Blog Archives

Finding of Treasures

Image

Reply

IMG_4150Last day and I weave my way in and out the vibrant souk Khan el Khalili in Old Cairo. There is a lot to see and it’s easy to get lost. I have a particular goal, buying presents for family members, but along the way there are many distractions. Lots of shiny things. Glitzy miniature pyramids, faux pharaonic treasures used to bait tourists. Store sellers calling our attention in English, in Spanish, in all sorts of languages except the local Arabic. I am happy to have a guide, who knows her way around.

There’s a delicate balance to be maintained. Focus enough to keep to our main purpose–in this case, belly dancing costumes for my nieces–but with an openness, spontaneity enough to allow the magic of the souk to happen, wherein the unexpected treasures hidden there may also be revealed.

It takes skillfulness to navigate a bustling market place, teeming with possibility, with novelties and antiquities. It is exciting and inspiring. It can also be exhausting and frustrating if wondered haphazardly.

There is a need to be centered, so that you can spend time, energy and money wisely. Likewise, there is a need to simply be in the moment. To enjoy the souk, which in itself is a delight and a treasure.

Reminds me of (guess what!?) practice! Practice is a bustling souk, full of everything, amazing finds, incredible energy, but also dead-ends and traps. Navigating it can be tricky. It’s good to know our way around (as in self-practice) or to have guidance (with a teacher). It’s also good to go for a wander, to allow ourselves to get lost a little, because this is how we learn.

We aim to practice with concentrated effort. Too much focus on any one particular thing, and we may miss the unexpected treasures along the way. Too little focus and we allow ourselves to get caught up; we get distracted from the main goal, deep connection through practice.

Practice like going to the old souk demands/inspires a balance between skillfulness and surrender, the two facilitating the finding of treasures.

PHOTO: Alley-side stall with an array of old and new trinkets and treasures. No trip to Cairo is complete without diving into the dynamic old Islamic Quarter. So blessed to have such a great guide and companion on my day out at Khan el Khalili. Thank you, Sumaya!

End is the Beginning

Image

Reply

End is the Beginning

It’s surreal to be back in Manila, an entire year since I first set off. Again, coming to full cycle.

So ends an incredible journey of both teaching and learning, which has taken me to North Yorkshire, the Spanish Pyranees, Barcelona, Japan, Egypt, Barcelona again, London, and Cairo for a second time. So ends a series of sharing in Egypt, so begins new opportunities to share and grow. So ends a year of travel, so starts a new adventure. Always: the end is the beginning.

Over a week ago, I was leading a retreat in Gouna, Egypt through Nūn Center. There, away from life in Cairo, overlooking the Red Sea, we found respite from the day-to-day madness. We were coaxed deeply into process: the detox diet coupled with yoga and inner dance facilitated some deep purging. Some kilos, tears, and a lot of old limiting ideas were shed. We were all sad to see this special time come to an end.

In truth, however, the end of the retreat marks the beginning of the real work ahead: the challenge of how to bring the lessons and impressions of that week into our “real” everyday existence. Returning “home” carries the weight of our old samskaras, our old patterns.

Sometimes, these cycles may make us feel like we are on some strange loop, things interminably repeating. And we struggle when we see that we ended up exactly where we started.

But nothing stays exactly the same. Change is inevitable–even if we appear to be revisiting a similar place or moment. One teacher/friend likes to point out that these cycles become more and more refined over time. It’s true; as I sit in my old room here in my family home, where nothing appears much to have changed, I cannot help but notice the biggest difference: me! I am different, and through me, things will continue to change.

 

PHOTO: Closing Circle for the Ashtanga Yoga & Detox Retreat with Nūn Center in Gouna, Egypt.

Into the Sea

Image

Reply

Into the Sea

I love it when yoga and inner dance are a surprise. Yoga, particularly, has hit the mainstream. We all know what it quote-unquote looks like, and from there extrapolate certain ideas. But when we really experience it, everything changes…

It’s a little like walking down a long pier and then getting to the end and seeing the expanse of the sea before us. We can look at it. Observe its beauty. Be in awe of it. We can take in its coolness, its freshness with our eyes.

Or, with a little courage, a little effort, we can walk to the pier’s edge, and plunge in, bathing in the cool clarifying waters, being surrounded by it, being in it. It is a different experience altogether.

The sea and its depths may continue to be a mystery, but we have a deeper (more sea-level) understanding of it. There is an experience of the sea, which often–in the yoga tradition–is a metaphor for Consciousness–with a capital “C”.

