Editorial
MARTA
AHIMSA
Ahimsa, strong feeling. I was thinking about publishing a report full of sarcasm speaking of really yogis we are all when we indemnify ourselves saying that actually, nobody knows what ahimsa means, but not, I changed my mind… I began to practise yoga not long time ago, I tried to take it calmly … I felt embraced by the technique and accepted the gift of delivering a few years of my life to its development, because it is true, all of us that we do it for teaching, spreading, practising and / or to accompany yoga, we are collaborating in its development. Yoga of gymnasium, yoga of asrham, (centro milenario) what else matters? It is yoga in the end. Ahimsa also happens for the judgment, for the impact that has our only thought or ways of treating things that are not inside of the list of what we consider “correctly”. And I wonder, who has in his power the truth and knows what is the “normality”? Things change, the life progress and yes, the yoga also. A body cannot adapt to an asana, the practitioner has to know, under the guide of his teacher, how to adapt his body, that is why the variants exist. We are not perfect, if we were, we would not be here, we would be illuminated. With Ahimsa the same thing happens, I do not want to infringe suffering neither in anything nor in anybody, but the reality is that I have to live, and that makes somebody somewhere in the planet suffering the consequences, even though if it is the little ant that I have just accidentally trodden … If being honest, nobody lives ahimsa, or at least not in this society. We can have it in mind and try it to detail always the hurt, or put in conscience where we have caused it, to not generate karma in excess … but let’s try not to be more papist than the Pope and let’s embrace the reality as it is … we are not perfect, and possibly we will never be, but we can manage make out little place in the land, the best place.
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Photography: Cecilia Cristolovean
ARA
AHIMSA
This starts to motivate me, we will have to think very well the titles of the publishers that headline propose action hanging over our heads like a sword of Damocles ready to slit our ego. Uy uy uy I am Ahimsa, uy uy uy I don´t eat cadavers, uy uy uy I do not smoke and do not hurt my little body, uyuyuyuy I never hit anyone, sexually uyuyuyuy I’m tantric, uyuyuyuy I do not pollute my consciousness drinking alcohol, uyuyuyuy ... Bollocks! Of course I do not punch my training partner when in the space of Bhakti we discuss in a very satvic way on the erosion of the ego through mantras. But as soon as I get the car I shit on the mother who gave birth to that jerk leaving the give way without looking right or left. I have not killed with my own hands the corpse that I have on my plate but I eat like an animal the first thing that falls into my clutches without thinking about the procedure or the chain of suffering generated by this product, even if it is very vegetarian. Sometimes words are stones throw to the other’s head, intending to give where it hurts, using new agey sentences we have memorized at the last seminar, with much love. While we put that grin of holy condescension toward the little ignorant, who still has so much to learn, mature, whisper, practice, wait, silent or manage, in this way. Those who have not done this ever, raise your hand! Is there really no violence in me? How are my reactions when after intense weekend, 48 hours meditating looking into the eyes of love and practicing yoga moon to sun I get home and I find my partner at the computer, the house that looks like the city of crazy monkeys, children foiled, without bathing, dinner to think and homework to do, while my friend, of course, yoga teacher, takes an hour on the phone sending WhatsApp, banging on about she has led to her ex-love of her ex-life almost, to the scaffold? Perhaps the tribe of teachers and yoga practitioners should seriously review the concept of Ahimsa, before proclaiming that we are doing yoga. And they should do an intensive on Yamas and Niyamas. If there is no Yamas there is no Asana, if I have not integrated Niyamas is not Pranayama.
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Who are we in this edition?
The perfect imperfection
• Ara Vercher
• Marta García
• Arnau Benlloch
• Noelia Insa
• Katya Anosova
• Nacho Saéz
• Siri Tapa
• Romina Moya
• Lola Espi
• Leonor Rodríguez
• Soma
Marín
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• Evelyn Lynn • Cecilia Cristolovean
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INDICE yoguiInsipiration 08. Learn to care for yourself, Arnau Benlloch 10. ‘Ahimsa’, in couple yoga practice, Soma 14. Yoga is life, Romina Moya 18. Lucid yoga, Lucy
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Practitioner’s point of view
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20. Son of the Universe, Leonor Rodríguez Marín 18
yogiOpinion 26. Ahimsa: White rice for quinoa?, Siri Tapa
20
yogiInterview
26
28. Yoga for women, Lola Espi 28
yogiRoutine 32. Love your body, Noelia Insa 36. Meditation, Nacho Saéz
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yogiInspiration
AHIMSA
Illustration: Arnau Benlloch
LEARN TO CARE FOR YOURSELF Ahimsa starts with oneself. If you don’t get to glimpse the keys to pamper you, respecting you and being pacific with yourself, you couldn’t certainly be with anybody, and so they could not specially be with you. As everything in life you may start making up your mind. Today’s way of life invite you to self-abuse and to self-punishment since speed, excessive action and the noisy information are the ingredients of that big soup where we float as rudderless lumps. And a hot soup, you know, it burns… If you take a look around you’ll see truly exhausted, hopeless, full of complexes, suspicious, embittered and scorched people hordes.
AUTOAHIMSA IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY In order to apply no self-violence you have to have the capacity of being responsible, you need to know how to confront circumstances and how to take care of them. There’s no other way to do it than taking a walk by the knowledge woods, full of night creatures stalking, full of big tree’s shadows avoiding you to see your way, the solitude anxiety and the uncertainly to walk barefooted by ways you’ve never known.
We all have been passing for this soul’s deep nights and we, surely, will pass many more; the purification way won’t reach good harbour if you are not facing that self-respect is the source of respect to the real life and so it is to everybody.
