Spring is here as I type in an office filled with sunshine and look out on a garden filling with colour from bursting bulbs 🙂

iyoga will take a break (check dates on the earlier post), so I can have a wee ski holiday to Norway before representing Iyengar Yoga at the Annual Congress for The British Wheel of Yoga at Warrington University before classes resume.

This last week of classes , as I often do, was your chance to choose the poses. This is a usually fun to do and gives you a chance to see how all the hard work in term develops your practice as well as giving you the opportunity to do some research on your own with regard to identifying poses.

If you are not on FB this is a useful link to give you a monthly pose to focus on in your practice: http://www.bobbyclennell.com/myoga.html

Good wishes for your spring break.

Julie

Julie Anderson may 2017 iyoga glasgow

Kevin Gardiner Yoga

This workshop is 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm Saturday May  13th

Venuw The Yoga Extension Studio A, 5 Newton Terrace Lane G3 7PB and promoted by iYoga Glasgow.

For more info  and a booking form click below:

Julie Anderson may 2017 iyoga glasgow

BKS Iyengar supported back bending on the ropes BEAUTIFUL.

I am finishing a little early for this term (to accommodate a ski holiday in Norway), so if we can have our ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ classes this week.

If this is new to you, you choose a pose (sanskrit or english name as we use in class), and I make them into a sensible sequence. Sequencing being on of the trademarks of Iyengar Yoga.

You can let me know the by the day before (when I can preplan it a bit more), or on the day…making it fun for all 🙂

The yoga boom continues with all classes well attended, however the Peebles class is still full with a waiting list so please do book your space in advance if you wish to continue.

Classes in Fife are booked directly with the studio and both are regularly full so advance booking is advised http://www.yogaontay.com/

For ‘iyoga classes’ booking operates on a basis of 10-week blocks £75 (£90 for intermediate), should you miss a class you can make it up at another iyoga class, it is also possible to attend on a drop-in basis if there is space £10 (£12 intermediate).

Newlands: February 14 21 28 March 7 14 21 April 18 25 May 2 9

Peebles: February 15 22 March 1 8 15 22 April 19 26 May 3 10

Dolphinton: February  28 March 7 14 21 April 18 25 May 2 9 16 23

Don’t forget to keep a check on workshops and holidays via the website too….for yoga saturation 😉

Fortunately it is still January  so still time for a news update, though possibly a bit late to be wishing folks a Happy New Year, but better late than not at all 🙂

All iyoga classes are going strong as the yoga boom continues. This is lovely for those like Julie, already dedicated  to their practice. As more people find an inner calm there is hope for a more peaceful world. Though of course folks come to class for all sorts of more obvious reasons such as to become more flexible or to help with aches and pains etc. etc. but as Geeta Iyengar says, we all leave feeling “good” or “nice” and it is this that keeps us coming back for more.

What are the plans for iyoga in 2017? So far we have:

Workshops: Anatomy in Action at Yoga Now, Edinburgh, on February 11 and hopefully a ropes workshop later in the year in Fife.

Retreats: We return to Samye Ling in September 22-24 for Yoga and Meditation.

Holidays: Mallorca October 14-21

In the past these yoga events have booked out so watch the website and Face Book if interested.

Julie has had a busy year and is now qualified as an assessor for IY(UK) and has also now started to train as a Teacher Trainer. So anyone interested to know more about this please do ask.

In April Julie has been asked to teach as a guest tutor for the British Wheel of Yoga at their Congress in Warrington. This is both a privilege and great opportunity to act as an ambassador for Iyengar Yoga.

Her training continues with a sabbatical to India in June when she will practise at The RIMYI, in Pune, India. Unfortunately this may cause some disruption to your classes but know that you will all benefit when she returns.

Looking ahead it is still hoped to run a yoga holiday to the Himalyas please do get in touch if you think this may be of interest.

Namaste

Mandukya Upanishad

From The Upanishad:  translations from the Sanskrit with an introduction by Juan Mascaro

Penguin books, 1965, pp 83-4.

1. This eternal Word is all: what was, what is and what shall be, and what beyond is in eternity.   All is OM.

Brahman is all and Atman is Brahman.  Atman, the Self, has four conditions.

The first condition is the waking life of outward-moving consciousness, enjoying the seven outer gross elements.

The second condition is the dreaming life of inner-moving consciousness, enjoying the seven subtle inner elements in its own light and solitude.