Yesterday, when we closed the Ashtanga Yoga and Detox Retreat in Gouna with Nūn Center, more than a few people expressed what a wonderful surprise the whole process was, particularly the yoga and inner dance process, how both supported the detox but also opened up the body, heart and mind.

I loved teaching this group for a week. A week program gives people time. It allows to people to slowly get their feet wet, to take a dip, then wade, until they are ready to dive.

Into the sea. Of consciousness. Of change.

PHOTO: Steps to the ocean. Off the pier near Sharaton Miramar’s Palace, the setting of the week-long retreat. A beautiful end to a very special time here in Egypt. And I think also a beautiful beginning, no, many beautiful beginnings… Gratitude abounds!

Shadows Surface

Image

Reply

IMG_3780Yesterday, just past the halfway mark of the Yoga and Detox Retreat here in Gouna, a retreat participant shared her surprise at the emotions which were coming out of the process (juice fast, bodywork, yoga…). Some issues she had thought she was well past. I could not help but smile a little. Yes, I thought, this is also a part of the process.

I will always remember my first trip to study ashtanga in Mysore, India and how subtly and dramatically it worked on me. It was a breakthrough, with emphasis on “break.”

I recall how the months passed softly, beautifully undramatic. And then, quite suddenly, close to the end of my third and final month, I found myself crying over my favorite Indian breakfast, triggered by one little question: how are you today?

Not much had changed really. Life was still good. The practice was amazing–somehow, however, it had facilitated crucial movement, it had stirred some very old stories. And these old stories continued to cast their shadow…

How this usually obscure shade on the ground, when I looked properly, was quite a telling reflection of me, triggering what was the beginning of an epic healing journey.

We all cast some kind of shadow. It is a reflection of us, but not who we are. When we notice these shadow sides, it is an opportunity to recognize who we really are as opposed to what we are not. And as we change, so do our shadows.

PHOTO: Today, I love my shadow, as pictured at a pier here in Gouna, Egypt. It’s been a very special time here at the Nūn Center Yoga & Detox Retreat. I am totally inspired by these group of participants, who are taking this opportunity to shed unnecessary weight in the body, mind and spirit. It’s been wonderful supporting this process with yogasana, meditation, pranayama, chanting and inner dance.

Waves on Water, Power of Transformation

Image

Reply

Waves on Water, Power of Transformation

This week I am in Gouna. And all around me, there is water: inviting poolsides, the Red Sea, the manmade lagoons that break the desert landscape here with different shades of cooling blue.

I am here to lead the yoga program for Nun (pronounced “Noon”) Center’s Yoga and Detox Retreat. Nun, it turns out, comes from the idea of water. Nun spells out the ancient letter N, the hieroglyphic symbol of which looks like waves on water, like so: VVVVVVV.

Water is a powerful element. Without it, life would be impossible. In the Pharaonic tradition, water is the source of life. From the water, the lotus came into existence and from the lotus, light, everything… Water is the primordial stuff, from which all is created.

And so, it feels apt, that we return to the water. To cleanse. To wash away the grime of daily urban existence. To deeply undo the unhealthy patterns of living, from the food we eat, the activities we engage in, the thoughts we have or the ideas we take in. To create new patterns: healthy and sustainable ways of engaging with our bodies, our emotions, our minds, the food we eat…

It is said that water has memory and that it is a great conductor of information. So, I’m excited. It feels a little like we are diving into this great transformative soup, with many elements to support positive shifts: the different aspects of yoga (yogasana, meditation, breathing, chanting) combined with inner dance, nutrition (organic food, vegan or juice fasting), and body work.

We jump in the water, so to speak, later this afternoon. I am eager to get in, to see the waves on water, to experience the ripples of transformation.

PHOTO: Gouna, Egypt, the site for this week-long yoga and detox retreat with Cairo’s Nun Center.

Practice is a Window

Image

Reply

Practice is a Window

Sometimes the body is a dark room. Practice is like an open window that allows the light to shine inwards. Fresh air wafts in. And we can breathe.

A few days ago, I came into practice with a certain heaviness. Something personal had gotten to me, just the night previous. I knew that I was over-reacting to the news, that my emotions were stirred up in a way that didn’t quite equate the situation.

During such moments, practice can be intense. It has a different flavor; the movements doing a different, more focused work. I found myself feeling emotional standing in the very first samasthitihi even and then incredibly vulnerable in kapotasana, which left me winded, breathless.

When I finally lay down to take rest, letting myself go on the mat below me, it suddenly dawned on me where my emotion was coming from, the root of it. The whole issue was suddenly laid out so very clearly before me.