RESPONSIBILITY, DELIVERY AND PRACTICE One of the best recipes to grow up your own ahimsa is to let yourself to life, completely as you are, not missing an bit of you in your rear, not saving a piece for whenever it wouldn’t be one, taking steps backwards only to get impulse. If you are worried because of the establishment of habits in your life approaching you to your centre, returning your balance back, peace may be in you and so your light will illuminate your way and those around you. Each spiritual practice which returns you back to make contact with the divine part you are, should be fruitful and will allow you to keep going on that state in which you connect with a deep respect for yourself and everything, that state we call Ahimsa. Learn to take care of yourself, learn how to treat yourself with dedication and life will feel you as worthy of all its respects. Arnau Benlloch www.arnaubenlloch.com
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‘AHIMSA’ IN COUPLE YOGA PRACTICE
yogiInspiration
‘AHIMSA’ IN COUPLE YOGA PRACTICE ‘Do not do others what you don’t want for yourself ’. I will explain the yoga concept from the seven dimensions of the evolutionary Yoga Esenio Spiral. First three ones match with Bhakty Yoga and the last one matches with Gñana Yoga.
First dimension:
TO LISTEN
The ‘in couple’ yoga practice increases the anxiety of reaching objectives in short-term and also difficulties for a number of reasons: - There is an external and internal observer to you in your practice. - An adapting to the partner requirements technique is generated and thus an attention degree must be directed to coordinate yourself with him. - Both practitioners resistance degree is often different and clearly the worst resistance one is the one who must guide the implementation time. Same happen regarding elasticity. Every milestone achieved in individual practice highlights whenever the ‘couple practice’ is done, due the rhythms must suffer an adaptation process in order to create harmony. Do not force your couple beyond him or her possibilities. Milestones to reach must come calm, peace and no type obsessions by.
Second dimension:
Third dimension:
Within the Ásanas practice, there are some aspects contributing to wake up the discernment: Corporal attention, muscular relaxation, C. V. movement awareness, laterality observation and body’s symmetry in practice.
To feel your partner body breathing next to you it’s an experience helping you to concentrate, to boost the intensity and to learn what a ‘Practice Union’ means. The permanent immobility makes a mixed space made of magic, aspiration and respect. It is like to recite a duet prayer. You both practitioners will coordinate into the comfortable effort so neither of you will suffer while practicing. Harmony chaining allows practice to translate into a soft dance, rhythmic, slow and subtle choreography, in such a way practitioners will came out full of energy, enthusiasm and arising beauty, because Union, whether the type it is, is beautiful. Love is the most beautiful thing a human being might behold in this world. The more the love rules, the more Ahimsa blossoms.
TO DISCERN
Both participants must be encompassed by the attention, since this is a yoga practice where the harmony resides in the joint of two. They both act as the same entity. Hence this is the importance of the ‘in couple yoga’ since it conforms a basic effective physico-chemical formulation in order to get to understand the spiritual Yoga meaning (Union). Focus on your partner as if he or she would be yourself.
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TO PRACTICE
‘AHIMSA’ IN COUPLE YOGA PRACTICE
Fourth dimension:
TO ACCEPT
Adversity increases because the ‘koan’ resolving ‘Two or more equals one’ equation challenge is every yogi challenge. Accept the other, even if tall, short, fat, emaciated, repellent, crippled, pedantic or ignorant. You may always ‘evolve by loving what you hate the most’. Accept, because only if you accept you’ll be accepted. Do accept your limits because they are the seed of infinity. You should not want to create physic achievements, they will only serve to get you into more smacks; your ability must not be ‘knowing how to do’ but ‘knowing how to be’. The ‘knowing how to do’ comes added by practicing. On the other hand the ‘knowing how to be’ comes by your own election,
humility, acceptance, awareness and wisdom. If your partner can’t do or doesn’t know, do not react, you must learn how to create conditions in order for him to can or to know. If you don’t know or you can’t, do not also react, think about your partner as your master who will help you in order you to know what you can’t and to can what you don’t know.
Fifth dimension:
TO UNDERSTAND
Sometimes we project so many Àsana analytical considerations we reduce practice to some perfectly aligned and anatomical composed exercises, a so cold, robotic and lackluster ones. Then we become sadhana in a mechanistic and scientistic session which produces ultimately
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boredom and spiritual hollow. Nobody teaches a dove to fly however it flies. Based on aerodynamic laws a bumblebee can’t fly and, nevertheless, it fleets like no other bird. Simply, I suggest you not to overwhelm you with theoretical schemes and throw yourself to practice adventure. Comprehension and wisdom are the multiple joined and well attuned results. Give yourself the opportunity of working with another body beside yours and try to understand yours by this new one. Give yourself the opportunity of duet playing and become it to the unison. Give yourself the opportunity of body to body dialogue so the soul to soul union will turn up, Yoga it is.
y o g iuI inI sn ps ipriar taicoi nó n
‘AHIMSA’ TANTRA YOGA IN COUPLE YOGA PRACTICE
Sixth dimension: TO LOVE
‘Couple Hatha Yoga’ is the beauty art of no sex love. Whenever you touch your partner, heaven’s doors are opened. Whenever you rely on him, you learn how to fall. Whenever you hold him, you develop a protection capacity. Whenever you are held, you learn how to trust. Whenever he helps you, you learn how to be humble. Whenever you help him, you aspire to be one between two. Whenever you step over him, compassion arises. Whenever he steps over you, you accept the adversity. Whenever you elevate him, you learn how to value. Whenever you are elevated, you value simplicity. Whenever your partner is better than you, you learn how to accept. Whenever he is worst than you, you learn how to praise. Whenever you look each other, it’s your souls what you see. Whenever you embrace him you want him to help you being free stronger. Whenever he stretches you, he is helping you not to wrinkle yourself to fear. Whenever you stretch your partner, you make it in order to know where the beauty limits are. Whenever you both reach something difficult, it is for you both to know that ‘impossible is nothing’. Whenever you hold hands, you both promise eternal fidelity to each other. Whenever you can’t stand him, you realize some others also can’t stand you. Whenever your partner can’t stand you, you learn how to concede. Whenever you risk on him, truly friendship arises.
