When I reflected on the healing process on 4th March 2011, 4 weeks after the operation, I came up with some points.

• I thought I would shift seamlessly from having an active yoga practice to having a restorative yoga practice. What happened was that for 2 weeks is that I couldn’t do any yoga apart from lying on my front on a bolster and breathing. My mind and body was too restless for meditation or pranayama. I was surprised at this, after all potentially this the best time for it. Actually, I didn’t have the energy to make that first step and trying to find the energy only made me feel really bad about myself.
• I found the best thing was just watching some videos on TV, reading some books.
• What they don’t tell you when you have an operation is that you will have a totally different body before and after. I expected there to be discomfit and pain but what I didn’t expect was to have almost no proprioceptive contact with my body. Every time I did the usual things to put myself in touch with my body I had a really strong reaction and I didn’t have the energy to deal with that reaction. I found that the general anaesthetic took a while to really leave my system, for me this seemed to be around 4-5 weeks.
• I worked with taking it slow and working with what is rather than what I think it should be. This was really important as it was easy to get frustrated by the perceived lack of progress.
• I modified and adapted the physio’s exercises to my own needs. This was also important because physiotherapists work in a different way to yoga. They are happy to push through the pain to get you moving as there are now lots of studies that show healing times after operations are much improved by early mobility. It was when I went back to the gym that things really turned the corner for me. I found that the gym was a place where I could do a little bit to get my body moving, mostly because I was able to sit down at the machines and rest when I needed it.

Lessons for the future.

I would wind down the physical practice a few weeks before the operation rather than carry on up to the operation, just do meditations, affirmations and breathing exercises. This would give my body time to adjust to the idea that things could be different. It’s also important to have internal resources which don’t rely on movement.

I would put together a recovery program with another yoga teacher and get them to help me with it. It’s really hard trying to do it on your own.

I can recommend the CD which comes from the book ‘Body, Breath and Being’. You can get details of the book here (it also includes links to the MP3 files). It has 2 tracks which I have found to be really effective for learning to let go.

Yoga is more than mere stretching exercises to help keep you limber. It is a spiritual practice involving meditation and self-reflection. As it is a popular method of relaxing the body and mind, many have embraced the ideals of Yoga. It’s only natural that the capitalists of the world would want to make money on the idea and practice of this combination of body and mind. Mats, water-bottles, towels, and more are loaded with branding icons so that you can meditate on such images as your favorite football team. However, if you are meditating correctly, image is unimportant. Does commercializing such a spiritual activity take something away?

1. Goods - Regardless of what the activity is, someone is looking to make money on it. Whether it is a tiger-printed yoga mat or a Starbucks branded water-bottle, people are willing to pay money just because it shows a favored image or brand. Yoga isn’t the only spiritual activity that is monetized in today’s world. When was the last time you saw a Holy Bible for free at the bookstore?

2. Vanity - Many people will buy into these retail goods in order to gain attention at places like aerobic studios. Although they won’t admit it, why else would you want to meditate on SpongeBobSquarepants? If you were truly into the spiritualistic side of Yoga, it wouldn’t matter what you were using as a mat. Many people will practice Yoga at home without a mat as there is no one to impress.

3. Consumerism – People love to spend money on trinkets and items that hold no significant purpose. Capitalists see this as a smorgasbord of potential riches especially if they see the trend in time to soak it for every dime they can. It has nothing to do with getting in touch with your inner-self, but getting in touch with your inner-wallet. They will create commercials to entice you to buy products you don’t necessarily need by making you feel like you do.

4. Enlightenment - Although merchandising may make you think you need these items to reach a more profound experience of enlightenment, you most surely do not. In fact, you could probably do well to practice Yoga out in the backyard on nothing more than the lawn. No colorful mats or branded bottles will make a difference in how you perceive yourself.

5. Reputation - How would it look if monks at the monastery wore robes with the Pepsi symbol on the back of them? Would you take them seriously? Why don’t nuns walk around in garments showing a bright yellow smiley face on them? You wouldn’t take the religion, faith, or belief very seriously if they did. Does the same thing happen when someone buys into the commercialization of Yoga? Many would think so. To buy these items would make the practice of Yoga look more like a main-stream activity thing rather than finding inner peace.

