some yogis follow the Hindu tradition where you can choose your personal deity. Consider Hanuman, the monkey god, who totally devoted himself to his friend King Ram. Because of his faith and devotion, he was capable of fearlessness and of accomplishing the greatest tasks. Hanuman told King Ram that he ‘even the fibres of my heart have your name written upon them and with each “thump thump” the chant “Ram Ram” quietly sounds’. If only I could use my heart like that.

In a difficult situation I sometimes ask myself: ‘What would yoga do? and I try to recall some philosophy or mythical character or even maybe a word like ‘devotion’. I don’t always get an answer but the question itself helps. More to the point, there’s a line in a book, The Yogi’s Roadmap, which sometimes pops into mind. The line was at the end of a poem: ‘What would love do now?’. Ahhhhh! This brings me back to the whole point of trying to live in a yogic way.

Retreats

The Greek retreats are now advertised on BookYogaRetreats.com. There have been cancellations due to family situations and broken limbs so a couple of new spaces are available. Details are still on the retreat pages on my website.  If you don’t want to fly, I’m teaching the yoga segment on the Happiness Retreat in South Devon, October 12th-15th! Details also on my website.

Home Studio

People are doing so well in this heat. The studio is small, the fans are blasting and the effort is inspiring. New yogis have become regulars. Ashtanga in this heat will focus on the seated postures. Who needs more Sun Salutations!. For next week’s classes you can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

Tomorrow, the brilliant Iyengar teacher Khaled Kendsi will be taking a workshop from  2.00-4.30, at Triyoga Ealing. I can’t recommend his classes highly enough.

Brilliant, brilliant Ashtanga teacher Alain Zaks will be teaching at Yoga West on Monday, 16:00-17:15, Ashtanga - Level 1-2. He is also assisting in a ‘Jumping through and other ashtanga transitions’ workshop with Alex Blanchflower Tomorrow, Saturday 28th at 13:15 - 15:15

I’ll be going to a Handstand Workshop with Saina (Janchivdorj Sainbayar) at the London School of Acrobats & Hand Balance this Sunday from 1.30-4.30pm. It’s for beginners and intermediate handstanders for £50! Come with me. It’s at St Stephen’s Church, Pond Street NW3 2PP.

Yoga in the news

In a Yoga-Gone-Wrong story, CNN reports: ‘Thieves take hundreds of leggings from Lululemon stores in San Francisco Bay area’. And I think the security policy is straight out of the Yoga Sutras… ‘Employees are not allowed to confront or chase thieves due to a company policy, CNN affiliates reported.

Summertime... And The Living Is Easy

Dear Yogis

During hot weather, getting to yoga class can be really hard. Muggy, sticky weather might rob you of your yoga intentions. It turns out that the body has seasonal needs as well as different requirements at different times of the day. In cool mornings and in the cooler months Vinyasa, Rocket, Power and Ashtanga are perfect to build heat in the body. Ayurvedic science tells us that our ‘Doshas’ (Pitta is fire, Vata is wind and Kapha is water) need to be balanced and in the Pitta season we should try balance the fire energy through our practice and our diet.

Practice in the morning if you can, before the heat of the day rises. In a fast-paced or demanding yoga classes shift your focus to a gentle and patient attitude to the practice. If you remember that over-heating brings about moods such as irritability, aggression, competitiveness and self-criticism, then consciously let any such tempers go. Intentionally focus to an internal, meditative, in-the-moment practice. Perhaps in some of the practice such as Sun Salutations you could close your eyes. Remember: Summertime, and the living is easy!

Ayurvedic advice for diet to balance the Pitta Dosha is to eat cooling foods: water melon, fruits and veggies, leafy salads. Avoid hot, spicy, greasy, fried foods and avoid dehydrating drinks… coffee! Very hot days are when a cooling raw food vegan option becomes welcome. Pranayama can come into play as well. There is a breathing exercise called ‘Sitali’. It’s a cooling breath you can employ after a hard practice or simply to reduce fatigue and cool down. You stick your tongue out and curl it (we used to do that in the school playground) and breathe as if sucking up through a straw. Hold it; it’s cool! Then breathe out through the nose. Here’s Ekhart Yoga giving a demonstration.

Retreats

I have had a few cancellations and there are places on both Greek retreats. I have added pictures of our accommodation to the website. Take a look… but please get in touch before booking flights if you would like to come. I really would like to introduce as many people as possible to this corner of the world where the soul can breathe! Take a look at the retreat pages on my website for information about the Greek retreats in September and the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat in South Devon!

