| Welcome |
Yoga Teachers' Monthly offers inspiration and information to yoga teachers who want to improve their ability to help their students grow and shine.
From Aadil Palkhivala, world-renowned yoga master, yoga therapist, author, federally registered Doctor of Naturopathy, Ayurvedic Health Science Practitioner, certified Shiatsu and Swedish massage therapist, with degrees in law, physics, and mathematics.
|
| Quick Links |
|
 |
|
|
| Keeping the Arms Straight in Supta Padangusthasana |
|
|
When you straighten your arm and lock your elbow, you engage the triceps muscle. This originates on the humerus and the scapula and inserts on the ulna (elbow bone). When the muscle is contracted, it not only straightens the arm at the elbow, but also tugs on the shoulder blade and brings the humerus into joint. Once the humerus is in joint, then work the serratus anterior in order to pull the shoulder blade away from the spine, wrapping around the rib cage and widening the back. When the arm is bent, the bicep is engaged and this causes a reciprocal inhibition of the triceps as well as a contraction in the frontal throat muscles. By straightening and locking the elbow, you will inhibit the biceps and contract the triceps. When the humerus and the scapula are held together with the engagement of the shoulder-cuff muscles and the deltoids are also contracted, this will stabilize the shoulder, and then the serratus can move the shoulder blade safely.
This action is also true for Urdhva Dhanurasana, Adho Mukha Shvanasana, Adho Mukha Vrkshasana, all arm balances, Phalakasana, etc. |
| For Your Inspiration |
|
Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed in the surface. -Confucius
This quote reminds me that I have more control over my reactions to what happens in my life than I may realize. This month, make the intention to notice how you respond to the situations around you. In which situations is it easy to keep your balance, your quiet within, and which ones disturb the waters of your mind and emotions?
One suggestion is to start noticing how we respond to someone whom we do not understand. Do we ask questions and listen, or do we immediately begin to respond to what is being said before we have gained an understanding the complete situation? Do we begin defending our position before we have really heard what the other person is saying? If we have become defensive, we can no longer listen. If we are no longer listening, we have gone directly into reaction and response, and have given up our ability to choose a response from a place of understanding. Once we can see what our response options are, we can then make a choice about how we are going to respond. May we choose responses that are respectful and balanced. |
| Too Much Asana? |
|
Excerpt from Fire of Love 
Very often, teachers make asana the whole of their yoga practice. They practice poses many hours a day, focusing on endless details and the trifling effects on the body. Yet asana is not the whole of yoga, just a small piece of it. So, is the practice of asana at all necessary? Of course. Are the asanas yoga? No. We, as teachers, must inculcate in ourselves and in our students the understanding that the body is to be used for the work of the Spirit, for the realization of dharma. Any time spent on the body beyond this - any more physical prowess or any more thirst for performance----- is just ego, just more self-aggrandizement. Therefore, even within yoga itself, there is a balancing act: we must be aware that, just as there is too little asana practice, there can be too much. As always, finding this elusive balance depends on our understanding of our dharma, and of our capacity to feel the difference between actions performed for dharma and those performed for the satisfaction of the ego alone. Fire of Love is available through Yoga Centers or AmazonJoin Aadil and Mirra on their new blog: www.aadilandmira.com |
| Intermediate Intensive |
|
|
Asana and Philosophy with Aadil Palkhivala July 31-August 3, 2009
"Often a lustrous inner dawn shall come
Lighting the chambers of the slumbering mind;
A sudden bliss shall run through every limb
And nature with a mightier Presence fill." - Sri Aurobindo
The beauty and power of poetry, yogic philosophy,  mantra, and chants will create the container for this luxurious workshop for intermediate students of asana and Purna Yoga. Aadil will use words and sound to open the heart, awaken "the slumbering mind," soothe the nervous system, and guide you to release limitations you have held in your body, mind, and heart. Poetry, chants, and philosophy are used as tools to facilitate transformation, not to escape from reality. As Aadil says, "It is not about knowing, it is about being." Welcome "the sudden bliss" of a "mightier Presence" into your body, your mind, and your spirit.
Cost before June 30: $650, Cost after June 30: $700
| |
|
|
|
