Friday Eve, 8:30 pm, opening circle, different people from different places, with wide gamut of practices.
We are here to learn about Yoga, about creating a practice for life, a practice that involves the body, the breath, and an intention to be present. To use only what needs to be used when is necessary. The mind sits still when there is no need to think. The legs rest when there is no need to walk.
Realizing that even though we all have a basic element that is the same as each other, we also have a physical construction and constitution that is unique. A body type that has specific needs, unique qualities that allow for certain characteristics to be more defined, more emphasized.
After looking at out body types from an Ayurvedic approach, we see how this relates to our practice. “ There many elements that we need to consider time and time again. The weather, the surroundings, how we feel at this moment, how do we want to feel after the practice…and all these elements flux on a regular basis…so to really have a safe practice, a practice that can last throughout life with joy and ease…There is no other way but to be your own master, to learn for yourself what is right for you. My intention is to provide tools to help you clarify for yourself what is right and safe for you at any given moment.”
The weekend flowed from Asana (yoga poses) practice, to breath, from alignment to understanding our body types and needs within the movement; a practice of fire, or creating energy, or one of slowing down of grounding. We learned the practice of the Big S – surrender, and related philosophy into our presence.
Friends commented on how glowing I am, or the light they see in me, I smiled as I know this is all thanks to the practitioners, their dedication and love, to those that came to study and share their energies.
The weekend went by very fast. It was just a moment ago that I was sitting in a Gestalt group (see previous blog entry), and now I was completely in the teachings of yoga and life. And just as the weekend ended, it flowed into staff week, into the free box fashion show, a whole new atmosphere (see next entry).
Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Hot Seat is open -Home and choices
The hot seat, sometimes known as the open seat is the cushion one sits on in a circle of people with a facilitator, from which they get to share their present state of awareness. This present state might be a reflection of the past or the thinking mind bringing up memories or other such desires, aspirations or issues one might be struggling with.
This is a Gestalt workshop with Chris Price. A week with a graceful, compassionate leader, offering her attentiveness, love, and support with the utmost generosity.
The first couple of days we met we learned tools to use in this particular form of exploration. Then we opened the seat up, and one at a time we got to witness someone’s work.
Thursday morning. I take my seat on the hot seat, and notice my breath, my body and the environment. Scanning the room, I look at each person sitting in the circle, taking a moment to really connect.
The time I sat on the seat seemed timeless. I felt clear and light. Chris put her hands on my chest or back as support.
“I feel expansion, space, seeing widely, a sense of calmness, of flying. Yet there is an instinct that is searching for a place to land. I am not sure where that place is”.
I pause for a moment to feel that statement in body.
“ There is joy that exists and is not dependent on anything. It is life itself. This joy, this force keeps me going. At a certain point in life I chose it. I saw death; I was tempted by it and chose life. Now when I see death, it does not seem like a bad thing anymore. It is just there, same as life. There is no choosing anymore.”
As I sit, breathing, seeing the whole of the room, people sitting appear to me to have their attention towards me.
“ Take a moment to feel how this feels in your body” Chris tells me.
“ My hands reach towards the earth (well the carpet really) sliding up and down, feeling the earth, the base. My fingers move in a claw motion, feeling, like gathering.
“What are your hands saying, can you speak from the hands’ place? Hands can you talk to us?” Chris asks.
I smile for a moment. “ We are looking to gather these twigs. We want to offer them to you Doron, but don’t know where to bring them. “A nest, would love to have a nest, a place to come back to.”
When I mentioned something similar to a friend, he said that he always had a nest and was always afraid to fly. Now that he hears me, he realizes that the nest allows him to fly even higher, since he has where to come back to.
Is this sensation just a notion of the functioning world? What is this need of? Is there a lacking?
“What is important for you when you think of a place to live in?”
People, I answer without thinking much. “Friends, family, community. I want to be in a place where I can give the biggest hug and have it welcomed.”
