Last week I had a flying visit to Melbourne.
I was honoured to be asked to teach at The Spring Urban Retreat which gave me the perfect excuse to pop over and get my fill of Gita Yoga and the motorcycles at the MotoGP :)
And boy, did I make the most of it!
In 6 days I managed 4 Gita classes, one general yoga class at the Theosophical Society, a meditation class, a philosophy class and I saw the movie, The Connection {all of this on top of my own daily practice - see the videos below}!
I was well and truly filled to overflowing by the time I headed home Tuesday night, especially when you add to all this the joy of reconnecting with some of the beautiful friends and students I've missed over the past 4 months.
The one realisation I had was, though I miss the city and the people, I DO have a new city to distract me and I CAN keep in touch with the people. However, one thing I CAN'T do is simply walk into a Gita class whenever I feel like a top me up.
Don't get me wrong, my personal practice does so much for me, but what my visit to Melbourne and all the Gita yoga classes I did reminded me of is the amazing sense of coming home I get from doing a class with a Gita teacher.
I was honoured to be asked to teach at The Spring Urban Retreat which gave me the perfect excuse to pop over and get my fill of Gita Yoga and the motorcycles at the MotoGP :)
And boy, did I make the most of it!
In 6 days I managed 4 Gita classes, one general yoga class at the Theosophical Society, a meditation class, a philosophy class and I saw the movie, The Connection {all of this on top of my own daily practice - see the videos below}!
I was well and truly filled to overflowing by the time I headed home Tuesday night, especially when you add to all this the joy of reconnecting with some of the beautiful friends and students I've missed over the past 4 months.
The one realisation I had was, though I miss the city and the people, I DO have a new city to distract me and I CAN keep in touch with the people. However, one thing I CAN'T do is simply walk into a Gita class whenever I feel like a top me up.
Don't get me wrong, my personal practice does so much for me, but what my visit to Melbourne and all the Gita yoga classes I did reminded me of is the amazing sense of coming home I get from doing a class with a Gita teacher.
I've said this many a time, and I may one day eat my words, but despite all the wonderful classes in other styles I attend, none have left me with the same feeling I get from a Gita yoga class.
And once you get that feeling, the beautiful thing is that the magic of Gita hits you even before you begin the postures.
You feel the deep sense of ease flow into your body as you walk into the building or the class, for you know exactly what is coming and that sense of familiarity and knowing allows the body to relax even further. A switch is flicked.
You've come home!
My first night in Melbourne, I had the pleasure of doing two Gita classes in a row with my favourite teacher Penny.
I drew the henna doodle above straight afterwards in the post class blissful state. Then just as the universe works in it's miraculous ways I was lucky enough to be in town for the showing of The Connection movie at Gita the next night.
If you get the chance, do yourself a favour and watch it.
It's a brilliant movie bringing together the growing evidence of the mind - body connection. What this movie did was reaffirm for me why Gita has this affect on me and so many others. Though it did focus on meditation for most of the movie, they did mention that yoga works in the same way. Plus meditation is one of the 8 limbs of yoga ;)
You see, in this modern world, our busyness is only increasing by the minute and this has a detrimental affect on the body due to the negative impact of stress. Our minds don't know how to switch off as a result, we spend way too much time in our minds and are disconnected from our bodies.
Craig Hassad MD, in the movie likens the affect of stress on the body like driving your car constantly at full speed. You will wear out the parts before you know it at that rate. The same goes with our bodies, for our body responds to the thoughts we have in the moment, whether they are reality or not.
Hence, our ability to quieten the mind, detach from the thoughts and spend growing amounts of time in that space in-between is being shown to have major benefits for the health and wellbeing we experience due to this mind-body connection.
And this is why the Gita practice works!
All of the parts of this practice work together to quieten the mind and reconnect us with our bodies. From the synchronisation of the breath with movement, to the synchronisation of left and right side of the body, and the particular order of the postures we practice, as well as the familiarity of the poses we work with.
Each works to deepen the quiet and connection with the body that we experience in the moment.
Turning off the stress response, and switching on the relaxation response.
This is where the healing and repair takes place.
Add to this the benefit of balancing the endocrine gland system and steadying the nerves and you can start to see why there is a deep sense of coming home when you practice Gita Style yoga!
This is why I keep coming back to this practice time and time again.
It's just a formula that works!
My wish is to be able to share this experience with others.
So I have started a campaign to get some classes up and running over here in Perth, Western Australia.
{I have plans too to have some uploaded in the future for those of you not here}
If you're keen to try it or would just like to support the campaign, I've created some one time only introductory offers whether you live near or far which you can click here or the image below to find out more about.
Thanks lovelies!
Until next time, may you find the space in-between that nurtures and restores you,
Tx
And once you get that feeling, the beautiful thing is that the magic of Gita hits you even before you begin the postures.
You feel the deep sense of ease flow into your body as you walk into the building or the class, for you know exactly what is coming and that sense of familiarity and knowing allows the body to relax even further. A switch is flicked.
You've come home!
My first night in Melbourne, I had the pleasure of doing two Gita classes in a row with my favourite teacher Penny.
I drew the henna doodle above straight afterwards in the post class blissful state. Then just as the universe works in it's miraculous ways I was lucky enough to be in town for the showing of The Connection movie at Gita the next night.
If you get the chance, do yourself a favour and watch it.
It's a brilliant movie bringing together the growing evidence of the mind - body connection. What this movie did was reaffirm for me why Gita has this affect on me and so many others. Though it did focus on meditation for most of the movie, they did mention that yoga works in the same way. Plus meditation is one of the 8 limbs of yoga ;)
You see, in this modern world, our busyness is only increasing by the minute and this has a detrimental affect on the body due to the negative impact of stress. Our minds don't know how to switch off as a result, we spend way too much time in our minds and are disconnected from our bodies.
Craig Hassad MD, in the movie likens the affect of stress on the body like driving your car constantly at full speed. You will wear out the parts before you know it at that rate. The same goes with our bodies, for our body responds to the thoughts we have in the moment, whether they are reality or not.
Hence, our ability to quieten the mind, detach from the thoughts and spend growing amounts of time in that space in-between is being shown to have major benefits for the health and wellbeing we experience due to this mind-body connection.
And this is why the Gita practice works!
All of the parts of this practice work together to quieten the mind and reconnect us with our bodies. From the synchronisation of the breath with movement, to the synchronisation of left and right side of the body, and the particular order of the postures we practice, as well as the familiarity of the poses we work with.
Each works to deepen the quiet and connection with the body that we experience in the moment.
Turning off the stress response, and switching on the relaxation response.
This is where the healing and repair takes place.
Add to this the benefit of balancing the endocrine gland system and steadying the nerves and you can start to see why there is a deep sense of coming home when you practice Gita Style yoga!
This is why I keep coming back to this practice time and time again.
It's just a formula that works!
My wish is to be able to share this experience with others.
So I have started a campaign to get some classes up and running over here in Perth, Western Australia.
{I have plans too to have some uploaded in the future for those of you not here}
If you're keen to try it or would just like to support the campaign, I've created some one time only introductory offers whether you live near or far which you can click here or the image below to find out more about.
Thanks lovelies!
Until next time, may you find the space in-between that nurtures and restores you,
Tx
PS: Here are my practice compilations for Week 3 and 4...
I found a little yoga friend in week four and took a little trip over to Melbourne, as you do! :)
