Health
7 entries in 2019 · oldest first
2019
Maha Shivaratri and Meaning Divination
Once a year, in late Winter, there is a Hindu celebration called Maha Shivaratri — which means "the Great Night of Shiva." For a number of years, I was fortunate enough to be in Mysore, India for this ostensibly solemn celebration. Shiva is a yogic icon, being considered “the Lord of Yoga.”
For secular practitioners of yoga like me, the celebration is one for reflecting upon the infinite yet narrow intersection between destruction and regeneration— to wit, overcoming darkness and ignorance. Siva personifies that here.
Unlike most Hindu festivals which occur during the day, this one is held at night. You spend the event remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating on ethics and virtues such as self-restraint, honesty, non-injury to others, forgiveness, and the discovery of Shiva.
Whilst the vigils went all night long, what i remember when going from temple to temple was the look of sugar-wired excitement in the children’s eyes, getting to run around all night long.
Yes, as a secular observant of a sacred celebration, my memory banks were hard-codes with the pure joy and trouble and fun and exhaustion.
—-
During the Vigil Night of Shiva, Mahashivaratri,
we are brought to the moment of interval
between destruction and regeneration;
it symbolizes the night
when we must contemplate on that which
watches the growth out of the decay.
During Mahashivaratri we have to be alone
with our sword, the Shiva in us.
We have to look behind and before,
to see what evil needs eradicating from our heart,
what growth of virtue we need to encourage.
Shiva is not only outside of us but within us.
To unite ourselves with the One Self
is to recognize the Shiva in us.
—The Theosophical Movement, Volume 72[
—-
On the dawn of Maha Shivaratri, @dcashtanga has our first day at the @eatonworkshop —
Mon-Fri: 7-10a
Mon-Thur: 5:30-7p.
Doors are 1/2 hour ahead.
Schedule:
Mon 12:45-1:30 Ashtanga Lite @balancegym
Tue 12:00-1:00 Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Wed 1:30-2:30. Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Thu 1:30-2:30 Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Fri 12-1 Atheltes Yoga - Balance
Once a year, in late Winter, there is a Hindu celebration called Maha Shivaratri — which means "the Great Night of Shiva." For a number of years, I was fortunate enough to be in Mysore, India for this ostensibly solemn celebration. Shiva is a yogic icon, being considered “the Lord of Yoga.”
For secular practitioners of yoga like me, the celebration is one for reflecting upon the infinite yet narrow intersection between destruction and regeneration— to wit, overcoming darkness and ignorance. Siva personifies that here.
Unlike most Hindu festivals which occur during the day, this one is held at night. You spend the event remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating on ethics and virtues such as self-restraint, honesty, non-injury to others, forgiveness, and the discovery of Shiva.
Whilst the vigils went all night long, what i remember when going from temple to temple was the look of sugar-wired excitement in the children’s eyes, getting to run around all night long.
Yes, as a secular observant of a sacred celebration, my memory banks were hard-codes with the pure joy and trouble and fun and exhaustion.
—-
During the Vigil Night of Shiva, Mahashivaratri,
we are brought to the moment of interval
between destruction and regeneration;
it symbolizes the night
when we must contemplate on that which
watches the growth out of the decay.
During Mahashivaratri we have to be alone
with our sword, the Shiva in us.
We have to look behind and before,
to see what evil needs eradicating from our heart,
what growth of virtue we need to encourage.
Shiva is not only outside of us but within us.
To unite ourselves with the One Self
is to recognize the Shiva in us.
—The Theosophical Movement, Volume 72[
—-
On the dawn of Maha Shivaratri, @dcashtanga has our first day at the @eatonworkshop —
Mon-Fri: 7-10a
Mon-Thur: 5:30-7p.
Doors are 1/2 hour ahead.
