Handmade / Do-it-Yourself Yoga Mat Bags

Looking for a hippier alternative to the trendy yoga bags in circulation? I like the hippie look of these joyful carriers.

Sources: Here, here and here

Cultivating Joy

Happy July! I have got positive feelings about this month and thought it would be time to give this blog a seasonal facelift (hope you like it) and restart blogging more regularly. 

So, what is it so good about this summer? Well, it's been consistently hot for weeks (so unusual in this country), my love for yoga is growing day by day, and Loftino's love + generosity have been unsurpassed recently. Not only he put great effort in arranging  our first anniversary's celebrations (kabuki dance, dinner at the OXO Tower and silk kimono by Fleur of England), he has also surprised me with tickets for the Hop Farm Festival headlined by Bob Dylan (and Devendra Banhart). I am so, so excited about it. I have been listening to their rock folk music for months! We are driving to Kent tomorrow and will be camping with our brand new pop-up tent and self-inflatable mattresses. Wow!

Tonight I am doing an Acro Yoga workshop. I was a bit hesitant as inversions are still my Achilles' tendon, but it will help face my fears -- or so I thought when I signed up. Besides, Acro Yoga is also about connecting with the other fellow yogini, exchanging some juicy Thai massage, and, most of all, it's fun! Isn't yoga about cultivating joy, after all?

And what is more joyful than sharing yoga with children? I believe it could entertain and empower many needy children around the world. In view of a few volunteering with children ideas for 2011, Loftino got me this Teach Children Yoga Kit. I was a tiny bit disappointed to find out it is downloadable (rather than paper-based) material in PDF and MP3 formats, but this means I can print as many copies as I want and reuse the kit on different projects. The beauty of this kit is that it's designed for vivacious children. The guide says:: do not adjust children as they want to play with the shapes, but show them the right alignment IN CASE they DECIDE to mimic you. : D 

I look forward to putting it into practice with some of my friends' active kids! {Not that many, actually!}

OmShanti&PREM xxx

Acupuncture works Magic

Today I had my first acupuncture session and it was incredibly relaxing, soothing and rejuvenating. No kidding, I stepped into the room and visibly looked shattered. I left rested and my skin felt smooth, soft and tighter! Huw (the acupuncturist) bases acupuncture on the Chinese five elements: earth, fire, metal, wood and earth. The interaction and interdependency  of these five elements is the source of creation and destruction. As with all things in the universe, the human body is influenced by the energies of these five elements. 

I am a water/fire type, apparently: joyful and anxious at the same time with some earth elements in me... Next time Huw is going to give me a handmade face cream based on my elements. Sweet. : D

OmShanti&PREM xxx

TANTRA LOVE Explained

*** Apologies for the last two posts in Italian ***

"One should cultivate desire (Kama) by means of desire. One should cast desire into desire. Desiring by means of desire, abiding in desire, one should stir the world."

Vamaka-Ishvara-Tantra, 4.46

Colla tradizione tantrica il corpo viene rivalutato come mezzo per facilitare la trascendenza. Si scopre che il corpo non e' solo fatto di carne e ossa, ma anche di "energie sottili" responsabili nel raggiungimento dell'illuminazione. Secondo i tantristi c'e' un serpente (il kundalini shakti che e’ energia femminile) dormiente alla base della spina dorsale, che, attraverso movimenti particolari, tecniche di respirazione (prana), shock improvvisi e allineamenti posturali, puo' svegliarsi e cominciare a salire lungo la spina attivando i vari centri energetici (o chakra).

Il Tantra Yoga utilizza tutte le energie e i fluidi prodotti dal corpo umano compresi quelli prodotti durante l'atto sessuale. Le pratiche sessuali tantriche si basano sull'inversione dei processi naturali. Il fine del sesso non e' il piacere: non si tratta di applicare lo yoga al sesso per godere di più, ma di indirizzare coscientemente l'energia sessuale nei chakra per attivarli. L'obiettivo non e' nemmeno l'inseminazione. Durante un "normale" amplesso, una volta avvenuta la penetrazione, le carezze, i baci e i movimenti pelvici hanno lo scopo di aumentare la temperatura interna della vagina. Una volta raggiunta una temperatura di 39° avviene l'eiaculazione e il liquido prostatico trasporta gli spermatozoi all'interno dell'utero dove l'unione di una cellula maschile con una cellula femminile darà vita a un terzo individuo.

