On the weekend I attended a yoga workshop and was reminded of some of the yoga basics. Here they are:

Whenever doing a pose be aware of the “foundation”. Without a strong foundation the pose will not achieve its full beneficial effect and cannot be done in the way it is intended to.

For example in dog pose the foundation are both hands and both feet. The pose is based on those four points of support – so they need to be placed properly and have strength. In some poses only the feet are used as the foundation.  Of course there are other variations as well.

There are two energies at work:
1. Pressing down into the foundation of the pose is “earthing” or “grounding” us.
2. The energy that returns from the earth upwards is “rebounding”.
Try and become aware of those two opposing energies next time you do your practice.

The above are all important reasons why we never should rush into a pose, why it is so important to get the “grounding” right first. When you think about it, this applies to everything else in life too, without solid grounding or foundation things, projects, businesses or even human beings soon run into difficulties.

The other important part of every pose is the breath. Quite often there is general confusion when we should exhale and when to inhale.

Just a reminder: all yoga breathing is done through the nose unless otherwise specified.

The best rule to follow for breathing is:
Going away from gravity (meaning upwards, opening up, stretching up, lifiting up) – INHALE.

Going towards gravity (bending down, bending forward, curling in) – EXHALE.

Happy practice, till next time.

Connie and Charly

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Today we discussed another style of Yoga, the one taught by T.K.V. Desikachar and his son, Kausthub. Desikachar is the son of the great yoga teacher Krishnamacharya.

Desikachar himself is very opposed to the western idea of yoga “styles”. In his opinion, Yoga is Yoga, regardless of who your teacher is and how you practice. I agree, but as we are living in a western society that loves to compartmentalise and label everything (just think of designer labels!) I have tried to clarify what to expect from each “style”.

I hope I have given each style a fair description and I also hope that I have made it clear that all styles have unique benefits and serve people during different times in their lives.

Here is a link if you want to delve deeper into the subject:

http://www.ascentmagazine.com/articles.aspx?articleID=143&issueID=25

Patthabi Jois, Mr. Iyengar and T.K.V. Desikachar are the most well-known students of Krishnamacharya. There were more, and I will explain their teachings in a future radio show.

Mark Whitwell from New Zealand is a long time student of Desikachar’s style of yoga, I met him in 1995 when Desikachar visited Australia. He has posted lots of videos on youTube but here is one that is a bit different, I like the artwork in it, so I put it here for you:

Till next time
Connie and Charly
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http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com

A friend sent me the the following email and I think it is a great one to share. I don’t know the original author, if you do, please let me know so I can acknowledge him/her.

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. Read the rest of this entry »

During our podcast radio show today we talked about Ahstanga Yoga. If you are interested in Ashtanga Yoga and want to see the “Salute to the Sun” we talked about, have a look at this video:

In case you are interested how each muscle is used in the body while doing a particular pose, have a look at these fascinating books:

Here are some more interesting video links for Ashtanga Yoga:

http://ashtangayoga.info/asana-vinyasa/primary-series/index.html

http://www.beYOU.tv/videos/46 brings you Ashtanga Yoga – The Primary Series.

yogatoday     http://www.youtube.com/user/yogatoday

A good Ashtanga site: www.yogaworkshop.com

And for those readers who live in Australia, here are a couple of interesting events:

www.earthfestival.com.au -have a look at the site, it will tell you all about this brand new event.

and a Kirtan Cruise (a cruise with a difference, devotional chanting and dancing, vegetarian lunch, no alcohol, lots of fun! This year there is even a workshop on the “Art of Happiness”.)

I went last year and had a great time.

www.kirtan.com.au

Have a lovely day,

Connie and Charly

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www.stretchyourmindandbody.com

Sounds simple and obvious – doesn’t it? Looking at the advertising in newspapers, the “Yellow Pages” and all the junk mail that arrives in my letterbox I don’t think that many business people understand that concept.

Potential customers are looking for solutions to their problems. When I have a blocked toilet I want it unblocked as quickly as possible, with minimum fuss and mess and at a reasonable price. I don’t really care whether the plumber is called ACE plumbing service or “Gurgles” (although the latter name stuck in my mind from one toilet blockage to the next and “Gurgles” got repeat business). Read the rest of this entry »

• Chakras are energy centres located throughout our body along our spine (like beads on a string).
• Chakra means “wheel”. They are like a vortex of energy that spins.

Starting from the base of the spine:

• Base Chakra – red
• 2nd Chakra – orange
• 3rd Chakra – yellow
• 4th Chakra – green or pink
• 5th Chakra – blue
• 6th Chakra – indigo/dark purple
• 7th Chakra – light purple, white or rainbow coloured (white contains all the colours of the rainbow) Read the rest of this entry »

I had to go to the City Centre yesterday. In the middle of the pedestrian mall was a man holding up a sign with “FREE HUGS” written on it.

Juan Mann the "Free Hugs" man and myself in Sydney on 9-10-08

I had seen a lot of video clips on youTube about the Free Hugs idea. When it started the police tried to stop it. A petition was signed by a large number of people and Free Hugs were allowed to continue.

I walked up to the man, gave him him a hug and then talked to him about the videos I had seen. Then he told me that he was the originator, it all started in 2004. His name is Juan Mann and he has a blog www.freehugsguide.com

Hugs are therapeutic and very yogic, there is no doubt about it, they make us smile and feel good, this in turn makes the world a better place!

Connie and Charly

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http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com

Remember you can email us at:

info@stretchyourmindandbody.com

One of the first things you need to do when establishing your online presence is to buy a domain name. I hope that by now you managed to listen to our “Domain Name Interview” which contains lots of useful information- you can get it from http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com

One thing Charly and I did not discuss during that interview was the fact that the domain name should not be more than 35 characters long (including www. and .com). This means www. and .com count as eight letters already, if you have .au at the end that adds another 3 characters.  So you got a maximum of 27 characters to play with. Read the rest of this entry »

As I was typing this heading it struck me that the term “work-life” balance somehow seems to apply that there is “work” on one hand and “life” on the other hand. When we are working we are not living? Work and Life are totally opposing concepts? I hope this doesn’t apply to you. Remember – the most valuable commodity you have is time. Once you used it up, once you spent it, it is gone forever. You can make more money, you can acquire more possessions but you cannot replenish time.

For any project you plan, you need to start with the end in mind. What I mean is: you need to work out where you want your body and mind to be and where you want your business to be in 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from now. Read the rest of this entry »

Image by Naddsy via Flickr

Connie mentioned a number of Yoga Events that are occuring over the next couple of months.

Here are the ones she mentioned:

Yoga Aid Challenge 27 September 2008 in USA

Yoga Aid Challenge in Australia – October 22nd

Sydney Yoga Expo 19 October 2008 9am-5pm

Yoga conference 17-19 April 2009 Sydney Read the rest of this entry »