Schedule:
Mon 12:45-1:30 Ashtanga Lite @balancegym
Tue 12:00-1:00 Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Wed 1:30-2:30. Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Thu 1:30-2:30 Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Fri 12-1 Atheltes Yoga - Balance
Ya ever have someone at a house party that has absolutely no chill? And it kinda fucks up the vibe? (if you haven’t, it might be you gurrrl). 🏡
I reckon we can all recognize “chill” — and ya either got it or ya don’t. Yoga helps you get it. With consistent practice, you develop a capacity to examine and adjust in a way that keeps you from freaking the fuck out when things get a little dodgey. It keeps you chill when maybe conditions aren’t optimal. 💅🏼 It’s nice when yoga practice is really useful. Be a better party guest. Practice. 🥳 “The highest Sadhana (spiritual practice) is to bear insult and bear injury. “ — Swami Sivananda
I reckon we can all recognize “chill” — and ya either got it or ya don’t. Yoga helps you get it. With consistent practice, you develop a capacity to examine and adjust in a way that keeps you from freaking the fuck out when things get a little dodgey. It keeps you chill when maybe conditions aren’t optimal. 💅🏼 It’s nice when yoga practice is really useful. Be a better party guest. Practice. 🥳 “The highest Sadhana (spiritual practice) is to bear insult and bear injury. “ — Swami Sivananda
This ancient posture is called "triangle," so named because you "try" and make an "angle. "
Uttithta Trikonasana A might be an all time favorite. It really means "extended triangle" anyway, and the B part is the twisted one in ashtanga yoga nomenclature.
Here are a few tips for this particular variation:
🔼 start with the legs about one legs length wide.
🔺fully externally rotate the shoulders (literally so challenging!)
🔽to come into the posture, internally rotate the back hip a bit while you externally rotate the front.
⚠️ bend the front knee as much as you need (and keep the muscles on). This posture is all about the hip first, not the hamstring. You can begin to straighten later.
▶️when you come down to catch the toe , flex the bottom hip-- really feel the spine getting closer to the leg, particularly around the navel.
🔻keep the lower back neutral on the way out and in so that you can get strong hip work and a psoas stretch out of it. If the lower back gets all sway-y it may not feel as good.
📐Let the big toe come up, keeping it's knuckle down, so that you can catch it. Then shift the weight a bit into the toe box so that it naturally smooshes back down without scrunching the other toes.
◀️let that bottom forearm roll in some for balance. Don't change the shoulder to do it.
▶️ make a choice about your balance and needs-- try retracting and depressing your shoulder blades here (retract) to see if it helps you lengthen the spine.
🔺do you feel both side of your front foot pressing evenly? Keep your abs strong and adjust from the hip till you get the center of mass balanced over the foundion.
👁 Look at the place where the thumb touches the index finger.
Uttithta Trikonasana A might be an all time favorite. It really means "extended triangle" anyway, and the B part is the twisted one in ashtanga yoga nomenclature.
Here are a few tips for this particular variation:
🔼 start with the legs about one legs length wide.
🔺fully externally rotate the shoulders (literally so challenging!)
🔽to come into the posture, internally rotate the back hip a bit while you externally rotate the front.
⚠️ bend the front knee as much as you need (and keep the muscles on). This posture is all about the hip first, not the hamstring. You can begin to straighten later.
▶️when you come down to catch the toe , flex the bottom hip-- really feel the spine getting closer to the leg, particularly around the navel.
🔻keep the lower back neutral on the way out and in so that you can get strong hip work and a psoas stretch out of it. If the lower back gets all sway-y it may not feel as good.
📐Let the big toe come up, keeping it's knuckle down, so that you can catch it. Then shift the weight a bit into the toe box so that it naturally smooshes back down without scrunching the other toes.
◀️let that bottom forearm roll in some for balance. Don't change the shoulder to do it.
▶️ make a choice about your balance and needs-- try retracting and depressing your shoulder blades here (retract) to see if it helps you lengthen the spine.
🔺do you feel both side of your front foot pressing evenly? Keep your abs strong and adjust from the hip till you get the center of mass balanced over the foundion.
👁 Look at the place where the thumb touches the index finger.