Seventh dimension: TO SILENCE
You are touching a heaven’s star whenever you touching a human body. In the ‘Couple Hatha Yoga’ you can integrate the silence gesture in several ways: If you want to chat, silence yourself. If you want to finish, silence yourself. If practicing with another want is your desire, silence yourself. Whether you like what you are doing or not, silence yourself. If you are tired, silence yourself. If you can’t reach where your partner is, silence yourself. If you have better things to do, silence yourself. If you are in the need of cry or sulk with your partner, take a deep breath and silence yourself. If embrace him is your desire, smile and silence yourself. If you get injury, stop practicing and silence yourself. If you don’t know how to apply an exercise, intuition and silence will convey you. If any exercise fears you, silence will add you courage. If you think you are doing it wrong, display perfection in silence. It will be then when your body and soul will become one and they will express the wonder. Soma aum@witryh.org www.witryh.org
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yogiInspiration
YOGA IS LIFE
YOGA IS LIFE
I
usually use the sentence Yoga is life, and it may seem a cliché phrase, but is isnt, I say it because I feel it like that. A Philosophy of Life, a map that shows you the way to get to different places, which wen reached are the same one, a set of instructions for life and a lot more. I feel that if our education was based on values such as those transmitted by yoga ‘life would be a different story’, so for me it’s not about exercise, about been flexible, to learn to breathe or think, it’s much more. It is to believe that we are a Being with a Body, Mind and Spirit, that all three parts are equally important, that our mind is not able to understand the extent of what we really are and when you catch a glimpse of some deeper understanding of the meaning life, your soul is comforted so you cannot do anything but continue to seek TRUTH, in capital letters, even knowing that most likely in this life you will not get to know one inch of it. I started practicing yoga about ten years ago, but my commitment to yoga came five years ago, after living an ectopic pregnancy and abortion that this type of pregnancy carries necessity (the ectopic pregnancy breaks the rules of nature making the embryo grow in a fallopian tube instead of the uterus). For me that was one of my saddest moments in life, which was followed by the breakup of my relationship (it seems that life knows when to show up and when not) and seeing that everything has a positive side, that experience helped me enter a new world that today for today I am thankful to be a part of. It helped me to be part of a family, kundalinera santga, which has allowed me to grow internally through the path of life that has led me to this present moment. I feel ready to be a mother and convinced that I can raise this child with love.
I, for a unknown reason and that escapes my understanding have always wanted with much conviction to experience pregnancy, and I mean pregnancy because it is really what generated immense curiosity in me. I feel it is something magical, the union of two such microscopic cells can create such a perfect little person, with all its parts and their functions, without doing anything special (Love, in some cases, or by the other hand the process of bringing together sperm and egg in a laboratory, but nothing special for the amazing result obtained). What is the use yoga during pregnancy? To start off for the same reason it is usefull when you are not pregnant, to care for the body, calm the mind and nourish the spirit, and this taken to a time when there is a new life growing inside your body is equally beneficial. Your body needs you to be aware of your changes and your needs, there are exercises that cannot be practiced, and you have to respect, abdominal exercises with effort, energetic jumps, fire breathing, etc., and others that are highly recommended, which will be one or the other depending on the stage of pregnancy, it is advisable, you have at hand a good teacher or good books, but do not stop practicing yoga, or start practicing it if you don’t, your body and your baby will thank you. Your mind will be especially active at this time, with new and very different thoughts, both happiness and uncertainty, both confidence and fear, what better time to quiet the mental chatter with yogic techniques and prevent excessive wear out? And we will need that our deepest Self to guide us on this journey in which you have to make many important decisions, and we can take them in different ways, not taking them and getting carried away by ‘what the rest of the world does’ or discovering within us what our soul desires for us, our babies and our families.
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YOGA IS LIFE
It is not an easy decision, nor the best nor the worst, it was my decision and my partners. We felt it was what we wanted for our daughter, a human birth, physiological, mammal, without medication, in the privacy of our home, accompanied by who we wanted and following the rhythm of my body and my daughters. Along the way I met very nice people in this world of the natural childbirth, especially with several midwives who inspired me a lot, including Amparo Vargas, a midwife who awoke the wolf in me , and the girls from Aquarians deliveries (Gemma, Marta and Sonia), after attending several meetings on childbirth preparation activities I felt that they were the support I needed for this important moment. It is a decision that has a lot of work behind, a decision we had to keep to ourselves because it was not understood by people nearby, who would put their hands on their heads by our unconsciousness, and honestly me and my partner can be many things, but we are not unconscious.
Many years ago I gathered information on natural childbirth and water births. I do not what convinced me that that’s what I wanted if I ever got pregnant, exactly that, I when time came I wanted a natural birth time. I guess the reason is the same for what I like to do more ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’ things respectful with body and environment. It has been many years, and time to be a mom arrived so I got information from Manises maternal home, place where they respected the natural process of birth and where you have a bathtub for expansion. This was what I choosed in the first trimester of pregnancy, but pregnancy is long and firm decisions are taken at the end, at least that is what happened to me. The final decision was very meditated, and had to overcome many obstacles of a different nature but I decided to give birth at home, without doctors, without a foal, without droppers, without hospital protocols and most importantly, without fear.
Photography: Cecilia Cristolovean
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yogiInspiration
YOGA IS LIFE
In these situations people woukd tell me that giving birth at home was dangerous, I wondered why we do not trust nature when we give birth? Do we not know how to digest food, menstruate, ovulate, breath, heal wounds and many other things without intervening? Why it is considered less dangerous to manipulate the process of birth and physiological reactions in our body? Have we really made so much progress trying to accelerate a process that takes it time? At the end I followed my female mammal instinct trusting life and myself.
But not everything was so spiritual, I also punched the wall several times, It was my way of releasing the physical intensity I felt In my body, and I screamed and even doubted of me, but the words of my partner and my sister, showing me their trust in me and that everything would be perfect, they gave me tremendous strength to continue surrendering to the experience and not give up. What did giving up mean? Going to the hospital, of course if it had been necessary, I would have gone, but if everything went well I wanted to fulfil my desire to receive Lluna at home.
And everything comes, week forty and five days, first contractions, and a tremendous illusion because Lluna was almost here. If I had to sum up birth in three words I would say, intensity, trance and magic.
Magic, is defined as ‘quality of supernatural’, probably from the old persamaguš containing the root * magh-, ‘being able’, ‘I have to’ think is the best word to describe the experience of childbirth, I felt capable of understanding what it means to feel empowered, from that moment something changed in me and really have a very rewarding feeling of being capable of everything, and it is not an egoic feeling, but on the contrary, is a sense of immense generosity, give your body, your mind and your spirit to bring another life to light.
