Category Archives: english

Show must go on!

english, India, romana, travel, yoga, ,

[English below] #helpneeded

dacă simpla decizie de a porni pe un drum a mișcat câteva suflete la distanță, prin vise, emoții sau curiozitate, atunci poate chiar am nevoie de ajutorul vostru…

În 6 Aprilie voi începe câteva procese de purificare ce vor fi susținute atât de unele forme cunoscute de practici din yoga, kundalini sau tantra precum și ayurveda. Aproape 300 de plante, flori și alte substanțe ce sunt mai greu de achiziționat (prin raritatea lor sau timpul de procesare) vor fi implicate în acest process, ceea ce-l face și suficient de scump. Timpul de reacție pentru prima jumătate din el mă susține să vă cer, să vă accept ajutorul.

Suma pe care o am de pregătit pentru acesta parte din proces este aprox. 3000 euro

în detalii despre ce înseamnă o să vă descriu puțin mai jos (precum am și scris putin aici), dacă deja știți și doriți să contribuiti, următoarele sunt cele mai accesibile forme:

private/personal: or RevolutRevolut (on my phone number), transfer / bank transfer:

Titular: RUBEN DARIUS MOLDOVAN
IBAN RON: RO92 RZBR 0000 0600 1588 9374
IBAN EUR: RO17 RZBR 0000 0600 1716 7632
Nume banca: Raiffeisen Bank
BIC/Swift: RZBRROBU

prin asociatia AUM TAT SAT /  through our AUM TAT SAT org. :

Titular: Asociația Cultural-Sportivă AUM TAT SAT
IBAN RON: RO60RNCB0106151744390001
IBAN EUR: RO33RNCB0106151744390002
Nume banca: BCR (Banca Comerciala Romana)
BIC/Swift: RNCBROBU
Descriere tranzactiei:sponsorizare [+ numar telefon]

urmând ca ulterior să revin cu contractele corepunzătoare sumei și detalilor fiscale ale entității care sponsorizează.

this comes as an answer for some of your feelings, dreams or curiosity; i guess that if reached some of you like that, would mean that i need your support on this

On the 6th of April i will start my personal path with some purification processes, some practices could be familiar to you from yoga, kundalini, tantra as also ayurveda. Almost 300 plants, flowers and other substances will be involved in this process, which is making it pretty expensive. Due to the time left to act on it, i am inclined to as for your support, to accept your help.

The amount that I have to prepare for the next journey process is about 3000 euro.

I will be following below with some details about this process (also some of them were already captured here), but if you already know them and feel to contribute, these are the most available methods.

Sometimes the journey is not only a one man’s job

One of the elements below shouldn’t be disclosed, I didn’t remember which so i had to obfuscate a little more. But what we have below is the 1st half of the process, 8 samskaras that are scheduled for this year, where 4 of them I’ll be doing in India and the other i will have them done home. Those 12 days represent just a quarter of the process and I’m reaching to you for this support for the start – but if the helps exceeds that milestone, I’ll try to continue to have more done there, in the ashram – which means the possibility to reduce the from the 2 years time to probably 2 months – this is why, here, now these money are important.

You do good, good will happen…

This also comes to me as an exercise of accepting…

You don’t have to contribute much, if each of the “facebook likes” would donate 0.5 euro we’ll reach that easily, it can be just a matter of giving just a bit of your energy here.

While you do the donation, you can chant: Aum gam ganapataye namaha..

 

The Conqueror Express Retreat

detoxifiere, english, event, travel, ,

vreau să scriu doar cateva cuvinte despre următorul retreat, nu că merită, ci că oportunitatea este unică!

Două ramuri consacrate din yoga, în combinatie cu nutriție la nivel de bio-hacking, curătări prin băi de Gong – toate adunate într-un singur loc, retreat, scurt și concentrat pe tine.

Eu unu m-as inscrie dacă n-aș fi avut un alt rol în el. Și în plus sunt entuziasmat să-mi reîntâlnesc acești frați de drum (Ana și Bralgei) și mai entuziasmat pentru toți care o să participe.

