Yoga for Trauma

Dear Yogis

Having written last week about anti-gravity yoga, I thought I’d continue with styles of yoga and give you an idea about Forrest Yoga, named after the originator, Ana Forrest. What sparked my sudden interest is that teacher Ambra Vallo told me that the practice attracts people with deep emotional needs who are in need of ‘Fierce Medicine’, perhaps due to abuse, breakdowns, drugs, or other traumas. I unearthed this quote about how she practiced yoga to unearth rage and pain ‘stored in the body’ (yup, that stuff is physical!) and shift it out:

“But there is a point when you’ve cleared some space in your body and life and you have to take another level of responsibility, which is scary but sweet: What do you want to put there now that you’ve gotten rid of the toxic gunk? I teach people to move the gunk out and fill the spaces with magic and the mystery of aliveness. If you don’t put the energy you want inside you in those spaces, they just fill up again with garbage.”

Here’s another quote I love:

“One of the things I talk about a lot is the “struggle syndrome.” We are taught that putting up a struggle is the way to proceed. To me struggle-mode is like pouring out your energy and then trying to achieve some great deed but failing because all of your energy has been spent.”

Trauma is not hard to come by but it’s hard to let go. If any of this interests you, here’s a workshop with her in which she focuses on fear.

Home Studio

There are still plenty of places in all the classes next week. In yesterday’s Ashtanga class we had a look at the holy grail of ‘jumping through’. We used blocks and socks! On Wednesday we did upside-down Crow a la Jason Crandell (he comes to it at 22.40). The six-pack is coming back for the summer as a result!

Lovely Feedback

“I tried the head stand in class last night. I managed to stay to knee level for almost 5 breaths. I was so excited I couldn't sleep”.

Yoga in the news

For Britain’s Got Talent fans, I found that the programme has tried out Doga. Dogs appear from all directions to have a go. You know what they say in TV... ‘Never work with animals or children’.

Training

I trained last weekend with the unbelievably qualified Ambra Vallo (800 hour Dharma Mittra; 200 hour Ashtanga Vinyasa and 100 hour Rocket with It's Yoga; 500 hour Ashtanga Vinyasa with Absolute Yoga Academy; 40 hour Intensive Ashtanga with David Swenson and Tripsichore Yoga Training with Edward Clarke.) She’s back at Indaba for the weekend of the 27th/28th for a weekend of Rocket Yoga. Join me! She’s an absolute joy to learn from.

The next thing I have signed up for is Yin Yoga for Yang Yogis with Marcus Veda on April 22nd. He’s an incredible teacher.

Have a lovely Easter.