An interesting article in the recent Ashtanga Yoga School Philadelphia newsletter. I really like the author's concept of saving some asanas for my next life. And yes, I too know of parts of the practice alluding me - yet we continue to practice. "Nothing is perfect. Or permanent." She nailed it!
Student Spotlight:
Karen Karuza
Confessions of a "Yoga Hussy"
I did not choose this ashtanga practice--the practice found me.
Never in this lifetime have I been a Flipper, Flyer or Bendy Barbie. My mother often tells the story of my early childhood dance lessons and how it took a year for me to finally master a cartwheel.
I live and breathe fashion-went to design school in New York, worked on 7th Avenue.
All flash and glam.
I disco roller skated, went to the gym, pumped iron, did aerobics, studied tae kwon do and took up spin class. Once I got a yoga video out of the library and attempted "Tree" and "Mountain" pose-not too successfully.
A friend suggested "Bikram Yoga." I liked the intensity. That studio brought in a teacher from New York and I made the switch to Ashtanga. Within no time this was soon to evolve into a Mysore room. Not quite sure what that would really mean, I googled some images and thought "What the hell is going on in there?"
That was over a dozen years ago.
The practice found me.
And I found my practice.
I never did a backbend or headstand until I was more than several decades into this life. At AYS I am often in a room where I have tattoos older than most of the lovely people practicing beside me. When an asana looks so impossible (and many do) I think, "I'll save that one for my next life."
The breath-yes,that natural habit we all have-has so much power. And yet, I STILL cannot harness it! The bhandas! The roots, locks-still so often elude my attempts.
But I will continue to try.
Nothing is perfect.
Or permanent.
It is difficult to articulate all that transpires and transforms from practicing Ashtanga. The blogoshpere and Facebook are chockablock with those perhaps more eloquent than I on this matter. However, for me, this practice changes everything--internally, externally, redefines ego and humility, discourages competition and encourages introspection, learning and re-learning.
Again.
And again.
It sometimes shouts but more often it whispers-very quietly.
So as is life on and off the mat.
I have been studying and "flowing on the crooked path" with David Garrigues since shortly after he settled in Philadelphia.
Showing posts with label Ashtanga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashtanga. Show all posts
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga
I am still in the infancy of my yoga practice and study. I have heard of various parts of the 8 limbs of yoga in various talks. However when I read this post (I've included a copy below) by Anna Coventry at doyouyoga.com, it nicely brought together a straightforward explanation of them for me. It's one of those things that I'd don't want to lose, so am storing it in my blog.
What Are The 8 Limbs Of Yoga?
What Are The 8 Limbs Of Yoga?
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Why Ashtanga Yoga Works (and what it does)
A friend recently posted to Facebook an article from Psychology Today entitled "Yoga: Changing The Brain's Stressful Habits - How yoga changes your brain". It was published on September 7, 2011 by Alex Korb, Ph.D. I wanted to capture the article here so that I don't lose track of it as I continue my yoga practice.
My friend had commented:
The part of the article I particularly liked is:
Yoga can supposedly improve depressive symptoms and immune function, as well as decrease chronic pain, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure. These claims have all been made by yogis over the years, and it sounds like a lot of new age foolishness. Surprisingly, however, everything in that list is supported by scientific research.
It may sound like magic that posing like a proud warrior or a crow could have such extensive effects, but it's not magic. It's neurobiology. This next statement may sound to you either profound or extremely obvious, but it comes down to this: the things you do and the thoughts you have change the firing patterns and chemical composition of your brain. Even actions as simple as changing your posture, relaxing the muscles on your face, or slowing your breathing rate, can affect the activity in your brain (beyond, of course, the required activity to make the action). These changes are often transient, but can be long-lasting, particularly if they entail changing a habit.
The first time I woke up early to join my Dad for yoga, I was picturing a roomful of people calmly twisting into pretzels to achieve enlightenment. As class was about to start my Dad mumbled from the next mat over, "You're supposed to breathe through your nose while constricting the back of your throat to make a sound like the ocean." That sounded a little hippy-dippy, touchy-feely to me, but I tried it anyway. I realized only later that this was one of the key factors in yoga's effect on the brain.
