hello England.
we are in beautiful berlin and its soooooo amazing and inspiring…….
we are here for the Nancy Gilgoff self practice classes and astanga adjustment clinic. watch out- we may have to practice on you and have been trained to creep up from behind to wrench your knees and backs out for our own pleasure brrrooooooooooohaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrhaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr (J)!
Be very afraid. Anyway, Nancy Gilgoff has provided some really great insights into the practice that come from her 30 years’ experience and close knowledge of the Jois family.
She says that the ashtanga practice is an ‘energy builder’ – that means drawing energy in, rather than losing it by extending too far and reaching too far out. Instead, she talks about pulling the energy towards the centre of the body (thanks Josetta!) by focusing on the core and curling inwards in forward bends. I used to think yoga was about ‘stretching’, and I still think this is how lots of people see it – about elongating the body and limbs. This is a completely different take as it’s about more about drawing the body back into itself – Nancy talks a lot about ‘integration’ of the body.
J again, just flicking through some of myworkshop scribbles-
yeah, its about an internal energy focus, so whereas Iyengar is very concerned with the look of a posture, astanga is more concerned with the internal, breath and bandhas, to let the energy flow (we may start charging for this Guy). this all makes so much sense. Ah yeah and she talks about Surya namaskara as your prayer and to use that frame of mind for your whole practice, you can see it as a prayer, grattitude and a connection to the bigger picture…..this takes you out of your ego, which in turn will reduce injury (less “pushing”).
so many beautiful words and ideas from Nancy and lots of fun and laughter too. and the adjustment clinics are tremendously inspiring, even if you dont want to teach, (thou I cant wait personally) you learn so much about the postures and the practice from looking at how to dissect the poses, what each one is doing, where the focus is etc……….
anyho that is it from me, am in yoga heaven, spending pretty much every waking moment talking or doing yoga and eating great vegan food (which is everywhere) and so great to get to know Louise and Shari better and meet other similarly yoga obssessives……..
big yoga love comin at yall
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Look forward to practising at BNHC soon and seeing everyone again – Louise x
No comments yet.