Posts Tagged ‘Yoga’
Posted by terrepruitt on August 24, 2016
You may have seen somewhere on the internet that I was going to teach yoga at San Jose’s cat adoption lounge, The Dancing Cat. I mentioned it in one of my posts. Well, some of you cat-like people (curious . . . get it?) might want to know how that went. Afterwards, I received a lot of questions from people who didn’t attend asking what it was like. Did the cats walk all over? Was it difficult because there were cats all over? What did the cats do? Well, first of all it was really fun. As you may have experienced, it is nice to gather with people with common interests. So it was nice to gather with people who like cats and who like yoga. We did gentle yoga for an hour and 15 minutes. It was nice.
Now to answer some questions. If you have or if you know cats, you are familiar that they all have routines. While they may vary slightly, I think they are all basically the same. Cats eat in the morning, then they nap the rest of the day. In some cases they might get up to wander or play for a moment, but then they are right back to the napping. It is so very important. While we were all arriving the cats were up and about. I am sure they were curious as to why all the furniture was being moved into a corner. Some of them might have been at The Dancing Cat to have experienced a yoga class there before, but some have not. The adoption lounge seems to have a revolving door when it comes to cats. And that is a good thing! They come, they are not there long, they get adopted, then there are new cats! So, not all of them have seen this before. So they were quiet active as we were arriving and setting up our mats. Many cats, of course, made themselves at home on the rolled out mats. I saw someone – I don’t remember who – chewing on and “back-footing” my mat.
There was time to take pictures and enjoy the cats. We learned who was who and who had got adopted. There were three still in residence that had been adopted and were going to their forever homes that day or the next!
Then just as we were getting ready to start the class, the cats were busy making their way to their napping spots. So most of them were lounging around on the various cushions, chairs, cubbies, and cat trees while we did our yoga. There was one cat who decided to be on my mat when we let out our lion roars. I must do a good lion because he fled in a hurry.
Since we were doing yoga in the presence of cats, I had decided to do all the “cat” poses I know. Of course we did CAT/cow, with the emphasis on CAT. We did lion, as I already mentioned, my roar scared one kitty. We did, Utthita Marjaryasana which is Extended CAT. Then we did CAT Tree, which is Vrksasana, but with your arms making the shape of whatever cat tree your cat has. 
The last cat pose I could think of was Sphinx, so we did that. Even though we did Downward Dog, out of respect for the felines, since we were in their domain, I said, “Downward You-know-what, the animal that should not be named.” Not that the cats were paying any attention at all. I actually think it should be called Waking Cat, because that is what they all do when they wake up.
Then the last pose we did in honor of the special creatures that are cats, was pigeon. I know it is not a “cat” pose as it doesn’t have cat in the name and it not really related to felines, but if you have a cat you may know where I took this pose. Perhaps you are familiar with cats and the noise they make when they are tracking/watching birds. But some people say, “Ick-ick-ick-ick”. So while we were doing pigeon we all sounded “Ick-ick-ick-ick.” This went over well, since all of the participants were cat owners. I think many of them have heard that sound – they did it well.
If you are ever in the area and have an hour to spare, I hope you will visit The Dancing Cat. I believe their plan is to be open through November 2016.
Are there any additional “cat” poses you can think of? What did I leave out?
Posted in Cats, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: San Jose cat adoption loung, teach yoga, the dancing cat, Yoga, yoga teacher, yoga with cats | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 19, 2016
Earlier this month I taught a yoga class. I was subbing for someone at a community center that I don’t teach at very often. In the past when I taught there I was usually subbing a Zumba class with Nia. I don’t care what class you are going to take, when you show up and it is not that class, it kinda is a bummer. Some people get very upset. Some people leave and even though they made all the effort to get to the class, they decide not to stay. Some people shrug their shoulders and say, “Well, I am here. I might as well give it a go.” I don’t blame anyone for being upset. As I said, it is kind of a bummer when you show up for one thing and there is another. Oh, I digress . . before the yoga class a woman asked me if I taught Nia. When I said yes she asked if I could do some Nia. I told her that I would be happy to lead her through a song AFTER the yoga class if she would like. The demo was awesome. I was amazed.
After the yoga class, I asked a few of the members that regularly come to Nia if they would mind dancing a song with me and the student who asked about Nia. So a few of the woman who dance with me regularly stayed to help out. But others stayed too. It was really cool. I did one song and they were so enthusiastic, I did another song. I bet I could have done an entire routine and they would have stayed for it.
