I love sketch books.
images from here and here.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Favorites...
I don't have a favorite yoga pose, i have a favorite feeling and i sequence my practice to find that feeling...it changes everyday!
Monday, 8 October 2012
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Saturday, 6 October 2012
1. Origami Unicorn by Origami Roman 2.Nano Origami by Anja Markiewicz both found via found via Anothermag
Friday, 5 October 2012
“I can dive", Sophia said. "Do you know what it feels like when you dive?"
Of course I do," her grandmother said. "You let go of everything and get ready and just dive. You can feel the seaweed against your legs. It's brown, and the water's clear, lighter towards the top, with lots of bubbles. And you glide. You hold your breath and glide and turn and come up, let yourself rise and breathe out. And then you float. Just float."
And all the time with your eyes open," Sophia said.
Naturally. People don't dive with their eyes shut."
Do you believe I can dive without me showing you?" the child asked.
Yes, of course", Grandmother said.”
--Tove Jansson, The Summer Book
Of course I do," her grandmother said. "You let go of everything and get ready and just dive. You can feel the seaweed against your legs. It's brown, and the water's clear, lighter towards the top, with lots of bubbles. And you glide. You hold your breath and glide and turn and come up, let yourself rise and breathe out. And then you float. Just float."
And all the time with your eyes open," Sophia said.
Naturally. People don't dive with their eyes shut."
Do you believe I can dive without me showing you?" the child asked.
Yes, of course", Grandmother said.”
--Tove Jansson, The Summer Book
“Gathering is peculiar, because you see nothing but what you're looking for. If you're picking raspberries, you see only what's red, and if you're looking for bones you see only the white. No matter where you go, the only thing you see is bones.”
--Tove Jansson,
--Tove Jansson,
Kook Paradise
Kook Paradise from Timothee Verrecchia on Nowness.com.
"...preforming yoga on the beach before you surf is highly encouraged...' ; )
Shot on an old camcorder on Ditch Plains Beach in Montauk, the short plays on the aesthetics of 1960’s surfploitation films and pokes fun at a modern beachtown with surf fever.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
"When world-famous yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar visited the San Diego Zoo
in 1990, he was struck by the effortless aplomb of the flamingos. He
pointed to a gaudy pink bird as it balanced on one foot, steady as a
boulder. Oblivious to its squawking neighbors, beak tucked under its
feathers, the flamingo was fast asleep. Surveying the group of yoga
teachers accompanying him, Iyengar playfully challenged them: "Can you
relax like that?"
-- Roger Cole
Actions
The importance of foundation.
"You want to stand on your head and you don't even know how to stand on your feet."
-- B.K.S. Iyengar.
The standing poses, among other things, are designed in a manner to ground and center, attaining an intimate relationship with our bodies. We start from a gross level of awareness, then through time and practice, slowly, things become more subtle. They are intelligently designed. Often I feel gathering strength originates from focus and awareness. Even if it hasn't physically manifested yet, it doesn't matter. We are working the most challenging muscle of all in between the ears. You have to start to learn to work from the inside out.
Finding the 'perfect' pose isn't really the goal, think of it more as the byproduct of consistent practice. Practice is the goal. Your body will change everyday.
Grounding is also about fully inhabiting the body from root to tip. Feeling every part of our body integrated with the greater whole. This doesn't mean tensing, grasping or holding. This simply means feeling and being aware. If we can't feel it, we can't transform it. Equally stated, we can't let it go either. What we are trying to do in practice is wake up the parts of ourselves that lie dormant or inert. We already have everything we need so think of it as an excavation. Some may have to dig deeper than others, however in the larger of scope of things it doesn't matter. Our body, our lesson. Somethings you can't just be told. you need to practice and find out for yourself. If in doubt just take yourself back to the beginning.
"Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
- St. Francis of Assisi
"You want to stand on your head and you don't even know how to stand on your feet."
-- B.K.S. Iyengar.
The rooting of the foundation, or base, allows extension, space,
balance, and ease in a pose.
Lightness is cultivated from grounding so start here. Give your attention to mastering Tadasana from the very beginning, everything you need is in this pose.
Lightness is cultivated from grounding so start here. Give your attention to mastering Tadasana from the very beginning, everything you need is in this pose.
Try this simple exercise. Sit down on a
firm chair with your heels directly under your hips. First sit in a slouched position and notice how the body feels and be
aware of the quality of your breath. Now, sit up tall, without leaning
against the chair back. Find the center of each sit bone and balance your weight evenly over both sitbones and into the chair seat. Observe the rebounding, lengthening
action that lifts your spine out of the pelvis. Enhance this by
using your inhalations to broaden the back and you exhalations to softly lengthen up through the spine, right to the top of your head. Observe the body and the quality of the
breath. Do you feel lighter? Is the breath fuller and deeper than when you sat in a slumped position?
The tallest trees in the world, the redwoods, have a
vast intricate network of roots supporting their skyward stretch. I like
to think of it the same way in practice. Whenever my hands or feet are
touching the floor I consciously ground my awareness down
toward the ground. This is where I gather my strength.
The standing poses, among other things, are designed in a manner to ground and center, attaining an intimate relationship with our bodies. We start from a gross level of awareness, then through time and practice, slowly, things become more subtle. They are intelligently designed. Often I feel gathering strength originates from focus and awareness. Even if it hasn't physically manifested yet, it doesn't matter. We are working the most challenging muscle of all in between the ears. You have to start to learn to work from the inside out.
Finding the 'perfect' pose isn't really the goal, think of it more as the byproduct of consistent practice. Practice is the goal. Your body will change everyday.
Grounding is also about fully inhabiting the body from root to tip. Feeling every part of our body integrated with the greater whole. This doesn't mean tensing, grasping or holding. This simply means feeling and being aware. If we can't feel it, we can't transform it. Equally stated, we can't let it go either. What we are trying to do in practice is wake up the parts of ourselves that lie dormant or inert. We already have everything we need so think of it as an excavation. Some may have to dig deeper than others, however in the larger of scope of things it doesn't matter. Our body, our lesson. Somethings you can't just be told. you need to practice and find out for yourself. If in doubt just take yourself back to the beginning.
"Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
- St. Francis of Assisi
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Monday, 1 October 2012
That Distance was between Us
That is not of Mile or Main —
The Will it is that situates —
Equator — never can —
--Emily Dickinson
Image from Ffffound.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
