Undo Habitual Actions

Dear Yogis

I’m studying Yoga for athletes again this weekend with Sarah Ramsden and on our reading list is Sarah Keys’ book ‘Body in Action’. It’s good to get back to the muscle and bone of yoga before I disappear too far into the myth of Shiva and Shakti; the melding of pure consciousness and infinite creativity which inspires a Luna quality in our yoga practice of the openness and compassion that Shiva represents... (stops for breath!) Ty Landrum’s storytelling from last week was powerful!

Back on dry land, Sarah Key’s says: “The superiority of yoga is that it undoes our complex and often-used patterns of movement. None of the postures reinforces habitual actions and all of them reclaim forgotten territory.

“Yoga does take time and effort. Sometimes it is agony just to hold a stretch for a matter of seconds. But this is what it is all about. The harder you find the stretch, the more you need it. In time, all your soft tissues will loosen—even blood vessels and nerves—as the body is reintroduced to its extremes. Elasticity is restored and so is streamlined, smooth-gliding function. The stretches pull the tissues and create a much more vigorous blood supply. Blood rushes to mop up after the unexpected demands on flexibility and the circulation through the tissues changes from torpor to a flush. The skeleton is cleansed and rejuvenated.

“That leads me to the final plus of the gentle art of yoga: the staggeringly rich variety in the choice of stretches. You can start off with the most modest, disarmingly gentle stuff, where you really find it hard to believe anything is happening at all, and eventually progress to the nigh impossible”.

Phew!

RETREAT

My retreat poster looks pretty good, I think, on workplace notice boards. I’d be grateful if you could pin it up if you have such a board. Here it is on my Downloads page.

Here’s a very sweet island review: Little Secret worth sharing in Greek Island of Kythera.

“You can still see donkeys and old ladies in black with headscarves. Religious festivals are held in caves and they make their own wine, ouzo and olive oil”. “This archaeological treasure island is the site of the largest ancient shipwreck ever discovered, described as “the Titanic of the ancient world”. “A tiny sister island off Kythera, known as Antikythera, is where the Antikythera mechanism – an ancient computing device described as the world’s first computer – was discovered”.

Details of the retreat are on my website. I’ll be there next weekend for the Ashtanga Yoga workshop with Kristina Karitinou Ireland. It’s not too late to buy flights and come with me. The Seminar will be held at our Kytheran home, Porto Delfino! (I’m going on Easyjet and Olympic.)

Home Studio

I cancelled yesterday’s evening Ashtanga class because of the fear of an oncoming cold which I thing I’ve battered back into the ground with copious amounts of Sri Lankan Samahan! (Please don’t come to class with a cold!) I’ve added a 6.00 Ashtanga class next Thursday to make up for it as next week’s classes are fairly full. I;m not here on Monday 13th so, if it’s popular, I’ll do the same the following week. You can see class availability on my website (which I update often). The latest availability is attached to this email.

Yoga in the News

NDTV has: From Diabetes To Thyroid, This Yoga Asana Has Numerous Health Benefits. Here are some they say will make you fall in love with the Shoulder Stand, Sarvangasana. ( "Sarvanga" means "all body parts") : improves digestion; prevents constipation; cures sexual disorders; helps have restful sleep at night and get rid of dark circles.  

This is an interesting article from Egyptian Streets:  ‘What Is So Significant About Mohamed Salah's Yoga Poses?’ “I am a yoga man!” said Salah. The paper compares yoga poses and movements of Muslim Prayer. Both systems have postures to take focus inwards, activate the heart, and find a ‘spiritual connection with the universe’.