07/03/10 by Vibhuti Jaya | blog, tykes & teens | 7 Comments »
This week, I taught Kali Natha Yoga’s Shakti"shakti symbolizes the female; Mother Shakti is the life force; She is your divine potential" Worship 1 Asana"is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, intended primarily to restore and maintain well-being, improve flexibility and vitality, and promote the ability to remain in seated meditation for extended periods" [Sanskrit] Series to one of my classes, we practiced it extra slowly, deeply and deliberately. My classes sometimes spontaneously take on the format of a posture clinic because many of these students are new to yoga (this is my favorite thing about them). Often, they seem to really benefit from the reinforcement of careful pacing, extra verbal instruction, and made-to-order modifications. I love that they have really stuck with the first round of classes, and we are now entering into our 6th week, so things are deepening as they each begin to relax into their respective practices.
This night, Shakti Worship 1 was led in about 30 minutes, a la “posture clinic” style, with lots of extra time for breaths in between each of the movements. Throughout these breathing rests, I coached them to become aware of sensations created by the previous movement. During those rests I spoke to them about shakti, explaining it as much as I could, and giving little examples.
We ended sitting, and without interruption we repeated Shakti Worship 1, with a little bit faster pace and texture. I led them relatively wordlessly, cueing intensely, with minimal instruction and strictly sticking to the asana by the numbers (just shortening the repetitions on a few things). As they sat in the last movement (#29) “feeling the space of Shakti“, I let them soak. Silently, I took attendance, rummaged for my tsing-sha cymbals, dimmed the lights and waited before"at an earlier time, previously" finally instructing them to take savasana – corpse pose.
During a relatively brief relaxation, I spoke to them about shakti again, this time remembering to share with them the “drink as you pour” teaching that is often spoken of by my teacher. They are therapists, social workers, school teachers and staff at an agency that provides care and community services. They are those whose job it is to give of themselves each day. Giving is their livelihood.
After"following in time, later" class, the most marvelous thing happened!
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07/02/10 by Vibhuti Jaya | blog | No Comments »
There is something truly transporting about giving myself over to the rhythm of some favored musical pulse. It seems to be even better when the sound is loud enough to fill the room, for then, the music possesses The Power. An enveloping sound scape can crowd out the worries that threaten to claim my tender thoughts. (This is why I recommend headphones for 20/20, so the students can connect to the interior of the shared experience). Breath connects to movement, music fuels the practice and can incite its grand crescendo.
Move! Groove! Dance to protect your thoughts! For as they say, “thoughts become things”, and we are certainly inviting and co-creating our own experiences to a large degree, aren’t we? Gabrielle Roth, with her 5 Rhythms, tells us we can sweat our prayers, and I believe her! Rolando Toro, with his Biodanza, taught us the poetry of human encounter through healing movement.
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05/20/10 by Vibhuti Jaya | TNT, tykes & teens | No Comments »
Last night’s TNT class gave me an opportunity to see some old faces and to meet some new students! I LOVE THIS! I am so jazzed today, from the act of having been able to share some of the groovy magic that is yoga in a shared practice. It is still my favorite thing in the world. Thanks, for joining us guys! Things are happening for our group already. “Woo-hoo”, I say! Have a magnolia!!
My newcomers are special because they were not only new to me, but they were new to yoga as well. When students come to our practice who have never, ever “gone to the mat” before"at an earlier time, previously", I get so excited that I can hardly contain my giddiness. I love teaching first time students! As more and more Americans take to yoga, there are greater and greater chances that we teachers will encounter students for whom the practice of yoga is completely new—and perhaps also, completely alien. A lot of the time, it is their curiosity that finally leads them to us, and there is also perhaps some apprehension they have had to overcome in order to actually show up, pick a spot on the floor, and roll out that mat for the first time. To some, yoga seems really intimidating. (Teachers can forget this…) Yoga teachers can also seem really intimidating. (Teachers may not even realize this…)
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05/14/10 by Vibhuti Jaya | chronicle | No Comments »
Herstory – Part 3
The year was 2003, and it was a year of challenge and trial (and also of friendship and triumph)! Some overwhelming life circumstances inspired me to accept a friend’s invitation to participate in a 200 hour yoga teacher training (YTT) program in a nearby city. I had long since fallen miserably away from my yoga practice, and I longed for something that would reconnect me to that sense of vitality, purpose and belonging. I had become utterly disenchanted with playing the gym rat, so I gave up on all the nutritional supplements and backed off from the zeal of my workouts. My cute little clothes were tightening and the numbers on the scale told the rest of that unforgiving story. I was gaining back The Weight"a measure of the heaviness of a person", and because of what was happening in my personal life, I felt depressed and paralyzed to do anything to stop it.
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05/12/10 by Vibhuti Jaya | chronicle | No Comments »
Herstory – Part 4
The year was 2004, and it was a time of powerful shifts and deep study. I trekked off to The Windy City (Chicago, IL) in the middle of a nineteen degree winter for yet another yoga teacher training. I ate raw broccoli, walked the streets and bathed in Aveeno to soothe my wind-chapped, oversized thighs.
I read Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, and wondered if I would die of shame"a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety" in those crowded classes, completely surrounded by perfect"being entirely without fault or defect, flawelss", glistening, head-standing, urban yogis. I was out manned, and feeling out classed, as I studied how to teach Fluid Power Vinyasa yoga. The flaxen haired goddess of the commercial yoga scene, Shiva Rea was my guide. (Undulate!)
There, I fell in love with what she called “The Bhairava”. We read from it in the afternoons and I was just seduced by its beauty and passion. Coincidentally, I am actually re-reading it now, and I’m tweeting about its contents on twitter these days. More formally, it is known as the Sri Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, (by Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati) and it is now my very favorite translation of one of India’s ancient texts.
Six (6) days and thousands of Surya Namaskars later, I went astoundingly deep, feeling my first spontaneous posture flow and seeing startling images in my mind’s eye during savasana. I had a completely transpersonal"is concerned with the study of consciousness, phenomenon, peak human potential, and bridging the spiritual with modern psychological theory" / transcendent, exceptional human experience [EHE] on the floor of Moksha Yoga’s Riverwest studio that would later motivate me to 1). Question my grasp of reality and 2). Embark upon a spiritual quest for answers.
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