Archive for the ‘yoga’ Tag
breatheology-expand – workshop review
Filed under: freediving, review, Uncategorized, yoga | Tags: Freediving, meditation, pranayama, yoga
Leave a Comment I came to this workshop expecting a lot. Last time I got coaching from Stig Åvall Severinsen was during the Copenhagen Dive Show and it was a personal break through to try apnea/kumbhaka/breath-hold in water (read more about that in the blog post). Since then Stig have appeared in media a few times and he have two new world records , the Guinness ice world record and the Guinness World Record for breath-hold . The workshop was intended for people with previous experience of breathing exercises and most people had some experience with yoga or similar . It started out with warm up exercises very similar to pawanmuktasana if you are familiar with Satyananda yoga. The intensity increased with a culmination at lunch time. I recognised a few of the practices, Headstand Shoulderstand ,Plough etc, from hatha yoga , and on top of that he added a few techniques developed in the freediving world. The focus was as the title suggests on breathing and with quite a few practices to increase the lung capacity it delivered on the premise. I now have some powerful exercises to work with.
What really makes Stig stand out as a teacher is that he have combined the yoga techniques from the east with the latest knowledge in biology. It feels safe to go beyond your mental limitations when you know what effects the practices have on your body. At one point we were instructed to take a deep breath in and walk as far as we could on that single breath. He reported the times at regular intervals. I tried this some months ago and stopped at 1:10 . Now I stopped at 3 minutes and since the last time I have been training some freediving so it is by no mean a magical feat . I got dizzy and disoriented and this is the first time this year where I am close to my physical limit, or at least it feels this way. Stig talks openly from his own experience and even if his track record is very impressive he comes across as very humble.
For me freediving is an excellent way to achieve more knowledge about the human body and I am surprised with myself when it comes to results. I do not see myself as a competitive person but it is really rewarding to add a few seconds to your personal best in static apnea for example.
I would say that this workshop is a must if you like freediving and want to improve your performance ! It is great to learn from the master directly and he patiently answered all of my questions.
I really like the combination of relaxation and challenging tasks. It felt totally safe to go beyond what I thought was my limit.
Many of us broke our personal records during this day and my neighbour added more than 2 minutes to his static apnea time.
what is yoga ?
Filed under: diary, religion, teaching, yoga | Tags: exercise, running, sivananda yoga, yoga
Leave a Comment When I hear a teachers who talk about the importance of keeping up the yoga tradition I react with mixed emotions. First of all Yoga was mentioned the first time roughly 2500 years ago. In the Katha Upanishad it refers to a state where you gain control over the senses and the mental activity stops. This leads to a supreme state. In the old texts there is no reference on how this is done practically and this is where the confusion starts. A marathon runner can gain control over the senses and by that his mental activity stops. There are many roads leading to yoga. Yoga has come to describe the travel when in fact it was first used to describe the goal/final state. Ha-tha yoga describes union of polarities and this has come to mean a series of physical postures. There is no way with higher value than the other and that is where some “yoga traditions” get into problems. You see ha-tha yoga school who claim that they have secret initiations from the original tradition. In my opinion there is something suspicious about secrecy and I want to practice something that has been proved by scientists. There is nothing secret about ha-tha yoga and it is a tradition in constant change . When you see thin male yogis in India wearing a loincloth and a smiling women in leotards they both claim to follow the original tradition. 200 years ago practically no women did ha-tha yoga at all. Traditionally only men were initiated into this kind of training and Sivananda (roughly 100 years ago) described how he introduced ha-tha yoga to women in India, they had great difficulty doing it in their Sari and some other outfit had to be worn. In India ha-tha Yoga was only taught to a selected few in and this was controlled partly by the caste system. Yoga for women has developed through trial and error in the last 100 years. Here is where my concern about secrecy come to mind again. We must let doctors, physiotherapists and scientists look at Ha-tha Yoga and evaluate it and be open to their findings.
Since most of the ha-tha yoga tradition is based on an oral tradition and it was written down not so long time ago there is big room for change and adaptation.
