May 2nd, 2012
Breathe. Keep Calm and Yoga On.
Just breathe. Everything is as it is meant to be. Keep breathing. Keep calm and yoga on. The next two months are going to be intense. But here we go! Bring it! See you in class.
May 1st, 2012
Just do the YOGA!
Many of my teachers have told me: “Eliza, you’re thinking too much. Just do the yoga!” It is all too true!
For 3 years I have been trying to marry Psychology with my yoga practice. The journey has been daunting to say the least. The main point is to switch off the mind and just be present with the postures one at a time. But could this curious mind switch off? No. I have been far too busy asking what the postures mean and trying to find the depth behind why one can do one posture brilliantly and struggle with the next. And then fighting with myself psychologically to break through to the next level of my yoga practice. Hard on myself much? I think yes.
This year has been a challenging one, to say the least. I think I am finally at a point of departure along my journey where I am quite ready to switch off the mind for 90 minutes and just be present with my beautiful practice. Of course, intellectually I can say it. But for the real change to occur at a deeper level, one has to feel it in the heart. Then the real transformation begins to take place. My practice has certainly catapulted into the next realm of being a Yogi since having this realisation.
I have returned to my home studio at Bikram Yoga Fourways – the only certified Bikram studio in Africa. I have also started Advanced Bikram Yoga with Neil. This junction in my yoga journey has made me realise that I needn’t think about it all too much. Just do the fsking yoga!
And of course, this attitude infiltrates my life. The thinking has kept me stuck in certain avenues for far too long. There is a time and place for the thinking and analysing. There is a time and space for being, living and breathing. I haven’t always got the balance right. But I am learning. It does not matter if you cannot assign meaning to every detail. Just show up for your life. And do the fsking yoga! Then sit back and watch your magnificent life unfold.
April 16th, 2012
Advanced Bikram Yoga
Neil invited me to experience my very first Advanced Bikram yoga class on Saturday at Bikram Yoga Fourways. Three and half hours of yoga later, I was quite delirious. We started with our normal ninety minute Bikram class at 08:30am. We had a thirty minute break. Ate. Hydrated. Got out of our wet clothes. Grabbed a new towel. And in we went. I didn’t know what to expect, besides the eighty four postures headed my way. My first thought as I entered the heated room for a second time that morning was “I hope I don’t throw up the yoghurt I just ate!”
We were a small group of five, plus Neil. And into the fire we jumped. The first half an hour was gruelling. The second half an hour was worse. By the third half an hour I doubted my abilities to lift another limb. By the last half an hour, I was doing my headstands and handstands like a little yogi-miss. Advanced class is not as hardcore as my little brain initially computed.
I found these videos to illustrate what we learnt on Saturday. I will gladly go back for more. I finally have a new challenge in my Bikram yoga practice. Brandy Lyn Winfield is an LA based teacher and ladies yoga champion. It is inspiring to see her in action. The human body is phenomenal and never ceases to amaze me. With enough practice, patience, understanding and determination, your body can do anything you want it to.
I haven’t given up on teachers training. I won’t. In every class when I look into my own two eyes in the mirror, I see myself teaching. It’s crystal clear.
For more technical information, here is an interesting read on Advanced Bikram Yoga from a teacher: Lock The Knee!
February 10th, 2012
And where oh where have I been hiding?
I have been quiet on the blogging front, concerning yoga anyway. I’ve still stayed active on My Curious Mind, Twitter, Facebook and recently I’ve take a keen interest in Pinterest. I haven’t stopped practicing yoga at all. I’ve actually increased my yoga appetite to include Hot Flow Yoga on top of my first love, Bikram Yoga. I’ve also been breaking a lot, well break dancing as most people would call it. There is a slight difference but I won’t go into that now.
I also moved house! *facepalm* I’m feeling a lot more grounded than I have in years. So I’ve been taking a lot of photos of my feet to remind myself 
I’ve done a fair amount of travelling. 2010-2011 were spent road tripping through our lovely South Africa: Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Kimberly, Franschoek, Morgan’s Bay, Coffee Bay, Stellenbosch, Herold’s Bay and probably a few I can’t think of now, in two separate road trips. I’ve basically been through 9 out of our 11 provinces. I love my country.
I have also spent a fair amount of time oversees. Portugal, Spain and the UK. London by far was the highlight of 2011 for me. It was a trip I did for myself, it was somewhat spontaneous and it really saved my soul. I discovered a whole other side to my inner world. I cannot describe just how much Pervez changed my perspective on the body and the mind!
I have improved greatly from my first break class with this legendary man. But I love this photo because it reminds me of where I started, so I can appreciate where I’m at now and enjoy the journey more. I am learning to enjoy where I am and what I have instead of obsessively focusing on the horizon and what’s coming still.
So what have I been up to? Oh you know, a little bit of this and that:
And of course, YOGA! It still transforms me in every class. I’m confronted by my demons and my angels. I’m challenged. I push harder. I let go. I go with the flow. I learn to trust myself, to trust the process, to trust God. I take risks! The time I spent in Herold’s Bay in December was very special. I do love these pics of me getting my Bikram on at the rock pool:
It certainly does take years of practice to get to a certain level with your body. It’s one thing doing yoga in the hot room where your muscles are already warmed up. It’s another thing freestyling it out in the real world :-p
Back bends always look a lot easier than they actually are. Bikram does say “a strong healthy spine equals a strong healthy life.” I hope he’s right!
And those are my thoughts. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve taken risks. I’ve hurt people. I’ve allowed people to hurt me. I’m still alive. I still have another day to keep on practicing. And I’ll never stop loving life, even when I get my ass kicked down to the ground. We get up. We keep on moving. No one said it would be easy, but you know it’s worth it!
