ॐ November Noose-letter ॐ

Hello yogi,

Here are some events in November worth sharing about. It is a big month filled with happenings here in Dublin, Greystones, and in Edinburgh. My daily online zoom Mysore community is vibrant as ever and I thank you all for continuing to study with me.

Join me in one way or another this month! And if not, send me an email and I’ll send you a led primary series or led intermediate series recording to keep you inspired.

I’ll be away in Edinburgh visiting my friends and yogis at Meadowlark Yoga - there will be no online class from Tuesday the 16th through Sunday the 21st.

This month’s Moon days:

Thursday, 4th November: Hatha Yoga Class 7 am ‘NEW MOON’
Friday, 19th November - no Online class, FULL MOON

In this newsletter, I’ll shine some light on why November comes at us in a sneak-attack way with its many events and deadlines, and let’s have a look at how to resist the temptation to do more on the mat and in our lives around us, when really it is the time to begin to go inward and do less. Does the month ahead make you feel like a noose is around your neck? Get on your mat daily to stay balanced and in tune with yourself and your needs.

See you on the mat and stay inspired to practice soulfully!

Sarah ॐ

Little Bird Events

I will be starting a daily Mysore programme at the beautiful shala at Little Bird Yoga starting 3 January. Thrilled to get back in the studio daily with you all, students and friends here in Dublin! And students from out of town, come visit me in Dublin for focused in-shala practice; you are welcome to come for a long weekend or a week or more.

To prepare for this exciting event, I’ll be offering some Intro to Mysore workshops - the first one is just around the corner, from 3-5 pm Saturday, 13 November.

This first workshop is for all levels of practitioners - geared for those new to Mysore, however there will be plenty for the seasoned practitioner as well. We will review the practical elements that support a successful practice: bandha, breath, vinyasa, drishti, and meditation. These elements combined with mudra and asana, prepare and support our Ashtanga Yoga practices.

If you haven’t been on your mat in a while and need a fresher, or if you want to review these classic elements come join!

Booking button below:

Looking ahead: Online practice in 2022…

Online friends and students, you can still practice with me in 2022: starting in January, I’ll be offering the Monday chanting class at 4 pm, and a Saturday morning Mysore class from 7-9 am and quite possibly, a few more. Stay tuned for other online events, including focused workshops on the weekends and chanting courses.

Your 10-class passes with me won’t expire so you can use them for any online class. Thank you for understanding my ethos about this: teaching both online and in person is a big muddle for me so I will keep them separate. I’ll do all I can to keep three classes a week online for you!

Free Ashtanga Yoga Discussion

THIS Friday 5th November, 8:30 am Dublin, just after led primary series. All welcome! This event will be recorded.

Zoom code 583 779 3991
Passcode Practice.

Workshop with Greystones Yoga 27 November

Come join me in Greystones, 27 November for a morning of investigation of the primary series and half of the intermediate series. This workshop is being held at Greystones, just south of Dublin.

We will begin our workshop with a guided pranayama and meditation.

The āsana portion of the workshop that follows will be a guided led Primary Series to Baddha Konasana (half-primary series). We will then venture into the Intermediate Series where we will study just the first seven postures that support the nervous system, strengthen our backs and legs, and which also complements the previous primary series of predominantly forward-bending postures.

This workshop will end with a short discussion on maintaining and cultivating a healthy, long-term yogic practice.

9am - 11:30 am Saturday 27th November, €35.

For more information on how to book, email Ingrid at info@greystonesyoga.ie

Yoga Pulia, 8-14 October, 2022

Delighted to share with you all that I will be returning to Italy in 2022…you can book with me now or later, but don’t wait too long!

8-14 October in beautiful Yoga Pulia. YogApulia is a boutique retreat centre exclusively for yoga and meditation practice, set up and run by dedicated Ashtanga yoga practitioners Mark & Nicola.

Email me directly for details on the cost and how to book with me.

This renovated centre to is an intimate space in-tune with the natural rhythm of nature, where guests can escape from the demands of the modern world to deepen their practice in the beautiful, peaceful setting of the Valle d’Itria in Apulia, Italy.

