St Andrews Church Hall, Wednesday 12pm-1pm =ON=
Purebalance Studio, Plimmerton, Saturday 9am-10:15am =ON=
Sorry for posting this so late, but as I so often say to the wonderful peeps who rock up into class 5-10 minutes after it has started, "Better Late than Never!!!!"
Shanti
b
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Wellington Yoga Classes 21/05/2012 - 27/05/2012
St Andrews Church, Wednesday, 12pm-1pm =ON=
Purebalance Studio, Plimmerton, Saturday, 9am-10:15am =ON=
Looking forward to class, hope you are too!!
Om
b
Purebalance Studio, Plimmerton, Saturday, 9am-10:15am =ON=
Looking forward to class, hope you are too!!
Om
b
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Wellington Yoga Classes 14/05/2012 - 20/05.2012
St Andrews Church, Wednesday 12pm-1pm = ON=
Purebalance, Plimmerton, Saturday 9am-10:15am = ON=
It is very possible we may have a special guest coming to the Purebalance class in the form of Taane Mete, NZ Dancer and Black Grace co-founder. Naturally, I'm very excited at the prospect of sharing my passion of Yoga with a Kiwi icon whom I hold in such high regard. Good times :-)
Purebalance, Plimmerton, Saturday 9am-10:15am = ON=
It is very possible we may have a special guest coming to the Purebalance class in the form of Taane Mete, NZ Dancer and Black Grace co-founder. Naturally, I'm very excited at the prospect of sharing my passion of Yoga with a Kiwi icon whom I hold in such high regard. Good times :-)
Saturday, May 12, 2012
The Many Faces of Yoga
I love to bend. It is my art. It is the best way I know of
expressing the things inside of me that feel beautiful and strong. Through
bending I've slowly become a better person, but it was really nothing to do
with being flexible, it was everything to do with the journey it took me on.
The more flexible I have become, the more I realise how little it has to do
with Yoga. The journey to a very flexible body (for many of us) can be a
massive mountain to climb. It is simply
impractical, given the demands of everyday life. The time and energy you would
need to spend on such an epic expedition, may simply not be there. I understand
the truth of this because I've worked so hard to get where I am, and I know it is
not trivial and asks you make sacrifices which may mean making (paradoxically) very
selfish choices.
I worry sometimes that as I become ever more advanced in my
practice, I separate myself more and more from the reality of others. As I
climb ever higher up the mountain, more people will be inclined to say
"wow" and less people will be inclined to follow, or even believe they can.
But that is the key, when you make Yoga your own, you are
not following anyone except yourself. There are so many ways to do Yoga that have
no direct relationship to your physicality. It is not a requirement of Yoga to
hold a religious view of the world, but it would probably help if you believed
that your existence might be more than just a purely physical manifestation.
I'm an agnostic so I in order to honour this position I hold about the nature
of our existence I used the word "might". The ability to think and
feel is provided to us via a physical vehicle, but that does not mean these
things themselves are physical. When you listen to a beautiful peace of music do
you credit your ears and brain for this feeling?!? Or was that just a pathway
to your "consciousness" which then made a determination about what
you are experiencing in the physical world? I do not believe your experience of
"beauty" was made by anything physical, it was made in a place were no
physical thing can go. My personal (and I stress the word personal) belief is
that the human spirit (aka our pure consciousness) is innately attached to our
physical vehicle and is created at the time of our inception. I therefore believe
it will die at the time of it's passing. This belief brings me no fear, it only
makes me realise how truly precious and fleeting the miracle of my own life is,
and that of others. To tell the truth, I love to sleep, so I'm looking forward
to the ultimate sleep that can truly escape time and space. There are many
other views, I celebrate them all, but the purpose of this digression is to
understand that if we believe the essence of our existence is non physical then
Yoga itself, at the very essence, must be a non physical practice as well.
Want to do Yoga but are very inflexible? Find a class that
caters to the needs of an inflexible body. There are many teachers out there
these days who offer classes that do not require significant ranges of motion,
and taking it a step further, do not treat Asana practice as a particularly
significant part of the Yogic journey. There are teachers and guides who focus
more on breath; meditation; philosophy; karma; music; chant; dance and community.
While I spend a lot of time bending, I practice yoga more when I choose to
smile back at the stranger who smiled at me. I practice Yoga more when I choose
to forgive myself. I practice Yoga more
when I can love myself enough that the rejection or judgement of others cannot
not defeat me. I practice Yoga more when I accept that a door has closed. I practice Yoga more when I walk through the new
doors that open.
I am a Vinyasa flow teacher and I teach a physical path that
travels to a non physical place. I follow the principles of non-interference
and non judgement. I believe that the true teacher resides within each of us. I
do not believe in "the" way, only in "a" way, and that even
within the path I have chosen, the branches are many, and I invite my students
to develop their consciousness to a level where they can explore them safely
and with joy.
Lastly, I practice Yoga more when I write a piece like this,
with the simple intent of helping people understand that while I'm climbing the
daunting mountain of flexibility, I might one day finally reach the top to find
you already there smiling back at me. Nothing could make me happier.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Wellington Yoga Classes 07/05/2012 - 13/05/2012
St Andrews Church, Wednesday 12pm-1pm =ON=
Purebalance, Plimmerton, Saturday 9am-10:15am =ON=
This week has had a great start for me, as I made a breakthrough in my own personal practice. All these years, and it still rewards me with delight for the effort I put in
Lets do this!! :-)
Purebalance, Plimmerton, Saturday 9am-10:15am =ON=
This week has had a great start for me, as I made a breakthrough in my own personal practice. All these years, and it still rewards me with delight for the effort I put in
Lets do this!! :-)
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