Intensity of sensations, and more than painful I would say hard, hard because you do not know how long you’ll need, but trust what Gemma, one of the midwives who accompanied me, said to me; the pain is manageable and has a wonderful purpose, to see your daughter’s face. Trance, because everything occurs in a state where you lose track of time, as in deep meditation, endorphins secreted by your body take you to a state that can sustain feelings, relax between contractions and disconnect the rational world and give yourself to the experience. I did not know how I would manage the pain at the time and was surprised by counting practicing meditation, visualizations of the first chakras and their colors and chanting mantras when my body asked me for it. I remember with special fondness when Ajai Alai Om Manu and Marta was playing, one of the midwives, said: - Sing, I’ll will follow.
I think that nature offers us the 9 months of gestation so that we can enjoy and reach the finish line with a nourishing experience and sufficiently prepared to finish this wonderful period with a sacred birth, because that’s what it is, a sacred act divine and transcendent. And I finish writing this text with my little one beside me, hoping that she will fall in love with yoga like me, and find in this technique the tools, the support and clarity to have a life as full as possible.
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YOGA IS LIFE
Romina Moya - Ramdharam Kaur rmoya@sparae.com
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yogiInspiration
LUCID YOGA
LUCID YOGA
O
ne of the things I am asked most is “what is hatha yoga?” or “what is lucid yoga?” since that is what I now call my own classes. Many have written entire books exploring what yoga is, defining terms and cataloguing practices. It can feel like you need a yoga degree just to find the right class. Do you need to know what all these those Sanskrit words and yogic styles mean in order to enjoy the many benefits of yoga? Simply put, no! But, it helps to know what is on offer out there and if you have a concept of the basics of yoga then you will be better able to discover the style and teacher of yoga that best suits your temperament, as well as your current physical, mental, emotional (and yes, spiritual) needs. So let’s break a few things down…And remember, this is like yoga philosophy for dummies, I am keeping it super simple for now! Yoga means “union”. The union referred to is the union of mind, body & spirit and ultimately these unified parts constitute your Atman – your soul if you like, the deepest truth of you beyond the layers of character and personality and daily reality you create and with the stories stripped away. The Atman is unchanging, eternal: pure spirit, a spark of divinity within your being that yearns to be reunited with Brahman. Brahman is God, or the Universe, or Nature, let’s call it the Truth, with a big fat capital T for now. Yoga helps us strip away all the illusions we create, all the distractions of life, in order that we can realise the Truth – which is that we are not separate, we are all one, and we are all united in Brahman.
This is called Moksa: freedom from the material world, from the body, from the senses, from the mind. Hatha has a multitude of translations. Commonly, it is perceived as having two parts. “Ha” referring to the sun, to activity and heat and to the masculine in all things, and “tha” referring to the moon, to rest and coolness, and the feminine in all things. So we often hear that Hatha Yoga is about uniting opposites to create balance, and so it is. Less well known is the translation of hatha as “to be devoted”(1). Therefore, we could define Hatha Yoga as a devotion to creating balance in order to achieve freedom by reconnecting with the Truth. Any holistic yoga class will be Hatha. The Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a system best known for its rigorous Primary Series. Perhaps its most famous teacher is the late, greatly respected K. Pattabhi Jois, who spoke of the “yoga mala” in which the asanas (postures) are threaded onto the invisible practices of breath and energy conservation. In this way, the body is used as a mantra, creating a moving meditation where transitions threading the postures together are every bit as essential as the asanas.(2) Once again, any comprehensive yoga should be taught to include the vital breath and energy conserving practices, and create the feeling of withdrawing the senses – which is one of the eight limbs of yoga. This is the essence of “vinyasa”: intelligent movement with the breath and body, heart and mind working in balance and unity. In recent years however, vinyasa has come to denote almost any yoga in which the postures are taught as a ‘flow’.
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LUCID YOGA
Ashtanga also means “eight limbed” and refers to the constituent parts of yoga as defined by Patanjali, who first wrote down the guidelines for yoga, around 2,500 years ago, though the practices are believed to have come into being as much as 5,000 years ago. Patanjali’s Sutras are a guide to the art and science of practising yoga as a means of attaining liberation. They define the Eight Limbs, including personal and social ethics, asana, breath awareness, sense withdrawal (usually experienced as relaxation) and meditation for the purpose of bringing us to a state of bliss, or enlightenment, as we experience the union of our True Self and Truth. The Sutras are vital to all and any yoga practice and in my opinion, should form the basis of any sound yoga teacher training and be evident in the practices offered in classes. Where one cannot perceive these threads, there is no yoga. I call my own classes Lucid Yoga because the word means clearly expressed and easily understood, as well as indicating that something is bright or luminous. One who is lucid sees things clearly – you could say they perceive Truth more easily. I believe in fact that all yoga should be clearly expressed, so that you can understand what you are doing and why. And in my experience, the glimpses of bliss that I discover in my yoga leave me feeling luminous and able to see things more clearly. I believe that you deserve that same clarity and brightness of being through your practice of yoga. Ultimately, even when you are in a jam-packed class, yoga is a deeply personal practice and only you will know if the practice is leading you to freedom. I whole-heartedly believe that the style of yoga and teacher for you are out there. Don’t let one class or one person turn you off. Keep seeking. Try every teacher in your town, and the next one on the map! Yoga is art, it is science, it is poetry in motion. It will change your heart, your mind, and your life. Yoga is life.
My info: Lucy began practising yoga over 20 years ago, and has been teaching for 11 of those. Lucy’s teaching & personal practice are based on the principles of non-violence, the cultivation of contentment and embodied awareness. Lucy desrcibes her classes as Lucid Yoga: her teaching is underpinned by the belief that all her students should know what they are practising and why. In classes with Lucy, you will develop a yoga practice that meets you where you are now, allowing you space & time to grow and deepen your practice. Lucid Yoga will bring you deep wellbeing as you discover a stronger, more supple body, a compassionate open heart and a calm mind. Lucy holds several qualifications as a Yoga Teacher & Yoga Therapist and is registered as a Senior Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance Professionals.
