Somehow I lost my track in logging my yoga practice in the blog, although I managed well to stick to my schedule (two classes per week, and one or two additional home practises). In fall our yoga teacher Sabina focused her classes around the seven spiritual laws of Yoga.
An then in November I headed together with a good friend for a yoga holiday in Thailand. We were a group of nine yoginis (mainly from UK) and had a marvellous week, with yoga classes twice a day, on a beautiful platform with di…
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Added by Silmanja on January 15, 2009 at 4:05pm —
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Today I bought a new camera - and my first picture to be published is a kind of Yoga picture....
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Added by Silmanja on October 17, 2008 at 2:23pm —
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My yoga practice was reduced to two class a week, and some asanas between all my chores during the last two months. Especially the annual congress I am organizing took me quite some time. And one week after the congress - all the stress is gone - a got ill.
Yesterday in class -it was a very flowing one - and all went fine. But at a certain moment I started to cough and could not stop it. I drank some water but still - was not able to stop until the moment when a yogamate told me, that I am allo…
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Added by Silmanja on October 17, 2008 at 2:15pm —
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Three ways of getting awareness for the own body - was the focus of today´s class. First, the cognitive way - analysing each facet of a pose - with the exemple of Tadasana, and warrior 1. Second, willpower - finding a challenge in the pose - done with a handstand on the wall, and (my eternal challenge) bakasana - I have no clue, because I do not manage that one - (maybe I want it to much--that could be a lesson from today -to much willpower is also not good). Third, flow and movement -a nice and…
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Added by Silmanja on August 25, 2008 at 3:14pm —
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Last weekend on my wonderful mountain trip, I succeeded to loose all my important stuff (keys, money, mobile phones) in the middle of the mountain. Due to incredible luck it was found by other trekkers and brought back to the nearest mountain hut. Still I had to call a key service to open my door for an awful lot of money... Hopefully tomorrow my stuff will be in my postbox...
And what was the focus of monday´s evening class? Letting go. There are days where the yoga class fits perfect to the c…
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Added by Silmanja on August 7, 2008 at 12:10pm —
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Day 29, 30 - short eveningpractises - focusing againg on the balancing poses, I had in class the days before
On Day 31 finally a wounderful morning class with a focus on finding space in its own body - that´s all I remember
To sum the month up: I am glad I did it, although some practises where really quite limited. For the future I will try to stick to the home practise, but not everyday. Sometimes it´s good to force oneself to the mat, but there are also days, where the practise can be the ro…
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Added by Silmanja on August 7, 2008 at 12:05pm —
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Day 25-27: My trip to Vienna was great. Very good time with my parents and my best friend, a lot of chatting, eating, drinking...Yoga practise was mediocre. Just a few asanas here and there, a few minutes of meditation and breathing between all my social stress.
Day 28: Evening class - Equilibrium poses - - when I feel tired my equlibrium is fine - but when I feel more hyperactive (like after the exciting past weekend) the equilibrium is not so good. And therefore I had quite a struggle with a…
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Added by Silmanja on July 28, 2008 at 3:00pm —
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Day 23 - Just ten minutes meditation in the morning - no evening practise due to cinema and some unexpected telephone calls ;-(
Day 24 - Morning class - Today - focus on the upper part of the body - very small and subtle movements - and still they are challenging and make you feel every part of the arm. The highlight of the class - my first handstand (against the wall of course).
In the last week my yoga is feeling even better than before. It feels a bit like collecting the fruits from the las…
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Added by Silmanja on July 24, 2008 at 2:00pm —
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Today I did some research on mula bandha and found
this article with some ideas for postures to experience mula bandha better. It was a very good although short practise - especially in downward dog - to experience the difference between the Prana dog and the Apana dog - and really to feel the lifting of the pelvic floor - coming just automatically with the exhaling. In warrior more concentration is needed to experience the bandha and in hea…
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Added by Silmanja on July 22, 2008 at 2:53pm —
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Day 20 - The day between the workshop and a class - did not want to do a full practise - just to try it again, a forearm stand against the wall, followed by a half handstand - and it felt really great, so strong
Da 21 - My hips feel strange - on Thursday a class with hip openers, during the workshop in Saturday also at the end a focus on hips - and they feel kind of loose and sometimes they crack (like you feel it usually in the knees). On one side it is a good feeling, I also remember my times…
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Added by Silmanja on July 21, 2008 at 2:52pm —
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Ha, today I finally went to the workshop.
