Yin & Yang Yoga Intensive May 23rd

Yin & Yang Yoga Intensive

Saturday May 23rd, 2.30 - 4.30pm

Hi yoga friends,

I am excited to offer my Yin & Yang Yoga Intensive on Saturday May 23rd, Bairnsdale. My last one before I go to Bali to do a further 100 hours in Yin yoga training. I hope to share what I have learnt with you in class and in workshops. I hope to continue with the Yin and Yang intensives as well as introducing deep yin and restorative intensives when I return. My first offerings will be in July.

What's on offer for this intensive: A playful mix of 'yang' and 'yin' yoga. 'Yang' yoga is a dynamic, active and heating practice whereas 'yin' yoga is quiet, meditative and cooling practice. I offer flowing sequences beginning with Sun Salutes and moving through vinyasas to build heat before sliding into beautiful grounding moon salute variations. Throughout these flowing vinyasas the focus will be opening up space in the upper back, shoulders and neck.

The 'yin' practice where the poses are held for up to five minutes with emphasise on the lower body slowly and mindfully allowing the pose and time to melt away tension and tightness. This intensive is 2 hours of mindful movement finishing with pranayama (nadi shodhana) and meditation.

Details

Day: Saturday May 23rd
Time: 2.30 - 4.30pm
Venue: St Mary's Parish Centre, 23 Pyke Street, Bairnsdale
Investment: Prepay $30 or $25 concession by Tuesday May 19th
Payment on the day: $35, $30 concession

How to book?
Your booking is made when your payment has been received. An email will confirm your booking. Payment can be made either in cash/cheque at my classes or by Direct Bank Transfer (email for details)

Cancellation: A cancellation made before 5pm Tuesday May 19th will be refunded in full. After that date no refund will be given.

I look forward to seeing you on the mat.

Light, love and peace,

Margot XXXX

Yoga Intensive: Journey to the psoas

Intensive 4
Yoga Intensive May 9th
Restorative Yoga: Journey to the Psoas 

Where and what does the psoas muscle group do?
Where is this 'psoas muscle' group?
The iliopsoas muscle group is made up of the psoas major, psoas, minor and the iliacus muscles.We will mostly explore the psoas major muscle in thisi workshop. The psoas originates from the 12th thoracic vertebrae (T12) and travels laterally to each of the 5 lumbar vertebrae. From there it flows down through the abdominal core, the pelvis, to attach to the top of the femur (thigh) bone (see image below from http://www.townsvillemassage.com/healthy-hip-flexors/)

 What does it do?

The Psoas is the only ‘muscle’ to connect the upper and lower spine to the legs. It is responsible for holding us upright, and allows us to lift our legs in order to walk. A healthily functioning psoas stabilizes the spine and provides internal support through the trunk. This forms a shelf for the vital organs of the abdominal core to function optimally.
Interesting?

Resetting the psoas can assist with fatigue and tiredness, digestive and menstrual irregularities as well as lower back, SI joint and hip discomfort, and pelvic imbalances.
Internal awareness of the iliopsoas muslce group and learning to release this muscle group will bring a sense of freedom, ease and structural integrity into your core.

Appropriate for all levels as variations and modifications offered throughout the practice. Tailor the practice to suit your needs on the day.

Prepay and save $5: $30 or $25 concession
Otherwise pay on the day: $35 or $30 concession
Contact Margot Porter on prasannayoga@hotmail.com for details

To express your interest or to book you spot contact Margot at prasannayoga@hotmail.com
Limited places available.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Margot  

Finding your inner guru - be your own teacher

How to be your own teacher!

I start class with an invocation we were taught at my first yoga teacher training. An invocation to the teachers and the teacher's of the teachers and your own inner teacher.

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

A translation: I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge.

Inner guru or dancing figure Cambodia. Photo by Margot

Who and where is this guru?

Does it matter how we define teacher or a guru? 

Are they an expert, an enlightened person, or someone who challenges us in a way that makes us tease out our own limiting beliefs?

Either way we look at it this, by using the above definition we are placing the guru outside of us or external to us and while there is no doubt that there are many amazing teachers outside us who are very powerful and who hold great wisdom and knowledge they are not the only source of teacher power.

I guess the reason I really love the invocation above is it reminds me that their are teachers everywhere and my best teacher is inside me...there is a deep untapped well of wisdom inside I just have to clear away the layers clouding my inner guru. It is like there is a beautiful shining diamond that is hidden in a rock and it needs uncovering and polishing to shine, polishing until it is crystal clear. Have faith not fear is what popped up last night in the dark blackness of a sleepless night wondering and worrying about things I cannot change.

Like a drop of water be crystal clear. Drops on a lotus leaf. Photo by Margot.

