Beginner's Mind

“We talk about 'beginner's mind' and when new yogini 's come to class, it is a honor to be their first guide to yoga practice. It reminds me that one of my goals is to look at situations with a beginner's mind. To take my belly breaths and delight in the sensations! What if it were the first time you were breathing with awareness! Some students have remarked that they hadn't known that their breath could be both 'passive' and 'active'. It reminds me to use my own knowledge of my breath to keep myself centered when troubled by worldly matters. Today, we can all have a beginner's mind, in whatever it is we are doing, and thrill at our senses, in the simple delights of breathing and the ancient wisdom which tells us enjoy our lives with beginner's eyes. What is possible, for you, with a beginner's mind?”

The above was posted by a Yoga Bear’s member in her blog and I find it to be a good reminder as it is with a beginner’s mind that we can approach our practice with awareness and humbleness.

When we remind ourselves that we are always a beginner as there is always a pose that we have never done before and so many variations to explore, we will cultivate a beginner’s mind which is having an attitude of openness, eagerness and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." - Shunryu Suzuki

Listening To Your Body

Do you listen to your body? What I mean is do you notice when your body is telling you that it needs a rest such as when you suddenly have a sore throat even though you have not eaten any fried or spicy food?

Yesterday when I woke up, my throat was feeling so dry and there seems to be something blocking the throat passage which I couldn’t clear. I realized that I was having a sore throat and made some of my sore throat remedy to drink. It helped to soothe the throat but I was still feeling the dryness in my throat when I went for my Ashtanga Led 2 class in the evening. Throughout my practice, I was not feeling the energy and flow and I couldn’t bind my hands in Marichyasana D and Pasasana as I couldn’t use my breath to help me in the pose. My Ujjayi breath was not smooth and felt constricted and my throat felt very dry.

I decided not to go to my yoga class today as I am still having the sore throat. I know my body is telling me that it needs to rest as I have been going to class almost every day and I have also been keeping late nights as I had stayed up to watch a Taiwanese series and was not getting enough sleep.

It’s a wonder how our body works. Do you notice when your body starts to complain? It could be an ache that suddenly develops out of nowhere or falling sick when you were feeling ok the previous day.

Many a times, if you look back on the times you fell sick, it would most probably be that you had tired or put too much stress on yourself and it’s your body mechanism telling you that it needs a rest. So watch out for the little signals your body is giving and give it a rest before a minor problem becomes a big one.

Increase your sensitivity to and awareness of the true needs of your body by listening to it and give it the due respect it deserves!

Core Tips for a Better Yoga Practice

I am a fan of Sadie Nardini’s Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga on Facebook and she has been posting core tips which I am integrating into my practice. I am posting some of her tips here which I have compiled to share with you all.

Core Tip 1:

When transitioning from Upward Dog to Downward Dog and while lowering into Chaturanga or pushing back up into Plank, strongly move the sides of your hips and waist back. You will appear to still be in a straight torso alignment, as in Plank, but now you're engaging your Spiral Line, specifically the obliques and serratus muscles that can help to take the weight off your shoulder joints.

Core Tip 2:

In your Handstand preparation, think of exhaling and pulling the sides of your hips and waist straight back towards the wall, strongly, as you hop. This will engage the obliques and give you far more core power than using the back or front of the body only.

The above tips teach us how to engage the obliques and serratus muscles which provide us with more core power for a better practice.

Core Tip 3:

In Downward Dog, lift the sides of your waist towards the ceiling and forward, until you feel your armpits hollow and shoulder joints lighten. It's farther than you might think. Make sure your elbows are facing diagonally forward to allow an external rotation of upper arms balanced with the inner rotation of the lower arms.

Core Tip 4:

In Downward Dog, resist your hands towards one another, as if the thumbs would come to touch (though your hands don't actually move from their shoulder-distance placement on the mat) and you'll get a corresponding widening in the shoulder joints and collarbones.

The above tips help to instantly decompress your shoulders, neck and upper back.

Below is a video where Sadie Nardini talks about Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga and how it can transform your yoga practice.

Ashtanga Led 2 Class

I went for my first Ashtanga Led 2 (Intermediate series) class on Wednesday. The class starts and ends the same as the first series class but with different poses in the middle. For our first class, Azmi had chosen seven poses from the Intermediate Series which were done after Marichyasana D. He told us that after the 2nd class, he will be cutting out a pose from the primary series and adding another pose from the intermediate series.

The poses we did from the second series were Pasasana, Krounchasana, Shalabhasana A , Shalabhasana B, Bhekasana, Dhanurasana, Parshva Dhanurasana and Ushtrasana. I have done these poses before in the Hatha classes but poses which require me to lie on my stomach have always been not easy for me as I have a tight back and my hips tend to lift off the floor.

The poses in the Intermediate Series composed of more backbend poses and inversions. As the series is also known as Nadi Shodhana which means channel cleansing, the poses help to purifies, opens and clears the energy pathways through our bodies.