Within 15 minutes I was dripping so much sweat I could barely hold a downward-facing dog. Yet through all the poses the instructor kept talking about how we were supposed to keep our breathing calm, and steady. Remain calm? Are you kidding me? My muscles were shaking as I tried to hold myself in pushup position 4 inches above the floor. When the teacher asked us to twist so that the right shoulder dipped under the right knee, I could barely expand my lungs. He asked us to do a back bend, and my spine creaked, and painfully resisted my attempts. Remain calm? For goodness sake, he wanted us to stand on our heads!
As a neuroscientist, despite my initial incredulity, I came to realize that yoga works not because the poses are relaxing, but because they are stressful. It is your attempts to remain calm during this stress that create yoga's greatest neurobiological benefit.
Your brain tends to react to discomfort and disorientation in an automatic way, by triggering the physiological stress response and activating anxious neural chatter between the prefrontal cortex and the more emotional limbic system. The stress response itself increases the likelihood of anxious thoughts, like "Oh god, I'm going to pull something," or "I can't hold this pushup any longer". And in fact, your anxious thoughts themselves further exacerbate the stress response.
Interestingly, despite all the types of stressful situations a person can be in (standing on your head, running away from a lion, finishing those TPS reports by 5 o'clock) the nervous system has just one stress response. The specific thoughts you have may differ, but the brain regions involved, and the physiological response will be the same. The physiological stress response means an increase in heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension and elevation of cortisol and other stress hormones.
The fascinating thing about the mind-body interaction is that it works both ways. For example, if you're stressed, your muscles will tense (preparing to run away from a lion), and this will lead to more negative thinking. Relaxing those muscles, particularly the facial muscles, will push the brain in the other direction, away from stress, and toward more relaxed thoughts. Similarly, under stress, your breathing rate increases. Slowing down your breathing pushes the brain away from the stress response, and again toward more relaxed thinking.
So how does this all fit together? As I stated before, the stress response in the nervous system is triggered reflexively by discomfort and disorientation. The twisting of your spine, the lactic acid building up in your straining muscles, the uneasy feeling of being upside down, the inability to breathe, are all different forms of discomfort and disorientation, and tend to lead reflexively to anxious thinking and activation of the stress response in the entire nervous system. However, just because this response is automatic, does not mean it is necessary. It is, in fact, just a habit of the brain. One of the main purposes of yoga is to retrain this habit so that your brain stops automatically invoking the stress response.
Some people might think that the stress response is an innate reflex and thus can't be changed. To clarify, the response is partly innate and partly learned in early childhood. Yes, the stress response comes already downloaded and installed on your early operating system. However, this tendency is enhanced, by years of reinforcement. In particular, you absorb how those around you, particularly your parents, react to stressful situations. Their reactions get wired into your nervous system. However, just because a habit is innate, and then reinforced, does not mean it is immune to change. Almost any habit can be changed, or at least improved, through repeated action of a new habit.
To give an example of changing a similarly innate reaction, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have a gag reflex. This gag reflex gets in the way of many college freshmen as they struggle through the college socialization process of chugging a beer. Most have a difficult time. However, by the time senior year spring break rolls around, many of them have learned how to largely suppress that reflex. Like your gag reflex, just because your stress response is innate and automatic doesn't mean it can't be reshaped through sustained, and intentioned practice.
For some people waking up at 6:30AM to go to a yoga class would automatically trigger their stress response. The good news is that you don't actually have to go to a class to practice yoga. The poses most people associate with yoga are just a particular way of practicing yoga called the asana practice ("asana" translates to "pose"). The asana practice challenges you in a specific way, but life itself offers plenty of challenges on its own. Under any stressful circumstance you can attempt the same calming techniques: breathing deeply and slowly, relaxing your facial muscles, clearing your head of anxious thoughts, focusing on the present. In fact, applying these techniques to real life is what yoga is all about. Yoga is simply the process of paying attention to the present moment and calming the mind. Over time you will start to retrain your automatic stress reaction, and replace it with one more conducive to happiness and overall well-being.
