sábado, 29 de dezembro de 2012

GIVE A NEW STEP*

O final de mais um ano é sempre um tempo de reflexão. Viajamos para trás e relembramos momentos vividos, episódios importantes de todo um ano que passou. Lembramos dos dias de sorrisos e dos dias de lágrimas. Pensamos no que ainda pretendemos cumprir e naquilo que desistimos de ambicionar. Recordamos resoluções, planos, estratégias, caminhos que seguimos e as metas que conseguimos alcançar, mas também visualizamos o que não correu bem, os problemas que enfrentámos, os obstáculos que surgiram sem aviso prévio, as dificuldades e as tristezas.

Um ano inteiro de momentos sólidos e leves que construíram aquilo que hoje desejamos. Aquilo que queremos manter, o que tentamos largar, o que continuamos a lutar para alcançar. Ajudando a esboçar ideias para o novo ano que está a chegar.

Sem ficar com um pé demasiado enterrado no passado, sem jogar o outro demasiado para o futuro, há que fazer contas à vida, ser realista, mas manter a ambição e a esperança e decidir dar um novo passo. Não é fácil. E há muitos riscos. Mas porque não?

Vejo a ponte,
posso cair...
mas e porque não?
Tenho o meu tapete às costas,
darei um novo passo...
Feliz 2013.


*imagem retirada de pesquisa online.

***********

It is another New Year and it is always a time of reflection.  We go back and remember fun moments and important episodes of the past year.  We remember the days full of smiles and those of tears.  We think of all that we still want to accomplish, our ambitions and what we are destined to do. We remember the resolutions, plans, strategies, paths that we follow and the goals we have achieved, but we also visualise what did not go quite as well, the problems in front of us, the obstacles that come up without warning, the sadness and difficulties.

A whole year of solid and lighter moments, which build what we want today, those that we want to keep, those that we try to forget, or those that we continue to fight to achieve, all help sketch ideas for the new year that is coming.

Without getting ones foot buried in the past, or without playing too far ahead, we have to weigh up life, be realistic, but keep our ambition and hope, and decide to take a new step.  It’s not easy, there are many risks, by why not?

I see the bridge, I could fall… but why not? I carry my mat on my back; I will take a new step.

Happy 2013

*Image taken from an online search.
 


quinta-feira, 27 de dezembro de 2012

Our 2012 gift

Conforme combinámos... aqui estão eles...os postais- presente para os praticantes mais assíduos. A lista tem vindo a crescer, sejam como os vossos colegas de prática, venham estender os vossos tapetes e esticar os vossos corpos até dia 31 de Dezembro.

Boa entrada em 2013.
Boas práticas!

**********
As we arranged... here they are... the postcards, a present for the most dedicated practitioners.  The list is growing, be like your fellow practitioners, come and roll out your mats and stretch your bodies until 31st December. 
Happy 2013.
Happy Practicing!

terça-feira, 25 de dezembro de 2012

Another example and inspiration from Santa...

Faça como o Senhor da Barbas, perca a barriguinha extra e encontre no seu corpo e mente, saúde para viver muitos mais anos. Bom Natal e Boas práticas!


*ilustração de Boonchu Tanti.

**********
Be like the Bearded man, loose the little extra belly and find your healthy body and mind, to live a longer life. Happy Christmas and Happy Practicing.

*illustration by Boonchu Tanti

quarta-feira, 19 de dezembro de 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS...WITH YOUR ASHTANGA YOGA


Este ano o Pai Natal decidiu dedicar mais tempo à sua saúde, virou praticante de Ashtanga e perdeu a sua famosa barriguinha, ganhou um "six-pack" e muitos mais anos de vida. Faça como o mais reconhecido Senhor das Barbas e entre no espírito de Natal com a sua prática de Ashtanga Yoga. Bom Natal! Boas práticas!



*ilustração de Boonchu Tanti.

**********

This year Father Christmas decided to dedicate more time to his health, he started practicing Ashtanga and lost his famous belly, he got a "six pack" and many more years of life.  
Do as the the most well known Bearded man did, and enter the spirit of Christmas with your Ashtanga Yoga practice.  
Happy Christmas! Happy Practicing!

*Illustration by Boonchu Tanti.

terça-feira, 11 de dezembro de 2012

ASHTANGIS OF MY TIME - ARMINDA MARRERO


NAME: Arminda Marrero
AGE: 31 years
PLACE OF BIRTH: Canary Island, Spain
PROFESSION: Finance worker
YEARS OF PRACTICE: 3 years

HOW YOU FOUND ASHTANGA YOGA?
A good friend who had been in India many times, always on a quest to deepen his meditation practice, had started going to the center of Ananda Zorzo in Las Palmas, and told me about the classes: "Arminda you have to go, you´ll love it!". I remember that his explanation didn´t sound clear to me, that the combination between breath and poses would produce heat in the body, i really couldn´t imagine it. But it made me curious. I had done Yoga a long time ago, based on breathing techniques and meditation, i had never heard of the asanas, so i went and ... voilá! 
I remember that in the first class, i was exhausted! And that i keep asking to myself, "what is this?". Kind of awake up something inside me, that i can´t explain, i felt a great connection, it was like i found the practice, and the practice found me. 