I enjoy where I am. I am happy everywhere I go. But I want to feel a sense of connectedness, maybe belonging.
I am now is a place where I can take care of myself, stay in this good state I’m in and still be of service. My origins, my home place, where I come from, is a place with deep connections, with people that need me, yet a place that will be much harder for me to take care of myself. Can I be fully of service when I am in more of a challenging position? I know that wherever I go I will be able to be of service, so how are choices made?”
“How have you made choices in the past?”
“I set an intention. I see in my mind many of the possible options, and then I let it go. I know I can’t make a decision at the moment so I make the whole range clear, and when the time is right, the decision just happens. I know what to choose.
In a way it is what I am doing now. I find curiosity to understand this decision process, especially when it is related to finding a home.
I sit still again.
An image of a ship in the ocean appears. It has an anchor and a rope that connects it to the anchor. The rope seems to be endless. Having limitless length to go as far as I want. I am the ship and I can float or even fly as far as I wish. Complete freedom. The rope is like my connection to the womb, to an endless dark womb, dark in a good way. In an infinite way, where everything is unknown and everything is possible. The rope keeps me connected. I can pull it, and pull it, till I arrive back to my anchor. Is this rope a need for safety? I have always enjoyed complete freedom, enjoyed life on the edge, feeling good with any risk, being fearless. So this anchor, this nest serves as something else; A base, a place that will allow me to go deeper and be available to be of more service.
I feel radiant, a glow. No answer, no mind, just sitting there seeing the rest of the group.
They offer me echoes, words, sentences, pieces that touched them, which they remember.
I listen with a smile. Who was it just speaking? I bow with gratitude. Thank you all for holding the space, thank you Chris for you true presence and compassion.
Thank you all that read my blog.
This is a Gestalt workshop with Chris Price. A week with a graceful, compassionate leader, offering her attentiveness, love, and support with the utmost generosity.
The first couple of days we met we learned tools to use in this particular form of exploration. Then we opened the seat up, and one at a time we got to witness someone’s work.
Thursday morning. I take my seat on the hot seat, and notice my breath, my body and the environment. Scanning the room, I look at each person sitting in the circle, taking a moment to really connect.
The time I sat on the seat seemed timeless. I felt clear and light. Chris put her hands on my chest or back as support.
“I feel expansion, space, seeing widely, a sense of calmness, of flying. Yet there is an instinct that is searching for a place to land. I am not sure where that place is”.
I pause for a moment to feel that statement in body.
“ There is joy that exists and is not dependent on anything. It is life itself. This joy, this force keeps me going. At a certain point in life I chose it. I saw death; I was tempted by it and chose life. Now when I see death, it does not seem like a bad thing anymore. It is just there, same as life. There is no choosing anymore.”
As I sit, breathing, seeing the whole of the room, people sitting appear to me to have their attention towards me.
“ Take a moment to feel how this feels in your body” Chris tells me.
“ My hands reach towards the earth (well the carpet really) sliding up and down, feeling the earth, the base. My fingers move in a claw motion, feeling, like gathering.
“What are your hands saying, can you speak from the hands’ place? Hands can you talk to us?” Chris asks.
I smile for a moment. “ We are looking to gather these twigs. We want to offer them to you Doron, but don’t know where to bring them. “A nest, would love to have a nest, a place to come back to.”
When I mentioned something similar to a friend, he said that he always had a nest and was always afraid to fly. Now that he hears me, he realizes that the nest allows him to fly even higher, since he has where to come back to.
Is this sensation just a notion of the functioning world? What is this need of? Is there a lacking?
“What is important for you when you think of a place to live in?”
People, I answer without thinking much. “Friends, family, community. I want to be in a place where I can give the biggest hug and have it welcomed.”
I enjoy where I am. I am happy everywhere I go. But I want to feel a sense of connectedness, maybe belonging.
