After practice this morning we said goodbye to Laura who’s off to India for… mmm… who knows eh?

So goodbye Laura have a great time in Mysore and we’ll see you in few months, and hopefully read about your adventures on the blog!

It was nice to hang out with a few more people from practice and both David and Josetta had been away so it was good to have them both back too! I’m still waiting to hear how the Nancy Gilgoff workshop in Berlin went as Brighton was well-represented with 3 of our local Ashtangis in attendance.

Shari also mailed me about Nancy’s workshop in Wiltshire on September 26-28, 2008. Check out

Nancy Gilgoff’s website or contact: virabadrasana@hotmail.com.

Hello Brighton Ashtangis,

Here are some comments on Sharath’s conference this weekend:

Sundays conference was insightful as always. Sharath spoke a lot about asana and reviewed many things he has gone over before - but with so many new people in the shala, the transience of people makes it necessary to reiterate certain points often.

- When you do asanas, it is VERY Important to know the names of the asanas you perform and also how many vinyasas are in each asana.
- This is why we do led class, to understand vinyasa and when to inhale and when to exhale
-Breathing is extremely important…It doesn’t come automatically, but over time. You must concentrate - your mind should be with your practice
- Alignment is important…It comes properly through PRACTICE - no need to use props for alignment

- Practice makes man perfect
- Sharath stated that Guruji used to say, “Do an asana 1,000 times and then the asana becomes perfect.” Thus, the key is in doing the practice…
- If you are able to do all the asanas it doesn’t mean you are a perfect yogi. Yoga means to get enlightened - the mind, sense organs - you should control the sense organs
- Asana is the foundation, we start here. It will transform your minds, your thoughts will change; you will start yearning to learn more, what is yoga? Only possible through practice and reading books.

- This is a lifetime study, you MUST keep on studying.

- 1st with asanas we have to purify our body and mind.

- Yoga is Universal, anyone can do regardless of race or religion

- When you leave AYRI often people get distracted if doing self practice - Sharath offered this advice to those of us without teachers at home: “Think that Guruji is behind you, think I am there!”

On Bandhas:
- Jalandhara Bandha is only used when doing pranayama
- Uddiyana and Mula Bandha very important in the practice. Uddiyana bandha is located four inches below the navel; mula bandha is anus control.
- Bandhas will come slowly, after many years of practice
- Utpluthih is a very good asana to practice - helps tremendously in gaining mula bandha control
- Always breathe through your chest - do not breathe through your stomach
- Practice mula bandha even when you are not doing asana

Is anyone interested in joining me to go to a yoga festival in Glastonbury?!

I think it sounds really amazing and a true escape, but at a much cheaper price than a retreat, which would typically cost £500 for a week. Also you’re free to dip in and out of the classes there at your leisure, so it’s less of a strict regime. OK it’s not all astanga but there are astanga classes, and also loads of other styles of yoga to try (eg Iyengar, Satyananda, Vini, Kundalini, Tibetan yoga, Kashmir yoga, Acro-yoga, partner yoga, Yin Yoga) plus meditation, kirtan, bhajans.

The dates are Fri Aug 22 arrival, to start Sat 23 Aug till the following Sat 30th. You can just go for the bank hol weekend although I may go for longer! There are 2 veggie cafes, and you can pamper yourself with massage, reiki, shiatsu, relexology payable by donation… It is £25 per day (including all your classes) and you camp. See the website for more info:
www.sitaram.org/retreats/santosa.html
http://www.sitaram.org/retreats/santosa.html
PS A few people have expressed an interest, like Guy and Narinder, but I actually think we should book and organise lifts and the more people we get the more fun it’ll be!

PPS Don’t forget it is the Devil’s Dyke Beachdowner Festival that weekend too.

How lovely to see Julie again in Brighton ! Thanks to Sally Brookes for arranging it.Let’s not forget Julie has played a pivotal role in developing the Ashtanga scene in Brighton over the last ten years - only Ginny Dean and Kristina Karitinos-Ireland have been more influential in shaping the Ashtanga scene here.And how interesting that Julie now professes to enjoy teaching vinyasa flow as much as Ashtanga !I must say that I found the Vinyasa Flow very challenging on saturday. It wasn’t just doing yoga to music, it was the repetition and nature of some of the postures. I was getting more into it by the end but it was hard work. I enjoyed the second day much more - a 2nd series workshop. Julie had some great shoulder, back and hip openers that really helped prepare for Laghuvajrasana and Kapotasana and Yoganidrasana.I must admit though that I enjoyed her talking about Ashtanga as much as the class - what a refreshing change in approach to the dead hand of the hardcore Mysore school. She reminded us that series 1 and 2 were initially always taught together and only separated  for practical and pragmatic reasons at Mysore to accommodate the numbers of students passing through. All the subsequent rules and regulations about who is “ready” or worse, “allowed”, to do 2nd series are not only counter to the spirit of yoga generally, but absolutely unnecessary in the context of people practising here in Brighton. Julie emphasised how helpful it is for many students to learn 2nd series to develop their own practice and how damaging it can be for them to be prevented from doing so. I just wish the local Ashtanga police who have effectively excluded myself and others from attending Mysore classes in Brighton had been there to listen!

“When we really care about something, as many of us care about our yoga practice, we tend to take it too seriously.  When we take it too seriously, it loses its lightness, the sense of exploration, the joy.  So rather than turning the practice into a life sentence, keep it fun.  The Ashtanga police will not come knocking on your door at midnight because you missed a day of practice.  You want to cultivate a sense of balance between discipline and openness.  You want to listen to your body; not push through injury or excessive fatigue.   Seek camaraderie rather than competition in group practice.” (David Swenson)

I stumbled upon this quote by David Swenson earlier today. It struck a chord with me as I have been struggling with injury and fatigue lately and have been coming along to practice with some new ache to work around each time, until deciding just to take a break…  but also the “camaraderie” idea struck a note with the recent potluck gathering. So I guess the basic idea is to have fun when practicing and to have fun when not practicing, sounds good to me!….