A few days in Vietnam

Posted on May 6, 2012 by harrogateyoga

Crossing the road in Hanoi

Hanoi at night

“Walk slowly and purposefully into the path of the oncoming traffic”, was the gist of the advice in the info pack provided by our hotel in Hanoi, for getting across the roads.

I’ve never been especially confident about my road crossing abilities – years of being shut up in a boarding school and then being knocked over by a car a few years ago – haven’t helped. The streets of Hanoi fascinated me – especially in the evening when all of life was there – with people cooking, chatting, eating, drinking and washing up. But getting from one side of a road to the other was not an easy matter.

I stood frozen with fear, on the pavement edge, as hordes of motorcyclists careered towards us. My holiday companion (I’ll call him LL) got into the habit of grabbing me by my hand (like I’m a child) and dragging me across the road. On a couple of occasions I bottled out, LL left me behind and then shouted testily “YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN!” from the other side of the road. Eventually one of the locals took pity on me and helped me get across.

This demonstrates one of the best things about our trip – delightful, kind, charming Vietnamese people. (except for the one who tricked me into paying £15 for a 5p fan)

A Shrine to Fashion

A shrine to fashion - H&M in Hanoi

I took this picture of a shrine in an H&M shop in Hanoi. I love it’s quirkiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Halong Plaza

We’d planned that the highlight of our six-day holiday would be a boat trip in Halong Bay. I’d been seduced by pictures of the beautiful, limestone Halong islands, reminiscent of one of the James Bond films.

Halong Bay

The scenery and the experience of being on a junk in Halong Bay, proved more exciting and special than I could possibly have imagined……. So we were devastated when told, that after lunch and a quick visit to a cave, the boat was returning to harbour and we were being transported back to Hanoi. And this, after the itinerary so far had gone: Sunday – leave Harrogate; Sunday/Monday – fly to Singapore; Tuesday – fly to Hanoi; Wednesday – 4 hour drive to Halong.

Apparently there was going to be a typhoon and it wouldn’t be safe to stay on the boat. But LL kicked up a fuss and was adamant we were not going back to Hanoi that night.

This is how we ended up at the uber kitsch Halong Plaza, in the only accommodation they had left – an enormous suite. Very ‘Golden Girls’, was LL’s pronouncement.

The telly that kept turning itself on in the night

As a yoga teacher I did my best to meet this change of plan with equanimity, even when it included sharing a bed with LL. Still, there was plenty to giggle about –  the swimming pool with the underwater traffic light effects; the live Pan Pipe performance of Do – Re – Mi from the Sound of Music; and the massive flat screen telly that kept turning itself on in the middle of the night.

The next day we had big smiles on our faces when at last we were told we could re-board the boat. The experience of being in a rock enclosed lagoon that afternoon, was all the more sublime because of nearly missing out. I had tears in my eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in About, Amanda's Musings, Latest News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Not walking on water yet

Posted on April 14, 2012 by harrogateyoga

Super-normal accomplishment is known in yogic texts as a siddhi – becoming very light or walking on water for example.  Sometimes there seems to be an expectation of yoga teachers to have ‘super powers’ – to be invincible and beyond life’s vicissitudes – so that no pain, injury, exhaustion, sadness, fear or unkind treatment will come our way. Of course this is not the case, we’re mortal like everyone else and as Donna Farhi once said ‘We’re (all) on a sinking ship’. In other words every one of us becomes older and nearer to death each day. This is why we should try to treasure life even when it’s difficult.

On a drizzly morning last November, I was walking through the woods at Birk Crag, near Harrogate and slipped on some mud. I felt a sharp pain in my right leg, which unfortunately has remained constant, along with other unpleasant and painful tingling sensations, for the past six months. I’ve therefore had plenty of time to consider how something as trivial as slipping on a bit of mud, could have such a drastic effect.

I’ve looked back to last summer when I injured a foot dancing. I guess the subsequent limping began to create an imbalance in other parts of my body. Then I made some very long journeys by car that had traffic hold ups. (such as a three hour stop-start-stop traffic jam on the M42 caused by chicken legs on the carriage way) This meant my injured foot was continually on the clutch. I helped my Daughter move into a new flat – 300 miles away, which involved heavy lifting and serious cleaning in addition to all the driving.

