theendof thegreatbendoff

Hello lovelies
has been a lapse in posting but there's been a whole heap happening over the last few days and well ok yeah i'm full of excuses........i haven't gotten round to it!
my brains not really connected to writing at the moment but here's a few random thoughts in no particular order on the eve of the last day

• today's a dark moon.........the void of pure potential - new moon tomorrow so a new beginning and new energy
• it really truly is.........all about the bandhas
• skinny dipping in the hot pool at 7am watching the sun appear above the morning mist rocks
• chocolate truly is health food
• the best breakfast in the world is stewed apples, cloves, cinnamon, raisins, lemon juice, honey, linseed, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, a wee few oats, bee's pollen, slippery elm, psyllium and yoghurt
• marvelous
• today i've bled again and i secretly believe its because i'm too knackered to practice tomorrow and want to lie around on the bolsters instead
• ekam, dve, trini, catvari, pancha etc
• foundation, foundation foundation
• tis not about boundaries tis all about the pou
• lateral knee adjustments while in lotus are mighty fine
• the element related to the eye is fire.... so when we look at something we are sending fire/energy in that direction.......marvelous
• i'm going to miss everybody but am very much lookng forward to coming home

kia pai to ra

and see you soon :)

at the bonfire

where's yer troosers?

Hello lovelies

Its the last week already - how did that happen? On the one hand time has gone very slowly but on the other there doesn't seem enough to absorb all the information on offer......

Without boring the pants off you here's a quick synopsis of the happenings since friday....practice teaching valuable.. some bits flowed well and some bits didn't... the bits that didn't were those that i still hadn't grasped the count in; friday night meal in Nelson for Sarah's birthday... boogy to 3;30ish once we found a place with decent music (no buddha lounge or colloseum equivalent here) ....3 of us crashing at Sarah's aunt and uncles (the original earth mother and father); saturday - market, brunch, cable bay - stunning, swimming, singing for hours practising harmonising, back to Stillpoint and bonfire, Sarah C our wee scottish lass singing donald where's yer troosers, fire truck attending ... firemen bribing with cake after my singing flick the little fire engine didn't have the desired effect.... and cruisy day today....

we've spent most of our classtime in the last week practicing adjustments... getting the foundation sorted first... is it supposed to be a triped or a quadriped or a biped etc pose... if so getting the grounding in it first then checking the bandha, breathing and dristi, midline... then the energy lines of the asana.

hmmm i'm off to the sunshine.. talking of which i hope there's some where you are and autumn is gentle

locate ur anus

yep twas my favourite quote from John yesterday.... spent the day on the janu's....

t'wasn't a comfortable day - my whole right side felt like it was going into rebellion....stiff shoulder and hip, gamy knee, sore ankle and poisoned toe

marvelous

but things settled later with a great craniosacral treatment from lucy.......i got to move in the long tide.......could taste the salt!

so practice practice practice today as leading the class with amanda tomorrow am

hope all's well in your worlds

kia pai to ra

nice.... can you taste it?

a lunchtime comment from amanda:

brigid your blog is so......well its so .........well nice.... its sort of uplifting and mine feels like its ........ well not.........its sort of down and dirty.

ok so if you wish to get down and dirty in the yoga of stillpoint then go to anandamae.blogspot.com and you will find:

• a mixture of earthy stuff ('my deep inner bum karma' is one of my favourite phrases from 'spirituality my asana!)
• a handy glossary to understand what yogi's are really saying (I am 'exploring my hips' and 8 other words yogis use to express agony)
• a heartfelt delve into the inspiration of one of our class mates (Vayu finding spirit through logic)

amongst other gems :)

enjoy

insomnia and orange light breathing

yep some more early morning waking ........ 2.45am ......marvelous. but i do like this time of the day - good reflection time.

i have a new hobby if i can't get to sleep.... counting and naming asanas but after the umpteenth attempt at remembering tiranga watsit (tiriangmukhaikapada paschimattanasana - she now say's confidently with the book in front of her) i thought it was time to get up.

so here i am blackadder tea in hand and laptop at the ready and before i launch into the whole breathing thang can i just say that yes i'm totally aware i'm in a protected environment of living and breathing and sleeping (sometimes) yoga at the moment... coupled with no access to tv (fantastic) or radio (marvelous) and a reluctance to read a newspaper.......i pretty much have bugger all idea about whats going on outside of stillpoint.

now my father - willy (bless him) would pretty much say whats new? ... and he's probably right. i have a feeling i'll catch up on whats important pretty quickly when i get back to life in the real world outside of stillpoint ......hmmm life outside of the stillpoint.....