Foreword by BKS Iyengar, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Commentary by Hans Ulrich Rieker, The Aquarian Press, 1992, English Translation © Herder & Herder Ashtanga Yoga, Practice & Philosophy, Gregor Maehle, New World Library, 2006 p19
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Practitioner’s Point Of View
SON OF THE UNIVERSE
SON OF THE UNIVERSE Well here I am, at the computer thinking what can I tell to the readers of YoguiOla that may be of interest. It is not easy, Marta. I see the April´s issue and I keep thinking that really, my knowledge of this ancient practice is not even remotely close to what I’m reading. It is for this same reason, because of the respect that I feel to this world, that I decided to tell how I started my approach to yoga.
Three years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. You always think that it will not happen to you and, in my case with more reason, because in my family there is no precedent for any of the branches. But I couldn´t be more wrong. My life, perfectly built from my narrow view, had collapsed and I could not do anything to change it. How could this situation escape my control? Why me? Suddenly, the light goes out, all is darkness around you and you find yourself constantly on the brink of an abyss, tiptoed to fall. You just want to wake up the next day and that the bad dream dissipates. But no, it dawns again and again and you see yourself facing a reality you do not even realize for a long time.
From this moment and with your life upside down, there comes a time when the strong have to be you, because no one can replace you. It is you who has to face this situation, and depending on your attitude people who love you will live it more calmly. In my case, my daughter was nine and I was willing to give the battle that was necessary as smoothly as possible. Then you know a netherworld. You discover that a hospital, where you will spend at least one year in and out, will be your new habitat. Your life is limited to testing, reviews, droppers, results ... But you also know people who are really worthy, and I feel very lucky in that regard.
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SON OF THE UNIVERSE
I learned a lot and understood a lot. I cried a lot and laughed a lot. I discovered that I had to celebrate everything, even things that before seemed insignificant to me. My scale of values and priorities completely changed.
I had made a pilgrimage from revelation against the world to acceptance. I had not done it consciously, it just happened every day. I stopped making plans. Life took me and I was no longer in charge of the reins. Finally, one day you are said it’s all over, you can resume your life, but is no longer the same life. I first learned what it is to live in fear permanently. And I decided I had to do something or end up mired in an endless paranoia. Someone told me to practice yoga. And said and done. The day after finishing radiotherapy, I started. I had no idea and Roberto picked me. I say I was picked because I felt so. He started me in practice and I was hooked. Why? To be honest, I have think about it many times. I have no clear explanation. I just know that it gave me peace. A lot of inner peace, which was needed even before being sick. Until then, everything about yoga had seemed a little outsider. People who had nothing better to do and dedicated their time to crap like that.
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Today, after more than two years of practice, I can say that is high on my priorities. I no longer imagine a week without practicing yoga at least three days, when they are not four. I realized that this practice involved a different way of seeing life from the inside out. The important thing is how you live your life, it is not where you get and how; as you relate to the natural environment around you and above all develop an infinite respect for the environment that surrounds you. Finally, I want to share with you some words of Nelson Mandela in his inauguration as President-elect of South Africa (1994), which are always with me:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond limits. It is our light, not darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of the universe.” There you have it.
Leonor Rodríguez Marín info@yoguiola.com
yogiOpinion
AHIMSA WHITE RICE FOR QUINOA?
AHIMSA WHITE RICE FOR QUINOA?
V
iolence or covert domain is a dangerous snake that moves between the false teachings, aid or benefits. I refuse to use yoga as a tool to suck intelligence, to perpetuate the untenable from the sensitivity or to ensnare us in formulas of distraction and indoctrination, as we use to say about the mass media. Ahimsa is a very juicy term for any yogi, but I will limit today my attention to the following: we can still recognise sexism even in yoga, where it is often confused respect for the tradition of yoga and the perpetuation of a culture that values the women and respects her only while next to her husband.
In India, the lack of economic autonomy and respect, and numerous cases of abuse are something that comes from a deep-rooted beliefs, where education of children is a priority, the health of girls is neglected, and the great work played by women is ignored, and it is not just unrecognized but also unsafe.
And taking a piece of this scrap, I would add a second point of attention to this mixture of capitalist coaching with yoga to create leaders (male or female) that gives some grim. If we are shagged all fall a little in the desire to be special. But not tried yoga at least appease the desire and ego?
Although we like some teachings and practices of a yogic lineage, we have no reason to stay with their part culturally atrophied, indeed, we must realize that there is no yoga in it, and that this is an area of beliefs and patterns that we can intelligently filter.
Do not it come to help us destroy what creates suffering? These labels involve a total lack of freedom for anyone. These patterns constant bind both the leader and the rest, preventing us from growing in other ways. If you want to always be a leader, you have a nice jail made to your liking. If at an early stage, as are the first ten years of practice, you fall into confusion like this, the road will become more arduous and lonely.
Don´t let them lead us offering medieval advice on relationships or on our position in life to let us groggily happy and that man be loaded with the heavy label leader and the woman with the limiting one unsafe or anything like that.
Siri Tapa ~ Alicia www.gobinde.com
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I want to believe that many of us have been approaching the yoga with an instinct, not only psycho-physical health, but to recognize an opportunity for cooperation and an attempt to do things differently.
AHIMSA WHITE RICE FOR QUINOA?
Is it worthy compete to be the yogi more leader, more famous, more enterprising, more charitable, more agile, more flexible or stronger? And is not self confidence and confidence among the people and life added value to the renowned detachment? Progress in practice is not the same to compete. Having self-esteem is not exercise authority. Being sensitive is not weak. Do you understand me?
When I think about ahimsa, I do not feel to stay passive and battered, I turn on the heart of the power of love to let go of nonessentials. It’s like having a beacon that illuminates and recognizes where dwelleth not yoga, and simply one knows that there does not want to go.
We belong to a nice blend of yoga lovers, colorful enough to keep delving deep into what unites us. So ahimsa is revealed as put love of life and not limit it. Ahimsa is We can stop lying and get a to keep the sagacity to doclearer and bold understan- dge the bullets of the egos ding, and stoke lucidity, that in and the ability to dream and fact we all have, that we may create a world where sendiscover when they give us sitive not be threatened by for a ride, or rather, when they weakness, or own or others. give us white rice for quinoa.
