Its now a few days after having taught my 2nd weekend of Sukham Yoga Teacher Training and I tell you that I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to help encourage a new group of teachers to bring more yoga to the community of this planet.
One lesson I definitely found this weekend was that what I want to teach in a 20 hour period is far more than what is humanly possible to fit into that time period. Its amazing how much thought process and knowledge is accumulated through time.
Watching these individuals teach one another takes me back to that moment when cuing a breath was a rather difficult task. It seams to be one of the hardest cues to have straight in the mind.
Starting each day with a personal practice that includes their preferred sitting posture, a basic pranayama and a meditation exercise, than moving into some readings from the Yoga Sutras (Swami Satchidananda). We than do some team building exercises, which seamed to help reduce the barriers between the group fairly rapidly.
Be present, Love, Learn.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Further Reflections by an Autistic Yogi
Working much slower through Simon Borg-Olivier lectures then I had originally hoped. But it takes me back to what Lerrita sayed in my original teacher training 'Let this knowledge be like tea, don't rush it, let it steep and when its ready it will taste much better.'
I am struck with the simplicity of thought about stretching into the nerves especially after doing weight bearing into a particular joint complex (sun salutation and or arm balances that put a lot of weight into the wrist joint complex in an wrist extension then could strongly benefit from a wrist flexion exercise that helped to stretch into the radial nerve). This sounds like a portable skill that could be used in any and all of the joint complexes of the body.
I am struck with the simplicity of thought about stretching into the nerves especially after doing weight bearing into a particular joint complex (sun salutation and or arm balances that put a lot of weight into the wrist joint complex in an wrist extension then could strongly benefit from a wrist flexion exercise that helped to stretch into the radial nerve). This sounds like a portable skill that could be used in any and all of the joint complexes of the body.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Yoga Thoughts
Ahimsa and Svadyaya
Don't overthink.
Don't expect to understand everything in one go.
Don't over breath, your natural breath is good to start with in the beginning.
Don't overdo your physical capacity.
Generally bend less, tense less and move slower.
Keep your body safe.
Move towards safety and building a foundation for a practice which reduces the risk of injury as you progress into more intense exercises and postures.
Yoga is no different from any other sport, start with simple, move towards mastering those basics so that the more complex postures are more likely to be explored.
Don't believe that you have to know everything in order to have a practice. Simply work with what does make sense and continue to attempt to make sense of what does not, but not over thinking and causing deep frustration.
Bending less is counter intuitive if your concept of yoga is all about stretching. Yoga is about unity with your authentic self, which allows us to deal with the comings and goings of life easier.
Tensing less does not mean that you don't activate your muscles, it just means that you do not need to overactivate in a muscle, learning how to create varying degrees of tension in particular muscles can really allow for some amazing physical expressions. Less can be more.
Moving slower allows us to really appreciate our uniqueness and to discover particular physical aspects of our physique, especially as our capacity changes from day to day. Smarter movement is created through slow movement and repetition. Don't expect to master a movement in one go.
Don't overthink.
Don't expect to understand everything in one go.
Don't over breath, your natural breath is good to start with in the beginning.
Don't overdo your physical capacity.
Generally bend less, tense less and move slower.
Keep your body safe.
Move towards safety and building a foundation for a practice which reduces the risk of injury as you progress into more intense exercises and postures.
Yoga is no different from any other sport, start with simple, move towards mastering those basics so that the more complex postures are more likely to be explored.
Don't believe that you have to know everything in order to have a practice. Simply work with what does make sense and continue to attempt to make sense of what does not, but not over thinking and causing deep frustration.
Bending less is counter intuitive if your concept of yoga is all about stretching. Yoga is about unity with your authentic self, which allows us to deal with the comings and goings of life easier.
Tensing less does not mean that you don't activate your muscles, it just means that you do not need to overactivate in a muscle, learning how to create varying degrees of tension in particular muscles can really allow for some amazing physical expressions. Less can be more.
Moving slower allows us to really appreciate our uniqueness and to discover particular physical aspects of our physique, especially as our capacity changes from day to day. Smarter movement is created through slow movement and repetition. Don't expect to master a movement in one go.
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