Josef Albers teaching

Josef Albers teaching at Yale by John Cohen, ca. 1955 from Josef and Anni Albers Foundation on Vimeo.

I LOVE the movement in this silent clip.
I've never seen a separation between my art and movement teaching/practice. It's all the same thing. I get that from both Anni and Josef Alber's work.

'Brogis need to recognize...'

J.Brown's latest blog post is a smart, kind and much needed reflection on men, women, sex, yoga, teaching and more...read it in full here.

"There is a lot of conversation in the yoga world these day about the “yoga body” and the empowerment of women through yoga. And then there is a backlash of “Broga” classes being marketed where men can be men and do their yoga without having all those empowered women around. We must bridge this gap. Both men and women need to abandon these unhealthy notions of beauty and gender. Both men and women need to learn how to have genuinely mutual relationship to one another.

But lets be clear, men are more to blame. As Holland so eloquently states: “For we are the inheritors of an ancient tradition, going back to the origins of the great civilizations of the past which have so profoundly shaped our consciousness and fashioned the dualism that lies behind our efforts to dehumanize half the human race.”  It’s up to us to either continue carrying the torch for hurt and dysfunction or be courageous enough to forge a better way."

-- J. Brown

models of learning

The computational model (of learning movement) is the idea that the brain controls the body, or 'tells' the body what to do, so the brain becomes a passive respondent to the brain when carrying out an intention. 

The Embodied model is the idea that the brain is only a small part of the 'control' of movement. Embodied movement is a constant conversation between inner and outer sensory output through our nervous systems. So when you have an intention, the body carries it out.

Just so you know, I'm learning to teach based more on the embodied approach, focusing on instructing feelings rather then instructing people how to literally place their bodies. It's my intention when teaching that I help make clear movement patterns in peoples bodies and provide tools to map and make those patterns useful, rather then teach 'poses'. It is taking ALOT of undoing of the things I thought I knew. Chaos : )

My Mum

I've been teaching for 6 years now and I still get anxious.

"If you are nervous, it means you care" -- is the best advice my mum had for me this year. It's a mantra before I step into the teaching space.

Long may it continue!

Thanks Mum, for this and for all the other brilliant stuff you do : )

Hello Again

Greetings to you, oh cultured individual of great taste and elegance, 'tis me with details of my Autumn goings-on...

Goodness gracious me, I've been gone a long time, my holiday was bliss; time stood still, I made pots, spent time alone, got the wrong train back from the coast, visited inspiring places, went swimming everyday, forgot my passport in a hotel room, bought some fake gemstones from a dude who's sole job seemed to be to get tourists high (fun times) and now I'm heading back to London where I intend to put on the greatest yoga classes, retreats, workshops and courses ever staged since the last lot of greatest things I ever staged. Jokes.

 

So, without further ado, here is a list of things you might like to come and do...

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******* Workshop *******
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"It’s a basic act of humanity, of movement, of utility. To squat is to be."

The three most prevalent human positions:

1. Lying down (LOVE this one)
2. Standing
3. Squatting

Do you do the third one?

Well dammit friend, you should.

Squatting is a primal pattern. Basic and important and being able to practice it with ease will fill your body (and heart) with goodness.
And what do you know, I can help you! In just a few brief days - 13/09/2014 -  I'll be teaching a workshop at The Sunflower Centre about rehabing resting squat related functions.

We will:
• prepare and mobilise the spine, hips, ankles and knees and many different muscle groups along the way
• work on various limiting factors so that you leave the workshop with individual things to work on (and a challenge to keep squatting part of your day.)
• play with some of the asana that evolve beautifully from a resting squat

Where?
The Sunflower Centre
81 Tressillian Rd, London SE4 1XZ

When?
Saturday 13th September 2014, 14:30 - 16:30

Who?
EVERYONE is welcome and it will be an intimate affair, 8 spaces only!

What do you want from me?
£25, and picture of your favorite pet.

If I've caught your interest and you would like to join me to see what all the fuss is about click send me an email to book.

If you can't make it, but would still like to know what all the fuss is about then click HERE for an informative read.