“The Art of Backbending”

Last weekend I hosted an online backbending workshop - we looked at handstands, too. Why in the world would we want to invest in learning how to backbend properly and with care? Let me share with you why:

Our goal when we backbend is to:

use disciplined and careful effort to design a practical backbend that is right for us. This is to breathe fully and see/witness ourselves.

Our vision when we handstand is to:

find fun and joy in the discovery of that skill in action.

After all, handstand really is just samastiḥ upside down! So it better be a recovery pose, a pose to gain strength and stability and to balance out the flexion of the spine that happens when forward bending and backbending. It is a recovery pose. Have you thought of it this way before?

I also spoke about how backbending practice is likened to a steam train. Here is how:

The heart of your backbend is the firebox. This is the element of śraddha (faith, why are you doing this?) This is always mounted above all limbs - it is the part of the backbend that keeps you returning to witness. The soul sees clearly when it is open here. Puruṣa is clear from this looking place!

Your arms and legs - the pistons: hamstrings and biceps, the levers, these activate the machinery. These need to counter, fix, drive, work, active and turn on, churn…or the wheels won’t go anywhere.

Your spine - the make up of the train - this is your body - this is the spirit of the posture - the creative self, Prakritic make-up. And it is victorious: you, your character, who you are, the name of the train, “Flying Scotsman”. How is your body designed? Knowing if you have a short torso and long legs; short arms and a long torso, for example…this type of knowing will help you use a prop if needed, and design your backbend that is best for YOU. Investigating how to support your spine when you backbend is the key idea here. Knowing how you are designed will help you craft your sustainable long term and healthy backbend.

Mulabandha: the root lock: this is your body guard, the keeper of the train, always alert, always on, always protecting and seeing where the train is going; it along with the breath, steers the course…the body guard protects the journey. Keeping it on is paramount!

The wheels of your train is your breath - the prāna which fuels the vehicle! How fast or slow your train travels depends on your breathing. Are you doing tictocs with four breaths only? Are you doing upward dog with five breaths or with one? Your breathing practice dictates the nature of your backbend - hence how fast or slow your train / backbend could travel. Where is the breath moving in your body, are you breathing and inhaling into the backbend - filling the heart and maximising the potential of your spine to illuminate?

I find it curious that the root lock is the keeper of your backbend - most of us think it is the heart or the mind. Actually if we think of the pelvis being the root of the backbend, then the mental part of the posture, the heart and mind, will turn off and follow, even awaken and do their job of watching, feeling and sensing…and this leads to more expression in the pose.

For the train lovers out there, the more developed your bandha and breath become, and how well you explore your props or tools needed to express your backbend - this equates to how smooth or fast your engine will travel! Keeping your backbend (or your train) well oiled and well loved means you will be able to do many different kinds of backbends and practice them for a longer period of time. Don’t be surprised if this requires some practical practice tools to do so.

If you missed the backbending and handstand workshop, email me and you can still purchase the recording to do at your own time.

Happy backbending, yogi!

When in doubt, look to Patanjali

If you find yourself being miserly about your practice, making some sort of reason why you didn't get on the mat that day, or ho-ing and hum-ing that you have lost your mojo, then look to Patañjali for some wisdom:

In the yoga sūtras 1.30-1.32, Patañjali writes that the mind will be unstable at times, or for some of us, often. This citta-vikṣepaḥ (instability in your mind) is screaming for a remedy. And when the mind is unstable (anavastithatvāni), we almost always know. How do we know?

It is clear we aren’t ourselves because there is a red light that is warranting our attention coming from the body and/or in our actions: from something extreme such as a disease, dullness, sloth, over-doing it, and false looking (imagination), doubt, fear…(1.30)

With this simulateously comes the accompaniments: pain, suffering, mental imbalance, shaking of the limbs, loss of breath or not breathing clearly, and a distracted or agitated state. Patañjali says right away as soon as you witness this instability and their accompaniments, try doing one specific thing - try concentrating on one idea or action.

tat pratiṣedha ārtham eka tattva abhyāsaḥ

(Yoga Sutra 1.32)

To counter the obstacles and experiences that come with such obstacles, practice meditation on a single subject.

