DAY THREE

Sunday- Martk Whitwell.

Breath, Asana, Bandha 3
Breath, asana and bandha (in that order) integrate as a seamless process. Apply asana and bandha efficiently to produce a powerful
practice that is right for you. Introducing breath and bandha as the central feature of your asana.  “Yoga is the means for ordinary
folk to absorb the nurturing and healing force of Life.” Asana is hatha yoga “ha tha,” “Strength receiving” which has profound
implication to our Life, health and experience. How do we make sure our asana is actually hatha yoga? (Practice and discussion)

Notes:

You are the extreme intelligence of life. Can the extreme intelligence of life be absence from its source?

Uncompromising practice, 7 minutes a day. Not obsessively. Making the breathe the centre of the asana.

If your yoga is a direct intimacy with nurturing source you aren’t trying to get somewhere.

Denial of the perfection of your own reality not bowing to some system of knowledge.

Non-dualism- one with everything

You can’t get to nondual maths is a dependable understanding because it remains true even if we forget.

Spine heartbeat breath. authoring. logical language and charm to explain life and we listen from a place of doubt we adopt the beliefs the systems of thought, using the phenomonen of authority to assert viewpoint.

Cellular life is an extreme intelligence.

you don’t attain 2 plus 2 is four. you simply understand it. unseen source. can it be absent from its experience?

“axiomatic”

asana is a direct experience in engaging with source and extreme intelligence of life. an ease of certainty coming over your life.

participation in the direct nurturing of life.

the doing of asanas is a magical activity thats been worked out in ancient times. this is placed in a gnostic system.

establish the breakth it the polarities of above and below.

you are commuting you practice to your student. intimacy. into me you see. Love of LIFE

Preconditioned mind stops this fact this knowing. I am the river looking at the river.

om – absolute reality
shanti – not provoked

cave in the hands cave in the heart. like you are holding a lotus flower in your prayer hands.

mind places restrictions on the system. strength receiving.

America senses that in 5 minutes (America makes 5 million in 5 minutes)

Kim Schwartz – Subtle Anatomy of Yoga.
The Pranic Model of Yoga and Asana – Having looked at a theoretical overview of classical Yoga, we’ll now describe the subtle
anatomy of Yoga practice, placing the model of asana, chakras, nadis, and bandhas in the context of Patanjali’s vision of
transce

Notes

- Isha Upanishad – setting up an intellectually impossible duality.

Upsnishads, two wholes impossible.

a mala. beads are symbolically infinite beads go round and round forever.

the mind bends and wobbles when it tries to experience infinity. what if you could become the thread which the beads are on?

brahman- “the one without a second” something that cannot be named, but we name it. it exists beyond duality,.

prakurti and purushaw consciousness

protons neutrons electrons smaller smaller vibrating strings what makes them vibrate into matter? all this different matter in its infinite number of forms.

the vibration dance between prakuri and purushaw.

Story of God, deva said, they are looking for you and god said “i know i will hide in the hearts of humans they will never look there!”

this manifestation is like a hologram if you shatter one all you see is the same thing from a different perspective.

Why do we study zen. before studying nautre in nature, man is man. god is god. after its the same labrynth. infinite number of entracnces all leading to the same place.

transcendence elevated a little so we can see the maze.

we are spirit that choose a human experience. “matter is never created or destroyed it only changes form” einstien.

e = mc squared.

identification with human experience is temporal.

mind body complex.

“not flag not wind mind is moving”

“relinquish your identity thought word deed and still know you exist.

“clothe your perceptions in language”

assigning language to a thing puts it into a box and makes the experience small. language as mantra. what are you telling yourself over and over?

the mind plays back what we’ve fed it. we look for reflections of consciousness in our emotions. Ah hum bru hasmi

enslaved by the exxternal experience form but I am the creative principle of my life. cosmological anatomy. We can only see the known reflections of the unknown in emotions. or what is known.

“the path is defined by the trail of footprints you leave behind you”

organize your life around it. hub of tire spokes. EMOTION is energy in motion.

“riotiously happy thoughts”

pms syndrome. poor me syndrome. hatha yoga is NOT surrendering to the predispositions of karma. asana is a system that moves prana. “stable comfortable seat”

prana – llfe force
i- flips it
yama- anything restrained, held in check.

nondual.com

with asana you see how prana moves. nada is a channel through which prana can be directed. 12 main ones. petals of chakras same number of petals on chakras as there are in the sanskrit alphabet.

Learning the genetic predisposition of the chakras is helpful planets align with chakras. archtypical charactictists of the zodiac.

threre is free will in the space between stimulus and response. map of the karmic predispositions of our life, charts astrological charts signs) vatta pitta adjust the phisiology to change the consciousness. “moving into stillness”
“yoga is a system of integration as whole body balancing one pranically to experience enlightenment.

