The Shala Seeding

Posted on December 18, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

It’s my second to last self practice morning in Cairo and I walk through the Shala door, instantly struck by heat–the unmistakable warmth that comes from consciously moving bodies, from that deep breath with sound. I look down and am excited by the numerous pairs of footwear, more than what could fit on the shoe rack behind the door. I cannot help but smile in excitement, “it’s really happening!”

The Shala is the new yoga space, opened by my friend Iman Elsherbiny and her partners Lina Almari and Fadi Antaki, which partly drew me back to Cairo this last time. A little known yoga treasure in this part of Cairo, The Shala boasts of the only regular traditional Mysore program in Maadi (Mysore is a self paced way of instruction that empowers students to own their practice, to move consciously with breath, to learn the practice that is perfect for their body at the present moment) while also offering children’s yoga, TM meditation courses, kirtan, and vinyasa flow classes.

It’s been a joy to see the how each day is different, how the classes are filling up over the months. And then to come into a room that’s heating up, well, it’s pretty exciting stuff.

Of the teachers within the Ashtanga yoga tradition, I fall into a particular breed that move, from one place to another, covering programs, guest teaching–I do my part in the propagation of the yoga practice, spreading yoga dust with my traveling yoga mat.

However, a different kind of work awaits the teachers like Iman, brave enough to open shop and hold space on a regular basis (the gold standard amongst Ashtanga teachers)–they are like seeds, rooting themselves into the ground so that they can build a proper foundation in which a space as well as people’s practices can grow. It means overriding the wanderlust, it means showing up each morning no matter what. This is where the magic of daily practice happens, under the care of those willing to seed.

It’s been a very special time, this seeding of The Shala. It’s been really special to see this space at its infancy, to see it at so many “firsts”. I look forward to seeing it grow.

PHOTO: Mysore mornings at The Shala: seeding, growing! Mysore classes with Iman are 8-11am Sunday to Wednesday. The Shala is located at no 6, Road 200, Maadi.

The Big and Awesome

Posted on December 10, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

How to sum up the last two months living and teaching in Egypt?

I think this photograph of the Great Sand Sea from my Siwa retreat kind of helps express how I feel about my time in Egypt: the expansiveness of being here, how it just opens things up to the point where there appears to be no limits; the odd pair of peace and bewilderment; the wonder and awe and that just insane “are you for freaking real?” feeling it inspires–along with the sense of unfathomability of its existence.

For me, this is a place where yoga inevitably happens (I think this is true for everywhere, but I am drawn to it here particularly), where the challenges of the day to day pushes one into the karmic battlefield, where the way of the peaceful warrior becomes a tool for survival, where stillness and quiet awaits but only beneath layers and layers of the rubble of civilizations, human chaos, and political instability–but it is there, and the moments of touching it is so incredibly precious, like looking out into the endless Sand Sea.

There is no summing up life. Just like there is no end to the yoga practice. It continues to grow, evolve, there is no end, no boundaries, no limits.

Very grateful for the last couple of months. Special thanks to my host and dear yoga sister Iman (Amy) Elsherbiny, who by opening up her world to me, has helped me open myself. Am very happy to share in her new space The Shala in Maadi. Thank you to Shala partners Lina Almari and Fadi Antaki, beautiful to be seeing you practice! Practice, practice, good things are coming!

To Nun Center, particularly Nada Iskander and Hana Holdijk, for giving me a Zamalek base, and for trusting me to lead their retreat once again.

To my retreat partners: Iman, Freedom Travellers (Yasmine Rifaat and Ahmed El Leisy) and Fekra Cultural Center (Mohamed Elbetity), thank you for the beautiful explorations. I am falling deeper in love with Egypt thanks to our work together.

And, last but not least, to all the students: you inspire me, thank you!

Till next we meet! Inshallah.