ok talking of breathing......

my previous experience of ujayi breathing in ashtanga has been indulging in a lovely deep slow breath and slowing my practice right down to accommodate it..... on reflection it probably hasn't helped me stay with the flow at all. Those of you that have seen me come to class in the winter, do a couple of salutes and lie down in relaxation for the rest of the practice will know exactly what i'm talking about. I've also been firmly of the mantra of monitoring my breath and if it quickens/becomes irregular to ease back on the pose........however........i'm having a bit of a breathing revolution (in my head) because we're learning a different approach here and i bloody like it (if i could only remember to do it)

John talks about the traffic light approach to monitoring and using the breath. The green light (unsurprisingly) is free breathing, the practice is flowing, the breath is free, there are no blocks so keep going baby!... Then there is the orange light... this is the proceed with caution light. basically i see it as practicing on the edge.... The pose is difficult, there may be some pain, and i need to fully resource myself by breathing more rapidly but still deeply into the pose. I need to monitor the breath/be totally aware that i don't stop breathing - because if i do i'm moving into the red zone. The red traffic light is where breathing has stopped, the bandhas have stopped and therefore the body stops... sometimes by injury. Bloody great way of viewing it aye?

So the therapeutic zone where space is created, blocks are worked through, progress is most made is the orange zone... however it requires absolute attention to make sure that you don't transition into the red. Hmmm the orange zone really resonates with the part of me thats into the healing qualities of colour - orange is the colour of wisdom and is useful in clearing thoughts (see lalesha.com)

Yesterday i had a great opportunity to find out all about light in my ankle ( - yeah the one i have consistantly rolled in the past) and practice with awareness and intention in the orange zone. Sounds like i'm getting it aye? - but actually this mature and enlightened approach came only with coaching from John after i did a wonderful demonstration of going completely into the red with the first sign of pain. John also suggested i direct my breath into the ankle at the same time and ... blow me down a rat hole (as willy would say).... the pain went.

now if i could only remember to do that when i'm in the orange zone in other areas of my life......yoga off the mat

I've got to comment on the skill of Lucy..... she's incredible.......she quickly gets me into the orange zone (mostly manifesting as anger) and i'm consistantly needing to stretch myself and be courageous in my response... i'm learning a heap about my own strength and potential. She does it with clarity, precision and just when i'm really getting scared or pissed off - bucket loads of compassion. Amazing

ok study awaits

have a great day lovely

ps i'm reading Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNallys book How Yoga Works and its a goody ... tis a lovely story re how the teachings of the yoga sutra travelled from india to tibet. its easy reading and the lessons of the sutras are woven in beautifully...

grass roof and stick figures

i had a bloody wonderful weekend with Tony ..... no howling banshee or crying girly swot!!!! marvelous!!!!! ........totally recommend staying at Joya if you're ever in Nelson... cottage complete with grass roof, pond and stream...

So this am?............... back into the early morning study and drawing stick figures to anchor the count into my brain

ah forgot to say... fridays joint teaching with amanda was great fun... and yes i definately stuffed up at times... i'm becoming more and more aware of the importance of the teachers approach in helping the class reach that optimum point where energy is moving freely so that the real work can be done...tis great to be able to learn and experiment with different approaches...eg when saying inhale it comes from the chest and exhale from mulabandha - and my natural inclination was to do it round the other way which elicits a totally different energy from the class

WHOA!... thats way too detailed for a monday am ....have a good week lovelies and apologies for my tardiness in replying to emails... i'll do so soon and it is lovely to hear from you

anticipation

ah tis study time.... the first day of reckoning tomorrow as amanda and i have our first practice at leading the class.... at the moment i have difficulty saying anything without being in the pose myself or having my eyes closed so i've got a weeeeeee bit of work to do.

the fairy and the elfin queen led this mornings practice.. they both have wonderful voices and the fairys celtic version of the chant for the good fortune of cows and scholars at the end was bloody stunning... twas transported to scotland (although i've never been)

tis all happening this week.....1 more sleep til tony arrives for the weekend YAY! i hope for both our sakes i find a reasonably balanced place somewhere between the rebelious 'don't fuck with me' warrior woman and the howling girley swot in pyjamas that i've been vacilating between.

maybe dailyguidance.com is a good place to ponder

'you are your own universe, and it is your own creation'

namaste

the fortune of cows

Its a full moon so i've reverted into the pattern of less sleep/early waking...... yesterdays practice was a stripping back. heather and vayu led the class through fundamental foundations, salutes and the first 6 poses... then it was self practice and i really wanted to anchor in the count so went back to beginning and counted myself through in sanskrit......kept repeating poses til i got it.......consequently i didn't get all that far.

