Hanuman Comes Visiting
[caption id="attachment_1396" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Monkey Business[/caption] Today, a monkey strolled into my yogi cottage. And when I advanced towards him, shooing him away, HE advanced towards ME, and bared his teeth. I backed off and watched as he made his way to the kitchen shelves and started to pick things up and toss them across the room, while I tried my...
Yoga Kriyas and Welcome to the Digestive System
Yogi Sivadas' teaching of yoga is classical and is also strongly influenced by Ayurveda, the ancient science of better health. He believes that most emotional, hormonal and physical imbalances and agitations of the mind are caused by bad diet, poor digestion and a sedentary and/or stressful lifestyle. Healthy digestion and elimination is crucial. The exasperated expression, "Oh, she's full of shit!",...
How Important is Yoga Asana in India?
Another glorious sunrise over McLeod Ganj; eagles soaring in wide circles and birds singing happily, and as I sit on the balcony, I think about the class I taught last night as part of our teacher training. I smile and remember how at one moment during the class, I looked out over the valley and thought, "Holy crap! I'm standing...
Tibetan Prayer Wheels and Temples
[caption id="attachment_1405" align="alignleft" width="200"] Tibetan prayer wheels[/caption] Our yoga teacher training schedule is crammed, so we relish the little bit of free time for exploring the area and early one morning I enjoyed a visit to the Buddhist Kalachakra Temple (no photos allowed). There were local Tibetans making their daily circuit of the temple; praying, spinning the prayer wheels, stopping to...
Bhakti Chanting, Sanskrit and Mythology
Out of the mountain of our yoga teacher training study materials, I was immediately drawn to the chanting books; Bhakti or devotional chanting, which I love. We sing the invocation to Patanjali every day, and it's nice to begin asanas with this familiar chant that I know well from many Iyengar yoga classes back home. For the first week, we have...
Little Tibet: Settling In
[caption id="attachment_73" align="alignright" width="300"] Vibrant and happy yoga room[/caption] Loving it here! It's a combination and contrast of chaos and peace! Goats, dogs, cows, bikes, tuk tuks, taxis and people, all claiming possession of the narrow main street; vehicles missing you by millimetres as their horns blast loudly in your ears. And then inside our tranquil little yoga school perched on the...
Made in India: Preview
The decision to complete my 500 hours yoga teacher training certification in the foothills of the Himalayas, within chanting distance of the Dalai Lama's home, happened very quickly. India wasn't even on my list of possibilities until my pilates/yoga friend, Michele, suggested it. When research produced nothing that really leapt off the screen, she looked at me and said, "You need...