So I totally meant to draw the winner for my give-away this weekend. I even planned on making a little movie to show you the drawing.
BUT I failed to realise the yoga workshop I’m doing this weekend would take over my life quite as much as it has! It’s my second Simon Borg Olivier workshop for the year and I’m feeling… overwhelmed, amazed, excited, grateful and blown away.
Since the first workshop I did with him in May, I’ve been doing classes with one of his senior students here in Melbourne (Simon is Sydney-based). Also since then, I’ve gotten very sick and made something of a rebound (still working on it!).
I’m pretty sure that switching to Simon’s style of yoga has played a role in my recovery to-date because it’s quite simply amazing.
Simultaneously, this yoga builds strength and yet is both graceful and beautiful. Instead of being exhausted after a class, I usually feel like a jumping bean – full of energy. And today I’ve just finished up six hours of workshop with another six still to come tomorrow.
My teacher (who is assisting Simon) hugged me at the end of today and complimented my pink cheeks (showing excellent circulation), while reminding me how well I did to get through the entire day. And actually, I feel really good. I need of a sleep, yeah. But otherwise really, really good.
Dear readers, I have so much to tell you about this workshop and the classes I’ve been doing.
What Simon teaches is profound – most yoga teachers come away from his workshops re-thinking the way they teach asana completely. So hopefully soon, I’ll be ready to write up a few bits and pieces for you about what I’ve been learning.
For now, I just want to state a few things that are probably self-evident to most yoga teachers, and perhaps some students, too. This is more my observations in recent times rather than anything I’ve been taught explicitly.
Are you ready?
Okay, so some of us are prone to saying things like: “Yoga is not about doing sick arm balances”, and this is VERY true.
But to expand on that, yoga is not about how a pose looks or even about achieving/mastering various poses. I mean hey, it’s not a bad thing to have mastered a pose but one’s practice should never be about the goal of mastering a pose. Yeah?
In other words, yoga isn’t about looking good and showing off what you can do. That means nothing whatsoever. It’s possible to use brute strength/force/gravity to maneuver your body into a yoga pose. What does that prove? More importantly, what does it do or not do? Is the pose “dead” or “alive”? Does it help keep your circulation functioning well or do you over-heat/get cold fingers and toes? Are you relaxed in your practice or do you try so hard to do various poses that you hurt yourself?
But what if instead, your yoga practice could improve your blood pressure, or your immune system? How would you feel if learning to breathe properly changed the acidity levels of your body? What if you could learn to do a back bend that didn’t squash your lower back? Or if by doing a very simple practice and without any forcing, you discovered access to more “advanced” poses without doing them obsessively?
Wouldn’t all of that be amazing?
This is some of the essence of what Simon teaches. But there’s more. So. Much. More.
I think I’m ready to try to craft a couple of posts on it all. And I promise, once the weekend is over I’ll draw the giveaway toute de suite.
In the meantime I’m pretty absorbed in everything I’m learning. And thankful for being fortunate enough to receive these teachings.
And very soon it’ll be time for bed.
More soon, y’all!
~Svasti xx
Svasti: A Journey From Assault To Wholeness 