This weekend we visited Hannah’s grandparents for a family birthday. We’d opted to sleep over on a sofa bed. We were both slightly nervous about this as the grandad has a penchant for ancient clocks – some of which chime every 15 minutes and strike on the hour. (You’d be amazed by how much you didn’t know about time keeping.) Fortunately the 6 or 7 clocks were easily disabled for the purpose of sleeping.

Now I don’t have much experience of spending time with people in their 80s due to early deaths and a somewhat dysfunctional family background so spending time with Hannah’s gps is still quite a novel experience and I’m enjoying getting to know them.

There is a real sense with them that they are in their last few years and it got me thinking about my own life and how I would prepare for that which we all face (and I’m not referring to taxes here.)

I guess my lack of experience with older people has left me with a sort of naivety that old equals wise… and if you’ve been on the planet a long time you’re likely to know a lot more than someone who’s been around less. After all that’s the message I got from my parents when I was a child. Respect your elders – because they’ve been through more than you have and are therefore wiser.

I can see that this may be useful, even true, when trying to instill a sense of respectful perspective in a child – when nearly everyone is older than them. Obviously with a little of my own learned perspective I know that older definitely does not equal wiser, yet I couldn’t help but pop out the question on our Sunday walk today “What is important in life?”

There were a few answers but the one that caught in my ears was “Show an interest in others, not just yourself.” Naturally the question was returned to me and my reply was “Yoga”. Now one could quite quickly jump to the conclusion that spending 2 hours a day 6 days a week practicing Yoga in varying states of meditative self absorption could be construed as being a rather self centered thing to do.

In a way I think that it is, but I also think it isn’t. Patanjalim’s Yoga sutra states in the second sloka of the first chapter on Samadhi “Yoga chitta vrtti nirodah” – Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. So physical asana practice is not exercise. Of course I know that it is but at the same time it’s not. It’s like calling a raindrop the ocean – both are water.

Daily practice mirrors our lives – each day we are born at dawn with the rising sun, grow, breathe, struggle, fight, love, fear and surrender again and again. The final surrender is our own death which we ritually repeat with Shavasana the corpse pose. We let go of all the triumphs and tribulations of our practice and are absorbed back into true divine nature.

I believe the other great challenge of Yoga or life is how we live off the mat. These equate to the first 2 limbs of the 8 limbs or Ashtanga of Patanjalim’s Yoga Sutra – yama and niyama. In simple terms we apply the yamas and niyamas to ourselves in our asana practice first. Teaching ourselves with the kind persistent training of our physical body and our thoughts. I’m going to end with these wise words by a great Yogi as you probably get my drift and we all have other things to be getting on with!
“Be the change that you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi.

As you can tell it’s been a rather thought provoking weekend!

Namaste

G

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

This week has been a real struggle to find the time to get onto the mat.

My Mum has been visiting this week which is lovely but it does take up a lot of my energy. I’ve taken time off work to hang out with her and the I thought I’d have had plenty of time to practice. But then I came down with a cold.

As I’ve not been able to get round to my morning practice I’ve done a bit of chanting – (I’m studying The Yoga Sutra and learing to chant it in Sanskrit- which I love) and some pranayama. I’ve also been reading Prem’s book “The only way out is in” which desribes the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. I’ve been thinking particularly about the 5 Yamas and how I can apply them not only in my practice but also life. (More on these when I’m feeling like writing a longer post!)

It strikes me that I can practice Yoga when I’m not on the mat. But I hope to get back to the mat next week when I’m feelilng better.

Thanks to all those who came round last night for the Moon day pot luck. It was a bit last minute but there was a good turn out with 7 of us packed into my little studio flat.

The culinary highlight (besides the chocolate) was definitely Shari’s very tasty quesadillas. I was a bit zoned out as I’d just had an extraordinary 2 hour Thai Yoga Massage from Adriane which was awesome. Highly recommended!

It was nice to get to know my fellow Ashtangi’s a little better and Doug made an excellent suggestion of extending invitations to non-yogi’s too which will keep things interesting.

If you didn’t get an invite I probably don’t have your number or just forgot. So if you couldn’t make it and would like to come along some time then let me know your mobile number so I can send out a text.

Happy moon day!

Guy

I thought I’d start off with the first book I bought. I’d been practicing Mysore style for 9 months at BNHC and didn’t know the names of the asana in the primary series. I was also curious about the illusive bandhas, mantras, dristi, ujjayi breath and the philosophy behind Ashtanga – the 8 limbs.

The book fittingly opens with a dedication to Ashtanga Guru Shri K Pattabhi Jois and the opening mantra with translation. After the blessing given in the Foreword by Pattabhi Jois I was interested Scott’s personal story and a brief history of this form of yoga. The book is organised into 3 parts:

Part 1, The way of Ashtanga Yoga starts off by introducing each of Patanjali’s eight limbs to the tree of Yoga: Yama (moral codes), Niyama (self-purification and study), Asana (posture), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense control), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (contemplation). This section is an introduction to some deeply profound life changing principles. I was struck by the similarities between the 8 limbs of yoga and the noble 8 fold path from the Buddhist tradition.

Part 2 is a very useful presentation on Vinyasa, also covering the 3 bandhas: mula, uddiyana and jalandhara bandha in an accessible way. Scott also introduces all the different dristis and there is also a bit on the elemental state of Tristana. I can’t say I grasp what was written on Tristana, but as Scott puts it, ‘Tristana is achieved through repetition’. Sounds like more practice to me : )

With the foundation of the practice explained, the next section gets into the nuts and bolts with a detailed breakdown of the sun salutations – Surya Namaskara A and B. There is also a handy section on the transition movements, breaking down all the movements by exhale and inhale.

The 3rd part of the book is a step-by-step walk through of the primary series asana grouped into three sections: standing sequence, seated sequence, and finishing sequence. Each asana is explained, following the path of inhalations and exhalations. Nearly every asana has a tip or caution box with useful advice for that posture.

This is a great book to get explore the journey of the primary series. But like any book on yoga, it does not replace actual practice with an experienced teacher. Scott says ‘It takes a combination of dedication, discipline, motivation, and stamina to achieve lasting benefit. Ashtanga yoga is a daily practice, one that ultimately becomes a way of life.’