found here

Once

On a family trip to Ireland I fell in love with Irish Dance.
On my return home my mum found a local class for me to attend.
I was besotted for years.
It's still my favorite kind of folk dance, especially the tap.
Dancing those rhythms is like laying your heart beat on the floor.

p.s. THIS is brilliant.

learning to swim...methods are always changing!

Balance Face

Brilliant photo via  orbityoga
from South Dakota, 1959.

Do you have a concentration face?

Nice little exercise in awareness, notice which bits of your body get involved unnecessarily when you are trying to complete a new task. For example when trying to wiggle just your left big toe, does your right big toe try and join the party? When balancing do you stick your tongue out or clench your jaw?

Your body is one big conversation. When something is challenging or new sometimes your methods of communication misfire or get their wires crossed. The more you practice the new movement the better at communicating you will become.

Movement is something that happens while you are getting something else accomplished...

These images made me giggle at first, but then they bought to mind a little something Katy Bowman had to say in this podcast for Liberated Body and now I think these vintage ladies were on to something....

"Remember you are an animal walking around in a zoo. Reflexively your body is always trying to conserve energy. The decision to shuck convenience has to be a choice. You are going to have to choose to get out of your couch and sit on the floor. You’re not really in a cage, you’ve put yourself in- there’s no lock, it’s habit. You can go outside whenever you want.

Movement is way easier to get in your life than exercise. Exercise takes time away from your family living. It takes a drive, a shower, a special outfit, equipment. It’s not as easy as. “I’m making breakfast anyway, I can make it on the floor? I’m walking on this path anyway, why don’t I just walk on the grass just 6 inches to the left? I’m going to the bathroom anyway, why not put my feet up on this squat platform?”

Because movement is not exercise, you have the potential to move all day long. I have no more time, I’m doing this podcast now so I could be sitting in front of my computer, or I could be standing and doing a calf stretch, and squatting a bit. Once you start thinking that way you can really move all day long even if you can’t go anywhere....

...The real difference between exercise and movement would be anytime you are doing movement for the purpose of reaping a health benefit, that’s exercise. While movement is something that happens while you are getting something else accomplished."

--Katy Bowman via Liberated Body.

Hanging out

YES to hanging out. This is why.
Perhaps get a bar, unless your household doors are industrial, and definitely don the pop socks and lipstick.

Hanging instructions here...

(Images found here)

Found here

just an amateur

From Peter J. Cohen's collection of vernacular photographs at MoMA
 

“I’m here to tell you:

you can be your own authority.

(from theparisreview)

"In this way, the yoga mat becomes a lab of life where you can examine your reactions and habits. "

Image and quote Found along side this sweet story.

Marcia Moore, 1965

What the Queef?

I've spent a ridiculous amount of time upside down of late in class...mostly...and two 'issues' keep popping up for my students. Queefing (yep) and rib thrusting.
So I've searched the inter-webs for simple explanations of the two and (to my delight) found THIS from Katy Bowman of Katy Says.
Ladies check it out! Saves me having to provide the detail ; )

The rib thrusting thing is for the gents too...

The beauty is in the detail.

Images by Nina Leen for LIFE, 1949.

(Found here)

Picture by Walker Evans via Retronaut.

Found at goldlionaz

(found here)

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

From retronaut

(Found here)

Yoga to go: The keys to a rewarding home practice

Newsflash!!!
WORKSHOP ALERT

Where? Triyoga Chelsea 
When? 31/01/2014
Time? 19:30 - 21:30
Price? £25

So if you are interested in nurturing or developing a home practice or if you find your self at a loose end, or not knowing where to take a new pet, human or otherwise I really must recommend you come along and say hi and get your stretch on...click HERE for tickets.

And here is the blah blah...

Do you love your yoga practice at the studio but your home practice never quite meets your expectation?

Our bodies represent the life we have lived thus far; a map of our personal history. The physical aspects of Yoga provide a useful tool to view the way we move. For this practice to be of use, it makes sense to tailor it to your life and body. That’s where rolling out the mat at home comes in.

Going to class is brilliant, of course, but translating that to a home practice can be tricky.  In this workshop you are invited to make clear choices about which feelings in your body you pay attention to - building your self-knowledge, intuition and self-trust that, if used intelligently, will help you direct a practice that fits within the boundaries of where you are, what you're feeling, and what you're needing.

Join Rachel in starting and/or nurturing your home practice, to get the most out of your body in the safest possible way. Prepare to:

     

·         Focus the mind for the moment-to-moment noticing and decision-making that takes place during asana practice

·         Create templates for your own safe sequencing

·         Get rid of the myths and inspire yourself to help make things a little easier when removing the obstacles to practising at home

teacher bio:

Rachel’s teaching springs from the very precise Iyengar system, but is also greatly influenced by the study of functional movement, the work of Vanda Scaravelli and her current teacher Anna Ashby.  Classes combine an appreciation for alignment with a real love of movement, while including more restorative practices where appropriate.  Rachel’s training includes the Karuna Yoga Teacher Training Diploma (RYS 500 hours, 2007-  09) and the Restorative Yoga (36 hours, 2011) taught by Anna Ashby and Chris Swain.

www.rachel-and-yoga.com


(image found at goldlionaz)