Not sure why I don’t play them more often – I feel the vibrations in my entire body, calming and yet like an extra boost of energy.
Singing bowls create vibrations that are similar to the frequencies of the brain’s alpha waves.
By playing and creating these frequencies, they can entrain the brain, allowing it to relax and become more focused as it transitions to a theta wave state.
🙏🏼
The question that comes up frequently – what is yoga and what makes it different from any other “fitness style”?
I was teaching the Ashtanga module in a teacher training this weekend and it showed up so beautifully what yoga actually is.
After practicing the primary series, a student told me how she felt her body speaking to her. Telling her what she should look into, not just on a physical, but also on a mental level. She was amazed on how she could focus on herself, not looking at others, but go internal. She practiced yoga.
Another student was struggling a lot with postures, being rather upset after. He wasn’t even willing to share his experience, so I won’t judge, but it felt as if he was caught up in performing.
It doesn‘t really matter if your body can make it into a pretzel or if it doesn‘t find the sweet spot in a balance; what matters is being open to what an asana teaches. We receive lessons on all levels, body, mind and spirit. We can learn so much, If only we would listen.
This is where the yoga starts.
Let me give you an example. To go deep into backbends, we need to open the front side, particularly the chest area (very simplified!), and if this is difficult for you, ask yourself where else in your life does this show up? How open is your heart? How willing are you to show up as your true self?
Balancing postures are telling us a lot about our stress level…
Asanas can work in both directions, as pointers, and they can also help to address and eventually solve an issue you might face in other ares of your life.
Yoga isn‘t a fitness regime, although it helps on this level too!
A week ago I arrived in Goa and can hardly express my feelings. It‘s been 7 years that I was here last time. So much changed, but not the mood, the energy and the lovely people. I still love all the smells here (ok, almost all), the food, the heat, although it‘s winter here. Which for me only means less humidity and eventually a bit chilly at night.
Usually it takes a while to settle after traveling for almost 24hrs, but this time, apart from the lack of sleep, I felt being there instantly. My mind calm, without the usual chatter and hearing the waves day and night was just pure bliss.
I had such a beautiful week at the beach with a friend I know from here and we only met now again. A week filled with loads of talks and laughter, many drinks, amazing food, sand and salty water. Thank you hon for your time and company, I miss you already!
Now I changed places, and with the new moon a new start into a week full of yoga with the teacher I learned it all from. It‘ll be tough, age kicked in some time ago and my body pushes back. Something I have to accept and handle mindfully. And same time getting fully back into the discipline of Ashtanga yoga.
Thank you mama India for calming my mind and letting my heart jump! Grateful to be back and I promise, I‘ll be never again that stupid to come here for two weeks only 😅
You are unique; your journey is wholly original. We may all be expressions of the very same ocean of consciousness, but at the same time, we are all unique expressions of that very ocean, totally unique in our wave-ness! Don’t compare yourself with anyone else!
When you start comparing, you devalue your own unique, irreplaceable gifts, talents and truths and disconnect from your unique present experience. Don’t compare this moment with any image of how it could, should, or might have been. Healing is possible when you say YES to where you are now, even if it’s not where you dreamed you would be ‘by now’.
Trust, and trust sometimes that you cannot trust. Perhaps even your inability to trust can be trusted here, and even the feeling that you cannot hold the moment, is itself already being held…
– Jeff Foster
yatra yatra mano yāti bāhye vābhyantare ‘pi vā |
tatra tatra śivāvāsthā vyāpakatvāt kva yāsyati || 116 ||
Wherever the mind goes, externally or even internally, it [discovers] nothing but the state of Śiva. Since [that state] is all-pervasive, where else could the mind go?
(verse 116 from the VBT, the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra, which is a Shaiva Tantra, of the Kaula Trika tradition of Kashmir Shaivism)
What, you might ask, is the relationship to asana practices? Nothing and everything. When going back to the early times when all these beautiful scriptures were written, they mainly refer to yoga postures as sitting in padmasana for meditation. Or the term yoga just meant meditation. These days we incorporate yoga postures in our spiritual journey as embodiment practice, making direct connections to certain teachings and eventually place them in the body, express or feel them.
Ok, enough, this is not me! I’m following the teachings of Abhinavagupta, the Kaula Trika tradition of Shaiva Tantra, while also looking to the right and left, as there’s so much to learn, understand and consider! Bloody interesting and honestly, not just that, but it’s life changing. I started to understand a bit more of what this whole thing we call life is, what it is that I call “I”. I’m slightly overwhelmed with the amount of teachings and readings in front of me and same time very excited and curious.
My asana practice is still Ashtanga yoga, and even though I sometimes like to just flow or do some Yin yoga, Ashtanga is where my heart is. This too is – next to it being a challenging physical practice – a spiritual path. It’s a very focussed practice, no distractions, no music, no chi chi.
Two different things, that match so beautifully together. I feel there’s no need to have any additional constructs on how we can implement the spiritual teachings into the physical practice – it’s all there already! There are many practices in Tantra, mainly meditations, so moving the body helps a lot. How you move, well, do whatever feels right! I stick with Ashtanga 🙂
Never. Get this out of your mind. It might be a challenge to go to a class where everyone else it 20 or 30 years younger, some might be flexible as f***, some do arm balances as if they never did anything else in their life. And there are others, young and stiff like a tree.
Yoga is something you do for yourself, for your body and your mind. It’s not a fitness regime, no space for comparison, nor judgement. Be happy for those who can do things easily, be compassionate for those who have to work more on it. And be with yourself. Grateful that you showed up, doing what’s possible that day. There’s no room for the ego in a yoga class.
