summer yoga

Some of my students wanted me to make a summer yoga course somewhere, but I didn’t have time to organize it, so they did!! How beautiful is that!!!
This is the result so far: http://sommeryoga.blogspot.com

Classes

This week, my classes have been more “pedagogically correct”. I mean, I’ve looked at what we’ve been doing and followed up on some asanas and adding whats missing. But there was a theme of different kinds of sun salutations, another was hips and flexibility. But my favourite was yesterday, I let my colleague decide what my theme was going to be, she told me to work with feminine and masculine attitudes towards the asanas.
I found that I connect the masculine with the principle of abhyasa and the feminine with the principles of vairagya. More on, I found that I somehow connects the masculine with the inhalation (the active force) and the feminine with the exhalation (the passive force). I haven’t got a clue about this. I haven’t used the thoughts of masculine and feminine since I studied “bodymind” with my masters. I have to search books, friends and colleagues to see how they do it, what do you think?
I can clearly see how much integrity and attitude work there’s going on in my classes! It’s beautiful! The hunched old lady that is so much into her breath that she finishes her asana far behind all the others, but everyone loves to get to do stuff in their own time, following their own breath, it was beautiful! So much accept of the self and the other “selves” in the same room. It was a good to see how aware we all became of our own attitudes and what effect they have on us. How our attitude forms the reality that we sense. I think there is more for me to get there!

Serendipity and yoga

I think that “unsought findings” is one of the great promises in yoga. Since yoga work so much with the present and with awareness (sthira) we are bound to find something. Maybe that’s the essence of body consciousness, the sum of unexpressed knowledge and the unsought findings?
I find so many new experiences by working with yoga, when I succeed in letting go of my ambitions, my “I want”, my evaluations “I mean/this means” and my expectations “I cannot”.
When I surrender to the next inhalation or exhalation, I truly find experiences in myself I never knew existed. Get to the matter, an example. Some years ago, I played with my sense of moving my back muscles standing upside down, I suddenly found that; in order to lift my legs calmly up in any variation of a headstand; I use my but as a counterweight to my legs. I didn’t set out to find this, but it was there. Every yoga practise gives me unsought findings, in myself, my body (anatomy and physiology), my spirit, philosophy and life. And many of these findings/experiences can be applied to completely other parts of my life. Love it when one part of my life can enrich another or in this case give me some words to explain my experience.

This weekend

I have dedicated my yoga work, this weekend to build some peace, since our beautiful city have been violated by a raging mass of house occupants and cops trying to keep order, what a mess! Sissel described, at her blog, the riots in december, this weekend was the follow up to this. But we found peace in my classes, breathing exercises, easy movement that follows the breath, silence and really working in the moment helped.

Serendipity

“The art of the unsought finding” (Van Andel)
I haven’t read anything on the subject yet. But after a class about serendipity, we’re sent to take pictures of "it".
I will try to do that today.
When I think about it, it seems like there is a relationship between awareness and time. The less time I have, the more aware I have to be, to se my finding-possibilities. The more time I have, the less aware I have to be – I will always find something.
Another factor that seems to clearly influence my possibilities is meetings! Between “worlds” no matter if these “worlds” are personal universes :) or different theories or different practises. In these meetings there are possibilities for “unsought findings”. I love that expression!

Can you experience something without putting it into a frame of meaning?

In yoga we talk about peeling off layers of understanding, so that we can get to the pure experience. In my studies, my teacher wants me to accept that we cannot experience anything without simultaneously applying meaning to our experience (therefore we always learn). I really can’t figure it out. My intellect can accept the texts I’m introduced to in my studies. But! (whole lot of buts) my truth is another. Maybe it is one of these “question of belief” issues?
It reminds me of what some yoga teachers, that had taught both in India and in western countries, told me. They didn’t have breathing exercises to western pupils, because tradition focuses on growing the inhalation (learn to recive?), and that’s what most eastern pupils need, but we are the opposite. In the west we need to learn how to exhale, (to give?). Maybe western philosophy focus on extracting meaning out of everything? While eastern let it go, and end up having more pure experience and still somehow more meaning. Yoga philosophy (so far) gives me,,,,, meaning ;)
Knowledge is wisdom put into practice
Experience has several meanings in English, two that we have separate words for in Danish. (e.g. “He gained valuable experience”,,, and “an exciting experience”).
I wonder, do you always get experienced by having experiences? I get a picture of a hierarchy; at the bottom several experiences makes you experienced, knowledge contains practicing this experience and wisdom is the sum of all the knowledge that’s put into practice. No, not working. Maybe this is to ambitious for a tired Thursday evening?
One of my mentors suggests: “knowledge is information put into practice and wisdom is knowledge put into practice”. Well, the concept of “information” kind of makes me wanna cry, but the last part seems to be a relief to think. So I’m holding on to whatever gives meaning in this extended moment.
Yes, it connects the parts! If knowledge is the collective experiences, than it would be wise to act according to these realizations.