Meanwhile my Sister was seriously ill as she endured treatment for breast cancer. I was working too hard, with challenges on all fronts and struggling to keep my head above water. Then several work problems arose all at once – nothing in itself particularly serious but I began to feel I couldn’t cope with everything all on my own any more. I guess I felt I had no support, so it’s interesting that the spine – essential for the support of the body – should have been the place where I got injured.

Some people expressed surprise that I got injured (see super normal powers mentioned above) I think they are missing the point of why we practise yoga. It isn’t to get a more and more flexible body or to do ever-fancier yoga poses; it is about learning to deal with life better and gaining a sense of true self. In this respect I think I’ve made some progress in my 40 years of practice. Since my injury, I’ve had my moments of despair in the middle of the night but on the whole I’ve managed to face the challenge of healing my currently ‘broken’ body with equanimity, creativity and patience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in About, Amanda's Musings, Latest News, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Tethered Camel

Posted on March 9, 2012 by harrogateyoga

A Tethered Camel

A couple of weeks ago I was saying to one of my students that I wished I was free to travel to exotic, far-flung places and attend yoga workshops of special interest to me, but how the constraints of my teaching schedule prevented me from doing these things. She said “Ahhhh ‘the Tethered Camel’!

My student is a teacher trainee and in amongst her studies she’d come across the story of the camel that thinks it’s tethered, when in fact it is free to go.

The story went something like this:

It is night time and a Camel Herder ties down his herd but there are only enough tethers for eleven and he has twelve camels. He ties down eleven and encourages the twelfth to lie down with the others, hoping the Camel will stay.

In the morning, sure enough the twelfth camel is still lying down with the others. The Camel Herder unties the eleven camels and they stand up, but the twelfth camel won’t get up. After much coaxing the Camel Herder eventually pretends to undo imaginary tethers. The Camel then gets up!

The moral of the story is that we can imagine we are tied down when in fact we’re free!

Just before Christmas, I met up with a friend and fellow IBMT practitioner to practise Authentic Movement. Over cups of jasmine blossom tea – before moving together, we chatted and I spoke of my longing to travel. Authentic Movement involves moving from inner impulses and it often brings up interesting images. On this occasion, I was witnessing my friend as she moved, and in quick succession I imagined the Angel of the North, Newcastle, then the Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro. “See” she said afterwards, “you don’t need to go anywhere exotic ….you can go places in your moving imagination…and what’s more… this is a much cheaper way!” I laughed and really liked this concept but somehow it didn’t dispel my yearning to travel.

Since hearing the Tethered Camel story I’ve been pondering some of the many events I haven’t felt free to attend. They’ve included my Son’s Graduation, my Sister’s 50th Birthday Party, an auction of postcard size drawings and paintings by famous artists and ‘slebs’ such as: Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Bernard Dunstan, Bill Nighy, plus some ordinary mortals like me!  A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend a private viewing of David Hockney’s retrospective at the Royal Academy, which again I felt I had to decline.

I made the decisions to turn down these opportunities and events because I take my teaching and training commitments and responsibilities very seriously. But the Tethered Camel story has got me wondering if I really need to be quite so strict with myself.

I’ve also been mulling over the writings of palliative care worker – Bronnie Ware – and the Five Top Regrets of the Dying. A few weeks ago I read about Bronnie and her patients in The Sunday Times and then we discussed the ‘Regrets’ in my classes. My students made some very interesting comments. One woman said she’d received an email that day saying ‘Lots of people would love to have your life – do you?’ She also said she tries to set an example to her young children by trying to model being ‘true to herself’ and not necessarily ‘following the herd’. I, personally, have been thinking that not having visited those exotic, far-flung places of my dreams, would be a regret on my death bed if I didn’t do something about it.

So I’ve booked to visit Vietnam in April, and to work with an inspiring yoga teacher in London in May!

 

 

 

Posted in Amanda's Musings, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Way of the Worrier

Posted on February 13, 2012 by harrogateyoga

One of my chinese brush and ink drawings

“You could worry the hind legs off a donkey” my Mother used to say to me when I was a teenager. She was right, and my tendency to be anxious and to worry about things, remained almost constant until I reached my forties. Then I remember marvelling at how much more pleasant life was without the relentless sensations and consequences of anxiety – the dry mouth, racing heart, painfully protesting guts and nauseous stomach.