Nel tantra, l'uomo, sia nelle pratiche di visualizzazione che nell'atto sessuale vero e proprio, si predispone ad accogliere nel proprio organismo l'energia femminile "fredda" e "ascendente" e a trasformarla in energia maschile "calda" e "discendente" che a sua volta viene assorbita dall'organismo della donna e trasformata di nuovo in energia femminile.

Secondo le teorie tantriche è possibile distribuire l'energia sessuale nel corpo dell'uomo e della donna in maniera da costituire una specie di circuito energetico: il corpo femminile e il corpo maschile, uniti, ad esempio, nella posizione del doppio loto (l'uomo seduto in "padmasana" e la donna seduta sopra di lui) diventano le due metà di un unico essere con l'energia femminile che circola lungo la colonna vertebrale dell'uomo e l'energia maschile che circola in quella della donna. Praticamente si tratta di visualizzare una corrente (un gas o un liquido) fredda (argentea o bianca) che penetra nell'uomo attraverso gli organi sessuali, risale lungo la spina dorsale e, trasformatasi in una corrente calda (aurea o rossa), entra attraverso la bocca (o a volte il sesto Chakra) nella donna,scende lungo la spina dorsale e, trasformatasi in corrente fredda, penetra di nuovo nell'uomo attraverso gli organi genitali. Una volta "aperto il circuito" i due praticanti si concentrano sull‘"attivazione" contemporanea dei loro chakra.

Ora, questo concetto e' molto difficile da comprendere e attuare per motivi fisici e culturali, MA in termini fisiologici e alchemici potremmo spiegarlo cosi:

Se, un attimo prima dell'orgasmo mediante

- la regolarizzazione della respirazione,
- il rilassamento dei muscoli delle gambe, delle braccia, del collo, del petto,
- la contrazione dei muscoli sottili del glande in coincidenza con la fase inspiratoria,
- la contrazione dei muscoli dell'ano e del perineo,
- la contrazione dei glutei e la contemporanea "spinta in basso" dell' osso sacro,

si arresta l'emissione del liquido seminale, gli spermatozoi fanno marcia indietro e, in qualche maniera (energia di dissoluzione dei legami molecolari), restituiscono all'organismo l'energia in eccesso: il Fuoco.

A questo punto si immagina che, mediante la contrazione in fase inspiratoria nel maschio e la contemporanea spinta in fase espiratoria nella donna, gli umori e gli ormoni femminili (l'Acqua) penetrino nel ventre maschile. Qui, grazie al Fuoco maschile, l'energia femminile si trasforma in Vapore e sale lungo la spina dorsale fino alla testa dove si trasforma di nuovo in Fuoco. In pratica, il corpo viene considerato come un laboratorio alchemico nel quale i processi fisici (il passaggio di stato da acqua a vapore) e i processi chimici (l'attivazione dei vari chakra) avvengono grazie all'energia prodotta dall'eccitazione sessuale.

Solo con tanta pratica, sia sul tappetino che nella vita che a letto, e con la volonta' di non cadere in un gioco competitivo (mi trattengo l'orgasmo per prolungarlo a te), ci si puo' avvicinare a provare quell'esperienza totalizzante che va oltre il climax/anti-climax di un orgasmo "normale".

"A little girl Rubbin' on the bowls make you float around make your lovin' strong"*

After 16 hours of workshop with the queen of kundalini (Gurmukh Khalsa), I have been trying to relieve this experience in writing but it is very difficult to render what I felt during and after. Kundalini, perhaps even more than any other form of yoga, must be felt as words cannot make it justice. So, this post is a personal journal reflecting on my initiation to kundalini. I was a complete novice to the practice, and I was very curious to explore it as it is one of the most ancient forms of hatha yoga springing from the tantra tradition. Besides, I had read so many good things about Gurmukh that I had been longing to study with her for quite a while.

We all agree that yoga is ONE, despite the many schools and styles. This has certainly been my truth up until this past weekend. Kundalini is quite different. The main peculiarity is that you can't get away with a *yin* approach to it. In other practices, if one day your energy level is down and you feel lethargic or soporific, you can decide to take it easy and be more gentle with your body. In kundalini you are in or are out, i.e. you can rest without feeling a loser but asking to yourself: is the the mind or the body asking me to give up? OR you are in as you don't have choice but to hold the poses.

