Shun Sun Salutations

Dear Yogis

Last weekend I did workshops with Carmen Aguilar. She’s wonderful to learn from. She likes her students to be ambitious. (She said: ‘if you go to the toilet 7 times, well, OK, but you’re not fooling anyone’.) Apart from that, I thought this was interesting: Carmen doesn’t believe in Sun Salutations. She doesn’t teach them because she doesn’t believe in repetitive movement patterns.

Isn’t this heresy? Saluting the sun is about your sun; greeting and honouring your sun rise, your divinity and your potential. You connect the mind to the breath, you move the spine, you stretch and strengthen, you increase the heart rate, you increase blood flow to the muscles and release endorphins, you find a rhythm to the rest of your practice, and, get this, kindle your inner fire and radiate your light, your best self! Could it be better?

Actually, yes! We try, in yoga class, to break habits and patterns yet we barely recognise our repetitive patterns and bad habits. We can bring very strong opinions about what we should look like and feel like. We bring our moods and character traits..., that could go either way! There are also the shoulder-shredding Chaturangas where shoulder-dipping and crunching might replace arm strength, and it looks painful.

Here’s what you can do in your Sun Salutations. First of all, reach up and touch your sun. Stretching upwards is such a natural thing to do to awaken the body. Second, fold forward with an exhalation and see how this release feels. Can you release? Can gravity help? Are you holding your breath? Are you allowing the body to release... is your body allowing you? Forward folding, introspective postures can decrease anxiety. Third posture is to look up, flatten the back, inflate the lungs and check your sun is still shining. Next, step back and lower in a kind of prostration (with arm strength, not shoulder dips). Then lift the heart up to Upward Facing Dog and feel your sun shining warmth on your face and radiating positivity. Then exhale and release to Downward Facing dog to feel the breath in the body.

Carmen’s favourite quote is by Joseph Campbell: “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature”. We’re all trying to do that in our own way.

Retreat

I have been asked if there is a direct flight to Kythera from London for our magical Kapsali Yoga retreat in September. Well... yes there is if you want a bit of extra holiday before the retreat. Aegean Airlines will take you on an overnight flight on Tuesday 17th September, arriving Wednesday 18th and leaving on the 28th. Otherwise, you need two carriers, one to get you to and from Athens and one for the return flight to the island (see attachment). I’ve taken the boat from Piraeus Port before and I don’t think it’s worth it. I’ve never driven through the Peloponnese but it’s on my list of things to do. However you choose to come, just come!

Home Studio

Classes are pretty booked up next week! Crickey! You can see class availability on this website (which I update often).

Yoga in the News

The Metro has: Ex-rugby star says 'breathwork' changed his life – and it's easy to try. “Breathing properly can positively benefit your mind and body in a number of ways, from increasing or lowering your energy, managing emotional, physical and mental stress as well as increasing performance at work or at a sport”

The Guardian is providing yoga counselling with this “Fit in my 40s: how can I do Insta-friendly yoga poses?” The writer wants to do Crow Pose.

Last week, BBC News had Yoga Day: Thousands of Indians celebrate the day. Hilarious picture of PM Modi who is, I assume, surrounded by security detail!

Celebrate International Yoga Day

Dear Yogis

It’s International Yoga Day today. It began in a speech PM Modi made to the UN in 2014 when he called for an International Yoga Day and said of yoga: ‘It should bring a change in our lifestyle and create awareness in us and it can help in fighting against climate change’.  The UN approved it and the first IYD was in 2015.

Here’s my suggestion of a way to celebrate the day. Not everyone has time to get to class and not everyone who reads this email practices yoga. Take a couple of minutes to contemplate the breath and make your inhalations and exhalations a little longer and deeper. That’s it!

Here’s what my teacher, David Swenson, says of the breath and here’s why a five-minute-focus is appropriate for IYD. He says: “We breathe in the same language. It connects us. It connects us to the past, present and future. We're all breathing the same air. The air isn't British or European or any other nationality. The simple act of breathing is a spiritual act. Many languages have the same word for spirit and breath. If we grab hold of the breath it has an immediate tangible effect on the mind and calms us down. It even interacts with plants. We exhale and they take it on and give us oxygen.”

Watch your breath connect you to yourself, to others, to other countries, nationalities, belief systems, and to the planet. Cool, eh!

Retreat

Valentina and I have devised a timetable for our magical Kapsali Yoga retreat in September. I will teach the sunrise Ashtanga class looking out onto the morning glory of Kapsali Bay. Buffet breakfast next. Holiday time next and lounging around down on the bay.