I began learning yoga when I was nineteen and throughout the tumultuous years of my youth, yoga gave me some respite from chronic anxiety. But even now, and after teaching yoga for fifteen years, the worry bug comes back and bites me on the bum from time to time. When people hear about this, they are often surprised, perhaps expecting a teacher of yoga to be some sort of ‘super being’ magically endowed with a problem-free life. But a part of me has had unrealistic expectations for myself, feeling a lesser yoga teacher for being an anxious one – that if only I practised asana enough/meditated enough/practised pranayama enough/ate vata-settling food enough etc. etc. then maybe I could become that ‘magical super being’! There is no doubt that the regular practice of yoga and meditation does increase resilience to life’s difficulties but what it doesn’t do is change true nature.

I felt pleased and vindicated when I read Elaine Aron’s book ‘The Highly Sensitive Person’. She says research has found that 20% of the population and animal kingdom are highly sensitive – in other words, they are more responsive to their environment. According to Aron, HSPs (Highly Sensitive Persons) have survived in their cultures because they serve a vital evolutionary function: more sensitive to the needs of others, they are particularly good at taking care of relationships within the group; HSPs are also the more cautious members of society – sensitive to the nuances of a situation and therefore more likely to spot potential pitfalls. A sprinkling of HSPs amongst our politicians and investment bankers might even have helped avert the current banking crises. So, instead of dismissing HSPs as weak because of their tendency to worry, society needs to value their role in considering all eventualities, tempering the risk-takers, and fostering positive relationships.

A recent post by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes made me smile. She described the tendency to worry, or as she preferred to put it – ‘to have concern’ – as being a 7th sense. She said, “Some have tried to tell me that worry is’ wrong’, that worry is resisting ‘what is’, that worry is not being in the moment. For myself, I disagree. I am right here in worry. I am right here if not in worry. I am in this moment, at center… but also with a vision that is 360 degrees on most days, not all, but many, many.”

She also said “Though there is much to be said for transforming one’s concerns for people and matters into something easier on the psyche and body, I prefer for myself, to suffer some of what I sense and see about self, others, the world, and beyond, and to understand why it comes to my door, and for what reason. Some worry guests are turned away for they are petty and outside of my means and below or above my abilities, but many others are turned into fierce and/or gentle prayer.”

When Dr Clarissa makes her posts on Facebook she addresses her fans – ‘Dear Brave Souls’.  I am emboldened by her words and by the words of Elaine Aron. Instead of feeling a little bit ashamed about my propensity for worry (which from now on I will call ‘having concern’), I am viewing it as a gift. Sensitivity and the ability to have true concern, whilst not necessarily making for a comfortable life, are valuable qualities that I wish to cultivate in my roles as Mother, Daughter, Friend, Lover, and as Yoga Teacher.

 

Posted in Amanda's Musings, Latest News, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Transitions’ (getting from A to B and staying calm)

Posted on January 22, 2012 by harrogateyoga

 

In my work as a yoga teacher and movement therapist, I’ve noticed that considerable stress for some individuals has arisen in their ‘transitions’. By transitions, I mean how they went from one place to another, one task to the next. It was as if they wanted to ‘apparate’ themselves – Harry Potter style – immediately to the next place.

I suggest to these clients they pay especial attention to their breath and how they move when making transitions. It doesn’t mean the process has to take longer or that the movement has to be slow – it’s perfectly possible to run and be mindful at the same time.

I personally find that just saying to myself “I am in a transition” helps me become more mindful. A common transition for me is going from a task on the computer to teaching a class, or from one class to the next. I need to take some care over the shift of attention – for my own well-being as well as for that of my students.

Some transitions are more obviously stressful – big life changes such as moving house, getting married, becoming a parent, getting divorced. If we’ve practised mindfulness in the small transitions, then the bigger ones might be less of a challenge.

The seasons are also a transition. At the moment we’re still in the midst of Winter but in a couple of months the transition towards Spring will begin. During the Winter we have to accustom ourselves to shorter daylight hours and colder temperatures. Practitioners of both Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda would suggest the diet in winter be warm and substantial – no salads. As we transition into Spring we can begin to eat lighter foods.