Home Studio

It’s such a joy to welcome new yogis to my little Home Studio and watch how, by the end of the class, people all seem to have known each other for ages. Yoga is magic! I have added the Thursday 6.00 Ashtanga class next week to see if the demand is back. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Iyengar classes at Triyoga Ealing. One of the brilliant teachers there, Khaled Kendsi, will be taking a workshop on July 28th, 2.00-4.30, next weekend, with all the details and precision that helps deepen your understanding and practice in any style of yoga.

Yoga in the news

This is a lovely article after the initial word games: Yoga is not Indian, says Jaggi Vasudev at a UN meeting. This was said at an event "Conversation with Masters: Yoga for the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals” We get a little insight into yoga at the UN! Liechtenstein's Permanent Representative Christian Wenaweser conducts yoga lessons for diplomats and others at the UN. Masud Bin Momen, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh said it cured his sciatica. 

The Evening Standard advertises that: Tate Modern will host a series of yoga brunches this summer. Classes are one hour on Saturday mornings and you get great views of the Thames and St Paul's. What the article doesn’t tell you is that it’s £25 Yoga and Brunch and £41 if you include The Picasso 1932Exhibition. Nice for a present!

Wow, look at this! Leisure Opportunities reports that: More Yoga entrepreneurs plan 100 studios for London. “Entrepreneurs Shamir Sidhu and Daniel Marin are aiming to build the UK’s dominant yoga chain with their “no fuss” budget brand, More Yoga”. No reception desks or showers but as much of a variety of yoga as possible. And for venues they say; ‘Former betting shops and retail outlets work really well. Our studios enhance the high street and bring more footfall."’ Full article in Health Club Management.

The Martin Luther King Chakra

Dear Yogis

Gregor Maehle said so many things that inspired me that this is my third Friday Email featuring his teaching – the last one for now! Talking about the heart chakra, he said: ‘The heart isn't just a primitive pump. The heart has a magnetic field which can be measured eight metres away from the body’.

Coincidently, I’ve been thinking about how we project ourselves and the effect we have on others. Instinctively we know that our heart energy reflects on our face and the way we move through the world. We know that we affect others before we say a word. If you’re in yoga class next to someone with negative energy if affects your practice! There are studies which attempt to directly measure an exchange of energy between people.

Gregor Maehle says that the only way you can advance the heart chakra is by advancing all others. You do this by practicing radical forgiveness, trust and compassion.  Samadhi (or meditative absorption) on the heart chakra leads to the ultimate view that there is no ‘other’, that we are connected and that we form one humanity. Gregor says in his blog on the heart chakra: “In the human chest there is a small shrine (the heart) in which there is a small flame the size of a thumb (the soul). And in this flame miraculously there is this entire vast universe with its planets, stars, continents, rivers, mountains and oceans.”

Here’s something that might inspire you; he calls the heart chakra our Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Chakra, examples of people who were propelled by their belief that there is one family of all beings. 

Retreats

Advance your heart and happiness by coming on the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat in South Devon! I’m teaching yoga in the morning and the Happiness workshops and Mindfulness sessions take place in the afternoons. Meanwhile, another place has opened up on the Kapsali retreat with me and Lisa. Here are the afternoon workshops she’s planning on: Splits and Backbends, Leg Behind Head, Inversions, Arm Balances, Philosophy. A lot of time is spent on drills and preparations so it doesn’t matter if we get to the final splits/leg behind head or not. She says you can also ‘Watchasana’! Write back if you’re interested in coming with us to either Kapsali retreat. There’s a gentler retreat too!

Home Studio

Small classes and more room this week means that we turned some Ashtanga postures into restorative poses propped up with many bolsters and blocks and we had some upside-down fun using the wall. I see that I’ll be welcoming new yogis to my little Home Studio next week and places are filling up. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

You should have seen last week in Virgin Active Chelsea how a class responded to Lisa Maarit Lischak’s positive, welcoming, confident, serious heart energy. She projects that she has high expectations of the class and yogis responded with their best yoga, Heart energy exchange in action! She’s back tomorrow at 10.30. At the opposite end of yoga, I loved teaching Restorative Yoga (adult nap time!) at Yoga West last week and I get to do it again this Sundays at 3.30-4.45pm. It’s just four postures followed by Savasana! Can you imagine!