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**** ReTREATS! ****
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"Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting."
--William Shakespeare, Henry V.

If you are in need of some TLC then I (and Willy S) highly recommend booking yourself onto a  WellbeingYogi weekend retreat with me and AdventureYogi.

I have two more for you to chose from this year...What you waiting for?!

WHEN and Where?
Friday 19th-22nd September in East Sussex.
Friday 7-9th November in Oxfordshire.

WHY?
detailed explanation:
www.rachel-and-yoga.com/news

 

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******* Of COURSE! *******
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“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki

I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching another two small group beginners courses at Triyoga Chelsea. If you, or someone you know/like/love, is interested in inspiring your/their beginners mind with the beautiful basics of this stretchy art then purchase some lycra and click here.

The course is limited to 10 people, so one-to-one attention will be plentiful, and will cost 85 of your hard earned pound pieces. I can think of much worse ways to spend that money.  Oh and that price includes 50% off a 5 class pass, worth £32.50. It's a win win.

WHERE
Triyoga Chelsea
372 king’s road, London, SW3 5UZ
020 7483 3344

WHEN
Saturday 27th September - Saturday 18th October
14:45 to 15:45
or
Saturday 22nd November - Saturday 13th December
14:45 - 15:45

WHY
Because why not?!
Or, if you would prefer a more intelligent answer, then feel free to drop me an email.

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******* Recommendation *******
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If you find yourself North of the M25 this Autumn, specifically in Manchester or Bradford, then I highly recommend going to see No Guts, No Heart, No Glory by Bradford based Common Wealth Theatre. It is a site-specific performance event staged in a boxing gym, based on interviews with Muslim Female Boxers which explores being young, fearless and doing the unexpected. Common Wealth have been working closely with five 16-22 year old Muslim women and former National Champion Ambreen Sadiq to devise the show to make sure it represents a young Muslim female experience.

A story anchored in movement to help young people feel braver, to live how they want to live, so that they are free and confident to make their own choices tomorrow. A truly beautiful thing.

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Could there be more? Yes there bloody is, but I just ran out of juice and time. If you would like to find out more go to my website and click on the button which says <<please tell me more and put ten quid into my bank account, here are the details>>

Failing that read all about everything on my facebook events page. Also, I'm told,  that you may wish to click these ridiculous corporate buttons...

Like Follow

You have an incredible attention span if you got this far, I lost focus after 'Squatting is a primal pattern',  so THANK YOU my friend and enjoy the rest of your day. I leave you with this; a picture of summer and a quote to help you on your way...

Love,
Rachel 

  

 "When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are."

-- Ram Dass

"She assured me, “You can’t teach yoga. All we can do as teachers is share our maps.” Yoga might mean knowing what’s happening in your body and then finding an external geometry that rhymes. How can you do that with a stranger standing at the front of the room offering a succession of poses? How can I become my own authority if I keep leaning on experts?"

--  Mike Hoolboom

permission

“Suffering must be like love — look at that guy!”

The man on the cross leads me to wonder about the front of the room. Who do we put at the front of the room? Is it the one with all the muscles, the very smartest, the one with the smoothest pitch? Yoga teachers are embodied ideals. The British psychoanalyst Adam Phillips reminds us that ideals in our culture are often used to punish ourselves. “I’ll never be that smart. I’ll never be that flexible. I’ll never be able to speak those beautiful sentences.” Most of the time, that very traditional view of ideals has been at play in the asana classes I’ve been to. Though there are exceptions. For instance: Christi-an Slomka’s work at Kula Annex. She’s doing something different at the front of the room that allows me to do something different on my mat. She’s modeling her uncertainty and mistakes. It’s become important for her to project those less-than-perfect qualities. Her decision to put something short of ideal at the front of the room is a political decision. “Wait, wait, is that my teacher expressing doubt, inability, even failure? Wow. That gives me permission to fail. That makes my failings ok.” Instead of only giving me permission to succeed, which is just another form of punishment. Because what if you don’t succeed? Oh, then you can play those old self-punishment tapes again, the ones that never sit on the shelf long enough to collect dust.

