We talk a lot in yoga classes about the concept of "letting go", but what do we actually mean?
On a purely physical level we are talking about letting go of tension and tiredness in the muscles. I always start my classes by getting my students to scan their bodies, looking for areas of tension and tightness and breathing into those areas, releasing on an exhalation. Then continuing with the idea of letting go on each exhalation I get them to release any fatigue, worry, stress or fear that they are holding on to -- let it go, allow the exhalation to take it away.
By letting go in this way we are preparing the body and centreing the mind for our yoga practice.
But we can let go on a much deeper level than this. As yogis we also need to let go of all the habitual behaviours that hold us back. We need to cut away the layers or koshas to find our true selves and relate properly with others. We need to let go of anxieties and fears that stop us looking at the world properly and at our true potential. We need to let go of all the unnecessary taks we do every day that we use as an excuse not to explore the new. Basically we need to let go of complexity to allow simplicity in.
I'm not pretending it's easy. Personally I'm not sure it's something I will achieve in this lifetime. But these things are worth bearing in mind, and when we spend time centreing and letting go of tension before our practice we should think about letting go on a deeper level. One little step at a time!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Day 20 - Knitting
It was a yoga teacher who re-introduced me to knitting a few years ago. I'd learned to knit as a child, but it had been a long time since I'd got out the needles.
This particular teacher knitted like a demon! You could hardly see the needles move she went so fast, and she produced some beautiful stuff. She said she found knitting meditative, time when she could allow herself to focus on the feel of the needles in her hands, the movement of the yarn through the needles, time when she could totally be in the moment.
As someone who has a tendency to read too much and probably watch too much TV I thought knitting seemed a good way to get that "in the moment" feeling off my mat; a wind down before sleeping.
So two years ago I started what I thought at the time to be a relatively unambitious project. Knit a ton of squares and stitch them together as a blanket.
It took a little longer than I thought. I sewed the last of the squares together yesterday afternoon. It was a lesson in patience as well as being in the moment, but it has left me with a feeling of achievement now it is finished!
I have a couple of new knitting projects in mind. Like that yoga teacher said, it helps me to be in the moment, it helps me to work on mindfulness. But it is also a slow process for me, so don't expect too much too soon!
This particular teacher knitted like a demon! You could hardly see the needles move she went so fast, and she produced some beautiful stuff. She said she found knitting meditative, time when she could allow herself to focus on the feel of the needles in her hands, the movement of the yarn through the needles, time when she could totally be in the moment.
As someone who has a tendency to read too much and probably watch too much TV I thought knitting seemed a good way to get that "in the moment" feeling off my mat; a wind down before sleeping.
So two years ago I started what I thought at the time to be a relatively unambitious project. Knit a ton of squares and stitch them together as a blanket.It took a little longer than I thought. I sewed the last of the squares together yesterday afternoon. It was a lesson in patience as well as being in the moment, but it has left me with a feeling of achievement now it is finished!
I have a couple of new knitting projects in mind. Like that yoga teacher said, it helps me to be in the moment, it helps me to work on mindfulness. But it is also a slow process for me, so don't expect too much too soon!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Day 19 - Cats
After talking about different ways women utilise the "mother" phase of their lives, Andy reminded me that another way of "mothering" (and fathering I guess on his part) is the great privelege of an animal deigning to live with you.I have had cats since I was 7 years old although in many ways I am a dog person . Cats are easier for little kids to look after and through university and my early 20s of moving around and being out at work all day, having a cat made much more sense. These days whilst I am in the position to and would love to have a dog, I cannot guarantee that I will be well enough to give it the exercise it needs.
Not that my two furry children are in any way second best. They are without doubt two of the most awesome cats I have ever known. And Himself loves them as well. In many ways they are our surrogate children (having decided long ago we did not want children of our own), and I don't care if I bore people to death talking about them.
Our 18-month old girl, Aurora, is the black and white one. She is part British Short Hair and came from a rescue shelter when she was 10 months. She adores Andy but took a while to trust me.
Johnny Park (JP) is the tabby and white one. He's just a common or garden alley cat, one of a litter of three that we got from a colleague of Andy's. He's 9 months old now and a complete menace who eats us out of house and home. He adores me and follows me everywhere, even gets under the duvet with me and scratches and mews pitifully when I'm in the bathroom with the door shut. Sigh...And yes, they are both named after Foo Fighters' songs!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Day 18 - Saturdays
When one chooses to be a yoga teacher, one has to accept the fact that they will work whilst other people are having fun. It's just the way of things. There's no point running a yoga class at 9.30am on a Monday morning as very few people will have the luxury of turning up!
