Category: Beautiful People

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Beautiful People Beautiful Places Healthy Living Yoga

Ichigo Ichie – the last workshop

Yoga Therapeutics with Harvey ! Finally attending the very first and the last monthly workshop …

Been going to Harvey’s sessions last 2 years on and off – initially prompted because one of the peers I respected was attending to fulfill some of the requirements for a certification  … and been going religiously for the last month or two having heard that he’s taking time off from regular weekly teaching … He also offered once a month, “Take the Afternoon Off” workshops Wednesdays which I had never attended because … well, it’s Wednesday and who can afford to take the afternoon off, right?  Yet, with the announcement of his impending departure, I made the effort and finally … there I was. What a treat to get a way mid-week, mid-day … I have to count my blessings:)

So mats are practically on top of each other’s, students packed and crammed into what’s usually a very large space.  It’s always a well-attended class but this time, maybe 100 packed into the studio room …We all knowingly made space for each other  and the props.  All of us, probably just like me, showing up because it’s the last one of these he’s teaching.  What is most appealing about his classes … is that sense of support, comfort and safety while being challenged.  The sense of release you get when you can really trust the teacher in his knowledge over the human body and how to best apply the yoga techniques. Afterall he’s a practicing physical therapist who no doubt has seen all failings of broken human body … and fixed a few to witness their recovery.

All standing poses, the Ukatasana, the Triangle … all felt soooo good because it’s done correctly, starting out with the tadasana and forward folds, backbends, without torquing the body to fit that magazine cover image you have painted in your mind.  Really loved how he teaches step by step with much care so you are fully engaged and not going to that auto-pilot place. Each pose is built in a sequence to prepare one’s body for the next pose – it’s not just dive in and get hurt crazy competitive yoga. In that sense – the attention to details – is similar to Iyengar style BUT different in that it’s not so mechanical and engineered. And sense of humor definitely helps.

After 3 hours of yoga … Savasana never felt so good.  Lightness, the Ease, Clarity and Alertness with the sense of peace – after a good yoga practice –  CHECKED! – it’s all there.

His presence and his classes will be missed… as some tears of wistful goodbyes were shed when we applauded after the end of the class.  A teacher/yogi with over 35 years of experience is an irreplaceable gem … not easily found still teaching regularly in the yoga world… and we all know it.  Good luck to the two junior teachers stepping in to his slots … what a shoe to fill.  But life is about impermanence and we learn to celebrate these events.  Gratitude for the opportunity to learn from one of the best. I have been blessed with so many excellent teachers – still digesting all the teachings to make it my own:)  It’s coming. I can feel things jelling, taking form and shape, thanks to the savasana I had given myself the permission to embody – I had been depriving myself that reward, so busy, providing for others what I find so nourishing.

Decompress.

Namaste:)

 

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Beautiful People Beautiful Places Yoga

Fruitful Efforts – Fascia-nating !

What I love about this practice space is that … there’s a labyrinth in the middle:)  You know how I love them – as I practice, step by step to find my center, the labyrinth is a walking meditation (sprinkled with yoga poses:) to really get ON THE GRID of life.  This is not a fancy place, in fact, quite modest, and kept very clean.  It’s my version of an ashram, an urban version … and indeed, for some, it’s a sacred place.  It’s a humble auditorium of an inner-city neighborly church (filled up max capacity this term as it’s their last year to offer IAYT approved Yoga Therapy Advance Training…hope they reconsider), so we know our tuition is going to the teachers and to maintenance of cleanliness, not to any fancy decors.  It’s a NPO, a foundation headed by those with a vision, a mission, devoid of pretensions.  It’s real. It’s not an image on an Instagram, a Madison Avenue magazine cover – it’s to meet the everyday needs of people like you and me, who can use the yogic tools and techniques for betterment, for wellness. The faculty is absolutely stellar and that’s what matters the most to all the teachers (min. 200 hrs. certified) here.  There are no textbooks for the 2 year course as each master teacher will bring a material thick enough to make a book.   BUT

during the course of 2 years, books were published by two of the faculty members …  the first book would make a good Mother’s & Father’s Day gift, if not for yourself; and the second one is the other spectrum of demographics – our youth 🙂 geared for classroom teachers and parents.  Dynamic Mindfulness?  It’s yoga – to strip it of the unattainable image and preconceived notions that it’s only for girls or that it’s about achieving a pretzel pose or touching the toes- whereas, Dynamic Mindfulness ?  It’s for everyone.

