I’m in London on an 8 day Yin Yoga Traiing with Norman Blair and 12 really interesting and amazing yoga teachers and have committed to sharing my thoughts here each day …

Day 3 (Fri 13th April)

(Remember, useful links relating to content listed at the end)

Lucky for some. Lucky for me. Time to develop and work on my early morning routine. Plan is to fine tune and make it a habit so that I can bring it back from my ‘retreat’. Essentially, it’s 3 conscious breaths sitting on the egde of the bed, a bit of energy medicine ‘wake up’ body work (2 mins tops here), one simple chi gung practice (thanks Mark Pogson), a squat and a forward fold (a massive energy boost to the body) and a bit of face yoga (essential ego maintenance – whoops).

Then the many morning drinks I consume:
First, a large glass of quite warm water (actually I have this before the above) recommended by an acupuncturist to wake the body up and fire up the system. Then in no particular order, a tbsp of chia seeds in a cup of water, a vit c tablet in a cup of water (probably not the healthiest way to consume vit c but it’s what I do at the moment) and a Pukka green tea.

Coffee is later but you can’t see that In this picture, although you can see the zen courtyard of ‘my’ house here where if I feel brave (i.e. it’s not wet and cold and horrid) I walk with barefeet to ground my body’s energy – earthing (more below).

OK, so here’s the key learning from today’s training:

– that just as there is no one correct yoga practice, there is also no one way of approaching or talking about Traditional Chinese Medicine and the meridian system, although it is generally accepted that there are 12 meridians/energy channels in the body (plus two – see, never simple) and that they are pretty much in the same place in every person, as are the specific points where they surface and can be manipulated by needle or pressure (again, expect to learn some of these in our classes – I made sure to write down the ones for hangover in case anyone may need that…!)

– thinking again about proprioception and how key it is for our every movement, I was reminded about a film I watched a year or so ago which I’ll share below about a man who, after a viral infection, lost all proprioception and how he recovered. It is amazing – and also a social history lesson for the 1980s – fabulous hair styles, huge cathode ray TVs and type writers!

– don‘t do a three hour yin yoga practice and meditation after a huge plate of Vietnamese fried rice noodles. Groan.

To get inspired to drink warm water in the mornings:
https://www.doyouyoga.com/4-reasons-a-glass-of-warm-water-can-change-your-life/

To find out a bit about Energy Medicine Yoga:
https://www.emyoga.net

For a good chi gung practitioner in Bath:
http://www.ssoha.org.uk

To watch a 15 minute video, that I recommend, to explain grounding/earthing:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7qn_YnLudgg

To watch ‘The man who lost his body’:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12647t

 

I’m in London on an 8 day Yin Yoga Traiing with Norman Blair and 12 really interesting and amazing yoga teachers and have committed to sharing my thoughts each day …

Day 2 (Thur 12th April)

(Remember, useful links relating to content listed at the end)

An earlyish rise at 6:30am for the reinvigoration of my stalled meditation practice. 5 minutes a day, which is what I have been doing, is not enough and I want to build it to at least 20, possibly 30 (but I have to be realistic about what I can achieve in the time I have in my normal day). So I did a 10 minute practice. And loved it. I’ve been inspired to start working with a Yin Meditation technique of open awareness, as taught by acupuncturist and yin yoga teacher Josh Summers.

Then face yoga (don’t laugh, I am now officially on the wrong side of 45 and need all the help I can get), a 5-minute HITT routine (the first one I have ever done -I just googled and got a beefcake in the US – can anyone recommend good free online resources?), a handstand and a 10ish minute flow yoga practice (loads more during the day so I am going asana-light in the mornings). Various drinks (more on that tomorrow) and a sit with a coffee in my new Danish birthday mug that I brought all the way from Bath (I know, coffee not very yin but I can’t quite kick the one a day habit) in the zen courtyard.

Then to training.

Key learnings from today:

– Acupuncture point L3 on the top of the foot is one of the best for combating stress. We’ll be doing lots more acupressure in our Yin poses in classes because hell, why not.

– 1 in 10,000 people have their organs switched around, like a mirror image of ‘normal’. Just another reminder that not one yoga pose will fit everyone. “Your Body, Your Yoga” (as Bernie Clark would say)

– This one is a reminder really – fascia is the interconnected 3D body-wide web that gives us shape, stability and mobility and it contains sensory nerve endings (fact) so that – radical new theory coming up – the fascia can ‘talk’ to itself without involving the brain. Not everyone believes this to be the case but it makes sense. Your body is more intelligent from the head down guys. Or put another way “Your body is more than a brain taxi” – David Walsh

Listen to a podcast on yin meditation here:
https://joshsummers.net/p…/yin-meditation-relaxing-the-mind/

Find out about face yoga here:
http://www.faceyogaexpert.com

The HITT routine I randomly hit on, pun intended:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TkaYafQ-XC4

Find out about L3 point here:
http://www.acupressurewellness.com/acupressure-point-great-surge-lv3/

Find out about Bernie Clark’s brill book here:
http://www.yinyoga.com/YBYY.php

Listen to some of David Walsh’s interviews here:
https://www.facebook.com/theembodimentpodcast/