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Ahimsa is not the absence of violence, nor their antonyms, going a thousand steps ahead. It is an uncharted territory in its immense magnitude, suitable only for real crazy for love.
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yogiInterview
YOGA FOR WOMEN
YOGA FOR WOMEN L
ola Espí is a strong and determined woman, passionate for life. She love her freedom, she learnt earlier her passion for travel, a passion that took her to tour many countries and to find new horizons. Lola is a heart-woman, although she may seems tough, this is better said the within fortress glare which shines in her.
YO: How did get Lola Espí to Yoga? L.E.: It is precisely that natural concern what took me to meet other types of practices, far from gymnastics or aerobics. I was studying Psychology and I was quite hectic and anxious and so I was told about Yoga as something out of common here in Spain. I came into contact with Sivananda school and same time I started to meditate in parallel with Bhrahma Kumaris organization, a university from India with offices by several countries. YO: And how did you get to Kundalini Yoga focused on woman?
L.E.: I was trained firstly in Hatha Yoga with Sivananda by Uruguay. I got Chile in one of my trips and I was told of a group of people waking up at 4 in the morning for their Yoga practice and to meditate, then a friend of mine suggest me to sleep there and to try it due he knows I would enjoy it. Just like that I met Nad Nidhan Kaur Khalsa in her home in Chile. She took Kundalini Yoga lessons to South America and from there she showed them to the world with Mujer de Luz. Mujer de Luz was a trademark she designed to heal and to empower women trough Kundalini Yoga practices. Then Mujer de Luz Foundation was born, a foundation in charge of international projects. When I was living in Perú, along with Nad Nidhan, we took there the lessons from Kundalini Yoga. We were pioneers in 2002.
YO: Let’s have a little talk abour Mujer de Luz. What was your role in the foundation?
L.E.: It was born from Nad Nidhan decision of creating something more solid, beyond teacher’s formation courses, where projects could be managed in order to help women in several areas, Yoga lessons based, knowledge in science and psychology expanded. First courses were handled by Joti Sarovar, exclusively for women where feminine needs related subjects were studied. Projects like abuse, addictions, or female illness are developed and studied en the foundation, furthermore prostitutes and jailed women subjects are studied too. There are also other basics activities based in limited economic resources women self-esteem reconstruction or from those who have been less favored in life. One of the latest project is the breast cancer one. Within the Joti Sarovar and Mujer de Luz foundation, all from female illness is my field, most of all ‘Female depression & Yoga’ and ‘Yoga & Stress’. Afterwards I started with Breast Cancer lessons with Sadharam Kaur of Canada. YO: Which are the differences between Yoga for women and yoga for men?
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YOGA FOR WOMEN
L.E.: When Master Yogi Bahan came to west he was teaching yoga not only for men but for women, however he performed every single year the women camping where he taught solely them in Yoga practices, albeit there are some for men and some others for women, several more are exclusively for women where feminine aspects not always considerer were trained. We study ‘Humanology’ in the Kundalini Yoga second level. It looks for the overcoming as an human being. Women are mothers and master nature by. Women must change their roles and patterns so the world may change and acquire a superior awareness, all of the men and women are educated by women. The baby is already conditions in his o her expectations and projects during the pregnancy. The woman is trained to live under her essence, without stop being a woman, with strength, fortress and guiding future generations to an awareness awakening. YO: What is Joti Sarovar? L.E.: These are some lessons and courses given in the summer time. A fifteen days retirement carried out in Chile, Spain, China and other Latin American countries. Every practice and philosophy is Yoga for women based. Female history from the ancient, cares during the pregnancy, abuse and its scars, illnesses, menstrual cycles, depression and stress are the requested subjects every day, we start at 5 in the morning and finish it off at dinner ¡These are retirements for braves! It is made for master women or those ones who wanted to pass that experience.
YO: Could you tell us which is the most extended problem highlighting the wide quantity of damaged women?
L.E.: According to my experience it’ll be abuse. Abuse is something we all bear in silence and they are the first ones who might take awareness of what they should not bear; they must report it at the minimum sign of it, physical abuse is so obvious. The psychological one is harder to report and, just in order to do it, women need a good self-esteem, avoiding anybody to step over her or underestimate her. There is a slight abuse that remains very deep traces. YO: Do you really think that every abuse trace could be erased completely?
L.E.: There are a few ones achieving it but it’s a very delicate subject, it depends on the psychological structure of the person and his o her fortress facing the life, there are so many influence factors. Whenever there is a strong trauma, some parts of the mind stop it from arise but those may arise in the future whenever the person is under hypnosis or taking a Kundalini Yoga class. Memories crystallize in certain corporal places and these memories are sometimes very old ones. There are some people who get over it and get to see the learning, the change of attitude brought by wisdom. Every situation, as painful it is, brings us a growth, a development, a Learning. And an attitude change within.
YO: Where do we can find the ‘Mujer de Luz Foundation’? L.E.: This foundation has offices in several countries and it creates financed programmes from formations, from courses and from the partners. Creating programmes for slight resources women.
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yogiInterview
YO: Could you please give us a meditation or routine to insert on a daily basis?
L.E.: First of all, when you wake up, thank yourself for this day existence. Open your eyes and thank to the Universe because now you have another opportunity of being happy every day. At the end of the day, same thing, thanks to the Universe since I live this, this and this, and I have learned. It has been a good day today and so it will be tomorrow. Whenever it’s necessary to work in deeper matters there is a need of meditation. Everyone needs to find the meditation which suits him or her, whether it is Kundalini, Vipassana or a Buddhist one in order to achieve mind balance. Our subconscious mind should be filling up of experiences and situations, like a basket is being filling of garbage and the time will always come when, if you are not cleaning it up, you will be overwhelmed and it could come the crisis. Men and women must take a minute in their lives in order to clean their minds, heal themselves and strengthen themselves. YO: Could you please recommend us a meditation for women?
