Yoga, training and health inspiration for you

Why do some people worry more than others? What causes unease and anxiety and how do we get rid of it? Here we discuss eight new research studies on the subject.

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1. Be kind to others and reduce your anxiety
To do kind acts for other people can help the person suffering from social anxiety to have an easier time to socialize with others. In one study, the participants were divided into three groups. One of the groups did kind things for each other, such as doing the dishes for their roommates. The other group took part in different social situations without doing any kind acts. The third group was the control group. The study results showed that that the people performing good deeds were the ones who were most comfortable in social situations.

2. Why anxiety creates isolation
Research shows that anxiety makes us focus more on ourselves and reduce our empathy for other people. The result is that we have difficulties seeing things from other people’s perspective. This could be a factor of why anxiety feels so isolating.

3. Anxiety can run in the family
A hyperactive network in the areas of the brain can influence how children inherent anxiety and depression from their parents. It concerns three areas in the brain that cooperates to control our reaction of fear. A study shows that 35 percent of differences in anxiety could be explained by family history.

4. Sedentary life is connected to anxiety
Activities that don’t require much energy, such as watching TV, working by the computer or playing video games or computer games can be connected to anxiety. A new study shows that a sedentary lifestyle can increase your anxiety. The causes behind this connection are believed to be that your sleep are interrupted, lower metabolism and you become socially secluded.

5. Social anxiety linked to increased serotonin levels
Earlier it was believed that social anxiety is linked to low serotonin level in the brain, however, nowadays they believe it's high levels. Serotonin is a signal substance that among other things influence our mood and state of mind. People suffering from social anxiety tend to produce more of the neurotransmitter serotonin. And the more serotonin that is produced, the more anxiety follows.

6. Fermented food can help reduce anxiety
A study has shown that people who eat more fermented, that is acid, food suffer from less social anxiety. Fermented food contains lactic acid bacteria, probiotic, which you can find in for instance acid vegetables, sour milk, yoghurt and the Asian beverage kombucha.

7. Anxiety is contagious
Studies show that anxiety is ”contagious” and can be traced from parent to child and vice versa. The infectious nature of anxiety is a genetic factor.

8. Exercise and relaxation reduces anxiety
New research shows that relaxation techniques and exercise can help to combat anxiety because they change our way to perceive the world. After exercise or relaxation, we are less inclined to perceive the neutral signals as threatening, or negative, which we on the contrary do when we feel anxiety and are worried.

Calming & inspiring sequences 

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Read more about the studies here.

Start practicing yoga at home! It doesn’t have to be a full yoga session, a bit of stretching with a few exercises to open up the body can do wonders. If you add up what 15 minutes per day would be in a year… It’s 5,475 minutes, a total of 91 hours, it doesn't have to be more than that! Leia Dehlin gives you the best tips and tricks on how to get started with yoga at home.

Tips for creating and keeping an online yoga practice

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I find the mornings to work best for me and I often get the question where I get the energy from to get up and practice yoga. Ok, I admit, sometimes it’s not that easy to turn on the computer and drag myself to the yoga mat when there are other things tempting me. Here are a few things that help me to practice yoga at home regularly!

• Always keep the yoga mat ready
  My place is small but I always keep my yoga mat out so that I can jump right on it whenever I want. It’s inviting and ready to be used. If you don’t have that possibility it’s a good idea to find a nice spot with enough space. For instance, find a spot with an empty wall that you can use if you want to do handstands or use the wall as support.

• Same routine every day
  Routines are important and a way to maintain regularity in yoga. My alarm goes off at the same time every morning. You could try to get up 15 minutes earlier or do yoga just before you go to bed. Decide when you will do it, preferably the day before.

• Choose a video and style in advance
  Ok, I don’t always do this but if I do, I save time on searching, becoming indecisive and can instead focus on my yoga. And it helps not to have to think too much when you just wake up. Find a few favorites to turn to when you can’t make up you’re mind. When I’m tired I do Yin Yoga, it’s almost like sleeping but gives you so much more =)

• Put the excuses on the shelf
  “I don’t have time”, you might think. When I don’t have time for my yoga and meditation, then something is wrong. Then I’ve lost it, and it becomes an easy excuse to use when other things tempt you. But what is most important is to feel good and you need a moment for yourself every day.