Stand with me

Posted on December 9, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

Stand with me
Show up in the morning
Unroll your mat
As if you are unrolling
A new page of living
Perhaps with some apprehension
But mostly with joy
And excitement
Because everything is new again…

PHOTO: Nun Center Ashtanga workshop last weekend. Tonight’s 6:30pm class. It may be my last for sometime as I prepare to leave Cairo, but embracing that “lasts” come with “beginnings” Om Namah Shivaya!

Shifting Sand

Posted on November 16, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

Yesterday, I took a walk on the beach in Soma Bay before our last afternoon class. Just the day before, I led our yoga group on a meditation walk at the very same spot. And I was struck by how much the landscape had changed, how the sea and tides had reshaped the sand. It was so different from the previous day; it was another world.

Everything changes. When we surrender to the flow, when we stop resisting the natural forces that move us, we simply shift.

Leaving Soma Bay now and as I reflect at the week that passed, I can see how everyday was different. How the various elements (detox diet, treatments, meditation, community, yoga) have been forces that have worked subtly on each participant. How, as our inner-scape changed, so did the body, the face, the light in our eyes.

Yes, everything changes like the beach constantly resculpted and reformed by the tide.

PHOTO: Beach, Soma Bay, Red Sea, Egypt. Grateful for the shifts this week.

Natural Teacher

Posted on November 15, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

Nature is a great teacher.

So many inspiring lessons from the Nun Center Yoga and Detox Retreat at Soma Bay. One afternoon meditation we took the class to the great outdoors, meeting on the beach before sunset for a walking meditation.

There, each participant walked quietly, with presence and awareness, each taking their own time to feel each barefoot step on the sand as the Red Sea lapped at the shore, meeting at one spot where the sun ducked behind the mountain ranges.

With little instruction other than to breathe, to feel their feet and be in the present moment, each person set off on their own small journey.

Each experience was different from the another, but what was clear was how nature became their teacher that afternoon. How the sand, the water, the epic far off mountain ranges, the air and the sun took part in a range of subtle and spectacular lessons. How when we relax into nature, it holds us, and leads the way.

Nature is a great teacher.

PHOTO: Retreat participant Amber and her son Jonas watching the sunset at the end of our walking meditation.

Seeing Shadows

Posted on November 14, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

It’s interesting how when on long retreats or long periods of intense practice inevitably the dark shadows come.

Not that darkness itself comes, but
rather how in all the brightness and illumination, we see more clearly the shadow self: the dark egoistic tendencies, our repeating issues and patterns, old but not so forgotten sadnesses and bad feelings.

Not that we are meant to dwell on these things, but rather as we see them for what they are, we become less scared or intimidated or bothered by them. It is only a shadow after all. And there, we are able to move on.

Coming to the end of this week long yoga and detox retreat with Nun Center here at Soma, I’m reminded of how seeing these dark versions of ourselves are really gifts of light and vision. That clarity in the heart and mind comes from really truly deeply seeing.

In my way, I am excited by all the shadows that surfaced and by the courage and openness and exploration such shadows inspired in our wonderful group here. Everything is a gift. We simply must be open enough to receive it.

PHOTO: My own shadow on the beach here at Soma Bay, Egypt, which has been a lovely setting for a retreat.

The Yoga Bridge

Posted on November 14, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

For nearly a week, three times a day, I’ve been meeting with our Yoga and Detox group here at The Thalasso Spa Soma Bay yoga room, unimpressively called Gym 2.

From day 1, we’ve been building something, though at the start, well, it seemed indistinguishable.

Bits and pieces if this thing we call yoga. Shapes and forms with the body. Sanskrit Mantras. Breathing techniques. Meditation.

And with our group of mostly beginners, some entering the retreat midstream, even I wondered at the mysterious structure, I wondered how the yoga portion of the retreat would take form.

Now, nearing the end, I see that we have been building a bridge. That in this setting of detox, of clearing the body and mind and emotions, of letting go, the yoga practice has been about building a bridge between one way of seeing, living and being to another more wholistic approach.

We are between two varying paths. Yoga is a bridge. And I’m looking forward to seeing myself and this group on the other side.