i got to a point where i couldn't move until the count came into my head. its weird this counting bizo.... the idea is it becomes the focus, followed by the breath, then the action then the dristi/direction of the gaze.....and that becomes the order of instructions for the teaching.......So the actual pose is way down the list of priorities..... John has patiently explained this many times, and it feels true... but its still way off landing fully in me. Apparently it becomes meditative.... enabling the action to flow from the ida/moon channel...... less a sequence of individual poses and more a creative wave..... it also allows letting go of attachment to the way actions have been carried out in the past and therefore enables reprogramming....

so by the end of my practice i was back to the very beginning, stripped right back and completely knackered and emotional.......the simplest actions seem to have the greatest opportunity to let go ........... so not surprisingly I had diarrohea for the rest of the day (knew you were missing the bodily functions)

then we got into adjustments..... love that feeling of connecting energetically with the student...........i'm not great at rote learning a routine/pattern of adjustments.... it works way more for me if i give myself time to observe the student in the state of the asana and feel the adjustments they need.....

i've been learning the closing mantra... and its the song thats playing in my head all the time... you know walking, showering, in the shop.... t'would be a great closing karakia ...... or opening for that matter

Om
Swasthi-praja bhyah pari pala yantam
Nya-yena margena mahi-mahishaha
Go-bramanebhyaha - shubamastu-niyam
Lokaa-samastha sukhino-bhavanthu
Om

which can be translated as:

Om
May prosperity be glorified
May administrators rule the world with law and justice
May all things that are sacred be protected
And may people of the world be happy and prosperous
Om

mmmm... whats all this focus on prosperity though?....maybe its not material

just wiki'd it and came up with this translation:

May the welfare of citizens be protected
with the path of law and justice by rulers and administrators
May good fortune befall cows and scholars everyday
May all the worlds be happy and comfortable.

hmmm - yep that fits....cows are important

love you all

broader benefits?

We're getting a bit more of an idea how it was for John and Lucy observing our yoga practice for the first time a week ago... they've dropped a few comments about how they exchanged glances with each other and later discussed privately that they 'had a lot of work to do for the next month'. I think I told a couple of you that Lucy observed my practice and at one point took in a long breath and with a beautiful smile said 'brigid - we've got to tidy you up a bit'! and yes they've both been working hard to help me do that. Even though the main focus of the practice is the count and the breath they can't ignore the form.... and well my ankles, hips, knees, hands, spine and sticky-out elbows have been getting a lot of attention ..............

Hmmmmm talking of elbows - i told mum about my 'issues' and she wondered out loud that if i managed to sort them out on the yoga mat .......would that learning transfer to improved table manners?

food for thought...........

the proof will be in the pudding...........

great day by the way

salutes

Morena koutou


tis a glorious morning at Stillpoint after a wee night in. My fellow cottage dwellers (hence to be known as the elf queen and the fairy) and i had a lovely time. The fairy brought out the face masks and the hair oil and spoilt us mightly.... we then sat on the couch looking like 3 weird swamp creatures and watched 7 years in Tibet.

and this morning? Well i just absorbed a wondrous thang. Sitting in the shala whilst the rest of the group did 108 sun salutes.... amazing. it was very much like being in an ocean being carried on the swell of the synchronised energy..... closing my eyes and hearing the breathing, the internal counting, the contemplation and the emotions coming in waves off the water.

Gordon Bennet they were beautiful.............. yeah and sweaty

kia pai to ra

the melt

Ah day 5 friday started with 5:30 practice with John and Amanda a teacher from Vancouver.... lots of learnings attempting to count internally and remember the breath and all of my weird little pattern quirks that need to be corrected, and to keep in time with my practise mates, and full vinyasa............ and to get out of my head!

marvelous

and YES.... predictably the melt down came .......which was even more marvelous....i was sitting on the floor trying to work out what the fark to do after 2 failed attempts to keep my balance in bhujapadasana and John sat in front of me and said...'so where are you at now?'.... (hmmmm did he mean what sanskrit number?....ah no) and i said..........i want to bawl.... and he said thats great bawl then........to which i followed his instructions to the letter and made a bloody good job of it... you know the full noise snot thing....

so then i bled (close your sensitive ears mikey i know how you struggle at my loud discussions of menstruation)....