The Conqueror Express Retreat

Creativity, Communication and Caliber
Yoga-Nutrition-Sound Therapy

As spring has arrived, nature starts to blossom, and Sun’s dear sister, the moon goes full.
It is the Worm Moon, and it seems like being aligned with the cycles of the seasons. Native Americans used lunar phases to track the seasons and found an inspiring name for the story that is about to be written in the spring. According to them it is the time to explore our senses, as a gift from March’s full moon, inviting us to use our intuitive instincts in soft ways, gain our vitality, reach for higher goals by strengthening our roots, nourishing our gifts and revealing our true power.

Spring gives us the opportunity to work deeply on all levels of body – mind – soul. A time to celebrate within. It is the season to be curious, boost our inner fire, shedding light in chambers we forget about. And maybe ask ourselves, as it is a season for rebirth -> We live by labels, we experience by labels, but how is it to surrender, create, communicate and reach our caliber ?

We are creating the space for you to experience the inner fire that stirs your imagination so you can communicate within, and set sail towards the highest realms.

Three passionate exquisite teachers, biohackers and funky humans inviting you to start a journey for yourself, reach your potential, act consciously from your highest caliber and simply enjoy the process.

****All meals are carefully chosen nutrition wise by our biohacker/nutritionist.
****All classes will be focused on the subject/goal of the retreat
****All classes will have clear information about all yoga styles, sound bath and pranayam (breath work) chosen for the class structure-Kundalini as taught by Yogi Bhajan, Sat Nam Rasayan, Traditional Hatha Yoga and Yin Yoga.
****All participants will receive a personal schedule at the end of the retreat -yoga, meditation, nutrition basics- to be followed at home.

************************************************************
Please follow all event details and full schedule at : https://gabrielpesa.com/blog/conqueror-express-retreat/
************************************************************

MAIN TOPICS
BIO HACKING | ANTI-AGING | ENZIMATIC NUTRITION | PLANTS AND SUPPLEMENTS| TRADITIONAL MEDICINE | SHAMANISM | FASTING | ZERO POINT MEDITATION |POWER OF VOID |

HATHA YOGA | KUNDALINI YOGA | YIN YOGA | MEDITATION | SOUND HEALING | GONG BATH |

YOGA POWER | THE PATHS OF YOGA | ASANAS AND MEDITATION | SEEKING THE BALANCE

****All classes will be focused on the subject/goal of the retreat
****All participants will receive a personal schedule -yoga, meditation, nutrition basics- to follow at home.

Nutrition and Biohacking
What is right nutrition for the modern man?
In a thriving society where food is plenty and available any day and night, we reached a threshold of great illnesses and nutritional based diseases. The paradox is that we have all we need but we do not know how to eat right.

This course is for the people that needs to learn the right choices in nutrition, based on their gender, age, body type, location, activity, etc. All these things mater. Greatly
We do not have the time and the patience to learn all about nutrition
We need the essence, delivered simple, focused and customized for each one of use. We need to learn how to custom nutrition for our daily needs.
What is nutrition and biohacking?
I focus on optimal nutrition which delivers the basic elements for the proper function of the body. We include in the course:

The main purpose is to balance INPUT/OUTPUT. All problems derive from the imbalance of the INPUT (water, nutrients, enzymes, vitamins, etc.) with the OUTPUT (bad waste management and lack of detoxification). As you will see, 80% of the problems are due to bad OUTPUT.
Hydration management and rebalancing enzymes (Optimized water and enzymes are keys and the secret for and healthy long life)
The key role of good fats in nutrition and anti-ageing
Optimal nutrition in the social context (we puled out the nutrition form the social and geographical context, which propagated the human race in to a state of illness and frustration. We need to re-learn how to balance this aspect into everyday life)
What you can find in the content of the nutrition and biohacking workshop?
The main rules in nutrition and how to integrate them into day-to-day life

How to listen to your body and not to go against it.
What is biohacking and what it takes to become a biohacker?
The most harmful habits and foods and how to counter-balance them?