The third condition is the sleeping life of silent consciousness when a person has no desires and beholds no dreams.  That condition of deep sleep is one of oneness, a mass of silent consciousness made of peace and enjoying peace.

This silent consciousness is all-powerful, all-knowing, the inner ruler, the source of all, the beginning and end of all beings.

The fourth condition is Atman in his own pure state; the awakened life of supreme consciousness.  It is neither outer nor inner consciousness, neither semi-consciousness, nor sleeping-consciousness,

Neither consciousness nor unconsciousness.  He is Atman, the Spirit himself, that cannot be seen or touched, that is above all distinction, beyond thought and ineffable.  In the union with him is the supreme proof of his reality.  He is the end of evolution and non-duality.  He is peace and love.

This Atman is the eternal Word OM.  Its three sounds, A, U, and M, are the first three states of consciousness, and these three states are the three sounds.

The first sound A is the first state of waking consciousness, common to all men.  It is found in the words Apti, ‘attaining’, and Adimatvam, ‘being first’.  Who knows this attains in truth all his desires, and in all things becomes first.

The second sound U is the second state of dreaming consciousness.  It is found in the words Utkarsha, ‘uprising’, and Ubhayatvam, ‘bothness’.  Who knows this raises the tradition of knowledge and attains equilibrium.  In his family is never born any one who knows not Brahman.

The third sound M is the third state of sleeping consciousness.  It is found in the words Miti, ‘measure’, and in the root Mi, ‘to end’, that gives Apiti, ‘final end’.  Who knows this measures all with his mind and attains the final End.

The word OM as one sound is the fourth state of supreme consciousness.  It is beyond the senses and is the end of evolution.  It is non-duality and love.  He goes with his self to the supreme Self who knows this, who knows this.

The yoga boom continues with all classes well attended, however Peebles is again full with a waiting list so please do book your space in advance if you wish to continue.

Classes in Fife are booked directly with the studio, as listed on the class info page of this website.

A 10-week block of classes costs £75 (£90 for intermediate), it is possible to drop-in if there is space £10 (£12 intermediate).

Newlands: November 15 22 29 December 6 13 January 10 17 24 31 February 7

Peebles:  November 16 23 30 December 7 14 January 11 18 25 February 1 8

Dolphinton: November 29 December 6 13 January 10 17 24 31 February 7 14 21

…look under the ‘workshops’ page of this website and the holiday link will appear,  click holiday link for more info and if interested please contact me for more a full brochure.

Over the years I have taught yoga to many dancers, recently one of them shared this piece of writing with me, she found the words reflected her feelings about ballet and now also about yoga whilst practising it.

Try reading from a yoga perspective and see how many truths you can identify with:

I AM A DANCER by MARTHA GRAHAM This essay aired circa 1953.

I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God.

Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

I think the reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living. Many times I hear the phrase “the dance of life.” It is close to me for a very simple and understandable reason. The instrument through which the dance speaks is also the instrument through which life is lived: the human body. It is the instrument by which all the primaries of experience are made manifest. It holds in its memory all matters of life and death and love.

Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to the paradise of that achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration; there are daily small deaths. Then I need all the comfort that practice has stored in my memory and a tenacity of faith. But it must be the kind of faith that Abraham had, wherein he “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.”

It takes about 10 years to make a mature dancer. The training is twofold. There is the study and practice of the craft in order to strengthen the muscular structure of the body. The body is shaped, disciplined, honored and in time, trusted. The movement becomes clean, precise, eloquent, truthful. Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul’s weather to all who can read it. This might be called the law of the dancer’s life — the law which governs its outer aspects.

Then there is the cultivation of the being. It is through this that the legends of the soul’s journey are re-told with all their gaiety and their tragedy and the bitterness and sweetness of living. It is at this point that the sweep of life catches up the mere personality of the performer and while the individual (the undivided one), becomes greater, the personal becomes less personal. And there is grace. I mean the grace resulting from faith: faith in life, in love, in people and in the act of dancing. All this is necessary to any performance in life which is magnetic, powerful, rich in meaning.

In a dancer there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength. In a thinker there is a reverence for the beauty of the alert and directed and lucid mind. In all of us who perform there is an awareness of the smile which is part of the equipment, or gift, of the acrobat. We have all walked the high wire of circumstance at times. We recognize the gravity pull of the earth as he does. The smile is there because he is practicing living at that instant of danger. He does not choose to fall.