so then the best bit came.........getting to observe the class in self practice and john and lucy adjusting..... It was the first time that the class wasn't being counted and it was bloody amazing... the energy in the room was crazy....... i was getting triggered all over the place ...anger/sadness/the struggle between the masculine and feminine, the perfectionist......everywhere i stood and looked was energy and i was in projection city... had to keep telling myself it wasn't about me (yeah so difficult for this leo chick) ......but i guess what i mean by that is i totally totally appreciate the difference between supporting, allowing and observing, facilitating energy movement in a 1 - 1 healing session but its such a different ballgame in a yoga room......... just as intense but everywhere at once.......fuckadoodledoo!..... So full credit to you yoga teachers ... i take all my hats off..........................

hmmmm this is a rave but hey you don't have to read it!... just thought i guess if i was magically transported from stillpoint to the office in a flash and walked in i'd be bombarded in the same way its just that normally i'm a bit more closed off to it...

So the topic of this afternoons teaching session was surprise surprise... practitioner neutrality........marvelous stuff .... and then we got into the geometry of the sit bones and the knees and the crown of the head in lotus.... and how it created a pyramid........and that the great pyramids all had copper tops...........receptivity..............took me hugely off into a wee sacred geometry journey

anyway love you all long time til next time

ah... and a wee tip for the day?... don't bring the knees towards each other in padmasana/lotus.... just work towards soles up and toes to the edge of the thighs

settling in

Hello lovelies

bloody hell... so much to take in... and its all finding a place somewhere in my being... The last couple of days have been fantastic.... still taking in a lot of facts but feeling a whole heap of changes internally.. The adjustments in morning practise surely sink in!

talking of morning practice... i haven't had a melt down yet... but yes i'm sure it will come (like the seasons)... at the moment i'm starting to get to know about engaging my abdominals and perineum... i feel like ive had fleeting glimpses of what it feels like.... i'll write more when i feel like i have something useful to share.... However in backbends this am i was instructed to engage them really strongly.... and it was amazing... i realised that i never really have before and how much safer i felt

today we got into adjustments... - gentle very gentle ones in salutes and then in lotus........john likes to teach yoga students (first time ones!) lotus as soon as they've learnt salutes so they can finish properly... he uses a lot of isometric work and gentle manipulation... so al that hip work there was quite a lot of releases going on in the room.........

we've been practising counting in sanskrit and conducting the salutes... and after a while (like repetition for an hour on the walk to the shop and back) it starts to roll off the tongue... new appreciation Helen!

anyway better go and do my home work

hope all's well in your worlds

the beginning

Stillpoint is bloody marvelous and i'm at the end of day 2 and as yet haven't had a meltdown (no doubt it will be obvious when i do. There is so much to learn and i'm soaking it up... so many questions!! Practice is very intense... only 8 of us practicing at a time with both Lucy and John adjusting - and at the moment the two remaining students observing (they've practised earlier in the day with john and lucy).... We also have another 4 hours a day of tuition/adjustment training etc.... but today so many questions it ended up being about 6 hours! so by the time theres yarning, walking, and homework there's bugger all time left

So anyway darlins i sent my wee list of key points for the day to stace earlier.... its a bit abbreviated cos we've done quite a bit of repetition of what we learnt in auckland so its other stuff thats stuck on top of that...and its also my understanding of what was said and i could be a bit off....anyway heres some things to play with:

down dog being a bit more rounded towards cat ...having a much more rounded back than a iyengar dog ... it engages the bandhas more and is much more gentle

anchoring sit bones in dandasana and keeping them anchored in the same spot when moving into half bound lotus, janu etc..... ie not sliding the sit bone forward - keeps the perineum engaged

keeping the centre of the knee over the second toe in standing poses

doing full vinyasa's between poses because samasthihi is where we compose ourselves and check that we can bring our breath back to 3 secs in and 3 out.... and thats where we decide whether to continue on in the series or not. If we do half vinyasa's we skip samasthihi in the seated poses and therefore don't have the opportunity to compose/measure the breath and decide whether to continue

pulling up on the anus anchors the sit bones ....tis much more gentle however than applying locks in pranayama... as the lovely tucker say's.... a net........tis porous

Not to stretch out fully in the chest / arms when coming into hands above head in sun salutes... but just taking them up comfortably - it makes the breath easier

the order or calling in teaching is the Number / Breath / Action / Dristi

Its the toes that take the fingers not the fingers that take the toes in standing forward bends .........that engages the 3 arches in the feet

Guruji says 'popping is good' so when a pop happens on the physical its the release of gas but on the subtle level its the release of prana

prana is the breath within the breath

in forward bends knees and hips should be forward of ankles, bent knees and grounding of hands are good!

Asana is cleansing from the outside in, meditation is cleansing from the inside out

bloody marvelous aye?