How to decode guilt in nutrition?
Simple instruments for optimal nutrition
How to eat what you like and be healthy in the same time – healthy gourmet lifestyle
Main vitamins, enzymes and mineral the body needs for optimal homeostasis
The most harmful traps in nutrition; how to avoid them.
Main tips and tricks in nutrition and biohacking
What kind of nutrition and biohacks you can find?
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Main types of nutrition that we can use for our lifestyle
How to hack the water
How to hack the food in order to avoid fattening and obesity
How to get more energy from the food
Energy boosters and natural nootropics
Other tips and tricks

*****DETAILS ABOUT EVENT
Location
http://www.pensiunepiatracraiului.ro Piatra Craiului Satul Sătic, Com. Rucăr, Arges, Romania GPS: Coordonate 45°26’57.85″N, 25° 9’40.05″E Decimal 45.449404°, 25.161125°

Price:
375 Euro (Including training, lodging and food for 3 days) * Online payment via Paypal or Credit Card * Revolut Payment * Cash Payment or bank transfer via Pawan Yoga Studio +40735981239
REVOLUT Payment Available
Bralgei Shackry (aka Gabriel Pesa): +40726678526

Instructions: Add payment for “Conqueror Express Retreat” or request payment via message

BOOK YOUR SPOT
Lodging
15 spots available in 2 bedrooms rooms

Food
Food is included in the price of the event. Vegertarian gourmet menu. Meat based menu is also available upon demand
When?

FROM: 22 March 2019 : 12.00 PM TO: 24 January 2019 :17.30 PM Details in the event page
Contact

Pawan Yoga Studio:+40735981239 | office@pawan.ro | Gabriel Pesa: +40726678526 | Mail: office@gabrielpesa.com

About our TRAINERS:

Bralgei Shackry

Nutrition and medicine is for Bralgei a passion for life. Started from a child’s dream to live 1000 years and has evolved into a system of life, which, let us recall that each of us can we get what we want.

In the first part of his life he was self-taught, and then to specialize in disciplines such as medicine, chemistry, physics, nutrition, regeneration, holistic medicine, Reiki, Well Being, energy Practice Qi gong, Tensegrity, Chang-zhang, Ling-kung-jing.

It was initiated as shaman and has 10 years of experience in the Sekhem-Netcher-East Wind-ancient System of Medicine (traditional) and Egyptian vibrational medicine.

For the last 2 decades he worked with people on an individual basis in order to assist their development and health.

Ana Popescu
Yogi, Actress & Human

Ana’s career and experience in the artistic field at the beginning, from acting, to dance, coaching and later on yoga , meditation and sound therapy shaped her unique style of teaching- an alchemist yogi.Yoga Teacher, Sound Healer Gong Master, Ana teaches Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, Hatha Yoga and Khalsa Way Prenatal Yoga.

Her care and unique approach comes from her own recovering journey and a vast experiennce of practicing various types of yoga, studied from Hawaii to New York, Portugal and London, Rome teaching and working with people from all over the world.

Guided by her teachers she followed her mission and dedication to kundalini yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and went back to her home country where she opened Pawan Studio of Yoga & Sound Healing- un urban yoga sanctuary in the heart of Bucharest, dedicated to many yoga styles with an emphasis on sound and Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan.

Sat Nam Rasayan and Kundalini Therapy Medicine are her most beloved healing techniques that she works with and applies for her students. Among her work she studied with: Guru Dharam, Mahankirn Kaur Khalsa, Deborah Coehn, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Amanbir Joe Singh, Don Conreaux, Angelo&Katia Surinder, Guru Dev.

Funky and full of energy, Ana lives now in Bucharest, acts, dances, rocks the gong, shamanic drums, teaches yoga and travels for both acting and yoga.

“My joy, gratitude and love to my teachers who taught me gracefully to seek and embrace my higher self, stay on the path of awareness and be a guide to those in need”
Peace, Light and Love
Ana (Prem Shakti Kaur)

& me (Darius Moldovan)

Manduka Coupon 25% off: RDMOLDOVAN4

asana, english, yoga

I have 25% discount manduka coupon code for you, available until 23:59  of 31.10.2016.

Cupon code

RDMOLDOVAN4

How to use it

get to european Manduka site https://www.manduka.com/eu/ select the items you desire to shop and insert RDMOLDOVAN4 in the discount code area, then aplply coupon and you should observe the 25% discount.

rdmoldovan4

To what it applies

The coupon code applies as 25% to all un-discounted products of the site but not for the shipping, where for Romania you will get upto 50% discount if you order over 75 euros and would cost in the end about 10 euros.

Enjoy!

