Lets Get Traditional

**** SUNDAY, FEB 17th 1:30-3:30pm @ SEMPERVIVA YOGA (Kits Beach) ****

* Come close your eyes and get lost in the sweet sound of the sitar, while I lead you through a yin/yang asana. James will share the history of India's most ancient instrument, before we cover The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

    I'm crossing my fingers that you'll leave your body and escape to India :)

January Workshops

BROGA AT MY PLACE: AN INTRODUCTION TO YOGA

Is your partner nagging you to try yoga? Doctor prescribing yoga to fix your ailments? Have you been meaning to try it for years? Afraid of studios? Think everyone will be watching you? Embarrassed you can't touch your toes?
Why not enjoy your first yoga experience in the comfort of a cozy home, with only 5 other bro's in the same boat as you? We'll have the perfect amount of time to clearly break down each pose & general flows. You'll leave feeling relaxed, empowered and ready for a public class.

Tea, laughs & a long savasana (nap time) will be provided!

Sign up now, as space is limited.

Beginners only!

$25 cash or cheque

Mon Jan, 28th from 5:30-7:00pm

Location: My living room in Kits, Vancouver! 

Email emilyjanemillen@yahoo.com to reserve a spot.

BANDHAS FOR BALANCING

Redirect Energy & Bring Balance Through Bandhas

Sat Jan 12th, 1-3pm, $30 at South Granville YYOGA

In this workshop we'll work to reverse outward flow of exertion to reign in precious energy, by practicing the three energetic locks of the body!

Proprioception: Where Is My Body In Space?

    Earlier this year I came across a TEDtalk by Max Strom entitled, " There Is No App For Happiness." I found myself immediately intrigued, by this big teddy bear before me, and  pleasantly hypnotized by his rich voice. If you've ever studied with this yoga teacher, speaker and author you'll know exactly what I mean!
  A few weeks ago,  I had the pleasure of learning from him in person, at Semperviva Yoga. I felt like he was our kindergarten teacher, feeding our imaginations with animated stories, as we sat cross legged staring up at his big body and jolly gaze. And you know you're in the presence of a brilliant teacher, when everything they've said sticks. I ingested his words so deeply, that I went home to further research a concept he introduced called, "proprioception."
   Proprioception is defined as, " the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body". For example, touching your nose with your index fingers while closing your eyes tests your ability to proprioceive.  The mind has memorized where body parts are so perfectly that you often don't need the use of the eyes to find them. 
   In fact, we have a deeper relationship to our front body because we can see it, and our back body is more likely to feel somewhat numb or foreign to us. Lets say you were told to touch your belly button-you'd be able to find it without even thinking.  However, if asked to quickly penetrate your T7 Vertebra, well....good luck with that one! 
       Proprioception is what allows us to walk in complete darkness without losing balance. It is what allows us to paint freely, without looking at the hand that's performing the paint stroke. When we're driving, it's what allows us to keep our eyes on the road, and not on our feet, while we break and accelerate.
   Max expressed that as we age if we don't continue to stay physically active we lose our body awareness. Thus, one of the number one causes of death with seniors is from a result of falling, because one's proprioception gradually becomes impaired. He shared that for some seniors, finding their nose with the index finger can be a challenging task. This floored me, and I think this sole fact inspired me to write this entry.
   I know I'm a healthy 27 year old and am far from being a senior, but I move my body daily and I sometimes crumple it up into pretzel shapes and then I roll up my mat and leave; My yoga practice is often an afterthought. 
      My first reaction to this was, "Oh, the little things we take for granted." However I then began to reflect on this with great admiration and respect for the work yogis do, and not just physically. As body awareness develops so does your relationship with each individual body part, becoming mindful of exactly where they exist in space. Many areas of ourselves have become unconscious, but the alignment principles of all different types of yoga help to rewire and light up the murky spots inside. I believe that's why you can feel so full after practice: you begin to glow and feel energized because the dots are being connected again and your body parts are being married as one. It's no coincidence that yoga actually translates to mean, "to yoke" or " to unite".
   Before Max's workshop, I never actualized how many miracles occur on the mat. For example, lets say my students are in a twisted lunge to the left, their eyes are gazing skyward, and I ask them to bring their left hipbone back while drawing their right sit bone away from their sacrum- they then adjust accordingly. The fact that they can access a very deep portion of their pelvis, without looking, is pretty incredible; it's a skill we take for granted. 
        Even 2,000 years ago the depths of this work was cherished and eventually expressed in the ancient Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Sutra II.46 states that, "This discipline and attention must be applied to the practice of each asana, to penetrate to its very depths in the remotest parts of the body. Even the meditational asana has to be cultivated by the fibres, cells, joints and muscles in cooperation with the mind."  Sutra II.46 Sthira Sukham Asanam
      This skill is developed and fine tuned every time we hit the mat. As we become more aligned and aware of our physical bodies, we trust it more. This snowballs into us trusting our hearts, and hearing our intuition with confidence and efficiency. I believe this can morph even more into us being present with everything that surrounds us. We become like animals, noticing everyone's wear abouts, everyone's moods, reading everyone's body language, etc! Nothing goes unnoticed and relationships even deepen- from the bone in our left thigh, to our neighbour down the hall.
       To tie my point into a pretty bow, I'll share with you Elizabeth Kadetski's experience on the mat, taken from her recent novel, First There Is A Mountain.
      " I could discover my body anew every day, and through it discover the world around me. I could start again- remake my Universe." 