I hadn’t consciously tried to uncover the mystery of it, I had hoped for some relief at best. However, practice had simply, seamlessly uncovered it, skillfully teasing it out through breath and movement. And with new light, fresh air streaming in, I could better rest.

I am constantly surprised by this amazing thing, this incredible tool, inner detective, problem solver we call our yoga practice…a window to who we are, to our deep internal processes…

PHOTO: WIndow at Nun Center, Zamalek. I will be teaching at the Nun Center Yoga & Detox program between 28 May and 4 June in Gouna. Very excited to be leading a week-long ashtanga retreat complimenting a vegan diet and gentle yoga for juice fasters.

Remembering Pattabhi Jois

Image

Reply

Remembering Pattabhi Jois

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois may have passed away today, five years ago. But his spirit, his energy, his legacy lives on through the work of his family, through his many devoted students, through every person who steps on their mat and breathes through the ashtanga series.

To say that ashtanga has had a profound effect on my life is a massive understatement. It has given me work that I love deeply; it has put me in the field of so many amazing people; it has brought me to so amazing places that I might have never even imagined going; it has broken me open, pulled me apart, and put me together again, numerous times; it has changed me, and made me more myself.

Guruji’s role in my life cannot be summed up. I can only express my deep gratitude.

Surprise Yourself and Dance Under the Moonlight

Image

Reply

Surprise Yourself and Dance Under the Moonlight

Cairo, Egypt.

Each day here seems to be ripe with inner exploration these days. I cannot help but feel gratefulness to the community of yoga practitioners and seekers who I have met here. Over the two trips to Egypt, I have shared from the ashtanga tradition and by facilitating inner dances in various studios around the city, in Aswan, in Sinai, in the White Desert and in Gouna. And I feel very blessed and thankful for those who have joined me in classes, workshops and retreats.

I have also made some amazing friends here, who do not practice, but have on occasion–with a certain curiosity and at times bafflement–expressed interest in the work that I do. Being able to share the inner dance with a small group of them just this last Tuesday has made the time here all the more richer. Not just for me, but for many of those that joined our impromptu gathering.

There are so many amazing things, incredible methods of self-discovery and healing that is often around us. So many teachers, so many gifts waiting to be opened. We often fail to see what is right underneath our noses. Sometimes, we are just too busy. Life–what we perceive as the loops we must circle in our lives–gets in the way. We find it impossible to take precious time out of our schedules. We fail to see the value in them. Other times, we are simply hesitant. It’s easy to put off or dismiss the new or the strange, that which is not so easy to grasp. But when we do, we are often surprised. There is so much we don’t know, so much that awaits us.

But when we surrender to these moments, we are blessed. And such simple miracles like dancing under the moonlight, letting go of our concepts, allowing the body to move, the spirit to shift is able to happen.

PHOTO: The Full Moon shining over our Inner Dance last Tuesday night.

The Practice of Moon Days; Full Moon Tomorrow

Image

Reply

Full Moon Tomorrow

The dot of light in the darkish sky above Cairo is the Moon. Tomorrow early morning, the moon will be at its fullest. For us ashtanga practitioners, this is a time of rest; we take a break from the usual 6-day practice, allowing the process of yoga to subtly integrate into the body one extra day. But do we really take a break from practice?

The moon days are as much a part of practice. It tests our attachment to the practice itself, it tests our ability to actually observe this time with presence and awareness. It teaches us about the pull of the moon in our lives–and when we notice this, how we feel deeply connected to more than just our individual body but to something infinitely greater.

PHOTO: The full-ish moon last night above the streets of downtown Cairo. Enjoy Moon Day, Everyone!

Pyramids of Practice

Image

Reply

Pyramids of Practice

Spent the last weekend in Dashur, in the outskirts of Cairo. It was awesome to drive to our destination and to have the Dashur “bent” pyramid pop out of the landscape–the pyramid serving as proof of how incredibly mysterious and surprising life is, how much of it we don’t understand, how compelling it is, so full of untapped power and potential.

And so it is with practice. It can feel everyday, the landmarks looking so familiar. With regular, daily practice, we already know the way. It’s easy to take things for granted. To go on automatic.

Then something shifts. And we are suddenly aware of its power. It pops up like a great pyramid, an enigma, that pushes boundaries. It wakes something within us with a sort of strange understanding that goes beyond words. And we bow to it, with humility, with grace, and let it work its magic.

PHOTO: Dashur Pyramid. Speaking of magic: Inner Dance in an hour and a half in Ashtanga Yoga Cairo in Zamalek. 5pm. Yalla!