How to extend your life? with some *secrets* …

article, asana, cluj, english, kriya, pranayama, yoga
So what is Life?

life-wallpaper

the most dominant answer defines life as the length (of time) between the 1st breath and the last breath. Because of a strong correlation between  the number of heart-beats and the number of time units (years) in a life there are some who initially said that each individual (race) has a specific number of heart-beats given. Then because of the strong correlation between the heart-beats and number of breaths, they concluded that actually each race, specie of a living entity has its life counted in number of breaths (either its a plant, animal or human).what-is-life-660  To extend this basic definition of life i’m adding also the stock, the number of stem cells one individual has.

Then.. how to extend Life?

by simply reducing the number of breaths and what is consuming our body, our cells (that eventually then need to be replaced).

How?

Well here is were Yoga has some interesting answers confirmed by its devoted practitioners which in average they can easily reach 150 years old (e.g. hatha yoga).

Never the less, before we venture in some of the yogic topics, there are also some external things that depend to nourishment of the body which one can approach – doesn’t mean that some of them are not included in yoga, but they known universally to have this effect from different cultures. I’m not going to name all of them, but few enough to deliver you the concept behind the scenes.

Everything that stresses less the ce2art1_MPreviewlls, give them proper space to receive nourishment, eliminate residual products and sustain a healthy membrane – reflects in a prolonged life of the cell and with it the entire body. Let’s take these 3 elements:


nourishment –  so.. some things have to arrive to the cell, let’s take the most common element, the Oxygen. In order to have this delivered we need a good peripheral circulation – now let’s thing who gives us that? 🙂 well for one hand everyone heard about Gingko Biloba
and I’m also inviting you here to share me more from your knowledge and experience 🙂

good residual elimination – 400px-Ginkgo_Biloba_Leaves_-_Black_Backgroundi don’t want to dive to much here to talk about what we eliminate so I’ll pick the comfortable CO2, i would say that something that reduces the stress (not only the stress of elimination) is an interesting support.. for e.g. the   nor-adrenaline (norepinephrine / NE) hormone which has as effect the blood vessels constriction is a triggered by a stress event.

soja_klein_print_0healthy membrane – cell membranes are mostly made of phospholipids, glycolipids, and cholesterol. Lecithin is the most common source of phospholipids (soybeans are great sources of lecithin) and please stay away from the processed fats.

and since we are talking about cells, let’s include a bit the stem cells… sugar is one of the fast-cell-killers or the one who drains you out of the stem cell stock. Pregnant women have some special conditions that they can lets say “refill” some of these cells during this specific time.

we can also talk about the alkaline body – that is a stress-less form of the body – and here all the specific way of nourishing, sustaining and transform into such a body will prolong the *current expectation* of lifetime..

is the care of this few principles enough? well.. the body has automatically defined one job for itself, to always be healthy, so if you give him that freedom.. he will be happy, healthy and long lasting 🙂

so the most longevity persons we know, as a majority, they live at the harsh conditions, the Eskimos have their diet purely based on fats, then the Gingko Biloba is native to China.. but the ones who not only are alive but seem like they are still living the life with a great body force and stamina are the yogis (in majority native to India).

How can Yoga extend your Life?

There is a deep understanding of this nourishment and elimination in yoga. The concept of having these processes very efficient is the aim. We are looking also very closely to the energy that is linked to them, known as Prana and Apana. We dive into what the correct space (shuka) means for these forces, for these energies of life to freely communicate.

On the body level we reduce all impediments with the help of Asanas & Kriyas, removing all blockages is again the aim, then we sustain the purification. With Pranayama we arrive in controlling this Life Energy, then we expand our vessels, our bodies to sustain more. While the Yamas and Niyamas we start observing ourselves in the medium (social) and private, then with the help of Pratyahara we gain control in our senses we continuously reduce all exterior and interior stress factors.

This is why simply and grossly Yoga with no dependency to any drug or exterior factor has as one of its fruits an *extended* life (expectancy).

Let’s simply take very few examples.

Asanas9191.asana-room-269-bw

reduces the tensions in the body, they are either at the bone, muscular or fascia – their incorrect manifestation on the body changes the circulations of everything.. the breath, the digestion, the nourishment of the body.

 

 

Pranayamapranayama

this techniques go deeper, “regulating the regulator”, rhythmic breath affecting the blood circulation (tension, heartbeats), also activating the para-sympathetic nervous system the digestion and all body recovery functions will sustain a longer lifespan of the organs / systems. As also it will affect the production and balance of the hormones in the body.