It was really cool to have people who were new to Nia . . . who had never even heard of it . . . dance so enthusiastically. And, the most amazing part to me . . . they sounded. They shouted and whooped and hollered. That was really amazing. It is a challenge for so many of us to make noise while we exercise. So many of us were taught to be quiet. You weren’t supposed to grunt or huff-n-puff or even breathe loudly. So not a lot of people are used to making noise. These women jumped right in on it!
As I wrote in my post, One Person Making A Lot Of Noise, it only takes one person to help encourage the others. I think the members that were from the regular Nia classes helped a lot. It was really fun.
I am always happy and grateful when I get to introduce Nia to someone. So this really made me super happy and grateful because I was able to introduce it to a handful of woman. It helps a lot that the members that come to the Nia classes regularly talk about it to other students.
The members are really good and generous in talking about all the classes they like. They share with others all the information about each class and they encourage others to attend. Somewhat like the sounding . . . they make noise and others join in.
I was sitting here wondering what to write about. Needing to go make dinner and I thought of that class and it made me smile. And I thought I would share. While it might not make you smile . . . it will make me smile again, in the future when I read this post. You know most of this is for me anyway.
I’ve talked about Sounding in Nia before. Do you go to an exercise class where you make noise? Perhaps a yoga class where you chant? Perhaps another type of dance class where you hoot and holler?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: community center, Nia class, SJCity Fit members, sounding, Yoga, Yoga class, Zumba class | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 10, 2016
Sorry, I couldn’t resist (Mews Of Change). One of my most recent posts was an “update” about our cats. It really wasn’t an update because there was nothing new to share. It was more just a report or an excuse to post cat pictures. If you are a pet owner and anything like me, you take hundreds of pictures of your pets. I mean, they are just so cute, right? “Oh, look! She’s upside down.” “Oh, look, she is pawing at the shadow of the bird.” “Oh, look! She is covering her face!” Seriously, basically anything they do, right? So, I do love to share my kitty pictures. But this time I really do have an update. A couple of weeks ago there was a post on my Facebook feed from PureWow. It was 15 Irish Baby Names That We’re Totally Going to Steal. I saw two names that interested me. My hubby has not been fond of the name Smokey for our cat, and I have not been fond of Esmeralda. It is not the names per se; it is those names for our cats. When I saw this list I thought a couple of these names fit the girls better. So John and I had been toying with the idea of changing their names.
I wasn’t sure because I feel as if 
they recognize their names. They are cats, so it is not as if they come when they are called, but they KNOW their names. So I thought it might not be nice to change them. But, they just seem to fit better. And my husband is doing a really good job of calling them by their new names. I was calling them both, trying to get them used to it. I was still unsure.
But then . . . I was put on the schedule to teach yoga at The Dancing Cat and part of the announcement includes information about us living with two cats that we adopted from The Dancing Cat. And it lists the cats’ names. So, I thought, well, if we are going to change them, we might as well do it now. We might as well let The Dancing Cat and the people that worked with Smokey and Esmeralda that we are now calling them something new. Something more fitting – at least to us.
So we are now calling Smokey Teagan, which means beautiful. She is really a beautiful cat and I call her Beautiful half the time anyway. I also like the name Teagan. She could never get a big head because she is the sweetest girl. And we are calling Esmeralda Nessa, which means ambitious and/or fierce. Now that is not a bad thing at all. She is very ambitious and I feel that she can do anything she sets her mind to. She has fierce passion. I have been looking into Nessa a bit more to find information to make me certain of the fit and I found Baby Names of Ireland.com:
“Nessa was the mother of Conchobhar (Conor) Mac Nessa, king of Ulster. A powerful and beautiful woman, ambitious for her son, she tricked her second husband, Fergus, into giving up his kingdom to his stepson, Conchobhar (Conor), for a year, but Conchobhar (Conor) ruled so wisely and so well that the people chose him to be their permanent king.”
I could totally see Esmeralda as powerful and beautiful and SMART.
So, there you have it an ACTUAL update on the cats. Some news, yet also a post where I can post more cat pictures.
If you are local and you want to come take a yoga class in the presence of cats, check out my page where there is a link to register at The Dancing Cat. You will be able to hang out with the cats after the class. So your donation includes yoga AND a cat visit.
What do you think about the new names for our cats?
