this morning's session was a led primary class. i'd say there are around 60-70 people in the workshop and you could feel the excited energy as everyone was arriving and laying out their mats. chanting in with so many voices was cool to hear and be a part of. the practice was great, i like john's way of teaching and i really like sanskrit counted classes typical of this ashtanga style.
the message that stuck with me was the awareness of being fully grounded through whatever contacts you have with the earth in the postures - your feet, hands, sit bones - feel yourself pushing down into the earth and feel the energy of the earth coming back up into you and feel this lightness coming up and through your heart centre, bringing this open-ness and connected-ness throughout your entire body. carrying this lightness throughout the practice by the engagement of mulabandha and udiyana bandha and using the drishti (gaze) and focus on the breath to quiet the mind.
john said at one point to "lead with the heart" and i think that can be taken as good advice both in the yoga room and out. to work through the asanas with an open heart indicates to me good energetic alignment (relaxed engagement) and a full breath with energy flowing freely down the lines of the body. to lead with an open heart could also be a way of coming from a place of loving-kindness and compassion in our interactions with ourselves and with others in our daily lives.
looking forward to this afternoon...
this afternoon was a discussion of what was touched on in the morning session. we worked more with the gaze and looked more into what can be achieved through yoga which is the opening of the heart, called sukha. through surrender and by unravelling the layers we learn to lead with the heart and see through the labels we use to describe things.
to feel the lifting of the heart in the asanas and in the transitions, we must be grounded and we worked a bit today to feel the strength and balance in all four limbs while in a forward bend and then carried it through a counted vinyasa. it is easy to let the legs do all the work and i find it hard to trust the strength in my arms to carry equal weight.
looking forward to tomorrow morning's practice. my intention is to lead with the breath and to focus on the more subtle energy lines to bring awareness to the deeper layers of the body. sounds easy right? ;)
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