I used to teach a lot of yoga, hours every day.  I joked that I was a marathon yoga teacher.  I taught different types of yoga practices in those many hours, it wasn’t all super physical.  It was also in one facility, so I didn’t have to drive hither and yon.  I loved what I did and I made a good living in the days when yoga teaching wasn’t really a profession.

It is said you teach what you most need to learn, maybe that is true.  I guess I needed to learn how to be in my body, how to be myself and connected to something more.  I also learned a lot about teaching, communicating, relating.  For me learning is primarily about self-awareness, and secondarily about information.  This is why I teach Yoga and not history, which was incidentally what I studied as an undergraduate.

For some reason, my desire to talk about the breath today brought me back to reflecting on these early days of marathon teaching.  I taught this morning, a short 75 minute class and everyone was very focused.  It felt like what it took me many years to learn were transmitted and absorbed by everyone in the room.  It was a bit of a time warp really, it felt like we must have practiced for hours to get that deep.  At the heart of this story is the breath.

If you have practiced yoga with me, you will know there is a special way that we breathe.  This comes from my teacher Rama and is the essence of her method, which she will not name.  She calls it Yoga.  There are lots of layers to this method, but in a nutshell it is a way of using the breath to create shifts and changes in our being without activating the ego or the will.  It is a way of working within the yoga poses that takes you into deep states of meditation where subtle conflict is resolved.  It is a way of converting the oxygen we breathe into the prana or energy we need to be both transformed and to maintain our integrity.

How does all this happen through breath?  I wish I could describe it here, I actually have been trying (and editing it out) but it is really something you have to experience.  For now I will simply say what I have said billions of time by now, breathe.

Meditative Yoga Practice Series

Saturdays 9:30-4:30

Saturday, February 20 – The Fifth Chakra: Heart’s Desire

Saturday, March 26 – The 5 Flows of Prana

Saturday, April 23 – The Third Chakra: City of Gems

Saturday, May 14  – The 5 Mind States & the Breath

 

This series of practice days grows out of a desire to support our continued healing, growing, and awakening.  The beauty of Yoga is the experiential process;  this strengthens our connection to inner knowing, the inner teacher or Guru.  Longer practice sessions, well-paced and designed, are an important part of our development. These sessions are open to both new and experienced practitioners.  Each Saturday will have a similar format yet there will be distinct themes and practices.  Here are some other thoughts about how a day of practice can benefit you:

* Extended practice increases your concentration and stamina, which will translate into all you are doing.

* This meditative way of practicing will help you stay in and expand your comfort zone, you will be invigorated rather than exhausted.

* I have taught Days of Mindfulness Practice for many years and see how profoundly it affects people; there is even research that indicates that a day of meditation can affect gene response in a positive and measurable way.

* You will explore and refine your general practice, so you understand anew how Yoga works for you outside the class structure.

$100 for the day or $325 for the series.

Please contact me to register.

 

© Copyright Sol Center - 527 N Tucson Blvd Tucson AZ Phone: 520-628-YOGA (9642)