Working evenings never really bothers me but there is something about a Saturday morning -- a feeling of sanctity that I presume is left over from doing the Monday to Friday 9 to 5 grind for so many years. Saturday mornings used to be a time for long lie ins and cooked breakfast and reading the papers and generally doing as little as possible.
These days my Saturday mornings are spent in the company of between 6 and 8 pregnant women! If you'd told me two years ago that this would be the case I would have thought you quite mad, but in fact once I get over the intial shock of getting up early on a Saturday and preparing for the class, I think my pregnancy yoga class is my favourite to teach.
Which is probably an odd statement coming from somebody who has never been, nor has any intention to be pregnant!
Ancient wisdom seperates the stages of womanhood into: maiden, mother, crone (no, I don't particularly like the word crone either -- how about wise woman?). I guess at 34 I'm well into that "mother" aspect of womanhood. However, this does not necessarily incorporate having children of one's own. There are so many ways that this nuturing side of womanhood can be expressed:- as teachers, as childcarers, as midwives.... as pregnancy and postnatal yoga teachers.
I play a small part in helping quite a lot of women bring their little ones into the world. And that is an amazing thing.
Working evenings never really bothers me but there is something about a Saturday morning -- a feeling of sanctity that I presume is left over from doing the Monday to Friday 9 to 5 grind for so many years. Saturday mornings used to be a time for long lie ins and cooked breakfast and reading the papers and generally doing as little as possible.
These days my Saturday mornings are spent in the company of between 6 and 8 pregnant women! If you'd told me two years ago that this would be the case I would have thought you quite mad, but in fact once I get over the intial shock of getting up early on a Saturday and preparing for the class, I think my pregnancy yoga class is my favourite to teach.
Which is probably an odd statement coming from somebody who has never been, nor has any intention to be pregnant!
Ancient wisdom seperates the stages of womanhood into: maiden, mother, crone (no, I don't particularly like the word crone either -- how about wise woman?). I guess at 34 I'm well into that "mother" aspect of womanhood. However, this does not necessarily incorporate having children of one's own. There are so many ways that this nuturing side of womanhood can be expressed:- as teachers, as childcarers, as midwives.... as pregnancy and postnatal yoga teachers.
I play a small part in helping quite a lot of women bring their little ones into the world. And that is an amazing thing.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Day 17 - Power Cut
I got an unplanned night off last night due to a power cut. Being self employed it was an unpaid night off as well. Sigh...
The class started fine, I settled everyone into savasana, scanning their bodies for areas of tension, listening to the sound of their breath and then....poof....the lights went out. Although it is still light at 7.30pm here the yoga studio at the health centre is in a kind of semi-basement, so we were rather plunged into darkness. I had no choice but to refund money and send everybody home.
What with that and one of my private clients cancelling this week due to a child care mix up, I don't really feel I've got into the swing of work again this week at all! Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something....
Project Fitness continues well. I did my second gym session today after two days of power walking. Pretty much the same routine as I did on Tuesday, but with some extra machine work for legs and arms.
Linking back to yesterday's post about music - there is one place where I really need my music, and that is on the treadmill or cross trainer. Today's choice was Black Stone Cherry, very loud! I've always found it gives you that extra boost when it comes to cardio work. Then I toned it down to some Wah! for my mat work.
Not much else planned for the rest of the day. I have the day off today. Like I said, I haven't really got back into the swing after holidays yet. Still I'm sure that'll change next week!
The class started fine, I settled everyone into savasana, scanning their bodies for areas of tension, listening to the sound of their breath and then....poof....the lights went out. Although it is still light at 7.30pm here the yoga studio at the health centre is in a kind of semi-basement, so we were rather plunged into darkness. I had no choice but to refund money and send everybody home.
What with that and one of my private clients cancelling this week due to a child care mix up, I don't really feel I've got into the swing of work again this week at all! Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something....
Project Fitness continues well. I did my second gym session today after two days of power walking. Pretty much the same routine as I did on Tuesday, but with some extra machine work for legs and arms.
Linking back to yesterday's post about music - there is one place where I really need my music, and that is on the treadmill or cross trainer. Today's choice was Black Stone Cherry, very loud! I've always found it gives you that extra boost when it comes to cardio work. Then I toned it down to some Wah! for my mat work.
Not much else planned for the rest of the day. I have the day off today. Like I said, I haven't really got back into the swing after holidays yet. Still I'm sure that'll change next week!
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