2013-10-21

When I first saw Kill Bill, I fell in love with the part where the bride trains with the zen master. I suppose I was drawn to the idea of learning from a master; someone wiser than me, who could light my way.. Being here I feel like that dream is coming true:) I am humbly grateful for the opportunity to learn from my guru here. Grateful for the knowledge he passes on to me; the knowledge he has learnt from his guru. When ashtanga yoga gets advanced, you'll need to have an established relationship with a teacher you can really trust to guide you through the process.
Me and my Guruji
So I'm still sweating a lot every morning -bending, twisting, stretching and jumping, breathing. Once laying down in 'savasana' in the bliss of the final relaxation, you feel exhausted but energised. The world always seems like a little better place after the practice. However that's just the beginning of the real yoga. According to Bhagavad Gita: "Yoga is skill in action". Asana practice is very challenging, but so is applying the yogic way of living in your life. As my lovely oldest sister wisely put it: "We all stay incomplete. Isn't growing the point of life?" I think it's amazing, if in this common path of life, we could grow and learn together and from one another (not only from a zen master or a guru:).

A couple of pictures from the nearby beach, which is just perfect! No surf, but my soul simply rests there! It's my power place here, just love it, loooooove the ocean (or shall I say Krishna:)



2013-10-05


It was sad to say goodbye to the paradise island and surf, but it feels good to be back to Hindustan and on the yoga mat for some serious training...
Mirissa
Yoga cikitsa=yoga therapy as the primary series of ashtanga is referred to in Sanskrit.

So here I am in a small Indian village living in yogagurukula. We are a few Western students here and we live in a separate building (on top of the shala where we practice), next to the house of our teacher and his family. 'Gurukula' refers to a residential school where the students live near the teacher. According to Wikipedia: "the word gurukula is a contraction of the Sanskrit guru (teacher or master) and kula (extended family).

I'm surrounded by this kind of beauty, just in front of the shala:

In Sri Lanka I got up before 5am for surf, here I get up at the same time for yoga. It's 2 hours of sweating every morning. My body and mind are slowly getting used  to it -even my back, which first felt really stiff after all that surf... From Monday to Saturday we do asana practice in the early morning, yoga philosophy and chanting later on in the day. It feels good to be totally immersed in the yoga world again. And particularly here in incredible India.




"Yoga isn't really about asanas, but about how deeply you can go into the Self as you practice."

And putting this blog post together was about how deeply you can go into blogging without losing your nerves... Hope to have better luck and longer nerves (a more steady yogic mind maybe -or better internet connection:) the next time... Ooooommm shanti shanti shanti...