Transformation is starting to take place – it’s now Day 7 of Geetaji’s convention
Trying to open my chest in Adho Mukha Svanasana before we start the day.
These last 7 days, Geetaji has offered us quite the most marvelous teaching I have ever experienced in any subject, it has became an occasion to mark Guruji’s death, so many stories and so much sharing with us, she even said she loved us and we said we loved her. It was deeply sad at times and people wept tears, as her loss was palpable, I felt the loss of my parents come up strongly, and yet there was a sense of urgency and compassion in Geetaji for us, to get across what she knew because she didn’t want us to go wrong. She is not well at all, but with lots of assistance from Zubin, Abhi, Rajlaxmi, Devki, Rajvi, Birjoo, Ria, Uday, Sonita, Navaz and about 15 other senior Indian teachers, we have been given so much.
Geoffrey opens up his hips before we start the day.
Today is Sunday December 7th a special celebration of Geetaji’s birthday took place, with a large group of children who attend the children’s classes at the institute joining us in the practice.
We were asked to only have our mats, no other equipment, so that we could experience how a child might learn. One beautiful image she gave us was of the birds wings; as we extended our arms to the sides and then brought them up straight above our heads, we made a clapping sound as though the wings were flapping, and repeated lots of times. We flowed into jumpings, but building with mots of repetition:
Tadasana
Uttanasana
repeat…
Tadasana
Uttkatasana
repeat….
Uttanasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
repeat….
Uttanasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
repeat…..
Uttanasana
Adho Mukha
Chataranga Dandasana
Urhva Mukha
Adho Mukha
repeat……
etc
Flowing from one movement to the next quite quickly, we found a lot of freedom as the class wasn’t static. Geeta said ‘don’t correct the children’ they need to enjoy it.
Pranayama: Jalandhar Bandha
After a short break we brought all our equipment back in, and we sat in Svastikasana to start the class. Chest open and lifted.
Geeta taught us a number of methods to help us to get Jalandhar Bandha and bring the head down- The chin lock. For example: Manually with our hands – widening the skin from the centre of the throat to the sides of the jaw.
This bandha achieves the stillness of mind and body, this bandha also reduces blood pressure.