Some years ago I was really disappointed when I heard that we should step back from a certain age. Why? I want to continue learning, improving, growing. I want to access at least some of the super challenging postures. And I can. Daily practice does a lot, and I’m not talking about working on a certain posture like crazy, no, just do your practice regularly and your body will change.
I proved it, you can learn headstand, forearmstand, you name it, no matter the age. The key is not only regular practice, but also listen to your body. Never do something while your body says no, not today. Accept. Same here, no matter the age. The only difference when it comes to age is, that the older we get, the longer it takes. Not just physically, also the mind kicks in. All of a sudden there is fear. Don’t fight it, don’t ignore, but embrace it and it will slowly melt. Yes slowly. Be patient. I know, patience is nothing I was born with!
However, the last 2 years I experienced some push backs. I had to pause my practice a few times due to injuries (not yoga related!) and it was so difficult to come back to my daily Ashtanga practice. Age? Maybe, maybe not. I accept it and go slower. Reminding myself, it’s for me, there’s no competition. Not even with myself.
I allow my practice to change. It’s not about this doesn’t work anymore, I can’t do what was possible a few weeks ago, it’s about change. Allow your practice to change. Some asanas might get more difficult all of a sudden, while others become accessible.
There’s another level – while working physically, yoga is also a spiritual practice. Ageing is a great teacher to embrace who you are and continue your journey, even if it looks different.
Commitment has a downside. When practicing Ashtanga Yoga we commit to practice 6 days a week. And yes, there are days, when I can’t manage to get up that early. Days when I feel weak. Days other plans cross badly.
However working at home allowed me all of a sudden to practice in the morning, bringing more flexibility into my life. What a relief! And still, there are weak spots. The moment I notice I won’t practice at all, or time only allows for half the series, or I even practice and test a class I will teach later that day instead of doing my practice…. I feel bad.
I can hear the Ashtanga Police knocking on my door. Guilty.
Isn’t this – yes, bullshit. Let’s get it clear:
Listening to my body has become my priority. When not feeling good, I go slow and I listen, I feel. Eventually practice less, or do Yin Yoga. I might even just sit and meditate, followed by some pranayama.
When I didn’t sleep the night, staying one hour longer in bed might be more important. Being prepared for my classes a must and this too can be my practice once in a while. Everything is practice.
There is no Ashtanga Police 😉 They won’t come and knock on my door to put the guilty stamp on me. It’s this voice in me talking. Time to make a deal with this voice and send the so called Ashtanga Police to the land where the pepper grows. And once and for all, stop judging myself.
Guess what? This too is Yoga. This too is commitment.
Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash
A posture is achieved when effort stops and the mind is merging meditatively into infinity.
In morden yoga practices, we call the postures asanas. However, following Patanjali’s yoga sutras, the term asana only refers to a seated posture, literally asana meaning „seat“. This could be Padmasana (Lotus pose), or any other seated pose, with the aim to sit firm and still for a longer period of time. Obviously this is not Bharadvajasana, as in the picture!
Interestingly in the early times of yoga, any standing and dynamic postures have rather been named tapas. Studying the yoga philosophy we might find the term tapas translated as devotional austerity, but literally it means „heat“.
So, how comes that we are calling the postures asanas? Shouldn’t tapas be the better matching term for what our physical practice is today? Well, our asana practice today has at least a similar ambition – through steadiness and ease, reaching a state of moving meditation.
Good morning practice!
I played with the 2nd, the intermediate series recently – fuuuuun! While some of the super fancy transitions and advanced inversions are still out of reach for me right now, I was quite surprised that many postures are fully accessible for me and I’am quite close to others.
Someone said once, if you always do the same, you can’t expect different results. Well, I don’t agree when it comes to the yoga practice. In the Ashtanga method we do exactly that, we practice the same sequence, the same postures every day. And with this slide more and more into a moving meditation. But not just that, with practice, the body opens, we go deeper and deeper into the poses. Once in a while I try a posture that I couldn’t access before and notice that all of a sudden I can. Without even working on this specific pose. The body changed.
And I’m transitioning more and more into the next series. A new chapter to start, exciting!
This is a bold statement. I don’t even know if this is right or wrong, but I truly believe it kind of saved me.
What a year! No one could have predicted all the collective obstacles we’re facing, not to mention the individual ones. I see them as life lessons and new opportunities.
Additionally I found myself this year in a very challenging situation in my job, which grew over months into a massive work overload. The stress factor wasn’t just 14 hours work per day and also the last weekends, but the fact that I had and have full responsibility, not knowing if I can manage it and all the effort and struggle will pay off. Pressure on me!
I faced the peak almost 2 weeks ago, when my body started internally shivering and I just thought, gosh no, I’m 2 steps away from burning out. Breathe. Trust. Relax. One more week to go. I can do this. And I did.
So what’s this about yoga? In this stressful time, I kept on practicing every day. Almost. It was nearly impossible to get up in the morning, so I rarely managed to do the full practice, but I was on the mat, no matter what. This was the little me time I had before I jumped into the next crazy day. My practice made my day. It gave me focus and strength and yes, helped of course my body to move and deal with the many hours of sitting.
But it was much more. Breathing, feeling my body, being with me, connected. I always start my practice in childs pose. The knees wide, so I can relax and merge into the posture. This already is the moment of ahhhhhhhhhhh. When lifting one leg up in down dog, I hear the joints cracking, hello, wake up! The opening prayer, the series, no matter how much of it, makes me feel so good….
In extreme times we can notice even better what the practice does for us. Physically and mentally. Just keep on going, no matter what.
TUNEin:YOGA 