Be Yoga

December Newsletter

2011-12-01T11:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Yogis and Yoginis,

Between the end of term and the holidays, for many of us December has become synonymous with travel and anxious preparations. To add to the excitement, several yogis and yoginis in our community will soon be traveling to far away places, possibly to different time zones all together!

To balance our body and mind during such eventful times, this month we'll practice longer restorative asanas, poses designed to create the most conducive conditions for the body and mind to renew and restore.

One of the most accessible of these poses is Viparita Karani, often called Legs Up the Wall. When practiced correctly, this pose facilitates the functioning of the immune and circulatory systems, allowing the blood and lymphatic liquid in the legs to easily flow back toward the heart.

While the physiological benefits of Viparita Karani are many, the sense of pleasurable relief that can be experienced in the pose makes it almost unnecessary to focus on its physical benefits! I practice Legs Up the Wall after a long hike, an airplane flight, or simply after a day that has felt more challenging then usual. Throughout December, come to class to learn how to restore your energies, supporting your system during the holidays.

A note for the New Year: I will be offering a 10 week Foundations Course starting Friday, January 13th, 2012. The course will focus on the core principles of physical yoga and the development of mindfulness and awareness in movement and stillness. The course will be geared to students with less then a year's experience in yoga, or who practice once a week or less throughout the year. If you've been attending the regular Friday classes, the course will complement your learning well. You will find details regarding the course and other classes below.

Remember that your yoga practice is always available to you- may it be a nourishing support during the holiday season and the transition to the New year.

With warm wishes,

Beatrice

www.beatriceyoga.com

FOUNDATIONS OF VINYASA YOGA

Fridays 12 - 1.15pm, Jan 20th - Mar 23rd, @ the Jericho Community Centre.

Free Taster: Friday, January 13th.

£70(£60 concs). £5 Early Bird Discount, if you pay by December 16th 2011.

November Newsletter

2011-11-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Yogis and Yoginis,

Can you believe it’s November already? It feels like it was only a few days ago when some of us met up in University Park here in Oxford for that lovely outdoor practice!

With the shorter days and the grayer skies, the Fall and Winter can be a challenging time to stay connected to one’s yoga practice. Like the trees in the park, we begin to turn inwards and might feel less energized, but unlike the trees, we can continue to cultivate our energies through our breathing and movement practices.

To support the continuous movement of our Prana (vital energy) this month we’ll explore Utkatasana, one of my favorite energizing yoga poses. Utkatasana translates as Chair Pose, as you sit on an imaginary chair underneath your sit bones. The asana reminds me of a lightning bolt, connecting into the ground and up to the sky with clarity and power. In Utkatasana we connect the strength of our legs, our pelvis and the centre of our body, and channel our energy through the spine, head and arms. When practiced with mindfulness and the support of the breath, Utkatasana is a wonderful way to wake up our Prana and stimulate our senses. Come to any group class to check it out!

If you’d like another opportunity to commit to your practice, consider treating yourself to a one-on-one session or giving it as a gift to a friend. A one-on-one is a wonderful way to check-in with yourself and your body, and to learn how to practice according to your needs. I am offering discounted Private Classes throughout December - you can find more information about that below.

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions or thoughts about your practice. May these shorter days be an incentive to commit to your practice and the cultivation of your energies!

With warm wishes,

Beatrice

www.beatriceyoga.com

PRIVATE CLASSES:

Dicounted private classes are on offer December 1st through the 23rd:

£30/ hour or £25/hour concession rate.

Yoga Gift Vouchers are available - a lovely present for a friend or family member.

Contact Beatrice to book or request a voucher: bbarbareschi@gmail.com

What does "Yoga" mean?