For an inexperienced student it may feel like an endurance test, but the effects are immediate and powerful. This is perhaps the other main difference from other schools. Kundalini touches the most inner buttons of our nervous system... and unblocks. The exercise directed to heart chakra made me cry tears of joy. At some point I felt electricity raising up through my neck, inebriating my head and I felt our collective energy perforating the roof. Nobody looks the same in a Kundalini class and yet I felt part of a unity as we drew our energy from one another through chanting, counting and our presence.

Because each exercise is hold for such a long time (11 looong minutes), it becomes a repetitive but not mechanical movement. In the same way a mantra is repeated 108 times to become pure sound of the universe, the movement becomes pure energy and you feel expansion and connection to the infinite. The practice becomes deeply meditative as your mind is fully focussed and content. This is a sensation I have experienced with other styles of yoga after years of practice, but in kundalini it feels catalysed - or maybe I am simply more receptive these days thanks to my regular practice and my philosophy studies.

Gurmukh was great at energising us through praise and encouragement but was also skilful to keep us grounded. To reach enlightenment the scriptures profess that the energy should raise from the base up to the crown of the head and beyond. But before reaching full liberation and union with god, one need learn to master the energetic channels through a balanced practice. Therefore, it is vital to keep the energy moving up and down from the root to the head chakra and back. The anus chakra is important as it keeps us rooted and purified -- it is through this chakra that we eliminate. The second chakra is the most creative one as it is where we conceive and express our erotic sphere. Although we need all the chakras to have a well functioning body, the heart chakra is often considered the most important one and sometimes the hardest to release.

Each of the five sessions with Gurmukh was different and creative but all of them were structured in the same work/play balance: the first part was rigorous and committed, the second part totally liberating. The dancing side of Kundalini is how I think each yoga class should end: expansion from stabilising action; freedom from structure. We danced freely shaking our entire bodies and forgetting who we were as if we had just stepped onto planet earth for the first time ever with the universe still within us. We concluded the weekend in glorified hippie fashion, joyfully dancing the Beatles songs and hugging each other in a big circle. I felt like in an angelic rave, surrounded by pure beings, in a Sunny Sunday morning in a bright colourful loft of bohemian Primrose Hill.

I found it physically hard, so hard I could hardly climb the stairs at the end of it. By Saturday night my body was trembling and my mind all over the places. On Sunday though I felt calm and really happy. I am not sure it will be my preferred teaching style, but I would love to have the opportunity to practice it again to deepen my understanding, if nothing more, and I will definitely incorporate some elements into my personal practice and teaching style.

* Red Hot Chilly Peppers, Falling into Grace with You

Chants for Haiti

Spirit Voyage Artists Snatam Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh, Nirinjan Kaur, Satkirin Kaur Khalsa, Mirabai Ceiba's Markus and Angelika, and Gurunam Singh have joined together to offer this beautiful collection of healing chants to help you send your prayers and your donations to the struggling people of Haiti through the incredible relief organization Doctors Without Borders. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to this organization.

On this album:

1. Ardas Bhaee by Gurunam Singh from The Journey Home
Recommended Meditation: Get Your Prayers Answered

2. Ra Ma Da Sa by Satkirin Kaur Khalsa from Universal Mantra
Recommended Meditation: Healing with Ra Ma Da Sa

3. Guru Ram Das by Mirabai Ceiba from Flores
Recommended Meditation: Healing with Guru Ram Das Chant

4. Re Man by NIrinjan Kaur from Adhara
Recommended Meditation:Transform Challenges into Stepping Stones

5. Aad Guray Nameh by Snatam Kaur from Prem
Recommended Meditation: Meditation for Projection and Protection

6. Ma by GuruGanesha Singh and Snatam Kaur from Pure Ganesh
Recommended Meditation: The Divine Shield Meditation for Protection and Positivity

7. Akal - Live Version by Snatam Kaur and GuruGanesha Singh
Recommended Meditation: Sending the Soul to God

8. Long Time Sun by Snatam Kaur from Feeling Good Today

After researching the various options, we have decided to make this donation through Doctors Without Borders.  

About Doctors without Borders (MSF):

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971.
Today, MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics,malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.
In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Visit their website: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

To LOVE and BE LOVED unconditionally

To be unconditionally loved means to be loved just as you are, without having to be or do anything special.

But how can we be radically accepted?

We need to love and accept ourselves just as we are, to be able to love someone else in such a limitless way and to be open to receive that love without feeling unworthy and inadequate.

