Flip man – what a day! Two days and I must say I’m starting to really enjoy it….it’s a process right. Everyone is easing into things and acting more like themselves, loosening up and being more normal with one another.
I woke up with some crazy back and shoulder DOMS! Our days are pretty full on now – we started our first Yoga practise at 7am which was for 2 hours we then went straight into an hour of Pranayama (Breathe) training which was more like a breath and meditation session. It was quite amazing once that practice had finished you could sense that everyone was feeling better for it as we just sat around in silence for a few minutes before getting up and going to breakfast. I personally felt quite emotional at times during the Pranayama and Meditation practise – something I did not think i’d say or experience. There is obviously some deep emotions pent up inside looking for a release…..haha, watch this space
So after a 3 hour session to start the day we had brekkie and then from 11am-1pm we had our first theory class which was on the history or origins of Yoga and more specifically Ashtanga Yoga which is the course I am doing. There are many types of Yoga such as Vinyasa, Iyengar, Hatha etc.… Luckily I had spent a fair few hours studying about the history and philosophy before I came here so a lot of it was a re-fresher…all of which I had pretty much forgotten!! I must have the worst short term memory of human kind
Yoga is roughly from around 200 B.C. A guy/girl/being called Patanjali wrote the scriptures called the Yoga Sutra. Ashtanga means 8 limbs, that is what makes this yoga type. They are:
1 – Yama – ethical code of conduct
2 – Niyama – self observation
3 – Asana – Seat or Posture
4 – Pranayama – Expansion of life force achieved mainly through breath
5 – Pratyahara – Sense Withdrawal
6 – Dharana – Concentration
7 – Dhyana – Meditation
8 – Samadhi – State of infinite consciousness
Lunch was followed by an hours downtime which included an obligatory swim in the sea….gotta hate this place
We had more theory after lunch which was Ayurveda. It’s an ancient (5,000 years) Indian form of establishing and maintaining your health. Once again what an amazing session, too much to write and most likely I’ll bore most people with so I’ll save it for another time
I’m actually attending an Ayurvedic Intro course after this when I head to Rishikesh so can smash out the facts for you then!
It is very interesting learning about all of these topics because you can see how the western world has spun their interpretation on them. It’s also interesting for me because I can see how this is going to arm me with Ammo for my future clients. Got to say that I’m pretty pumped already and it’s only day 2!!
Every afternoon we get given snacks around 4pm before our last class which is normally a physical class. Normally I am a massive fatty when food gets put in front of me……i’ll just get as much down as I can. I’m really trying to be much more conscious, disciplined and untempted (new word!) when it comes to food. Sometimes you need to set yourself challenges to become a better, stronger and wiser person!
Our last class for the day was to focus on one particular Asana called Chatarunga Dandasana because it is performed about 60 times in a full Ashtanga class. It’s amazing how technical Yoga is and how many things you need to take into consideration. It’s the same as if you are doing a Dead-lift, there are so many things to consider and do to perform the exercise correctly. Once again I’m so thankful for the knowledge I am gaining. I had a bit of a euphoric moment in this class just thinking that this is what I really love and felt at that point that I am making the right decision. Learning about the body, mind etc and being able to help people is something which is going to make me really happy going forward.
I’ve given myself 30mins each night to write what I can remember and then it’s time to wrap this up! Tonight was movie night which was actually a Yoga Documentary we had to watch, pretty interesting but no great shakes to be honest!
From tomorrow our evenings are for studying, so the intensity cranks up another notch. Namaste and take care all
Much love
Gareth / BB / China / Token