A few weeks ago I had dinner with my parents in a local restaurant – The Claret, Montpellier, Harrogate. The food is fabulous and on occasion there’s the added bonus of a virtuoso performance by restaurant owner and opera singer – D’Arcy Bleiker. After a magnificent rendition of the Toreador piece from Carmen, D’Arcy went immediately back to the business of running the restaurant.

D'Arcy Bleiker owner of The Claret Restaurant, Harrogate, singing a piece from Carmen

I asked him how he managed this transition? He was soon telling us about his training as a child chorister and how he’d learned to breathe from the belly and the diaphragm to create glorious sound. He explained that if the breath was all in the upper chest then the voice would have no resonance or power. There was definitely no lack of power in D’Arcy’s voice – we wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been heard all the way up the hill in Betty’s! It’s seems likely to me that D’Arcy’s skilful use of the breath supports the transitions he has to make, thus  he can avoid becoming depleted in a very busy lifestyle.

It’s useful to bring more awareness to transitions in the practice of yoga. On one of her teacher trainings Donna Farhi said “how students get into a pose and how they come out of it, is as important, if not more so, than the asana itself.” These transitions into and out of a pose are managed best when supported by the breath. And the breath itself consists of a series of transitions – from inhalation to exhalation, from exhalation to inhalation. If we focus on the moments of transition – the pauses between each breath – these in turn become timeless, places of spacious bliss.

As Sandra Sabatini in Breath the Essence of Yoga says:

‘Learn to love the pause…..

….explore both pauses

there is no apprehension

there is no tightening

there is no hurry

but everything within the body becomes very very quiet

 

after the breath has entered

and just before the going out

bliss

 

after the breath has left

and just before the coming in

bliss”

 

 

Posted in About, Amanda's Musings, Latest News, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My Manic Week

Posted on September 28, 2011 by harrogateyoga

This mudra has a calming effect and can also invoke compassion for others and for self. To do the mudra: Curl first finger into base of thumb, bring tips of middle fingers to tip of thumb.

One of the first things I say to a new group of Beginners is that through practising yoga we’re aiming to increase our resilience to life’s ups and downs, especially the stuff that’s out of our control. Last Wednesday my Beginners had a graphic example of their Yoga Teacher being tested on this: as they walked up my garden path for their yoga class, a posse of my elderly relatives were lurching down it – zimmer frames n’all. My schedule had got uncomfortably tight.

The week was already full with several classes, struggling to understand audio file types for new yoga downloads and an upcoming meeting in London, when my Mother rang up “You’ve got to see your Auntie Gwen, because she’ll probably be dead soon”. After such a gloomy prediction I didn’t feel able to refuse. So with a heavy heart and rising anxiety, I agreed they could come for afternoon tea during a two hour window of time between classes.  In the event, the Relatives arrived 40 minutes before the start of my evening class, oblivious to the fact that I would need them to leave again half an hour later. That night I dreamed that my bedroom was full of random acquaintances – a sure sign that I was feeling overwhelmed. When I went for acupuncture the next day my muscles were so tense they bent the needle!

In the calm after the chaos of last week I’m wondering if I could have organised things better or coped with things better. I posted about the tea party on Facebook and one of my students said “Heart Mudra, Amanda, Heart Mudra” and she was spot on. In the whirlwind of busy-ness I’d forgotten this valuable resource. As well as having a calming effect, Hridaya Mudra helps generate compassion for self and others. But the resources I had remembered were these:

1. I observed my breath and checked for any restriction (yes it was restricted – and so I needed to release it repeatedly) When alone I practised ujjayi as I moved from task to task.

2 When standing, I felt the contact of my feet with the ground, including the base of big toes, base of little toes and my heels. I checked to see if I was leaning forwards or backwards (I was tending to lean forwards – so I had to shift weight)

3. When sitting, I felt my sitz bones in contact with the chair to get grounded and again checked if I was leaning forward or back. (I was tending to lean forwards)

4. In my morning practice I meditated (although of course that was extra hard to do)

This quote by Marcel Morin resonates with me in the aftermath of my manic week

Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart.

