Bathing in the Self
Eliot has written a post for Villa Sumaya, a retreat Centre in Guatemala where she will teache a 7-day yoga retreat next January. You are welcome to join!
Bathing in the Self
Every time I arrive at the shores of Lago Atitlán, I am flooded with the memory of a magical moment when I was around nine years old.
Like many other wonderful caring parents, mine had tried every possible way till then to get me to learn how to swim. On this special afternoon, I was up to my chin in water and by myself.
The wind had started churning the waters, which can sometimes lead to strong waves. The residents of the Lago call this the xocomil. I could feel the movement of the water moving my body, delicately and then increasingly with more power.
Instead of resisting the movement, I allowed myself to feel its rhythm and to go with it. Gradually, my body became part of the water itself, merged with the water, became the water. I had no fear. It was like water and me, we were one.
My body took its water form and my toes came off the ground. I was one with water, water one with me. My body took its water powers. Was I swimming or were the waters swimming me?
I did not know that it was really in me to swim until I had the experience of awakening that element and its power within me. Until then it was but a thought, a notion, something I had but seen in others.
Yoga teachings explain to us that everything is within us. But as long as we haven’t experienced it, it is like the time before I could swim, when swimming was just but a thought, a notion, something I may have seen or recognized in others. Really, I could have drowned!
Yoga practices are a lot like my experience during Xocomil. They are about bathing in the Self, allowing oneself gradually and over time to feel the rhythm of One’s essential nature, so that it may awaken and enliven all of our potential!
When I come to Lake Atitlán now, I come to bathe. In a beautiful way, I come to bathe, yes, in the refreshing sacred waters of the Lago, but more subtly yet, in the sweet sacred source of my very Own Self. The Lake of the Heart.
Eliot will be teaching another magical 7-day yoga retreat at beautiful Villa Sumaya from January 28 to February 7, 2017. You are welcome to join!
Lake of the Heart Retreat info, click here
Villa Sumaya's blog entry, click here
Visages régionaux, a catalyst for change
Visages régionaux is a project initiated by Marie-Eve Arbour and Simon Côté. It has been made possible thanks to the Laura Waridel scholarship, which is jointly funded by Équiterre and the Caisse d'économie solidaire.
The project’s purpose is to document and promote alternative initiatives of environmental and social management in three aspects of civic engagement: food autonomy, eco-responsible housing and citizen engagement.
Marie-Eve Arbour and Simon Côté travelled extensively throughout Quebec and disclose to us fifty rural initiatives that are catalysts for change. For Visages régionaux, Quebec rural communities are more than mere resource regions. Each village is unique. The directory serves to document initiatives which foster a vibrant new rural life, and to show that there is a wide range of original and inspiring projects that are redefining life in the country. Browse the website and discover the really exciting projects that are springing up all over Quebec. The directory is in French only.
Bobby Clennel's monthy yoga
Illustration : : BOBBY CLENNELL © bobbyclennell.com/MYoga.html
Janu Sirsasana
Head of the knee pose
Bobby Clennell is a very inspiring yoga teacher. She has written several books on yoga for women and she teaches with wisdom, enthusiasm and a great sense of humour. I took a wonderful weekend workshop with Bobby last summer when she came to Ottawa, hosted by my teacher Barbara Young. I learned so much!
So, here is a little bit of Bobby's creativity and wisdom for you! Please make sure to read her helpful hints and advice for each āsana as you go along.
May we all be inspired!
Eliot
We would like to know
Natalie McAloney, an apprentice-teacher, has offered to teach a one-hour sunrise yoga class once a week and we would like to see who would be interested. So, we invite you to write us an email if you would be interested to participate in such a class, and which day would be better for you, between Mondays mornings or Wednesdays mornings, 6:30am to 7:30am.