In our “HP Yoga” Kiva Talk on March 29 we explored:
- How a powerful quote from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita can completely transform your yoga practice.
- Why yoga is a path of “radical self-transformation” and why it needs to be challenging … by definition!
- What “yoga” really is, how it differs from “asana.”
- Why it’s so challenging to teach yoga genuinely, in the way of the ancients.
- The meaning of the words “High Performance Yoga.”
- The difference between “teaching” and “transmission,” and why transmission is so much more important.
- How the spiritual life within us carries a yearning for the ancient wattage of enlightenment (and why the enlightenment needs to come via trickle-down dosages).
- Some heartfelt, powerful stories about a few of my personal transmissions (from an Indian Catholic priest yogi, a bird, a Kundalini guru, and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche).
- Where heartache comes from, why it’s necessary for spiritual growth, and how your practice of yoga and Wholistic Fitness can help you let go … and experience a shift in how you perceive everything.
- Why the path to enlightenment doesn’t require an endless “gruntfest” of inner work (yet does require preparing the body through consistent yoga practice).
- How I first began learning yoga in Boulder in the late 1970s, what I experienced, and why I developed my own unique yoga practice as a result.
- The many styles of High Performance Yoga (“HP No Flow,” “HP Slow Flow,” “HP Mixed Flow,” “HP Strong Flow,” and “HP Prop”) and how they produce a very capable and durable wholistic yogi in the ancient tradition.
We then moved on to some Q&A:
- “What is ‘processing’ in this context of yoga?”
- “What sort of interweaving of techniques is part of the unique HP Yoga approach?”
- “What would you suggest for people living out of town to avail themselves of different examples of your HP flow Yoga?”
- “With some foreboding, I was just wondering about the statement that, ‘The yoga teacher has to confront the yoga student at every available turn …’” (In my answer, I provide insight into the benefits of mantra.)
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Did you find value in this talk? Leave your comments below!
These teachings are the "Rasas" or "sap" of Wholistic Fitness. You’ll find insights to ponder, student chi to keep your own chi topped off, and plenty of proven training techniques to test on your own body, mind, and spirit! Also, you’ll find my very popular Race Reports, and news of our Sangha’s (community’s) latest transpersonal fitness adventures!
absolutely awesome, coach!
the sincerity in your “bird-killing-transmission” was powerful. Powerful…. because out of the 4…… it didn’t involve a human. Reminds us how powerful nature is…. even without a voice or much gesture.
ahe’ hee’
Namaste, most noble one /\
LOVE our latest Kiva talk! So perfect a teaching and so many gems it sparkles with the wisdom and light of a true transmission. Thank you, oh metta-full being.
‘Look to your duty – do not tremble before it. Nothing is better for a warrior than to have a battle of sacred duty..’
What is resonating with me following this listening hour is that what I am experiencing right now, in this ‘transition realm’, is motivated by a (humanly) inexplicable sense simply that this is the right way forward for this warrioress. I just have to trust, like footsteps in the sand…
Still, you know all that already …
In love and light
eyt
“The test of everything on earth is simply this; “What is it for?””, says Jesus in ACIM.
It is fascinating that the mission of Wholistic Fitness is to fulfill the original purpose of ancient (wholistic) yoga in the current world, meeting seekers where they, their way of life and bodies are today.
I have read that, “Yoga defines itself as a science. It describes and presents a practical, methodical and systematic discipline or set of techniques that have the lofty goal of helping human beings to become aware of their deepest nature. The goal of seeking to experience this deepest potential is an experiential science of self-study.”
It is quite an ongoing accomplishment to develop and deliver a way-of-life, fitness training program that flows across and interweaves multiple fitness disciplines and yoga principles into a cohesive and helpful whole.
Let us remove the blocks to Truth together.
wow-
thank u for this
Been slowly working my way through the Kiva talks whilst away in my mountain retreat :o)
Young Steve’s bird killing exploits brought a tear to my eye; the young men certainly will burn down the village unless they are initiated.
I had moved from total athletic mindset, to a totally yogic one following a motorbike accident, and had picked up a copy of a western ‘Yoga’ magazine, somewhere in Mysore a few years back. I initially scoffed at a letter written by somebody advocating the athletic washboard-stomach, along side the strong bandha practice.
“What does this fool know?”, I thought to myself, so sure had I become that banhas and ‘yoga’ were the way.
It was almost like a physical slap in the face when I read that the letter was from no less than l Coachie himself!
My mind had turned so far from athletic thoughts, and my previous years in the gym, I’d begun to forget the knowledge I had accumulated there through accumulated time on the mat.
Sometimes a slap in the face is just what you need, it seems. Thanks coach!
Precious Ones,
nothing beats a sweat-based, or better yet; silence-based slap-in-our-faces!
Wake Up Calls require steadfast Practice in intensity….otherwise, in the Bardo, we’ll gravitate toward the softer, quiet Lights which lead us back into Samsara…we must go after the Loud, Intense Lights…swim upstream, Noble Ones…climb Higher….Familiarize Intensity
that is all,
ec