Simon Borg Olivier workshop redux

Tags

circulation, Hatha, internal force, Kundalini, relaxation, Simon Borg-Olivier, Stretching, Tantra, workshop, Yoga

Here I am, finally reporting in on last weekend, where lucky, lucky me got to spend a day and a half learning from the wonderful Simon Borg Olivier.

Simon is all joyousness, fun, passion, love, enthusiasm, knowledge and wisdom. His teachings make so much sense, and yet some of what he has to say flies in the face of what is taught to many yoga teachers.

Seems to me that many of the most interesting yoga teachers out there each have pieces of the “yoga puzzle”: reviving and expanding modern-day western-world yoga from the benign practice of “stretching”.

Simon is another of these teachers.

In this particular workshop – a day and a half of teachings and practice – Simon spoke of Hatha yoga as being the right-hand side of Tantra (which concurs with all of my previous training). Tantra, of course, being a series of practices designed to bring awakening of consciousness via raising kundalini energy. He also spoke of a little of left-hand Tantra – which includes practices of extremes and taboos to achieve the same result.

[Note: my training in Tantra has included these aspects, but also a strong focus on various forms of meditation, ritual and deity yoga.]

Far from being the generic name for yoga until it branches out into Iyengar, Ashtanga and all the rest (the refrain of “all yoga comes from Hatha yoga” being extremely common), Simon speaks of Hatha yoga as being about creating internal forces. These forces, if used in the correct way, can bring about awakening of kundalini.

And it’s with this view that we began the workshop (the room was packed wall-to-wall with yogis).

So let me give you a taste of the weekend, if I can. There’s so much to say and my puny brain has no hope of remembering it all, let alone fitting it into a single blog post…

Simon’s style of practice has a very funky flow to it – lots of beautiful flowing arm movements and both small and large movements of the body. There’s plenty of video footage on Simon’s website and blog for you to check out if you like.

He walked us through making tiny movements with the body that are in effect the same as the grosser movements – forward, side and backbends, for example. But rather than a side bend that focuses on the bending side of the body, Simon asked us to think of lengthening the non-bending side. This still creates a side bend, but without jamming the spine.

Another thing Simon asked us to focus on was keeping our lower belly “baby soft”. By that he means not sucking the belly to the spine in most instances – instead, the belly is engaged by pushing the belly button away from the spine. This action creates strength and space, but also once again, does not squish what shouldn’t be squished. In fact, it’s possible to create firmness in the belly while keeping it soft, and still be able to hold a conversation without gasping for air.

We also focused on circulation of blood/energy (they’re one and the same, right?) by engaging all body parts – the trunk, arms, legs, fingers and toes – in each asana. Not just having some parts of the body come along for the ride. I have to say that being quite sensitive to energy as I am, this part of the work had a huge impact on me!

Simon posits that if our circulation is working properly, we don’t waste energy. That profuse sweating and/or numbness or coldness in our body while practicing suggests our circulation isn’t working as effectively as it could.

All very interesting stuff!

And hey, I know I’ve got some work to do on the circulation front. Coz okay, I might be a pitta/kapha constitution, but I sweat a hella lot even when practicing in a cold room!

Another important point from the workshop surrounds the common yoga teacher instruction of making sure your shoulders aren’t raised when you bring your hands over your head. How many of us were trained with that instruction and have in fact, said just that to students?

The thing is, that by pressing our shoulders down when our arms are above our head, we are in fact jamming the spine. Which isn’t particularly helpful for circulation and the flow of energy in the body, yes?

He also emphasises a point that I’ve never forgotten from his teachings 12 years ago: that yoga creates artificially tense situations for the body, in which we need to learn how to relax. In fact, Simon says that he relaxes throughout his entire practice (even in all those “fancy” poses, as he calls them), which is better than just waiting for savasana at the end!

Interspersed with all of these lovely little wisdom nuggets, we completed three full practices over Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, while Melbourne’s grey skies opened up intermittently. With lots of intense instructions to go with the asana, wow did I sleep well Sunday night!

The other brilliant thing about re-connecting with Simon via this workshop is that I discovered there’s someone teaching his style of yoga right here in Melbourne, and actually not far from where I live.

Can I hear a HUZZAH? Coz this yogi now has a new yoga studio to call home. 😀

I’m not sure if Simon teaches much further afield than around Australia and Asia, but if you ever get the chance to do some yoga with him then go for it! Not only is he a lovely, adorable person but he’s got an encyclopaedic knowledge of the body and yoga.

Enough for now. My brain had a wee melt-down this weekend and I need some rest…

More about that soon.

~Svasti

P.S. Please note the above are my recollections of the workshop, so if I got something wrong, my apologies!

