Tag Archives: Cairo

Empty Pots

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IMG_6030A lot of times practice can be sublime, the process focusses the attention, the breath is the only sound…

But then there are the other times! when practicing is like swimming through a thick soupy sea of thoughts and impressions.

Things come up. Issues, worries, thoughts of all sorts and sizes eek up into the surface of the mind, some incredibly insignificant and others quite significant, each attempting to derail practice.

Today was one of those days for me, where the practice wrestles with this comedy of the mind. The breath, still steady and easy regardless, is a laugh track as stuff bubbles up. But even this has its purpose.

Yoga, union, is a goal. But yoga is also a process. And today I observed this process of emptying pots, of cleaning house, the house of the mind and the body. This is the process of letting go and of creation, emptying to make space for the new.

Photo: Pottery at one of the Ateliers at the Darb 1718 compound in Old Cairo. Watch for announcements, will be holding ashtanga and inner dance space there soon!

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

Your Ashtanga Practice

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Your Ashtanga Practice

Your practice is your own. You breathe at your own pace, you move according to your own range of motion. You decide the effort you put in.

You develop your own sense of independence, cultivating your body-mind-breath as a source of personal power.

The most important thing is to show up, is to be present.

Photo: Independent self-paced practice, Ashtanga Yoga Egypt, Mysore class in La Zone, Maadi.

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.

Street Yoga

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This is not a beautiful example of street art, but it’s real. This street scribble, near where I currently live in Cairo, is someone saying something. In Cairo, which has been the scene for political upheaval of late, where the new is constantly grinding against the old, and bits of old keep on grinding into each other, these words have serious context.

In such a place as this, living is a constant balancing act. There is a quiet and some times not so quiet battle on. And the question for many is how to find peace and at the same time how to fight for survival.

This is yoga, walking the slack line, finding the fragile balance between being centered and strong, but being easy and flexible, teetering between two extremes: haphazard surrender and fighting tooth and nail–to find some kind of middle ground, which at its best remains pretty shaky. But in that constantly shifting space, there is a stillness, a center to stand on.

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.

Teaching in Cairo

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Fully taking over Mysore Evenings at Ashtanga Yoga Cairo in Zamalek staring this evening.

Classes are 6:30-9:00pm; Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. Call 012 2275 8625 or 012 2371 7729 for address and directions.

Regular class schedule in La Zone, Maadi will start this Friday. Morning mysore class is Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday are 7:00-10:00am. Guided led class every Friday, 4pm. La Zone is located at 23A road 206, Degla Maadi, phone no: 0114 111 1949.

Photo: First Workshop in Ashtanga Yoga Cairo, Zamalek.