Posted in Cats, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: ambitious, Beautiful, Cats, donation to help cats, Esmeralda, fierce, Irish names for girls, Nessa, new names, Purr yoga, Smokey, Teagan, the dancing cat, Yoga | 9 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 1, 2016
Last week I was walking to my car from class. I had just taught yoga and Nia, so I was feeling tall and in good posture. I was sensing the spaces that allows for comfortable movement. I looked up at a woman coming towards me and at first I thought it was a woman I knew. The woman walking toward me bore a resemblance to my friend, but as I watched her it occurred to me that the woman I was looking at had completely different body language than the person I thought it could be. The woman I was thinking of walked tall and erect. She exuded confidence. The person walking towards me didn’t do that (stand tall) or give off that impression (confidence). It made me pause. It made me think. It had me saying to myself, “Egads, what does my posture say?”
When I am walking on a campus of one of the places I teach, I try not to use my phone. There are occasions where I have gotten delayed by traffic so I am turning my phone to airplane mode and preparing my music because I am going to be walking in with less time than I would like to have before starting class. But, I think of walking to class as a time where I might have an opportunity to engage a member or student, so normally I am not on my phone. I don’t usually walk bent over/looking down. But I see a lot of people who are.
I AM normally juggling with my stuff, I take in my purse, a canvas briefcase, a water bottle, my phone, my keys, sometimes a jacket, sometimes other papers, sometimes my yoga mat. So I am sure my posture is not very regal looking. And when I think about it, I love the people I see who walk tall and look out at the world.
I often think about my posture while I am sitting at my desk, or watching TV, in a yoga class, or teaching a yoga class, but I don’t usually think of it while I am walking. And I don’t usually think about it as an identifier. As in I saw this stranger’s face from afar and thought it could be my friend, but then her posture and her gait made me realize instantly it was not my friend. Even though I don’t think about it all the time, it is something we do, right? We include body movement in the way we identify people. The way we carry ourselves is part of our identity. Well, duh, huh?
Sigh. I don’t really know where I am going with this. Perhaps I want to be more conscious of my posture. Not just because I believe standing tall and having good posture is good for me, but I guess I would rather have part of my identity be tall, erect, confident, than bent over, slumped, and juggling. Hmmmm.
What do you think? Do you think about your posture at all?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Nia, Nia class, Nia student, posture, SJCITY Fit member, teaching exercise class, YMCA member, Yoga, Yoga class | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 18, 2016
Yoga has been around for thousands of years. There are so many translations of the documents that talk about yoga that there doesn’t seem to be a definitive way to do things. The poses all seem to have different names, and when you hear a name you’ve heard before it can be done entirely different from what you were taught. Pronunciation is all over the board. There just doesn’t seem to be any way to know what you are getting . . . exactly.
I have been taking a few different classes to check things out. And this is what I have come across. There is “Flow Yoga”. That is where the class is done in a flowing manner. The participants move from pose to pose using the breath. There might be poses where we stop and stay in it for a few breaths, but basically we are flowing from pose to pose. Then there is the Vinyasa style. Now Vinyasa is a flowing class. It might not be called “Vinyasa Flow”, but that is usually what it is. With a Vinyasa class participants flow from pose to pose and they are done on the breath. There might be some stopping and holding, then flow to the next pose . . . but there is also “a Vinyasa”. You can look it up and you’ll see vinyasa is defined as “arranging something in a special way.” That can be applied to the class as already mentioned, but it can also be applied to a small sequence of poses.
In a Vinayasa class, in addition to flowing from one pose to the next, you “take a” or you “do a” vinyasa which is a specific set of poses. It is generally the same, but it might be modified for the level of the class, but “a vinyasa” is typically plank pose, to knees-chest-chin or chaturanga dandasana, to cobra pose or upward facing dog pose, to downward facing dog pose. The less intense vinyasa would be the one with the knees-chest-chin and cobra pose, whereas the more intense version would include the chaturanga dandasana and upward facing dog pose. You could also do a combination and do knees-chest-chin with the upward facing dog or the chaturanga dandasana with the cobra pose.
What you also might experience in a class is something that really can’t be defined. At some venues where they do yoga . . . like at an actual yoga studio . . . they might have classes that are separated into levels. So a level one flow class will be different, probably less intense than a level two or three. But at some places every class is expect to be an “all level” class . . . and that is where you will probably experience something that can’t be defined.
In order to allow “all levels” to participate the instructor will modify and change what she can in order to make certain that everyone can participate. This, to me, is where a lot of the changes in yoga has come from. So the need to alter it so it is accessible to the general public in combination with the fact that the translations are so varied has resulted in no definitive way of things being done or described.
