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Beautiful People Yoga

Monday Throwback

If I were to put some elements of this choreography in a yoga sequence for fun – would I be met with rolled eyes or … mirth? Things get too serious and intense sometimes. It’s just yoga – no wonder some flock to … Zumba ! for example. Where’s the fun? along the road on to transformation?
Actually love more her video on river boat going down the stream but… it was taken down…Isn’t UTUBE supposed to be a public domain?
This blog is a non-profit outlet (lol)…a travel log of a seeker on a journey to cultivate the extraordinary in the ordinary everyday…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-BIxL7gyYE
May need to just find a Karaoke box to get this out of my system …somethings Never End …the question is as always, can you ever schedule such a time to be “in a box” anymore? So trapped in an hour-glass, our daily structured schedule.

Those going ??? what does this have anything to do with YOGA … relating all back to it – the practice of “Prayyahara” is one of the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga:

V. Pratyahara (Control of the Senses)

Pratyahara means drawing back or retreat. The word ahara means “nourishment”; pratyahara translates as “to withdraw oneself from that which nourishes the senses.” In yoga, the term pratyahara implies withdrawal of the senses from attachment to external objects. It can then be seen as the practice of non-attachment to sensorial distractions as we constantly return to the path of self realization and achievement of internal peace. It means our senses stop living off the things that stimulate; the senses no longer depend on these stimulants and are not fed by them any more.

In pratyahara we sever this link between mind and senses, and the senses withdraw. When the senses are no longer tied to external sources, the result is restraint or pratyahara. Now that the vital forces are flowing back to the Source within, one can concentrate without being distracted by externals or the temptation to cognize externals.

Pratyahara occurs almost automatically when we meditate because we are so absorbed in the object of meditation. Precisely because the mind is so focused, the senses follow it; it is not happening the other way around.

No longer functioning in their usual manner, the senses become extraordinarily sharp. Under normal circumstances the senses become our masters rather than being our servants. The senses entice us to develop cravings for all sorts of things. In pratyahara the opposite occurs: when we have to eat we eat, but not because we have a craving for food. In pratyahara we try to put the senses in their proper place, but not cut them out of our actions entirely.

Much of our emotional imbalance are our own creation. A person who is influenced by outside events and sensations can never achieve the inner peace and tranquility. This is because he or she will waste much mental and physical energy in trying to suppress unwanted sensations and to heighten other sensations. This will eventually result in a physical or mental imbalance, and will, in most instances, result in illness.

Patanjali says that the above process is at the root of human unhappiness and uneasiness. When people seek out yoga, hoping to find that inner peace which is so evasive, they find that it was theirs all along. In a sense, yoga is nothing more than a process which enables us to stop and look at the processes of our own minds; only in this way can we understand the nature of happiness and unhappiness, and thus transcend them both.

– William J.D. Doran

At first read, “Withdrawal” from what’s “nourishing” does not sound right, right? It’s more about outside triggers and stimuli that we are withdrawing from, which leads to a more NOURISHING care of what’s within us – it’s about the content of our vessel, not just the vessel, it’s that content we tend to neglect… the content that fills and enriches our vessel, our lives. It’s so much about the practice of restorative yoga that prepares us better. Judith as always guides us well in our understanding of this concept of “Pratyahara” from a perspective of a yogini who is in this world fully engaged. Here is the illumination. We are not checking out and taking off to retreats because we are needed around here. It’s in the ordinary everyday that’s lived with grace.
Namaste.

Categories
Beautiful Rituals Healthy Activities Healthy Living Yoga

A gift for EVERYONE… this practice.

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Okay … I’m late.
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Very late…
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The weekend was so compressed, I really needed to take my own class tonight (the shuttle does not come; long lines everywhere; unplanned hike in the hills of Saratoga on an empty stomach; mad rush to get to a place …) drama, drama, drama … Luckily, as an eternal student of yoga, I have a toolbox to not let the drama hijack my intentions. In a way, because of that need to take my own class I felt, ironically, I was so much more able to empathize with the students who showed up. I really saw them with tender eyes …we were on the same boat, floating down the same river, on the same journey.
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I had meant to read a passage on the New Moon vis-a-vis “us” but … time went by so fast (no worries – sharing at the end of this post), I cannot understand why there’s not enough time to do all intended as I have so much more to offer but then, that’s what it’s about. To know that there is actually more than enough time to do all – there is enough time. We have to stop replaying this feeling of “not enough” nagging at us. We create the scarcity sometimes – There’s not enough money; there’s not enough to share; there’s not enough energy; and, the most common, there’s not enough time … on and on with feelings of deprivation to the point of believing even this – I am not enough. That fear begins to take over sometimes – fear that perhaps it’s not the time or the money but maybe … I am not enough? Really? Make a shift in that mindset of scarcity … There’s enough. There is ENOUGH. In fact, we have so much, that’s more than enough. We have plenty. We are swimming in abundance – There is “abundance” if you tap into it. Time really is a weird concept – and we have enough. we are enough. You are enough. I am enough.