Only showing our strongest, shiniest face at the front of the room, at the front of a yoga room for instance, seems directly related to over-striving and injury. When I’m given permission to stop practicing right at the edge of my abilities, to stop pushing to the max every instant, to take child’s pose because that supports the whole group, it means that I can respond to patterns of sensation in a new way. I don’t have to push away or push through the pain. I can make a space for softness and inability, and say yes to that. I think this leads to greater embodiment and less injury, but I’m only speaking for myself."

-- Mike Hoolboom from Matthew Remski's ongoing WAWADIA project.

Keep track of this discussion, it's incredibly valuable, thought provoking, interesting stuff!

"Oh I think that’s deadly when you try to tell people how to think. You just want to empower them to take the chance on themselves. That’s what you do when you’re older, or when you reach maturity, you try to give what you can to the next generation."

--Kiki Smith

“A good teacher can never be fixed in a routine. Each moment requires a sensitive mind that is constantly changing and constantly adapting. A teacher must never impose his students to fit his favorite pattern. A good teacher protects his students from his own influence. A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself.” 

– Bruce Lee

Truth

"...if your yoga does not connect you to a place in yourself that is free of gossip, comparison and lack, it is not serving you.  if your teacher does not facilitate this kind of practice, they’re not teaching yoga, they’re teaching you poses...."

-- Stacey Moves

Miss Vivian Marinelli giving the gift of the Charleston to basketball players of Washington, D.C.’s Palace Club.

From retronaut

Some of the benefits of this movement stuff are hard to articulate without heavy use of nutty metaphor and the like. I'm especially fond of the mental and physical feeling of spaciousness it creates within.

I do yoga because it makes me feel happy on the inside. It's one of the most precious tools I've ever been given. I teach yoga because I want other people to have that tool too.

Secret Yoga Club

Pop-Up Yoga Studio
The Secret Yoga Club at Celestine Eleven!

Classes are drop-in, no booking required and donations are welcome. Mats are provided and all classes will be a gentle flow for all levels. 

Come because we can help you feel warm and alive and it's ALWAYS advisable to spend a bit of time doing the things that make your insides feel soft.

Be sure to arrive early!

Please see HERE for the schedule (I'm on Mondays at 19:30 - 20:30, but go to what ever you can, it's a brilliant group of teachers.)  

(image by Gabrielle Hales)

Helping Hands

I spy with my little eye...an outfit i should be wearing to teach yoga!!

(image found here )

"Being led to conform to a teachers personal viewpoint is inevitably disempowering for the student, who becomes dependent on the teacher. All power lies with the teacher as the possessor of knowledge. This is the opposite of what teaching is supposed to do which is surely to facilitate learning as effectively as possible?"

-- Peter Blackaby Intelligent Yoga

Judith Hanson Lasater

Just listened to this interview with Eva Norlyk Smith of YogaUOnline.com and Judith Hanson Lasater (find via yogadork) and Judith had some very interesting points. I recommend having a look/listen. She talks about why yoga is not so much about poses as it’s about exploration and experience, and some of the challenges yoga teachers face.
One of my favourite bits...

"...People don’t have to touch their palms on the floor, they don’t have to get their knees down to the floor in Baddha Konasana.
As yoga practitioners, that’s not what we need to aim for, and as teachers, it’s not our job to make them do these things! Our job to create a space in which they can explore being present, a space that allows them to evoke the best parts of themselves. And as teachers, that is reflected and expressed through our words and our touch and our demeanor, and the spirit and context that we create within the class.
When I, as a teacher, can create an environment in which people are choosing, out of their own power and volition, to move in the direction of wholeness and health, then I’ve succeeded. When we help students choose to move in the direction of health, that is a victory.
We’re all here to make mistakes—to screw things up and to figure it out. We make mistakes on all kinds of levels, and then we try to clean up the mess, try to learn from it. We’re here to explore the things we can’t do, as well as the things we can—with love and attention. And that’s practice, that’s yoga."

  --Judith Hanson Lasater

I am now part of the Stretching The City Team! Check it out here http://www.stretchingthecity.com/