So, my conclusion and definitions say: Vinyasa yoga is flow yoga, but flow yoga is not vinyasa flow. In Vinyasa yoga you do vinyasas.
The BEST way to know what you are getting is to talk to the instructor and/or take a class. It helps to see for yourself. You can always tell the teacher that you are taking the class to see if it a fit for you, then do the best you can. If you like the class return to take it again. If you don’t like it, you can always let the instructor know it was not what you were looking for.
When attending a class for the first time it is good to keep in mind that you might get a little different than you expected, but hopefully you will be able to enjoy the class for what it is.
What kind of yoga classes do you like?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: chaturanga dandasana, Cobra pose, downward facing dog pose, Flow yoga, knees-chest-chin, plank pose, upward facing dog pose, Vinyasa, Yoga, Yoga class, yoga instructor, yoga poses, yoga studio, yoga teacher | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 10, 2016
I am just going to put this out there. I have this on my website, but not everyone goes there and someone might see it here and . . . well, why not, right? I could be teaching a class at a time when you want to take a class. You could be somewhat curious about Nia, but maybe haven’t gotten around to clicking on my website to see my schedule. It could be on your list of things to do. Maybe you are looking for a yoga class. I teach Nia three times a week. I teach yoga twice a week. I just started teaching a stretch class but we are taking an eight week hiatus (until August 11, 2016) during the busy summer months because the community center doesn’t have the room for us. They have so many summer programs for kids, it is crazy (good). I am subbing a gentle yoga class for three weeks at Mind Body Zone. And I have one Sunday Nia class rotation at the NW YMCA this month.
Nia is a cardio dance . . . meaning it is an aerobic workout. It is low impact, meaning we don’t jump high and land hard, but it can be INTENSE. You control that part. If you get low and reach high and move a lot you will get a big workout, if you don’t get down and keep your movements small then you will get a smaller workout. You get to decide what type of workout you want when you attend class. The music is varied from a little bit of Pop, with some Jazz, all the way to Rock. It is a place you can go to get some “me” time and have fun.
Since there really is no standard definition of gentle yoga you might not know what you are getting when you go to a yoga class. So you might want to know that I make yoga gentle by not holding the poses for a long time or flowing through poses. We do a pose at least two times so that we can tryout the modifications. If you know a pose we are doing and you want to get right into it right away, that is fine. We general do a few poses either standing or on the floor then we switch. It is an important thing to be able to get down on the floor and get up again. So we make that part of the routine. “Gentle yoga” does not mean beginner, it means that we do yoga gently.
In stretch we just work our way down the body. We stretch from head to toe. We hold the stretch from 20 to 30/40 seconds. We do standing, sitting, supine/reclined (on the back), and even some prone (on the belly) poses. Sometimes we use straps. Everyone is encouraged to stretch honoring their own body.
Perhaps you see a class that interests you?
Posted in Nia, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: Classes in San Jose, gentle yoga, Nia, Nia class, stretching, www.HelpYouWell.com, Yoga, Yoga class | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 11, 2016
Somewhat funny that I have one last niyama to write about. I started writing about the Eight Limbs of Yoga in January. First I talked about the fact that there is More To Yoga Than Just Asana (that is the name of the post). Most people are familiar with the fact that there are yoga poses, but not everyone knows there are eight parts, or what are called “limbs”. Then some of the limbs have even more “branches” you could say. Two of them have five branches or offshoots. I was making my way through each of them writing about them briefly. They are the yamas and the niyamas. As with many things in Nia – the cardio dance exercise I teach – the many aspects of yoga are deep and volumes can be written about each. I have barely scratch the surface. But the last one I have to write about is the fifth niyama, Ishvara Pranidhana. Some people refer to it as surrender to the Devine or surrender of ego.
Some debate the concept of the Devine, some saying it is God, some saying it is the universe. Then you have to decide what surrender means. So, if you are going to follow the path of yoga and practice all the limbs, I would say that the first thing you might need to do when practicing this niyama is decide on your “Devine”. I actually appreciate the texts that translate it as God because that is my Devine.
The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar says it means “to lay all your actions at the feet of God.” That to me sounds like surrendering to the Devine to me, but then “lay all your actions” is up for interpretation. Again, I will say that I am just barely touching the surface and with that “barely touching”, the idea of it can change. But it seems as if that could mean to trust in what is happening. Surrender and let things be.
One teaching I received described it as “bringing about serenity, letting go, opening to silence.” The teaching also suggested to use “devote” instead of surrender. But just like with the poses the translation of all of the ancient writings are mixed. Some say it says this and means that and some say it says that and means this. So it can be confusing with so many conflicting and contradicting translations.
