Silence all the noise...but the music!

The last few weeks have been extremely noisy... I have had no break, not a moment, as my mind has been running faster than my body.. Two dear friends in act of kindness offered to take the munchkins swimming so I could focus on my pending taxes, but I realized as soon as I walked in the door was I need to just not focus on anything and lie in shavasana with my old favorite Thievery numbers on my ipod.

I know the Iyengar method of shavasana involves no music, but what the heck, I modify. The eclectic beat music fused with Indian tabla, sitar and all forms of other instruments actually helps me become silent. And silence for me is the music in the background with no other though, no other noise, quietness except the rhythmic chirping of the smoke detector in one of the rooms, which at 14 feet I can't reach, even with the tall ladder. But my brain is able to deflect that noise and if that is possible, I am sure the rest of the noise can be ignored so my brain can rest for a bit. I look into the nothingness behind the random lines drawn by my munchkins in this work of art, and I see silence in that darkness, peace, tranquility and that is all I want in this moment....

I hope you too can get that tranquility.....

Namaste

N

Advanced Yoga with Terry - Pranayam Relaxes and Energizes

I attend Terry Peterson's level 3 class last Friday. His quality of teaching is immaculate and he engages you in the best possible way and you don't feel intimidated - especially being the most inexperienced level 3 yogi in class with the least flexibility. Given the tightness of my hamstrings and quads, it is not possible to for me to perform a perfect Supta Virasana. This is a pose that I am continually getting more engaged in along with a simple Virasana. With continued practice I find I can perform Virasana for a longer period of time without hurting my ankles. Supta Virasana is back-bend that reaches back to the floor. I can only bend 30%, so I need support of at least two bolsters and 2 blankets. I have been performing this way for some time.

Terry corrected me in his own gentle - asking me if I needed some help with setup. How could I refuse help! He used a different set of support. He pulled in a chair and placed it upside down. Then place one bolster at a 120 degree angle. Then placed a blanket on the bolster for additional support. Then asked me to lie back on it in Virasana position. Wow! It felt great and you could finally feel the pose. Terry and his cool yoga tricks! You can see them all in the book Cool Yoga tricks by Miriam Austin. Many of those tricks are performed by him together with Nuvana.

We ended this great session with about 10 minutes of pranayama in sitting pose. He showed us how to use the fingers of your right hand to gently hold the nose while breathing out in Pratiloma pranayama. We also performed sitting Viloma inhalation. This session was so invigorating and energizing, I couldn't close my eyes during Shavasana. Terry said its ok to have your eyes open during this pose - the purpose of Shavasana is to calm your mind down.

That's powerful! If you can really reach your inner mind i.e if you can truly be in Shavasana your eyes cease to be a cause of interference and distraction to your mind. You can really detach from the noise. Reaching your inner mind is the best way to detach from noise in your life. That is the essence of yoga.

Namaste

Yogi

Morning Yoga in bed with Tara Stiles

As I recover from the sciatica pain and misery, my weekly yoga classes are on hold, here is a video from Tara Stiles, a cute sexy Ford model. I have personally tried this and it has kept my yoga routine going. I hope you enjoy this video. Any comments to any of my posts would be much appreciated.

Namaste

The Yogi