If anyone fancies trying out a practice to music one day, my partner Jon is a guitarist and willing to provide some live accompaniment. To keep a gentle pulse going, it would be good to get a tabla or djembe player on board too - anyone interested, or know someone?
Then if people are interested we could pick an occasion for some musical flow!
Louise
day potluck! Sorry I couldn’t resist the title!
A big thank you to Shari and Elaine for hosting the latest moon day potluck. It was well attended. I counted 14 in total. Jane gets a prize for her chocolate brownies… ooooh! Paul also gets a prize for most “avant garde” dish - cashew dates, dipped in cashew butter and then dipped in cacao powder! Seriously yummy - just don’t inhale as you put it in your mouth as the cacao powder gets caught at the back of your throat, as Shari and I both discovered!
The highlight for me was when Shari and Doug played guitar and sang… I’ve just started learning myself so it was nice that people felt comfortable enough to pick up the guitar and sing too! I must say that I’ve missed our potlucks, hanging out with the gang. It would be really nice to get them going a bit more regularly again!
So do we have any volunteers for the next one? Just let Sarah and Shari know and they’ll surely announce it at class!
There was also talk of getting a group together to go to five rhythms during the week. I’m seriously up for going to that too! Just as long as I can be tucked up in bed early enough for practice the next day! 
Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine!
G
I’m a little behind as usual with the blogging so this is about 10 days old now:
Sunday a week ago I took my first Yoga class. Hannah and I were at her family’s farm near Hastings. The get together was organised to scatter her Grandfather’s ashes. There were more than 15 family members gathered on Saturday.
Now her family has somewhat hippy tendencies and quite a few people expressed an interest in an outdoor Yoga class on Sunday morning led by me. I was instructed to ring a gong at 8am and see what happened.
To my surprise there were soon assembled 10 bleary eyed Yoga students ready for a class. It turned out that 4 of the family members had never done any yoga before. The class consisted of 3 men and 7 women ranging from early 20s to late 50s. So I had to lead the class by demonstration and talking at the same time.
We started off with a quiet moment for dedication. Then I waffled a little bit about breathe and movement and then it was off and away with 5 Surya Namaskar As and then swiftly onto the Bs of which we did 4. We then did the standing sequence with some variations - for Parivrtta Parsvakonasana the students had their hands in prayer position and for Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana we did the tree posture with hands raised in prayer postion above the head.
It was really hard work talking and demonstrating while trying to keep a flow to the class. But it was great fun too! It was a lovely warm day and the garden was in full bloom.
We ended the class with a short seated meditation. Later in the day we all gathered as a group to scatter John’s ashes. The whole weekend was a very intimate and family orientated and I connected well with Hannah’s family.
It was a lovely way to start the day and a really memorable first experience to teaching.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Breath, Bandha & Bones
with
David Keil
(www.yoganatomy.com)
Click here for David on You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jFu2YgUHk8&feature=related
Saturday 27 June 11am - 4pm
Sunday 28 June 10am - 3pm
Yoga Akasha, First Floor, The Old Mill, 45 London Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1AW
David Keil is an Ashtanga practitioner who has traveled the world teaching his YogAnatomy Workshop to teachers and students. He is a direct student of Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, the “guru” of Ashtanga yoga and his grandson R. Sharath in Mysore, India. David is authorized by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute to teach this method of practice. He is also a student and co-teaches anatomy for and with John Scott in the UK and now in New Zealand.
David was introduced to yoga in 1989 and began study in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in 2000. He brings his understanding of the human body, the Ashtanga practice and his teaching skills to his classes. He is well known for his adjustments and skills of observation that allow him to share techniques appropriate for you as an individual that will take you and your practice to the next level.
He has also released 2 in a series of DVDs devoted to the understanding of Anatomy in yoga. These will be available on the day.
Saturday Morning and Sunday Morning– (2 hours) Traditional Sanskrit Counted Primary
The Sanskrit count creates a whole other level of discipline and energy in the room and practice. We’ll set ourselves up with a 15-30 minute lecture to set an intention and focus for the class. This will be a disciplined, difficult and challenging class. Sunday’s class will play off of concepts delivered in the Saturday afternoon class.
Saturday Afternoon
One of the most common quotes from Pattabhi Jois is “99% practice, 1% Theory” meaning one must have the experience of doing the practice over a long period of time, you can’t JUST talk about it. In this segment we will look at the 1% theory not just listing the bandhas, or dristi’s or the eight limbs, but instead, looking at the practical application and larger perspective of how we use these bits of information in our daily practice as intention and focus. We’ll look at the practice relative to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika which is sometimes overlooked in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Of course, with David’s anatomical understanding we’ll also look at how to use our anatomy intelligently in the practice
Sunday Afternoon
Each pose is made up of elements of strength, flexibility, technique, and then the subtler aspects of focus, energy and bandha. In this afternoon class we’ll explore different areas of the practice that challenge us most. Awareness of the structure and function of these areas help us move forward intelligently avoiding injuries and trouble. David is well known for his practical application of anatomy and will share some of his insights from years of teaching anatomy and Ashtanga. We’ll discuss some of the common difficulties in the practice including knees, hips, and spine (back). We’ll look at the anatomy and relationship between poses in these areas of the body.
The prices are:
£75 for both days
£40 for one day
£20 per class
The session is limited to 30 mat spaces
If you would like to book send a cheque payable to Scott Johnson and state the required classes you would like to
Scott & Louise Johnson
2 Skeynes Farm Barn
Lingfield Rd
Edenbridge
Kent
TN8 5HN
This weekend I attended a workshop on the Taittiriya Upanishad. This Upanishad comes from the 3rd Veda or Yajurveda. It was led by Andrew Curtis Payne and Hilary MacRae two very experienced teacher trainers and included asana practice, pranayama and vedic chanting in Sanskrit.
Most of the participants were Yoga teachers themselves. It was a great day, thoroughly enjoyable and interesting to meet yogis outside my usual circle. Not that the usual circle aren’t perfectly lovely - You are!
The Upanishads were traditionally handed down orally to Brahmin boys. This particular chapter introduced two concepts Rta and Satya. Rta can be described as the natural order of things and Satya is truth. The significance of Aum is also mentioned and this Upanisad is encouraging the reader to live with Rta and Satya. So to live within the natural order of live with honesty.
Brahmacharya is also discussed and Hilary explained this to mean acting in any given situation as Brahma would act. This has a much broader meaning than the common one relating to celibacy. It’s obviously an ideal to strive for as we’re not all likely to be godlike, especially when late for work or getting cut up in traffic. My speech can sometimes be pretty profane sometimes too!
The first chapter also indicates how important diet is in the context of Ayurveda and maps out the 4 dathus. There’s a strong emphasis on diet affecting Prana or energy. When we practice such a strong asana practice like Ashtanga preserving and nurturing our prana is rather important.
There is also another strong theme of preserving the teachings and of sharing them for the benefit of oneself and others. Hilary has a degree in Sanskrit and received these teachings in Chennai last year at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram and it was really fascinating hearing her presentation and great fun to chant the whole chapter in Sanksrit together too.
About a year ago I decided that I wanted to broaden my practice to include yogic philosophy, pranayama and mantra. So to complement my Ashtanga asana practice I’ve been studying Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and developing a pranayama practice with Hilary. I’ve also been learning to chant the Yoga Sutra from a CD by Kausthub Desikachar.
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