L.E.: Due to the cyclic women nature, linked to the hormonal changes every 28 days, as our nature keep changing, our sense of humor, disposal and basic nature do so. A woman is very variable due to the hormones changes and this fact must be appreciated by men and women; I often recommend alternating breathing nose by for the balance of both hemispheres. This is the best for the women fluctuant changes, Anuloma Viloma. YO: You are currently living in Brazil and
your partner is a Shaman, What ‘Shamanism’ is?
L.E.: Shamanism has an ancestral origin, it is one of the most ancient practice in the Humanity, there are some texts which told us shamanism as the origin of the cave’s Yoga. It is deeply linked with the primitive earth wisdom, the Mother Nature.
YOGA FOR WOMEN
The shaman, he or she, is the one who owns this deep bond and he or she has the faculty of walk over the different levels of information, awareness and existing worlds, in order to bring answers to the ones asking. They were revered people in every tribe and the guardians of the rituals for the nature. They have the power of healing you and the power of curing you. If someone is getting on the shamanism road, as in Yoga, start a self-knowledge road, a personal developed one which carry you into deep changes and gives you the tools and support for you to keep applying this changes. We all are evolutionary beings and the aim of being in this live is to evolve since we were born until we die. If there is no change, evolution and overcoming, What is the aim then?
YO: Think about a person attracted by sha-
manism and thinking of ‘I want to be a shaman’
L.E.: (laughs) Look, I can only speak by personal experience, when I was living in Spain I felt attracted for knowing and practicing new rituals, whenever there was an opportunity we used to go to met shamans visiting our country, it always fascinated me. And then life gave me a meeting with a shaman, he was born in a traditional shamanic family, as a part from his father and his mother and he has no opportunity of election, he was the ear of his family shamanic legacy and since little he was raised and educated for that aim, although he after studied journalism and playwright, shamanism is his legacy and so the road he followed. When we first met, in every conversation we realized of the matches in both stories, between tradition and Yogical Philosophy. We built a system named Biotrans Dinámico which integrates that wisdom, a bloodline joining Orient and Occident. These are courses where you can start your formation and get deeper on it. We do not train shaman because a shaman is born not done.
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YOGA FOR WOMEN
All the people doing this evolutionary shamanism practices or Biotrans Dinรกmico, leave out qualified to live the experience and hence use it in their daily basis, even if they are therapists the can use it in their world of therapy.
YO: Would it be possible to find these courses in Spain?
L.E.: Not at the moment, this formation is imparting for 5 years now in Germany, maybe the opportunity of implementing it in Spain in 2017 is now opening. We are celebrating two shamanism meetings in Valencia next July, people interested in them can contact me on:
Lola Espi lolaespi@hotmail.con Washap +34 645071942 FB: Lola Espi
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yogiRoutine
LOVE YOUR BODY
LOVE YOUR BODY We live in times where the media continually bombard us with images of young, thin and smiling people, as a paradigm of health and happiness. They spread a very strict aesthetic canon, which is not available to most people, since not all fit in a size XS, and measure 1.80, or have 20 years forever. The consequence is that more and more people feel uncomfortable in his own body, when they see that this does not suit the aesthetic demands of fashion.And so all sorts of problems arise: eating disorders, like anorexia and bulimia, depression, or at least a feeling of dissatisfaction that doesn´t allow us to be completely happy. Perhaps one of the greatest gifts that yoga will make you, is that it will make you feel comfortable in your own skin. Because yoga works the body to get strength, flexibility and balance, not a particular appearance. It is a work from the inside out. We do not use the body to conquer the asana, but the asana to conquer the body (and mind).
We must learn to accept and love our body, to treat it with the respect it deserves, both on and off the mat. This means being attentive to its needs, nourishing it adequately, giving it the rest it needs, devoting it attention and compassion, no matter what your size or appearance. With this sequence not only you will strengthen your muscles and bones, but also your confidence in yourself, in your abilities and therefore you will increase your self-esteem. In addition, it will help you connect with your body, listen to your needs, to treat him with compassion and love. Hold each position for 10 to 20 full breaths. In savasana you can stay between 10 and 20 minutes.
1.Tadasana or mountain pose This posture opens your chest, improves breathing and circulation, and helps you to correct postural problems. It also has an important psychological effect: it helps you to feel “the ground beneath your feet”, ie, to feel stable and hold. Say it’s a good start.
And how is this achieved? Simply applying the philosophy of yoga into our daily practice. In the Yoga Sutra, founding treaty of Raja Yoga or Classical Yoga, Patanjali establishes the yamas and niyamas as the first of the eight branches that make up the tree of yoga. This is a set of ethical principles to help the practitioner to behave with others and with himself. Something like the “Ten Commandments of yoga” but without religious implications.
2. Vrkasana
or tree pose Tree pose helps you to feel root. Like the trees, to grow we need to have strong roots. And also reinforces your confidence in yourself. While you practice, focus on the strength of the leg that remains in the floor, its ability to sustain you, feel your whole body in balance.
The first yama is ahimsa, which means “non-violence”. This yama means not to hurt anyone with our thought, word or deed. To implement this principle is to treat with compassion to others and to ourselves. In my opinion, ahimsa well understood begins at home.
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LOVE YOUR BODY
Photography: Cecilia Cristolovean
3. Utthita Trikonasana
or triangle pose Physically, this posture stretches and strengthens your spine, relaxes the back muscles, tones legs and improves the function of liver, kidneys and spleen.On the psychological level, in this position you encourage your determination and your willpower.
4. Virabhdrasana II
or Warrior II The warrior pose strengthens the muscles of the legs, opens the hips and chest, arms strengthens and improves digestive function. The psychological correlative of strong legs is confidence in ourselves and in our ability to move in the world without anyone’s help. This gives us a feeling of power and self-confidence.
or extended side angle. By lengthening the column, you create space between your vertebrae. In my opinion, one of the most important goal of yoga is just that: CREATING SPACE. Creating space also for our emotions: instead of trying to ignore negative emotions, we give them space to accommodate in our being. They are part of us. Accepting that we feel fear, guilt, rejection or repentance, does not make us weaker but quite the opposite.
6. Utthita Ardha Chandrasana
7. Prasarita Padottanasana or forward bend with legs apart This posture helps you calm your nerves and mind, while increasing the flexibility of the back muscles of the legs. Relieves headache and combat mild depression. It also promotes introspection allows us to spend a few moments with ourselves,contemplating us, watching us, knowing us.