Because we spend so much time hunched over the computer, most of us find it difficult to do backbends as our body will tend to resist this unfamiliar territory. Backbends helps to open the heart and chest and strengthens the back and abdominal muscles while inversions are strengthening poses as the shoulders, back, abdomen and legs have to work especially hard to work against gravity from the opposite direction and being upside down also helps to stimulate blood circulation.

I am taking the poses one at a time and hope to see my own progress in them as I learn to open my heart more in the backbend poses. I found this interesting article about The Compassionate Back Bends at Yoga Journal website where the writer wrote about how we should develop a different approach to our practice to find joy in opening the front of our bodies.

I would also like to share this website where a very good article about backbends is uploaded. It explores about backbends and the spine and provide some principles specific to backbends.

New Classes, New Teachers at Be Yoga

June will be an exciting month at Be Yoga with new classes being introduced and new teachers joining the studio.

There will be up to 9 CLASSES A DAY, 48 CLASSES WEEKLY and 20 CLASSES TO CHOOSE FROM!

The new classes being introduced are New-Be (if you don't know anything about yoga, this is the class for you as this is an intro to yoga class for newbies), Yoga with Ropes and Props, Yoga for Spinal Care and Ashtanga Led 2 (Ashtanga Intermediate Series). Other classes at Be Yoga include Hot Yoga, Begin, Hatha, Yin Yoga, Pilates, Yogilates, Chi-lates, Prenatal, Flow, Vinyasa, Dynamic, Ashtanga Intro, Ashtanga Led and Happy Hour Yoga (where anything goes from Yoga Dance to Partner Yoga depending on the request from the practitioners). The free Karma Yoga class is still being held every Sunday with donations received from the class going to a charity organisation.

The new classes have already been uploaded at Be Yoga website. Check out the schedule at http://www.beyoga.my by simply clicking the Book Your Class Online yellow tab.

Be Yoga has also engaged new teachers to teach the classes and one familiar face will be Angie Teh (former teacher from Yogazone and Energy). Angie is trained in Stott pilates matwork (Essential to Advanced) and Stott therapeutic pilates "Injury & Special Populations". She is also a certified FISAF Fitball Instructor.

Viviane de Doncker, the Scoliosis Expert who has been guest teaching at Be Yoga has also joined the team of teachers at Be Yoga which include Azmi Samdjaga, Malaya Kasal (Lila) and Ken Lim.

Be Yoga is offering new membership packages which include a TRIAL CLASS PACKAGE @ RM100 FOR 10 PASSES. Call Be Yoga at tel no. 03-77286182 for further details on classes and membership packages.

I am ONE with Be Yoga

Today I was presented with a certificate by Be Yoga for having completed my 1-year membership with them. How time flies, I remember getting an email from Azmi last year informing on the opening of Be Yoga and going there to have a look at the studio which was still under renovation. I had not hesitated to sign up for a 1-year membership with Be Yoga even after the YZ fiasco as I have confidence in the management of Be Yoga.

Although it is only one year since Beyoga started operations, I have gained so much from being a member there. So many new friendships were formed with my fellow practitioners, sharing and getting to know each other better after class in the shower room or at the mamak shop next door while having drinks or “makan” after class and having a regular practice with a group of Ashtanga “kakis” who come either for the Thursday evening or Sunday morning class.

I also went to my first yoga retreat in Bali in February this year with Azmi and some of the Be Yoga members and had such an enlightening and wonderful time there.

My yoga practice has grown stronger and more focused under the tutelage of my beloved teachers at Beyoga. Under the guidance of Azmi, I am growing more and more confident in trying and doing difficult poses such as learning to let go of the fear of falling by focusing on my breath and finding my center of gravity in headstand and keeping my core strong and lifting my hips up when I am in Bakasana and Tittibhasana to ensure that I do not fall on my butt and learning to jump (or step back) from the pose.

I love going to Lila’s classes as she always ask what we need after a day sitting at the office and fighting traffic to go to class after work. Her shoulder and hip opening poses and hamstring stretches help to ease those tense and tight muscles. I have also been going to Lila’s Begin classes as I believe in “going back to the basics” to ensure that my alignment for the poses are correct and her use of blocks and the strap help to deepen and enhance my poses. I also learn to recognize my limitations in doing certain poses and instead, do the variation given for the pose to receive the same benefits.

I see myself progressing most this year with Be Yoga as it has been full of new personal discoveries especially connecting my yoga practice with life lessons on letting go, acceptance and setting intentions which are in harmony with who I am. How we do our yoga poses in class sometimes mirror how we lead our lives. When our confidence rests in the way we look in the pose and what others think of us, it is the same as how our sense of security is affected by how other people see us and how we feel that we must have certain material things to be accepted by society. Learning to accept who we are and learning to let go in matters that are beyond our control and stepping back to look within ourselves for inner peace will help to keep us to feel centered and be a much happier person.

I have just renewed a 1-year membership with Be Yoga and am looking forward to the new classes to be introduced during the year which will include Ashtanga Intermediate Series, MySore and Ropes Yoga, the workshops and especially the Yoga Retreat in November.

To a great year ahead and Happy Birthday, Be Yoga!

Be Yoga 1st Anniversary Promotions