After going back to my Dad's yoga class a few times, I eventually came to the realization that not only can you practice yoga in real life, but, conversely, you could go to a yoga class and not really be doing yoga. Some of those hot, tan, thin women around him might just be placing their legs behind their heads, and still not be focusing on keeping their breath calm and steady, or their minds clear (Note: I have removed a lame blonde joke). They might be focused on something else entirely. Without the sustained intention of focusing on the present, and calming the mind, going to a yoga class is literally just going through the motions. Come to think of it, who knows if my Dad is really doing yoga, and not just staring at the women with their legs behind their heads? Well, all I can say is that from my mat I can hear his breaths rolling deep and slow like the ocean, and he has no problem standing on his head.
My friend had commented:
"I like that it talks about how yoga in and of itself is not "relaxing" but rather trains one how to deal with what comes up from a decentered perspective - which can lead to a more mindful, relaxed attitude! Go Neuro-Psych!"
The part of the article I particularly liked is:
"Yoga is simply the process of paying attention to the present moment and calming the mind. Over time you will start to retrain your automatic stress reaction, and replace it with one more conducive to happiness and overall well-being.
... I eventually came to the realization that not only can you practice yoga in real life, but, conversely, you could go to a yoga class and not really be doing yoga. Some ... might just be placing their legs behind their heads, and still not be focusing on keeping their breath calm and steady, or their minds clear ... They might be focused on something else entirely. Without the sustained intention of focusing on the present, and calming the mind, going to a yoga class is literally just going through the motions."
The full article can be found here, and is as follows:
Three times a week at 7AM my Dad drives to a dance studio five blocks from the beach. In the bright, hardwood room, which sits above a Radioshack, a muscular man with a shaved head and board shorts whispers instructions in a mix of English and Sanskrit. My Dad, and the rest of the class - mostly lithe, tanned actresses and trophy wives wearing black Lululemmon tights - bend and twist into strange shapes. The windows fog over with the moisture of their collective breath.
My Dad has been going to yoga for over 6 years. I had always been interested in exercise and athletics, but I didn't get what was so great about this odd form of extended stretching. I also had a separate interest in neuroscience, but little did I know that this ancient practice would re-shape my understanding of the relationship between the body and the brain.
Yoga can supposedly improve depressive symptoms and immune function, as well as decrease chronic pain, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure. These claims have all been made by yogis over the years, and it sounds like a lot of new age foolishness. Surprisingly, however, everything in that list is supported by scientific research.
It may sound like magic that posing like a proud warrior or a crow could have such extensive effects, but it's not magic. It's neurobiology. This next statement may sound to you either profound or extremely obvious, but it comes down to this: the things you do and the thoughts you have change the firing patterns and chemical composition of your brain. Even actions as simple as changing your posture, relaxing the muscles on your face, or slowing your breathing rate, can affect the activity in your brain (beyond, of course, the required activity to make the action). These changes are often transient, but can be long-lasting, particularly if they entail changing a habit.
The first time I woke up early to join my Dad for yoga, I was picturing a roomful of people calmly twisting into pretzels to achieve enlightenment. As class was about to start my Dad mumbled from the next mat over, "You're supposed to breathe through your nose while constricting the back of your throat to make a sound like the ocean." That sounded a little hippy-dippy, touchy-feely to me, but I tried it anyway. I realized only later that this was one of the key factors in yoga's effect on the brain.
Within 15 minutes I was dripping so much sweat I could barely hold a downward-facing dog. Yet through all the poses the instructor kept talking about how we were supposed to keep our breathing calm, and steady. Remain calm? Are you kidding me? My muscles were shaking as I tried to hold myself in pushup position 4 inches above the floor. When the teacher asked us to twist so that the right shoulder dipped under the right knee, I could barely expand my lungs. He asked us to do a back bend, and my spine creaked, and painfully resisted my attempts. Remain calm? For goodness sake, he wanted us to stand on our heads!