 

Posted in About, Amanda's Musings, Products, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘One Day’ there was a six year old bride in Paignton

Posted on August 29, 2011 by harrogateyoga

It was dark and raining heavily – the gloom of the seafront mitigated somewhat by the glow from strings of coloured lights. We passed a deserted merry-go-round, Big Dipper and candy floss stall, followed by hotel after hotel with curtains open displaying brightly lit function rooms. We looked in and saw old people sitting around the edges of the rooms. I’m not sure if they were playing bingo, listening to music or just sitting.

This was Paignton, the sea-side resort where I’d spent my sixth birthday. With a choice of a few towns in south Devon to see the film ‘One Day’, I thought it would be fun to re-visit the scene of that auspicious event (auspicious because my main birthday present had been a Bridal outfit).

Me in my bridal outfit on my 6th birthday

The walk in the dark along the sea-front to the Apollo cinema wasn’t how I remembered Paignton at all, perhaps it has changed a lot, or perhaps my only real memory from the previous visit was of the baboon at Paignton Zoo with it’s multi–coloured bottom (hilarious and fascinating for a six year old).

Visiting Paignton this time felt a bit surreal and emotional compounded by tiredness from helping my Daughter move into her first flat. After three days of shifting her possessions into the new flat, chiselling dirt out of the corners of its windows and scouring yellow grease off skirting boards, the trip to see ‘One Day’ was the reward for all our hard work.

We’d both enjoyed the book but didn’t think the St Swithin’s Day snapshots really worked in the film. There was too much plot to get through and not enough space for the characters or the relationships to develop. Dexter wasn’t charismatic enough or sexy enough in the film to make Emma’s infatuation convincing.  The portrayal of Emma and Dexter’s self-conscious posturing made me laugh a lot when I read the book but there was no space for this in the film. So we were a little disappointed by our reward but hey we had a night off from the drudgery of the cleaning and I got to reflect on the impact of receiving a wedding dress for my sixth birthday!

Posted in About, Amanda's Musings | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fab not Drab – Fanciful Footwear

Posted on August 6, 2011 by harrogateyoga

Digital Collage made from beads, ribbon, favourite bits of fabric and my Sister's beautiful antique diamante buttons.

Last Easter we had a family gathering at my Sister’s house. In addition to the pleasure gained from getting together as a family, it was an opportunity to enjoy her exquisite cooking. As well as being a fantastic cook my Sister has a mean eye for antiques and quirky artefacts. An auctioneer for many years, her passion for antiques began as a child with a collection of buttons curated at home into a permanent exhibition on the ping-pong table.

Recently I’ve been experimenting with digital collage for my T-shirt designs and cards. So, after Easter lunch – ever on the alert for novel materials – my eyes alighted on the button collection with renewed interest. I took lots of photographs with a view to using them for my digital designs.

Some beautiful diamante buttons were part of the inspiration for the T-shirt and card design shown here. I’d also been looking at some drawings of shoes that I admired, so I resolved to make a shoe collage. I began scanning and photographing favourite pieces of fabric, beads and ribbons to go with the lovely buttons. I drew an elegant high heeled shoe and played about with the materials and colours in Photoshop until I was satisfied with the result. I then had fun with alliterative references to footwear, feet, fashion, fantasy etc. and used the words to make a border.

I frequently ponder how creative people keep the flow going and of course, how to manage this myself.  Some creative people seem to have an endless supply of new ideas whilst others have fallow patches that can even lead to despair. I’ve heard that David Hockney never appears to run out of ideas – still getting excited as a child with his new projects. A good friend who is a graphic designer, says her creative process needs to be nourished and stimulated by getting away from her usual environment and seeing new things in shops, galleries, magazines. It’s similar for me but sometimes it’s just about having my eyes open in a different way.

Bringing the concepts to fruition is another part of the process. My yoga helps me because it’s a daily discipline that’s entirely self-motivated. In the past, I’ve completed commissions for artwork but these days making my art is largely self-motivated. It isn’t something I can just switch on though because I’ve got a couple of hours to spare – it requires a particular focus and mindset. My graphic designer friend has some rituals around getting into work mode that includes chewing wine gums. A writer friend also says she needs to eat sweets to get the words to flow. I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life but sometimes when I’m drawing I get a strange feeling that a fag in my mouth would assist the process! Perhaps I was a cigarette smoking artist in a previous life…

So now you know how ‘Fab not Drab – Fanciful Footwear’ got created!