This ancient posture is called "triangle," so named because you "try" and make an "angle. "
Uttithta Trikonasana A might be an all time favorite. It really means "extended triangle" anyway, and the B part is the twisted one in ashtanga yoga nomenclature.
Here are a few tips for this particular variation:
🔼 start with the legs about one legs length wide.
🔺fully externally rotate the shoulders (literally so challenging!)
🔽to come into the posture, internally rotate the back hip a bit while you externally rotate the front.
⚠️ bend the front knee as much as you need (and keep the muscles on). This posture is all about the hip first, not the hamstring. You can begin to straighten later.
▶️when you come down to catch the toe , flex the bottom hip-- really feel the spine getting closer to the leg, particularly around the navel.
🔻keep the lower back neutral on the way out and in so that you can get strong hip work and a psoas stretch out of it. If the lower back gets all sway-y it may not feel as good.
📐Let the big toe come up, keeping it's knuckle down, so that you can catch it. Then shift the weight a bit into the toe box so that it naturally smooshes back down without scrunching the other toes.
◀️let that bottom forearm roll in some for balance. Don't change the shoulder to do it.
▶️ make a choice about your balance and needs-- try retracting and depressing your shoulder blades here (retract) to see if it helps you lengthen the spine.
🔺do you feel both side of your front foot pressing evenly? Keep your abs strong and adjust from the hip till you get the center of mass balanced over the foundion.
👁 Look at the place where the thumb touches the index finger.
Uttithta Trikonasana A might be an all time favorite. It really means "extended triangle" anyway, and the B part is the twisted one in ashtanga yoga nomenclature.
Here are a few tips for this particular variation:
🔼 start with the legs about one legs length wide.
🔺fully externally rotate the shoulders (literally so challenging!)
🔽to come into the posture, internally rotate the back hip a bit while you externally rotate the front.
⚠️ bend the front knee as much as you need (and keep the muscles on). This posture is all about the hip first, not the hamstring. You can begin to straighten later.
▶️when you come down to catch the toe , flex the bottom hip-- really feel the spine getting closer to the leg, particularly around the navel.
🔻keep the lower back neutral on the way out and in so that you can get strong hip work and a psoas stretch out of it. If the lower back gets all sway-y it may not feel as good.
📐Let the big toe come up, keeping it's knuckle down, so that you can catch it. Then shift the weight a bit into the toe box so that it naturally smooshes back down without scrunching the other toes.
◀️let that bottom forearm roll in some for balance. Don't change the shoulder to do it.
▶️ make a choice about your balance and needs-- try retracting and depressing your shoulder blades here (retract) to see if it helps you lengthen the spine.
🔺do you feel both side of your front foot pressing evenly? Keep your abs strong and adjust from the hip till you get the center of mass balanced over the foundion.
👁 Look at the place where the thumb touches the index finger.
Glad to
catch a
Killer
bootcamp
@balancegym
catch a
Killer
bootcamp
@balancegym
in imageWARM UP (10 MiN)
20 CALORiES (2 MiN TREAMIU)
10 SCAP PULLS
10 AiR SQUATS
20 ALTERNATİNG SHOULDER TAPS
25м AMRAP
40 CALS (4MIN)
20 PULL UP
20 STRiCT PUSH UP
20 GOBLET SQUArS
20 CALS (2 MiN)
15 PULL UPS
15 STRiCT PUSH UPS
15 GOBLET SCPUATS
1D CALS (1 MIN)
10 PULL UPS
10 STRiCT PUSH UPS
I0 GOBLET SQUATS
RECOVERY
FOAM ROLL LATS + LEGS
Glad to
catch a
Killer
bootcamp
@balancegym
20 CALORiES (2 MiN TREAMIU)
10 SCAP PULLS
10 AiR SQUATS
20 ALTERNATİNG SHOULDER TAPS
25м AMRAP
40 CALS (4MIN)
20 PULL UP
20 STRiCT PUSH UP
20 GOBLET SQUArS
20 CALS (2 MiN)
15 PULL UPS
15 STRiCT PUSH UPS
15 GOBLET SCPUATS
1D CALS (1 MIN)
10 PULL UPS
10 STRiCT PUSH UPS
I0 GOBLET SQUATS
RECOVERY
FOAM ROLL LATS + LEGS
Glad to
catch a
Killer
bootcamp
@balancegym
on news stands one day
in imageyopa
CREATE
HAPPINESS
EVERY DAY
Live
Boldly
HOW TO FACE
LIFE'S CHALLENGES
FEARLESSLY
Practice
Yoga Forever
DON'T LET AGE, ILLNESS,
OR INJURY STOP YOU
Couples' Yoga
FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN
Pain-free Backbends
Overwhelmed?