If you’re grounded in the feemers the world exists for your entertainment. the outside world isn’t needed to suypport your sense of self. ahimsa is the jewell above the head of god.

time is not linear though the mind percieves it as such.

how do you defend being an american, and all your foreign policy references?

all I can do is change the consciousness of humanity. SO I teach yoga. It’s all any of us can do. Is this wrong? IS this bad? Or is this just life seeking balance?

ah par di gra ha- grasping.

Ayreveda and Sexual Wholeness. Matthew Remski

What do the ancient lovers have to say?  Is there a Yogic approach that honours desire?  Using classic texts and modern commentaries, we’ll look at the Ayurvedic emphasis on the physiological foundation of sexual bliss, its insistence upon libido as a sign of rich internal immunity, Taoist ideals of bedroom skill and self-nourishment, workable understandings of the Yogic concept of brahmacharya, Tantric descriptions of sexual polarity, and the mystic but sometimes dodgy dreams of “spiritual sex”.

Samati- no distinction between experiencer and experiencing.

Kama- pleasure in simple biological pleasures.
They wane in their power when we don’t consider where it comes from. nature sets us up for selflessness. Non volitional samati. Your details vanish. what are the details that you think are you? these disappear.

yoga- a forceful withsrawl from sensory experience to realize the end game of consciousness. Everything is one. there is no seperation.
this path is vertically oriented, ascending, sublimating ourselves.

auyerveda- willfull and intuitive mani[ulation of experience of your personal nature and wider context to enhance eattva gina (the world leaning out of its window to kiss you) this is horozontal, matrinlineal and expansive.

prokreti- your nature.

tantra- a willful mersian with experience in the mode of one taste. we do this to embody transcendence. body is divine. this tradition is both vertical and horozontal.,

ditis and aditis.

live life to your fullest possible enjoyment accessing all that is available to you

excess vatta or nervous impulse might make you feel more inclined to want more sex. bala, prana, teyjus, oojus.

there is a garbagization of semon in porn. it calls to some strange self hatred. semen is as much a part of him as his eyes. Recognize its power and expense.

what do you have to do to produce that kind of tissue that can create life!? on a cellular level, cellular intelligence. phisiology of make biody. can’t separate out bliss and reporductive tissue.

6 second delay between orgasm and seminal expulsion.

ahana rasa food

after 5 days of digestion plasma pranically charged water.
isotonic solution

muscle has one job to contract.

the moon thinks puffed up over worked thing I just have to reflect the sun? chundra moon.

“effulgence”

women have 8 times more sexual prana.

sexual resentment from men because semen is more expensive. take a long time phisioliogically to create.

My Rough Notes- YFT August 23rd 2008

Mark Whitwell- Breath, Asana,  Bandhas 8:15 -11: 15am

Breath, asana and bandha (in that order) integrate as a seamless process. Apply asana and bandha efficiently to produce a powerful practice that is right for you. Introducing breath and bandha as the central feature of your asana.  “Yoga is the means for ordinary folk to absorb the nurturing and healing force of Life.” Asana is hatha yoga “ha tha,” “Strength receiving” which has profound implication to our Life, health and experience. How do we make sure our asana is actually hatha yoga? (Practice and discussion)
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My Rough Notes:

Celebrity and authority are marketing tools and then you sell a lot of stuff and everyone buys your ideas and your stuff. You play the distribution game.

How does an ordinary person practice direct intimacy with life?

Swamism, guruism, celebrityism.  Krishnamacharya, He was sincere. A scholar, he did not want to exploit anyone. He wanted to empower. Yoga is direct intimacy with nurturing source, with our own reality. No longer in conflict with your own experience.

What is proposed in yoga is that the teacher is in an esteemed state. More-less. This has to go, the yoga tradition is a metta of nurturing, caring.

The yoga community deifies the Yoga Sutras. The power of life is in your own spine, not in some text that has special knowledge held by a few special people.

When a text is used as an instrument of power and it creates a hierarchy, it creates suffering, toxic.

The denial of the ordinary life embodiment is reinforced by the idealism of language. Yoga happens in ordinary life, it embraces ordinary.

Samadhi- at one with experience.

Painful differentiation between the ordinary and the spiritual- Samadhi is in with the diapers. No contradiction from ordinary experience.

Scholarly cleverness is a blunt instrument that sometimes exploits the people.

The person in that “social role” of teacher.

God is the appearance of all ordinary things. The LOOKING for GOD creates the idea of absence.

Buddhism was invented after Siddhartha died. Yoga is the participation in given reality. Meditation naturally arises.

Your senior responsibility is in the asanas. Meditation comes, it is a given. The attempt to make meditation happens prevents it from happening. The extreme intelligence of life are appearing right here and now, right here as you and me.

