Hello Love!
You know when you are explaining something to someone that you just innately understand and so you miss a key component….like in the public speaking class where you have to explain how to make a sandwich, but before you get to assembling it you have to start with “buy the ingredients”? I realized that as I have been gushing about Curious Movement and how it is a yoga/dance hybrid that I need to explain a little more of how both of those aspects are incorporated because this does not “look” like the yoga classes you are used to, nor does it “look” like a dance class. I can’t really explain what this “looks” like so instead I am going to explain how both yoga and dance show up.
There are eight limbs of yoga as laid out in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, which were written around 500BC and laid out the practice of living yoga (meaning: to yoke or join) in body, mind, and spirit. It is the foundation of yoga. What has happened since yoga has come to the western world is a few spokes of the yoga wheel have fallen off. When I talk about yoga with people who are new to the practice they are usually familiar with 3 Asana (postures), 4 Pranayama (Breath control) and 7 Dhyana (meditation). You notice I attached some numbers here. The eight limbs are numbered in that each one builds on the one before. So let me lay them out and we can go from there….THERE WILL NOT BE A TEST AT THE END! I am including the Sanskrit word and how I understand them, if you have a different understanding of them I am always open and curious to discuss and learn more…..
1 Yama – How we conduct ourselves in the world. There are 5 Yamas
Ahimsa (non-Harming), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing/boundaries), Bramacharya (moderation) Aparigraha (generosity)
2 Niyama – personal practices/observances. There are 5 Niyamas
Saucha (cleanliness), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity), Svadhyaya (self knowledge), Ishvarapranidhana (surrender)
3 Asana – Postures or the physical positions
4 Pranayama – Breath control or mindful breathing
5 Pratyahara – Turning in or sense withdrawal
6 Dharana – Concentration or a single point of focus
7 Dhyana – Meditation or peace/clarity from letting the effort go
8 Samadhi – Bliss or the constant harmony of body/mind/spirit or enlightenment
In Curious Movement we are going to talk about the Yamas/Niyamas, we are going to be moving our bodies yes, but I am going to be guiding you to bring your attention to the ways that we can free up our joy and connect to our bliss by rounding out our practice to included not just the limbs that are familiar but the ones that you may have never heard of or forgot about. The ways we take yoga with us into our daily lives. An example….I may ask for you to think about Ahimsa and Saucha….how can you clean up your thoughts so that you are not causing harm to yourself or someone else…Or I will invite you to be curious about how you might practice contentment this week around your perception of other people’s lives based on their social media pages. We will breathe and we will experiment with focus and release or letting go. All of these things are the practice of yoga.
OK so what about the dance you ask…..Well, I want you to think more like shaking it in your kitchen than a ballet class. There will be some guided movement and at other times I will ask you to move around the space and allow yourself to move how your body wants to move. There is no wrong way to do this… wait, yes there is…. the WRONG way to do this is to do this how you think other people think you should do it…fuck that! This is YOUR class they can take their own class. You may want to leap and spin and shake OR you may want to stand still and close your eyes and sway OR you may want slap the floor and stomp your feet OR you may want to float through the space with sweeping arms and flowing hips OR ALL OF IT ! Try it ALL ON…Sometimes I will ask you to try something that is specifically different from how you normally move and to be curious about the feelings, thoughts and emotions that come up for you when that happens.
By the end of class as we come to the close I hope you are sweating, breathing and emanating joy from your whole being. I invite you to be open and curious as you step into your first Curious Movement class. My whole purpose in bringing this to you is to facilitate the connection to the joy that is already within and to create the space for you to explore how you can remove that which no longer serves you and bring you one step closer to bliss. XO Lulu