Category Archives: Classes & Offerings

Information on classes, workshops and other teaching offerings

Posture Perfect

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Posture Perfect

We strive for perfection. That’s built into us by our schooling, our upbringing, our culture and society. We come in to class and pour our bodies into shapes we’ve seen in magazines, posters, in youtube videos, and in the demonstrations by teachers we look up to. And we want our postures, asana, to be perfect!

But when it comes to yoga, what does it mean to have a perfect posture or asana?

Everyone’s bodies are built differently. We have different proportions, different ranges of motion. Some of us are stronger and have sturdier muscles. Some of us are softer and are more flexible. Our bodies have different gifts and along with that: different challenges.

There are certain issues of alignment, certain goals with each posture, and we must proceed with awareness of how to place the parts of the body in a way that is nourishing and supportive. We move to work certain areas, to open and balance. These principles are important to observe and practice.

Perfection, however, is not in the posture but in the practice. If you practice with presence, with love and awareness, if you breath full and even breaths, if you create the opportunity for the body to feel itself steady and easy, then no matter what your posture looks like at that moment, it is already perfect.

The truth is that what the posture looks like doesn’t matter as much as the effort in which we hold and move ourselves. And as our bodies change, what is perfect changes too. Such is practice, such is life.

Photo: Hala in downward facing dog, La Zone, Maadi, Cairo.

The Practice, Light & Dark

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The Practice, Light & Dark

There are days that practice is full of light, it is illuminating, and we stir from our rest (or savasana) with a sense of being one small step closer to enlightenment.

Then, there are the other times, when practice is like navigating the shadows and we feel obscured by our thoughts, fears, habits, or patterns of behavior.

When we have a light practice, we often rejoice: “Ah, I had a good practice!”

When we have a dark moment: “Oh, I had a hard practice!”

It is all practice. The light. The dark. The shades in between. We appreciate the light because of the darkness, we can discern the dark because we know light. They make the big picture, they make seeing full, nuanced, interesting.
Photo: Mysore practice at La Zone, Maadi

Gifts of Teaching: the Students

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Among the many gifts of teaching, first and foremost are the students.

Truth: a teacher needs students–even one student will do; no teachings can occur without the creative presence of someone who needs a lesson.

The relationship between a teacher and a student can be a funny one. There may be little to no details to fill the storehouse that make up intimacy between people and there might not be much talk, small or big.

But in a Mysore space, the practice inevitably brings a strange closeness. Breath and the asanas unite them. The teacher watches and waits for the right opening. And when that opening inevitably comes, students, when they are ready, surrender.

In those moments, there is a precious exchange. It is like two travelers meeting on a shared journey, one welcoming the other to a new road.

A month into my Cairo stint, feeling very grateful for the students who have been attending Ashtanga Yoga Egypt classes this month, who have entrusted me with their bodies and their practice in the absence of their regular teacher Iman Elsherbiny, who is currently studying with our teacher Sharath (grandson of Pattabhi Jois) in India. This is the precious thread that connects us, from which the energy of this practice passes from one person to the next.

I am grateful for the regularity in which many come to class and the dedication to show up despite crazy Cairo traffic, politics, life at large. Looking forward to one more month of teaching here!

Photo: Flowers care of student Zeina. Thank you!

Inner Dance, Inner Movement in Cairo

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Inner dance is never easy to explain. The lightness in the body. The cosmic party as you dance with yourself. Something, however little, however quiet, moves.

I received an email today from a participant from last Thursday’s ID offering in Heliopolis (Shanti Yoga), who moved a little physically but felt a big shift within. He described the experience as moving, that the session was like a helpful push to restart a stalled vehicle.

Sometimes we feel broken. Our environment, our culture, our own expectations play upon us. Our mechanisms get rusty or ill used. Imbalances occur. The body suffers. And we identify so much with our physical pains, our frayed nerves, our sad feelings.

This makes me recall a chant that I love to sing:

so ham, so ham
so ham shivo ham
I am not my body,
my body is not me

so ham, so ham
so ham shivo ham
I am not my mind,
my mind is not me

so ham, so ham
so ham shivo ham
I am not my ego
my ego is not me

“So ham”, like “tat tvam asi”, means “I am That” — That which is unchanging, unlimited and eternal.

What would our lives be like if we could identify with That, if we saw That in ourselves, in all our fellow human beings and co-habitors in this planet, how would we live our lives like then? How could we not honor and love ourselves and each other?

Photo: Beautiful bronze. Sculpture by Nathan from Atelier de Nathan at Darb compound in Old Cairo.

Practice is a Mirror

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Practice is a Mirror

The yoga practice is a mirror. Look into it. See what it reflects back at you. Use it as the powerful tool that it is to observe yourself, use it to discern the difference between the whirlings of the mind and the sweet center of you that is unchanging.

Photo: Yara in purvatanasana in La Zone, Maadi. Ashtanga Yoga Egypt runs Sun/Mon//Wed/Thurs mysore classes 7-10am and Friday 4pm Led in November.

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Ashtanga in Aswan, A Yoga Retreat – Join the Facebook event by clicking here!