The afternoon workshops with Valentina will start with a ‘warm up’ and work on technique and alignment. She will also focus of memorising the Ashtanga sequence. Of course, there is plenty of information and detail for Mysore and non-Mysore practitioners.

Then the daily themes Valentina will explore are: 1. The background of yoga / Breathing, Meditation and visualisation. 2. Principles of Vinyasa / Practice with inner alignment, breath and bandhas. 3. Acro Yoga and Arm Balancing / Fun yoga!. 4. Transitions.

We will also have Candle-lit yin sessions under our starry Greek sky. Come with us!

Home Studio

Classes are totally booked up next week! Crickey! You can see class availability on my website (which I update often). It gets pretty booked up so you might have to book in the following week.

Training

Yoga West is offering two free International Yoga Day classes at the top of Acton Park near to the kids playground. You have to look out for the Yoga West flag. Bring your own mat: 13:15 Vinyasa Flow with Csilla and 16:45 Pilates with Yasmine. And there’s more free yoga in London today if you google.

In our community

We have yogis who are ’dedicated coffeeholics’ with a 2kg roaster in their micro coffee lab in a converted studio. If you would like freshly roasted coffee write to Gosia and Bartosz: hello@106coffee.com or sign up for their newsletter.

A brilliant yogi who practices in my lucky studio is offering Jing Thai massage, an energy-based treatment. A testimony: ‘You know Mariusz, the biggest benefit of your massage is that you put my body together. Before your massage, my body felt all over the place. Now, it’s all in one place, perfectly realigned and balanced.’ Contact him at mpm108@yahoo.com

Yoga in the News

Quartz has: In photos: How Indians are marking International Yoga Day 2019 (They are 5 ½ hours ahead of us).

Time Out has the slightly silly It's official – London is the yoga capital of the world. ‘The craze shows no sign of entering savasana: data from the report shows more than 6,000 yoga events were held across the UK last year – that’s nearly triple compared to 2016, which saw just over 2,000.’

This is interesting. Greatest has: Should You Avoid Yoga Inversions During Your Period? The article asks: ‘is there any legitimate medical risk involved in doing certain poses during your period? Or is it as outdated an idea as female hysteria?’ and adds ‘It’s important to recognize that this prioritization isn’t rooted in biological function, but in philosophy’.

A Posture Is A Friend

Dear Yogis

This is something that comes up in conversation from time to time: in Ashtanga Mysore practice, it’s common for the teacher to ‘give’ you postures, ‘allow’ you to progress to the next posture and then slowly and surely through the 50 asanas of the Primary Series and onwards. You might think you can do more but a teacher says ‘that’s enough’! A teacher takes care to judge your readiness for more postures at exactly the right time. If a student is frustrated, it might be because this original method hasn’t been explained or that other Mysore teachers don’t follow this method and so confusion reigns.

Manju Jois says he won’t ever stop someone from practicing postures they can’t fully achieve. David Swenson was taught the original way but now says there are modified postures you can do till the full posture allows you in. Kristina Karitinou Ireland said Derek Ireland didn’t stop anyone because, for example, they can’t bind in ‘body-knotting’ Marichyasana D. Derek said this is the way Krishnamacharya, inventor of modern yoga, taught. 

Back in May of this year, Kristina spoke about ‘Why we stop’ in a seminar in Kythera. She asked: ‘What are the criteria of stopping and what are the criteria for moving on to the next posture?’ Answer; it's familiarity, making friends with the posture.

She said: there will always be a stop in Navasana, Boat Pose, because it is a ‘strength state’ and you need to build it up. You also stop here to learn the sequence thus far. The next stop is Kormasana, Tortoise Pose, because it is an ‘emotional state’. Here is where you start to get familiar with the emotions. The third stop is at the end of the sequence, before moving to the Second Series, because you need to build up the flow. Then, in the Second Series, you stop at Kapotasana, an extreme backbend. More emotions! Another stop is Leg Behind Head. (I would add ‘obviously!’). These stopping points are ‘gates’. Somewhere there is a gate for us to have to go through.

“A posture is a friend which is teaching us things and helping unblock the system. We need to establish familiarity with a posture and make friends with it. Embrace it and have gratitude. Then you are ready to move on to the next posture”.

Retreat

I’m attaching some pictures I found online of the May 2019 yoga retreats at Porto Delfino with Kristina and also Marceau Baptiste to try to entice you to join our September Kapsali Yoga Retreat. I’m also attaching suggested flights. The Early Bird price is finished but get in touch this weekend if you want to come and I’ll extend it for you.