• Get to know yourself
  Of course there are some days and even periods when we need to sleep and rest instead. It’s important to get to know yourself and understand when laziness is taking over and when we actually need sleep or rest.

Further reading

• New to yoga? 8 helpful tips for beginner yogis, by Yogobe
• How to understand yoga through gravity, by Frida Starvid.
• Full Complete Breath technique, by Ulrica Norberg.

Video recommendations

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Are you in a unstoppable spiral where the days run together? Is it difficult to find the time to live between job, commuting, pickup and leaving, leisure activities and the never-ending pile of laundry? Here we discuss the research on Downshifting – less working hours and consuming less, to get more time for other things.

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Jörgen Larsson is time researcher at the sociological institute at Gothenburg University. He has done research on time constraints and families with young children. He is of the opinion that downshifting has had a great impact. But why? We make more money than before, does that not bring us more freedom?

– My research results show that ownership and consumption contributes to time constraints. The more you own, the worse it gets, Jörgen Larsson says to the Swedish TV channel SVT.

Jörgen Larsson shows in his research study “On parents' time pressure”  that the total amount of working hours for a mother and a father with young children has increased with 10 hours per week the last 30 years. This, together with increased consumption levels, is the cause for our growing time pressure. The problem with having enough time is the fourth most common discussion topic during the break at the office.

The research study conducted by Jörgen Larsson, included 1500 people and reveals that when we earn and spend more, we also feel more time pressure. Mothers’ working hours have increased and it has not led to any compensation of shorter working hours for the fathers, which creates less opportunity for us to manage all parts of life.

Do you own your things - or do they own you?
In regards to consumption, Jörgen Larsson mentions Ghandi who suggested that if we own more than 50 things, the things own us. Jörgen believes that we need question our own choices and priorities, which he himself has done. Because he knows how it is when you can't find the time to actually live. In his previous well-paid and stimulating job as a environment consult the tempo just became more intensive, the job took all the energy and there was nothing left for the family.

To change lifestyle is not an easy thing to do, and it requires willpower to say no to time-consuming activities. But persistency prevails. Larsson downshifted and now feels he can live more balanced life as well as more environmentally friendly.

It’s not only our own actions and notions that stand in the way of downshifting. According to Larsson's time research, less people are willing to work fewer hours if others don’t do it. There is a strong full-time norm in our society. It's all planned for you to work 40 hours per week. Only parents with young children are seen as having the right to work less – others are seen as different.

Question the norms and your own expectations
The study “On parents' time pressure” reveals the most important reason to downshift: personal development and your health. So how do we do it? Larsson suggests that we look over our expectations of what we have to do in our everyday life. And it’s good to question the norms! Find quick ways to do some of the things, sleep and exercise, ask for help from family and friends, and pay for certain services, and we increase the resources and energy to keep up with our expectations.

In his book ”Rik på riktigt” (Rich for real), Jörgen Larsson offers some tips on how we can think to have more time, connected to our consumption. Reflect over his questions below before you make your next purchase:

• Why do I really need this? Which needs does it fill?
• Is it worth the money? Which values do I get by buying this? More meaning? More love? Happiness? Peace? Will it give me more power in my daily life?
• What could I do instead (something else I would like to do) for the money?
• How many hours work does it actually cost?

Energy boost

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Sometimes we might expereince things that we can't really explain. This can be very confusing, and scary. When it comes to yoga philosophy there are many parts of this that might be difficult for our western minds to grasp, such as prāṇa, the energy of life. Simon Krohn, yoga teacher with an MA in philosophy, had one of these experiences, which took him on a journey within himself. Here he explains how we can understand life and open our minds through different approaches to different experiences. 

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To experience something you don't really belive in

The base of my spine began to rumble. The feeling grew and it began to feel like an earthquake. Then the craziest thing happened. It was like an explosion at the base of the spine and it felt like the whole spine had turned into a volcano. I felt something shoot up through it and as if a golden, electric fountain erupted out through the top of my head. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it sent me on an intense existential journey that would last around a year.

