tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post7977075691154736314..comments2023-12-16T20:19:41.067-08:00Comments on Christina Sell: FireUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-80761035924330170052008-02-08T09:08:00.000-08:002008-02-08T09:08:00.000-08:00Christine:I am not very adept at navigating the bl...Christine:<BR/><BR/>I am not very adept at navigating the blogisphere. Just saw your incredibly nice comment about being your second favorite ashtangi. I would have been thrilled to crack the top 25. Your classes have been a blessed complement to my ashtanga practice. Look forward to getting more of my "hard headed" ashtanga compadres to give you a try.<BR/><BR/>Was talking to my sister in Conneticut yesterday and she mentioned a teacher in her neighborhood named Mitchell Bleier.<BR/><BR/>Checked his website and turns out he's a highly credentialed Anusara teacher. Do you know him?<BR/><BR/>Best!! RustyRustyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00114115034968718017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-47453944267401636702008-01-31T11:06:00.000-08:002008-01-31T11:06:00.000-08:00upper body in headstand, walking the legs around a...upper body in headstand, walking the legs around and around. VERY FUN.Christina Sellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08401826381021947279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-63480441305062256342008-01-31T00:31:00.000-08:002008-01-31T00:31:00.000-08:00Yes, I definitely benefitted most from Anusara whe...Yes, I definitely benefitted most from Anusara when i was studying the practice every day. And I understand and agree with what you are saying about the opening of the body. But in my case, what I found even more amazing than my physical progress was my understanding of the practice.<BR/><BR/>It was very difficult for me to internalize the Universal Principles of Alignment (not that I claim mastery :-), because I am a very verbal and visual person. We have to teach the Principles in words, in drawings, and in showing them working in our body. I remember But the Principles are not verbal, & they are not visual (feel free to correct any of this, btw, since you are the Master here :-).<BR/><BR/>Every day, Liz or Charlie would try to explain what Inner Spiral felt like, how to engage it, how much to engage it, in what order to engage it vs the other actions.<BR/><BR/>I spent countless hours studying John's Teacher manual and Doung's anatomical drawings. On many occasions, I literally went through every yoga pose i knew, & read or figured out how the Principles applied to every pose.<BR/><BR/>Might as well try to tell a baby bird how to fly !!! Because nobody can energise inner spiral for you - you have to find it for yourself. Of course, there were many exercises to help me find it, and many helpful words and drawings (esp Doug's book) to help me understand it verbally, and often Liz would work to show me the action by manually moving my body the way that it would move when inner spiral was working. And all of this was a finger pointing at the moon. i mean, I could have used AutoCAD to make a 3-D moving model of inner spiral, but I wasn't really able to _do_ inner spiral.<BR/><BR/>And then, during the 50th or 200th practice - some golden practice featuring that particular action - BANG - I got it. I made the leap from words and visual concepts to activating the right muscles in the right way to achieve the actual gross and subtle actions of inner spiral.<BR/><BR/>And that golden practice comes in a lot fewer calendar days when you are being taught 5 or 6 days a week as opposed to 2 or 3 :-).<BR/><BR/>And i didn't just get inner spiral and suddenly leap into an amazing uttanasana (can I get a Sanskrit spell-checker?), so it isn't that so many classes made me gain strength & flexibility at a much faster rate, because if it did, I'd be freaking Charles Atlas by now, instead of a 50 year old potato in bloomers :-). <BR/><BR/>So now, in addition to the mental and visual model of inner spiral that I have, I can also _feel_ inner spiral, and feel when the hip or shoulder joint is in balance (or not) - I have made the cognitive leap from thinking it to feeling it. I am now looking at the moon.<BR/><BR/>And the moon is no longer separate from me, but is now the Beloved. Of course, I still am not one with the Beloved, but with each embrace, I understand her more, and i feel her more clearly :-).<BR/><BR/>*<BR/><BR/>Another thing that I especially treasure from that time was the sense of kula that I grew to understand. It was very similar to the fellowship and sense of family that I have experienced in close-knit small groups in good churches. I think that does have alot to do with the philosophical basis of Anusara. Some classes foster the mutual respect of athletes, and some the camaraderie of warriors, and others the familiarity of those who nap together, and some have the delicious savor of those who dance together with passionate fervor, all of which are delightful experiences and relationships :-). But Anusara is the most worshipful form of yoga that I have experienced. It is the kula of lovers of the beloved, and I have felt more love and acceptance in this kula than in any other gathering.<BR/><BR/>ok, enough about that :-).<BR/><BR/>*<BR/><BR/>BACKBENDS!!!!!!! I love rock n roll, so put another dime in the JukeBox, baby!! <BR/><BR/>Kapotanasana is one of my fav poses. It is a real challenge for me to move the bend up my spine into my heart. It is funny - most of the time I get to do full pigeon is in an advanced flow or 2nd series class, & the teacher want to help me get "deeper" into the pose by moving my hands further up my legs from my toes to my heels, & I try to explain that for me, deeper isn't bending more overall - deeper for me is moving the bend up the spine.<BR/><BR/>But of you think that was funny, I'll write some time aout explainin g to a Certified Ashtanga teacher that I really didn't care if I _ever_ go the bind in some pose - i had more important work to do in the pose. Funny story, and an Ashtanga teacher with a depth of wisdom that shocked me (my bad).