Yoga in the news

The express has: ‘World Cup: England stars relax with yoga after stunning quarter-final victory over Sweden’. It shows a clip of their yoga class and there are some odd postures that don’t work in general class, let alone for tight hip and hamstring footballers.

I love this article from HR News: ‘Why Wellness in the Workplace Matters’. ‘In 2016/2017, an estimated 12.5 million working days were ‘lost’ in the UK due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety’. They quote a yoga teacher who says; ‘Many of the yogis who come to my classes, do so to help them cope with work stress. Yoga improves posture and breathing, boosts morale and shows you how to go with the flow!”’ (I agree. I love teaching in the workplace. People also come to improve their chosen sport with yoga).

Have a love-filled weekend

Solar and Luna, The Donald and The Raj

Dear Yogis

Gregor Maehle says that Alternate Nostril Breathing saved his life! From that statement we went on to the personality of Donald Trump and how the British colonised India!

Introduction: Believe it or not, you have one dominant nostril and one that is a little bit blocked. (Try and see.). The right nostril is known as the Surya/Solar ‘Nadi’ and the left nostril is known and the Ida/Luna ‘Nadi’. The right nostril powers left brain which is where our analytical, scientific, commercial, militaristic, power thinking resides as does our extroverted self. The left is where our holistic, intuitive, artistic, nurturing thinking resides as does our introverted, parasympathetic self. Our whole society is powered by our collective right nostril / left brain and preoccupation with power in some form. (Read this for a beautiful explanation.)

Right nostril breathing powers the fundamentalist mind. This type of personality has difficulty accepting views that are contrary to their own. This attitude is rife in society; you can hear it fueling radio talk shows!. The left nostril-dominant person has a relativistic mind and accepts everyone’s point of view.  The problem with this mind is that it is impossible to stand up against an oppressor. Gregor said ‘The tragedy of most people is they find it difficult to balance, and switch at a time when they need to switch.’ In ancient society people knew how to switch channels or change activity every 90-120 minutes.

Here is how we got to Donald Trump. He is clearly locked in the Surya Nadi. He doesn’t think about how he comes across. He only thinks of what he can get out of others and what influence he can have. He can get by with 4 hours of sleep - this is typical of people in the grip of the Surya Nadi.  The trouble, though, with being locked here is that common symptoms are inability to relax, sleep disturbance, stress, anxiety and possibly panic attacks. You don’t have to be president for those to come along. It’s sympathetic nervous system overload.

Rattling through to the British Raj: the British, Gregor says, pulled off the biggest coup in history. It took only 50,000 British to take over 350 million Indians. It can only be done if the colonisers are fully locked on the Solar Nadi, have a total belief in what they are doing, not wasting time wondering how they are perceived and how others feel. By contrast, the Indians, stuck on the Luna mind, were too introverted and unable to stand up to dictatorship. The Moguls were Solar and the British were not able to overcome them and had to work with them.

Fascinating, eh!

Devon Retreat

OK! Meditation is needed after that! Just to remind you that I’ve been invited to teach 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. We could do some Alternate Nostril Breathing (click to try it) to balance things up a little.

Home Studio

I realised last Tuesday that the classes might have been empty due to the football! I’m cutting classes… so if the one you want seems to be not available, let me know and I can add it back to the timetable if there are enough takers. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

Tomorrow, phenomenal Lisa will be teaching at Virgin Active Chelsea (7th and next Saturday too - 14th July). The class is at 10.30. If you’re wondering about the magic of her teaching in Kapsali on our retreat and the way she coaxes your best practice out of you, come along. I’m due to teach Restorative Yoga (like an adult nap time!) at Yoga West on Sundays 8th and 15th July at 3.30-4.45pm.

Yoga in the news

We go highbrow this week with the New Scientist (full article for subscribers) and find out about ‘turbocharging meditation’! ‘Yoga and meditation work better if you have a brain zap too’. It says that ‘passing a small electrical current through your brain enhances the hard-won effects of yoga and meditation, leading to greater feelings of well-being, more quickly’. Could this be military related! Cue outraged yoga teachers.

Then we go lowbrow with The Sun which helpfully tells us that ‘Your bloke may think yoga is as far from football as possible’ but the English football team do it and The Sun suggests 10 poses you can try with a partner.

CNN has a really interesting story: ‘Contemplating suicide, this Marine turned to yoga to save his life’. It was in Savasana (after his marine life of hyperarousal, hyper fight-or-flight) that the point of yoga clicked.