School’s out, so is Shala Om

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 alice cooper montage Thank you all for a fantastic first term of yoga in the cinnamon warmth of Shala Om.

We are taking a couple of weeks off for the school holidays.

Classes resume Thursday 23rd July at 6.30 pm.

 See you on the mat!
Unjay

ॐ

Melody

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Darkling sparkler leaning into light 

Twin star to the shining sister

Spin to bliss on this our circling earth!
  

Self consciousness versus self awareness

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It is an undeniable difficulty: it is easy (and very common) to be self-conscious in yoga class.
I look at the gorgeous young things at the front of a hot class in their skimpy Lululemon crop tops and short short shorts putting their heads on their feet with ease… I look away to see a muscular gymnastic guy balancing on his hands bare chested, all biceps and pecs, not perspiring but glistening…. if I am unlucky enough to be in a studio with mirrors I may accidentally (I try not to look) catch a glimpse of myself red-faced, sweaty, bulky, in an old T-shirt and sweat pants, struggling to reach into warrior 1. 
I think, What am I doing here?
The answer is, I am trying to Know Myself. My limitations are what I am here to experience. Not to conceptualise, but to experience my edges, the edge of what I am capable of today, in this moment. Yoga is one of the few physical activities which involves or requires nothing more than your own body. There is no extenuating circumstance, no equipment failure or advantage. You simply know what you can do or can not do. Today. In this moment.
One of my teachers, Hayley, hates that stock phrase of yoga instructors, “…if this is available to you today”. (Eg., “…now put your ankle around your neck if it’s available to you today…”) I actually really like it, because it communicates no sense of shame or failure if in fact you cannot put your ankle around your neck. It’s just not available today. Sold out, we haven’t got any left. Maybe tomorrow there will be some. Not your fault if you can’t get it.
Another valuable thought from my teachers was to limit my awareness to the edges of my own mat. To practise Astreya , the yogic virtue of non-stealing, by not stealing other people’s practice. Think about your own practice only, without comparison or judgement. Sense into your own body rather than looking at someone else’s. Feel the effects of the pose rather than look at someone else doing it “better” or “worse” than you. 

Yoga is a way of coming into a direct, unmediated experience of the self, ultimately leading to an experience of the Higher Self, the people we were meant to be, and in our finest moments, actually are. Self-awareness is valuable and central to yoga. Self-consciousness? Forget about it! 

No meditation this Sunday, May the 10th

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There will be no meditation this Sunday May 10th at Shala Om- beecoz it’s Mother’s Day. Or Mothers’ Day. Or possibly Mothers Day. Even as acting local Apostropher General, I can’t figure that one out. As far as I can tell, they may all be correct. Anyway, it’s not a day to sit about meditating when you should be out spoiling your mum! Well, maybe meditate first…

Meditation resumes the following Sunday.

What can meditation do?

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What can meditation do?

Change the world. One breath at a time.

We often focus on breath in meditation because:

  • It’s the thing you still do when you’re not doing anything;
  • It’s a way of focussing on yourself objectively and subjectively at the same time; and
  • It’s something you can centre your mind on, stilling and quieting the mind.

When we focus on the breath, we also detach from our thoughts. We can’t stop the thoughts- they are what the mind produces and they always keep coming. But we can choose not to invest in them for a time, the time we set aside for meditation.

Thus, meditation is

  • A conscious act of stepping outside your usual thought patterns and processes;
  • An opportunity to explore other modes of consciousness of which we are not usually aware; and
  • A way of putting a new perspective on our everyday life and freeing ourselves from unhelpful preconceptions

Meditation is worth doing. Nothing else which is so close to doing nothing can do so much!

If you are new to meditation, the “doing nothing” aspect can be very challenging! I can only encourage you to stick with it. Put in the time, overcome the boredom, even when you don’t feel like it’s not worthwhile- it really is. And it’s a skill; like every other skill, it takes time to master. 

Be patient; be persistent. You will be rewarded in ways you have never imagined. In changing your perception of the world, one breath at a time, you change yourself. When you change yourself, you change the world. One breath at a time.

Meditation: 2pm Sundays 

Yoga: 6.30 pm Thursdays

What can real yoga do?

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My whole purpose in starting Shala Om:  I feel like too much yoga these days is done superficially. Too many studios present yoga as a trendy cardio workout, with little time to feel into each pose of the sequence. This is a true loss, beacuse what yoga uniquely can do, is to walk that line between the unconscious energy of the body and the conscious mind. It brings us fully into the present moment. And being in the moment, the connection between unconscious energy and the conscious mind just happens.

Really it can’t be put into words, it is experienced in the practice. And we feel the beneficial effect afterwards. Everyone always does.

Yoga is not a doctrine or a creed, yoga is movement in harmony with our multi-layered nature as human beings.

Yoga : 2pm Sundays

Yoga: 6.30 pm Thursdays