SM-Breathing-Forces-Text-breathing

 

PratyaharaKali-Om-column

controlling all senses, their information produced into you, will give you time and power to decide (if you want to [re-]act on them or not), reducing stress factors as also the fear.

 

There are more chapters that we can dig into in respect of this idea, as for the ones briefly mentioned above, being so popular, one can easily find a spring of answers by itself.

This effect of yoga is popular enough between its practitioners, that the question is not how to extend ones life but how to live it!

Yoga has no Shades of Gray – People do!

english, India, yoga

everyone is doing yoga… that yes is a possibility.. consciously or not.. that’s actually the difference..

Are you doing Yoga? or is Yoga doing you?… Yoga was already there before you, so you can’t DO yoga,  you mostly arrive to a point that you are practicing yoga… practicing… practicing.. practicing yoga or some techniques which are from yoga..

Some people these days.. funny days.. they think THEY are inventing yoga, re-inventing yoga, adapting yoga.. practicing the new yoga, the western yoga 🙂 … whatever they do, its most probable they didn’t understood yoga, stealing pieces from techniques, modifying them just enough to put a brand on top so that they can sell… but behind their *new* techniques… there is no 5000 years experience, there is no confirmation of results or of their benefits..

so this *contemporary* yoga.. what is this?.. just some shades.. some different levels of gray… could it at least lead to a spiritual path?… YES.. but not because of the effects of the practice as for the real intention behind the people which are involving in a practice.. it is because they SEEK the Truth, the Light.. that some of them are advancing.. and then they meet Yoga 🙂

so when people ask me for how long I am practicing Yoga.. I only refer to the starting moment when I was SEEKING, when I was AWARE and Yoga filled my practice..

so when you say… you practice yoga, what do you do? do you have your personal practice? or you just attend some classes because of some mystical, exotic or superstar, super popular individual.. do you think that is enough? for what?

As many seeds (of Light) one will put into you, remember, you are the (base) ground, you are the one growing (this Light).. all the seeds in the world won’t help you if you don’t play your part in nurturing this evolution… your every step is required.. this is your Journey!

Don’t accept everything you hear because its clicking somewhere in your head, don’t refuse it either, chew on it. Part of Yoga is also Self-Study, research and there are some traditional books to remind you about your path. People will teach you up to their knowledge and understanding, but there are lessons and things that can’t be put on words, they are not about visiting ashrams, India or any gurus… they are the self-experience of you, the moment you’ll meet YourSelf.

In the beginning Yoga was passed from a guru to a student in almost a secret way that the Martial Arts were. It was a guru which was looking for the student, not the other way around. The reason behind this, and why women and kids were not even considered to be suitable, is because the guru was seeking for that student which will not alter the Truth. So Yoga for thousands of years was not written nor transmitted to the ones found capable of changing it. These gurus if they were not able to find a good student to share their knowledge, in respect to the Truth, they preferred holding it to their death.

But here we are today, not far from the times people were practicing and struggling to recover the most ancient and traditional forms of yoga (1920-1940) to the times we are so eager to change it. Everyone with his own style of Yoga and do you wonder why you are lost in the shades, not seeing the Light? India has even a religion with 35 million gods, so even your attempt to make yourself and your style God-like, is not a surprise for them, you’ll still end copying something that was there for so much time…

So stop being an echo, stop being a shadow..
Some people say, read the books from the dead people.. if those books survived they might tell something.. Practice here from the most old and traditional styles of yoga.. if they survived.. there must be something worthy to investigate..

Namaste!..

 

Practice (Yoga) with the Intent to Explore

article, asana, cluj, english, yoga

Do you know why the light bulb lights? Do you? Do you really?

Yoga says that once you know a thing, anything, fully then you know everything. Because by knowing one at the level of vibration you know Vibration Itself manifesting into all other things – or not manifesting.

Once, when I had the body of a younger boy, I said “For me Jesus was one who was able to explain the divinity in everything”. Like he could pick up this light bulb in front of a crowd and ask / explaining why once the electricity goes through it starts glowing. For those who don’t know it purely a property e.g. of the metals that once they reach a certain temperature they emit things that you can perceive as light. So Jesus was a real guru, practicing yoga, but for those who didn’t knew yoga he was practicing Love and Light.

 

One of my inspiring teachers had posted almost yesterday on FB a reaction about some words that arrived to her too “Oh that’s the yoga for 13 year old boys. Or at least that what all the teachers at the studio I go to say.” .. i would not iterate on this idea explaining what’s behind.. as I would like to point this..

