Last weekend was
unforgettable; one of the big names in the Iyengar yoga world came to little
Sandnes to hold a weekend workshop for yoga enthusiastic in the area. Or you
can perhaphs call it yoga geeks as the weather was nice and Nordsjørittet was
on (a yearly bike race) and the old local band Mods came together to play for
the first time in about 25 years, but about 30 people spent their weekend at
Satya yoga’s studio in Sandnes.
The teacher is from
Switzerland and she is married to Gulnaz’ brother, who is also a well known
Iyengar yoga teacher and they have just confirmed that he will be coming to
Sandnes to teach a workshop early next year. Very exciting! Gulnaz is the
amazing woman who I went to India to have classes with in April earlier this
year.
The workshop started with a
two-hours class Friday morning at 10, following with an afternoon class, which
I missed because I had to work. Luckily I got Saturday off, as I would not miss
out on the five-hours class for anything in the world. I am amazed by these
people’s knowledge about how the body and mind is connected. The most valuable
thing I learned this weekend was perhaps how you can go from feeling heavy to
light in a split second just by the way you are keeping your eyes.
We were told most depressed
people will always look down, but the first thing they teach them if they come
to yoga therapy classes is to look up. If you look down you will feel heavy and
slow as you will tighten your breast, but if you look up your breast will be lifted
and therefore also easier to breath and then you will feel lighter. It might
sound like a simple thing, but this tiny little detail has so much to say for
your yoga practice and even your everyday life; maybe you should try it
yourself.
Pincha Mayurasana is a
variation of the pose known as the scorpion pose. This is when you’re balancing
on your under-arms and elbows with your legs lifted up. The difference between
the two poses is in the first you keep your legs straight up and in the second
you bend your knees so your feet goes towards your head; the yoga gurus are
often photographed in the last variation.
But anyhow, regardless of whether the knees are bent or not, this is
something I thought I’d never been able to do. This weekend we were told to try
with the support of a wall and a belt to make sure our elbows didn’t slide out
and I managed to get up! I got so excited that I couldn’t get up a second time
though. But at least now I know I can do it.
My cousin and I ended the
yoga weekend with meeting my mum at a Sushi restaurant after the class on
Sunday. Mum tried asking us what we learnt but we couldn’t really say. It was
so much and there were so many little details; everything from how you keep
your eyes to how to hold your toes while sitting with straight legs. There were
so many small things to make our self-practice better.
Today it’s Saturday and
it’s raining outside, but it’s my weekend off work and I’m feeling lazy so I
don’t mind.