The first two weeks after the incident I went in and out of an extraordinary state of awareness, where it felt like my sense of self had dissolved completely. In that state I felt blissful. However, as time went by I got more and more afraid. The thing was, I had no way to understand or process, what was going on. Obviously, I could read about it and I could easily recognize my experience in the old Indian Haṭha yoga texts. I read that I had experienced something called a Kuṇḍalinī-rise, which was described as a divine form of energy (prāṇa). This, however, did not help me much. I simply did not believe in these words. They were too foreign and they contradicted my western worldview. So basically I was having experiences of something that I did not believe in, and so the fear of loosing my mind grew.

Eventually I calmed down again and after a year the drama was over. Nevertheless, I kept studying the topic and came to realize that a major part of my Kuṇḍalinī crisis came from a problematic, rigid western approach to the experience. The point of this blog post (in fact my first blog post ever) is to share my understanding of the Indian concept prāṇa.

Different approaches
The Indian yoga tradition is based on the experience of yogis; most of the descriptions that you can find in the ancient texts can be traced back to personal experience. This sounds straight forward, but it raises an important question, whether we should regard these descriptions as ‘experiences of reality’ or ‘real experiences’?

If you take the descriptions of yoga literally and consider them to be descriptions of an objective reality, then you are taking an ontological approach to them. On the other hand, if you just consider them to be descriptions of actual experiences, then you are taking a phenomenological approach.

This may sound like a purely technical distinction, but the difference is great. Let us take an example. If you wished to know how many bones you have in your body, you would probably look it up on Wikipedia or in an anatomy book. In any case you would certainly look for the answer outside yourself. This is an ontological approach, which means that it does not rely on your personal experience. Just for fun, you could also try a phenomenological approach. Simply close your eyes and try to feel how many bones you have in your body. Exactly. It is weird and fruitless.

On the contrary if you wished to understand a concept like ‘love’, then a purely ontological approach would soon be equally weird. No doubt it can be interesting to read about oxytocin and neurotransmitters, but it seems somehow to miss the point, and it will not help you to understand a love poem. My point is simply that certain aspects of life are best understood ontologically while other aspects are best understood phenomenological, and the Indian concept of prāṇa is in my opinion clearly in the same category as ‘love’.

Increased prāṇa – expanded awareness
Prāṇa can basically refer to any experience of intensity and flow. It is the softening you feel when you take a deep breath. It is the buzz you feel, when you are nervous, and it is the build up you feel, when you are getting near to an orgasm. These are very normal experiences, and the best way to really know them is by taking a deep breath, go to an exam and having sex. To ask whether these experiences actually exist would be truly odd. 

With the development of Haṭha yoga prāṇa became an important concept. The yogis discovered an interesting connection between awareness and prāṇa. Every time the mind becomes quiet and awareness seems to expand, there is also a sensation of increased intensity and flow. Furthermore the yogis discovered that the door swings both ways. By forcefully turning up the intensity and flow, they found that they could actually calm the mind and expand awareness. Thus the experience of increased prāṇa became an important component in the spiritual progress. ‘Haṭha’ literally means ‘force’, and the traditional Haṭha yoga is primarily concerned with techniques that create and control these sensations of intensity and flow.

What is real, and what is not?
For the old yogis the whole process of yoga was something that takes place inside your self within your own experience. So to ask what prāṇa really is outside of our experience would seem weird to them. Unfortunately this is how most of us relate to prāṇa these days, and then the ontological questions arise. What is prāṇa really? Can it be measured? Do you even believe that prāṇa exists?

This is not just a matter of philosophy. It is also important for two very practical reasons. Firstly, the ontological understanding is always static, and when you try to create a fixed understanding of something that flows, your mind will fail. It seems that the best way to achieve the feeling of flow is to stay open, and as soon as you try to understand, what it is, then something shuts down and the flow stops. Secondly, trying to make ontological sense of a prāṇa experience can be downright scary. This is what I experienced. A clash of worldviews that made my mind freak out, because the mind does not like to be unsure of what is real and what is not.