http://www.maxstrom.com/

   
 

Inversions: Notes from our "Advance Your Asana" Series

Sirsasana 

Inversion Workshop

Headstand- Sirsasana

BENEFITS          

 *Stimulates parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for stimulation of "rest-and-digest"), cardiovascular, lymph, endocrine, and digestive systems

 * Lowers blood pressure

·               *Clears thoughts, great for awakening the mind

·          *Helps one become balanced and self-reliant in pain and pleasure, loss and gain, fame and shame, defeat and victory.

·           *Enhances prana and life force

TIPS

*Eyes should never bulge or be bloodshot- keep a calm dristi (gaze)

*Weight only in head, not in arms-lift out of the connection of the floor

*Draw shoulders away from ears to free the cervical spine (neck)

*Rectus abdominus muscles engage to prevent ribs from bowing out

*Draw inner thighs together so that balance is gathered in and pinpointed to sweet spot on the head

*Lift the spine to avoid dumping into the neck

*Eventually 95% of weight is in the head

** For females, Sirsasana is a challenge because they aren’t as strong in the upper body and have a bigger proportion of weight in the hips and thighs

***For males, Sirsasana is a challenge because they tend to have poor hip flexibility, therefore it’s harder for them to get their hips stacked over their shoulders

“Sirsasana is really a blessing and a nectar. In this asana alone, the brain can drawn plenty of prana and blood. Memory increases admirably. This leads to natural Pranayama and Samadhi by itself”~ Swami Sivananda

Shoulder Stand – Salamba Sarvangasana

“ The pose is called Sarvangasasa because it influences the thyroid and through it the whole body and it’s functions. In Sanskrit, Sarva means “the whole” and Anga means “the body”. ~Swami Kuvalayananda

BENEFITS

·        *Healthy blood circulates around the neck and chin which relieves asthma, breathlessness, and bronchitis.

·       * The firm chin lock stimulates thyroid and parathyroid glands, as blood supply is increased.

·        *Soothes nerves and relieves headaches 

·       * The changed in bodily gravity affects the organs, so the bowels move freely and constipation vanishes. Also relieves pain in the stomach and colitis

·        *Leaves you feeling strong, happy and confident.

·        *Allows prana and new life to flow freely, leaving the mind at peace.

TIPS

·        *Keep the natural curve of the cervical spine so that it can bear the weight of the head perfectly

·        *Lift centre of the neck towards the ceiling and life the chest to chin to avoid gripping the neck

·        *During your first few attempts, the centre of gravity may be in the hips, and your bum and legs might be behind your head. With practice your legs will go straight up over head, and you’ll balance with little effort.

·        *Press upper palate of mouth into the ground, as well as forearms (connect to foundation for full extension through the legs)

·        *Pull energy from the pubic bone up the inner line of the legs, and our through the inner big toe to release pressure out of the low back, and to extend the spine.

·       * Keep elbows hugging together. Eventually the elbows will be outer shoulder distance apart.

** Headstand (King)- Celebrates power and consciousness

     Shoulderstand (Queen)- nurtures the body

“ Take as much time as you need-weeks, months, or even years-to work on the preparatory poses. Once you do float up in Headstand, the ease that you will experience in the pose will be worth your efforts.”~ Patricia Sullivan

Katy Schroeder Photography

Here are a few shots from a spontaneous shoot, with Katy Schroeder. Check out her work at, http://katyschroeder.viewbook.com/