<BR/><BR/>So, sometime I would like to work with you on coming up from Wheel to standing & coming up from Kapotanasana to kneeling. For some reason, getting back up seems to harder than going down :-). Guess I'll have to get back into classes on a regular basis. . .<BR/><BR/>*<BR/><BR/>ok, which mandalasana are you talking about? The link is broken & I find at least 3 flavors, from a simple lunge to eka pada raja kapotanasana with the front leg in a lunge (eprk 3?) to upper body in headstand 1 & walk the legs around in a circle - which has to be the most bizarre asana ever :-).<BR/><BR/>*<BR/><BR/>Finally, a koan for your explorations to increase your computer skills - "try something."Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02789755679554213814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-4924577088712575692008-01-30T18:16:00.000-08:002008-01-30T18:16:00.000-08:00Christina, I hereby promise to stay the course thr...Christina, I hereby promise to stay the course through my fear of the fire of backbends. Love,<BR/>LisaLisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07082405209925914873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-31659535131300741212008-01-30T09:23:00.000-08:002008-01-30T09:23:00.000-08:00*resists urge to make suggestive joke about "hands...*resists urge to make suggestive joke about "hands in angelina jolie"*whatnothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18011392944307181850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-426608814366044652008-01-30T08:49:00.000-08:002008-01-30T08:49:00.000-08:00Got it.Got it.Christina Sellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08401826381021947279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-39695159322905119562008-01-30T08:20:00.000-08:002008-01-30T08:20:00.000-08:00Chris wrote that not me- just to be clear- I let h...Chris wrote that not me- just to be clear- I let him borrow my password.Leannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13272730128459982428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-13613947224939562302008-01-30T08:16:00.000-08:002008-01-30T08:16:00.000-08:00Chris here - Just back from 6:30 mysore practice -...Chris here - <BR/>Just back from 6:30 mysore practice - read your blog - yes, face appropriately lit now. Thank you 'Stina.<BR/>Have a wonderful day.Leannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13272730128459982428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-67180155432522464922008-01-30T08:07:00.000-08:002008-01-30T08:07:00.000-08:00Can't wait for Chris to read this one-his face wil...Can't wait for Chris to read this one-his face will light up no doubt.<BR/><BR/>Comment on the Marichiasana D- I clasped in D the other day and it was so easy that I thought "Oops! I went and did B again!" NO- I was actually in D- and it felt good. These are things that were different that day:<BR/>1.I had not backbended much that week and my erector spinae were softer than usual. <BR/><BR/>2.I had also been really working on pavrita parsvakonasana with the hands in anjali mudra ( my students call it anjalina jolie!) and really deepening the twist with the lengthening and moving from the back body and pulling one side of the ribs back as I twist from the other. <BR/>3. The last thing is that my stomach was very, very empty.<BR/><BR/>I am sure there were other dynamics in place but these seemed to be some of the key ones.<BR/><BR/>And if you were here we would be driving you home in the snow again...brrr. We are very excited up here to see John this weekend- nothing like a quick hit of Shakti from you or him to re-inspire the practice!<BR/><BR/>Love you!<BR/>Leanne :>)Leannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13272730128459982428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-40514038450263443962008-01-30T06:12:00.000-08:002008-01-30T06:12:00.000-08:00Ari- I need you to come over sometime and teach me...Ari- I need you to come over sometime and teach me all of these neat little tricks- like how to use Flikr, how to make this "blog central" and I am sure there are some other things you could help me with! (Although I have no intention of ever learning to text message, but that is a whole blog entry in an of itself.)<BR/><BR/>Interestingly enough, I am a very fumbling participant in the world of technology. There is this small set of things I seem able to accomplish and then I hear about something else and get a bit panicked. Maybe you are my answer.<BR/><BR/>Love,<BR/>ChristinaChristina Sellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08401826381021947279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-35237860929454080622008-01-29T22:28:00.000-08:002008-01-29T22:28:00.000-08:00since you have so many blogs to read, lemme make a...since you have so many blogs to read, lemme make a suggestion: create an account at bloglines.com --it will let you add the urls of your favorite blogs, then you only have to check one place for updates (and now you know my secret for keeping up with all this stuff without being glued to the computer).<BR/><BR/>See you thursday!whatnothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18011392944307181850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-67412156231229744172008-01-29T20:34:00.000-08:002008-01-29T20:34:00.000-08:00OH yes...I remember that song. A new theme song fo...OH yes...I remember that song. A new theme song for us, perhaps?Christina Sellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08401826381021947279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5257811012678007955.post-84328813526038511632008-01-29T20:16:00.000-08:002008-01-29T20:16:00.000-08:00I kept having that song in my head today by Bloodh...I kept having that song in my head today by Bloodhound Gang-"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don't need no water let the Mô+%$)*%*&^ burn, burn M&%^$)(§⌂, burn."Jeremiah Wallacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16676880939117636080noreply@blogger.com