See you in class! xx
January 19th, 2012
Chakra Workshop at Bikram Yoga Fourways
ENERGETIC ANATOMY OF A YOGI
Join us on thiswonderful workshop of healing the emotional and mental body through yoga as we explore the energetic anatomy of yogi presented by Paul and Jaylee Balch. Paul and Jaylee have dedicated their lives to helping people awaken and understand their innate ability to heal themselves. Paul, as a Bikram teacher and hypnotherapist and Jaylee with a background in intuitive healing and Hatha, have followed the guidance of Tibetan and Tao masters and imparted a treasury of knowledge around the world. Combined, they have taught for over twenty years and run seminars in over 14 countries. Anatomy of a Yogi is designed to take your yoga practice to a new experiential level of energetic awareness.
- Learn why certain postures bring up specific emotions
- How yoga can help release trapped patterns and blockages
- Why it’s difficult to cross barriers and make breakthroughs
- How emotions play a large part in our general health and body shape
- How focus & stillness impact and enhance your yoga practice.
- How to relax and enjoy yoga, gaining the best benefits
- How the chakras work in the energetic body
- How the chakras are linked to the emotional body
- How to release emotions constructively in yoga
…and some old fashioned life skills
Dates & Bookings:
Sat & Sun: 3 + 4 March
Book: events@bikramyoga4ways.co.za or Tel: 011 465 5777
Times:
Registration/sign in @ 11am. Seminar from 11:30am – 3:30pm (life changing knowledge) PLUS 4:30pm Bikram Yoga with Paul, Integrating the knowledge into your yoga practice.
Cost:
Earlybird: R800 (by 15 Feb) or R1000 (after 15 Feb)
Interactive workshop – bring pen/paper/cushion
December 1st, 2011
The Science of Yoga – Part 2
Part 2 of 2, for your reading pleasure:
“Penetrating Postures, Part II: The Psychology of Yoga
Image via WikipediaThis is the second of a two-part series on yoga. The first, “The Science of Yoga,” examined the biological changes that yoga produces in the body and brain.
Having explored the nuts and bolts of yoga’s amazing health benefits, it seemed natural to switch from the objective to the subjective, and take a look at what yoga has been shown to do in the mind. After all, many people say that after starting yoga they feel mentally stronger, more relaxed, less depressed and more level-headed than before. Heck, I’m the first to admit it’s the best therapy I’ve ever had. So to discuss how and why these changes occur, I turned to two well-recognized and seasoned practitioners.
Stephen Cope, director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, explains that yoga itself is a form of meditation, and herein lies its power. “Yoga provides attentional training and self-regulation,” he says. “In practicing yoga, we’re training our awareness to attend to the flow of thoughts, feelings and sensations in the body – and to be with these different states without self-judgment or reactivity.”
In other words, yoga teaches a new kind of attention. People who practice yoga learn how to accept all the stress-inducing thoughts that flit around in one’s head – negative self-talk, worries, snap judgments – as just that: thoughts, and nothing more. Since reacting to our thoughts is typically what gets us into trouble, learning to attend to them and accept them nonjudgmentally is key. Then we can let them go, says Cope, and “make wise choices – not based on reactivity to these states, but on our best interests.”
This idea of paying attention to one’s thoughts in a nonjudgmental way is what mindfulness meditation, or mindfulness training, is all about. This ancient practice has gained a lot of interest from researchers (and regular folk) in recent years. Scientists have studied how mindfulness courses can change people’s reactions and behaviors, and how they can literally change the structure of the brain. Attentional training and mindfulness have been shown to provide major benefits in treating everything from stress and depression to serious addictions. And yoga seems to work in much the same way.
Elena Brower, Anusara® yoga teacher, and co-founder and owner of the Virayoga studio in Manhattan, tells me about the personal changes she’s witnessed in her own mind as she’s practiced over the last 15 years. She starts by explaining the shift in attention that yoga can bring: “We each have two aspects of ourselves; one that is inward-drawn, super focused and alternately afraid; one that is expressive, open, ready, available and downright brave. In our mind, yoga helps us create a patient relationship between those two aspects of ourselves. Yoga brings a level of patience and listening I’ve never found with any other discipline.”
Both experts agree that there’s something powerful and fundamental about syncing the mind and body as yoga does. Researchers, too, are beginning to grasp the depths of the mind-body connection. As Cope explains, “yogis came to believe that the mind and body are linked in every way, and indeed, that the mind is just a subtle form of the body, and the body a gross form of mind.” What we do for the one benefits the other. And as Brower articulates, “when fed and led well, a strong body helps us see the mind’s hilarious machinations more clearly.” Indeed, life is a lot more pleasant when we learn to see our thoughts not as grave realities to be reacted to, but as harmless, almost comical, little clouds that float in and out of consciousness.
Brower also points out that you don’t have to practice for hours on end to reap the mental benefits that yoga can bring. “Even 15 minutes, consistently, shifts my ability to be present. My daily practice consists of 15-20 minutes of asana and 5-10 minutes of meditation, and to keep that promise to myself creates a rich quality of presence in everything I do. And I notice when I don’t do it.”
To people who are on the fence about trying it out for the first time, Brower offers this: “Know that it may take some time to find the teacher who really speaks to YOU in a way that you can hear, but once you do, be prepared to feel stronger, more secure, and, in many cases, ridiculously fortunate and thrilled to know the strength in your body that comes with a consistent practice.”
The bottom line is that aside from its obvious physical benefits, yoga is great for those of us who are in our heads all the time. “When you have a few yoga classes under your belt,” says Brower, “the first thing you’ll notice is the space between your thoughts. Literally, a pause is revealed, through your breathing, that grants you a moment of time between one thought and the next.”
If you’re ready to get out of the tangle of those pesky cogitations, I’d highly recommend giving yoga a try.”
