Yoga for September 2011

Hello Yoginis!

Can you believe it’s already September? Time seems to be going by faster and faster every year!

Recently, all over the world we have been experiencing an increase in strange weather patterns. Hurricanes and typhoons have been appearing all over the globe, often causing chaos in many people’s lives. Nothing in the path of a hurricane or typhoon stays untouched, it ruffles everything it passes over.

What fascinates me most about hurricanes is that, in the middle of all the chaos and unrest, there is a quiet, calm centre in the hurricane where the wind is perfectly still and the sun shines as bright as a summer’s day. So what can we learn from hurricanes?

We can learn to be the eye of the storm, the tranquil centre when everything around us is a big mess of wind and rain in our life. Whether you are in a meeting, with your family, trying to find a parking space, or preparing for an actual hurricane, you might find yourself in a situation where everything around you starts whirling out of control and falls in with the stream of chaos. In this situation, are you going to hop onto the unstable wind, or will you be the calm centre of the storm where the sun always shines?

With yoga, we can learn how to mentally step out of a challenging situation and take control of our thoughts. We can learn how to become the calm eye of the storm.

For September, we are going to focus on power yoga. Power yoga is essentially Vinyasa yoga, but with an increase in the level. By doing and holding these challenging poses, we can learn how to make that mental shift into control and away from the temptation of chaos. By shifting your focus from the challenge / the chaos / the storm around you to the quiet calming feel of your breath, you can learn how to take control of your mind.

Power yoga is usually based around the sun salutation, but we will add some challenging poses into this. This month, we will explore binds and inversions we haven’t done before, as well as some challenging balance poses like Side Plank.

We will spend extra time in meditation this month too, learning how to quieten the mind and increase concentration focus.

You can’t control life.
You can’t control situations around you.
But you can control your breath.
And you can control your mind.

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。