So there it is. I personally don’t believe in prāṇa or Kuṇḍalinī in an ontological sense. But I most certainly believe in them as very real experiences, and I use the practical wisdom from the Haṭha yoga every day to create more peace and flow in my life.

Read more

• Read more about Simon Krohn!
• Buy Simon Krohns Swedish book Närmare Något i Yogobe Store.
• The issues are in your tissues, by Satu Tuomela.

Video recommendations

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Sometimes we all tend to get lost in ourselves, in playing roles that isn't really who we are deep inside. So how come we keep falling into these patterns, over and over again? Here invite you on a journey to discover how yoga can be the tool that sets us free and open us up towards ourselves and the world around us.
Also, I would like to invite you to Yoga Games Stockholm February 10-12, 2017, come practice with me there! 

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When playing a role and not being me

I get so tired of myself sometimes. I should know better, and sometimes I actually know better, but still I do it any way. With a great distaste I watch myself repeat the same foolish pattern that I know so well. The pattern is clear. I play a role instead of being myself. I play the role of the yoga teacher, who enters the yoga studio. I walk a bit slowly. Not so slow that I look like a freak, but slow enough to appear peaceful and calm. I smile. Not because I just thought of something funny, but because a yoga teacher should be happy. I try to hide that my lower back hurts. Back pain is not part of the role. I feel shameful about it and routinely I go through the stories of how I did something cool to hurt my back. “I played wildly with my little daughter. Yes, that will do.” Playing wildly with children is good and fitting for a yoga teacher. It is not a lie, and it is a much better version of the story than the one, where I am overworked and have neglected to do my back exercises for several weeks. 

According to Indian philosophy I am not alone in this. In fact, it is considered to be the most fundamental cause of suffering for human beings, and we can rightly see it as the starting point of the whole yoga tradition. The ancient yogis saw how we humans identify ourselves so much with our roles that we get lost from ourselves, and when this happens we get so occupied with the mental constructions that we get out of harmony with reality. This never has a peaceful flavor. 

A battle against ourselves
The discrepancy between the static, ideal role and the ever-changing reality of things, keeps us busy like little bees. We constantly try to protect our story by seeking and holding on to anything that supports it, and by trying to avoid, suppress or hide anything that does not fit in. This is hard and anxious work. Often times we don’t even realize what is going on. We believe so strongly in our own roles, that we don’t even see them as roles, and the fear of loosing face is so fundamental, that often times it goes completely under the radar. The only thing we might feel is a sense of unease.

In yoga philosophy this existential feeling of unease is called tṛṣṇā. Literally it means thirst, and just like thirst for water, it is an existential unease that holds a promise of release. If only you get that promotion. If only you pass that exam. If only you get a boyfriend. If only people will sign up for my yoga workshop. Then I can relax. Then I will be good enough. 

This creates a vicious circle called saṃsāra. As long as you over-identify yourself with a particular role, then there will be a feeling that something is off, and that you are not complete. This feeling will motivate you to seek for fulfillment, but naturally you will seek this fulfillment in the role, where you identify yourself, and so the wheel keeps spinning. It is really simple. As long as you look for yourself in external circumstances you will remain lost from yourself, and tṛṣṇā will keep troubling you like a stone in your shoe. 

This is exactly what happens again and again, when I find myself acting out the idea of a yoga teacher instead of being honest to myself and others. And when I do my “yoga teacher act”, I am not only getting out of touch with myself, I also separate myself from others. Whenever I put on a show, inevitably I reduce others to be my audience, and this is probably the worst thing for me about this pattern. From the deep fear of losing face in other people’s eyes, I create a fundamental separation, which feels poor and lonely. It is not a surprise that this state of being is often called the “the separate self”, and as long as we are firmly focused on the stories about ourselves, we will experience a fundamental sense of separation and loneliness.

The goal of yoga
Yoga was traditionally developed and practiced as a way to liberate ourselves from saṃsāra. Different systems of yoga advocate different strategies. Some schools suggest that we retreat from society, some will tell you to surrender to God, some schools will tell you to try and still your mind, and some will tell you to stretch your body. However different these traditional strategies are, the goal is almost a 100 % identical: Liberation from the neurotic engagement in saṃsāra. This is the traditional goal of yoga, and if you turn it around, you could also say that any practice could be called yoga, which helps you free yourself from the bondage of neurotic playacting and lead to more connection and less separation.