I often receive videos of beautiful flows, jumpings, almost yoga dancing, acro yoga.. you know this SHOW and to some extend beautiful practices.. but to rare to mention i receive videos where someone is expressing from his attempt to explore deeper into some yoga technique..

When I invite you all to practice yoga, i don’t mean only asana or pranayama..

I mostly want you to get curious and Self-attracted into exploring yoga techniques; so if its an asana, i don’t say i practice hatha yoga or yin because there we sit more into the poses.. my dear yogic travelers.. i do almost everything but I DON’T SIT into the pose.. I EXPLORE with with all my senses, with all the breath and I enjoy it for as long as i feel it – this technique or asana – wants to manifest, wants to express into me in that moment…

That moment when my yoga practice goes into exploring, to diving in the Self, that is the one of the widest yogic journey you can experience, some even call it, (spontaneous) meditation in the pose (technique).. because to arrive there you apply yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama, pratyahara and start tasting the fruits of dharana, dhyana with glimps from samadhi.

Practice Yoga with the Intend to Explore!

namaste..

Why “Salads” are more expensive than their (processed) Products?

english, yoga

I’m writing this in English because i believe this is not a local (Cluj-Napoca), regional, country, but maybe a cultural situation.

today, i had a feeling to go for something else to eat at lunch then my traditional salads and went for some zucchini cream soup, cabbage dumplings with coarsely ground maize/millet (sarmale cu păsat) x 4 ~ 214g and spinach puree ~ 230g .. total cost ~ 19 RON but during each spoon I was wondering… how is this possible?

19 RON for aprox. 750g of processed veggie food vs. 18 RON for aprox. 400g salad

so, since i had this meals both at the same place, and the raw materials are for sure bought with a common acquisition, i guess everything else is pure marketing.. so what does the marketing says? Salads are more healthy and they should be sold more expensive..

10872489_10154895834155463_1022495130_n salate

 

what if we would only pay for what we eat (and the costs around it)… because i don’t see any value the added cost of the marketing, since the tail / crowd its always on the different part than the salads service place.. or is this a dark plan to keep world unhealthy?

be mindful on what you eat..

Learn Yoga by Teaching Yoga

english, event, training, yoga

When one adventures into the Self, into the longest and blissful journey, there are many ways of understanding and different ways of learning..

There are books of course, there are many classes, many teachers and if one is lucky enough there is the discipline for the personal practice… and yes there are more sources, nature, meditation, etc.. but one in particular as title reveals by itself, its very interesting, learning yoga by teaching yoga..

“You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” A. Einstein

From my personal experience, seeing others stepping into this journey we call yoga, not only got me deeper with understanding, but brought efficiency by learning better and shorter symbols to explain even bigger, complex to abstracts.. that’s why and many other reasons i say:

“My teachers are my students and my students are my teachers..”

So, see yourself, where are you regarding this concept? Are you sometimes missing even your personal practice because you don’t really understand what’s going on? Are you addicted to your teacher? If yes.. free yourself!!

“Yoga is the fearless expression of the Self.. ” re-quoting with love my teacher, Roshan

during my initial training in India, Rishikesh, we were many practicing “on and off” yoga, some even came to enrich and get a personal discipline, personal practice with the help of the yoga teacher training.. some came with a lot of years and dedication and still left with more.. and this is not because of the teachers, training, colleagues, time or places to study.. for sure.. they all played and important role.. but this is also about the process.. about the mindset.. to come and learn.. whoever you are to take a seat.. and do a yoga teacher training..

very soon, 1-15 of February 2014,  I’ll manifest as a teacher for a Yoga Teacher Training, what a richful event event for me and for the ones attending..

surrendering to the Divine..

hari om, tat sat, namaste!

It’s an asana (pose) good or wrong?

article, asana, english, yoga

many times i open the yoga class saying that yoga is not a sport, that you are not competing or comparing with your yoga mat colleagues (and at some level not even with yourself).. and i would love expand into this some other time.. because yesterday night when i said this, one new participant asked, after other words:

“Then how can you say we are doing wrong?”