8. Adho Mukha Svanasana or
or half moon pose Balance is essential for our physical and mental health. Practice balancing postures help us promote balanced attitudes in other facets of our lives and in our relationships with others, with food and with our own body. Excesses, in one direction or another, are attacks on our body and mind, and thus go against the principle of ahimsa.
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5. Utthita Parsvakonasana
downward facing dog An exceptional position to fight depression. It also improves circulation and calms the mind. At the same time, it stretches and strengthens the back, shoulders and legs.
yogiRoutine
9. Balasana or child´s pose The child’s posture is soothing and rejuvenating. Although it may seem just a passive and resting asana, the contact between the abdomen and thighs provides a gentle massage to our internal organs, by the action of the breathing movements. We can use this gathering to revive the sense of calm and protection when we were still in the womb.
LOVE YOUR BODY
10. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
or bridge pose This asana strengthens the muscles of the back, while opening the chest and improves circulation and respiration. By bringing your chin to your chest, exert a gentle contraction in the throat (jalandhara bandha) that helps balance the function of the thyroid and parathyroid gland. Like all back bends or back extensions, relieves mild depression and gives you energy.
11. Urdhva Dhanurasana
or upward bow pose This position, as the one above, opens the chest and improves circulation and respiration. Stretches and tones the area around the waist. It also provides us a sense of lightness and power at the same time and therefore increases confidence in ourselves.
13. Sirsasana
12. Bharadvajasana
or simple twist This gentle twist, massages the reproductive organs, energizes and invigorates the adrenal glands and kidneys massage. Also it slims the waist and strengthens the abdominal region.
or headstand This posture helps balance your endocrine system, improves blood flow in the brain and energizes the whole body. Getting this asana, (which should always be done by the hand of a certified instructor) gives the practitioner a sense of achievement, which results in improved self-esteem.
15. Savasana The corpse pose, it gives you the opportunity to spend time with yourself. When you lie down in savasana, remind yourself that you have nothing else to do at that time, nothing to worry about or why fight. Bath with your awareness all parts of your body, sending them love and compassion.
14. Halasana
or plow pose As sirsasana, balances the endocrine system. It is the proper posture when we need to relax deeply and enjoy a moment of calm. It helps to alleviate irritability and anxiety and improve confidence in ourselves.
Text: Noelia Insa www.insayoga.com Yogini: Katya Anosova www.katyayoga.com
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yogiRoutine
MEDITATION
MEDITATION
T
here is a lot of meditations, maybe infinite. You can use an specific pose, go to somewhre calm, or simply keep your conscience an your attetion in the present in each action of the day independently of the place where you are or the circumstances.
Practice of Yoga gives us stability and balance becouse whith the practice we repeat the same state in differents conditions, for example is posible keep a deep breathing when wear seatting reading a book or when we are in a stressfull situation. Of all meditations I know, there is one that for me and for my students was very deep and effective. Was taught by the Master Yogui Bhajan the 12 of June in 1990.
The name is Kriya for crĂŠate and Project your future. The effect is surprising and the tecnic is very simple, and if you do it whit attention, you can feel with only repeat a word in your mind that you can cause a reacction in your body or you can affect to all your life. Yes, that simple. Keep your mind relaxing using the first exercise of the meditation, a Pranayama and open the door of your mind for search actively, make a cleaning and Project in your life the realy importan things for your future, following next steps.
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MEDITATION
Third step: Now think about that you need in your life. Observe for a Little time all positive thinking that is in your mind. Take one of it, the most important for your present and your future. The thought that can help you in your personal growth and the one that will nourish your way to happiness.
Fist Step: Sit down in easy pose, close your eyes ando put your hands in Gyan Mudra. Breath, inhalle slowly and deeply by the mouth, and exhale slowly and deeply by the nose. Time, minimun 7 minutes max 15.
Now reduce that thinking to a word, only one word. It could be Love, Union, Peace, Luk, Prosperity, the word that you feel but only one. Now continue inhale deeply, hold your breath and while your are holdind your breath observe that word, visualize and concéntrate it and projet it in a constant halo. Then exhale and continues the clycle. Time: 5 to 15 minutes. For finish Inhale deeply, hold your breath and move up your arms, fingers an spine. Then exhale and repet tow more times. Then relax.
Second step: Now, collects all your memories. Pass, present…. Inhale deeply, hold your breath and while your are holdind your breath observe your thoughts. Then exhale and continues the clycle. Yogui Bhajan said, reduce all your negative thougts to cero or that is the same, tke it away all the importance, all the weight. Imagine it becoming smaller until it dissapear. Clean the pain and the suffering of thats thoughts. Becomes your thoghts in cero from your main. Allow positive thoughts keep their intensity. Time: 7 to 11 minutes.
What Word did you select? Can you fell the effect it have on you? Can you fell your boy reacts? Since first day that I did that meditation, I select the word Peace. The meaning according to the dictionary is “State of the person who is not disturbed by any conflicts”. It has become one of my favorite mantras. Whenever my mind needs rest I meditate in the word peace wherever I be. Relax my body and opens my mind and realy feel that all of us are one.
Ignacio Sáez Jiménez / Raghuray Singh info@yoyyoga.com
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The perfect imperfection
www.yoguiola.com www.facebook.com/yoguiola www.twitter.com/yoguiola www.issuu.com/yoguiola
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路 路 路 路
Executive and aspiring yogini, Romina studied Technical Engineering, Business and Master in Marketing and Sales. She found in yoga the way to balance business life with its internal needs. She started practicing dynamic yoga, and thanks to the inspiration of two good teachers fell in love with the art jumping years later to the study of yoga in the School of Life Yogic Gobinde. Initially she thought that two years would be enough to prepare as a yoga teacher and completely understand this technique, but today assumes that it takes years, practice and devotion to really imbibe the breadth of what Yoga has to offer. In her new life as a mother she now embarks on a project wich se has been brewing for years, to offer Yoga to businesses and professionals, her illusion is that everyone can take advantage of the gifts of yoga to be a little happier every day. Romina Moya