As a neuroscientist, despite my initial incredulity, I came to realize that yoga works not because the poses are relaxing, but because they are stressful. It is your attempts to remain calm during this stress that create yoga's greatest neurobiological benefit.
Your brain tends to react to discomfort and disorientation in an automatic way, by triggering the physiological stress response and activating anxious neural chatter between the prefrontal cortex and the more emotional limbic system. The stress response itself increases the likelihood of anxious thoughts, like "Oh god, I'm going to pull something," or "I can't hold this pushup any longer". And in fact, your anxious thoughts themselves further exacerbate the stress response.
Interestingly, despite all the types of stressful situations a person can be in (standing on your head, running away from a lion, finishing those TPS reports by 5 o'clock) the nervous system has just one stress response. The specific thoughts you have may differ, but the brain regions involved, and the physiological response will be the same. The physiological stress response means an increase in heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension and elevation of cortisol and other stress hormones.
The fascinating thing about the mind-body interaction is that it works both ways. For example, if you're stressed, your muscles will tense (preparing to run away from a lion), and this will lead to more negative thinking. Relaxing those muscles, particularly the facial muscles, will push the brain in the other direction, away from stress, and toward more relaxed thoughts. Similarly, under stress, your breathing rate increases. Slowing down your breathing pushes the brain away from the stress response, and again toward more relaxed thinking.
So how does this all fit together? As I stated before, the stress response in the nervous system is triggered reflexively by discomfort and disorientation. The twisting of your spine, the lactic acid building up in your straining muscles, the uneasy feeling of being upside down, the inability to breathe, are all different forms of discomfort and disorientation, and tend to lead reflexively to anxious thinking and activation of the stress response in the entire nervous system. However, just because this response is automatic, does not mean it is necessary. It is, in fact, just a habit of the brain. One of the main purposes of yoga is to retrain this habit so that your brain stops automatically invoking the stress response.
Some people might think that the stress response is an innate reflex and thus can't be changed. To clarify, the response is partly innate and partly learned in early childhood. Yes, the stress response comes already downloaded and installed on your early operating system. However, this tendency is enhanced, by years of reinforcement. In particular, you absorb how those around you, particularly your parents, react to stressful situations. Their reactions get wired into your nervous system. However, just because a habit is innate, and then reinforced, does not mean it is immune to change. Almost any habit can be changed, or at least improved, through repeated action of a new habit.
To give an example of changing a similarly innate reaction, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have a gag reflex. This gag reflex gets in the way of many college freshmen as they struggle through the college socialization process of chugging a beer. Most have a difficult time. However, by the time senior year spring break rolls around, many of them have learned how to largely suppress that reflex. Like your gag reflex, just because your stress response is innate and automatic doesn't mean it can't be reshaped through sustained, and intentioned practice.
For some people waking up at 6:30AM to go to a yoga class would automatically trigger their stress response. The good news is that you don't actually have to go to a class to practice yoga. The poses most people associate with yoga are just a particular way of practicing yoga called the asana practice ("asana" translates to "pose"). The asana practice challenges you in a specific way, but life itself offers plenty of challenges on its own. Under any stressful circumstance you can attempt the same calming techniques: breathing deeply and slowly, relaxing your facial muscles, clearing your head of anxious thoughts, focusing on the present. In fact, applying these techniques to real life is what yoga is all about. Yoga is simply the process of paying attention to the present moment and calming the mind. Over time you will start to retrain your automatic stress reaction, and replace it with one more conducive to happiness and overall well-being.
After going back to my Dad's yoga class a few times, I eventually came to the realization that not only can you practice yoga in real life, but, conversely, you could go to a yoga class and not really be doing yoga. Some of those hot, tan, thin women around him might just be placing their legs behind their heads, and still not be focusing on keeping their breath calm and steady, or their minds clear (Note: I have removed a lame blonde joke). They might be focused on something else entirely. Without the sustained intention of focusing on the present, and calming the mind, going to a yoga class is literally just going through the motions. Come to think of it, who knows if my Dad is really doing yoga, and not just staring at the women with their legs behind their heads? Well, all I can say is that from my mat I can hear his breaths rolling deep and slow like the ocean, and he has no problem standing on his head.