Patanjali (whose text I had the honour of studying with Carlos Pomeda this past weekend) and Buddha invite us to cultivate brahmaviharas (the four states of the mind):

1. Metta = lovingkindness
2. Karuna = compassion
3. Mudita = joy
4. Upekkha = disregard for Patanjali and equanimity (ability to feel connection fully, without clinging or possessiveness) for the Buddhists

Swami Satchidananda translates Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 1.33 like this: "By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight for the virtuous and disregard toward the wicked, the mind retains its undisturbed calmness".

As Carlos pointed out, Patanjali is very pragmatical and gives you clear advises on how to protect our mind from fluctuations in order to avoid the root of suffering. Judging those who are misguided upsets the mind and diverts the prana (life force). Besides, Patanjali stands from the viewpoint according to which people hear when they are ready to hear.

The Buddhist yoga tradition offers detailed instructions on the practice of cultivating the brahmaviharas:

~ Sit comfortably
~ Call to mind your own goodness (a good deed, a quality in yourself you enjoy, or simply your innate wish to be happy)
~ Bring your attention to the heart centre and acknowledge how it feels without judging
~ Then repeat this METTA verses:

May I be happy
May I be peaceful
May I be safe from harm
May I enjoy happiness and the root of happiness
May I experience ease and well-being in body, mind and spirit.

~ If you feel a reaction of anger, fear, sadness, etc., add in these verses of KARUNA:

May I be free from suffering
May I hold myself with softness and care
May I be free from suffering and the root of suffering
May I be free from the suffering caused by greed (or anger, fear, confusion, and so on)
May I experience ease of body, mind and spirit
May I respond to suffering with compassion.

~ Notice your breath and body responses to these words.

~ After you express metta karuna to yourself, direct it to a beloved one. Then to a neutral person. Then to a difficult person. Finally to all beings.

You will feel joy in the awareness that your heart can contain so much love.

Metta karuna can be applied in any daily situation: to the people in the street... and to yourself every time you experience aversion.

Every morning, you can recite this intention to start the day with the right foot:

Waking this morning, I smile,
A brand new day is before me.
I aspire to live each moment mindfully.
And to look upon all beings
With the eyes of kindness and compassion.
May you, and all other beings, be happy and free from suffering.


Frank Jude Boccio, Yoga Journal Article Love in Full Bloom, May 10

Sivananda Docet :: the 12 [or 18] most essential ASANAS

 

 Side Crow. Photo (c) Yogaru

I have been doing tons of yoga lately. I have achieved my first aid certificate and I am full of energies and ideas. I am not resenting at all of the passage from Winter to Spring because I prepared myself (detox diet, spring clean workshop, etc.) and because Spring in the UK is never as dramatic as in my home country. There are still a few important things I need to sort out in my life, but, generally speaking, I feel very well in my body and mind and this is mainly thanks to the practice of hatha yoga, pranayama, meditation and kirtan. Because I have swapped my blog for Facebook (terrible, I know), I can't remember whether I posted about my yoga nidra experience while singing kirtan. It was the first time I went into a deep relaxation while being 100 per cent sure to be still alert simply because I kept chanting all the way through. It was revealing. 

Although I am increasingly getting more interested in the philosophy of yoga and all its spiritual aspects, I cannot deny that I am enjoying my daily physical practice a great deal. Hatha yoga (being it anusara, shadow, asthanga, vinyasa, restorative ~ all styles I keep alternating) is made of 8.400.000 asanas (!), according to the scriptures, but Sivananda points out that 12 basic postures -- preceeded by Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) and followed by shavasana (little death = relaxation) -- "bring out the essence and all major benefits of this wonderful system".

These 12 Basic Postures are:

1. Headstand (Sirshasana)

2. Shoulderstand (Sarvangasana)

3. Plough (Halasana)

4. Fish (Matsyasana)

5. Forward bend (Paschimothanasana)

6. Cobra (Bhujangasana)

7. Locust (Shalabhasana)

8. Bow (Dhanurasana)

9. Spinal twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)

10. Crow pose (Kakasana) or Peacock pose (Mayurasana)

11. Standing forward bend (Pada Hasthasana)

12. Triangle (Trikonasana)

Sitting postures for meditation and Pranayama include the lotus pose.

One of my teachers says that the most important asanas are 18. I guess she includes four withing the surya namaskar cycle. I guess they could be Chaturanga Dandasana, Uttanasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana... but I may be wrong...

