Reading

Hey yoginis,

Can you believe that 2010 has come to its end? This year flew by, and many different things happened. 2010 is the year that imagine* Yoga started, and we’ve slowly but surely been building our community of weekly yoga practitioners. Just seeing the improvement in everyone’s practice has been impressive already! I trust that 2011 will be an even more successful year, and that more people will be exposed to, and fall in love with, the practice of yoga.

Seeing as we have a long break at the end of December and beginning of January for the winter holidays, we will continue the same sequence for both December and January.

For these two months, we’re going to move away from the vinyasa flow a bit, and follow the hatha road. December/January’s series of asana will be based on the now well-known Bikram series, which is a series of 26 postures which are said to target every part of your body, from the skin to the internal organs. This series is usually done in heated rooms for the very popular Bikram yoga (or hot yoga), but the effects are just as evident when practiced under normal conditions. It will give us a new challenge for the new year. I hope you enjoy them!

Asana

The postures are:

We will end our lessons around the turn of the year with a short but sweet Apache blessing:

May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being,
May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

To all: May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011. Best of luck and love.

Namaste!

Marilu

月毎に行うポーズ名をご紹介します。レッスンの状況により多少変更することがあります。

Reading

In November, our reading will be the second part of the timeless poem by Max Ehrmann called ‘Desiderata’.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Asana

As for the vinyasa (flow) part of the class, November gives us another opportunity to practice and grow better at doing the Sun Salutation. We will use this sequence of 12 poses as the basic flow for our yoga practice. Some other poses we will be doing this month are:

I’m looking forward to doing yoga with everyone as we move into the colder months. It’s a fantastic way to keep the heart pumping, the blood flowing and prevent the winter blues!

Namaste!

月毎に行うポーズ名をご紹介します。レッスンの状況により多少変更することがあります。

Reading

For October and November, we will be listening to a poem called ‘Desiderata’ by Max Ehrmann. Desiderata is a Latin word and it means ‘the things that we desire’. The poem was written in the early 1900′s, and has been seen as an inspirational guide to living a good life.

Because the poem is rather long, we will listen to half of it in October, and half in November. Here it is, in full:

Asana

As the weather is cooling down, we will move into a time where our bodies need some extra movement to warm up. For October, we will continue with the Sun Salutations, as in September, using it as a base for our sequences.

Some of the poses we will be going through this month are:

October’s sequence looks exciting, and is the perfect way to keep the body warm and the metabolism going, especially as we are entering a cooler time!

月毎に行うポーズ名をご紹介します。レッスンの状況により多少変更することがあります。

Reading

For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way. Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

The perspective helped me to see that there is no way to happiness.
Happiness IS the way.
So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Dance as though no one is watching you.
Love as though you’ve never been hurt before.
Sing as though no one can hear you.
Live as though heaven is on earth.

Asana

In September we will be doing poses around the Sun Salutation (surya namaskar), which will be the basis for this month’s vinyasa (flow).

Other poses include:

月毎に行うポーズ名をご紹介します。レッスンの状況により多少変更することがあります。

Reading

Nothing and no one is perfect. Sometimes, as human beings, we get frustrated when situations do not go the way that we would like them to go. Often, we hear ourselves and other people complaining about situations. People are unhappy with their governments, their partners, their families, their schools, the weather… whatever situations are outside of them and out of their control.

The reading for July and August is one of my favorites. The quote is from 1100 A.D. (that’s a LONG time ago!), written by an unknown monk. It goes like this:

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the imagine* yoga Marilu Ashram life Marilu  |  06/16/2010  |  3 Comments In October 2009, I had the wonderful experience of getting my yoga teacher training at a special place in India called the “Yoga Vidya Gurukul Ashram”. An ashram is defined as a place of spiritual learning. For me it was a community of like-minded people who lived, breathed and thought about yoga all day, every day. Because there are no distractions from outside (no internet, no cellphones, no fast food, no new fashions or television), it was very easy to just fall into the yoga way of life and truly relax. A typical day in the ashram would look like this: 5 am: Wake-up time We would wake up before the sun, awoken by a hand-rung bell that echoed through the valleys. For the first hour of the day, we had to keep a rule of silence. You wake up, splash water on your face, smile at your roommates and slowly make your way down the hill to the dining area. Here we could get a cup of warm herbal tea, and some people used this time to write in their dairies. 5:45 am: Mantra chanting After waking up properly with the help of the herbal tea, we would make our way to the yoga hall and sit in the meditative posture, cross-legged on the floor. Then we would learn and chant mantras in Sanskrit. My favorite mantra is the Gayatri Mantra, and it goes like this: “OM BUHR, BHUVA, SWAHA OM TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYAT” 6 am: Yoga practice (asana and pranayama) During the morning sessions, we slowly woke up our bodies by doing 14 Sun Salutations. After that, we learned new poses and postures. We always ended off the class with a new breathing technique, bandha (muscle lock in the body) or mudra (hand position used in meditation). 8 am: Karma yoga As opposed to yoga exercise, karma yoga is basically one hour of cleaning or helping out around the ashram. Karma yoga is seva – selfless service. For this hour, everyone helped by washing floors, peeling vegetables in the kitchen, working in the garden, painting walls, fixing broken things, making teaching materials for local schools, washing dishes… Anything that needed to be done. The purpose of karma yoga is to teach us a way of living where we live for other people, not ourselves. How can you help those around you today? Marilu Asana and Reading for June 2010 imagine* yoga  |  06/05/2010  |  Reading When you are on your yoga mat in class, it is very important to try to be In The Present Moment. Once you step off your yoga mat, you should try to keep that in mind. Our reading for the month of June is a quick set of 5 rules that will help you to remember to focus your mind on the NOW. This way, we can live a life where we learn from the past, live harmoniously in the present, and plan for the future. Everyone has their own worries and insecurities. These problems increase when we think too much about the past (regretting what we did or didn’t do) or when we think too much about the future (worrying about things that have not happened yet). The founder of Reiki, a man called Mikao Usui, wrote these five rules, the “Five Reiki Principles” as a guide for anyone to follow to have a happier, healthier life. Just for today 今日だけは do not get angry 怒るな do not worry 心配すな be grateful 感謝して work diligently 業をはげめ be kind to everyone 人に親切に If we think about life this way – taking it day by day, moment for moment – then life suddenly becomes much easier. We all make mistakes. You might have gotten angry yesterday, but today is a new day. You might have been unkind to someone last week, but don’t worry. Just try again today. Every morning when you wake up, tell yourself that you will be the best person that you can be. Just for today. Asana Camel Child Forward bend Downward Dog (downward dog spirit) Plank Ragdoll Seated forward bend (pachimattasana) Spinal twist (ardha matsyendrasana) Tree Warrior series Wide angle forward bend 月毎に行うポーズ名をご紹介します。レッスンの状況により多少変更することがあります。 imagine* yoga Marilu newer