Dear Yogis!

I mention Uddiyana Bandha (drawing the navel in) a lot in class, increasingly aware that my belly is less and less toned as the lock-down months continue! Uddiyana Bandha in Ashtanga is used throughout the practice which isn’t easy. However, some movements of the practice help to remind us of the abs and to tone the belly. For example, lifting half-way up from a forward fold can only have one purpose, that of drawing in the abdomen and creating that cavity in the belly.

Monday June 21st is International Yoga Day. It came after a speech at the UN by Indian PM Narendra Modi in 2014. In that speech, and in subsequent speeches to mark the day, you can see the political hopes that yoga will help tackle issues of the world... issues being tackled by the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations! Well, they would say that!

I’m reading a book about the breath. Not an unusual thing for a yoga teacher… but this isn’t a humourless pranayama book. The author, Oliver James is a ‘breath expert and body-led psychotherapist’ who has studied all kinds of ‘schools of breath’: “Holotropic Breath; Transformational Breath; Quantum Light Breath; Shamanic Breath; Wim Hof Method”… an expanding list of breath expertise.

I was asked this week for a good book to read as an introduction to yoga. Some of us are happy to turn up and do the class. Some of us want to dive into the deep end, right from the start, and read up on history, philosophy and all sorts. I have many books that promise to be a good introduction. Here’s my recommendation… and it’s Iyengar Yoga that wins!

Dear Yogis!

Happy Birthday Buddha! Today is the full moon in May which marks the day that the Buddha was born (as Prince Siddhartha), achieved enlightenment at the age of 35 and died at the age of 80. It’s probably the most important day in the Buddhist tradition and, because yoga philosophy and Buddhist thought share so many principles, I thought I’d share some contemplations.

I’ve been listening to yoga podcasts this week and one in particular from the soothing Scott Johnson. He’s talking to Petri Räisänen about Learning From The Past. Petri has been a big part of the Ashtanga tradition for the last 30 years, a Mysore regular, and wrote books with the help of Pattabhi Jois, the fallen guru.

Before I practiced yoga I was unfamiliar with the term ‘Namaste’. It closes a class and it’s really nice; hands together, a little bow. I mentioned two weeks ago that Namaste, as used in India, is primarily a greeting. I’ve been thinking about it and the Namaste Cringe ever since.

At the vaccination centre this week, a lady who just had her first jab was almost in tears of joy, her voice was high and quivery. Her body showed all of her emotions and conveyed how much she could have used a big hug… which is impossible! It made me think of the Emotional Body (did you know we have four bodies: the spiritual, emotional, physical and mental bodies?) and how uncontrollably present and visible our emotions can be.

Here’s a thing! There’s a free online talk tomorrow called The Truth About Tantra by Dr Raj Balkaran from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS). It’s at 7pm UK time, May 1st. Dr Balkaran says: ‘Fetishized and appropriated in India and beyond as the resort of hedonists and black magicians, Tantra is a profoundly misunderstood and misused spiritual path.’

What a week it’s been! The Derek Chauvin trial, the breath-taking verdict, then Stephen Lawrence Day, floods of memories of 1993 and that Thursday when the young Stephen was killed. I’ve been wanting to write a Friday Email about racism in the yoga world for a while, and try to figure out how to approach the subject.