A Fashionable Yoga Bag

During my quest for the perfect yoga bag (it has to be light; roomy enough to fit my mat,  gear and accessories; and stylish, bien sûr), I came across this multi-functional bag, which doesn't tick all my boxes, BUT it is a beautiful mosaic sling which can be used as a yoga bag, head wrap, belt or scarf. I like the idea of wrapping it around my body and tighten it up in a chunky ribbon.

 The Obi Yoga Bag available @T:KUU

Springclean Contemplations

We are all part of the evolutionary process. To contribute to evolution, we need to allow transformation by avoiding stagnation and calcification in our body and  emotional sphere. Spring is the time flowers start blossoming and animals come out of lethargy. In the same way, our body asks us to get rid of the winter storage and detox to gain new energies and grow.
 
How? Yoga is one of the many technologies we have at our disposal to facilitate this process. Each of us will choose their preferred tool for transformation. Here some recommendations drawn from my experience at Time to Renew + Spring Clean with Jeff Phenix.   

~ Revisit your diet and, if possible, follow a detox regime. Explore the possibility to cut out for a few days some ingredients from your diet and see how you feel. Your unhealthy cravings might cease.
~ Practice relaxation and healing practices to purify the digestive and reproductive organs {restorative yoga and yoga nidra}.~ Clean, cleanse, de-clutter your body, house and emotions - give away the things no longer serve you (there is always someone who wishes what we no longer want), write down three things you want to get rid of in your life and three things you want to blossom, and then burn the paper.
~ Create tapas (heat) to detox {energetic hatha yoga practice}.~ Twist your body ~ twists massage and oxygenate your internal organs. With a twist you create a compression, when you release it, a flood of blood irrigates that area. 

~ Breathing techniques help calm the mind and increase the core strength at a deep level. When you slow your breath, you slow your brain and become happier. Some yoga breathing techniques are bhastrika, kalabati (breath of fire), agni sama (purification of inner fire) and nauli/uddiyana bandha. In Iyengar students are not allowed to practice pranayama until they are very advanced in the asana practice as prana (life force) can upset the nervous system. So, be gentle and mindful. These techniques did give a forceful stir to the stagnant energy in my belly area associated with digestion and reproduction. ~ Chant a healing mantra to let go the mind, get absorbed and dissolve  your self into the sound. This is a great way of connecting to the universe.

*Om Tryambakam Yajamahe Sugandhim Pusti Vardhanam Urvarukamiva Bandhanan Mrityor Mukshiya Mamritat*

*Om. We worship and adore you, O three-eyed one, O Shiva. You are sweet gladness, the fragrance of life, who nourishes us, restores our health, and causes us to thrive. As, in due time, the stem of the cucumber weakens, and the gourd is freed from the vine, so free us from attachment and death, and do not withhold immortality.*

This mantra is said to have the power to remove all sufferings, ward off all evils, remove diseases and bestow the aspirant with health and energy. And it is said that when this mantra is it chanted with great devotion and serious contemplation it is said that the knowledge of this birth and death cycle is revealed to the aspirant. And thus it helps in overcoming the fear of death.

Yoga takes you outside your comfort zone. Try to explore your edges without pushing. Always apply discernment and moderation.

HAPPY SPRING!

Photo credit

Cuff Me Up

I can't get over the beauty of Satya Jewelry and their advertising campaign... Sexy, sumptuous, sophisticated, symbolic, stylish... You mention it. And those cuffs!

On the Subject of Desire

Photo by Nan Goldin

What is the nature of seeking? It is wanting to feel good. Good feelings are pleasures. Becoming aware of how this mechanism works can help create a shift in consciousness that will make your relationship to pleasure more realistic as you become aware of the potential consequences on you, the environment and the world.

Desire can encompass diverse needs, from sensual or aesthetic experiences to more cerebral satisfactions. The feelings can be increased or diminished by thinking about them, but they quickly fade into memory. This is the reason why we seek more and greater pleasures. Desire is endless. And even if realised, the desire might not bring the expected enjoyment. We are pretty bad at predicting what will make us feel good.

But desire fosters change and prevents stasis. It is an essential drive of evolution. Dissatisfaction fuels pleasure seeking. So desire can bring the motivation for change and the pleasure of anticipation.

The problem with desire is not that you desire, but what you desire and how desire can be manipulated.