The good news is that yoga works!! The techniques have the potential to help us let go and surrender to the reality of things. Yoga can set us free and open us up towards ourselves and the world around us, but only when we do not get lost in the role of the yogi or yoga teacher. The thing is, we will get lost again and again, and this is where we need to help each other. I have seen it again and again in teacher trainings and retreats. As soon as we dare being honest about how we get lost, then the shame and fear dissolves, and we actually help each other to get back on the (yoga) track.

Yoga Games Stockholm – February 10-12, 2017

For the second third time, Yoga Games will take place at Münchenbryggeriet in Stockholm. Three days of workshops and classes with inspiring teachers from around the world. Yogobe will of course be there as an exhibitor at the health exhibition, see you there!

Discount for Yogobe members - get a SEK 300 discount when booking both Saturday and Sunday, use the code: YOGOBE
Book your tickets here!

Simons classes at Yoga Games

Saturday:

• Grow longer Wings
  Most people think they know how long their arms are. Most people are wrong. If you know how you to work the biomechanics of your shoulders, you can create a radical reach that feels great and adds fireworks to the poses. Let us explore together.

Sunday:

• Yoga in Life
  What does it actually mean to be good at yoga? Traditionally it had nothing to do with extreme poses. In this lecture Simon will explain how yoga is a way to learn to navigate in your own thoughts, emotions and impulses, and how it is a practice to make friends with yourself and the world around you.

• Exploring Partner Yoga
  Practicing yoga alone in a mountain cave is ‘so last year’. Partner yoga is not only a lot of fun acrobatics. In this class we shall explore the power of supporting and being supported. Be prepared for a fun and touching class. The class will be suitable for all levels, and you do not need to come with a partner.

Links 

• Prāna - does it really exist? By Simon Krohn
• Byt perspektiv - gör en segerlista, av Emma Öberg
• Läs om chakrasystemet och låt denna kunskap hjälpa dig hitta hem i dig själv!

Are you stressed out, spending most of your day infront of a computer or experiencing back pain? Strike a cobra! Cobra pose, or in sanskrit called Bhujangasana is one of the most important and foundational backbends in yoga. As cobra pose is included in sun salutations this is one of the most common yoga poses you might do during a yoga class with numerous health benefits from the feet to the head:

• Relieves back pain: there is a saying in yoga that you are only as old as your spine is flexible. This pose improves spine flexibility and range of motion and has a therapeutic effect of relieving back pain, discomfort and stiffness in the lower back.

• Relieves stress: cobra pose encourages deep breathing and effects the adrenal gland, responsible for balancing stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol. It also has energizing effects and elevates mood.

• Improves digestion: stimulates and target the organs in the abdomen, especially the digestive organs and the liver.

• Improves posture: it is not un common to spend most of our time in our day to day life slightly slouching forwards in our upper back with our shoulders rolled forwards, therefore this is a perfect position to counter pose - do the opposite - to balance the body and to help correct forward rounded shoulders.

• Strengthens the abdominals and buttox muscles and builds upper body strength in the biceps, triceps and deltoids.

• Stretches the abdominals, muscles in the shoulders, chest and neck.

• Opens the heart: as we expand the chest we target both the physical and emotional heart and relieve tightness in upper back, where we according to yogic philosophy store emotions, like guilt and sadness.

How to own your cobra:

Lie down on your stomach with your hands under shoulders to prepare. Take a deep breath in and press the ground away with the palms, pressing the feet, thighs and pubis into the mat. Keep your elbows slightly bent close to the body with your shoulders and chest broad but relaxed.

You can remain in a low cobra, with your chest only slightly raised of the ground or rise higher towards a full cobra. Only rise up as high as feels comfortable in the lower back. It is important to remember not to overdo any backbends including cobra pose. When practicing backbends (or any yoga poses for that matter) your breath is always your guide. If your breath becomes shallow or you find yourself using your breath to push through sensations it is a sign for you to back out of the pose slightly.