Non-dual practice of direct intimacy with life. God realization is my kids in human form. “You’re appearance to me is as much a wonder as my own embodiment”

Merge with your own natural experience, consciousness merges with its object as non-stop continuity.

To realize the idealism of your beliefs/faith/spirituality, you need to practice the asanas.

The ordinary life is the means of God Realization. Ordinary life is not an obstruction.

You can’t get to truth, truth is here. Present.

Doctrinal mind restricts us. Carry your own authority in your life. The source of reality is appearing as your very breath. Power and intelligence of life is in you. Scientists can’t figure out how the heart beats, why the flowers grow- what the force behind it all is.

Being a non-dual tantric yogi means that you are unattached. You are even unattached to unattachment. It’s a doctrinal point, language is a system, structure that fails us sometimes. What is this attachment business?

Yoga IS attachment. It is attachment to life. It is attachment to the floor boards, to the trees, to mother and father, to everything arising in natural life and celebrating the extreme intelligence in your own existence.

Aware but unattached. Spiritual idealisms are put in us.

Citta Vrtti Nirodhah- Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuation of consciousness

Don’t try to be desirless, unattached, don’t try to be here now, you ARE here now.

Our desire is a function of God. Suppressing it will make you crazy. Illness around sex in our society is a direct consequence of religious suppression of sexuality.

Do a noble yoga practice daily. 7 minutes a day. The secular must support the sacred. Honour your God Given skills manifesting now.

Asana is whole body prayer. Use your god given skills to make a success of your life.

If seeing your grandchild a few moments after being born is not Samadhi, I don’t know what is.

Someone asked a question about depression and Mark responded, “For what society has doled out for us, depression is the appropriate response.”

There needs to be a democratization of yoga.

Motherhood is the basis of reality.  The source of life. Yoga brings us into right relationship with nurturing force.

There was a Lord who wanted to do missionary work, he had three sons and his wife begged him to stay. He started doing a noble yoga practice, he decided to stay home. Priorities became clear. Yoga helps inform you.

Intimate with your life. Yoga is your life force expressed. You need this to be intimate with yourself, before you can really be intimate with someone else.

Exhaling is easy, reacting. It’s in the inhale that we are receptive.

“Left hand meets right hand (in prayer) heaven meets earth”

Abdominal goes in and up on the exhale.

Micheal Stone- Internal Form Bandhas. 1:00-3:30pm

An intelligent and subtle exploration of bandhas in yoga postures. Traditional texts speak at great length about the practice of bandhas (internal bonds) as a means of concentrating the mind and opening internal energy channels (nadis) in the mind and body. Unfortunately, bandha practice has been misunderstood, and as a result, people often squeeze and misuse muscle groups in the body, leading to overexertion and overstimulation in the nervous system. We will use several common poses to look deeply at the role of bandhas and how to feel them and also the how’s and why’s of bandha practice during asana and pranayama.

(another link on Bandhas)

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My Rough Notes

Yoga is not geometry superimposed on the body. It is internal pilgrimage. Kosas mind body process. Pilgrimage up the center access of our bodies.

Release the root of the palette, breath leaves the body, but the prana stays in.

prana i yama- restraining the breath to unrestrain the prana.

inhale- body goes up, diaphragm down.

Like the mala string of beads, the postures are the beads and the breath is the string.

1) Jalandhara Bandha- Hmmm like good wine. Smile to open the palette.

2) Uddiyana Bhanda - Pubic bone and tailbone are both dropping in downward dog. Creates a vaccuum. Nostrils of my groins.

Nadis are all bound up in perceptual bias. Pelvic floor has 4 corners. The coccyx , the pubic bone, and the two sitting bones.

Dristi – There are nine gazing points: They are the nose, between the eyebrows, navel, thumb, hands, feet, up, right side and left side.

Pointing at the moon is not the moon.

The nun Wu Jincang asked the Sixth Patriach Huineng, “I have studied the Mahaparinirvana sutra for many years, yet there are many areas i do not quite understand. Please enlighten me.”

The patriach responded, “I am illiterate. Please read out the characters to me and perhaps I will be able to explain the meaning.”

Said the nun, “You cannot even recognize the characters. How are you able then to understand the meaning?”

“Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?”

The form is pointing at the meditation. In yoga, it is precisely because “the practice is not working” that the skandhas come out. The yoga honeymoon is over. Emotion and sensation arrive together, it gives you a story about yourself. So what you do is  you just “hmmmm, interesting,” but you don’t swallow it. You don’t spit it out.  You don’t buy into your old habit energies.

We do this asana practice so we work with some of the negative habit energy patterns so that we will not put harmful, negative seeds into our bodies, into the culture, into the body politic.