6. Yoga studios – Most Yoga studios are located in high value urban areas. It means that they are paying high rents. This puts them under considerable pressure to fill classes, leading to over large classes where teachers have difficulty in keeping track of potentially dangerous practices. Teacher training and workshops by famous teachers are essential high price items which keep the studios afloat. This can lead to poor quality teacher training and large numbers of underqualified teachers. Over hyping famous teachers is gradually leading to a tournament model of the financial rewards for teaching. A tournament model is one where a few people at the top make lots of money and most struggle to get by. If this model took hold, it would put further pressure on the overall quality of teaching as most teachers would struggle to get by and be unable to afford extra training.

The world we live in ensures that if there is an activity, a capitalist is looking for ways to monetize it. Unfortunately, that is just how the world currently works. Regardless of what the commercials may try to sell you, Yoga requires nothing more than the power of your own mind and body. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars for trinkets you don’t need, unless you want to.

Jason Miner plays a vital role for www.blogcarnival.com. He is an expert in writing topics of different categories. He is helping the carnival team to grow & working on making this an even better place for bloggers.

The practice of focussing on the most difficult poses and calling the ability to do difficult poses an advanced practice has caused a lot of problems for yoga teachers. On the one hand, it has drawn people to the practice. On the other hand, it has generated unrealistic expectations and has lead to many yoga practices being less enjoyable than they otherwise might be. Very few students think about what the pose requires and what preparation needs to be done before attempting it. Most just show up to the class and assume that if the pose is being taught, they can somehow power their way through it.

So, when I teach the poses, I am somewhat cautious. Firstly, it is possible to strain or injure yourself if the poses are done incorrectly. Secondly, most people lack the kinaesthic awareness that allows them to build the pose from the inside.

Thirdly, very few people ask themselves what the poses do. If yoga is to help you with your everyday life, then the question must be asked: what is the problem you are having in your life that requires a pose as a solution? If you spend your life working at a desk then what poses will support this and help you sit with ease?

Lastly, a pose done badly will often have worse effects on your life than not doing the pose at all. I know many colleagues and teachers who have irreparably damaged themselves trying to do a difficult pose.

So, I’m interested in creating class which deals with these issues. I want to teach a class that is rooted in everyday life. A practice which has to be got off the mat was never really on the mat to begin with. So that means that whatever is in your life is also brought on to the mat. There is no special ‘yoga’ attitude. Just a willingness to be present. A class that is rooted in everyday life needs to deal with the fact that most people are under extraordinary stress. So the mat needs to be a place of restoration, not a place where you once again fail and feel terrible about yourself.

I want to create a class which generates safety and trust in your own body. This will help you be present and begin to deal with the stress in your life. Central to this is that you listen to your own body and you are faithful to the intuitions and experiences which arise from this. This means that are you entitled to modify a pose or come out of it early without feeling judged or criticized. It means that you prioritize the subtle nuanced internal awareness of where you are in relationship to the earth and the space around you over achievement of the pose. If you do this, how far you can go will change effortlessly when you are ready.

Most of the yoga students that I have taught who have been unhappy in their practice have prioritized the end result over the process of getting there. If you accept that each release will follow it’s own path and that trying to pre judge this path will only block it, you will be more willing to allow your body to intelligently lead you into the pose.

The journey into the pose involves constraints. In understanding the pose, we are often specifying what we don’t want, what we are seeking to avoid. It is only then that we can let go of the habits that blind us to what is truly happening in our bodies when we are in the pose.

Even with this approach, there are risks. So, it should be understood that no pose is risk free, but the risks can be consciously undertaken. The risks I want to take are one of integration of mind and body, being more present.

OK, finally, I can talk about the poses I do in the class. There are three poses I do pretty much every class because everyone does them and everyone (including me) can benefit from doing them better. They are: standing, sitting and lying on the ground. Then there are the transitions between them. If yoga is to benefit you in every day life, that’s all you need. The rest are just fun. Since I like having fun, I throw in lots of other asanas. But I do so because I want to have fun.

I’m not interested in doing asanas because they are good for me (or my students). The world is full of grim faced yogis who are doing the pose because they think it is doing them good. And the less fun they are having, the weirder their philosophy as to why they should suffer. It is not unique to the yoga world, my local park is full of people speed walking with absolutely no enjoyment of the act because their doctor told them that walking is good for them.