Now that you know many of the amazing benefits cobra pose has I advise you to give your cobra some extra love and awareness next time you practice, strike it like you mean it and open your heart to the world and to yourself.

Happy practicing,
Amanda

Lue lisää:

• Opi uusia asanoita & lue niiden vaikutuksista
• Lisää tietoa kobrasta eli Bhujangasanasta

Photo by Saara Oinonen

Yoga is more than just asanas. This blog post from the Yoga Journal is packed with knowledge to guide you through the eight limbs of yoga.

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In Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, the eightfold path is called ashtanga, which literally means "eight limbs" (ashta=eight, anga=limb). These eight steps basically act as guidelines on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. They serve as a prescription for moral and ethical conduct and self-discipline; they direct attention toward one's health; and they help us to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of our nature.

1. Yama -The way you behave
The first limb, yama, deals with one's ethical standards and sense of integrity, focusing on our behavior and how we conduct ourselves in life. Yamas are universal practices that relate best to what we know as the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The five yamas are:

• Ahimsa: nonviolence
• Satya: truthfulness
• Asteya: nonstealing
• Brahmacharya: continence
• Aparigraha: noncovetousness

2. Niyama - Your attitude to yourself
Niyama, the second limb, has to do with self-discipline and spiritual observances. Regularly attending temple or church services, saying grace before meals, developing your own personal meditation practices, or making a habit of taking contemplative walks alone are all examples of niyamas in practice.

The five niyamas are:

• Saucha: cleanliness
• Samtosa: contentment
• Tapas: heat; spiritual austerities
• Svadhyaya: study of the sacred scriptures and of one's self
• Isvara pranidhana: surrender to God

3. Asana - The physical pose
Asanas, the postures practiced in yoga, comprise the third limb. In the yogic view, the body is a temple of spirit, the care of which is an important stage of our spiritual growth. Through the practice of asanas, we develop the habit of discipline and the ability to concentrate, both of which are necessary for meditation.

4. Pranayama - Breath control
Generally translated as breath control, this fourth stage consists of techniques designed to gain mastery over the respiratory process while recognizing the connection between the breath, the mind, and the emotions. As implied by the literal translation of pranayama, "life force extension," yogis believe that it not only rejuvenates the body but actually extends life itself. You can practice pranayama as an isolated technique (i.e., simply sitting and performing a number of breathing exercises), or integrate it into your daily hatha yoga routine.

These first four stages of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga concentrate on refining our personalities, gaining mastery over the body, and developing an energetic awareness of ourselves, all of which prepares us for the second half of this journey, which deals with the senses, the mind, and attaining a higher state of consciousness.

5. Pratyahara -Withdrawal of senses
Pratyahara, the fifth limb, means withdrawal or sensory transcendence. It is during this stage that we make the conscious effort to draw our awareness away from the external world and outside stimuli. Keenly aware of, yet cultivating a detachment from, our senses, we direct our attention internally. The practice of pratyahara provides us with an opportunity to step back and take a look at ourselves. This withdrawal allows us to objectively observe our cravings: habits that are perhaps detrimental to our health and which likely interfere with our inner growth.

6. Dharana - Concentration
As each stage prepares us for the next, the practice of pratyahara creates the setting for dharana, or concentration. Having relieved ourselves of outside distractions, we can now deal with the distractions of the mind itself. No easy task! In the practice of concentration, which precedes meditation, we learn how to slow down the thinking process by concentrating on a single mental object: a specific energetic center in the body, an image of a deity, or the silent repetition of a sound. We, of course, have already begun to develop our powers of concentration in the previous three stages of posture, breath control, and withdrawal of the senses. In asana and pranayama, although we pay attention to our actions, our attention travels. Our focus constantly shifts as we fine-tune the many nuances of any particular posture or breathing technique. In pratyahara we become self-observant; now, in dharana, we focus our attention on a single point. Extended periods of concentration naturally lead to meditation.