Home Studio

Interesting situation on Tuesday... One of our number had been ordered by her physio not to stretch! She did ‘Restorative’ Yoga while others stretched and bent and twisted. Restorative yoga has postures that last, perhaps, 10 minutes. In an hour’s class you might to four postures plus Shavasana. If you fancy a go, let me know. You can see class availability on t his website (which I update often). It gets pretty booked up so you might have to book in the following week.

Training

I’m teaching Valentina’s class at Fulham Pools on Sunday at 11.00-12.15. Don’t forget Tracy Elner and Dr Jacques Anthony Soyer’s ‘Breath & Stillness: ancient knowledge meets modern medicine’, at Triyoga Soho tomorrow.

International Yoga Day

Healthy Wealthy is celebrating International Yoga Day on Saturday 22nd June. They have a day of workshops and classes. The 6.00 includes an Indian vegan breakfast. The second session is an Ayurveda Workshop at 10.00. At 11.00 is a Sun Salutations Marathon followed by a fresh vegan lunch. The day finishes at 14.00.

Yoga in the News

Can Love for Yoga Be Learned? I really hate yoga...but it's too healthy not to do. This is hilarious: ‘I’m glad I stuck with trying different types of yoga classes over the years. Now that I’ve found ones that were enjoyable, I liken it to how going on bad dates didn’t make me give up on men; I just had to keep trying until I found the one that clicked for me.’

This looks really good! Midhurst and Petworth Observer has 'Largest yoga gathering planned in the South Downs for International yoga Day. (1 hour 20 from London!). Their event is on Friday June 21, which is also the summer solstice. Free events include morning of classes, a talk and demonstrations, and refreshments served by Cowdray Farm Shop and Café.

Suggested Travel To Kythera

Flights to Athens (ATH) and then a short flight from Athens with Sky Express or Olympic Air to Kithira (KIT).

Cost is very reasonable for the Athens to Kithira Leg.

https://www.skyexpress.gr – Flights all days except Wednesdays, or www.olympicair.com

POSSIBLE ITINERARY

Outbound ATH – KIT Date: 21 September 2019

From London Heathrow 06:55, Arrives Athens 12:40

ATH to KIT Sky Express Dep:15:00 Arr: 15:50

Inbound KIT – ATH Date: 28 September 2019

KIT to: ATH Sky Express Dep: 16:10 Arr: 17:00 (Olympic dep 14.50 and is cheaper)

From: Athens 19:55 to London Heathrow 21:45

Functional Training And Yoga

Dear Yogis

Here are some notes from my latest weekend with Sarah Ramsden (Yoga for Athletes) that I thought were really simple and effective and apply to all of us. We were discussing ‘functionality’ and ‘functional training’. It’s about regaining movement needed to function in everyday life and is from the work of physical therapists who work in injury rehabilitation.

It has wider, more general application. Sarah says: to move functionally we need strength, good alignment, flexibility, and normal range of movement (which is normal joint range). Normal joint range, ROM, is measureable. Many footballers move way beyond their normal joint range. They need enough flexibility to cope with and recover from the massive power needed to kick the ball in an unstable joint range.  Sarah said in another workshop: “The miracle of ballet is that it is able to distort the body so much”... and recover. Guess what, we also distort the body if we sit in an office for 8 hours a day or do any repetitive movement that becomes a habit in the body.

Sarah pops into this monologue “the stronger you are the better you age”. Strength matters. Stability matters. A good range of motion matters. Take any one of these away your ability to move functionally falls apart. They play together all the time. The question is, for all of us, can you maintain or return to optional movement and optimal stability or do you slide into permanently dysfunctional habits? Habits become posture and become a guiding principle for soft tissue. Then it becomes a way of being. Dysfunctional patterns dissipate energy.

Yoga can reverse it or stop it getting worse. Do yoga!

Retreat

The Kapsali Yoga Retreat 2019 timetable will follow the pattern set in previous years of an early Ashtanga practice under the rising morning sun which finishes in time for the buffet breakfast on Porto Delfino’s beautiful restaurant balcony overlooking the most glorious view.  Then holiday and R&R time before resuming our practice at 4.00 with a workshop led, this year, by my teacher Valentina Candiani. Our timetable will also include our candle-lit Yin practice under a star-filled night sky, too magical to resist, at the beginning and end of our week.  The Early Bird price is finished but get in touch this week if you want to come and I’ll extend it for you.