I am now is a place where I can take care of myself, stay in this good state I’m in and still be of service. My origins, my home place, where I come from, is a place with deep connections, with people that need me, yet a place that will be much harder for me to take care of myself. Can I be fully of service when I am in more of a challenging position? I know that wherever I go I will be able to be of service, so how are choices made?”
“How have you made choices in the past?”
“I set an intention. I see in my mind many of the possible options, and then I let it go. I know I can’t make a decision at the moment so I make the whole range clear, and when the time is right, the decision just happens. I know what to choose.
In a way it is what I am doing now. I find curiosity to understand this decision process, especially when it is related to finding a home.
I sit still again.
An image of a ship in the ocean appears. It has an anchor and a rope that connects it to the anchor. The rope seems to be endless. Having limitless length to go as far as I want. I am the ship and I can float or even fly as far as I wish. Complete freedom. The rope is like my connection to the womb, to an endless dark womb, dark in a good way. In an infinite way, where everything is unknown and everything is possible. The rope keeps me connected. I can pull it, and pull it, till I arrive back to my anchor. Is this rope a need for safety? I have always enjoyed complete freedom, enjoyed life on the edge, feeling good with any risk, being fearless. So this anchor, this nest serves as something else; A base, a place that will allow me to go deeper and be available to be of more service.
I feel radiant, a glow. No answer, no mind, just sitting there seeing the rest of the group.
They offer me echoes, words, sentences, pieces that touched them, which they remember.
I listen with a smile. Who was it just speaking? I bow with gratitude. Thank you all for holding the space, thank you Chris for you true presence and compassion.
Thank you all that read my blog.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Blissful Living - Yoga and Nutrition - The workshop
How was it? I keep being asked?
It was one of the best weekends of my life! I had so much fun. I enjoyed the energy of the group, the practice, and was super surprised at the amount of info I carry with me. Good thing we do not need to buy more hard-drives for all that our mind holds. It would be nice to see my hard drives creating new cells within themselves when new info arrives.
Friday, October 24th, 12 participants and my self were sitting in a circle and meditating. Sitting tall sharing the same air, breathing in and out as the energies merge.
While creating the workshop, I tried to imagine the perfect workshop for me. What would I really want to see in a workshop? Weekend workshops always seem quick to me, and rarely do I feel we went deep enough.
So Friday night after a brief introduction of each other, and an intro to the weekend, we dived right in. Filling out an Ayurvedic body type questionnaire, and then a talk. I presented the Blissful Living approach I’ve been cultivating and working on for the past16 years. A lot of info was shared in a very relaxed way.
We finished class with half an hour of restorative Yoga, getting ready for a hot tub or sleep.
Since I wanted to give more “meat” to Friday, I offered an optional blissful Yoga class in the afternoon. And oh did we go deep!
Saturday we had two sessions during the day, 3 hours each. We practiced Pranayama, Asana (poses), and meditation and studied more about nutrition. It was a beautiful combination.
Saturday eve, as an optional gathering, we met for a free form dance session. ( I was the DJ….some 70’s, 80’s and electro music blend…)
An hour and a half of complete let go, just pure fun, completed with Savasana (the corpse pose).
Sunday was mostly Asana, and a closing circle.
We sat close, felt each other, just a weekend passed, but it felt very solid.
Words were thrown into the circle: “gratitude, calm, happy, dark leafy greens, courage, permission, love, MSM, balance…”
During the next day or two, I noticed how the participants were moving with awareness towards nutrition and a healthy life style; the food plates were colorful and had raw and greens, others went and bought some supplements, I saw herbal tea replacing coffee, sitting quietly outside and chewing food longer, drinking water with full attention, I see organic discussions happening in the lodge, talk about fermentation and raw dairy…
A feeling of joy, surrender and satisfaction comes over me. I have found my calling.
Teaching and sharing with others is the greatest gift I have received.
I now follow the footsteps of my parents, both educators. Both are people, who have had the idea of sharing, teaching and celebrating with others a mission.
