TRISTEN CHURN

KARUNA YOGA: 8:00 – 9:15pm, 08.04.2009, Wednesday Find a suitable edge During our yoga practice, as we enter a pose, go slowly and gently into the suggested shape – without holding up a picture of how far you should go in your mind. As a master said: ”There’s no extreme ideal in yoga posture; there’s no end result we are looking for.” Basically, we just need to pause, recognize and listen carefully to the messages sending out by our body. And wait for feedback before moving deeper into the posture. Many modern people, layman especially workers, even dancers and athletes, have lost much of their sensitivity to the signals of the body and tend to overrule those messages. For example, in the case of a dancer, she may be so flexible that she forgets to observe the condition of her body which may leads to her injury. Try to look for a suitable amount of intensity, a balance point between sensation and space. The master also said: ”It is always ...

ASHTANGA YOGA: 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 21.01.2009, Wednesday Team Work On the day we were born, we came to this world as an individual being. Back then, we do not have any attachment except for the physical body. Throughout our growing process, we recognize that sometimes being alone is necessary for our inner reflection towards a peaceful mind. In some way, we cannot deny that working in a group or a team is also an important part of our life. For example our study project in primary school or group work in a corporate company. Team work could help us both externally and internally. External effects may cover the building of human relationship and the award of such relationship. While most of the time, internal effects are focusing on the emotions and thoughts of responding to a team work. In yoga, team work exists in several ways especially on your own being. Team work is about synchronizing the hands with the legs. Team work is also about integrating the postures on your intern...

ASHTANGA YOGA: 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 24.09.2008, Wednesday Stamina & Endurance Last week, we managed to have a chance to visit the South part of China. We arrived at Guilin and we went down south to Yangshou straight away. After a few days journey in Yangshou, we went back to Guilin away. So in the middle of the way, we stopped by a very nice place called “Longji Rice Terraces”. Longji Rice Terraces is a serene place whereby rice terraces and local homes are built layer by layer according to the mountain landscapes. On top of those peaks, you could really feel like touching the clouds while you enjoy the nature atmosphere. As these mountains are covered by forests, walking is the main mode of travel from places to places. And normally it feels like a very long journey for most of the city people. You know, we travel on our transports most of the time. In the midst of doing these walking journeys, I realized that the day-to-day exercise eg. yoga session, that we normally do ...

ASHTANGA YOGA : 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 10.09.2008, Wednesday Meditation When we began to plan out the weekly classes at Soulstudio, Lily told me that I should talk to the class on the reason that why I want to put yoga class first then follow by the meditation class. Actually, meditation is called Dhyana in Sanskrit. It is one of the trademarks of Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga literally means "eight-limbed yoga" in the yoga family and meditation is part of the branches that taps into the mind’s study. After every yoga session especially in savasana position, most of the time we will reach a stage whereby our body is very relaxed and our mind is calm. So, this meditation class is planned out to carry on with that peaceful state into the mind’s study in order for us to create the awareness in our daily life. To be precise, meditation not only helps us to relax our body, it also assists us to quite down our mind. With this calm mind, we realize that we cou...

ASHTANGA YOGA: 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 03.09.2008, Wednesday Habitual Practice Years ago, there was a research completed by a group of scientists on the study of duration and formation of habits in human’s life. Various types of habits with different amount of time were instilled into human’s daily life to enable the compilation of collective data. The data shows that in order to develop a habit in our lives, it takes us about 40 days to do so. That is the reason how we get the concept of “40 days Affirmation” to carry out a plan. Likewise, if you want to foster yoga training as part of your life, there are a few points that we need to access first. Will you allow yourself to set a strong will of cultivating this yoga practice in your daily life? Will you commit and honor your will by putting in time and efforts in it? If you have “Yes” for both questions, “Vola!” you are on the right track. Most of the people today, they tend to plan out plenty of ideas in their minds which is normal...

ASHTANGA YOGA: 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 27.08.2008, Wednesday New Experience Every morning, we wake up with a fresh body and a clear mind to begin a whole new day. We always say this phrase “to begin a whole new day” because we put up our hope and expectation for a brighter day to come. This is intriguing as this thinking represents a very positive attitude towards our life. In yoga practice, we can always allow ourselves to carry on with this optimistic attitude in each session. It is simply because of each yoga session is a new experience to our body. Our body may react differently to each posture even though we have completed numerous sessions. Sometimes, in a similar posture, such as a tree pose, this session you would sense a tight feeling on your thigh but you feel relief on the following session. Then, several questions came up from here: Is your mind calm enough to receive the messages of your body? Do you allow yourself to listen to your body? If the answers are “Yes”, Bravo! Keep up...

ASHTANGA YOGA: 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 20.08.2008, Wednesday Last night, we enjoyed ourselves very much and we have a fun time doing our yoga session. I often think that laughter energy ease up a situation and it always does. Guys, to be honest, at the bottom of my heart, i love coaching very much ;P Yoga Time Normally, the best time to practice yoga or to do any exercise is in the morning session. This is the time when your body is fresh with a clear mind as well as pressure-free. But, practically most of us will need to rush to work or to attend appointments in the morning so it is hard for us to do our yoga practice. Therefore, we can always choose anytime of the day such as after working hours to perform a yoga session. If possible, you are advised not to carry out any exercise activity after 10:00pm at night. As this is the time your metabolism cycle starts to slow down and it is heading to the resting period. So, please do not force yourself to work out because this will b...

ASHTANGA YOGA : 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 13.08.2008, Wednesday Space Space is an essential factor in our yoga practice. You can find a spacious room and build up the tranquil ambience by throwing in the soft lighting and burning up the essential oil. You may do this but, it is not necessary. Of course you need to locate an airy room so that the air ventilation is well-maintained. Then, the next elements in this space creation would be you and your yoga mat. We have to believe that every moment that is happening on that piece of yoga mat is bringing benefits to you. This leads us to the focus of our breathing technique and yoga postures. So, along the process of yoga training, whenever you feel distracted, bring your awareness back to your breathing and concentrate fully on your poses. Another important concept on space creation is “Can you create, hold and enjoy the space in you mind?” Actually, this scared space is to be created and filled up with stillness and joy for the rest of you...

ASHTANGA YOGA : 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 06.08.2008, Wednesday We shared these concepts in our previous yoga class, of course, in summary version: Self Adjustment Our body is a very unique system by itself, indeed. While doing a yoga pose, our body muscles and ligaments will adjust themselves according to the specific shape of the posture. Our internal organs will align themselves too as majority of the yoga postures are designed to massage our muscles and organs. Therefore, most of the time, our body parts will perform their tasks even without our knowingness and this makes our body system special in its own delivering and receptive ways. When you just started yoga practice or your body is stiff on that practice day, normally yoga instructor will only help you to do little body adjustment as he/she understands that your body could do its own alignment. Thus, do not feel bad or left out if this happens, in fact just be mindful to allow your body to attune itself through ample time and s...