Floating overhead Lotus – Yoga Goa

We are having a great time here at the Purple Valley Retreat Centre in Goa. Here are some pics of Basia and me from the pool.

Purple Valley Retreat with Sharath Rangaswamy

I am currently in Goa, India with my fiance Basia for an Ashtanga Yoga reatreat at Purple Valley Yoga with Sharath Rangaswamy. Sharath is the  grandson of the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

This is my first stay in India and my first time studying with Sharath. Two years ago I went to Sri Lanka for 6 week retreat with Anthony Prem Charlisi and Heather Duplex. Since then they have relocated their retreat to Bali

Classes starts tomorrow. After our TV appearance we flew from Warsaw to Delhi where we spent two day before leaving for Goa. I will report more from the reatreat and our stay here.

Preparing for the Unknown?

This morning Basia and I appeared on “Kawa czy herbata” (“Coffee or Tea”) on the polish TV channel TVP. Kawa czy herbata is a live morning show similar to Good Morning America. We were interviewed and also did a short ashtanga demo. It was fun and a nice experience. I will get a recording from the show later and put up a video on youtube.

The night before the show we were thinking about what we were going to do for the demo. We didnt have much time to prepare so I was a bit worried about not remembering what to do especially since this was a live show. This made me a bit insecure and resulted in feelings of irritation and also some anger because I felt that I did not have control of the situation. However when we got to the studio I realized that we did not have much to say about was going to happen. After seeing the makeup artists it was our turn and then everything happened very quickly. We didnt really know what was going to happen or what kind of questions they were going to ask. However we did fine and it felt easy.

So the lession I learned today was that it is not really any point in trying to prepare for the unknown and worry about things that you cannot control. Try and be calm and let things flow. Don´t worry be happy.

Chögyam Trungpa on meditation

In his book “The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation” Chögyam Trungpa writes:

“Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.”

The practical value of Ashtanga Yoga Sun Salutations

When I was preparing for the alternative fair I was working 16-18 hours a day for more than a week. It was very intense but I was also very inspired. During that time I discovered the value of doing sun salutations from Ashtanga yoga during the day. I would work for an hour or two, and then take a short break. During the break I would typically do three sun salutations and sometimes also some Unified Reiki self healing techniques. This was extremely productive. It made me feel refreshed physically and mentally and also increased my focus. Usually after such a break I would see the things I was working on from a different viewpoint and also get new ideas.

Photo from “Basia Lipska Ashtanga Yoga” DVD shoot

Using yoga in this way was very different from what I usually do. My yoga practice usually consists of doing Mysore style morning classes 4-6 times a week. I usually do the primary series and at times the first postures from second series. This takes between 1.5 and two hours. This works great but doing sun salutes many times during the day I could feel a more “direct” and immediate effect compared to doing one long session once a day. This does not mean that one approach is better than the other though. It just shows that different practices can give different effects and results.

If you are already doing yoga and sun salutations I recommend that you try it several times a day just to get the feel of it and see how it works for you. If you are not doing yoga the best way would be to learn from a qualified Ashtanga yoga teacher (or a teacher of other styles). You can also learn the basics by watching some good videos such as this one from David Swenson. These clips on youtube explain the basics of Ashtanga yoga including ujjayi breathing, the synchronization of breath and movement, drishti (gazing point) and bandhas (energy locks). They also specifically show and explain the Sun Salutation A (suryanamaskara A)

Part 1

Part 2

You can also watch the sun salutations as well as the entire primary series with commentaries in the Basia Lipska Ashtanga Yoga DVD.  Contact me for more details.

Report from Alternative Fair (“Alternativmessen”) 2009

Here is my report from the Alternative Fair in November. It is written in norwegian but my previous summaries from the fair are in english. Click here to read the norwegian report in PDF format.

Here is the business card I used at the fair. The front is a combined yoga and fitness pose with my fiance Basia and me. It symbolizes the Celestial Fitness concept. Mind, body and spirit. The back lists my services.

This is me with my Unified Reiki Master Jose:

Unified Reiki sessions now also offered in Aker Brygge

I addition to giving Unified Reiki treatments at Balansepunktet in Oslo/Tøyen I am now also offering treatments in Aker Brygge. See my Appointments page for more information.

Sirsana postcard from photo shoot

Here is another photo from the photo shoot at Nicki Twang´s studio. It is me doing sirsasana (headstand). It is being used for a postcard that is sold by Puro Yoga in Oslo.

Darkness Therapy

I am sure many of you have heard of silent retreats. Often buddhist meditation (Vipassana) and Zen meditation is done in silent retreats. You can gain many interesting insights during a silent retreat. Here are some experiences from people who has done such retreats:

10 Days of Silence (A silent Meditation Retreat)

Unplugged: My experience at a silent retreat

I will definitely be doing a silent retreat in the near future.

Some time ago I started thinking that it would be interesting to do practices which involves not seeing. I have done some ashtanga yoga while wearing ear plugs  and being blind folded and this is an interesting experience. I started thinking about what it would be like to do a meditation reatreat in complete darkness. Of course I am not the only who had thoughts about this. When I looked it up on the net I found that darkness retreats though not as common as silent retreats are done several places in the world. You can read more about darkness therapy in the article “Darkness Therapy Totally Explained”

Here is a story “Light of Darknes” about a guy who did a several week long darkness retreat.

I will write more about silent and darkness retreats as I learn more about them and try it myself. See you (not)!

Celestial Fitness photo shoot

A few days before I competed in the Norwegian Championships in Athletic Fitness I did a photo shoot with my fiance Basia at Nicki Twang´s studio. Here is another photo from the shoot that symbolizes Celestial Fitness – Mind, body and Spirit.

Basia and Jan: Celestial Fitness - Mind, Body and Spirit

We also made 50×70 cm posters of some of the photos. More info here. Contact me if  you are interested in buying a poster. They make a nice Celestial Christmas Gift