Although it is healthy to prefer pleasure to pain, the latter plays also an important role. Life is change, and one changes either by growing or by becoming more rigid. Real growth involves periods of confusion, discomfort, pain and even suffering before a new direction evolves.

In seeking, you seek the known: experiences we remember, have heard about or imagine as pleasurable. You can only seek the repetition of the old. However, there is the potential for sorrow in repeating familiar pleasures as in seeking the known and dwelling on a past feeling you remove yourself from the potential that the living moment holds for you, and you end up feeling inadequate as you are unable to engage with life in the moment, which is where joy, communion, love and creativity lie.

Beliefs bring you security and certainty. Every time I cling to beliefs that make me feel superior, I negate life as I cut myself off from any real connection that you and I might have.

Desire of be desire-less is but another desire.  Letting go of unrealisable desires can make you feel better and can be useful to free yourself from old programming. The risk is removing yourself from the creative momentum of life. 

It a constant conflict: if I try to get out of it, the trying itself puts me back in. So what to do? In the moment you become aware on how this whole process works, you could try to step out of the conditioned habits that pleasure and desire can generate and come into contact with their nature and see this as part of  how you mechanically work, without judging it in yourself... The simple act of self-awareness will trigger a new movement, and perhaps a shift...

The Passionate Mind: Expanding Personal and Social Awareness by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad

A Radiant Wedding

I am here with an impromptu post as I have just learnt that Victor & Angela got married! What a marvellous news! I studied a workshop with them last year and they inspired me so much that I decided to apply for the teaching training. Since then there is no class I take without applying Angela's non-teaching: feel the connection with the earth and the centre of the earth and listen to the inner movements and shift happening at a deep level. She is such a cool yogini and woman. It is exactly how I would like to look and be at her age. I think she is so organically beautiful and radiant. He is also very charismatic and charming. It is with him that I did handstand for the first time in my life. I hope to have the pleasure to study with them again, ideally in their Greek retreat. Here a few photos in all their splendour.

The Origins of Yoga

I continue my mini-lectures on the philosophy of yoga as I learn it myself with an overview on the origins of yoga. The question is how old is yoga and how does it evolve?

The origins of yoga can be traced through the sacred Hindu scriptures. 

In the Upanishads, texts belonging to the late Vedas and composed around 800 BCE, life is perceived as an arena of suffering and grief, and this notion is exacerbated by the process of samsara (eternal cycle of reincarnation) through karma. The goal is to be “freed alike from pleasure and from pain” through the practice of self-control, renunciation of worldly desires and meditation. This latter is defined as a process of separation and discernment. “This calm of the senses and the mind has been defined as yoga”. See my Yoga Methodology post, to understand how freedom is achieved.

Śramanas, wandering sages of Jainist, Buddhist and Ājīvika religions (the latter now extinct), adopt the path of austerity, discipline and contemplative life to achieve liberation while renouncing household life. 

Jnana yoga (yoga of knowledge and discernment), Karma yoga (yoga of selfless action) and Bhakti yoga (yoga of devotion through love), unlike the above-mentioned ascetic practices, share a degree of social involvement. The Bhagavad Gītā, the equivalent of the New Testament for Christians, dated around 3^rd century BCE, chronicles these concepts of selfless action, love and devotion.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a systematic compendium of the study and practice of yoga written in the 2^nd century BCE. Patanjali does not really add anything new to the ontological research, but his merit lies in the compilation of an accessible and organised teaching system, which inherits the same meditative approach to enlightenment and worldview of its predecessors, with an emphasis on renunciation. In chapter 2 (Yogash Chitta Vritti Nirodhah), Patanjali defines yoga through elimination: when we separate from our mind, the mind becomes self-aware, and we become pure consciousness. 

A straight line of continuity can be detected from the Śramana/Upanishads to the Jnana and Sutras philosophies. The Bhakti and Karma traditions, as narrated in the Bhagavad Gītā, undertake a different path: the path of extroversion (pravrtti), which will be further deepened by the Tantric tradition (from the 9^th century onwards). Mind is divine consciousness, and desire is no longer a devilish temptation or a waste of energies. Transcendence is possible without renunciation.

In Search of the Perfect Yoga Bag

I have been looking for the best yoga mat bag on offer, roomy enough to fit also my yoga gear as I am sick of running around with two bags constantly entangling one into another. An all-in-one bag would be the solution but it is just too hard to find. Here are a few that caught my eye but didn't steal my heart. My quest continues...

