Every Friday morning after our Led class I give a short but sweet yoga philosophy talk on various aspects around practice. I used to e-mail all practitioners about what we talked about but will from now on put it here.

With posting this here I will not in great detail talk about these aspects (my talking and explaining happens during the actual talk on Friday), here I rather inform about what we talked about so that practitioners who attended the talk have a reference to what we talked about and those who could not attend also have a reference to potentially do their own reading / research on those aspects. Hope this is helpful to all of you at the shala!

TODAY:
I originally had mapped out to talk about one of the niyamas today. Yet, through obsevations of the last week's practice and also since we have some newcomers I found it useful to talk about why are we are practicing yoga (what is the purpose of yoga) and the essential aspects a practice should be rooted in to bring about that purpose  - as stated in the yoga sutras.

Herein I explained and discussed:

• the opening of the yoga sutras and what it means; yoga sutra 1.1 - atha yoganusasanam
• the purpose of yoga; yoga sutra 1.2 - yogas citta-vrtti-nirodhah
• (some of the) aspects of a practice that are essentail to be able to attain this purpose:
  • ​1.12 - abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodah
  • 1.14 - sa tu dirgha-kala-nairantarya-satkarasevito drdha-bhumih
  • 2.46 sthira-sukham asanam

I also talked about the importance of the breath and not analyzing during practice, that yoga (when we step onto the mat for asana practice) is not thinking and analyzing in a pose, it's being in a pose. Don't judge it while you're doing it.
And I also talked about that the only constant in life is change, and how we bring about great suffering to ourselves resisting change.

Video from my evening walk yesterday. I love living in Groningen, some aspects are similar to being in India.  Love walking a bit at the edges of Groningen, or even further away. Being outsides, witnessing the plants and trees, makes you realize that everything changes all the time, nature never stays the same. The fall season is in full embrace.
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Don't push
Don't analyze
Just deep breathing - 
very simple.

Behind the scenes!
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Today after practice we had our monthly assistants workshop at the school and welcomed Daria, Thian and Peter into the assisting team, starting with the basics of practice: helping a student to access the sound breath and explaining its benefits, helping a student to access their lungs (and breath) more fully, the principles  of samasthitih and how those principles come back in all asanas, and teaching a beginner sun salutation A - a full program for their first workshop! Lovely to have you three supporting the school, you will see them in Mysore class with me once a week observing and starting to assist.

Here Thian is helping Daria to access her lungs more fully, and thus breathe more fully. 

Then when Elena and Klazina joined we discussed observations during class, how to teach bhujapidasana,  kurmasana, headstand and headstand preparations and what to watch out for, while also reviewing adjustments on different poses. Always love coming together with you all and sharing ♥️ while also building more and more depth and ground at our school with a stronger assitant team!

Every Wednesday evening I hold a ninety minute practice and about once a month I offer a long session of Yin and Restorative Yoga. Today I want to describe a few of the benefits of this deeply nurturing and healing practice. I call yin & restorative yoga an advanced practice as it is a practice of slowing down and being rather than doing - which is a true skill in our fast-paced, overachieving society. An advanced practice, yet accessible to all. 

Most of us are "programmed" to do a lot. Doing a lot gives us a sense of being productive and in control - and without a doubt: getting things done is important. Yet, fueling ourselves with that extra coffee day by day, running on ambition checking our long to-do list - all can be a manner of avoiding unwelcome discomforts and feels. The practice of yin & restorative yoga asks us to slow down and direct our attention from all outside focus and doing towards our inner landscapes and settle in with being just ourselves. Slowing down and not-doing helps us to gain literacy about our inner landscapes while it also helps us to face and befriend what we are avoiding about ourselves. It allows us to explore, learn and take care of the whole of ourselves in ways we are not accustomed to - allowing more space for the whole of who we are.

Befriending the whole of who we are is an essential asset towards healing.

Notably, yin & restorative yoga creates conditions for our relaxation response to kick in. The relaxation response is a neurological response leaving us with the sense of feeling safe which initiates the body's self-healing processes. This - the embodied sense of safety - is utmost important in a world where most of us are overloaded by tight (work / family) schedules, high expectations (mostly our own), worry, and technological advances that when their use is not moderated hijack our attention - and thus a world where for most of us the fight-or flight response (sympathetic nervous system) is chronically stimulated and periods of real rest are very sparse. Thus, by creating a situation, such as in yin & restorative yoga, where the body understands it is safe, we change from worrying about "staying safe" to activating the parasympathetic nervous system thereby strengthen the longterm health systems, such as immunity, digestion, repair, reproduction and reflection.

Importantly, through using long-held supportive resting poses in yin & restorative yoga and their accompanied embodied sense of support and safety the skill of conscious relaxation is cultivated. 

Conscious relaxtion is different to sitting on the couch with our attention on whatever netflix throws at us. Moreover, this practice allows us to discover where we hold unnecessary habitual tension in body and mind while creating space to release it.

Let's state that again: yin & restorative yoga helps us discover where we hold tension.  The actual effort in this practice is the willingness to look at where and how we are holding tension.  This willingness helps us find room for change, we allow a letting go of all muscular and mental effort (both of which most of us  favor and already overengage most of the time) - thereby we let go of control and plans - and allow to be present, embrace and acknowledge what 

is (not what has been or could be, but what is) which enables a deep release on various levels of the body. 

​These here are just a few of the benefits of yin & restorative yoga. Those who have been to my workshops know how enthusiastic I can get to explain the effects of certain practices herein on ​ our physiological and mental wellbeing..., the effect it has on fascia, the link to eastern traditions of medicine ,.....  (may be another few chapters soon).

It is always a pleasure to offer and share about this practice, witnessing bodies, faces and self-talk softened much during a session - oftentimes receiving an e-mail a few days later where a participant shares about powerful insights they have gained during such a practice.  

​The next long yin & restorative yoga session I offer comes up Sunday, March 3, 11.00-13.30h - there are still a few spaces available (you can register here or for a later session here).
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I also appreicate if you leave a comment on how this practice has possibly affected you.