Ha-tha Yoga spread out of the small circles and became a mainstream activity. Ha-tha Yoga became something that is available through CD, DVD, internet, training in group, personal training etc.
method: translating yoga material to Danish
Filed under: diary, idea, teaching, Uncategorized | Tags: learning, sivananda yoga, teacher training, yoga
Leave a Comment Since I want to pick material from several books in different languages I have come up with this workflow:
- Scan text material from books. any scanner will do and I have an old HP Photosmart.
- Use a free OCR, Optical Character Recognition software to get this scanning into a textfile. I use an online solution and I did a quick test today and it came out all right.
- Once the text is in digital format I can use google translate or the FoxLingo plugin ( Mozilla Firefox browser) to get the text into Danish.
- the last step is optional and that is to use a text-to-speech service to get the text into audio.
In the next few days I will use this service to get the basic Sivananda class into Danish.
review:Sivananda TTC in Austria
Filed under: ashram, diary, religion, teaching, TTC, yoga | Tags: asana, ashram, sivananda yoga, teacher training, yoga
Leave a Comment Can you really learn yoga in Austria ? During my stays in India I have been terrible ill and that is the reason why I went to the yoga teacher training in Austria. Sleeping on health mattresses and eating food featured in the Michelin guide proved to be a winner. If you are looking for ascetic living and military discipline you have come to the wrong place. What you will find is open minded teachers in a picturesque setting .
staff versus students. According to Swami Atmaramananda football is part of the vedic lifestyle photo: Alessandro Califano
The teachers, swamis are approachable at all times and there is room in the schedule for your personal questions. If this is your first time in an ashram, a religious hermitage you maybe find the theory part of the course abstract and hard to grasp. This is not a course to deepen your Sadhana, personal practice but rather to deepen your knowledge around yoga philosophy. Each day you are to hand in a handwritten summary and by the end of the course there is a 3,5 hour exam.
Different experts in Astrology, Philosophy and Cranial Sacral Massage
Sri Venugopal Goswami reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam. photo: Katalin Kurko
gave guest lectures. The most scientific one was Dr. Annika Waldmann, nutritionist lectures on the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. In the breaks there was a chance to get personal counselling/treatment from, an astrologer, a physiotherapist and a massage
therapist. I got a very good treatment from a physiotherapist specialised in yoga.
One evening there is a movie night and we get to see Swami Vishnu-devananda, “The Flying Guru” and when the swamis talk about him they come alive. They talk about his flight over the Berlin wall and the great preparation that went int
o the project. The essence of the teaching is that we are ambassadors of peace.
The yoga lectures are taught in a way that suits me perfect. The teacher walk around during class and give the students help/corrections to find the right alignment.
The only issue I have with this way of teaching yoga is the chanting in sanskrit in the beginning and at the end of the class. Swedish and Sanskrit are miles apart and it reminds me of the time when the church had all the prayers in Latin. Why not start the yoga lesson with words that an ordinary citizen can understand ? Words in his own language that have the same meaning.
swami Keshavananda is demonstrating Neti - nasal cleansing. photo: Alessandro Califanos
Without people dedicating their life to serve others this education would not exist. The swamis have made the choice that the whole world is their family and when you see what Swami Vishnu-devananda did during his lifetime you get a clear proof what dedication and love can accomplish.
Diary: the Anatomy of Yoga
Filed under: ashram, diary, teaching, TTC, yoga | Tags: anatomy, asana, exercise, sivananda yoga, teacher training, yoga
Leave a Comment 
during lectures we sit in the traditional Indian way, without chairs. photo: Katalin Kurko
Harvard University did a classification of different body types and how they utilise their bodies. This technique was adopted by Swami Vishnudevananda who took it a step further with a more precise classification. We use a plumb line to look at our posture in profile. Both in the beginning and in the end of the course we take photographs of ourselves against a grid. My mother commented that my posture was very straight once I
Plumbline photo week 4.
came back from a 3-months yoga retreat in Sweden . This time it was really intersting to view people who are relatively new to yoga and how much 4 weeks affected them !
Today we discussed sitting postures and how important it is with flexibility in the hips if you are going to sit in a meditation posture, especially in full lotus and half lotus. If one have big strong thigh muscles there should be a big cushion under the buttocks so that the knees comes down to the ground WITHOUT STRAIN ! One has to be careful since in the beginning of a sitting your knees may touch the ground. Later on in the sitting you start to feel pain in the knees and then it is really a signal that your buttocks should be higher up on a cushion. There should never be any pain in the knees when doing meditation !
Keeping the muscles and tendons flexible throughout life can be done with yoga and that will slow down the aging process. Yoga can be a very gentle way to keep a good health and when I saw my grandfather doing the bridge position at an old age it made an imprint in my head that exercise will give you a long and healthy life.
yoga is to go with the body and accept limitations and to come back to a natural state of well being.
Sivanda yoga and why I like it
Filed under: ashram, meditation, religion, TTC, Uncategorized, yoga | Tags: ashram, meditation, sivananda yoga, teacher training, yoga
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the Italian group performing during the talent show. Theme: A tamasic yoga teacher and his class ( who wants his students to worship him ). photo: Katalin Kurko
Sivananda yoga is a complete form of yoga which contains everything you need to go on a deep spiritual journey. Ultimately you will get the realisation that we all are one and all religions leads to the same goal. It is possible for every person to become an instrument for God, whichever god you have an inclination to follow . Maybe you will not become a saint in this lifetime but this form of yoga contains a step by step approach to become a more humble and non violent person.
Maybe you have noticed that hatha-yoga as practiced in the west has a tendency to become dry and it feels like something is missing. The missing part is the spiritual/religious part. Through yoga it is possible to transcend the physical limitations and become enlightened. Sivananda yoga teaches chanting, philosophy as well as physical postures. There is a strong emphasis to make the asanas in an anatomical correct manner and the teacher corrects your posture in a very hands on approach.
here comes a short description on the different practices we do:
chanting/mantra - is something you cannot understand completely on a logical level. It is something you have to experience. Example: You sit in a meditation posture with your eyes closed and repeat the word Om. The vibration is going very deep into your existence. Since I am sceptical person I see it is like a scientific research. What kinds of emotions comes up when I chant “Om Namo Narayana” for example. Can it really be so dangerous to chant for world peace ? 
asanas - is to physically prepare the body for sitting in a meditation posture. Getting rid of tension. there is are many books available for asanas and it is already very well known in the west
pranayama - is to clear the nerves in the body through breathing exercises and prepares the body for true meditation. The ability to focus is greatly enhanced.
meditation- is to sit in a meditation posture and first focus on the posture and notice the body from inside. Then focus on the natural flow of the breath. The goal is to make the mind one pointed . When stillness is reached we can get to the bottom of the lake. The lake represents our subconsiousness and when the waves stop we transcend time and space.
karma yoga – is to do practical work like sweeping floors, cooking etc. The goal is to do this without expectation. Selfless service to the benefit of others.
the mystical journey continues
Filed under: ashram, diary, religion, teaching, TTC, yoga | Tags: ashram, journey, meditation, retreat, sivananda yoga, teacher training, yoga
Leave a Comment 
photo: Katalin Kurko
This path of yoga is something that feels true on a deeper level. Finally I get answers to many of my questions. We had evening lectures with an Indian philosopher this week . After a long day of lectures I reach a state which is close to dreaming and I see very vivid pictures in my head.
Part of the lecture was something like this:
… A woman goes to hairdresser for 3 hours. She comes home and her kid comes up to her and drag in her hair. It is alright ! the mother have love for the child. In the same way our love for god makes us accept all the things around us even the things that are not so pleasant …
The focus is clearly on Vedanta and hinduism but there is also room for other religion. Sivananda, The founder of this yoga tradition wrote a prayer which includes Jesus , Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna etc. and he described these people as very good teachers on the spiritual path. The teacher on this level has realized the underlying truth about reality and now he spend his time to communicate this teaching to his fellow man.
the main goal of this school is not to make us yoga teachers but to make us into messengers for peace throughout the world ! a messenger who understand the difference between being a spiritual seeker and a religious fanatic
Book review: Træk Vejret (Breathe)
Filed under: book, review, yoga | Tags: boost your brain, breath, death, health, meditation, self help, yoga
Leave a Comment I came across a book by Stig Åvall Severinsen which I really think deserves an English translation. If you saw The Big Blue back in the 80′s and still wonder how a person can build up the physique and will power to hold the breath for such a long time YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK ! In the Big Blue there are some references to yoga techniques and to my knowledge this is the first attempt ever to go through this in such an scientific way !
Inspired by the Big Blue I decided that pranayama, breathing exercises from yoga was really something I wanted to go deeper with. To my surprise I discovered that retention of the breath came without effort after Nadi Shodan. I followed the ratio given in Prana Pranayama Prana Vidya and slowly over several months I gradually increased the ratio. I simply did not feel the urge to breath as frequently as I do normally. At first I was a bit scared by this fact and I was scared that my brain would get damaged by the lack of Oxygen. As well as counting the nadi shodana I counted the time I performed this natural breath retention afterwards. I did not really believe my counting was accurate because I simply did not think it was possible to hold the breath for such a long time without being an elite athlete. To make sure I was counting on a correct speed I took a loud clock and I counted in my head at the same time as the clock was ticking. After 2 minutes I was excited about how easy this was. I noticed movements within the body but I continued. I passed 6 minutes and now I was really chocked I had the fear that I will actually die from this. Aft
er 7 minutes I stopped and it took quite a long time for my breath to get back to normal.
In my life there were a lot of things that really took energy and focus and I remember this moments of breath retention as really peaceful and it was like I was recharging my batteries in some way. During this period it was extreme how many things I was able to deal with at the same time. My personal belief is that I would have been totally burned out in this period if it was not for the Nadi Shodan. When I look back at this period I amazed how good timing it was. My father was going through a very though time and I visited him a lot, my girlfriend since 2 years decided to leave me, I had extra responsibilities on top of my study at university etc. Some years earlier just one of these things would have got me totally paralysed. I totally admit that this was a very emotional period and I cried many evenings etc. but it was like I got extra power to go through this from the Pranayama.
Now several years later when I read this book I understand what processes actually happened in my body and the fact that the author is named Stig makes it extra intense since that is also the name of my father. had I read this book at this point I think I would have continued with my practice but back then I had a lot of worries that it was dangerous what I was doing etc.
This book made me interested in taking a seminar with Stig and learn about the special techniques he talk about in the book ! As always I recommend learning yoga and breathing techniques from an experienced teacher.
books mentioned in this article:
Prana Pranayama Prana Vidya by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
Træk vejret by Stig Åvall Severinsen
10 Great Reasons to Use a Camcorder in Yoga
Filed under: diary, idea, review, teaching, Uncategorized, video, yoga | Tags: asana, learning, review, yoga
Leave a Comment - Professional athletes have done this for years to improve performance.
- Make it look graceful. You will see all these small movements you do which takes away from the grace. Trust me it will look better and feel better when you do not wiggle your toes in the lotus pose
- You can notice any imbalance in your body and correct it. As long as it is not in the skeleton and than it was good you saw it anyway so you can talk with a doctor
- Having a personal trainer costs a lot of money and camcorders are constantly dropping in price and even a webcam will give you some feedback.
- You have the possibility to upload to sites like Youtube and get comments from all over the world.
- You can very easily go back and see your own progress over time.
- It is a chance to accept yourself on how you look and the way your body is.
- A cheap way to get an out of body experience
- Share your experience with your friends and family
- It is fun
video: shoulder stand sequence
Filed under: diary, exercise, video, yoga | Tags: asana, exercise, learning, yoga
Leave a Comment this is part of my morning ritual and consists of the following asanas:
shavasana / corpse pose
sarvangasana /shoulder stand pose
halasana / plough pose
pashinee mudra / folded psychic attitude
pindasana ? / foetus in womb pose ?
kandharasana / shoulder pose
shavasana / corpse pose
At an early age I got interested in Buddhism and the prince who left his kingdom in the search for truth. How can I apply this story to my own life ? to be able to sit I took up the study of yoga. Is there a contradiction between yoga and science ? Sure we can get a theoretical understanding through books, but without the experience we are stuck. Why is it so hard to practice non-violence when the mosquito is landing on my neck ?
