My dear dear Urdhva Dhanurasana

As a result of a very nasty car crash I suffered when I was 17 on Xmas Eve, and in which I very, very nearly died, my right shoulder and upper back have been frozen for years. Besides the horrible sequence of events on that night, I owe the stiffness in my right body to the fact that the young docs in this provincial French hospital were busier partying in the staff room next door than reducing my fracture and realigning the bones. That was most certainly a result of my karma, and it allowed me to come to yoga with enough challenges to understand intimately what most injured or unfit students go through in an average class.

Anyway, years of practice and trust in my teachers, Shiva and Patrick, have allowed me to enter Urdhva Dhanusarana, and to actually enjoy it. It was a long journey to work through a blocked rotator cuff, but it was most certainly worth it.

(The video is courtesy of a most lovely young lady from Brunei, who attends workshops at Pure from time to time and has a truly delicious blog called Dhanurasana)

Hilarious, the inquisition is back out of the cave. Hide your sticky mats away before they send you to Hell!

A question that does come up from time to time. Can you practice yoga if you are a believer of one of the main three monotheist religions. I would say yes, but Pat Robertson would not agree. Though he seems to like his stretch :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/29/pat-robertson-not-down-wi_n_74527.html

I wish I could hold you to a big smile

Today, I spoke to a dear friend of mine. The True kind, honest and frank, loud and clear, soft and tender, who lives too far away from me, unfortunately. She told me she had just lost a little baby that had been in her for only 12 short weeks. Miscarriage, they call it. I just don't know what to say, it seems no word, no sentence can create healing after that. Except I love you. So my dear, I love you, I will be with you through this, I will dedicate my sacred practice to you and will hug you energetically throughout the day. Until we meet again, for a very real hug. But for now, I love you.

I love you.

IY

Actions, reactions, finger pointing and breathing through

It seems my last post triggered reactions: I explained in it my experience of a recent workshop and my personal reasons for not connecting with Anusara. This offended a reader, who also happens to be a student. That's good, I write to trigger emotions, and these are not always pretty ones. In addition, I believe that for 25 silent agreeable readers, there always is one that loudly shouts out and asks for your head to roll. Such is public life. Go ask Marie-Antoinette :)

I explained in my last post, which I have taken off line to prevent anyone from broadcasting 'wisely selected' pieces of it, my reasons, my uniquely personal reasons for not enjoying Anusara, as a student. I have practiced Anusara for several years now, used to be an avid and daily practitioner for a very long time, and have had the chance to learn from a number of Anusara teachers, many amazing ones, which entitles me to an opinion as a student, good or bad.

My intention, as a unique individual, with my own experience, feelings and perspective, was to explain why I thought this method was not the right thing for some, why it did not work on my body type, and why I did not subscribe to its philosophical iterations. No more, no less, a perfect blog entry, most people would reckon. Well, most people only.

I will not give you the link to the bitter response my blog got, because it is not my approach to criticize and finger-point people's views and feelings. This person, like me, is entitled to her reaction and thoughts, and I will thus not broadcast her entry on my blog to stigmatize her. Instead, I would congratulate her on loving her practice dearly enough to feel annoyed by my entry. Annoyed is good, angry is great, as it all is an expression of our innate creative energy, like love or passion.

As a student of yoga, I will tell her that I would truly like her to respect my experience. Although I am a teacher a few hours a week, I am first and foremost a student, like her. I would invite her to keep an open mind and not make inaccurate assumptions about my past or Life. She should acknowledge my right to report how I lived the experience, my right to shape my own views, extreme as they are, and the fact that though she loves something, some people won't.

Lastly, I would like to thank her for her feed-back and honesty, and invite her to introduce her Self to me after my next class, so I can put a face and a smile on the words.

Shanti

IY


'Anger, fear, hate, and jealousy are great gifts. Finally we leave spiritual mirage behind. We are no longer this sanitized being, smelling sweetly of lotus flower perfume. We smell like hate. We stink of it. This is reality. This is unity, at last!' (Daniel Odier, Yoga Spandakarika)