Yoga and Pilates NEWSLETTER

Term Three 2007

 

Text Box: Text Box: Hall cleaning, Fri 28th September 1100am  please bring a mop and bucket if you have one  Myrtle Wattle – please go and see some of our beautiful bush!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pilates

 

Congratulations on a wonderful term of Pilates everyone!!  The aim of Pilates is to train the core stabilizing muscles of the pelvis and shoulders and neck to come on an instant before our bigger muscles.  This will maintain the effective functioning of our muscular system to prevent injury and to enable our body to work efficiently.  As we know there are various ways we can help this by focussing on alignment so our bones are in the correct position to enable the muscles to function even better.  The other means are to use our concentration and focus and precision of movement to ensure we are moving correctly in the Pilates repertoire.  This is  the main area that I have noticed such a huge improvement in  this term by students in every class.  I would particularly like to congratulate the students in the essential classes on Monday morning and Thursday evening for the incredible focus you have brought to your classes this term.

 Those attending the general classes have been able to challenge their core stability by using the foam rollers.  We have been able to choose from using one or two or no foam rollers as required by each student’s needs and bodies.  As well as creating a huge challenge to our stability the foam rollers have made us really focus on maintaining shoulder and neck stability.  Many of the movements have required an increase in strength and it has been great to see our progress for example in the Front Leg pull and Swan dive series.

As a progression from the wonderful stability achieved this term, we shall be focussing on buttocks and abs next term.  This will help us prepare for the energy we need for summer.  As the weeks progress we will use a variety of equipment, including foam rollers, balls, bands and hand weights next term, and we will begin to do some of the movements in double time.  I’m sure you will enjoy this added challenge.

Please note the reason I do not take casual attendance for Pilates is for your safety.  To carry out Pilates moves correctly and with the correct firing of the muscles does require repetition especially as each week we progress to a slightly higher level of carrying out the move.   I am as flexible as I can be in maintaining a safe environment for exercise.

For several years now many of you have asked for a dvd or video of my teaching.  At the end of last year my niece and her husband filmed me teaching various Pilates sequences.  They have recently sent the dvds to me and I am very pleased with them.  They are intended for use by my own students, who know my instruction and have been checked by me performing moves correctly.  They are $20.00 each.  The titles are below:

Pilates for lower back pain and Pilates for shoulder and neck pain (one dvd).

Pilates – beginners

Pilates – intermediate

Pilates on the ball

 

Yoga

Please note the Pilates dvds are also appropriate for yoga students, especially the one for lower back pain and shoulder pain.  Many of you have asked me what to do over the years when you suffer from either of these problems.

In spite of our very cold conditions this winter you have all continued to come to yoga with warmth and enthusiasm.  We have all enjoyed sitting around the meditation table together to share our candle meditation (tratak).  We have continued this practice weekly as well as adding other forms of meditation to the candle gazing. 

Many of you have commented that commencing the class with meditation has made you maintain a focus during the whole lesson.  Many others of you have also commented that you have improved in your ability to actually stay focussed on the meditation at the beginning of each class.

We have been using mudras this term, with the hands and the eyes.  A mudra is said to deepen our concentration and inner awareness by creating loops of energy so the energy doesn’t escape and the energy is thus redirected within to deepen our ability to find our own stillness.  The hand mudras have been gyana mudra with the thumb on the first joint of the index finger palms down to internalise our energy.  Chin mudra is the same except the palms are facing upwards, to open the chest to gain consciousness.  Yoni mudra, with the thumb and index finger touching and the other fingers interlaced balances the energies of the body and the left and right parts of the brain.  Hridaya mudra with the thumb on the middle and ring fingers palms up, connects us with the heart chakra.  One palm on top of the other (left for women, right for men), Bhairava mudra, connects the ida and pingala energy flows that criss cross the main sushumna energy channel on the inside of the spine.

Shambavi mudra, gazing at the eyebrow centre, calms the mind and will remove emotional stress and anger, as well as developing concentration and mental stability.  Nasikagra drishti or gazing at the nose tip  will also calm the mind and release stress and anger.  The nose also corresponds to the spine in yoga philosophy so Shambavi mudra represents the top of the spine and will activate ajna chakra and the nose tip will activate Mooladhara chakra.  We have been using these eye gazes in our postures to continue our practice of stillness.  As a further progression some of us have been imagining the “jyoti” the candle flame, to still the mind and direct us to our greater consciousness while doing yoga.

Please note all these techniques may take years to practise easily.  The aim in all of yoga is to stay calm and allow the practices to emerge as they become easy for you, without strain.

Meditation is a way to still the mind and bring equanimity to our being so we can live in a more balanced way.  Along with meditation we need relaxation, and so this term we have completed a yoga nidra at the end of each class.  Again the effects of yoga nidra are accumulative.  I was reminded of the effectiveness of relaxation recently when watching a wonderful show on the Human Mind on the ABC on a Thursday evening.   In the first episode of this show it stated that many of our great discoveries have occurred when the person is in a really relaxed state of mind, such as realizing the law of gravity by Isaac Newton.

We have been doing quite strong and held standing postures after our Salutes to strengthen the body and mind.  By the end of the term the strength you have acquired has been obvious in the improved way you have been able to hold balances.  The postures have been based on accentuating the energy of the meridians of the kidney and bladder,  for strength and stability of the mind and nervous system.  You will have noticed, along with the meditation and yoga nidra they create a sense of groundedness.

I thought the following quote by Stephanie Dowrick highlights the theme of our yoga this term:

It is stillness that gives us an inward sense of continuity, connection and security-sublime treasures that money cannot buy.  It is stillness that gives inward confidence, lightness, balance and clarity.  It is also stillness-the ceasing of agitation and anxiety-that allows us to RECEIVE WHAT WE NEED, BOTH FROM WITHIN OURSELVES AND FROM BEYOND OURSELVES.

Our hearts need to be steady and open to receive what we need.

In stillness, we listen-and go beyond listening.  When we listen in stillness, what we hear is quite different form when we are listening with our minds not still, not-open and not-present.

However agitated or sad or disturbed you may sometimes feel, you are more than those feelings, those reactions.  Stillness is a natural habitat.

 

Have a lovely break and I look forward to seeing you next term. 

Om Shantih      Annette