No Mysore Practice of Ashtanga Yoga on Moon Days
Moon Days are the days of the full and new moons. Traditionally there is no mysore practice of ashtanga yoga on these days. Here are the reasons why provided by two noted teachers of ashtanga yoga.
Tim Miller has posted the following:
Richard Freeman has posted the following:
Tim Miller has posted the following:
Both full and new moon days are observed as yoga holidays in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition. What is the reasoning behind this?
Like all things of a watery nature (human beings are about 70% water), we are affected by the phases of the moon. The phases of the moon are determined by the moon’s relative position to the sun. Full moons occur when they are in opposition and new moons when they are in conjunction. Both sun and moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Their relative positions create different energetic experiences that can be compared to the breath cycle. The full moon energy corresponds to the end of inhalation when the force of prana is greatest. This is an expansive, upward moving force that makes us feel energetic and emotional, but not well grounded. The Upanishads state that the main prana lives in the head. During the full moon we tend to be more headstrong.
The new moon energy corresponds to the end of exhalation when the force of apana is greatest. Apana is a contracting, downward moving force that makes us feel calm and grounded, but dense and disinclined towards physical exertion.
The Farmers Almanac recommends planting seeds at the new moon when the rooting force is strongest and transplanting at the full moon when the flowering force is strongest.
Practicing Ashtanga Yoga over time makes us more attuned to natural cycles. Observing moon days is one way to recognize and honor the rhythms of nature so we can live in greater harmony with it.
Richard Freeman has posted the following:
Moon days provide time for rest between rigorous days of practice which is especially important if, as is traditional in the ashtanga system, you practice six days a week.
It’s part of the traditional approach to take time off during the new and full moons. This is partly due to the Indian astrological belief that it is not auspicious to do certain things on moon days. Because we are part of this lineage, we have chosen to honor the moon days in this way.
In addition, once you practice on a daily basis (six days a week is recommended), you’ll notice that being invited to take a day off is a luxury. The body can rest (after all the ashtanga practice is physically demanding) and on moon days you feel like you have a huge chunk of unspoken for “free time” when you’re used to daily practice.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
from Paul Gold's Blog: Dilemma – Fewer Practice Days or Less Practice Everyday?
Posted April 9, 2011 on Paul Gold's Blog at http://paulmitchellgold.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/dilemma-fewer-practice-days-or-less-practice-everyday/ :
While we were in Mysore, a yoga student of ours stopped coming to the shala because she didn’t have enough time between attending school and working in a restaurant.
I should qualify that she didn’t have enough time to do the practice that she had been accustomed to doing before she was juggling school and work. My understanding is that it may have been possible to either come to the shala fewer days per week and do what she had been doing (i.e. – the same number of asanas) OR she could come to practice daily and do a shortened practice (i.e. – fewer asanas). In the end, she didn’t choose either option and, I imagine, isn’t currently doing any yoga.
Practicing is never a static experience. Life is constantly changing and so practice is constantly changing. It’s important that we don’t cast our practice in stone or we will not be able to adapt. It’s also equally important to understand what “practice” is.
First, let’s answer the question. Is it better to practice fewer days or practice less everyday? The answer is we should do as much practice as we are able as often as possible, if not everyday. I am implicitly talking about ashtanga yoga; so, everyday is Sunday through Friday with moon days off and three days off for ladies’ holiday. It’s important to practice everyday. It’s always been important and that’s why it’s stated explicitly in the Yoga Sutras. Sutra I:14 is crystal clear about this. I don’t see how “done for a long time without interruption” can be interpreted differently. That said, when things are crazy, some days practice isn’t possible. Let’s say as close to everyday as possible.
Back to life, then. As life is constantly changing, we have to be able to adapt our yoga practice. Too often, we associate our practice with a particular number of asanas that we’ve been taught. When life is a particular way and we are able to do all of those asanas, awesome. When life’s a different way, we have to assess how much time we have and to do the number of asanas that we can in that time. Students have come to class and asked what they should do as they have to leave early on a particualr morning. I tell them to start practice and do as many asanas as they can before they need to finish up and rest. I don’t send them home because they can’t do full primary series!
