25 January 2014

Re- education for a life- time long practice.

It irks me, when every time a student come up to me mentioning how their " yoga practice" previously had gave them a fair share of unrecovered injuries.

Aside from those self- inflected wounds that their ego had led them to those advanced practices--- more than what their actual condition of the body can handle;

I'm quite caught by surprise ( not anymore) that the information and hand-on adjustment from the previous teachers are literally tearing their body apart--- and leaving the students like a broken rag doll when there's nothing they can exploit anymore.

I've been approached by student with different muscular and joints strains, more especially over the past one year. Sometimes i'll have sleepless nights, just pondering on what's going on.

At time when i got upset, i'll be texting my working partner, Shirly about it.

While as being a yoga teacher, i could have easily said that its the students' individual responsibility for their own practice; when the ego arises that causes them to be injured--- they will have to learn their lesson humbly.

However, to a certain extent, student place themselves at a very vulnerable state--- as they want to be as open so to learn from the teachers. The destruction starts when the teachers' ego come into play, taking advantages of the situation--- eventually shaking the faith of the practice in the student.

I empathized those who told me that they practically feel pain everyday-- that affect their daily activities. Yet some of them still hold the faith and seek healing through the practice.

I had too gotten injured myself during the practice--- and that really shook my ground and still crawled back to the practice, trusting the healing element is there to help me.

It did, though its not easy to convince the confused mind at that time.

I used to like teaching physically challenging classes, with interesting variation of flows and postures. Which also see that many students do not have good ground work, which then brings them unnecessary injuries.

Fundamental works are pretty dry topics and can be very uninteresting to work on--- however, its the stage where you either make or break the body.
Shirly and i had then decided to choose the path of re- educating practitioners on the importance of the basic--- in hope our students can hold their practice for a long time.

There will be a flow of workshops over the year of 2014, touching on different stage of the practice in Ashtanga Vinyasa--- also open our arms to those people with injuries and seeking to be back on the yoga mat.

Drop all expectation in the mind of how we should function--- and all the good knowledge will appear.

www.satyayoga.com.sg 




05 January 2014

Back to work: Commitment is a chosen freedom.

After a little more than 2 months break from work schedule that i gave myself, i'm finally all ready to start teaching. Air plane seats are probably most body-destructing, but for the love of traveling.. i tried to manage my way through the stiffness and body aches.

Before i start my first class today at 8am, i planned to get myself a good morning practice. Deliberately when to bed the previous night real early, and i got up by 3.30am--- did my new routine of oil pulling, rolled my mat out and lit a peppermint candle to warm up the space.

4am, i started working through each knot of stiffness around my body ( especially my thighs, post over-shopping syndrome i guess).
Love the feeling of the heat flowing through the fibers, spilling beads of sweats that were glistering on my skin.

By the time when my practice was coming to an end, its dawn at 6am. I fell into a deep rest ( maybe catching up on my sleep hours), my back was aching, my thighs was shaking, and i my head was just too blank to think about anything.

Upon my next deep inhale to slowly bring myself to mobility, one thought passed through my head...

Commitment is a chosen freedom.