But just because I have my “Devine” decided doesn’t necessarily make surrendering easy. It is still a challenge sometimes to accept what is. Although, as I mentioned first, having to write about this niyama at this time struck me as funny because the first thing I thought of is that I did surrender to the “Devine”. I did not write my last two self imposed scheduled post because I surrendered to the fact that I was taking a few days away from home and in order to get somethings done, I had to skip writing my blog. Ok, I did not HAVE to, but I had to let it go since I couldn’t come up with something to write about. At the time I hadn’t even thought about posting about this last niyama. Or I would have at least posted on Wednesday.
Also, we took a couple of days and stayed near the ocean and to me nature is just a reminder of the Devine. So . . . I felt as if I surrendered a bit.
Ahhh, surrender to what is and have faith that all is as it should be. Relax and let go a bit.
How are you with surrendering?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: Capitola, Devine, Eight limbs of yoga, God, Nia, Nia classIshvara Pranidhana, niyama, Santa Cruz, surrender of ego, yama, Yoga | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 11, 2016
Tapas, no, not the little plates of appetizers in Spanish cuisine. But that is, honestly, how I remember this niyama. I think, “What is the third one? Oh yeah, little plates of food.” As I have mentioned before, and this word is no different, you will probably see it spelled many different ways. If you want to not confuse it with the little plates you could spell it Tapahs. Although, the Heart of Yoga, does link Tapas to food. First he says that it literally means “to heat the body”. He goes on to say that by doing so we cleanse it. Another form, he says is “paying attention to what we eat”. So that does kind of tie in with food. The book further states that “posture, attention to eating habits, attention to breathing patterns are all tapas.” I learned tapas as discipline.
So that would be discipline over your posture, eating habits, and breath. The idea is that if you have discipline over all of these things you are purifying the body and practicing tapas. The Heart of Yoga also says, “Tapas is often described as penance, mortification, and a strict diet.”
I like the way Connie Habash, talks about it in her article. She talks about tapas as being that fire that gets you to do things. The inner flame that motivates you, she says. That desire or discipline that has you doing chores or a daily workout even when you really don’t want to. The thing that keeps you on track. I am way more on board with that then “voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong”.
Which is good because I guess even though “tapas is often described at penance” it doesn’t mean penance or castigation” so it is mentioned later in The Heart of Yoga. Basically we are disciplined with ourselves. Not doing something (eating, exercising, working, playing) in excess. Doing what we need to stay healthy, but not taking it overboard. While exercising is a good thing it can be done to a point of making the body or mind unhealthy. And that can be said of many things, as I mentioned work and even play. If there is too much “play” then there is no balance. Yoga is all about balance. Things need to be in balance. The yin and the yang.
The practice of tapas allows for balance as it is the discipline that keeps everything in check. So, this is a brief idea of tapas. Tapas is the third niyama. There are five niyamas. Niyamas are the second limb of yoga. There are eight limbs of yoga.
I have mastered none. I am just posting about them as a way to familiarize myself with them and a way to keep them and their ideas at my fingertips. Yoga is a practice so these are things I can process for years to come. I share them, too, as a way to introduce you to the other aspects of yoga. Just like I share the principles and other things that make up Nia.
Can you easily see why yoga is called a practice? 🙂
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: appetizers, discipline, Eight limbs of yoga, inner fire, Nia, Nia pracitice, niyama, Spanish cuisine, tapahs, Tapas, Yoga, yoga balance, Yoga Practice | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 2, 2016
In reviewing some of the things that actually make yoga yoga, I have been posting about the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The first two limbs, the yamas and the niyamas are restraints and observances, respectively. I am working my way through posting about them and I am on the last of the yamas. The fifth yama is one that probably speaks to many of us. The fifth yama is about non-coveting, non-hoarding, non-clinging, non-possessiveness, non-greediness, non-grasping, etc. You get the picture. The fifth yama is aparigraha.
I think this is a big one in our have-to-have-the-latest-and-greatest-of-everything society. We covet the new electronic gizmo our neighbor has. We buy more than we need until our closets and garages are over flowing. We have so much stuff that there are places we can rent to store the stuff that doesn’t fit in our homes. We cling to the very idea that our lives will be better with more stuff. We are compelled to consume. And all of that is if we are just talking about material things.