If we look at Sutra I:13, we can see a more useful and proper definition of “practice.” Patanjali says that any effort put towards restraining the tendencies of chitta is called Practice. Since doing ashtanga yoga purifies the senses and mind which allows us to restrain the chitta, we can infer that any amount of time spent on the mat is beneficial. We shouldn’t see practice as an all or nothing endeavour.
Too often, when things get tough in our lives, we abandon practice with the excuse that we don’t have time. We know full well that practice would be helpful and we love to acknowledge it rhetorically. We know that practice would help us focus while we’re studying for exams, that it would release stress when we were visiting a friend or family member in hospital, that it would ground us after when our babies weren’t sleeping through the night. The list is endless, right? But what if we did 10 minutes of surya namaskars and lay down to rest for five minutes? What if we did half-primary or only standing asanas until our schedules changed (remember that things are always changing)? What if we did what we can everyday?
If practice is a relative amount of time that we have to spend on our yoga mats and consists of doing as much as we can in that day’s amount of time, we won’t ever be in a position where we feel there’s a dilemma. The commitment and dedication required to practice ashtanga yoga is not dependent on the number of asanas we do, but rather on the arrival on one’s mat.
While we were in Mysore, a yoga student of ours stopped coming to the shala because she didn’t have enough time between attending school and working in a restaurant.
I should qualify that she didn’t have enough time to do the practice that she had been accustomed to doing before she was juggling school and work. My understanding is that it may have been possible to either come to the shala fewer days per week and do what she had been doing (i.e. – the same number of asanas) OR she could come to practice daily and do a shortened practice (i.e. – fewer asanas). In the end, she didn’t choose either option and, I imagine, isn’t currently doing any yoga.
Practicing is never a static experience. Life is constantly changing and so practice is constantly changing. It’s important that we don’t cast our practice in stone or we will not be able to adapt. It’s also equally important to understand what “practice” is.
First, let’s answer the question. Is it better to practice fewer days or practice less everyday? The answer is we should do as much practice as we are able as often as possible, if not everyday. I am implicitly talking about ashtanga yoga; so, everyday is Sunday through Friday with moon days off and three days off for ladies’ holiday. It’s important to practice everyday. It’s always been important and that’s why it’s stated explicitly in the Yoga Sutras. Sutra I:14 is crystal clear about this. I don’t see how “done for a long time without interruption” can be interpreted differently. That said, when things are crazy, some days practice isn’t possible. Let’s say as close to everyday as possible.
Back to life, then. As life is constantly changing, we have to be able to adapt our yoga practice. Too often, we associate our practice with a particular number of asanas that we’ve been taught. When life is a particular way and we are able to do all of those asanas, awesome. When life’s a different way, we have to assess how much time we have and to do the number of asanas that we can in that time. Students have come to class and asked what they should do as they have to leave early on a particualr morning. I tell them to start practice and do as many asanas as they can before they need to finish up and rest. I don’t send them home because they can’t do full primary series!
If we look at Sutra I:13, we can see a more useful and proper definition of “practice.” Patanjali says that any effort put towards restraining the tendencies of chitta is called Practice. Since doing ashtanga yoga purifies the senses and mind which allows us to restrain the chitta, we can infer that any amount of time spent on the mat is beneficial. We shouldn’t see practice as an all or nothing endeavour.
Too often, when things get tough in our lives, we abandon practice with the excuse that we don’t have time. We know full well that practice would be helpful and we love to acknowledge it rhetorically. We know that practice would help us focus while we’re studying for exams, that it would release stress when we were visiting a friend or family member in hospital, that it would ground us after when our babies weren’t sleeping through the night. The list is endless, right? But what if we did 10 minutes of surya namaskars and lay down to rest for five minutes? What if we did half-primary or only standing asanas until our schedules changed (remember that things are always changing)? What if we did what we can everyday?