WHEN YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS PRACTICE IN YOUR DAILY LIFE? 
Almost from the beggining, i just wanted to go deeper into the practice, feel it. Quickly, it became a daily morning practice for me. This wasn´t difficult, i have never been late nights, i dived for years, i have climbed some years too, already had the routine of going to bed early and get up at dawn. I´ve always liked the feeling of being connected with biorhythms, with nature, get up with the sun. So the idea of taking the practice to the first thing you do upon walking, i found it cute. It was my meditation!
Many people say:"in the evening your body will be more flexible!", and is true, but that never made me  deciding to not practice in the morning. Often heard people also saying:" i prefer to practice after work, to download all the tensions and problems of the day.", and this idea seemed totally opposite from feelings with the practice, i always felt i wanted to practice early. Also because i started working at 8a.m., so i got up at five, and quarter to six i was in the mat. It helped a lot because my good friend Manu, that is a great inspiration to me, also practice early so we joined and we practice together. 
Practice in the morning is not a sacrifice, well, sometimes can be...(ehehe).

IS THERE ANY SPECIAL MOMENT(S) OR STORY THAT YOU LIVED, WHICH REPRESENT FOR YOU, WHAT ASHTANGA YOGA IS? 
I think the moment and story i just answered to you in the previous question, Ashtanga Yoga is discovery, search, discipline, humility and... sacrifice!

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE, WHAT IS THE FIRST WORD THAT COMES TO YOUR MIND?
 Freedom! That is the first word that comes to my head. That and "samvega", which is the term to
designate the determination from the heart to pratice.

ASHTANGA YOGA HAVE...?
Purity... and a bit of Durkha (suffering)!(eeheh). 

ASHTANGA YOGA DOESN´T HAVE?
Cheat. When you practice Ashtanga Yoga, is like you are naked, you can see everything, your anxities, 
fears, insecurities, desires... there is no space for lies. 

YOU WORK FOR A BIG FIRM. HOW YOU FIND THE BALANCE BETWEEN YOUR DEMANDING WORK AND YOUR YOGA PRACTICE?
I´m still looking for! My personal life has been changing in this last year, i´m living in another country, and now is a little more difficult. A good friend told me, after i shared with him my worries and that now is more difficult to get up early and practice, because my place of work is one hour and half from our house, etc, And he said:"Armi, the best practice is whenever you can. Just practice! There will be days you do it with more intensity and day you do it with less... you just find your time and practice!"
And i´m finding it...

IN A WORLD THAT LIVES FOR THE OUTSIDE, ASHTANGA YOGA BRINGS US BACK TO OUR INSIDE. CAN YOU DESCRIBE IN A SMALL SENTENCE, WHAT YOU FEEL 
AND EXPERIENCE EACH TIME YOU PRACTICE?
The practice is like a way to find the ability to stop, a way to learn to stop. 

sexta-feira, 7 de dezembro de 2012

THANK YOU ASHTANGIS...

Obrigada a todos os que estiveram na nossa casa de prática durante a minha ausência. Obrigada a todos que fazem parte desta casa;).

Segunda lá estarei a receber-vos.
Até já.

* foto retirada de pesquisa online.

***********



Thank you to all those who have been in our house of practice during my absence. 
Thank you to all those who make up our house :)
I will be there to welcome you on Monday.
See you then!

terça-feira, 4 de dezembro de 2012

OUR 2012 SHOULDER BAGS


Disponíveis em verde, roxo e preto...
Prontos para levarmos as nossas roupas de prática, toalha e afins...
Boas práticas!

**********

Available in green, purple and black. 
Ready to carry our practice clothes, towel and other bits...
Happy Practicing








segunda-feira, 3 de dezembro de 2012

PRACTICING

Qualquer lugar serve para praticarmos Ashtanga Yoga. 
Ter um espaço-escola, um professor e colegas ao nosso redor é muito precioso, mas em viagem, de férias ou em trabalho, recebemos a oportunidade perfeita para compreendermos que o Ashtanga é de facto uma prática de flexibilidade mental. 

Para quê avançarmos pela primeira, segunda, terceira séries do Ashtanga Yoga, se vivemos limitados por regras, hábitos ou padrões? Nada como testarmos os nossos limites, sacudirmos e expandirmos as nossas zonas de conforto. Abrir portas para novas experiências e vivermos novas histórias onde sentimos mudanças e uma capacidade obrigatória de adaptação a novas situações, a novos ambientes... e mesmo que pareça mais difícil, ou mais fácil de movermos o corpo em sintonia com a respiração, percebemos que qualquer lugar serve para praticarmos
Ashtanga Yoga. 



Seja dentro do quarto, naquele pequeno espaço entre a cama e a janela, seja lá fora, de frente para o mar, onde não temos paredes ou tecto, seja em cima do nosso querido "mat" ou simplesmente sobre uma toalha. Seja a dividirmos o drishti, entre o Nasagri e as formigas gigantes que picam e que tendem a subir para cima do nosso "cotton"...
qualquer lugar serve para praticarmos Ashtanga Yoga.


*foto retirada de pesquisa online.

**********

You can practice Ashtanga Yoga in any location.
To have a school, a teacher, colleagues near to us is great, but during our travels whether work or holidays, we have the perfect opportunity to see that Ashtanga is in fact a practice of mental flexibility.

Why advance from first, second to the third Ashtanga Yoga series, if we live limited by rules, habits or standards? Without testing our limits, shake and expand ourselves from our comfort zones.  To open the doors to new experiences and new stories where we feel changes and an obligatory capacity to adapt to new situations and new environments… and even if it seems the most difficult, or most easy to move our bodies in synchronisation with breathing, thus we understand that any space can serve to practice our Ashtanga Yoga.

Whether is be inside a room, that small space between the bed and the window, outside, in front of or next to the sea, where we don’t have walls or a roof, whether it be on top of our beloved mat or simply on a towel. Whether we divide the dristhi between Nasagari and the giant biting ants that crawl on our “cotton”… any place can serve to practice our Ashtanga Yoga.