The Enlightened Diet, Caroline Dupont 4:30pm-6:00pm

It’s clear that the ideal diet is one that is made up of whole, high quality, natural and living foods, and can significantly assist us along our spiritual path. In this talk we will discuss some of the predominant dietary approaches to nutrition (raw, macrobiotic, Ayurvedic, vegetarian, high protein, etc.) and how to incorporate the best they have to offer in a way that is appropriate to the health of the body and the growth of the soul. We will explore why many of us struggle with making consistent health-supporting food choices – even with the best of intentions – as we look at the deeper causes of poor lifestyle choices.

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My Rough Notes

1) A plant based diet. Our blood needs to be alkaline to be healthy. We need to step up the amount of plants eaten.

National Geographic studies showed that healthier societies are the ones that live on plant based diets.

Light diets, high vibration diet.You might not feel grounded and need to pay attention to more grounding sources, like legumes, chick peas, lentils, split peas, tofu. green root vegetables.

Greens usually grow up. Root vegetables reach down into the earth, help you feel grounded when you eat them.

Greens add minerals, protein, high alkaline (iron calcium)

Lettuce swiss chard, kale, bok choy. Sunflower greens. Salba or chia seeds in smoothies are good.

2) Whole Foods. Eating foods the way the grow. Go to markets and buy from local farmers. Brown rice, quinoia, buckwheat, whole grains. Millet emranth, teff.

1 cup of grains to two cups water.

3) Biodynamic Organic Foods, brings into our bodies minerals

What we support through our dollars on this earth comes back to us.

78 cents of feul per calorie carbon footprint  of that is massive.

Evolving spiritually moves life force through us. Eating life, not death.

4) Living Foods.
Grated beet and carrot salads.
Sauerkrayt, fermented pre-digested.

Raw sauerkraut recolonizes the gut with good bacteria.

Wheat grass powder, spirilina.

Everything is made of energy in the body there are organs, cells, atoms, protons, electrons which are galaxies apart. Spaces in between. Energy holds us together. Energy is constantly in motion.

Some energies are denser than others, higher vibration diet supports spiritual growth.

As you improve your diet in increases the vibration of what you’re taking into your body. Be worried, emotional detox will start. This happens as we get a better diet.

Emotional detox (relates to stench of ocean, shiva story) In a pourus high vibration diet you become more sensitive to what is going on around you. Eating better is about creating more peace in our lives. We have been taught to suppress our emotions through foods.

Physical body holds suppressed emotions, they are blocking life force.

As these blocked emotions are lifted there are these pieces of you that have been hidden. Beautiful pieces of you get revealed.

http://pcrm.org/

The violence created to that animal gets ingested by you. It’s flesh gets imprinted with what that animal has been through,

All plant foods are made up of protein.

Refined sugars make cravings for proteins (meat maybe).

True hunger is felt in the back of the throat. If you are thinking that you are feeling hungry it might be your solar plexus being stirred.

Suggestion to only eat fish two times a week because of mercury.

Cold pressed oils not refined oils.

Cider vinegar and honey helps people digest. Can use it as a salad dressing.

Candita- The body ecology diet.

1) Relax when eating, the nervous system governs digestion, when you are relaxed everything flows.

Chips, crappy sweets, they start tel feel like an assault on your senses.

2) Chew thoroughly
3) Eat when you are hungry, ignore the clock.

Apple, celery, juice, chopped walnuts, currents in a bowl.

4) give the digestion system a break 12 hours it needs time to process and detoxify. some of this time is digestion, some of it detoxifying.

Where are you feeling hunger in your body?

It is interesting what your mind thinks you want – listen to your body. Mind thinks you want chips, cookies. Probably your body doesn’t.

The Roundtable Discussion 6:00pm – 9:30pm:  Present to Future

Again, eight of our beloved mentors in a moderated discussion of visions of Yoga’s future.  How will the numerous new Hatha ‘lineages’ establish their validity?  Through personal anecdote, experiential results, communal/global impact, or mere marketing?  Is Yoga culture uniquely poised to be a vanguard of ethics and compassion in a turbulent world, or will its traditional bias towards personal retreat and sattvic withdrawal remove it from social utility?  When will politicians begin pursuing the “yoga vote”?  Can wisdom be branded and copyrighted? How will we continue to embody wakefulness in an increasingly disembodied world?  How can we (and should we?) prevent Yoga from becoming another corporate-style, trans-national religion that spreads from one urban setting to another with little regard for the uniqueness of local lands?  Did the Rishis foresee global warming and peak oil?  If they didn’t, who will be our Rishis now?  The last 20 minutes will be  open to questions from the floor.

