A big SIGGHHHHHHH for self-care:) How can you profess to lend a hand or even possibly contribute towards healing others if you don’t know how to heal yourself first? While well meaning, “broken” people cannot fix others before they are fixed themselves. Through actual experience, there’s empathy … then one can come from a place of authentic wholeness, natural balance and … heartfelt genuine kindness:) Restored. While All yoga is “restorative”, the kind I refer to would be the one passed onto a disciple like Judith Lasater directly from BKS Iyengar and it’s a discipline even though it does not seem like it – the style that restores the Ojas – vigor – vitality – energy – prana – chi … by harmonizing the nervous system, balancing the chakras and purifying by eliminating the toxins out of your system. At least once a week … and feel the magic. Some of the best things in life are not complicated – it’s simple, natural and … intuitive.
Quite sleep deprived myself (is it hypocritical that someone fighting an urge to lie down and take a nap is preaching about NOT treating Savasana as a pass out nap time ? It’s a light yoga nidra and I really do get over my fatigue better myself if there’s a guide, a voice that leads a in-body trekking trip – in complete silence, I probably would be the first to be fast asleep) a bit drained from the 10 hrs RT drive to and fro Mt. Shasta within 3 days and then instead of giving up on CBF – I lied – I actually ended up going to Cherry Blossom Festival as we could not miss San Francisco Taiko Dojo’s performance… Taiko can be mind-blowing and so … highly recommended for those who have never heard them. Outdoors, it’s fine but indoors, real taiko drumming may not be for the faint hearted… perhaps sitting by the door can give you an option to slip out should the vibe become just too much. Even outdoors, at one point, I felt a bit faint…like dizzy… overwhelmed during a piece called “tsunami” composed by the grand master Seiichi Tanaka.
This morning got up early to make it to yoga class I decided to commit to – been searching for the right class, right schedule (Yes, teachers have a home self practice but they too seek out peer’s or someone they emulate to learn from at all times I think) so things all fit but resulting in less sleep for this night owl- Would you rather sleep extra 2 hrs or make it to a yoga class? That all depends on the teacher and I felt, I needed to be there at the expense of sleep… Anybody who loves yoga would understand how loyalty is fostered sometimes:
… while many of us in the West equate yoga with asana, and while asana is certainly an important segment of classical and Hatha-Yoga, for the most part it’s a preparation for pranayama and never practiced by itself….Posture practiced, alone, without pranayama and meditation, surely has some physical value, but alone, it’s not likely that it could ever lead to liberation.
– Richard Rosen
Unlike so many yoga celebrities who usually promote their books and cart them around for marketing (& nothing is wrong with that – it shows the exuberance in wanting to share) , Richard seems distant from that concept. Thinking I can purchase a copy of his book right from him, perhaps even getting it autographed – I inquire about it and he says… “I’m not in the business of selling books.” Maybe he said I don’t peddle my own books. “You can get it on Amazon.” Not with any attitude but kind of like in an absent minded way …Whenever I go to yoga workshops of those celebrity yoga teachers with a book published, usually books are readily available for purchase and so … he is the first one who does not – some might call that lacking in business sense and enthusiasm for his own creation; some may call him not corrupted or living in a non material world of little ambition …I think either is fine but he’s just the first one who is like that.
The best way to describe him might be … He is probably an old-style in that he’s what a yoga instructor used to be like when yoga was seen more a sub-culture – when yogis were considered a little too weird or even, counter-culture to be understood by the mainstream… So despite authoring few books, he does not represent a commercialization of yoga … and appear not to care much about numbers even though yoga must be his FT work? Or maybe it’s not work or career for him but a calling. Humble and really curious and aware – a sage. He is just so modest to the point of being self-deprecating but very particular about precision, insisting that the thighs be turned out or turned in, the throat be relaxed and … most importantly, to allow the brain to “shrink”…Guess our egos and heads are getting too big for our own good, in this modern world. He allows us to recognize that.
He shared that BKS Iyengar used to say how we need to let the brain be the object, not the subject... Like Judith Lasater, it’s so cool to learn from someone who actually trained under and got the quote directly in person from one of the greatest innovator of yoga in modern times, BKS Iyengar … there are probably only a handful of senior, first generation yoga teachers, basically our teachers teachers’ teacher? Maybe it’s cultural, but that kind of lineage is so precious in my value system – it’s so … authentic. That tradition to learn from the elders in the oral/hands-on tradition. While it’s popular to say that we are each our own guru – really? Actually, there’s really a guru out there – someone who dedicated hours of training, a lifetime and poured over hours studying texts and that, often times in Sanskrit … Most likely, practiced way more than I ever have. Don’t want to gush over him or idolize him at all but here’s my earlier impression of his teaching.
He seems to care less in self-promotion, ending the class with a promotion not for self but rather for HIS teacher’s workshop … ha ha ha. Neat to realize that every teacher, even at his level, has a teacher:) Everything is passed down and you put your own essence, your spice into the teachings…
Feeling blessed to be able to pursue my interest … Arigato … it’s not about success or failure but being… HAPPY:) I love yoga or I love how yoga makes you “feel”. It’s not intellectual or concerns over theories and concepts even – in a way philosophies and history and even Sanskrit that he’s so deeply into – all those things really doesn’t matter to me. Wish you all could “feel” for yourself, what I am talking about.
To borrow Jake Shimabukuro’s words, it “zeros you out”!
Snow quietly falling outside – it’s so cozy:)
The studio looked up happened to be by my favorite grocery store…
with the best veggie wrap I ever had – so fresh! Trying to recreate at home:)
No cell phones in the cafe – nice:)Here’s the inviting entrance…
Again and again, Kindness Matters – really.
adults and children, mixed-level community class taught by a lovely teacher who modified the poses for a child and a very expectant mother and others at various levels of experience and needs – very kind indeed. Fascinating talk on bone density and alignment – Iyengar school trained… should have known. My stiff tight shoulders from 5+ hours of non-stop driving just melted away…it was a right amount of movement vs. rest, that balance. Loved that floating sensation – is it just me?
Snow covered walkways – snow no longer falling…
Blessed water …
Clear and pure water to wash away whatever needs cleansing emotionally and spiritually… icy coollldd to awaken you:)