Sing along at home with more people that can ever fit in (“if there is room in the heart there is room in the house”, they used to tell me), dancing down fifth Avenue in NY, my Mom led her folk dance group in the late 60’s, teaching in JCC’s and bringing tours to Israel, my Dad still has people who talk about him with great appreciation decades later.
It is the teaching with compassion, finding the middle way, and accepting change even within the teachings that is the light to my teachings.
Thank you all those that attended, those that shared their encouragement before the workshop, and those that inquired after.
Thank you all that made this possible, and those that help this carry on.
December 12 is my next weekend workshop.
May I always be of service to others.
It was one of the best weekends of my life! I had so much fun. I enjoyed the energy of the group, the practice, and was super surprised at the amount of info I carry with me. Good thing we do not need to buy more hard-drives for all that our mind holds. It would be nice to see my hard drives creating new cells within themselves when new info arrives.
Friday, October 24th, 12 participants and my self were sitting in a circle and meditating. Sitting tall sharing the same air, breathing in and out as the energies merge.
While creating the workshop, I tried to imagine the perfect workshop for me. What would I really want to see in a workshop? Weekend workshops always seem quick to me, and rarely do I feel we went deep enough.
So Friday night after a brief introduction of each other, and an intro to the weekend, we dived right in. Filling out an Ayurvedic body type questionnaire, and then a talk. I presented the Blissful Living approach I’ve been cultivating and working on for the past16 years. A lot of info was shared in a very relaxed way.
We finished class with half an hour of restorative Yoga, getting ready for a hot tub or sleep.
Since I wanted to give more “meat” to Friday, I offered an optional blissful Yoga class in the afternoon. And oh did we go deep!
Saturday we had two sessions during the day, 3 hours each. We practiced Pranayama, Asana (poses), and meditation and studied more about nutrition. It was a beautiful combination.
Saturday eve, as an optional gathering, we met for a free form dance session. ( I was the DJ….some 70’s, 80’s and electro music blend…)
An hour and a half of complete let go, just pure fun, completed with Savasana (the corpse pose).
Sunday was mostly Asana, and a closing circle.
We sat close, felt each other, just a weekend passed, but it felt very solid.
Words were thrown into the circle: “gratitude, calm, happy, dark leafy greens, courage, permission, love, MSM, balance…”
During the next day or two, I noticed how the participants were moving with awareness towards nutrition and a healthy life style; the food plates were colorful and had raw and greens, others went and bought some supplements, I saw herbal tea replacing coffee, sitting quietly outside and chewing food longer, drinking water with full attention, I see organic discussions happening in the lodge, talk about fermentation and raw dairy…
A feeling of joy, surrender and satisfaction comes over me. I have found my calling.
Teaching and sharing with others is the greatest gift I have received.
I now follow the footsteps of my parents, both educators. Both are people, who have had the idea of sharing, teaching and celebrating with others a mission.
Sing along at home with more people that can ever fit in (“if there is room in the heart there is room in the house”, they used to tell me), dancing down fifth Avenue in NY, my Mom led her folk dance group in the late 60’s, teaching in JCC’s and bringing tours to Israel, my Dad still has people who talk about him with great appreciation decades later.
It is the teaching with compassion, finding the middle way, and accepting change even within the teachings that is the light to my teachings.
Thank you all those that attended, those that shared their encouragement before the workshop, and those that inquired after.
Thank you all that made this possible, and those that help this carry on.
December 12 is my next weekend workshop.
May I always be of service to others.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Blissful Living
A few new tasks came to life in the past few weeks.
Doing some cleanup, either posting camera equipment on eBay or finding people to give clothes and art to. Updating my computer skills and software, learning Aperture, Bridge and Dreamweaver. Getting ready to bring my stock photography back to life.