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I like to approach a group class for all-levels as just that – for everyone … For special needs, I rather customize and gear the class to serve that particular group’s specific needs but of course all are welcome. In a general group class (unlike say, specifically directed to students suffering from cancer or autoimmune disease such as MS or chronic fatigue … then, the practice lead would be more keenly nuanced and delicate), I have to assume that each student is listening to their own body and I too am there to help modify and bring comfort. If Yin yoga is about training and dealing with discomforts to have breakthroughs; Restorative yoga is about … Bliss – How can I find Bliss – in a yoga pose, really letting go. It’s also part a meditation practice if you so choose it to be.

In a general group class, then, Restorative Yoga class as the name “restorative” suggests, is for (1) the healthy and the vibrant to use the practice as preventative measure to maintain that health and ideally, have even more of a surge to attain “optimal” health; (2) and on the opposite end of the spectrum, for the suffering, to find healing and restoration… a renewal through acceptance and receptivity for better things to come; (3) and everyone in-between to find their balance and the inborn natural vibe … that harmonious rhythm, the riff you strum within. In other words, as Judith illuminates:

Restorative Yoga is for Everyone !

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– New Moon tonight so plant your “seeds” of intentions … wherever you direct your desires to, wherever you direct your energy to, the seeds will germinate and flower… yes, they blossom…
There are different kinds of lunar salutations (just as there are different variety of sun salutations) and the one practiced tonight is not actually the one that I practice at home – that’s a secret – haha – no I will share one of these days – but more resembles this one so thought to do together. It’s the more familiar if you are used to doing sun salutations during the day… Here’s my coverage of it from a previous post… Click Here.

It’s best not to exercise 2-4 hours prior to bedtime especially on a New & Full Moon evenings not that yoga is supposed to be just an exercise. So don’t let Chandra Namaskar to be energizing … instead, let it be soothing and dreamy …kind of like you are one with the air, the ether …wafting like the scent that surrounds you. Delicious deep sleep is the most anti-aging, anti-inflammatory elixir that can remedy so much… I bid “Good night” & wish all sentient beings “Sweet Dreams”… Here I share an affirmation good for the whole week post-new moon as we are still in that phase. Namaste.

new moonaffirm

Categories
Yoga

“Hang Loose” and practice Preventative Medicine

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Few weekends ago, I went with my gut feeling listening to my inner guide based on what I want vs. where I should be and what I should be doing.
Thank you M-san for seeking my company to join you. It’s amazing that it’s exactly what I was interested in finding out more …as you can tell by my previous post.
Fusing Eastern healing methods from different divergent traditions – Japanese Medicine, Chinese Medicine and … YOGA, my passion…
& turns out there’s a team who does something similar to what I had in mind ! Kindred spirits! M-san, you are, of course:)

My mind has not digested all learned so hope to integrate the knowledge over time – someday, it’s all going to spill over:) Currently, just letting things soak… soaking it all within me to tap into like an apothecary… For now, all mixed and seeping out a little by little as I integrate my own practice from all these different styles and teachers… and what I made up that worked for me. (yes, me the laboratory rat, haha) It’s an alternative medicine – and very interesting to listen to people with different issues – someone who just had a neck surgery; someone who has weak knees, etc.
But we all did yoga (yes, it’s possible with injuries) and … felt sooooo good:) because it was gentle but highly methodical. Therapeutic. Effective. Yes, I trained my mind, using mindfully choreographed asanas as my tools.

When I saw this video and realized that, although, a little, well couple of subtle shades different, she nevertheless, shares much of my own philosophy. I decided YES – I will try her workshop – just squeeze it in – as she basically said virtually everything I had been thinking and churning in my head and sometimes expressing – when it comes to the kind of Yin yoga I teach … although I try more to alleviate or eliminate that “frustration” and discomforts through various tools … THEN there’s the restorative practice, to me, the actual “fascia”kind of a practice, that fuses and melds the yin and yang together… yes, in its nourishing net, the web that envelopes into one the duality in all practices. Similar and different like so many things in life… we need.

Yes, A LOT of YANG activities in our lives as we are conditioned to “work-out” “get in shape”, so this is a lovely off-set, a counter-practice to work-in, find peace within. Lovely time for meditation that clears your mind and also clears and purifies the body.

I don’t care about all the academics but “to me” yoga is about purifying the body and training the mind …in whatever form it takes, it’s just a different path we take to get to the same destination. Here’s Setareh on Yin even though the workshop was not so much on yin but on Qui-Gong … which is an ancient practice I also hold in high regard:

Setareh Moafi (yoga) and Salvador Cefalu (Qi-Gong), the duo gives skilled workshops and felt we share the same core values on how best to attain optimal wellness.