(Available as T-shirts, Hoodies or Greetings Card from Red Bubble :) )

Posted in Amanda's Musings, Art, Products | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

timeless.. weightless…spacious

Posted on July 9, 2011 by harrogateyoga

‘Soft Spine, Bony Spine, Fluid Movement and Structural Integrity’ – is the title of a workshop I’m running in Suffolk this weekend. In preparation, I explored some of these themes with my classes during week. We began with a look at a picture of the vertebral column – the bony spine. Then we looked at this picture showing the brain and its connection to the spinal cord – ‘the tail of the brain’.

The Cerebrospinal fluid flows from within the ventricles of the brain, around the brain, down the spinal cord and around the spinal cord

There are spaces within the brain (ventricles) and there are spaces around the brain, around the spinal cord and within the spinal cord. These spaces are filled with fluid – Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF).  There is interplay between the bones of the skull, the sacrum and the CSF – creating the ‘cranio-sacral rhythm’.

After looking at the pictures and discussing them, class members chose partners and practised a ‘hands on’ exercise where one person lay down on his/her side; the other person placed one hand to head and one hand to sacrum. (see pic) The aim was to stay present, be aware and to support rest, rather than ‘doing’ anything. We spent several minutes quietly observing any sensations.

To bring the exercise to a close, the ‘giving person’ gently stroked the mid back of the ‘receiving person’. This is a gentle way to return the nervous system to a more alert state from the dreamy, restful, cranio-sacral place.

When we discussed the exercise, a lot of people said they’d felt a pulsation or wave and that they found the experience very relaxing. One person saw colours. We discussed Craniosacral therapy and the benefits people had gained from the treatment. In a simple, basic way we were working with a principle of Craniosacral therapy.

This quotation by Sandra Sabatini resonates with what we were doing in class:

“It’s amazing

how we respond to something

very very simple

like the earth below

the warmth of hands

silence and space”

The CSF moves slowly and has a timeless, spacious quality. During asana practice I suggested students move their awareness inside the bony container of their vertebral column and skull, to the soft spine and brain – floating in CSF – and then see if they could initiate movement from there – from the soft spine.  I also encouraged students to visualise the fluid-filled spaces within the brain in Warrior 1 to create a sensation of spaciousness and weightlessness.

We spent longer in the poses than usual, to resonate with the pauses in the flow of CSF and its slow and sustained quality. Then as an experiment I introduced three killer arm balances – variations of Vasisthasana – one after another to see if the effortless and weightless qualities could be maintained. :)

The challenge was to maintain the effortless and weightless qualities

Posted in Amanda's Musings, Latest News, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Learning from Beautiful Bonnie

Posted on June 18, 2011 by harrogateyoga

A couple of weeks ago I had my first opportunity to work with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen – developer and creator of Body-Mind Centering® – on a workshop entitled ‘Exploring the Embodiment of our Organs from a Developmental Perspective’

During those three wonderful days in Liverpool, I caught up with many special and much loved friends – old colleagues from my Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy training, yoga teacher friends from Manchester and many other BMC® friends. But most thrilling for me was getting to meet Bonnie.

What struck me most about Bonnie was her warmth and how accepting of everyone she was. This meant we felt comfortable and able to share and learn easily. I feel a big smile inside myself as I remember this aspect of working with Bonnie. Perhaps the following wise words of hers explain a little about how she’s got to a place of such acceptance, she said:

“Sometimes we have to get knocked around a bit to realize why we’re here”.

Appreciation of Bonnie’s ability to accept and have compassion for people seems to have been a common experience of those learning from her. This is what Judith Ginzberg said in an interview published in Currents, the Body-Mind Centering Association Journal:

“ I had never met anyone who was so across the board non-judgmental, so accepting and patient and tolerant of everyone. I have always loved this about Bonnie – for me this was the most powerful teaching I received from her. ……. I so felt that this was the way we are meant to be. We are meant to be open to one another and accept one another’s less-than-stellar qualities and not be so ready to pounce on one another….. Even when we think we’re being really great human beings, we are internally judging all the time, and who knows, maybe Bonnie is too, but outwardly she certainly was embracing of everybody. There were always those people who were not embraced by the group. But Bonnie did embrace them. I was very appreciative of that…… For me, sometimes being around her was like having darshan.”