P.P.S. There’s also a lot of stuff Simon covered that I haven’t mentioned above. There just isn’t the space here…

Kundalini healing

Tags

Assault, Hate, Healing, Kundalini, Love, Surrender, Swami Rhada

A letter from me to my Guru written in April 2007 about an experience at that time.

I’ve been trying to write this piece for some time, but now the timing seems to be just perfect.

**************************

Dear Guruji,

For a long time in my life I’ve been a very angry person. I know this is not a part of my basic personality (whatever that means). I do not remember ever being an angry child.

Nevertheless, I’ve been quick to anger, rile, annoy for most of this existence. I don’t really know when that started.

It’s now been almost 18 months since I was assaulted by a former friend and lover in my own home. At the time you gave me the advice to love those who perpetrate violence on you. And I have to admit that despite really wanting to, I have not been able to do that for the longest time.

At first I didn’t know how. Then my anger kept me away from being able to or even wanting to try. Even after the vows taken at our powerful ceremony in Bali, I was not able to vanquish my anger. I was able to subdue it however, but that resulted in my being annoyed about lots of things I wouldn’t have worried about previously.

I feel like I’ve been in some sort of cocoon, where I’ve been sluggish, unable to motivate myself and angry about everything. As a result I’ve felt that I’ve been living a bit of an empty life, but unable to shift this for whatever reason.

But strangely I’ve noticed since returning from Bali, that the more I struggle or get annoyed about something, the more the experience appears to be rubbed in my face. I’ve asked for guidance and help in my prayers, but it seems I’ve been waiting something out. And in the process, I’ve been learning that the more I surrender to whatever annoys me, the less it actually annoys me.

Tonight I’ve just finished reading Swami Radha’s diary/book, about her time with Swami Sivananda. I seemed to read it very fast, even for me. In the last few pages, Sivananda is making a speech as Swami Radha is preparing to leave India. And in it, he repeats your original advice to me – to love those who try to hurt you.

And then the strangest thing happened, I can’t really explain it. My throat got hot and heavy and every part of my body seemed to vibrate. Tears rose spontaneously although I wasn’t crying.

Where before I’ve tried to imagine myself being able to offer love in response as per your advice, right at this moment I wasn’t doing any trying. It just was my experience, and continues to be so. Actual love for this person. I’d almost given up thinking I had the ability to cultivate this. But I could feel a ‘cramp’ as you’ve called them, relax and ofcourse a great deal of energy released as you have described is possible.

I don’t know if “all” of my anger has dissipated just yet! And somehow I doubt it. But I do feel a substantial shift within myself towards that direction.

As ever and always with love and gratitude…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was a MAJOR turning point in my healing journey. For about two-three weeks afterwards I retained this experience of openness and love. I grinned like an idiot at anyone who looked in my direction and had a sensation of inner radiance and light so intense I was sure it spilled out onto the footpath. It was very, very sweet.

Sadly at that point in my life/path I was not able to stabilise all of this as a permanent day-to-day experience. But it definitely gave me an insight into my true nature – all of our true natures.

My Guru wrote back and said “that is definitely an experience of healing kundalini energy”. He was pleased for me as always. The thing I love most about my Guru is that he is not ever trying to be my saviour. Never does he treat any of us as special for having an experience like this. Its run-o-the-mill stuff. He wants each of his students to stand on their own two feet. Whilst he gives us the tools, he doesn’t do the work for us. Unlike the stereotype of Gurus who want everyone to be reliant on them, mine does not.

Anyway… although the energetic state faded, the knowledge gained during that direct experience did not. I can’t say all my anger has dissapated – seems I’ve still got some more work to do there. But it is greatly lessened. I may not always be able to apply everything I learned from that time, but its wisom I “know” and not just intellectually any more. Even now, a year and a half later I can say I love Andre and mean it.

Not in the “I wanna marry you” kind of way. But you know, genuine love for a fellow human being in suffering. Because how crappy must he feel about himself deep down, if he’s compelled to hit other women? He must feel a whole lot worse than he can acknowledge. That kind of life must really suck, much more than I can imagine.

For I don’t hate myself, not any more. And I don’t hate him either.

Anger begets anger. Hate begets hate. How are we ever to release our own anger and hate if we continue to spew it outwards at others?

Recently my mother and I had quite the blow up. It takes a great deal of effort for me to become so angry that I yell, but parents and children are good at pushing each other’s buttons, right?

I was mortified at this regression. Or was it? Perhaps, this whole “can’t-get-a-job-stuck-living-with-my-parents” thing is actually the next phase of releasing old pent up family karmas?

Things have calmed down alot since that horrid fight (I really don’t like fighting) and we’ve started getting along much better.

But possibly… it looks like I’m here til both my parents and I learn a few more lessons about each other.

~Svasti