Courage ; comes from Cœur
I've been wanting to write something for so long now. When I am in a class and something beautiful and moving pops into my mind or enters my body as a feeling and not a thought, I try and tell myself that I need to put it down on my blog or my diary. It needs to be captured. But I invariably forget, get too busy with work or with other mundane stuff on weekends. And sometimes when I do want to sit and write about it, my mind turns into this blank slate and all my thoughts scatter away. Anyway, I got this urge to write in the middle of my work day and I've set everything aside to do it!
Off late I have been vegetarian (1 month and 1 week !) and it's been pretty awesome actually. I have no meat cravings even though I have gone out for kebab dinners with my meat loving friends. Thankfully they haven't abandoned me and still invite me to these things! I drink a lot more milk, eat a lot more pulses. O.K. enough of that then. Basically it's not as tough as I thought it would be! I am also combining that with reading up a lot more about yoga and trying out different styles. I was introduced to Universal Mandala cross mats practice and loved it at the retreat with Daphne and Anton. There's so much movement in that practice ! It's like Hatha's step sister. haha. It's extremely dynamic and you practice on two mats laid across each other like a cross and during your practice your rotate in all four directions. It also combines the asanas with pranayama ( breath work) for focus and energy control, yantra visualization and also mantra meditation for better concentration.
I always thought vinyasa flow was a complete practice, but that was the novice in me talking. There is not completeness in yoga, that's where I am right now. I feel like, there's so much, to learn from every teacher, from every class, from every student of yoga, irrespective of what stage of their practice they are in. Universal mandala in a way is a good mix of all the small small things I love about yoga. So that is one style I want to practice more and Pure Yoga in Singapore has a wonderful teacher called Copper Crow, who teaches this sequence and I am going for his class this weekend. One of my other favorite teachers : Deborah Tan also teaches at Pure and I am going to her class as well! And this one is Yin. Excited!
The other studio I explored last weekend was Space and Light. They are a anusara yoga studio, located in the middle of nowhere. O.K. I am exaggerating, it is not nowhere, but it's still pretty tough to get to. When I was on the bus to Space and Light, last Sunday, I was thinking to myself, who would come all this way for yoga, too much effort. But the minute i stepped into the studio, i had my answer. It's a huge room surrounded by trees on all sides, with loads of huge wide tall windows, and a lot of natural light and breeze! The teachers were Lynn and Sumei and they are really good teachers, I could feel it in the first 10 minutes of the class. Anusara Yoga is practiced keeping in mind the universal principles of alignment and true to it's philosophy, this class indeed focused a lot on alignment. Even with a strong practice myself, I learnt tiny small things that I need to correct to get into the right posture. In fact, it's a great place to be a beginner. I did my first handstand and forearm stand there. Supported of course, but a lovely feeling nevertheless. The joy in being upside down is just something else. One day I will get into that headstand properly and then I'll be doing it all the time! haha. I signed up for a 4 class pass and will be going for 3 more classes on weekends to learn more.
Another practice I want to try is the Mysore style Ashtanga practice at Yogashala. I am fan of the Ashtanga sequence and it is is lovely strong practice, but not for the faint hearted. It's a combination of loads of strength and endurance. I think I have spoken before in this blog about my love for Ashtanga and how I owe it to Anton for introducing it to me. When Hom first started the Ashtanga sequence, I attended Anton's class regularly without fail for a month and that's how my love story with Ashtanga started. At Hom we shorten the sequence down to 60 minutes, it's actually 90 minute practice and includes a lot more asanas. Traditionally Ashtanga yoga is taught is a style, now called the Mysore style, thanks to its place of origin, Mysore in Karanatak in India. So this Mysore style practice, involves students practicing together in a room/area but independently. So everyone has their own pace. Sari, a new teacher at Hom, whose Ashtanga class i now love, told me about this place called Yogashala in Singapore, where students practice in the Mysore style. The teacher goes around correcting each student. And you are supposed to learn the sequence and know what's coming next. They don't teach you the whole sequence together, but in parts. Until you master the amount you know, they will not tell you what comes next. It's a pretty neat concept actually. So I want to try that at some point.
Anyhow, enough of my ongoing yoga discovery, the title of this post is called Courage. At Space and Light, Sumei told us to open our heart towards the sky and open your heart to all the goodness in the world. I often find this underlying theme in Leigh's classes, who is also an Anusara teacher. And when you literally think about opening your heart to the unknown out there, you find yourself deepening your practice and not just physically pushing your body to twist more or bend more . But instead you feel it coming from your heart. Courage to explore the unknown needs to come from the heart. The word courage comes from the french word : Cœur, meaning heart. It's beautiful to think of embracing your fears and going for it, giving it your best, all it requires is come courage, and that courage, that reserve of strength, guts, call it what you may, lies deep inside your heart.
This year, as I take crazy risks and fall and rise and stumble and straighten to find who I really am, I've promised myself to experience the unknown. Open my arms and welcome it to my life. To do the things, I know I will regret not doing, to say the things I really mean, to think the thoughts I've been hiding from and to love more, to forgive more, to ask for forgiveness, - to do all these things and more, I only have to remind myself to have that courage. To open my heart to all the good in the world, with just a little bit of courage.
Namaste.
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