Funny Little Habits....

We all have funny little habits.  Some are interesting and quirky, and make us more interesting, and some are downright annoying and distructive!  You may have developed a habit from childhood, like chewing on the end of your hair, or twiddling a pencil through your fingers when concentrating.  Harmless, and not likely to have any ill effects one way or the other.  In the overall scheme of things, singing Build Me Up, Buttercup while taking a shower is not going to damage you, though it might defintely annoy the other people in the house!

Unfrotunately, we also develop funny little physical habits.  Some, again, make us unique and identify us.  You can usually spot someone off in the distance and recognise them by the way they move.  You can spot them on the dance floor, for good or for bad, or how they run, walk or stand.  We can personally have developed ways of sitting, standing, walking etc, that have been laid deeply down into our neuropathways, and we have no real awareness of it.  It settled into the unconscious when the pattern has been repeated and used enough.  Some of these are good.  Some support us and all are there to propel us around and get done what needs to be done.  Some..on the other hand, may be very detrimental to the framework we occupy, i.e. the skeletal sturcture. 

We may have had an ankle injury back when, and held our foot and ankle at a distorted angle.  If it is held there long enough, repeated enough, that distortion will settle into a pattern of movement that can be permanent, even after the ankle has healed.  We could just have developed a "hitch" in the way we walk, which ultimately will pull the structure out of alignment. We could be rolling our weight into the balls of our feet, instead of spreading it over the breath of the foot, and develop bunions, and bony build up outside the ball of the foot.

The body is built for symmetry. (unless there are bone length anomolies or distortions) and Yoga, and especially SAY Yoga, helps to bring they symmetry back to the structure.  It will correct these "funny little habits" that form over time.  Once the body start to be aware of these habitual ways of moving and holding, the mechanism in your awareness, your consciousness, will expand the ability and start to NOTICE in the broader sense.  You will notice that you "notice"! The ability to examine and evaluate things that we often take for granted or never gave any attention to start to seep into our awareness.  The internal world becomes more interesting, and the external world becomes more astonishing.

A life lived unexamined is not worth living, as Socrates said.  Yoga will certainly teach us how to examine, and evaluate the life we are living!!  Enjoy your funny little habits that make you you, and be happy to address the ones that may be ready to be released.  

Space....the final frontier!!

I have found much of what physical yoga does is "undo!"  In other words, what we do during the day, how we move, the amount of time we are inactive, how long we spend on the computer or crouched over other devices, our less-than-productive ways we walk, stand sit, all contribute to our "losing space" in the body.  Gravity, by it's very nature, pulls everything down and contracts all things, including us!  Many of or physical complaints, especially in the lower back, feet and shoulders, are caused because of the body's continuous contraction.  It is also why we beccome shorter the longer we are on the planet. Even if you have impeccable posture, if you do nothing to counteract gravitational pull and structural contraction, you may suffer from completely avoidable complaints. This continuous contraction can squeeze vertabrae, resulting in restricted movement, backpain, Sciatica, tight muscles, distorted neck muscles, rounded shoulders, to name of few of the diffucluties.The problem is WE NEED SPACE!!

SAY YOGA, and all kinds of Hatha Yoga are very versatile at counteracting our physical contraction and giving us back the space that living in the world takes out.  It will seperate bones and lengthen muscles, thereby relieving the derogatory effects of contraction.  I can speak for myself, having suffered many back and knee injuries from sports, running, and a few accidents.  I suffered 4 years with severe sciatic nerve pressure and scoliosis, yet all of my symptoms have been relieved completely.  All I have done is consistantly create space in my body, from the internal sturcture of the bones, plus muscle lengthening and strengthening.  All my suffereing, which was considrable and life changeing,  has been eleviated for many years.

Practicing the primary poses.....Warriors,  Trangles, Tadasana, Utadasans, forward bends (I like to us the word lengthing rather thant bend) both sitting and standing, has been enough to make a critical difference in the amount of space in my internal structure.  If practiced with the INTENTION of creating space and length, you will feel the expansion and your body will love it. Every time I practice this I maintain and increase the length and space in the body, and undo what gravity, and my unnoticed movements have done.  I feel like my body has spring cleaned and cleared out!! Space!! 

Try it!  Become an a space explorer!

A bit of control....

As you have heard in the news, here in London the streets have lost control to looters and rioters.  I believe whatever the situation, it can only be worsened by out of control behaviour.  One of my motos I live by is "Behave better than you fell!"  If this were a universal concept, things like riots would not occur.  Unfortunately, not everyone on earth is looking to maintain peace, or even find it for themselves.  I know that practicing Yoga has definitely taught me the ability to control my mind and actions, no matter what happens. I can entlist that option.  That is not to say that firm and quick action is not needed in certain situation like the riots, but what is best to avoid is knee jerk reactions. 

I have learned mental control, side by side with physical control through my practice.

As the  Dalai Lama says:

"It is important to understand that counterproductive actions of body, speech and mind do not arise of their own accord, but spring up in dependence on our motivation. Faulty states of mind give rise to faulty actions. To control negative physical and verbal actions, we need to tame our minds."

If only that train of thought prevaded instead of what happened in London the last few days.

Even so, positive action has also been a wonderful thing to emerge from this mess.  So many people wanted to volunteer to clean up, the twitter, facebooks and other social networking sites set up for the purpose of helping were inundated, and some crashed from so many good people wanting to volunteer and help.  Many, many more than the looters involved in the unrest.

Keep the faith....human beings can be tame!

The thing about practice....

How do you get to Carnegie Hall.....practice, practice, practice!!  Human being, including myself, seem to have an inanate aversion to the word practice.  Even though we love the results, and even enjoy the activitiy itself, there seems to be a resistance to the concept.

One thing I have done when this happens, which it still does, it ignore it completely, and do it anyway!!  I have learned that because I have the thought to resist it, does not mean I have to act it.  I just pick up my mat and carry on.  I remember hearing in an interview, the BKS Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar yoga, and credited with bringing it to the west), has the same challenge himself!  Not to worry we are in good company!!

Get up and practice anyway...yoga, tennis, knitting, the piano!! 

Welcome to SAY Yoga!

Hello, this will be our first blog, introducing SAY yoga, and all things yoga.  I am very excited about sharing with you my enthusiasm and trust in the art and science of Yoga and what it can do to change your body, your mind and your life.

Yoga does not have to be mysterious or difficult.  It will giv eyou more results than you ever expected or even thought about.  If practiced properly and consistently, it has the power of transformation, on all levels.

We will be sharing information and look forward to hearing from you.  We would love you to join the site and share your experiences, ask questions, and learn more.