December 19-22, 2013. A 4-day, 3-night yoga retreat at Fekra Cultural Centre, El-Shallâl, Aswan, Egypt with Kaz Castillo, KPJAYI authorized ashtanga teacher (Ashtanga Yoga Egypt).
Breathe in the true nature of yoga in the very special surrounds of Aswan. We will explore a holistic view of the ashtanga practice through daily yogasana class, meditation sessions, and other fun and fulfilling activities set in the unspoiled beauty of Aswan.

The Program:
The program 1 yoga class each day in nature’s setting, an afternoon meditation each full day, Accommodation at Fekra Cultural Centre (Two meals/ day), Transportation from Airport, Train Station, Bus Station during arrival and departure day, Fun program during free time includes boat trips, Visiting Philae temple, Nubian night at Fekra and more. Price: LE 1500

The Teacher:
Kaz loves yoga for its transformational power and embraces the constant gifts of change that come with practice. A dedicated ashtanga student, she has been studying at KPJAYI in Mysore, India under the tutelage of Sharath Jois who has given her his blessing to teach the system.She taught at Boracay Yoga in the Philippines up until 2011. Since then, Kaz has immersed herself in the study and exploration of yoga, from the philosophy that fuels the practice to Sanskrit chants and bhajans. She now shares this expansive experience of yoga around the world, from Japan to Europe. Invited by friend and fellow ashtangi Iman Elsherbiny, Kaz is currently teaching for Ashtanga Yoga Egypt.

Fore more about Kaz: www.kazcastilloyoga.com
and Ashtanga Yoga Egypt: https://www.facebook.com/AshtangaYogaEgypt

The Setting:
FEKRA* is the joining together of artists from around the world with the culture and traditions of Southern Egypt. FEKRA supports those artists in their endeavors and promotes a cultural exchange with the local people.

The Cultural Center organizes traditional and contemporary music and dance events, poetry evenings, lectures and film screenings. FEKRA also offers courses and workshops with local and international artists and facilitates an international cultural exchange.

FEKRA is located on 40’000 sqm of land next to the Nile coves and opposite the island of the Philae Temple, in Southern Egypt. More about Fekra Cultural Center at www.fekraculture.com

BOOK YOUR YOGA HOLIDAY
by email: kaz.castillo@gmail.com
or call: +20 122 3717729

Inner Dance & Slippers for Storm Victims

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CLICK FOR EVENT DETAILS: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=708375682507850&set=oa.408156165978604&type=1

Haiyan, one of the strongest storms to make landfall, may have passed the Philippines, but the devastation it left in its wake is just heart-breaking.

I feel very blessed that my family in Manila are safe. And that Boracay Island and the many friends who live there have been spared despite being on the projected path of the storm.

Unfortunately, other parts of the Visayas region has not been so lucky. The death toll is still rising. Many thousands have lost their homes and all their belongings, they are without food and basic resources.

It is so inspiring to see so many organizations and individuals mobilizing good intentions into true acts of love. Been thinking of how to help from Cairo. A very reliable and dear friend is raising money to buy a 1000 slippers for storm victims who have lost everything.

So in the interest of helping people stand, walk and restart their lives in this small and simple way, I am going to donate the proceeds of the first Inner Dance offering here in Cairo to slippers for storm victims. Hoping that there will be more opportunities to share and raise funds.

Inner Dance is a healing modality and a moving meditation coming from the Philippines.

I look forward to sharing it this Thursday at Shanti Yoga Cairo (SYC), Heliopolis, 7:30pm.

Take Space and Practice

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Take Space and Practice

I entered into the yoga shala (Ashtanga Yoga Cairo) this evening to find all the early starters taking a moment, all of them sitting and breathing. Ok, it’s that kind of day then…

It made me smile to watch them. It’s beautiful to see yoga in action. Most of the time, we think of yoga as making postures, with ashtanga particularly as movement in space. But this, this is the real thing. The collective, intuitively breathing, knowing that this is what is needed.

This is not a prelude to practice but a part of the great wide open expanse that is practice.

Foundation Workshop in Heliopolis, Cairo

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Foundation Workshop in Heliopolis, Cairo

Will be going this morning to Shanti Yoga in Heliopolis with it’s relatively beginner yoga community to teach a foundational class with emphasis on grounding and feeling the center. Excited to be introducing these ideas to new communities of ashtangis.

I love working through the subtleties of sun salutations and standing postures, it supports the practice. It gives it legs to stand on!

Balancing Act

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Balancing Act

Like in every big city, life in Cairo has its challenges. Tension bubbles up to the surface in a myriad of forms: through levity or manic behavior, traffic or self-imposed isolation. What to do? How to act?

In our yogasana practice, we put ourselves in positions/postures where we are on that edge. And in that place, we find our footing, what grounds us, and from there we find our center. We breathe into it so that we can find that precious balance.

Photo: Monday night Mysore in Ashtanga Yoga Cairo in Zamalek. Mom-to-be Sarah modifies ardha baddha padmotanasana to find a beautiful balance between her practice and her pregnancy.