So, maybe you get to do headstand. There again, maybe not. You will probably do forward bends, downward dog, lunges, triangle and the warrior poses. But it depends on where you’re at and sometimes it also depends on where I’m at as well.

So finally, you’re not going to the class to learn the poses. You’re going to the class because you are learning to trust a natural process that allows you to be effortlessly present no matter what pose you are in during your daily life. You’ll be put in places in your body which require you to be inventive, creative and above all, adaptable. And then whatever pose you do will be an antidote to whatever ails you.

In the process, we all get to have fun!

See you in class.

I was a little cautious going in to the retreat, I have come across teachers in the yoga world who have a very high reputation and seem to promise a great deal but rush through a series of ideas they get from other teachers. I soon realised that wasn’t the case with Peter, he is that rare beast in the somatic world, an innovator.

Because he was an Alexander teacher before becoming a full time workshop leader, I expected that his technique would bear some similarity to some of the Alexander principles. There are some cross overs, in the Alexander work the key principle is allowing an integrated release in your head, neck and back to precede free movement. In the eyebody work, it is establishing a release through your lower brain to your upper brain (the upper part of your neo cortex, at the place where you would have a top knot at the back of your head ) that provides the foundation for both an integrated way of seeing and moving. Both are based on patterns and principles underlying human development rather than a series of movements or postures.

This makes both the Alexander work and the eyebody work more flexible but also more difficult to understand and teach.

The eyebody work differs significantly from the Alexander work by the use of intentions and vision types.

The vision types are: over contracted, over expanded and mixed. The types refer to habitual areas of clarity and avoidance. An over contracted type is comfortable seeing in the close distance but has difficulty seeing in the far distance. A mixed type will have one eye that switches on to see in the far distance and the other eye for close up. This means that the middle ground will be a place of confusion for the mixed type. Each type has wider associations than vision habits, it also refers to both posture and communication habits.

Intentions are wishes  with commitment, soul qualities which move you away from just needs for survival. Each part of the eye has a separate intention, for example the layers in the front of your eye are explored with the intent for trust and safety. These explorations are started with a commitment for presence as opposed to under focussing or over focussing. Under focussing or over focussing are habitual states whereas presence is more of the relaxed alert state which comes from contemplative or meditative work.

This commitment to presence in your whole body and the environment around you, with a focus on your upper visual cortex, seems to be the essence of the work.

Every day we did some exploration of the people types. It was fascinating to see what I had in common with people who had a similar vision type to me and what the difference was between the types. These vision types went much further than just the normal short sighted / long sighted classifications. We also did some unusual explorations of the anatomy of the eye. Interestingly, Peter never used a diagram or a power point to describe the anatomy of the eye. He said that he used to do this but he was not happy with the outcome as people failed to understand the experience of being in the different parts of the eye.

The venue and the people were both great, I really enjoyed both the company the surroundings. The food was ‘delicious vegetarian’, a phrase that normally strikes dread in me, but in this case it really was delicious and with lots of variety.

It’s taken me many years of patient work to get the principles of the Alexander work and it’s probably going to be the same for the eyebody work. A couple of times I got a really unusual feeling of being completely present and co-ordinated but it soon disappeared. My vision did improve quite a bit through the course, I recovered a lot of peripheral vision which I hadn’t even noticed that I had lost. I could see better in the dark too, again another ability that had slipped away without me noticing it. My ability to see clearly improved though it is still blurry without glasses. And I was able to see fine in bright sunlight without needing dark glasses.

All in all, I had a good time at the course and can recommend it for anyone who wants to explore an unusual and innovative way of making the connections between your visual system and your body as a whole.

Check out http://eyebody.com/ for information about the retreats. Information about the venue is at http://www.bucklandhall.co.uk/

I am running a drop in workshop on Saturday 21st July 2012, 10am to 1pm. Cost is £20.

Click here to apply for the class.

Our organs are an often neglected part of our understanding about how to move with ease, particularly in yoga.
Our organ provide the energy and nourishment for movement. Often problems with injuries can be traced back to internal organs which have become depleted and are unable to support the movements.