I say it it all the time, I know listen to yourself... be your own teacher... listen to the inner guru.

But how???

Here are some way I use to help me to access my own inner guru (though sometimes she is very hard to find).

1. Talk less, listen more.

Trust the non-verbal part of your brain. Give this part permission to express itself. We all have intuition but how often do we cloud it with past experiences or creations of what might happen...what if? Where is this non-verbal brain I hear you ask...your body. Embody awareness and your body will know where to go and what to do. And yes this can be a little uncomfortable at times but worth the effort.

2. Unplug.

FEAR, yes it has to have capitals as this emotion is huge, enormous and follows me like a shadow. Fear comes from worrying thoughts...that's right those very ones that kept me awake last night and make my body tense and sore. Thank goodness for yoga hey! Worrying thoughts come from our verbal brain and they come as word, complete sentences and even whole storied. They create feelings and develop into emotion that can then get stuck into your bones, joints, and flesh. Deactivate them they do not come from a base of true information more from latent impressions stuck on replay.

 A painting by Rod Valentine.

3. Relax into the moment.

Just be here and now. Be in the peace. Be peace. Relax into this moment. Oh it is lovely letting it all go and keep telling yourself relax into the moment, be in the space of peace in your, in your body. Trust in the wisdom of what is inside.

Bracken star...because we are all stars. Photo by Margot.

 

4. Trust yourself

That's right do what is good for you and unplug those thoughts that make you feel like you are letting people down or that people won't like you. This is a fantastically liberating practice the practice of saying 'no' to activities or invitations that don't nourish you. Empower yourself and do what is right for you. Be true. and then...your intuition will speak and you will hear. Recently I heard 'rest', 'slow down' and 'reflect'.

5. Have faith in the universe.

In a way an extension of trusting yourself and the question: If I don't will the world fall over? Answer: No..how great is that. Essentially you have surrendered to the divine to the universe or another way of looking at it is letting go of attachment to any particular outcome. Now that may seem difficult after all we are programmed in many ways to make and execute plans/projects as part of our life schooling but the world won't fall apart if we change our perspective on how we go about doing this.

Let those worrying thoughts float past like clouds in the sky leaving a vast blue expanse of space and peace.

Om shanti, shanti, shanti, Margot XXX

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Yoga Intensive March 28th - Ignite your Fire

Yoga Intensive March 28th

Ignite Your Fire

Unleash your inner warrior.
Be fierce. Build a strong core.

One of my students recently said “Yoga keeps me toned and calm, but I do other exercises for core strength.” Often “core strength” is associated with strong abdominal muscles and it is common to use various forms of sit-ups to develop this form of abdominal strength. For some they are a good start and can be a very effective yet for others they can create a sore neck and shoulders, a strained lower back and a contracted, rigid core. 

Yoga poses use the core in a way that cultivates a strength born of physical integration and connection rather than one of force, strain and tension. Physical integration and connection is the coordination of different parts of the body working as a whole instead of isolating a muscle or muscle group. Understanding how to engage the whole body in building core strength is a key way to making mind, body and spirit stronger and more powerful. Working the body in unison ignites deep core muscles and brings awareness of how your torso and limbs work together to create calm and steady yoga poses and a strong inner fire. 

Ignite your fire and take this sense of core strength and wholeness into a series of warrior poses and forearm and side plank variations. 

"Be fierce on and off the mat."

This intensive focuses on building awareness of and connection to your deep core by strengthening abdominal and lower back muscles through engagement of the inner thighs and upper body. We will explore warrior poses with an emphasis on moving from a supple and strong core opening up to our inner warrior. Unwinding we take to the floor for a grounding and soothing sequence including hip openers, twists and restorative back bends that led us naturally to meditation and savasana.

Appropriate for all levels as variations and modifications offered throughout the practice. Tailor the practice to suit your needs on the day.
Prepay and save $5: $30 or $25 concessionOtherwise pay on the day: $35 or $25 concession.

To express your interest or to book you spot contact Margot at prasannayoga@hotmail.com
Limited places available.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Margot

Yoga loves your body! Hug yourself today.

Yoga's Transformational Power

One way to start this post would be to describe all the aspects I didn't like about my body OR I could focus on how yoga helped be to love all the parts of my body, my mind and increased my spirit - she now has a strong and positive voice that I listen to.