On the workshop we learned fascinating stuff about the formation of the organs in the very early stages of development. The lungs for example – up to week 4 the lungs are just one bud, by 28 days right and left bronchial buds begin to emerge. By 33 days secondary bronchial buds start to appear (3 on the right and 2 on the left). By 35 days there are tertiary bronchial buds. By week 7 there is a trachea, an oesophagus, and the lungs have upper, middle and lower lobes on the right; an upper lobe with 2 divisions and a lower lobe on the left. The inferior division of the upper lobe on the left has equivalence to the middle lobe on the right. Having studied the lobes of the lungs through listening to Bonnie and looking at pictures, we then explored them in an experiential way and our learning became embodied.

Back in Harrogate, I continued to explore the embodiment of this work with my students. In class I often encourage my students to feel breath in the back of the body. We usually begin this focus by working in pairs – one person brings hands to the other student’s back. Working with a partner is especially effective because greater awareness is created through the touch of another. This time we looked at pictures of the lobes of the lungs first and then placed hands on those areas to differentiate awareness in the three  lobes/divisions on each side. Then we applied this awareness in asana. There is an especially delicious connection from the lower lobes – experienced in the back of the body – and the leg and foot in Parsvakonasana.

Feeling the connection on my left side from the lower lobe of the lung to my leg and foot

On the workshop we also learned about the development of the heart and sought to embody that too. Bonnie taught us that in movement the heart should be gently supported by the lungs. In forward bending moves she encouraged us to experience the lungs swinging forwards and towards each in the front – in this way the heart is gently supported and compression of the heart is avoided. She showed us a kind of Warrior 3 balance with the heart supported by the buoyancy of the lungs in front –  ‘flying like Peter Pan’! When we experimented with this concept in one of my classes, a student suggested it could be like having an ‘air bag’ in front – a great image.

In back bending moves Bonnie believes strongly that pushing the heart forward should be avoided. She said this could compress the pulmonary vessels between the heart and the lungs, therefore stressing the heart. Instead she encouraged us to fold the lungs towards each other behind the heart – “holding it like a baby”. Then she said  ”the heart can remain soft and calm and the blood flow is open and free.”

After experimenting with this concept in class this week, one of my students emailed afterwards with the following comment:

“Thanks Amanda – I went home….watered my garden feeling very centred and it reminded me that I had recently read that Wi Fi accelerates cell  division which is one reason why people are suffering more these days…..but we do depend on it and so finding ways to counter the effects of technology are vital to our own health.  When any of us sits at a computer our heartbeat increases…..

So last night…..during yoga my heartbeat slowed……my mind settled and trying to breathe behind and in front of my heart helped me to locate where I come from and who I am……I often find that the effect of yoga comes after the practice rather than during it……….and breathing in different ways connects me internally and externally to the important things in life.”

Other interesting stuff we learned on the workshop concerned the kidneys. The fact that we have 3 sets of ‘kidneys’ at approximately 50 days after conception was totally new to me. They are called the Pronephros, the Mesonephros and the Metanephros. The Metanephros become the kidneys as we know them – the other two sets disappear, but an energetic sense of them remains. We sought to sense the subtle pathways for alignment that are a memory of the connection between the Pronephros in the neck and the bladder. The pathways are a way of finding alignment between the head/neck and the rest of the body.

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen generously allowing us to learn subtle alignment through touch

There were three shiatsu practitioners in the group who said the energetic pathways we were seeking to sense, related to meridians in Chinese Medicine and the practice of Shiatsu. It seems practitioners of Shiatsu are therefore working with subtle energetic pathways arising from our embryonic experience.

As we were nearing the end of the three day workshop and our organ explorations. Bonnie made the importance of organ support abundantly clear in her own movement. She assumed the crumpled, collapsed posture of an old woman – without support from the organs. Then she drew on her organ support and began springing buoyantly around the room. Her movement was vital, powerful and mesmerising. As she had said to us earlier:

“If you don’t do your thing, no-one else will”

Posted in About, Amanda's Musings, Latest News, Yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments