David Whyte's essay on Rest

Rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be.

To rest is to give up on worrying and fretting and the sense that there is something wrong with the world unless we put it right.

We are rested when we let things alone and let ourselves alone, to do what we do best, breathe as the body intended us to breathe.

To rest is not self-indulgent, to rest is to prepare to give the best of ourselves, and to arrive at a place where we are many times able to understand what we have already been given.

Rested we care again for the right things and the right people in the right way.

-  from an easy by David Whyte on rest

To relax is not to collapse

To relax is not to collapse, but simply to undo tension.  This tension has been accumulated in the body and in the mind by years of forceful education.  Tension is the result of will, effort, and prejudice.

We have been trained, during the first part of our lives, to struggle to achieve.  Now we have to work in the opposite direction, by letting go, giving place to a different action (if we can call it action), an "un-doing action".  This will stop the habitual process of doing which has become mechanical.

The body in itself is healthy, but it has been ruined by all sorts of negative, destructive, guilt feelings.  If one can avoid going in this negative direction, a positive attitude will take over and the body will then be able to start its recuperative function, its natural way of existing.  There is nothing to be done.  It is not a state of passivity but, on the contrary, of alert watchfulness.  It is perhaps the most "active" of our attitudes, going "with" and not "against" our body and feelings.

There is beauty in the acceptance of what is.
Scaravelli p. 54                  



   

Gravity relaxes the brain

When the abandonment to gravity comes into action, resistance ceases, fear vanishes, order is regained, nature starts again to function in its natural rhythm and the body is able to blossom fully, allowing the river of life to flow freely through all its parts.
Scaravelli p.115

Gravity relaxes the brain.  This will be possible only if you let the pull of gravity reach the top of your skull.
In this process the many nerves along the channel of the spinal cord will also find relief.
p.123

therapeutic yoga podcast

http://www.liberatedbody.com/bo-forbes-lbp-017/

This is a great podcast about the benefits of adding mindfulness to a yoga practice.  It has a lot of information about ideas I use to create the classes I teach.

Curves

The importance of curves in our daily practice.

We have to avoid angular movements and adopt circular, spiral ones.  Do not attack the point you want to attain in the pose, but rather find your way to it by circling in small, light little curves (as flies and bees do when centering down, while they want to descend, aiming at a definite spot).

This kind of "spiral-circumferic" gesture penetrates in depth and can bring about unexpected results.

There are no beginners or advanced students-- the first step is the last step.  This means the fundamental principles, such as this one, are the same in all the asanas.  However, they have to be clearly explained by the teacher and fully understood by the pupil.

- Vanda Scaravelli p.50

The Song of the Body

There is a way of doing yoga poses that we call "asanas" without the slightest effort.  Movement is the song of the body.  Yes, the body has its own song from which the movement of dancing arises spontaneously…… This song, if you care to listen to it, is beauty.  We could say that it is part of nature.  We sing when we are happy and the body goes with it  like waves in the sea.

- Vanda Scaravelli p.28

Be kind to your body

You have to learn how to listen to your body, going with it and not against it, avoiding all effort or strain and centering your attention on that very delicate point, the back of the waist (where the spine moves in two opposite directions).  You will be amazed to discover that, if you are kind to your body, it will respond in an incredible way.

- Vanda Scaravelli p.16