PHOTO: Bridge at Soma Bay. Excited to lead the group over this bridge later on our afternoon walking meditation. Though the retreat is soon coming to an end, I know that whatever has started here will continue to move people forward. Happy to also know I will continue to have contact through classes as NUN Center this month and an Ashtanga and Inner Dance Workshop there at the end of the month. It’s going to be great!

Into the Horizon

Posted on November 10, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

There is a point where the beginning and the end is indistinguishable.

Yesterday, as I looked into the horizon, I wondered if the pier here at Soma Bay ended at the horizon or whether it simply kept on and on beyond my scope of vision?

As humans, we like to look towards the ends of things; we like to draw conclusions. We live with end goals in mind. We look towards the event at the horizon as some kind of finishing.

This is a constant battle in life and in practice. How do we fully be present in the moment when we are constantly looking beyond? How do we motivate ourselves in the present without constantly grasping at some projected future, allowing expectation to creep in, as does desire, followed by the accompanying suffering when things don’t go our way. How do we come to the mat, make our best effort, without grasping at the idea that we will conquer that supposed next penultimate posture, the next promotion, the next accolade?

Looking out at the horizon here yesterday really got me thinking. How irresistible it is, this wanting to look beyond where I stand at the present moment. But also how this insatiable need to go beyond supports the recognition that there is simply more. But what if this something more isn’t about finishing a race, what if it is about reaching a point where all things meet, like that point in the horizon, where the sky, the ground, the sea, all of it come together, where all ends and beginnings meet?

PHOTO: Pier at Soma Bay. First full day of our Yoga & Detox Retreat. Classes Today is about exploring this thing called yoga, what it means to be in yoga, to be in that precious state of union.

Inner and Outer Magic

Posted on November 9, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

Recent Aswan Retreat is a reminder of the rich connection between our inner and outer worlds, how one reflects the other, how we can use nature and our environment to access the mysterious and ever expansive world within.

Teaching at Fekra Cultural Center which sits right on the Nile, swimming in the powerful and refreshing Nile itself, visiting Isis temple Philae and meditating on the idyllic islands on the Nile has been about deepening such connections; how a place can help us access our essential nature, which though always with us, we often feel cut off from in the bustle of everyday life.

This, for me, is the power of retreat. It’s a moment for us to give ourselves space to be with ourselves. To remember who we are. To deepen our relationship with our own heart and soul.

Leading such retreats has been a great blessing and an incredible reminder that maintaining a healthy body, heart and mind is related to maintaining a healthy relationship with this incredible outer world, a great mirror and tool for self-exploration.

Grateful for the Aswan retreat a couple of weekends ago and excited for the two retreats ahead: NUN Center’s Yoga and Detox here at Soma Bay which starts today and and the Siwa Yoga Retreat coming up on the 19 of November.

For more info on the upcoming programs, call 01008330269 or email: kaz.castillo@gmail.com.

PHOTO by Hazem Khamis. Taken during one stop during our boat tour of the Nile. This beautiful beach/sanctuary was the powerful setting of a chakra meditation led by Iman Elsherbiny and an Inner dance (pictured here) by myself. Classic case of how nature supports the inner exploration; everyone dove deeply into the ID process. Gratitude abounds.

Being the Instrument

Posted on November 7, 2014 by sisterhoodofthetravelingmala

We sit in a circle of sound
closing our eyes, returning
to some sweet source
where the heart sings
And soars…

A beautiful full moon evening yesterday at The Shala as we gathered to belt out the soulful sounds of devotional Sanskrit. Although most were new to the practice of Kirtan, we all naturally took off in song, a testament on the sheer harmonizing power of this yoga practice.

More to come: Amy and I have one more Kirtan together before I leave Egypt at NUN Center in Zamalek on Friday, November 28, 7:30pm.

PHOTOS: Aum Mural at The Shala here in Maadi. And the sacred circle last night.

one love yoga

kaz castillo

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