In the last few days I have started to get a bit confused with the time and day since it has already a few months that we are in a global lockdown. Our yoga classes are in Milan, and our last class was at the last week of february... and no, we don't stream online classes. We didn't opt for organising digital classes for a simple reason, the essence of those classes were the human connection, not showing you the asanas. We live in a time that Google or Youtube can show you in a couple of seconds the complete list of every single Asana, different styles of yoga and sequencing of world-wide famous yogis of all time. I don't believe that I can adapt the flow of sequence perceiving your adjustment to the sequence through skype. A part of that, I believe, and try to adapt every progress plan in a way that every yoga class participant is very soon able to understand the basic asanas and general sequencing. The Magic of yoga is not to show the 1000 years old asana, neither the creative sequencing, but to achieve thebody-mind connection through the healthy vehicle, which is our body: in this unexpected period in which socialisation, routine is cut off, it's the perfect moment for every yogi to organize a 1-person-yoga-retreat: if you can't go outside, go inward! Did you ever had this much time to go in debth in that one Asana that you thought in class we were skipping too fast and you felt like you would need to stay in for a bit more? Have you ever stayed by yourseld to discover your body? without putting it into auto-pilot fallowing the instructor? What is your body/ vehicle really like? How does it feel to be inside it? And what does it need in particular? Did you ever play with your body weight? shifting it from side to side, above and below? Have you ever tried meditating for a bit longer? Have you ever done a Vipasana? Did you consider a fast? How much do you know about anatomy? Since understanding how your vehicle works might really increase your adjustments in your asanas... What about yoga philosophy? Have you ever read Patanjali's sutras?
And finally, no, we won't be streaming yoga classes, we can send you video clips of whatever you want if you first want to watch something and after watching it practice it yourself, feel free, we would send it to you with pleasure, write to us if you need advice in your practice, if you need a guided meditation or just a chat, but no, our regular classes will not be replaced by online streaming during the quarantine, because if you trust us, we challenge you to this Asana: turning inwards during the Quarantine. Much love, hoping to see you all soon
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It is easy to fall into the dictates of Happycracy as Eva Illouz named her book when you are familiar in the wellness fields, such as for yoga, meditation, mindfulness, art therapy etc. Our contemporary society has come to consider the unsatisfied as incapable. The euphoria at any price is accompanied by hyperculpabilization of those who do not reach it. Pascal Bruckner has wrote Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy underlining the same problem: the ideology of happiness that has become a collective imperative:it has become a duty whitch derives to anxiety.We are obsessed with how to be healthy, to have a successful life, etc. But the object of happiness is totally vague, it is an endless quest. Nobody knows what it really is, or what it means to be successful in life.
Mindful practice of yoga, meditation,arts doesn't bring us happiness in the sense of euphoria_ or better said, it might bring us moments of intense joy, but a steady practice of yoga must bring acceptance: acceptance of life as what happens to us, but also acceptance as our reactions towards life. Our practice should bring us the capacity to discriminate our emotions from our true self, only this will bring us serenity and equilibrium with life's flow. The liberating message of yoga is that we have the conscious power to distinguish ourselves from our emotions, and this is also true for hapinness: we are capable of enjoying a moment of euphoria but we are also mindful enough to understand to accept the feeling and let it go when it's time for it to go. This brings freedom. It preserves the yogi not to fall into frenetic quests of constant happiness. A poetry of Melih Cevdet Anday may resume better the complexity to reduce ourselves to emotions... ''I saw my father in my dream'', he told us, ''I cried so much and begged, He didn't understand, maybe he didn't even recognize me. ” “Of course, my son, Kirishna the teacher said. “If the soul is immortal, Can it tell about mortal feelings? " In Tolstoy's What Men Live By? the author reveals us that God made men in a way that we see better the needs of others and should help them. This is a way to make understand humans that we are all one and united, and we must be compassionate towards others.
This tale speaks directly to our heart chakra. It stimulates the compassionate energy we all have within. However, it to develop it, we must start by practicing compassion and love towards ourselves and then spread it to our surrounding. Here are some suggestions to inspire a work on the Anahata chakra! Happy Navratri!
Today is the first day of the nine days festivities dedicated to Durga Devi battle against Mahishasura. The Goddess Durga symbolizes purity and strength, whereas Mahishasura represents egoism. Each of us constantly do live this battle in life. In a world where feelings are more constant then our own nature (if you come to think about it, love, joy, anger, lust, greed, fear,etc. have always existed in a constant manner and we do experience all of these feelings) ,we are brought to find the strength and purity to overcome harming sensations. From today until the 19th of October Navrati will be celebrated around the world. It's a great occasion to start a smooth detox, dedicate yourself these days to clean your house, nutrition, body and mind. You could start your first 3 days with a soft Tratak meditation ( gazing a candle, starting by visualizing the burning of the negativities in your life), blessing your house by smudging white sage. Try ritualizing the moments of shower and don't skip your dry body brush! Reduce your online times, take long walks...Make it a whole, detoxify your life as the battle of Durga. Then, the 4th day is dedicated to Lakshmi, the goddess of spiritual and emotional wealth, prosperity and fortune. In these days , you could use mindfulness while you cook for your friends and family, enhance the ritual of cooking with the loved ones, and sharing, give value to ethical eating, share vegan biological food with the sceptics. The last 3 days are dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the deity of knowledge and arts. This is the moment you could turn back into yourself, dedicate time for arts, discovering yourself through dance, music, painting, crafts. Create anything which accomplishes you, learn from what you create. Why not trying a mandala with flowers and pigments ? Namaste! Meric Try this quick sequence twice first thing you wake up in the morning for 21 days and you will discover a new You who is actually a morning person!
It's a fast and effective sequence which loosens and tones the complete body! Many people expects way too much from yoga & meditation. This depends partially from some communications of so-called popular gurus. Having a regular yoga and/or yoga practice will not suddenly transform you into a super-human able to cope with emotions and finding neutrality in everything. I'm not even talking about people really expecting to get some siddhis...
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