7. Dhyana - Meditation
Meditation or contemplation, the seventh stage of ashtanga, is the uninterrupted flow of concentration. Although concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana) may appear to be one and the same, a fine line of distinction exists between these two stages. Where dharana practices one-pointed attention, dhyana is ultimately a state of being keenly aware without focus. At this stage, the mind has been quieted, and in the stillness it produces few or no thoughts at all. The strength and stamina it takes to reach this state of stillness is quite impressive. But don't give up. While this may seem a difficult if not impossible task, remember that yoga is a process. Even though we may not attain the "picture perfect" pose, or the ideal state of consciousness, we benefit at every stage of our progress.

8. Samadhi - Enlightenment
Patanjali describes this eighth and final stage of ashtanga, samadhi, as a state of ecstasy. At this stage, the meditator merges with his or her point of focus and transcends the Self altogether. The meditator comes to realize a profound connection to the Divine, an interconnectedness with all living things. With this realization comes the "peace that passeth all understanding"; the experience of bliss and being at one with the Universe. On the surface, this may seem to be a rather lofty, "holier than thou" kind of goal. However, if we pause to examine what we really want to get out of life, would not joy, fulfillment, and freedom somehow find their way onto our list of hopes, wishes, and desires? What Patanjali has described as the completion of the yogic path is what, deep down, all human beings aspire to: peace. We also might give some thought to the fact that this ultimate stage of yoga—enlightenment—can neither be bought nor possessed. It can only be experienced, the price of which is the continual devotion of the aspirant.

Lähde: Yoga Journal

Lue lisää

• Viisi koshaa
• Voiko meditoimisella olla vaikutusta aivoihin?
• Meditaatio "Rauha alkaa rakkaudesta"
• Tantra and desire
• Loving Kindness Meditation – Rakastava ystävällisyys​

"Yoga has the ability to heal. Yoga has the ability to bring about peace. So the more people we can inspire to practice the happier and healthier this world will become. By taking yoga into the art world I hope we can inspire more people into yoga." Richard Pilnick, also known as the Yoga Photographer, shares his beautiful encounter with yoga and how it completely changed his life. 

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In 2008 I went to India, a journey that would shape my life. I was working in the fashion industry at the time, inspired by Richard Alvedon, Irving Penn and David Bailey. I decided to take some time out, get some perspective and ensure I was creating images from my heart and not shooting what I thought people wanted to see. An unconventional introduction to yoga ensued - little did I know that it would become such a huge part of my life. My first yoga session took place on a roof top in Jodhpur, the blue city, half an hour of Sun Salutations to the rising sun, followed by a ginger black tea philosophising about life and flying kites with the local kids - I was reading ‘the Kite Runner’ at the time, so I really felt like I was in Kabul… 

Heading south to the small village, Gokarna, Karnataka - 3 days quickly turned into a month, captivated by the people, both local and foreigner, I decided to capture the essence of this beautiful space through the eyes of the people. I went into the village and managed to get all the supplies I needed to build a studio on the beach, 12 foot bamboo poles from our guest house, a hammock maker made me a 20x20 foot white sheet to diffuse the sunlight and a black sheet for negative fill, I acquired rice sacks to fill with sand to weigh everything down and rope and a sickle from the hardware store. 

On the 2nd of January 2009 my alarm sounded at 05:30, although it wasn't actually needed, as I had not slept due to excitement. I dragged everything down to the beach and began building the studio. By about 07:00 there was a group of local lads all helping me finalise the structure, even though they had no idea what I was doing, or why - they were just so intrigued. But when we had finished and the camera came out, they were all fighting for a picture and exchanging clothes, ensuring they looked their best… I was shooting on a Hasselblad 500 at that time and shot around 35 rolls of film throughout the day, one guy even swam the length of the beach to see what was going on. But there was one picture that changed everything for me, now the poem has been written by the German Face Reader, Eric Standop, he is known as ‘Sad Eyes’. He waited patiently with his bags to present himself to me for a portrait, without language he did this with no knowledge of who I was or what I was doing, but we shared a moment together that transcended verbal communication. 