2010-05-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate the first entry of Be Yoga to a simple definition: what does the word “yoga” mean? Where does it come from? And how is the meaning of the word expressed in our practice? “Yoga” is originally a Sanskrit word used and developed in India. There is no way to tell precisely when the word was coined, but we know that it was used in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (a wonderful text that breaks down the philosophical elements of yoga.) The first English translation of yoga I heard was to the verb “to yoke”. Although this is a good definition, I have a hard time disassociating the word “yoke” from the wooden crossbar that can be used to couple animals so that they can pull a cart or a plow (i.e. a yoke of oxen). I know that one’s physical yoga practice may sometimes be likened in effort to that of plowing an entire field, but I would rather emphasize other aspects of this discipline!

Alternatively, then, we can translate “yoga” into “union” or “to join”. These translations have a stronger affiliation with a positive notion of integration and may be more readily understood in the context of one’s yoga practice.

In particular, when thinking of our physical yoga practice, the idea of union refers to the integration of mind, breath and body. There are times when our mind, breath and body are naturally integrated. You can see this particularly well in most children, who take full deep breaths when they run to catch a ball, completely concentrated on the task at hand. Similarly, children’s bodies have the ability to fully relax as they are dozing off to sleep, the breath softening as the muscles let go and the mind quieting down as it takes a rest from the day’s activities.

As we grow older, however, mind, body and breath can easily become disjointed as our thoughts and expectations, as well as our physical habits, redefine the relationship of these three elements. For instance, we might learn to move without using our breath, running from one task to the next with our thoughts on a future project or expectation and unaware that we are only breathing very superficially: our chest heaving up and down quickly in an effort to take in enough nutrients for the body to run by. In another scenario, we are likely to sit for hours in front of a computer without taking a break to stretch and move around, denying our body a chance to “feed itself” through the mobilization of nutrients around the body. If our mind begins to wonder, we might get a little frustrated but we are not necessarily aware that for the past three or four hours we have been taking in relatively low quantities of oxygen while expecting a top performance from our mind.

Indeed, the breath plays a central role in our practice to unite body and mind, as it becomes a guide and a reference point for our learning and development. In other words: you can learn so much from your breathing! In your yoga practice, for instance, you might find yourself in a challenging asana (pose), working hard to control the shaking of your muscles or to keep your balance. When we become so focused on controlling our body, we sometimes begin to hold our breath as well. Pretty quickly our mind becomes agitated, maybe even a little anxious, and only when we finally come out of the asana do we realize that we were holding our breath thanks to the loud sound of our inhalation or exhalation! Sometimes we might not even realize it at all, until our teacher mentions to make our breathing long and smooth, pointing our attention to the loud panting in the room.

The next time you find yourself holding your breath, or panting heavily, gently encourage your inhalations and exhalations to soften and extend. During your yoga practice, fuller and smoother breathing will make it easier to notice whether or not your toes are still extended, or if your shoulders are still moving down along your back instead of slowly creeping up to your ears. Quieter breathing allows you to connect more clearly to your body and mind, increasing your awareness of what is happening in a particular pose and advancing your practice. In fact, your yoga practice can take on a whole new meaning as you carry these same principles with you through out the day, focusing on joining your mind, body and breath when you are feeling overcrowded in the tube or as you loose your patience over an external circumstance.

To recap: yoga is a discipline of integration, focusing on the union of mind, body and breath. You can practice joining these different elements at anytime, while developing an awareness of your self that is both centering and strengthening. Give it a try and let me know about your discoveries!

Namaste,

Beatrice

Do you have any thoughts or examples of “union”?

What does yoga mean to you?

Are there any questions you would like to ask?

Namaste!

2010-04-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Be Yoga - a blog that I hope will work as a hybrid between a journal and a forum. As with a journal, Be Yoga entries will take the format of short articles on asanas (poses), philosophy, meditation, classes and other subjects linked to the yoga practice. Be Yoga, however, is also meant as a forum - a public space for people to post comments, ask questions, and share their thoughts and ideas about yoga.

To begin with, I hope to publish at least one entry per month. As for the subjects of the entries, I would love to hear from you! Send me an email if you would like me to discuss something in particular, such as the alignment in Downward Facing Dog or the way we breathe in Kapalabhati. I look forward to learning through your questions!

May you be safe,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you be at ease.