BARBARA BORIS Yoga

“I sometimes tell my students that the practice they doing yoga class is not strictly speaking, yoga practice. The reason for this is that in class, although you are undoubtedly ‘doing’ and hopefully learning, you are listening to the teacher. The directing intelligence comes from the teacher and you follow the teacher to the best of your ability.

“At home, on the other hand, it is your own intelligence that is the master, and the progress that you make is yours and will be maintained. In addition, the will that you employ is yours. It is not derived from the power, the charisma, the strength or the fierceness of the teacher. It comes from you, and its effect profound.”

– B.K.S. Iyengar

Chronic Anxiety Sequence (Patricia Walden)
Print out and write your notes on how you practiced this tonight,
your results and insights.

Reflect on where you are in the moment, on all five koshas: physical, pranic, mental/emotional, root intelligence and bliss. Reflect on where you want to be after your yoga practice. Practice in such a way to achieve that goal. Not from an ego state or any mental ideations of what is “right.” Reflect at the end of practice if you achieved that goal, and what you would do differently next time. Keep notes. This is another aspect of Svadhyaya: self-study.

Beautiful Soul.
OM

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/arts/television/tom-davis-saturday-night-live-comedy-writer-dies-at-59.html?smid=pl-share

And a piece that Tom wrote about his “de-animation” for a Hudson, New York art gallery, Incident Report.

Tom Davis, Christ Weeping Into The Taconic

The Dark Side of Death
By Tom Davis

The good news: my chemotherapy is working and I’m still buying green bananas.

The bad news: two years ago, before we knew it as MDD (Michael Douglas Disease), I was diagnosed with tonsorial squamous cell carcinoma, a/k/a head and neck cancer.   After surgery, I elected to go with radiation therapy sans complementary chemo, which was probably a big mistake. The malignancy unexpectedly spread to the bones of my pelvis and lower spine, where it has been munching away without thought of its host’s well-being. It’s now described as “exotic and aggressive,” but it’s getting its cancerous ass kicked by taxotere, a drug that imitates the chemistry of the European Yew tree. Made in China, of course. I’ll be using it, or a related drug “for the rest of my life,” which could be as long as two more high-quality-of-life years. I’d be thrilled with that.

There are side effects, the two weirdest being a “recall effect,” in which radiation sores reappear, and neuropathy in my fingernails, which are in the unpleasant process of falling off. Ow. I’ve lost hair from all over my body. With only a little bit of white fluff on my head, I visited my mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease in Minneapolis.

“Now I want you to take all your medicine and your hair will grow back,” she said cheerfully. “I think you look a little like that bird Woodstock in Peanuts.” I’ll take that; better than Uncle Fester.

My old comedy partner (Senator) Al Franken, volunteered to draw my hair back on with a magic (more…)

Loren Fishman’s work on Rotator Cuff Therapy using Yoga.
http://www.manhattanphysicalmedicine.com/rotatorcuffcure.html

NY Times article about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/health/02brody.html

…This year, Dr. Fishman received a prize at the International Conference on Yoga for Health and Social Transformation for a paper he presented on a surprising yoga remedy for rotator cuff syndrome, a common shoulder injury that causes extreme pain when trying to raise one’s arm to shoulder height and higher. He described a modified form of a yoga headstand that does not require standing on the head and takes only 30 seconds to perform, and presented evidence that it could relieve shoulder pain in most patients, and that adding brief physical therapy could keep the problem from recurring…. - Jane Brody, NY Times

Yogis, I did a workshop with Dr. Loren Fishman on shoulder issues and also on osteoporosis last year. If you want to work with me on it, I’d be happy to oblige. Please give me a call. OM.

Iyengar Yoga in Woodstock with Kevin Gardiner
July 14-15, Saturday and Sunday, 2:00-6:30 p.m.
4 hours both days, with half hour chai break each day
$195

Sign up HERE!

THIS TWO DAY WORKSHOP will be for high Level I-II Iyengar Yoga Students. Those who regularly attend Iyengar yoga classes will get first priority, as we are limiting the attendance to 25, and we want to keep the level of teachings strong and inspiring. Participants are required to have a good command of Iyengar basics, be able to do sirsasana, handstand and be able to sustain unsupported urdhva dhanurasana with straight arms. If you are not a regular practicing Iyengar student, we can discuss whether this workshop will be appropriate for you.

Sunday’s classes will be based on Saturday’s. Students signing up for the whole weekend will have priority for available spaces. Only if space is available will you be able to register for a single day session ($100/day). Contact Barbara at Woodstock Yoga to be on the sign-up/waiting list for single day class. (more…)