When there is organ support for movement, there is a sense of connection to the interiour of our body. This can provide a sense of softness and calm in the asanas and even the most simple of actions revitalize our bodies.

We’ll be taking those ideas into exploring our natural ability to move with organ support to see how that can expand our life experience. We will take a look to see how simple self-help can help maintain and improve the health of our organ systems.

We will be doing some simple vinyasas (flowing sequences) and asana as part of the class.

Click here to apply for the class.
Our spines and our breath are intertwined. Often the first sign of problems in our spines is the lack natural breath movement in part of the spine. Just getting the breath moving in the spine can offer us a chance to get in touch with our natural strength and flexibility without having to do complex or difficult asana. It also offers us a way of establishing a perceptual baseline, a neutral starting place in our yogic adventures of movement, meditation and stretching.

When the breath is able to move freely in the spine, there is a natural connection with the earth which allows weight moving into our feet to rebound freely through the spine, creating length and ease in movement.

We’ll be taking those ideas into exploring our natural ability to flex,extend, side bend and rotate our spine to see how that can expand our life experience. We will take a look to see how simple self-help can help maintain and improve the health of this essential centre in our bodies.

We will be doing some simple vinyasas (flowing sequences) and asana as part of the class

Sometimes you can do the sensible thing and take time out with lots of rest and come back to normal life when the injury has fully cleared up.,

But often life isn’t perfect, you still need to maintain some mobility. Here are some tips to help you cope. I’m assuming that your injury is not life threatening and that you are following the advice of medical professionals.

Don’t give up! You have the power to help yourself. If you are giving yourself a hard time about being less than perfect, reflect on the fact that every great athlete, dancer, yogi or body worker has at some point had to cope with injury.

Accept that the injury has happened. Accept that your life has changed in a way you didn’t want or plan. Acceptance doesn’t mean that you have to like it.

You have a body and at the same time, you are more than your body. It means you can still be your authentic self despite having a body which is not working at full potential.

Many of the usual ways of dealing with injury contain an inherent opposition. ‘Powering through’, ‘gritting your teeth and carrying on’ suggest a mind over body or a mind against body type approach. If this works, great. For me, finding ways of getting my mind to work with my body is preferable.

Give yourself permission to feel whatever you feel. And that means whatever you feel, whether it is sulks/trantrums/blaming/self pity/relief, even if you believe them unacceptable or weird. There’s a story about Pablo Cassals, the great cellist, who mangled his hand on a skiing holiday. He admitted later that his first response was to think “thank god I don’t have to play the cello”. Self compassion is likely to be in very short supply at this point. Anything you can do to decrease beating yourself up is welcome.

Once the injury has happened and there is pain, the flight/fight/freeze response will start to kick in. It will partially numb your sensations but accept that your body IQ has just dropped. A lot of thoughts about movement are just wrong as your body is fighting between what was and what is.

Accept help when it is offered, you need it and you will surely return the favour at some point in the future.

A mistake is to try and move like you are not injured. Your body will fight back and you get’ll upset.

Affirm that you can still move very freely and at the same time accept a reduced range of motion or an adapted range of motion. For example, with a leg injury, do smaller strides and maybe a slower pace. You can always find the fluid uplift from the earth and surrender of weight to the earth, even in moments which seem impossible. Take time, trust the life force and move. And if you fail, it’s OK, you’ll get it another time.

Things take longer, small distances become scary. Give yourself more time for your body to organise itself in the transitions between positions. For example, take a couple of breaths before moving from sitting to standing.

Accept that your muscles need to move through slightly different pathways. Take time to allow those new pathways to emerge, don’t rush. Your mind expects that you move in a certain way. You’ll feel confusion during the process of allowing these new pathways to emerge.

Persuade all the muscles crossing the injured part to keep moving when you move. Again, never force this. Sometimes the muscles just need time to freak out and lock up.

Accept that there may be pain. Let go of the tendency to avoid the pain or get into it. Notice your reaction to the pain, take time to reassure yourself that you are managing your body in the best way you know how. If the pain is persistent, seek help. The internet is a good resource for instant tips but also make appointments with your doctor.

Use pain killers, but don’t train on them. If you need to do something athletic which outside of normal daily movements, avoid using pain killers if you can as they can give you a false confidence.