My guardian angel
Captivated by this image, it was the first print I had done returning to London, followed by a moment of realisation - I was a portrait photographer, this is the journey I needed to take… I quit everything, spoke to all my clients and all the other photographers I was working for at the time and said I was leaving and ended up spending three and a half years living and working in Asia. Returning to Gokarna on numerous occasions in search of Sad Eyes, armed with this print, I would ask around, it’s a small local village where everyone knows everyone, yet no one knows who he is or where he is from. 

He is my guardian angel, he presented himself to me for me to realise my destiny and purpose, to share the messages from around the world. Everyday I ask myself, was he really there…?

Looking back on the morning after my wedding, I was reflecting on my life up to that point, the work I had done, the pictures taken and my inspiration, which led me to a series I did with the Indian Yogi, Shiva Shankar, in the same village of Gokarna. Yoga… Yoga Photography… Returning to London I introduced myself to Cat Alip-Douglas and asked if we could shoot, I needed to shoot more Yoga if that was going to be the direction I would take, inspired by my portraiture, she gleefully accepted, this followed a portrait of Cat and her husband, Phil. I took to frames of the couple and knew they were wrong, they didn’t feel connected with the situation and the camera, so we moved everything around, I took one more picture - that picture ended up not only in the National Portrait Gallery in London, but also on a huge poster on the outside showcasing the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. 

I was on the right path; I had a nod and a wink from the Universe. 

I needed to change the image that is used to portray yoga. We all need to inspire people into this wonderful world of self-development and understanding, we need to honour the practice that is giving us so much. Bibi McGill aptly writes "We've turned yoga into the "look at me" selfie syndrome" - this is not yoga, this is not honest… We need to create content that is achievable and attainable, yes we will photograph beautiful one-handed handstand, but we will also be photographing upward dog just as beautifully, as it is pictures like this that will inspire people to practice for the first time. It is the one handed handstand that will inspire the advanced practitioner.

Let's make a change - together
So, We are creating a global resource of unique yoga photographs to inspire and honour the practice helping us on our journey in this life. We want to bring integrity back to the images portraying yoga - inspiring more people in to the world of yoga through photography.

Together with you, we need to raise £23,000 creating the self-sustaining business, yogaphotography.com. The revenue from online prints sales will enable us to continue to document the 1000’s of Asana out there, but we need to get started, we need to build a community with people that believe in us and our vision and believe Yoga is an integral part in transforming society today.

I spoke to John Scott about this project and why he wanted to be involved - 

"Yoga is also art, and the body is a piece of art to be appreciated to admire its beauty and to perfect its beauty and take it to its unlimited potentiality. So initially I was taken out of my senses to being inspired by Derek [Ireland] and it was through Derek who gave me the key to go to Pattabhi Jois, Guruji became the one that turned that all around to say look within. So, see that beauty that you’re seeing outside and see if you can see that on the inside. And so for me, thats where the yoga really starts to go from the one where your mind is being drawn outward, maybe distracted by all the stimulus out there, the pratyahara is to know that the beauty exists out there only because of what comes from the inside. So then we are guided by our practice to look in…"

Sponsor the project
There are various tiers of sponsorship, from post cards, dedicated sun salutations, fine art prints & time shooting with Richard. Create your own fine art Asana pictures while helping to create this global resource. Please find packages below. Sponsor and bookings, please visit the website here!

• Book 1 or 2 days with Richard for 5 or 10 teachers/students to create a series of your very own Asana pictures. Each Teacher/student will have 1 ½ hours shooting time and receive 7 final retouched B&W images.
  • £1,597 - 1 day Friends/studio digital package 5 Pax (£319.4 each)
  • £2,584 - 2 days Friends/studio digital package 10 Pax. (£258.4 each)
• Order digital museum quality prints, the site will launching with over 250 images, Asanas & portraits, all of which are available for pre order at a reduced price of £55, multiple orders possible (each print £55, if you’d like 3, pledge £165) coupon codes will be sent out after site launch for you to order. 

 

Get inspired

• Meet the yoga photographer - interview with Richard Pilnick.
• Yogis & yoginis - let's get lost together, by Simon Krohn, yoga teacher with an MA in philosophy.
• Accessible yoga for everyone, by Sam Rudra Swartz, ordained interfaith minister & yoga teacher.