 

Orla Kiely retro looking bags look well refined and sturdy. This multicolour one is on offer for half price. Very tempting. 

This Yogoco bag has also a retro feel and it seems big enough to contain a towel as well as a mat. The garish print is cute, but I wonder if  it will bore me quickly.

Om Padma's yoga bag comes in hot pink or this lovely turquoise. It is rather slim but quite long that you could shuffle in a pair of pants and a tee.

Is Yoga a Religion?

Because this is how I spend most of my free time, when I am not working or blogging, I thought I would share an edited version of my contemplations on the philosophy of yoga. After all, yoga is a life style and one that can radically change your outlook to life. I very often get questions like "is yoga a religion?" or "what is the difference between yoga and a religion?". So, here a succinct attempt to answer this question. 

The various yoga traditions share the same ontological concern that preoccupies religion: the transcendence of the limited human experience and the attainment of immortality. Yoga however, unlike organised religions, does not require an  aprioristic faith and does not label a non-believer a sinner or a non-dogmatic a heretic. In yoga, the practitioner is invited to undertake a spiritual path with an open heart and inquisitive mind, which may lead to the discovery of faith and devotion through personal experience. So, you can be a yogi and a Christian, a yogi and a Muslim, a yogi and a Hindu or even a yogi and an atheist as it doesn't matter what name you give to god, or if you believe in one to start with.
 

Photo from Kizie Blog

Kirtan Event

How exciting! My lovely friend Vlad and I have just booked Deva Premal and Miten's concert in May. Yes, in May. In London you plan everything months ahead. It spoils spontaneity, but avoids disappointments. Besides, it is good to get to the day without having to pay for it. 

I discovered Kirtan last year {remember my post about Dave Singer?} and I am going to have a full day of chanting with my course in Spring. Devotional music is becoming my current obsession. I have recently discovered Snatam Kaur and I am hooked by her angelic voice. I listen to it when I travel, do yoga, study. You can listen to her HERE. 

Credits: Photos from Deva Premal and Miten's Facebook page and Snatam Kaurs' free downloads' web-page

Design Duo :: Karmic Mood

I am completely immersed in the study of the yoga tradition which inspired this design and fashion combination. I can't decide whether this colour is pink or purple.

Elle Deco, as seen in Mimi and Meg + Tory Burch Tunic

I Love Colours!

Organic cotton pants by Omnitom

Yoga Holidays :: Wine & Yoga in Provence

I would like to complete my yoga teaching training with a yoga holiday, ideally in India, but more likely in Europe. I am planning to review a few places I have been short-listing for location, style and good value.

My husband and I have been invited to spend a week of yoga and wine tasting in La Madalene, a beautiful mansion in Provence. My friend spent a yoga week there in 2009 and came back refreshed and re-energised. We are seriously considering to join this year, as it sounds to me - a  trainee yogini - and Steve - a would-be wine connoisseur - a good compromise. The delicious cuisine, not exclusively vegetarian, is a plus for my carnivore husband. And, compared to other yoga holidays on offer, the costs are reasonable. It is easily accessible by low-fare airlines, but we wouldn't mind to combine a road trip across France.

La Madalene, a converted priory in the foothill of Mt.Ventoux in Provence, sits on a sandstone outcrop surrounded by mature trees with views over vines, fruit orchards and mountains. The house has been carefully renovated and tastefully decorated with a mix of contemporary classics and antique Provencal furniture. I love the natural colours vivified by touches of magenta.

 Photos (c) Dawn Lintern, courtesy of her Facebook Photo Album

Dawn Lintern, yoga teacher and talented singer, has been practising since 2000 and practising for about 15. She focused on Ashtanga for several years, studying with practitioners such as John Scott, Gingi Lee, Hamish Hendry, Nancy Gilgoff and Danny Paradise. She has done teacher-training with David Swenson, with Narayani in Sivananda yoga and more recently Yin Yoga with Sarah Powers. Dawn teaches Ashtanga at Triyoga and Hatha yoga at Yogahome and the North London Buddhist Centre, where she teaches a more personal, creative style combining the riches of her ongoing exploration into different styles of yoga and teaching. Her aim as a teacher is to give as much individual attention as possible, whilst tuning in to the group dynamic and energy of each class in order to encourage people to discover their potential and blossom.


She will be in Provence in May and August. Check the details here.