Florian is a former buddhist monk and gives very special workshops - a balanced mixture between meditation and asanas, and also a bit pranayama - I did not have (similarly to the last months) great new insights, but the meditation felt good, and the asanas very strong - for the first time I lifted myself up in upward bow without any props - and I did this after two forearm…
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Added by Silmanja on July 19, 2008 at 4:51pm —
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I have to confess: the whole week I was tired and not really motivated for yoga. most of the days I did my morning meditation, and everyday at least a few asanas - but it was without energy and real compassion - it was just because I commited....
Day 18 was like the days before - not time - just a short practise between work, dinner and cinema - just a few forward bends and an equilibrium pose - and off I went - The next step will be to persuade myself for backbends when I feel tired and unmotiv…
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Added by Silmanja on July 19, 2008 at 3:10pm —
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The weather is rainy in Salzburg and this week I feel kind of not motivated to do anything - Yesterday I went to the cinema to see a cute film, and afterwards I had a long telephone call with my best friend. The "good night practise" then was very slow and short - a 20 minutes podcast focusing on the euqilibrium between the right and the left part of the body - a few surya namaskars, eagle, wide leg forward bend --- and of course, its not really advisable to drink a glass of wine before your yog…
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Added by Silmanja on July 17, 2008 at 2:05pm —
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I don´t know - today I was just tired - the whole long day. Could not really wake up, yawned at all my colleagues during work - and after returning home I knew I had to go directly on the mat, to do it - and I did. Short and very slow stretches to relax- a long down dog, some forward bends, a standing twist, tree (incredible stable today) and a long and very relaxing savasana -
It was interesting because I just did the asanas as they came to my mind - without plan or leaded exercises - just my…
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Added by Silmanja on July 15, 2008 at 2:48pm —
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In today´s class I observed my feelings at the beginning: very strange - I began to get angry about people chatting before the class starts and with those coming to late. Also a way of taking things to serious ;-), and of course I also chat sometimes at the beginning of the class...
The whole class was dedicated to abdominal work (and I was very glad, that my sore legs were not strained to much). Breathing into the belly, different pashchimottanasanas and navasanas and a wounderful final relaxa…
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Added by Silmanja on July 14, 2008 at 3:48pm —
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How to integrate a yoga practise into a several days lasting trekking trip?
On day one I decided for a walking meditation. When you climb up a mountain there is a moment where you stop thinking - very liberating. And then I just concentrated on walking - just one step after the other - the air was incredible clear after a strong thunderstorm and I was able to concentrate on nothing else than to put one feet in front of the other - something new and very nice...
On day two in the late afternoon…
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Added by Silmanja on July 14, 2008 at 2:56pm —
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Thursday is morning class - starting at 8:00 am - and the most incredible, I never miss it -
Today´s focus - breathing - where do you breath to - in the belly, in the ribs, or in the chest? Did asanas for different "places" of the breath. Uttkasana for the belly e.g. or holding a pose and observing where the breath is going - very nice - a pose where the whole body "needs" the fresh air from your breath is chaturanga dandasana (although Im only able to do it honestly with the whole forearm on th…
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Added by Silmanja on July 10, 2008 at 11:46am —
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On these days, where I just come home from work, very tired from a lot of things I had to do simultaneously, I need not only this commitment for my yoga, but also someone who tells me what to do. Today, it was the videopodcast from the yogajournal and some exercises for the core - Nothing exciting - just a good 25 minute practise... with navasana, down dogs, some warriors and so on - I realise, that I appreciate downward dog more and more, having a good stability, really stretching the spine and…
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Added by Silmanja on July 9, 2008 at 2:29pm —
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This was one of these days, I needed the commitment to go on the mat. After a long working day (including a long and exhausting team meeting) I went to the shopping center - bought trekking pants (Ha! I will need them for the weekend) and some stuff for the mobile phone. Finally I was chased out of the bookshop - due to closing time (why do I always loose completely time in bookshops? It´s like a black hole).
When I came home I was so tired, only wanted to remain on the couch. Just because of t…
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Added by Silmanja on July 8, 2008 at 5:04pm —
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Monday is yoga class - and for the first time since months I arrived late, just because the last two weeks class started 15 minutes later. Humans are creatures of habit. Furthermore today was the first class of the new summer schedule, with flexible times, where everyone can attend the class he or she wants. A completely crowded room received me, when I finally could enter. uff.
It took me some time to come into concentration (stress because of being late, so many people and most of them I neve…
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Added by Silmanja on July 7, 2008 at 2:42pm —
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