Tuesday 30 August 2016

Melting down Relaxation workshop

Melting down Relaxation workshop, 10th September: Great opportunity to de-stress unwind and relax from all the stuff we might have accumulated and to take us to a good place in the Summer. A time just to let it go and enjoy.  Join us :-)

Yoga Sutras Workshop is back

Yoga Sutras Workshop is back: In this workshop Regina Padma Rintchen will show you how to link these ancient teachings to your practice of asanas(yoga seats or poses) pranayamas kriyas( cleansing exercises) mantras mudras(yoga gestures)and meditation. 3h of a precious guide that will transform your practice and will help to understand more about what we do and how we do in the yoga classes. You will be surprised to see that it yoga is much vaster than movements and music... Those 8 sutras are Regina’s favourite as well as a sort foundation for her whole yoga path. Don’t miss this yoga workshop! If you are a yoga lover, you’ve got to come across Patanjali Sutras somehow. That's your chance! Book online: www.stamfordyoga.co.uk

Monday 15 August 2016

Vajrasana in the sky with diamonds

Any asana is sacred. All yoga poses consecrate our material nature. They reveal our true nature all the time. There is not a single pose that is not divine. However one of them will have now my special attention. Vajrasana also known as the diamond pose because of Buddhist influences. It is said that the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree on a Vajrasana or on a diamond seat. Vajrasana is also known by the Hindu tradition as a thunder or lightning and also as power or powerful.

Sitting on Vajrasana during a yoga festival 

According to my teacher Carlos Eduardo Barbosa, when we are born a ray penetrates us through the ajna chakra located in between the eyes, goes all way down through the spine inside a canal called Vajra nadi or Sushumna nadi until the bottom. Down there it becomes a fiery serpent that sleeps as an enrolled shape until our death. Our kundalini, right? Then it gets released out and moves up to be reabsorbed back by the Universe. In the north of India it’s believed that this seat is made of the same substance that composes the thunder.
Now let’s see what prof Carlos says about this pose related to Buddhism and Hinduism. The Dorje in Buddhism represents a celestial stone made of steel or diamond that symbolizes the power of compassion and the vastness of the sky. Both words steel and sidereal sends us back to the sky. From the sky dust comes the steel. Dorje also tells us that the strength of the sky is handy to us.  
When mentioning this pose Gheranda Samhita focuses on the settling of kundalini. Our heels symbolize the lightning as a protection around kundalini for her to be able to move up towards the top of the head. It’s said that this kundalini is a Goddess that we receive on we are born. As "she" is supposed to move up through the spine this symbolizes the thunder.
Sitting on Vajrasana for meditation with jnana mudra or chin mudraAfter all these ideas that surround Vajrasana I can only think that this pose shows us ourselves as a deep and powerful connection between Earth and Sky. And this empowers us much more than we can possibly think. Our bodies as a guardian of an immense electrical power such as a lightning and a thunder.
I often like to sit in this pose as it feels very comfortable. It also helps my spine to lengthen up and the bones and muscles to rest still. I sit in Vajrasana for teaching, meditating, also for resting in an upright position. This pose is clearly a special one as it helps Kundalini to move us up from the basic chakra to samadhi in the sahashara chakra. Our duty however when sitting still in a Vajrasana is to turn our body into a sidereal space, open, unlimited, inexhaustible, strong, powerful and bright. Yoga, as a tool to light up our material layer, to make it sacred, to transform it into a temple where everything we do is according to our own swadharma or our own dharma.    




Vajrasana nos ceus com diamantes
Qualquer asana e sagrado. Todas as poses são consagradas a nossa natureza material. Elas revelam a nossa verdadeira natureza o tempo todo.  Não existe uma única pose que não seja divina. Contudo uma delas terá minha especial atenção: Vajrasana também conhecido como pose do diamante por influencias budistas. E dito que o Buda alcancou a iluminação embaixo da arbore Boddhi em Vajrasana ou na postura do diamante. Vajrasana e também conhecido pela tradição Hindu como relâmpago ou trovão e ainda como poder ou poderoso.

De acordo com o meu professor Carlos Eduardo Barbosa, quando nos nascemos, um raio nos penetra, através dos olhos desce pela espinha por um canal chamado Vajra ou Sushumna nadi ate o fundo. la embaixo transforma-se numa serpente de fogo que adormece como uma forma enroscada ate a nossa morte. Nossa kundalini, certo? Eh quando se libera e sobe para ser reabsorvida de novo pelo universo. No norte da Índia, acredita-se que essa pose ou assento eh feito da mesma substancia que compõe o trovão


Agora vamos ver o que o prof Carlos diz sobre esta pose relaciona ao Budismo e Hinduísmo. O dorje no Budismo representa a pedra celestial feita de aco ou diamante que simboliza o poder da compaixão e a amplidão dos céus. Ambas as palavras aço e sideral nos remete de volta aos céus. Da poeira do céu, bem o aço. O dorje também nos diz que a força dos céus esta na nossas mãos.

Quando mencionada esta pose, a Gheranda Samhita foca no assentamento da kundalini para que "ela" possa mover-se acima na direcao do topo da cabeca . Eh dito que a kundalini eh uma deusa que nos recebemos quando nascemos. Como ela tem que subir pela espinha, isso simboliza o trovão.  

Depois de todas estas ideias que envolvem o Vajrasana, eu só posso pensar que esta pose mostra-nos a nos mesmos como uma profunda e poderosa conexão entre a Terra e o Céu. E que isso nos empodera muito mais do que a gente possa imaginar. Nossos corpos como guardiões desse imenso poder elétrico tal qual um relâmpago ou um trovão.

Eu sempre gosto de sentar nesta pose porque e muito confortável. Também ajuda minha coluna a esticar para cima e ossos e músculos a descansarem tranquilos. Eu sento em Vajrasana para ensinar , meditar e para descansar com a coluna ereta. Esta pose e claramente especial já que ajuda a kundalini a subir do chakra básico para a iluminacao alcançada no sahashara chakra. Nossa missão contudo, ao sentar nesta pose, e de tornar nosso corpo um espaço sideral, aberto, ilimitado, incansavel,  forte , poderoso e brilhante. Yoga, como uma ferramenta para iluminar nossa camada material, para faze-la sagrada, para transforma-la em um templo, onde todas as coisas que nos fazemos estah de acordo com o nosso swadharma ou nosso próprio dharma.

Thursday 4 August 2016

Reaching for the Sun yoga workshop

Reaching for the Sun: This is our II Yoga Fundamentals Summer Workshop aiming to help us to deconstruct Sun Salutations Surya Namaskar - and some important poses in our practice. Lets celebrate the Summer season in a special way!

III Family Yoga

III Family Yoga: Yoga is good in so many ways for all ages. Children get calmer but also active and concentrated adults improve their flexibility strength and peace and everybody laughs a lots -) Come along!