Working on the detailed sessions of my “Photography beyond the eye” workshop, as well as now, creating a web page for two Yoga workshops I will lead at Esalen this fall. The art of sustainable living though Yoga and Nutrition
At ESALEN OCT 24-26
So yes, I am still here at Esalen. Cooking in the kitchen is wonderful. I have been in charge of the salad bar, both hot and cold, and also training as a chef here. It is wonderful to have opportunity for so much creativity while nourishing over 300 people. The kitchen has been very supportive, and I thank all those that are constantly willing to share with me.
My mom Sara was here at Esalen in August, “a little paradise” she kept saying. She soaked in the baths, went for walks, did her Soduko, read and went swimming.
Seeing her swim on a few foggy days inspired me, and I have been moving through water much more since. Toda Ima!
Last night I soaked in the baths for an hour, gazing at the sun as it set between Japanese like painted clouds, then went up to the lodge to pick up a nice plate of Vietnamese noodles with spring rolls. It’s hard to have all the yummy options around, especially since I’ve been eating mostly raw recently. Esalen has a lot of healthy, fresh organic choices, but surely has lots of meat and dairy options as well.
I have met so many fantastic new people here, while still feeling all the fabulous encounters from India and all my life long friendships. Keeping all close to heart. Sorry if not all get emails and constant contact as I am blessed with so much love, and even as a type A Gemini, I find it hard to keep up.
I sleep in a loft bed where there is enough room for a little computer area at floor level, books, and meditation space. Above my bed (nice mattresses on the carpet) is a big skylight. The moon appeared very round and bright the past few nights, so I got to sleep with its soft cool light flooding in. when it slims down, the stars appear bright, and I go to sleep smiling, remembering how tiny I am in this grand universe, and how huge when thinking of millions of probiotics in a little capsule.
I plan a short visit to New York At the end of October. Get some city flavor after all the nature at Esalen…This trip is much thanks to Jen deciding that I need to come and cook for her…
Love you all!
Doing some cleanup, either posting camera equipment on eBay or finding people to give clothes and art to. Updating my computer skills and software, learning Aperture, Bridge and Dreamweaver. Getting ready to bring my stock photography back to life.
Working on the detailed sessions of my “Photography beyond the eye” workshop, as well as now, creating a web page for two Yoga workshops I will lead at Esalen this fall. The art of sustainable living though Yoga and Nutrition
At ESALEN OCT 24-26
So yes, I am still here at Esalen. Cooking in the kitchen is wonderful. I have been in charge of the salad bar, both hot and cold, and also training as a chef here. It is wonderful to have opportunity for so much creativity while nourishing over 300 people. The kitchen has been very supportive, and I thank all those that are constantly willing to share with me.
My mom Sara was here at Esalen in August, “a little paradise” she kept saying. She soaked in the baths, went for walks, did her Soduko, read and went swimming.
Seeing her swim on a few foggy days inspired me, and I have been moving through water much more since. Toda Ima!
Last night I soaked in the baths for an hour, gazing at the sun as it set between Japanese like painted clouds, then went up to the lodge to pick up a nice plate of Vietnamese noodles with spring rolls. It’s hard to have all the yummy options around, especially since I’ve been eating mostly raw recently. Esalen has a lot of healthy, fresh organic choices, but surely has lots of meat and dairy options as well.
I have met so many fantastic new people here, while still feeling all the fabulous encounters from India and all my life long friendships. Keeping all close to heart. Sorry if not all get emails and constant contact as I am blessed with so much love, and even as a type A Gemini, I find it hard to keep up.
I sleep in a loft bed where there is enough room for a little computer area at floor level, books, and meditation space. Above my bed (nice mattresses on the carpet) is a big skylight. The moon appeared very round and bright the past few nights, so I got to sleep with its soft cool light flooding in. when it slims down, the stars appear bright, and I go to sleep smiling, remembering how tiny I am in this grand universe, and how huge when thinking of millions of probiotics in a little capsule.
I plan a short visit to New York At the end of October. Get some city flavor after all the nature at Esalen…This trip is much thanks to Jen deciding that I need to come and cook for her…
Love you all!
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