day 3

one-pointed focus (eka tatva). fully grounded with energy and lightness swelling in the heart-centre. connected. connected within with the breath and the bandhas, connected as a group with energy flowing as we breathe together. being connected makes us light and gives us lift. lift!

~

this afternoon left me confused and a bit frustrated. i don't follow all the tangents and abstract ideas but i do feel that there are many ways to say the same thing. maybe one metaphor fits better for some people than others. i'm not worried, and that eases the frustration. i think it comes down to finding your true self and having your thoughts and actions come from a place of compassion. what we learn when we study the ashtanga system are the tools to help us find who we are and how to keep the stillness and joy when we are off the mat so that ultimately we can help others. we need to slow down, to listen and to feel what our bodies are telling us. when tired, take rest. the eka tatva is dependant on the energy which is moved by the breath. it always comes back to the breath.

john said he is giving us gifts, tools and advice we can put to use or set aside. he said these are pearls of knowledge on a continuous thread, just as the asanas are linked together by the continuous breath. once again, i'm looking forward to the sessions tomorrow. :)

here's a verse spoken by the buddha and recorded in the dhammapada that luke sent me a while ago. i taped it up in my locker at work and now i have it tucked away in my desk. i like it and every time i read it, it makes me stop and think...

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings...

As the shadow follows the body,
as we think, so we become.

day 2

i was tired this morning and my upper body was stiff. in the led class we were about halfway through the standing postures when john stopped us and asked us to gather round. he gave a bit of a demo and then we started again from the beginning. there were a few more asides where we sat and listened and we stopped shortly into the seated postures, with a brief closing as our 2 hours were up.

yesterday john mentioned something about resolving your issues on the mat. you meet yourself on the mat as the layers unfold and your true heart finds it's voice. as you let go of your ego and find the balance and quiet within, your heart and body opens with grace and you find sukha.

~

so much metaphor. the lotus seed that sinks to the bottom and then roots and takes hold and starts climbing upwards with a great explosion at the top where the bud forms and bursts into a beautiful flower. plant that seed in your pelvis, at the root chakra and have the energy/strength/lightness run up the energy channels to the heart centre and then up and through the top of your head....

this afternoon's session is going to take a while to fully digest. i got home and have spent the past hour looking at the wikipedia pages for chakras, nadis, bandhas, and various other references to explain the subtle body and the energy flow within it, not to mention the history of ashtanga yoga itself and the sage Patanjali who wrote it all out. i've got nearly 20 tabs open in firefox.

the ashtanga yoga practice is meant to teach the tools that help us be to grounded and to give us the strength to be compassionate and open, which then enables us to observe, absorb and react to our environment. i think.

ok, now i'm going for a walk in the sun. i'm excited about tomorrow morning's session.

John Scott workshop day 1

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? ;)