This starts with your attitude. If you maintain the attitude that you must take on a very difficult asana practice on top of this mental instability, you may fail. Try something simple such as sitting and breathing, cultivating a soft environment around you, and begin your Surya Namaskars. This will give you a clean perspective about yoga. Is your practice about putting your leg behind your head or is it to calm your nervous system down and witness yourself?

Recently I was practicing full vinyasa primary series, on a Wednesday morning. Usually on a Wednesday I do fourth series but it just wasn’t the right day for it as I hadn’t slept well the night before. Little Calvin was up with a small cold and kept me up through the night.

I thought well, I’ll just do a little bit and see what happens. I was so clear with my breath and listening to the calmness of Marichyasana B, I started crying! I just melted right there on the mat.

Once I got myself together again, I finished my practice. It wasn't pretty. But I got through it. I ended my endeavour to Baddha Konasana and knew, that was enough practice for me for that day. I couldn’t mentally do more, it just didn’t make sense.

Why did the series make me start crying? There wasn’t any pain in my body during Marichyasana B, however it was the calmness in my system that brought about this deep looking. I needed to let out what I had held in the night before and witness what I had been hiding.

Yogic practice is supposed to bring up what is hidden. And when it comes, it necessarily isn’t a bad thing. Seeing what is hidden or what is unknown and sitting with that discomfort, this is often the best yoga practice out there.

November Push-Pull

This second-to-last month before the end of the year - is always a big month with events and projects to finish before the holiday season. I beg you to take this month with a light foot, not to jump into too much and to take it slowly. Go to bed a little earlier, and prepare for the hibernation of winter that invites you to snuggle into yourself, become best friends with yourself and listen to the voice of your quiet self.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t still get on your mat with interest and a keen mind and body. Stay focused on returning to the mat at the same time every day, and establish a routine that is healthy, just go to bed a little bit earlier to get just a little more rest. Be:

careful
conscious
passionate
enthusiastic
capable of progressing through difficulty
pain free
confident
consistent

This is because the seasonal change persuades you to stay up late, sleep in and eat more food. It is the colder weather and the change of colours and light around you that is persuading you to decline like the foliage. However, you are not a plant, you are not going to lose your leaves, do not lose your mojo. You may just need a little introspection to steer away from this persuasion to decline.

Practicing practical ashtanga yoga gives you all these above tools, so don’t forget to use them!

How NOT to burn your Ghee

I’ll admit, after learning from my Ayurvedic teacher and great friend Christine Hoar in 2008 how to make ghee, I have been a dedicated ghee maker for many years. Then, I started burning it. And regularly.

This ghee slump I was in had to do with being distracted (that citta vikepaḥ!) while making it. You have to watch it. This is not that difficult to do - but you can’t go fold laundry, head upstairs to finish tidying up the children’s room or any other activity. Try chanting to it, instead.

Yep that’s right - I started singing to my ghee making and finally, I can share I have a few batches made successfully!

Here’s how you make your ghee:

In a small sauce pain, bring 1-2 cups of high-quality butter to boil on your lowest setting. Slowly let it boil without the lid on for 20-30 minutes. Do not stir it. A film on top and a film on the bottom will accumulate. When it smells like popcorn and has a golden top, it is ready, take it off the heat and let it cool for a moment while you get your glass jar ready.

Use a cheese cloth and cover that over your jar. Pour the ghee into the jar and a liquid gold will fill the jar. Let it cool uncovered on the counter top and when it has become solid you can put that lid on it, keep it on the counter or put it in the fridge.

Why eat ghee? Ghee, also called ‘clarified butter’ lubricates your joints and helps with digestion and elimination. It is the yogi’s fuel for the practice. It pacifies all doshas and also, soothes the nervous system.

Ghee is rich in Vitamin A, omega-3 Fatty Acids, and conjugated linoleic acid. It also reduces gut inflammation and supports heart health. For more reasons to add ghee into your yogic diet, read here.

Need an Ayurvedic helper? Get in contact with Clare, she’ll set you right and you can catch her in the zoom room too!