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Ah him sa- non violence.
Slowly over time you allow yourself to be seen with a yoga teacher.
People come to the yoga teacher training saying they want a new career. What is that? Yoga is not a career.
“concrete thinking” knowing the experience of others. Children develop this later.
Pre-egoic phase – psychosis?
“sex spirituality ecology”
“pre trans phallacy”

Practice + Philosophy.
It is the passion that burns in you that enlives the yoga practice + philosophy

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YOGA FESTIVAL TORONTO – Day One, My Rough Notes.

Currents of Grace with Barrie Risman: Morning Class
Started class with an emotional environmental scan. Asking people to say one word about where they are emotionally. (People said things like, joyful, happy, I said reluctant…)
There is an ever present under current of grace. In tantra we aknowedge one source of energy that creates manifestaion. There are two facets to it:

1) It is constantly manifesting
2) It remains present in its fullness (shiva).

To be in touch, dive down beneath the waves and into this subterrainian current.
Internal rotation as the gateway to outre external rotation- like doing an opposite action to get to the expressive place
We as human beings are embodied spirits- What is more paradoxical than that?
In pigeon position be like a two way street, paradox, opposing force.
Fan the flames of the strain in your muscles with the breath.
Use your body to be in service of the greater consciousness.

Break- Ascent Magazine September 2003
“In mothering the motto is not practice makes perfect but perhaps simply practice makes practice”
“Filling the God shaped hole”
Stephanie Wilkinson.

Afternoon Class- Mantras with Marla Joy from Swaha:

We can use and understand the meter of the vedic language. Peace is our true nature, yoga practice brings us closer to this, quells the suffering.

The self asks that you take the divine knowing, your consciousness and acknowledge that you are worthy of it, accept it in, radiate it out. Don’t let doubt move in, this spirit is accessible to you.

We have 5 bodies

1. The Gross Physical Body or Audarik Sharir -
2. The subtle Transformation Body or Vaikriya Sharir -
3. The Translocation body or Aharak Sharir -
4. The Fiery Body or Taijas Sharir -
5. The Karma Body or Karman Sharir -

AND there are disembodied spirits around us everywhere.

Afternoon, Second Session- Micheal Stone. Yoga and Buddhism.

The essence of Buddha’s teaching is in yoga. He was himself a yogi. The term Buddhism was made by European scholars trying to describe the teachings of the Buddha.

Gnostic sense of an inner spark.

Theme of inquiry, theme of questioning is at the heart of yoga practice.
When the Buddha left his palace on his quest he saw three things

1) a sick person
2) a dying person
3) an aging person.

He asked “will this happen to me?”

Everything you look at is impermanent. Everything you feel is impermanent. Highly provisional. All the skhandhas.

Feelings thoughts, all referring back to me. I am the reference point, but I change. We keep tying to study the nature of reality without a prefabricated belief system. We use linguistic strategies.

Pleasure is the fish hook. You feel pleasure and you want more. You are hooked. We use the mind to superimpose onto reality that there is a “me”

There is always change in the body, it is its nature. Mindfulness is noticing the breathe as it is and meditating on it.

Symbol manipulation place, this is language. We confuse the names of things with how things really are.

The intensity of our questions are directly related to the impact of the answers. Go into the changing flow of reality.

Dukkha happens when you try to create a permanence in an impermanent world. We believe our stories about reality to create permanence.

The Buddha teaches us that nothing is hidden, “god” is here everywhere. Not under things. Not hiding so you need to go find her/him/it. Everything is inherently without self.

When the heart is open, there is nothing to say. That’s mula bhanda. It eats up grammer. You see a sunset, and bam- mula bundha.

Nama-rupa= Name + Form. The mind labels it sunset. then as soon as its labelled you become separate from it. “Emptiness of self image, emptiness of self form”

When you start noticing the breath you change it. If we can’t even leave our breath alone how can we expect to have relationships!!!?

When you think so much about Yoga Gossip- Yoga Journal, magazines, books- you end up falling into this place of superimposing external geomotry on this body.

You create this anthology of me, chapter after chapter. How will yoga help you when you die? Are you focused on the external geomotry of this practice or the internal form? The phisiology of the body and the psychology of the body intertwined.

After you get through the honeymoon period of your relationship with yoga, you start to think it isn’t working. You might feel pain. You are tapping into deep and ancient emotions, patterns of conditioned behaviours and patterns years and years of it- lifetimes of it- You end up feeling this in a thouroughly embodied way.

Your internal alignment is clogged up with capitalist patriarchial knots. (nadi- little river)

Your experience doesn’t flow through the channels of your chakras because they are clogged up and distracted with preferences.