If practice is a relative amount of time that we have to spend on our yoga mats and consists of doing as much as we can in that day’s amount of time, we won’t ever be in a position where we feel there’s a dilemma. The commitment and dedication required to practice ashtanga yoga is not dependent on the number of asanas we do, but rather on the arrival on one’s mat.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Being Present
Discovered a new way this past week to be present: enter the water - swimming pool is fine but salt water is better; turn over on your back; top of head facing into the waves, if applicable; legs and feet together, toes pointed; elongate the spine, gentle curve upward in the back; open your heart; arms at your side gently moving back and forth slowly in short strokes as required to keep your head above water; gaze gently upward; if outside, feel the gentle sun upon your soft visage; engage in your breathing exercises; let any thoughts drift away; become present.
It was the warm waters of the Mayan Riviera that helped this discovery!
It was the warm waters of the Mayan Riviera that helped this discovery!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
My adventure into yoga and Bhakti Yoga Studio's Mysore One Month Experience
About 3 weeks ago I started Ashtanga yoga in the Mystore style classes at the Bhakti Yoga Studio at 288 Marion Street. It has been wonderful. It's taking me exactly into the realm that I want to go: de-stressing relaxation, exercise and thinking in a better philosophical space. It's not hot yoga - which personally I couldn't take the heat. But if I remember correctly the idea is to create inner heat to rid my body of toxins - and as my friends, you'll know that there are a few of those. If time permitted I would increase my practices but so far it has just been on Saturday mornings, and Tasha has accompanied me for most of them. A nice father-daughter joint experience! We bought a 12 pass for $120 as I recall, so quite reasonable. I noticed though that they have an activity coming in January to raise the awareness in Winnipeg of Ashtanga yoga in the traditional Mysore style and I thought some of you might be interested in that. Sounds to me like a good way to try it out, or you could invest less time as I have. The less time meanss it will take me longer to master - but I have the rest of my life to learn and I'm hoping to be around for quite a while. If you want to learn more, here is the article from their website, and you can also get more information about the Bhakti Yoga Studio and what it has to offer on their website at http://www.bhaktiyogastudio.ca .
Mysore One Month Experience
An invitation to welcome the New Year with new knowledge and awareness. To all yoga students, aspiring or experienced who are new to Mysore style classes, we are extending an invitation for you to come and learn the methods of Ashtanga yoga in the traditional Mysore style.
In Mysore style classes, each student is addressed individually by the teacher and taught the sequence of poses, how to breath fully, and other methods for calming and focusing the mind. Students learn through practice, repetition, and remembering what they are taught. Anyone can learn yoga in a Mysore class. No experience required. It is easy to learn and offers many benefits. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are all imporved through regular and consistent practice.
Developing a practice is a process which can come about in one way only. By practicing! There is nothing advanced about a Mysore class, beginners are welcome. Students with more developed practices, who may be practicing more advanced postures and techniques began with no pracitce themselves. They learned little by little. Anything is possible if you practice. Go to the FAQ link for more information about Mysore style.
We are not promoting a competition over 30 consecutive days but, are inviting you to set the intention to come and practice yoga regularly over a month and see for yourself what the potentials of a regular practice are. We are encouraging students to attend Mysore practice 3-5 days each week over the period of one month. There are also classes on the weekend which Mysore program students may attend. They are led classes where the teacher counts, breath by breath, through the postures and movements of either the full Primary Series or the first half of the Primary Series in a steady and rhythmic flow. All are encouraged to attend one of these weekend classes each week.
Regular practice works slowly, drop by drop, moving one toward consistency and balance in all ways.
The Mysore Program classes are Monday to Friday mornings from 6:30am to 9:30am, Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:00pm to 6:45pm, Friday evening from 5:30pm to 7:15pm, and Saturday morning from 9:30am to 12:15pm. A led 1/2 Primary Series class will be held Saturdays at 12:30 to 1:45pm. Bhakti Yoga Studio Mysore Program pass is valid for all of these classes. It is not valid for any other classes listed on the schedule. Begin anytime in January and pay only $100 for a one month Mysore pass.
There are two other studios in Winnipeg where you can learn Ashtanga yoga in the traditional Mysore format. We are all participating in the Mysore One Month Experience.
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