Goddess - Angkor Wat. Photo by Margot Porter

From conversations with women friends talking about their bodies I noticed language like ashamed, frustrated, even hate arising. And lots of wishful thinking, for example, the straight out I just don't like comments "I don't like my thighs/buttocks/voice", "I wish my body was smaller" ," I want longer legs/bigger breasts/smaller bottom insert own comment. The other option is they take the form of the it would all be different if - "if my thighs weren't so big I could...", my own one "if I was stronger I could...". Okay so most of us have them and I'm not in anyway suggesting that this is a purely female issue but is this the message we really want to tell our bodies, each and every cell. Our bodies may well believe us and manifest exactly what we have been telling our bodies they are - old, stiff, inflexible, weak and the list goes on.

Yet this is the body we have. This is the one body and this is it. Now I believe the body listens to what we say that little voice inside our head and that changing the message brings about huge transformation.

Try "My body is amazing". "I love everything about my body." Now if that is a little too much of a jump then try "I accept/appreciate/ have gratitude for all that my body does." "I am lovely just the way I am."

While I’m not going to say that yoga is the only solution, I would say it has worked wonders for me and many of my students either from their own observations or those of others. When practiced with an awareness of loving kindness and acceptance yoga shows us the way to love our body. Yoga can be a powerful force of positive transformation. 

My yoga mat is a wonderful private space for me to explore some of my limiting beliefs and habits. Yoga class is a supportive and safe place to investigate, untangle and tease out my patterns and a chance to evolve in the present moment....now. I can try something new. I can let go of a limiting thought safe in the knowledge that the only person judging me is probably me and I am the one person who can let it go. Recently at a workshop in Melbourne I watched the woman next to me wobble out of a balance and then she tried again. Inspiration! Don't give up. Yoga is a practice that is different every day. Explore. Play. Enjoy!

Fall in LOVE with your Body 

1. Use positive language to talk to our bodies.

On the mat we are up close and personal with our bodies and with our thoughts about our bodies. Notice those thoughts. Give them a name: judging, critiquing, rejecting, disliking. Turn the thought around. Make it a positive thought: exploring, enjoying, relaxing, accepting, challenging. My teacher A.G Mohan talks about overlaying positive thoughts onto our latent impressions - those non-supportive often untrue thoughts about ourselves that have been repeated maybe from childhood and are embedded deep in the cells. Rewrite your cellular memory. Each time you notice a negative or self-defeating thought arising in your practice change it to a fresh and kind thought. This practice of quiet observation can move off your mat and into your life when you notice that little voice holding you back from reaching your true and awesome potential. Rewrite. 

Make your body a temple of LOVE.

2. Move our body in a new and different way.

Our yoga practice is for us and no one else. We are allowed, that's right you have permission, to move in a way that expresses and honours your body. Our bodies are really cool and amazing. They can be physically strong and flexible on other days they are soft and yielding. Honour and respect the way your body speaks. 

One of my first teacher's used to ask us to visualise doing a pose first and look I'll be honest I didn't get it back then just wanted to get on with my 'ego' led practice ... that's right - harder, faster and body bashing. Of course, many times I left class jittery and exhausted certainly didn't want to breathe and relax let alone spend time visualising. And yet as the years have gone by I have discovered that visualisation is a wonderful tool to assist and support transformation. It becomes part of the memory: muscle, fascia, cell memory. Be prepared to visual and try to move your body in a different way.  Imagine your body in a beautiful tree, handstand, or a back bend.  

Marigold OM on the gravel. Photo by Margot Porter.

Notice what you are doing now and appreciate all that your body can do NOW.

3. Appreciate what your body can do.

The body is amazing and takes us everywhere. From the moment we wake up in the morning we are moving and using our body: digesting, eliminating, refueling. And even when we are sleeping our bodies are quietly working to rebuild, relax and rejuvenate us. Seeing your body in a whole new way can really help us appreciate all the wonderful things it does mostly without us even knowing. 

Often we take our bodies for granted and even a life changing illness can fade over time, a chronic condition becomes managed and we let go of seeing our bodies as they truly are - complex, amazing and ever changing. 

After an appropriate yoga practice a dramatic or subtle shift can happen in the way we feel in our bodies. Stay with it. Resist rushing off and disconnecting from our bodies as we make our way back to daily life. Stay with embodied awareness and see what it can tell us throughout the day. Our bodies can help us gain both inner and outer strength, to access and reside in deep peace and contentment and help us to live our dharma, to live our life from our hearts from a place of love.

 Playing on the verandah. Photo by Marc Perri.

See your body as a way to access our quiet, peaceful inner state. Let this shift the way you experience the world.

Yoga has truly helped me powerfully transform the way I think, move and the way I feel about my body. I still have occasional negative thoughts but I know how to shift them and I keep falling in love with my body and all that it can do. I am honoured to have this body and will do my best to look after my body. 
Gratitude. Acceptance. Kindness. LOVE.
Thank you each and every one of my cells.

HUG YOURSELF TODAY!

Om shanti, shanti, shanti,
Margot XX