In Modern Yoga asana is being reduced to some health system. If you practice true yoga with a focus on internal alignment, it will ruin your life.(in jest he continued) Your world will become inflexible. You won’t be able to travel because you will become vegan, you won’t go our anymore with your friends because you will become enraptured with your breath- “I can’t go out tonight with you guys, sorry, I have to say home and be with my breath”

The problem is that your ego highjacks the spiritual practice. “spitirual advancement” starts to become crystals on the chandelier of your ego.

“patterns of emotional reactivity”

You don’t TRY to be compassionate. You don’t try to be honest. you ARE compassion. you ARE honesty.

8 Limbs- Relationship between letting go of conceit “i am” and ahisma expression of enlightenment, expression of intimacy

Deep into the body beyond the play of opposites the body and the universe are indivisable.

Body is 80% water. You are the same as the don river. It flows back to you. Flush the toilet. It’s the don river, and the don river is you.

What are the basic questions that got you on your path?

If there isn’t any attachment on who I need to be for you, I am not clinging to my habit energies, I am free.It’s sometimes very hard being around people who are being who they are totally and honestly. It isn’t always pretty. Relationship means non attachment.

Yoga doesn’t get passed down through books, magazines, it gets passed down through you. Through people. Moment to moment in real time, real life. these days in the health system practices of yoga it can be very anonymous, this is not traditionally the path of yoga. It is about community. Pedagogy used to take place chest to chest in the vedic tradition.

We need to engender community and strengthen these bonds again, recover intimate connection to teaching.

Round Table Discussion- Yoga’s Past

As people we contain the past (your mom) the present (yourself) and the future (capacity to create babies) all of humanity is living within a lineage.

There is sometimes a tension between tradition and personal experience wondering of where the weight is. It helps to start from the standpoint of knowing the namas and then showing creativity.

Esoteric vs Exoteric- we share a virtual cathedrial. The esoteric is a deep kind of knowing, even in yoga classes we might be slipping into the exoteric.

Three important things to remember as a yoga teacher.

1) Have a good solid personal practice
2) have a good teacher yourself
3) Care about people.

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The Above Notes are From The Below Curriculum.

Friday 22nd
7:00am Kim Schwartz: Developing the Observer Consciousness:
The Yoga system proposes the most refined understanding of an ancient Vedic truth: that there is always and eternally an expansive and unlimited awareness that rests unseen beneath the temporary movements of the mind and the slingsand arrows of outrageous fortune. Named by many names through the ages, this seer, ground-of-being, watcher, or witness rests within. To spend a meditative hour experiencing the flow of life from its perspective is an ideal way to begin the day, and this festival.

8:15-11:15am- Barrie Risman Anusara: Yoga invites us to step into the ever-present flow of Grace in our practice and in our lives. When we align with the highest in ourselves, the yoga practice becomes a transformative and joyful expression of this expansive inner feeling. In this session, we’ll learn the elegant and concise set of Universal Principles of Alignment as the framework for skillfully attuning ourselves on all levels with the magnificence of Spirit

VEGAN LUNCH

1:00 – 3:00pm, Marla Joy- Essential Mantras For Sadhana: Meanings, pronunciation, and practice of Gananam Tva, Gayatri, Mahamrtyunjaya, and Brahmarparnam, plus others, taught and led by the lead chant-euse of SWAHA.

4:30-6:00pm Micheal Stone- Yoga and Buddhism: There is a common misperception that Yoga explores the body and Buddhism teaches us about the mind. In this lecture and discussion, Michael will explore the influence of yoga and Buddhism on one another and tease out the ways each tradition offers practices designed to work with both mind and body. Drawing on his forthcoming book on Yoga & Buddhism, Michael will offer some discussion about the yoga practices the Buddha engaged in before his enlightenment and the ways the early Buddhist teachings influenced key movements in yoga philosophy and psychology.

VEGAN DINNER

6:00-9:30pm Roundtable: Yoga — Past to Present
Join eight of our esteemed faculty in a moderated roundtable discussion of how we make sense of Yoga’s history. Who are our gurus? How do we connect with them over millenia, intense societal and technological distances, through ancient languages and cultures of ‘otherness’? Do we sometimes feel we’ll practicing in a tradition that has outgrown its golden age? The last 20 minutes will be open to questions from the floor.

Went to a class at the Downward Dog tonight. Finally broke the emotional distance I was having with the yoga. Felt tingles and shivers through my energy body at the ending chant of “om shanti shanti”

Sitting in half lotus, I could feel the sweat dripping down my face. Sweat. Tears. It’s all detox.

It was an ashtanga prep class, which is much more of a beginner class than I am used to taking. I find this teacher (Dave) is so good though, that no matter how novice or advanced the poses, I am challenged and consistently reminded to breathe in flow, to lengthen my spine, to keep my alignment, and to stay close to my edge. I hope when I become a yoga teacher, I master this skill of inspiring my students into really feeling that all poses matter, and are challenging if we take the time to really do them right. With breath. With focus. Because really, the simplest of poses are deeply challenging, when you pay attention, and focus deeply on your body, and it’s form.

