Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Forward Bend Sequence
| Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) |
Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand)
|
| Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) |
| Tadasana (Mountain Pose) |
| Vrksasana (Tree Pose) |
| Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) |
| Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) |
| Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose) |
| Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) |
| Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) |
| Parsvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch Pose) |
| Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) |
*Sirsasana (Headstand)
|
| Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) |
*Eka Pada Sarvangasana (One-Legged Shouderstand)
|
*Parsvaika Pada Sarvangasana (One Leg to Side Shoulderstand)
|
| Halasana (Plow Pose) |
| Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend) |
| Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose) |
| Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Pose) |
| *Ardha Padma Paschimottanasana (Half-Lotus Seated Forward Bend) |
| *Triang Mukhaikapada Paschimottanasana (Three-Limbed Forward Bend) |
| Marichyasana I (Pose Dedicated to the Sage Marichi,I) |
| Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend) |
| Jathara Parivartanasana (Supine Twist or Revolved Abdomen Pose) |
| Savasana (Corpse Pose) |
Reference: YogaJournal.com
Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence
Do our emotions control us? Or do we control our emotions?
Emotions are our automated physical responses to our environment. Sometimes they are useful, sometimes not.
While practicing your yoga postures be aware of your emotional responses and take a mental step back from them.
Breathe; relax; watch; allow, and observe your emotions with equanimity and calmness.
From a detached perspective sample the temperature, texture, colour and sound of the emotion.
Allow some distance between the stimulus and your response.
References: 1) Kripalu yoga school. 2) New Scientist 2nd Jan 2016: Control Yourself.
Emotions are our automated physical responses to our environment. Sometimes they are useful, sometimes not.
While practicing your yoga postures be aware of your emotional responses and take a mental step back from them.
Breathe; relax; watch; allow, and observe your emotions with equanimity and calmness.
From a detached perspective sample the temperature, texture, colour and sound of the emotion.
Allow some distance between the stimulus and your response.
References: 1) Kripalu yoga school. 2) New Scientist 2nd Jan 2016: Control Yourself.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Now
We commonly think there are three kinds of time: the past, the present and the future. We often guide our actions on the basis of regret for our past actions and missed opportunities, or from concern for our future well-being. The problem with living for the future is that the future never arrives. It doesn’t exist except as an invented concept. There is only NOW. Now extends in all places and at all times. The past does not really exist, either. Now, the present, is the only time there is, the only time there has ever been, the only time there ever will be.
This is why it is so absurdly easy to gain enlightenment -- the infinite light is already here, now, within the grasp of each of us. Nothing more is required than ceasing the attempt to live in the past or the future.
The Sun is always shining; we have only to stop identifying with the clouds passing in front of it to be free.
[From Ascension, MSI]
This is why it is so absurdly easy to gain enlightenment -- the infinite light is already here, now, within the grasp of each of us. Nothing more is required than ceasing the attempt to live in the past or the future.
The Sun is always shining; we have only to stop identifying with the clouds passing in front of it to be free.
[From Ascension, MSI]
Friday, 10 July 2009
This week I shall be...
This week I shall be mainly thinking about responding to events in the moment.
'Simples'
'Simples'
Now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga...
When I think about yoga I know there is something drawing me towards a personal experience of consciousness. How do I begin to express that experience? Fortunately I am not the only person to have asked; Patanjali threaded together a systematic explanation over 2000 years ago.
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga...”
When I started teaching people one-to-one, and then classes, I was obsessed with having enough work planned to fill the time allotted. I planned the class minute-by-minute to have an elegant flow of postures; a good balance of types of posture and counter-posture. I tried to challenge experienced students, and yet also give easier options for beginners with plenty of detailed instructions and adjustments. I wanted to take people to the edge of their conscious ability and allow them to feel their other-than-conscious ability beyond; asking them to “be present”. I must make time for Pranayama and relaxation at the end of the class… Wait a minute. Did I say that? The one thing no one can do is to make time.
Time is such an elusive concept. We can observe time: we can measure it…the clock ticks. But we can’t control it. We can predict it at a gross level, but at a sub-atomic scale events have a bizarre random nature predictable only by statistical average. We have no direct knowledge of time other than our own physical and mental experience of events in the present moment. It may be that it is the propagation of events that is the reality and time is only a secondary comparative measure after the event. As a pre-supposition, a working definition of time might be as an experience of the unfolding of events.
We are just a formation of seething, boiling, random events unfolding at the microscopic level; blood flows, synapses connect; and at the macroscopic level? We can be agitated and self-conscious; or we can be detached observers. Consciousness is this strange process in time of self-observation. Simple recursive rules can lead to complex behavior, and self-reference leads to our introspective awareness of our own inner states.
So how should I approach the teaching of Yoga? Fortunately I am not the first person to have been concerned about this. Patanjali sewed together this formula over 2000 years ago:
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga.
Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness.
Then, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.
At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.”
[Ref. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, verses I.1 to I.4 Iyengar’s translation]
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga...”
When I started teaching people one-to-one, and then classes, I was obsessed with having enough work planned to fill the time allotted. I planned the class minute-by-minute to have an elegant flow of postures; a good balance of types of posture and counter-posture. I tried to challenge experienced students, and yet also give easier options for beginners with plenty of detailed instructions and adjustments. I wanted to take people to the edge of their conscious ability and allow them to feel their other-than-conscious ability beyond; asking them to “be present”. I must make time for Pranayama and relaxation at the end of the class… Wait a minute. Did I say that? The one thing no one can do is to make time.
Time is such an elusive concept. We can observe time: we can measure it…the clock ticks. But we can’t control it. We can predict it at a gross level, but at a sub-atomic scale events have a bizarre random nature predictable only by statistical average. We have no direct knowledge of time other than our own physical and mental experience of events in the present moment. It may be that it is the propagation of events that is the reality and time is only a secondary comparative measure after the event. As a pre-supposition, a working definition of time might be as an experience of the unfolding of events.
We are just a formation of seething, boiling, random events unfolding at the microscopic level; blood flows, synapses connect; and at the macroscopic level? We can be agitated and self-conscious; or we can be detached observers. Consciousness is this strange process in time of self-observation. Simple recursive rules can lead to complex behavior, and self-reference leads to our introspective awareness of our own inner states.
So how should I approach the teaching of Yoga? Fortunately I am not the first person to have been concerned about this. Patanjali sewed together this formula over 2000 years ago:
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga.
Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness.
Then, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.
At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.”
[Ref. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, verses I.1 to I.4 Iyengar’s translation]
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