And finally, make a commitment to explore the lessons which need to be learned at some point in the future when you have healed enough to listen without judgement to what your body needs to tell you.

Alexander Technique

Hilary King is an Alexander teacher with 25 years of teaching experience. She was also a professional ballet dancer with Sadlers Well Opera ballet for a number of years before becoming an Alexander teacher. She has a wealth of experience in the technique and her lessons are always full of interesting ideas about movement. Well worth a visit if you’ve time this Saturday.

Saturday 10 March, 10:30am to 1.30pm.
Newington Green Unitarian Church N16

Move freely & easily – enhance your wellbeing for Newington Green Action Group Mary Wollstonecraft

Memorial Sculpture Project

Mary on the Green, Fundraising event

£20 Donation

www.newingtongreen.org.uk Reg Charity 1087866 www.maryonthegreen.org

Further Info: www.hilaryking.net

The trouble is, there is an inherent contradiction in the term positive thinking. We think thoughts. And once that thought comes to your concisous mind, you label it positive or negative.

So, it’s not the thoughts that are the problem, they are just thoughts. Our brain generates thoughts and associations in the same way that our gall bladder produces bile. What most people have difficulty with is unwanted thought patterns which repeat again and again like an old fashioned record stuck in a groove.

These unwanted thought patterns are sometimes a symptom of  tension or maybe illness in your body. And sometimes, the thoughts we label as negative are just things that we have difficulty with in our lives. I’ve noticed again and again that if I release tension in my body, my thought patterns change. So just doing some yoga and relaxing a bit might sort out the problem.

But that doesn’t always get to the source of the problem. Desikachar in ‘The Heart of Yoga’ talks about samskara (roughly translated as habit or conditioning) and getting to the root of the habit. With unwanted and persistent thoughts that are not generated by tension in your body or unresolved issues from your past, you need to stop the thought just as it arises and choose another thought before the negative thought begins. Since our brain generates associations very quickly, we need some way of becoming aware.

The best ways to break a habit are:

• A meditative practice which allows us to observe thoughts and stop them before it all begins.
• A form of mantra which is repeated again and again with the intention of replacing a bad habit or attitude with a better one.

It’s possible with practice but isn’t easy. Most of us are trying to deal with the thoughts after the fact. So some techniques which might be useful.

• Acknowledging the positives can rebalance our thinking. A standard technique is taking time to acknowledge the good things in your life, the things you feel grateful for.
• Find the context, the big picture. Telling yourself not to take it personally if someone rubs you up the wrong way, that they do it to everyone is an example.
• Break out of any isolation that you might feel. Take time to acknowledge that other people are in the same position and also struggling with the same problems.
• Have compassion for yourself. You are human and that means that you are imperfect and that’s still OK.
• Find ways of dealing with stress, lack of sleep or improper nutrition in ways which suit your body and your personality.
• Take time to reflect on the things that trigger the thoughts. Gradually learning to disable the triggers will give your mind a breathing space and allow you to meditate clearly on the causes of the thought in the first place.

There are many forms of meditation which allow you to see the root of the habits and choose different pathways. If you want to explore this, I can recommend getting hold of ‘A Path with Heart’ by Jack Kornfield. It’s beautifully written and gives many practical meditations.

If you want to explore replacing thoughts by using affirmations, then Louise Hay’s ‘Heal Your Life’ is a also good read.

If you want a very entertaining talk on happiness and positive thinking at work (a place a lot of people have difficulty being positive about), check out http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html

This blog post arose out of some conversations in my intermediate yoga class, so thanks to Jo for bringing it up.

Click here to apply for the class.

Our spines and our breath are intertwined. Often the first sign of problems in our spines is the lack natural breath movement in part of the spine. Just getting the breath moving in the spine can offer us a chance to get in touch with our natural strength and flexibility without having to do complex or difficult asana. It also offers us a way of establishing a perceptual baseline, a neutral starting place in our yogic adventures of movement, meditation and stretching.

We will be exploring how the breath moves in our spine. We’ll be taking those ideas into exploring our natural ability to flex,extend, side bend and rotate our spine to see how that can expand our life experience. We will take a look to see how simple self-help can help maintain and improve the health of this essential centre in our bodies.

We will be doing some simple vinyasas (flowing sequences) and asana as part of the class.