The Martin Luther King Chakra

Dear Yogis

Gregor Maehle said so many things that inspired me that this is my third Friday Email featuring his teaching – the last one for now! Talking about the heart chakra, he said: ‘The heart isn't just a primitive pump. The heart has a magnetic field which can be measured eight metres away from the body’.

Coincidently, I’ve been thinking about how we project ourselves and the effect we have on others. Instinctively we know that our heart energy reflects on our face and the way we move through the world. We know that we affect others before we say a word. If you’re in yoga class next to someone with negative energy if affects your practice! There are studies which attempt to directly measure an exchange of energy between people.

Gregor Maehle says that the only way you can advance the heart chakra is by advancing all others. You do this by practicing radical forgiveness, trust and compassion.  Samadhi (or meditative absorption) on the heart chakra leads to the ultimate view that there is no ‘other’, that we are connected and that we form one humanity. Gregor says in his blog on the heart chakra: “In the human chest there is a small shrine (the heart) in which there is a small flame the size of a thumb (the soul). And in this flame miraculously there is this entire vast universe with its planets, stars, continents, rivers, mountains and oceans.”

Here’s something that might inspire you; he calls the heart chakra our Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Chakra, examples of people who were propelled by their belief that there is one family of all beings. 

Retreats

Advance your heart and happiness by coming on the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat in South Devon! I’m teaching yoga in the morning and the Happiness workshops and Mindfulness sessions take place in the afternoons. Meanwhile, another place has opened up on the Kapsali retreat with me and Lisa. Here are the afternoon workshops she’s planning on: Splits and Backbends, Leg Behind Head, Inversions, Arm Balances, Philosophy. A lot of time is spent on drills and preparations so it doesn’t matter if we get to the final splits/leg behind head or not. She says you can also ‘Watchasana’! Write back if you’re interested in coming with us to either Kapsali retreat. There’s a gentler retreat too!

Home Studio

Small classes and more room this week means that we turned some Ashtanga postures into restorative poses propped up with many bolsters and blocks and we had some upside-down fun using the wall. I see that I’ll be welcoming new yogis to my little Home Studio next week and places are filling up. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

You should have seen last week in Virgin Active Chelsea how a class responded to Lisa Maarit Lischak’s positive, welcoming, confident, serious heart energy. She projects that she has high expectations of the class and yogis responded with their best yoga, Heart energy exchange in action! She’s back tomorrow at 10.30. At the opposite end of yoga, I loved teaching Restorative Yoga (adult nap time!) at Yoga West last week and I get to do it again this Sundays at 3.30-4.45pm. It’s just four postures followed by Savasana! Can you imagine!

Yoga in the news

The express has: ‘World Cup: England stars relax with yoga after stunning quarter-final victory over Sweden’. It shows a clip of their yoga class and there are some odd postures that don’t work in general class, let alone for tight hip and hamstring footballers.

I love this article from HR News: ‘Why Wellness in the Workplace Matters’. ‘In 2016/2017, an estimated 12.5 million working days were ‘lost’ in the UK due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety’. They quote a yoga teacher who says; ‘Many of the yogis who come to my classes, do so to help them cope with work stress. Yoga improves posture and breathing, boosts morale and shows you how to go with the flow!”’ (I agree. I love teaching in the workplace. People also come to improve their chosen sport with yoga).

Have a love-filled weekend