So here we are, half way through the year already readers.  Where does the time go?

The end of June around the Midsummer Solstice, is a perfect time to reflect on the year so far and set goals for the next six months.  Where have I come from?  What am I going to do next?  Time passes so quickly it can be easy to dismiss half a year in the blink of an eye, and bypass all we have done, all we have achieved.

(my altar, vision board and desk:- the nerve centre where it all happens.  I am not responsible for the decor, as a renter, that’s life!)

So much has changed already this year for me; settling into a new town, becoming part of the yoga community, setting up my own classes, my own contacts, my own circle.  New opportunities coming along that I never thought possible a year ago. So much inspiration from the blogs I read, connecting by email and IM to beautiful yogi(ni)s all over the world.  And this blog has taken off in ways I never thought it would as well.  I am sometimes boggled by the number of views this website gets every day (even if a whole ton of them are bots), why would anyone be so interested in reading about lil’ ol’ me?!

* I have set my intentions and affirmations for the next six months. I tend to set six-month, twelve-month and five-year goals.  The five year ones are big and scary and subject to change.  Sometimes they even happen.  The shorter term goals are baby steps to those bigger ambitions.

* I have updated my teaching website.  Go take a look!  That wonderful banner was designed by the gorgeous La Gitane (as was the Suburban Yogini banner too).  Feel free to subscribe to the blog over there too if you are interested in yoga sequences, newsletters, videos etc all of which will be coming soon.

* I have set up a new Facebook group for Exploring Yoga.  Come join us.

* Join me on Facebook or Twitter if you haven’t already.

* Ask me anything you like over at my formspring account.  You can do this anonymously and I hope to use your questions as inspriation for blog posts, FAQs and video posts in the future.

And tell me dear readers, do you set goals and intentions?  Where do you get your inspriration?  Do you affirm your intentions daily?  You don’t have to tell us your goals, but do share any practices you think might be useful!

Recipes will return next week!

desabhandascittasya dhrana

Concentrantion locks consciousness on a single area – Yoga Sutra 3.1

Missed the first 5 limbs?  Click here.

And this is where it gets complicated.  Because I’m writing about theory rather than practice.  Because I’m not convinced I’ll get much further than limb 5 in this lifetime.  I guess that’s why we call this yoga practice!

Let’s think about the white rabbit.  You know the fellow, from Alice in Wonderland.  Always rushing about checking his watch convinced he’s late for something, something important.  Something so important in fact that it never happens.

Recognise any aspects of the white rabbit in yourself?  I do.  There are never enough hours in my day.  Never enough time to get everything done.  The only person who sets these ridiculous limits, this mysterious “everything” that must get done every day, is me.  Well that ego part of myself anyway.  Because sometimes when the “everything” doesn’t get done, the sky doesn’t fall in after all and the universe remains much unaffected.

In the west, most of us have grown up surrounded by the flash and the neon, the smoke and the mirrors of modern life.  TV, music, radio, books, theatre, newspapers, magazines, endless advertising.  Most of that isn’t a bad thing.  I for one do not want to live in a world without fiction (film, book or TV based).  But it can mean we are pretty hopeless at concentrating on anything for longer than about 3 nanoseconds before our brains go off on a tangent.  Be honest now, how many times during savasana or meditation in your yoga class have you started mentally preparing the evening meal, or tomorrow’s to do list?  Show of hands please.  Yup, thought so!

So asking the average westerner like myself to sit down and begin a practice of dharana (concentration) would be pretty hopeless.  You might as well give me a pen and paper and I’ll write the to do list.  We have to work on being in the present moment in other ways.

And this is where once again we bring asana back into the equation (I told you in many ways it’s one of the most important aspects of this westernised practice we call yoga!).  Our bodies by their very nature are in the present moment all the time.  It is our minds that travel all over the place.  So when we come onto our mats and hold a posture, we have to bring the body and mind together (and this isn’t something we do that often during a normal day).  As the mind stays with the body and with the posture, so the practice of concentration begins.  Ever noticed how life slows down just a little when you’re on your mat?  Ever noticed how you can start to feel just a little bit more at one with the world?  That’s dharana, right there.

But being in the present moment, being mindful, doesn’t have to wait until the next time you are on your mat.  Stay with the present moment next time you’re stuck in a traffic jam, or a seemingly endless and slow moving queue.  Practice when you clean your teeth.  Practice mindful eating (click here for an exercise in that).  Noticing when your mind is racing, noticing when the present moment is running away from you is the hardest part.  Once you’ve noticed that pull yourself back and just be.

At first it will be only just for a moment before you lose it again, but it is there.  The practice of dharana, like everything, starts with baby steps.

Concentration must be applied stage by stage – Yoga Sutra 3.6

Introduction, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

Inversions are good for the lungs, for the heart, for the thyroid gland.  Most yogis are told this again and again in class.  What a lot of us aren’t told though is that if done incorrectly, too soon, without proper instruction or with pre-existing back conditions, headstands and shoulderstands may also finish us up in a chiropractor’s office with compression of the upper back.

Because my spine looks like this:-

I’m not the biggest fan of the headstand of the shoulderstand.  When I do practice shoulderstand I like to do it supported by the wall, but personally I like to think that all inversions, where the head is lower than the heart, give similar benefits.  So, for example, a downward dog….

….or legs up the wall (or indeed just in the air),

will still give the body the “slowing down” feeling that a shoulderstand can give.  Try them, they may not look as clever but they are beautiful!

Whilst headstands were off the menu this week at the Gaiam Yoga Club, shoulderstands and handstands were not.  To be fair there were several versions of shoulderstand to practice, including one with wall support and the podcasts continually encouraged us not to go further than our bodies told us to.  Now this is great for people who know their bodies but I’m still not 100% convinced that someone new to yoga, who has never practiced inversions with a teacher, will be completely comfortable practicing shoulderstand as instructed through video and podcasts.  Maybe I’m wrong?  Maybe as a teacher I want to keep thinking students need me?   What do you think?

And then there are handstands!  There is a lot less potential for injury in a handstand.  You tend to just topple over at the very worst.  When it comes to handstands a lot of it is about letting go of fear.  Most people could do handstands at least against the wall as a kid.  Somewhere along the way we lose that innate sense of fearlessness that we have as a child and suddenly are too scared to kick up the wall as an adult.  Handstands are about overcoming that fear.  And having fun trying.

Two things.  Firstly I have carpal tunnel in my wrists (I know! Is there a part of me that works properly?).  Putting a lot of weight through my hands, as you need to for handstands (and hand balances in general) just isn’t an option for me.  Although the version of handstand where you face the wall rather than away from it and walk your feet up it works to an extent for me I was disappointed that this was the only other option for handstand.

Secondly (and this isn’t Gaiam’s fault at all) this last week was the wrong week for me to be doing inversions.  Now I’m not particuarly strict on the old adage of not doing inversions when you have your period, I believe that every woman is different and I know some women find inversions help with the cramps.  But for me it feels horrible to be upside down at this time of the month.  I was sorry to see that there was no mention of this on Gaiam at all before teaching shoulder and handstands.

The sequences were  a lot of fun, fitted into busy days and felt very balanced so I would still, on the whole, recommend this course.  But maybe not to complete beginners.  However, there are discussion forums and blogs to explore which may help answer any practioner questions.

So readers, how do you feel about going upside down?

The Gaiam Yoga Club is currently running two memberships – US$25 per month or US$65 per quarter (which saves you US$10).  Both packages include a 10 day free trial period.