There are other applications of aparigraha, just like with all the limbs and the other yamas, much could be and has been written about them. I am just barely scratching the surface. Another way to think about aparigraha and the “non-clinging” is letting go. Perhaps we cling to things that no longer serve us, whether they be ideas or habits or even long standing customs. Does everything we do serve us now? Could we learn more if we let go of something we have always thought to be? Would our lives improve if we didn’t do that thing that we have always done?
Another way it could be applied is to people or relationships whether we look at it as letting go or non-possessing. We might need to let someone go, a relationship that is no longer serving us. Perhaps we have just grown apart or we realize that the relationship is just not a healthy thing so we need to let go. Or, more directly related to teachers in my line of work and students, perhaps we need to let them go. We need to not think of students as ours, so when they visit other classes we are not offended. When they move on to different teachers we can practice aparigraha, by not getting hurt because they were “our” student. No matter the reason they moved on, we can happily let them go to move on to what is best for them.
I liked that example of the fifth yama very much. It is a great thing for me to remember and try to practice. I mean I already know about the rest and I seriously need to work on it – as evidence by my closets. But I liked the different way to look at it, too. I always feel funny saying “my” students because I don’t mean for it to sound like they are MINE, especially since at the Camden Community Center, where I have a bulk of my classes the students are students to many instructors.
As is the case with all the yamas, I need to work on this one. I am planning on practicing it big time as I do some Spring cleaning. Going to try to not-hoard, as is my habit with clothing. Might (notice I say might) part with more of my mom’s clothing, which I probably never will wear, but I was clinging to – for many reasons.
How about you? Do you have anything (whether it be a material object or an idea, habit, or custom) that you might practice aparigraha with?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: Aparigraha, Camden Community Center Classes, Eight limbs of yoga, Nia Classes, niyama, non-clinging, non-coveting, non-grasping, non-greediness, non-hoarding, non-possessiveness, San Jose City Classes, SJCity Fit, workouts at community center, yama, Yoga, yoga classes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 29, 2016
This one sounds like a weird one. Well, I think it sounds weird, but then again, these are the rules of yoga and yoga was actually meant to be for those that were very serious about it. Those who were pretty much willing to give up everything and willing to follow the Eight Limbs of Yoga. But since it has been introduced and fed to the masses the ideas have been adjusted a bit. Often times Brahmacharya, the fourth yama is described as celibacy. I actually like continence better, with it meaning self-restraint or abstinence, especially in regard to sexual activity; temperance; moderation it allows a little leeway in there.
The text talks about how having sex actually releases your life force so it shouldn’t be done just carelessly. One shouldn’t just have sex to have sex . . . . so opposite the many teachings and attitudes of today. So many things are geared towards getting more and having more no matter what it is, just doing what feels good with no regard to consequences.
So perhaps in terms of sex we think of Brahmacharya as not having meaningless sex. Because many of use are not going to be on the path of celibacy. Since marriage and relationships are part of what make many of us happy. There are other ways to think about Brahmacharya. The Heart of Yoga says moderation in all things. In a lecture about they yamas, Connie Habash, our teacher, said she likes to say that Brahmacharya is a balance of ALL of our energy (not just sex). She even gave an example of wasting energy as go over things in your head over and over. Perhaps having a conversation that will never happen, or replaying a situation in your head over and over. Dwelling on things. Wasting the energy. These makes sense to me.
At this time I would like to point out, I am just sharing, it is not that I have mastered this. I actually kind of think of myself as the queen of going over and over things in my head. Ha, this is part of what makes things like yoga a practice. I need to continually remind myself to “let things go”. And move on.
Energy can be wasted on other things, too, just in the having and doing too much. This wastes energy. All of the needing to have keeps us so busy working that we don’t have time for relaxation. And there are so many other “doings”, we are always on the go, that we don’t have time for just being. There is so much energy being expending that it seems we just run ourselves down.
Always being on the go and not allowing for time to relax and play is not a balanced situation. Not having the balance does not lend to a healthy life. The idea, especially in regards to sex, is to not get so caught up in things that we lose our way. We lose sight of trying to better ourselves through things that might take time, such as eating well, exercise, relaxation, and meditation. All of these things take time and should be included in our lives to help us achieve balance and not have us wasting our energy.
Don’t you like the sound of balance and moderation better than celibacy? Also, do you feel that balance in one’s life IS a good thing?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: balance life, Brahmacharya, celibacy, Connie Habash, moderation, not wasting energy, sexual restraint, yama, Yoga, Yoga Practice, yoga teacher | Leave a Comment »
Terre Pruitt's Blog 