Diversion of The New Age Yoga

by Azmi Samdjaga

Of late I have seen the forms that yoga has taken. Some good some not so acceptable. So the idea here is just my concerns for those who are totally new in yoga. And I would appreciate it if the seniors and the veterans who have found yoga to be beneficial to their social or personal life to share their generous inputs for all to read and weigh and analyze their own interpretation of what Yoga means to them.

1) What has been the main concern in your yoga practice?
My main concern is the time I spent in teaching that has taken away the practice I had. To get back on the routine of practicing daily has been really tough.

2) What are the demands in your view that the students today are looking for?
I believe the clarity of the instructions and the benefits of the postures that are executed in class. These have to come generously from the teacher.

3) How do you measure your progress in a yoga practice?
For me the progress is a long process but the joy comes when I manage to reach to a destination that I never been before.

4) What do you look for when practicing Yoga?
After 12 years of practice, I stopped setting goals. I just go with the flow cos the goal would be set in the practice itself. The best thing is, I always always achieve something in a practice. Find new length, new destination, new joy. I always look forward to EVERY single practice.

5) How long do you think one needs to practice to see a shift or change in oneself?
I believe there are no specified or fixed timing as each individual progress differently. Some people may take a month to feel different in health, some may take longer. So it really depends on individual needs.

6) What are the myths you hear about yoga?
Since I started, I still hear that people think yoga can make you levitate.. and now the biggest myth is Yoga is a religion.

7) How do you convince someone to take up yoga?
I do it by stating the fact that yoga has been used as a therapy, the length of time it has been around and showing how I look at life and the perspective I have towards life.

8) What is more important? Strength OR Flexibility?
To me of course is strength. As strength will lead you to find the flexibility with more precaution and consciousness. It serves as a harness and protection against going deeper into flexibility, which may be detrimental to joints if not controlled.

9) What is your greatest achievement in yoga?
I have built a higher tolerance towards the nature of things and the way they are. To have more patience in dealing with things and to be content with what I have and be happy with who I am.

10) What inspire you?
It used to be watching the gurus practice but now, more than that, is to see the determination of my new students who are so eager to explore yoga and hungry for the experience that I have to share with them.

11) What is yoga to you?
Yoga to me is a lifestyle. A way we want live. A self discovery of who we truly are. A journey to finding out our potential in achieving something great in life. An appreciation of just being ourself and the understanding of our purpose in the universe.

Azmi posted the above in his Facebook Notes and I got his permission to post it here. Everyone is welcome to post their comments and share their thoughts on the above. Thank you.

Strength in Gentleness

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength."

My sister, Arine, who is also a yoga practitioner gave me a fridge magnet with the above saying on it. As I read the words, I started to link it to my yoga practice and remembered Azmi telling us to keep our practice light when we do the asanas.

Often during the Ashtanga class, there would be a loud thump when a fellow yogi does a jump back into chaturanga during the vinyasa. This may be due to lack of core strength and stability but it can also be due to working too hard without awareness of the breath and the movement.

The crux of an Ashtanga practice lies in the breath and knowing how to intertwine the breath and the movements until there is no distinction between them. As it is a 90 mins class, learning how to conserve your energy by keeping your movements light and fluid would help to maintain your awareness and focus throughout the practice and that's when gentleness becomes the real strength of an Ashtanga practice.

Below is a video on Ashtanga Jump Back and Jump Forward.

Be Yoga Workshops

GREAT NEWS!!!

Be Yoga has lined up a series of workshops in the coming months by five key teachers with multi-levels of expertise.

For this month, the following workshops featuring two international teachers, Viviane De Doncker from Belgium and Michelle Myhre from USA will be held. The workshops for both beginners and intermediate students will help to broaden their perspective on the fundamentals of a yoga practice.

Body, Breath and Bandha (A Vinyasa Workshop) - The Journey is the Destination
by Viviane De Doncker
Saturday, 24 July 2010
9.00am to 11.00am (Part 1)
11.30am to 1.30pm (Part 2)

Vinyasa Yoga is the intelligent progression through a sequence of postures in a continuous flow of movement. Each movement in Vinyasa Yoga is done in harmony with the breath, and supported by the use of Bandhas.

Bandhas are muscular and energetic adjustments that generate and transform the internal energies, which has a profound effect on the muscular body, the skeleton and the central nervous system. The use of Breath and Bandha is the most important difference between the asanas of Hatha Yoga and gymnastic exercises.

This workshop offers a gentle introduction into Vinyasa, and gives newcomers to the practice an in-depth exploration to the use of Bandhas and proper breathing techniques. The workshop is suitable for beginners, and will include more intricate variations for more experienced practitioners.

FEES: RM180
BE YOGA MEMBERS - 10% discount

Viviane De Doncker

As a Vinyasa and Spinal specialist, Viviane is one of the most skillful therapists among her peers. She has worked extensively in Singapore gaining accolades from many students, namely Ms Christina Ong who are especially practicing in the Vinyasa style. With more than 20 years of teaching experience, Viviane has been one of the most prominent name in her area of expertise in Singapore.

Her workshops are very alignment based, using props as tools to keep you in that journey. She works very well with ALL levels of students offering ALL levels of intensity. As a brilliant therapist, she also shares her intensive knowledge in Spinal injury and other issues pertaining to your spine.

Forward Bends - Fold with Finesse : Create Purity & Peace, Unwind & Let Go!
by Michelle Myhre
Saturday, 31 July 2010
9.00am to 10.30am (Part 1)
11.00am to 12.30pm (Part 2)

Forward Folding postures purify the internal organs, nourish the brain, lengthen the legs and spine, soothe the nervous system, slow the heart-beat, and bring on a deep sense of calm and peace. When we release the muscles in the back of the body, we have the opportunity to let go of old patterns we no longer need! Solo & Partner Yoga as well as some Yin Yoga will be explored in this nourishing workshop.

Backbends - Blissful Backbends : A Safe, Fun, and Joyful Yoga to Revitalize Your Spirit!
by Michelle Myhre
Sunday, 1 August 2010
9.00am to 10.30am (Part 1)
11.00am to 12.30pm (Part 2)

The key to successful backbending is moving the pose out of the low-back and into the entire spine. In this workshop you will learn to align your backbend from the tips of your toes, all the way up to the crown of your head! Learn how to activate your core, use those legs, and turn on lines of energy on the inner body that will take you into a new, deep, place, with no pinching feeling or ache in the low-back!

FEES:
RM150 for ONE Workshop
RM250 for BOTH
BE YOGA MEMBERS - 10% Discount

Michelle Myhre

Michelle is originally from San Francisco, California and she has taught yoga full time for 10 years. Her specialty is the Yoga Sutras and alignment based vinyasa. She teaches her class with playful sequencing and extended holds of key postures to build strength, endurance and stability. Michelle is skilled at working all levels and works at the level of the students. No one is pushed beyond their limits and variations are encouraged.

She is very passionate about teaching workshops. She is also currently writing a book about the essentials of yoga for yoga teachers and students, & organizing her teacher training that is happening soon in Vancouver, Canada.

As there are limited seats for each workshop, book your seats early to avoid disappointment. For further enquiries and booking, you may call Be Yoga at 03-77286182,

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.