9 STEPS TO GETTING
YOUR LIFE BACK
Plus
SAFER SUNSCREENS
KLALTHIER SUMMER GRILLING
EUROPE'S NEW YOGA CAPITAL
on news stands one day
CREATE
HAPPINESS
EVERY DAY
Live
Boldly
HOW TO FACE
LIFE'S CHALLENGES
FEARLESSLY
Practice
Yoga Forever
DON'T LET AGE, ILLNESS,
OR INJURY STOP YOU
Couples' Yoga
FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN
Pain-free Backbends
Overwhelmed?
9 STEPS TO GETTING
YOUR LIFE BACK
Plus
SAFER SUNSCREENS
KLALTHIER SUMMER GRILLING
EUROPE'S NEW YOGA CAPITAL
on news stands one day
A member of the greater DC/NOVA yoga community, @andreharrisyoga came in to visit today at @dcashtanga . He lives in Washington (state, not DC) now, and only gets back to visit about once a year. I love seeing him!
Lately, he has been struggling with injury. Life is like that, ya know? @livelyogini And he went over a bunch of great tactics including #FRC over at @ashtanganation to help him get stronger.
I recognized the work they had done (Maggie and I have worked together a lot over the years), and was able to facilitate further. The truth is, André wanted to work on his tick-tok (and so did I!) but we had some more pressing issues to resolve.
Together, we explored upstream and downstream to find compensatory movement patterns that have perhaps been leading to some of the injury, and examined how to remove the pattern by introducing a new one.
If it came automatically, we’d all move perfectly. We don’t. Andre’s patience with the developmental drills and upstream/downstream modifications left him able to practice the ashtanga yoga syllabus — elegantly into the primary series.
Same-same, intermediate.
Pretty cool.
After all the slow and steady and elegant; and then transition-y, we finally got to work on the tik-tok!!
I wanted André to share with me some of his progress while he works on these things, and so i got the ball rolling with video.
Here’s one way we work to develop motor skills somewhat autonomously in the Mysore room. We went from being totally assisted, to using a chair, to using pads.
Teamwork, patience, and persistence. They go a long way.
Lately, he has been struggling with injury. Life is like that, ya know? @livelyogini And he went over a bunch of great tactics including #FRC over at @ashtanganation to help him get stronger.
I recognized the work they had done (Maggie and I have worked together a lot over the years), and was able to facilitate further. The truth is, André wanted to work on his tick-tok (and so did I!) but we had some more pressing issues to resolve.
Together, we explored upstream and downstream to find compensatory movement patterns that have perhaps been leading to some of the injury, and examined how to remove the pattern by introducing a new one.
If it came automatically, we’d all move perfectly. We don’t. Andre’s patience with the developmental drills and upstream/downstream modifications left him able to practice the ashtanga yoga syllabus — elegantly into the primary series.
Same-same, intermediate.
Pretty cool.
After all the slow and steady and elegant; and then transition-y, we finally got to work on the tik-tok!!
I wanted André to share with me some of his progress while he works on these things, and so i got the ball rolling with video.
Here’s one way we work to develop motor skills somewhat autonomously in the Mysore room. We went from being totally assisted, to using a chair, to using pads.
Teamwork, patience, and persistence. They go a long way.
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