What a pleasure and an honour, it is for me to cover, Mokshadarshini's class this Saturday morning at the Croydon Buddhist Centre. I enjoy teaching Yoga because of its meditative state; it is poetry in motion. It may look complicated, difficult or too much of an effort but really, it is all about accepting that it is ok to do what the body can do right here, right now. My body is different than yours and that is ok, why compete?!
Some clients share that they prefer to do a fast physical activity such as Zumba... Well, there is nothing wrong with that; except your body needs a balanced physical activity timetable- there is, in fact, an ancestral saying that ''too much of one thing is not good for you.'' And I can hear some of us saying out loud, well that's alright I'm only doing it a couple of times a week. Darling, yes that is alright but you still need to add strength, flexibility (joint mobility), stretches on top of your cardiovascular activity or cardiovascular timetable; hence, we call it a 'Fitness Timetable' or a 'Health & Wellbeing Timetable'.
Actually, Yoga is, for me, medicine! Indeed, the Yoga principles and philosophy nourish my body, my mind and my heart. In fact, on Tuesday, while my Yogis sat in Meditation Pose, in 'Siddhasana', I shared an extract from Dr Pattanaik who explains our misconception or misunderstanding of the traditional use of Yoga. Perhaps, this will help you understand why we practise Yoga before Meditation: ''In the West, the ‘Practice of Yoga’ is very much focused on the physical aspects of the Yoga system - as prescribed by Patanjali, it (Yoga) is a systematic approach to meditation. The practice of asana, which literally translates to ‘sitting’, was only designed and intended as a method of preparing the body for long periods of seated meditation, and nothing more, on the path to Samadhi, which comes from the conjunction of the Sanskrit word 'sama', meaning ‘even’, and 'dhi', which is a reference to the ‘higher mind’. This ‘evenness of the higher mind’ is the true end- goal of yoga, and to attain it is called 'siddh', ‘to become enlightened’ or ‘empowered’.'' I personally like the adjective, 'inspired'...
So, if you'd like to feel as inspired as my Participants in my Yoga for Meditation class, and you missed last 11:15am Tuesday class- fear not as you are more than welcome to join us this Saturday at 9:15am. You will have the opportunity to embrace a recap of Tuesday's class deeply appreciated by the new Members who left some uplifting feedbacks in regards to my Guided Meditation tailored for an Autumn Yoga practice. Each session has a focus on a particular 'Asana' (Yoga Pose), which we take the time to reflect on its Indian ancestral legend, we bring our awareness to some if its symbol, its meaning(s), we explore visualisations to help us feel connected or immersed in the pose which contribute to enhance our concentration and to practise wholeheartedly. But most importantly as I remind all my Participants, and what Jill Shipway once wrote, how we practise on our mats carries over our lives; our Yoga practice is like a mirror of our life.
I do like to think there is nothing like practising wisely...
Wishing you an inspired Friday and I hope to see you very soon!!
Take care, my Mindful Humans,
Awa
Community Movement Practitioner
Qualified Hatha Yoga Instructor
Qualified Dance Teacher
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