During shavasana, he reminded us to relax our jaws. I have commented before that I find that reminder helpful, but I am always so surprised at how tense my jaw can be. Even in meditation.

How is your jaw right now? Relax it. Ahhh, much better.

I’ve been trying to master the jump through in ashtanga yoga. This is a great short youtube clip of what it looks like:

I’m not quite there yet, and I find that teachers don’t really teach how to do this. Magically, some people in the class I attend breeze their bodies through, gracefully and with strength. I am always curious how they learned, because truly, it never seems to get taught.

I stayed behind in the last class I went to, and asked if the teacher Johnny could break it down for me in little steps. He was very helpful, and I now have more tools with which to practice this. Here is what he did that was helpful:

1) Instructed that I maintain my drishdi (gaze) to where I want me feet to go

2) He stood behind me when I was in downward dog, and asked me to throw my hips to him. Aside from it feeling a little, er- physically evocative- it was also helpful because it made me realize just how much energy I need to place into the push coming from my legs. I was not throwing my hips nearly that high in the air before, and naturally doing so creates more momentum, which makes the sailing through easier.

3) Gave me blocks to rest my hand on in downward dog, so that I could actually be successful at a jumpthough to a) give me hope and b) give me a sense of what it actually feels like to get through.

4) He emphazised what he calls the “no matter what” which is to say that NO MATTER WHAT you pull your damn legs through to the other side, even if your dragging them, and the jump through didn’t quite make it.

I liked that. Made me think of the Bradbury quote,

“you’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down”

(thanks to the Yoga Sanctuary for the mp3)

At the beginning of every Ashtanga class, we sing this chant. There is something so centering about it. I told a friend that I get shivers every time, and he commented that it is because I was probably a high priestess in a past life or something.

That thought always makes me smile. Kind of makes me want to tap into that past life somehow, and gather up all the strength that could have resided in it.
I have noticed a laack of emotional depth in my practice since I have moved to Toronto. I haven’t quite firgured out why, but nevertheless- I am grateful for this chanting at the beginning of classes, because it helps me at least, come forward to that place of being totally in it.

I looked up the meaning. Here’s what I found.

“For the peaceful resolution of the deluding poison of cyclic existence, I bow at the lotus feet of the Gurus, and beholed the awakened joy of my own Soul; it is the ultimate cause of bliss that acts like a shaman, a true source of spiritual healing.“

I have a real problem with the notion of bowing at the lotus feet of the Gurus. There is something in that that sharpens my inherent distaste for hierarchy. Especially hierarchy in spiritual matters.

But it’s still pretty. And it still gives me shivers.

I’m seeing the light at the end of the long depression tunnel. After a month of what a friend of mine called “boycotting” yoga, I am finally back to practicing regularly again. Special thanks to WoYoPracMo (World Yoga Practice Month) for the community, support, and inspiration. 

December 30th Downward Dog Yoga Studio. Ashtanga Level 2 class. 

Now that I have moved I have to find new studios to host my practice. This night, I went to the It felt amazing to be doing yoga again, to be in a class, and to share in the om shanti shanti shanti at the end of the class. I am learning that I am very particular with what kinds of yoga teachers I find most helpful. Personally, I dislike when teachers treat the class like a purely physical experience, and focus all energies on that aspect. I found the teacher in this class lacking in passion, and enthusiasm for the yoga. One thing that was helpful however, was the reminder to lower my shoulders from my ears in various poses.I also noticed that it was harder to find my zen in a new studio. I was distracted by the (beautiful, and very Buddhist) decor, and the new faces.

Friday January 4th: 7:30pm class. Ashtanga Level 2 Downward Dog Yoga Studio.

I learned that Tandasana is also called Samasthiti. I had never heard it called Samasthiti before. And the teacher explained that the word Samasthiti means “equal standing”. Also we used blocks alot and did some movements from the primary series- which are new new me. Blocks usually irritate me, because I think you shouldnt need props or something- but this time they were useful, and I saw them as a tool. Also we spent the first part of the class in the mountain pose (or samasthiti or tandasana). I love when teachers take a simple pose and break it down- reminding you to have every part of your body active, and taking the parts of your body, and the muslces in your body one by one. (cross posted from my woyopracmo page)

Sunday January 6th- Moksha Yoga Studio (Richmond Hill) 4pm. Ashtanga Level 1.