Home Studio

The addition of Thursday’s 6.00pm Ashtanga class is going well so I have added it till the end of the month. Plenty of newcomers in search of a small, tailored class are discovering my lucky studio so please book in advance to secure a place. You can see class availability on my website (which I update often).

Training

Tracy Elner and Dr Jacques Anthony Soyer do the most fabulous workshop, ‘Breath & Stillness: ancient knowledge meets modern medicine’, at Triyoga Soho on Sat 15th June. I can’t recommend it highly enough. On Friday 21st June at 2:00- 5:00 I’m going to Carmen Aguilar at Indaba for inversions, arm balances and transitions. Come with me!

Treatments

A brilliant yogi who practices in my lucky studio would like me to tell you that he is offering Jing Thai massage treatments. This massage technique is energy-based and uses combinations of powerful stretches, similar to assisted yoga, and various palming/thumbing techniques following ’Sen’ energy lines. Contact him for more information at mpm108@yahoo.com

Yoga in the News

The Telegraph has:  Spinning and yoga classes should be introduced by employers during lunchtime, NICE says. This is their latest attempt “to reduce the amount of sick leave people take due to stress, depression or anxiety. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that more than 131 million working days were lost to sickness in 2017, including 13 million working days lost to mental ill-health”. (In my experience, the best companies provide yoga in the workplace!)

Deep Listening - Thich Nhat Hanh

Dear Yogis

I have a lovely life as a yoga teacher but it isn’t problem free or conflict free. Just when I need it most, this talk between Thich Nhat Hanh and Oprah Winfrey about ‘deep listening’ pops up. It’s a sweet listen and gives a clue about a way forward. (Wind forward to 10.40 if you don’t have time for the full talk). He says: ‘Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of the other person’. You can help them to empty their heart and suffer less. If that person says things full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness you can still listen and give them a chance to suffer less, and then you can correct their perception another time. One hour like that can bring transformation and healing. (He doesn’t mention the enormous strength of character you need to do this!)

He says we should be able to say this: “I know that you suffer a lot. I have not understood enough of your difficulties and suffering. It’s not our intention to make you suffer more. It is opposite. So please tell us about your suffering, your difficulties. I’m eager to learn, to understand”. It has to start like that; loving speech. And if you are honest, if you are true, they will open their heart. During the process of deep listening we can learn so much about our own perception and their perceptions.

“Anger is the energy which people use in order to act but when you are angry, you are not lucid and you might do wrong things. That is why compassion is a better energy. And the energy of compassion is very strong”.

It’s a beautiful, helpful listen.

Retreat

My early bird price finishes this weekend so get in touch if you want to come on our fantastic Kapsali Yoga Retreat 2019. Take a look at the Porto Delfino Trip Advisor reviews here – the home of our retreat. Lucy Crawford, who held a retreat in Porto Delfino recently, says Kythera is 'a little known refuge from life in the fast lane' and has booked Porto Delfino again for a retreat in May 2020. I’ve been visiting Kapsali since 2004 and I know how she feels – you just leave a little bit of your heart there and need to return.

Home Studio

You can see class availability on my website (which I update often).

Training

This weekend I’m going to another inversions workshop. It’s at Yoga West, tomorrow at 1.15-3.15 with Christian Coelho. He was a teacher there a while ago, left for Brazil to open a studio there, and is now back, to the delight of his fans. Later this month I’ve booked another inversions, arm balances and transitions workshop with Carmen Aguilar at Indaba Yoga Studio, Friday 21st June at 2:00- 5:00.  Tracy Elner and Dr Jacques Anthony Soyer will be back at Triyoga Soho on Sat 15th June with their workshop: ‘Breath & Stillness: ancient knowledge meets modern medicine’. I went to a previous incarnation of this workshop in January and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Here’s their blog on the subject. Come with me!

Yoga in the news

Countryliving.com asks ‘What is dog yoga? We went to a dog yoga class to see what it's all about’. ‘The yoga aspect comes from the fact that a mat is used; the dogs are encouraged to learn movements and stretches that can relax them; and the owner can enjoy a session of mindfulness with their pet.’

Meanwhile, over in Iran, ‘Iran police arrest 30 at private yoga class’ says the BBC News. ‘Those taking part were wearing "inappropriate outfits" and had "behaved inappropriately"... ‘The Islamic establishment in Iran does not allow any mixed-gender sports activities’ and ‘Professional-level yoga teaching is also banned in the country’. But yoga has become increasingly popular in Iran, says the Independent.