Reflections on Yoga

  Even though a person does not need to learn about anatomy and physiology formally in order to master the asana that has popularized yoga in the west, it sure can help to increase understanding of what is happening as the individual moves through their day to day life.
  In some moments an individual can practice a technique in a manner that is unsafe which than can exacerbate existing problems or create new ones all together. This is when having an understanding of form and function in an anatomical and physiological stand point is very useful.
  Individuals that have not delved into the anatomy and physiology of our being can become very adept at understanding their own body but it can be quite difficult for them to develop a true empathy for another persons unique differences in anatomy and physiology.

  Hatha Yoga is the physical practice of moving in particular ways and holding particular postures. Hatha itself denotes 'force' so any of the physical asana practices fall under the term of Hatha Yoga.
  Yoga is most widely termed as 'Union'.
  Hatha yoga is the physical exercise that has evolved mainly through the history of India and has recently moved across the globe. It is an attempt at unifying the body, brain and spirit by encouraging and increasing the movement of prana (energy) and citta (mind, information, mental processes as a whole) through the nadis (channels) of the body. In turn the individuals health and vital life force is increased and there is an easier time recovering from setbacks.


Further reflections to come

Random Reflections of an Autistic Yogi

The previous weekend I had organized a friend who has been teaching meditation for sometime to come and each a meditation workshop on the Friday for my 5th weekend of Yoga Workshops in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and she brought the focus to a simple meditation prospect, which I will attempt to describe:

Just as an experiment imagine that there was no past, the past dissolves away, it no longer exists.....
There is no future, the future dissolves away, it no longer exists....
There is no identity, the ego dissolves away, it no longer exists....
What is left? Go deeper into that.....

On the Saturday Angela Ditch, a friend who has delved deeply into the 3Ho Kundalini lineage ( http://www.3ho.org/ ) taught a few workshops. This really inspired me into some different thought processes one of which is looking at Kundlini rising within us. That at any given moment there may be a rising of a kundlini energy but it ends, almost like a faucet that is turned on and off. Kundalini awakening is when this facet is opened and an endless amount of energy rises. Wether this is truth or not I have yet to discern.
This being my 3rd Kundalini class goes to show that the intense patterns of moving, especially the transverse movements, cause my vestibular system to activate intensely causing a nauseating feeling within me.
I was always the child who would get ill when being spun on the tire swing at school. I will seek more answeres for certain.

Everything is as it aught to be in this moment :)

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Teaching in New Spaces

Class sizes ahve dramatically changed for me. Going from teaching 10-20 classes a week to an average of 2-4 students to a class size of 15 or more on average has had a tremendous effect on my pre-class nervousness.
To navigate feedback from the student body from class sizes that large is a rather hard endeavor.  Most if not all feedback so far goes through a funnel, going up to the Manager or studio owner and then is delivered to the practitioner.
The questions that hit me are: 

Is all criticism/feedback reflective of the larger % of the group?

How much conformity needs to be had in order to appease holding a class structure?

Are there any hard rules that make transitioning experimental classes easier?

Will there ever be a chance to appease all practitioners?

Having Aspergers and communication in large groups has always been a slight difficulty, where I am more likely to have the Um's Ah's and other go to words that have little to no place in the dialogue of teaching.. What is a best way to get over those without going to toastmasters?

Going into new spaces has a very peculiar feeling, So many aspects of our being that take on a new light when we observe them as a non-partial observer.

A little scattered today, and it feels great :)

Namaste!