Oh, that was a lovely smart moment question, but in my attempt to quickly answer and get back to the class and practice maybe i was not fully understood. My fast answer was:

“Well you are right, you’re not doing the pose wrong, you are on the journey to the pose, to its full expression and benefits – i will tell you what we understand from this pose and at the limit of your current understanding, your attempt to enter the pose (if done with true presence) will always be good – but as often not what we, or the one who propose this pose thousand of years ago, like to agree it is.”

Confusing? then you are paying the correct amount of attention.

So we could manifest one asana in different forms, based on our personal “range” of understanding, motion and moment in time and depending on our intention it cannot be called differently that good, but i would rephrase it from now as “good effort”, “good understanding” or somehow else and not as “good pose” or how one of my loved teacher (Narendra Singh)  would say it “This is for you!” and very rarely “This IS!!!”
(aka between collegues as “dees ees” 🙂 “dees ees position” , “dees ees final position” [video1, video2])

STILL .. because we are all in this journey, which actually is the same journey no matter how many paths one will see, we agree that understanding is one, the truth is one.
As we come to yoga not to express our ego, but to surrender it to the practice, so our journey and understanding of the asana poses should bring us together, aligned into less “fluctuating” expressions.

I am currently preparing an article, in romanian language, about Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana A) but also including all warriors 2,3 and reversed (Virabhadrasana B, C), and while on the quest of collecting other ideas upon it, i passed over these lines:

“Yoga is the physical embodiment of myriad myths and poetic forms. If we look only at the asanas (postures) themselves, we can see each one has the potential to connect us to something deeper, something metaphysical (“beyond the physical”) within ourselves. Each posture is named and modeled after some creature, mythological archetype, or revered being. By placing our body into these postures, we become a physical metaphor for the thing we are imitating. In doing so, we can invite profound awareness around how the characteristics of these creatures, archetypes, and revered beings might be showing up in our own physical, mental, and spiritual make-up.”

so its is very important that we understand the goal of the pose, its origin, its final expression, its benefits, actually everything about that pose so that we are aware of our experience when manifesting ourselves into it.

In few words – YES, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO UNDERSTAND THE POSE AND DO IT CORRECTLY AND ALIGNED WITH THEIR DEFINITIONS, ENERGY. And [please] don’t promote, don’t public[shortcuts] personal messages from your teachers – it will only confuse others and prolong their journey [, please understand the messages behind ahimsa, satya and swadhyaya].

As i mentioned in one previous line, there will be an article on warrior poses in Romanian, but for my international friends I will shortly sum up my findings [before a focused post on this]:

Especially Warrior I, Virabhadrasana A, is not a traditional pose in yoga – where you can only track it down to Krishnamacharya, which was the teacher of Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, Desikachar (which passed it to Gary Kraftsow) and this happened about 70 years ago. More recently than that by divine revelation it appeared also in Bikram Yoga but with the back heel up which is an exception of totally other understandings as also this “Bikram Yoga” which tries to mimic Indian conditions on performing asanas is let’s say “excommunicated”, not thought in India, not recognized by Indian yoga teachers and gurus.

“[..] in the East, if anybody asks you to do some practice, it is expected that the scriptures also recommend it. [..] Everybody who has gone the same road [..] should approve it because truth is the same. It is not something to be newly invented. All our present-day inventions can easily go wrong. What is the best thing today will be the worst thing tomorrow. They are still not finalized.”  The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda – in another way if we take an experiment we say that the results should be confirmed by many tests and population around generations.

Virabhadrasana is linked to an Hindu legend which involves Shiva, Shakti, Daksha and Virabhadra and all these poses interpret those events. As my initial personal feeling, these poses were initially dance poses or as previously mentioned, Gary Kraftsow – foundator of Viniyoga American Institute) said, they were present in the ancient indian martial arts – as one who performs any martial arts would notice its grounding, efficient energy to retreat and the courageous frontal gaze.

Why they were introduced in yoga? and other martial arts? – this is a journey i invite you all to understand for these and any other asana..

you can also view below some similar expressions:

Meypayatu™ is a ‘new’ mind-body practice based on the principal movements of Kalaripayattu, a 3000-year-old martial art form from Kerala, India, and the root of all martial arts. The meypayatu brand is derived from the Malayalam word Meippayattu meaning “body form” and is the physical and mental conditioning element of Kalaripayattu.

 

Yoga is the fearless expression of the Self..

 

http://youtu.be/bV7BrUs9HFQ