I am amazed at the capacity for my body to slip back into yoga like it never left. I was disappointed because I thought my favourite teacher Dave was teaching the class, but he was sick. The replacement teacher was also good, but again I didn’t find he incorporated anything other than the physical into the experience of his class. This is lacking in many classes, and I have come to really appreciate teachers who take it a level deeper. An interesting thing happened at the end of the class when the teacher encouraged us to do any inversion that pleases us. I asked him (in a whisper as he walked by) if a headstand is an inversion- and he replied something like, “Well, actually I’d prefer you don’t because other people will copy you and then it will be like dominoes in here.” I thought that was an interesting approach as a teacher- to prevent a student from following her body and doing what she felt was needed, as a protection against the class becoming unruly. I find it frustrating that the yoga classes I go to never seem to spend any time on headstands. I am trying to get to a forearm stand, and further a hand stand- and practicing in the studio, when my body is hot and ready would be very helpful. 

 It isn’t that I am not challenged in the classes I go to- I am- but I wish more time was spent on learning more challenging poses and from the some of the six ashtanga series.  I guess I will have to resort to a book or video.Any recommendations anyone?   

At the end of class tonight in shavasana, we took 5 breaths together. Deep inhales, and loud exhales pushing all the air out of our lungs fast and hard.

Then we inhaled as much air as we possibly could- more air, even more air, again even more air- and then were instructed to HOLD IT.

Naturally the inclination is to let it all out. Let it out like a balloon being released and fluttering all around the room- or let it out like you’ve eaten too much and want to undo your pant buttons and let it all hang out in relaxation.

But I followed instruction and held the air- In my throat, in my chest, in my toes, in my sacrum- in all of my body I held the air.

Finally the teacher said, “now you can release it- but wait!- release it s-l-o-w-l-y, even slower than you want to- release it deliberately, patiently… And feel your body sinking as you do it”

Well- did my body ever sink! It was like I was in an elevator traveling down to the minus 100th floor.

I could feel beads of sweat traveling down my face slowly, and thoughts came and went, but the sinking feeling lingered with me for the duration of the meditation and it was amazing.

The last time I did yoga I posted about it here. September 5th.

The past six weeks have been unhealthy ones for me. I know not practicing played a major role in that. I know that if I had been I practicing, I would have handled quite a few obstacles that were thrown my way quite differently.

A fellow yoga friend of mine flippantly and almost frustratingly barked at me that “yoga isn’t about flat abs” and to “maybe it’s also about having some compassion for yourself for the times you aren’t doing it.”

And yes, I have compassion for myself. And yes, I can come up with a series of very valuable excuses as to why I hadn’t gone to the studio- but I can’t really come up with a single good excuse why I didn’t practice at home or when traveling.

I am angry at myself for letting this happen. For letting myself slip so deeply into unwellness and bad habits.

Going to yoga with my teacher Dave tonight was like coming home. It welcomed me back, and was forgiving of my absence.

I learned that I haven’t been leaning forward in chutarunga (push up pose) and that when you lean forward it is WAY harder.

And I was gently reminded that the focus in pose is often inadvertently inequitably focused. I learned that the focus on the depth of a twist is equally important to the concentration on my flexed foot. Each and every part of the body engaged and aware.

Lastly, I enjoyed the tidbit of wisdom shared that doing yoga in this mindful way creates a body intelligence. It allows you to read chapters of your body, and everytime you read one chapter, there is another one just waiting to be read. There are an infinite number of chapters to the body.

And so, in the interest of having compassion for myself in my practice, I forgive myself for reading the chapter of neglecting my yoga and my body and instead smoking cigarrettes, too much Crown Royal, not enough water, and way too many cookies for dinner.

I am excited and committed to reading the next chapter of my body intelligence, and await with respect and wonder as to what the turning pages will reveal.

Dear Yoga,

I have been so busy that I haven’t had time to be with you at all. It isn’t fair I know. All I’ve been able to muster is a headstand here, and downward dog there- nothing like the intimacy we had been experiencing for the past month or so. I am trying very hard not to leave you for Career, for Photography, for the new Web Design company I am building.

Being polyamorous is challenging at times, what can I say?

It’s true I’ve been neglecting you, but know you are with me always. When I was out for dinner at the conference, at a round table of 12 international people who are very influential in terms of having decision making power, you comforted me. That situation would have previously intimidated me, and rendered me quiet and sinking into my chair. Your presence in my life allowed me to sit tall and proud in who I am. Posture of a woman in her strength. For that I say thanks.

So, uh- just know- even when I am not practicing everyday- you are always so deeply in my heart and in the very fabric that shapes me.

And, tonight when we met again for the first time after a whole week of being apart, it was fucking magic wasn’t it? My body is finally humming and happy again. Even seeing Dave, our instructor was great.

He’s always saying things that make the corners of my lips elevate.
Tonights pearl of wisdom?

The breath is the most repeated thing you do in your life. Do it consciously and with thought.