Yoga for Healthy Aging

by Baxter Bell, MD

&

Teaching Transformative Life Skills to Students:

A Comprehensive Dynamic Mindfulness Curriculum

by BK Bose, PhD

*****

Got to go to NYC for a quick whirlwind stay to attend an auspicious event so squeezed in MOMA to stand before originals in awe – to note, lots of yoga studios here which speaks to the level of stress from all the stimuli good like GREAT to not so good New Yorkers are exposed to in their day to day.  Besides, the weather was not so great so really want to take refuge at a studio …:

Having attended countless yoga classes, noting there’s a confusion with Gentle, Hatha, Restorative and Yin styles of Yoga so … let’s be clear on what we are doing?  Or are we setting the intention to blend the teachings?  I, actually am – as that’s what I am exploring – the blend, that’s not an abstract but “real” and authentic.   Not like mix red and blue to create purple but keep the red red, keep the blue blue and maybe have some bleeding of colors at the edges to have that lovely fade-out.  Keeping it separate so there’s that one-pointed attention and care – then merge a bit later, once we “get it” – then it’s not a confused abstract but something that speaks to our hearts and souls:) without over-thinking. There’s this lucid clarity with our intentions.  Nothing grandiose but just that natural comfort and joy we all long for. It’s a mixture of EFFORT & EASE.  The Yang & Yin.

Paul Grilley Interview Part 1 & Part 2 on Fascia and Yin Yoga

google and listen to them – if you are practicing yin yoga and don’t know why:)

& at a lost or at best, feeling sheepish, when there’s honoring of one’s intention in practicing it.  You want to know why you are doing something and be purposeful, right?

 

Otherwise, your efforts may be wasted as prana just dissipates into thin air.

Just know – It’s a “fascia-nating” practice:)

We want to harness and retain or multiply that energy so off  the mat, you can live enlivened, freed from all those things, those obstacles that may weigh us down. Our temple, our body needs attention; then the mind will follow … so it’s not just the Thinking Brain but … it’s a Thinking Body.   Turns out there’s a book entitled just that “The Thinking Body” by Maple Ellsworth Todd, a Somatic educator who created a method serving as a precursor to the Fendenkrais method.  It’s interesting to note that the method is heavily influenced by martial arts, such as Judo.

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Beautiful People Beautiful Places

Blue Hill @ Stone Barn Farm NY

Beautiful !

Realized what “stone” barn meant when the so called “barn” is not really a barn but a mansion constructed of stone … housing array of beautiful greenery and flowers, an artisan bakery and an elegant Farm to Table restaurant, event center, Blue Hill. A little Napa-ish but no vineyards but greens in the chill.

You see that sign or slogan – “Farm in Berkeley?” in the Bay Area; well, here, we from the West Coast was wondering …

“Farm ?  in New York?”  Well, only less than an hour drive from Manhattan, there’s this special place … it’s magical to get here to celebrate an auspicious event and right back to Manhattan – best of both worlds; the Yin & Yang, the dualism we are grateful for in celebrating two people with such different background but with similar values and like mindedness …coming together.

Thank you for these favors  🙏C & S ❤️  Congratulations !

Here’s a little excerpt from their homepage describing their mission – such an appropriate place for foodies ? interested in gardening and sustainability to tie a knot … bringing the sophisticated city dwellers and urbanites to learn about where our foods come from … (okay, never mind the industrial farming – that’s another post all together)

“In spring of 2004, Blue Hill at Stone Barns opened within the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. The Barbers helped create the philosophical and practical framework for Stone Barns Center, a working four-season farm and educational center just 30 miles north of New York City, and continue to help guide it in its mission to create a consciousness about the effect of everyday food choices.

Sourcing from the surrounding fields and pasture, as well as other local farms, Blue Hill at Stone Barns highlights the abundance of the Hudson Valley. There are no menus at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Instead, guests are offered a multi-taste feast featuring the best offerings from the field and market.”