Yoga Slovakia week is coming closer

I have decided to write a bit about Slovakia. Many people are interested in the first week of yogaslovakia holiday (see website for details), but many of you are asking about the future dates as well.

The location is perfectly chosen - it offers plenty of skiing opportunities for different levels in winter while in summer - there are many walking routes all around for anybody to enjoy this beautiful nature.

There are three cottages (nice little family run business) - each of them has something special to offer. The participants of our group will stay in one of them, the evening spa session will be in another one.

Lots of you are worried about food - to be honest, Slovak food is very different, but the owners are very keen to show their hospitality and skills - therefore if you have any special requests, just let me know and we will happily provide the requested. Alternatively there is fully equipped kitchen on each floor - for the guests to use, so don't worry I won't let anyone to starve. Unless you want to obviously.

Lots of your questions are about travel arrangements. As I described on the web site - it's quite easy to get to Bratislava by plane - from there we can pick you up or you can rent a car (convenient especially if you are planning to visit some towns and places around). The place we are staying is not totally remote - the village Terchova is well connected via buses to Zilina - from where you can take train, bus or even fly to other destinations. There is a possibility to rent a car or bike on the spot as well.

Weather is always an issue - but I have to say I was totally impressed with temperatures and sunlight this year. There are hopes for long and nice Indian summer - although I do recommend to pack warm clothes as well. Closer to the dates we will know more, so I shall be sending information about the weather to all participants.

Please feel free to ask any more questions, I will happily update this post with reply.

Inner peace

For those of you who have seen the Kung-fu Panda II, this piece tries to shed a bit more light onto the subject. For those who haven't seen it yet, never mind.

I have had many students telling me how great they feel after classes, but how it's completely impossible to feel good when facing day-to-day stress and or angry boss, relative or when something bad happens. First, I would like to say, I know it's not easy. I have been through that myself, I can understand it. At the same time - who said it's supposed to be easy? Why do we expect everything to be easy in life? And secondly - I also know it's possible. You can keep your inner peace - and the more you practise to maintain in that frame of mind, the easier it will be for you to get there in hard or stressful situations.

So how do we achieve it at the first place? We can't run off to have meditation and do some exercises each time we face stressful situation, can we? Well, there are two things that are important here: one - to create self protection system that will help us avoid the stress from outside to get too deep inside and two - have a system in place for us to help us quickly return into this state after we have been thrown out of balance.

First system relates to our strength - but I don't mean muscle strength, but energy strength. One of the benefits of regular yoga practise is generating and increasing our energy level. This energy is stored in our chakras - the body energy is mostly stored in our second chakra - hence kundalini yoga works on the first and second chakra in most cases. The bigger the energy storage is, the more stress one can handles without being affected too much. (I can see few of you saying - yeah right, but how does it work? Well - to put it simply - any stress creates hormonal response that puts the body in fight or flight situation. It basically prepares the body for either fighting it's ground of fleeing. So - to use purely simplistic example - the most stressful situations are life-threatening, imagine you are a body builder and martial arts master and you walk down the street and suddenly there is some little guy threatening you with his fist and poking you with his finger. Firstly, you wouldn't probably feel very threatened and secondly you would be able to deal with the threat very quickly. Sorry for the violent example, but it's easy to visualise and understand. Now imagine the situation being reversed - you are the little guy walking down the street...) I am not suggesting that we all become body-builders, as I said, the usual stress and the way to deal with it doesn't usually involves bigger muscles. So the stronger our energy level is - the easier it is to fence off the stress, but also deal with it quickly.

Second system - to get us back into balance is equally important. Because believe me, even if you work on your energy level and you feel strong and confident, there will be situations, that will throw you out of the balance. And this is where breathwork and meditation comes to place. It is important to find your own way - when you think about the many ways actors use to fight their butterfly feeling - it gives you an idea how many possibilities there are really. But they all work on two basic principles - one is acceptance and the second is focus. Meditation and different pranayama techniques teach us both of this and therefore can be extremely helpful in restoring our inner peace and balance.

Let me know how you fight the stress and if this article has been helpful.

Nature

Since I was a little boy I have felt very close to nature. It might be because of the place I lived - Zilina my home-town sits within a valley - has great mountains all around and the whole part of north-west Slovakia is full of forests. But maybe it's because we all feel deep inside that we are part of nature and feel close to it as such.

As I travelled through USA it completely amazed me how every little bit of beauty can be exploited - I know it should be shared, right? And it should be easily accessible, right? And it should be this and it should be that - but actually no, nature was here first and certainly it is not here just waiting for us to stop by and make it an attraction for us to come and see. I was shocked realizing that to go through natural park in USA all you need to do is stop at certain points, park your car - walk 20-50 metres to the viewpoint look around, say your oh what a beauty, take picture and get back to car as there is another group approaching.

And I am very grateful that beauty in Slovakia is still natural - in it's own right. You can walk through the National Parks (well ok, most of them have now signed trails), you can stop anywhere you want and wherever you stop and look around there is something to see - whether it's a picturesque mountain view, rare animal or plant or simply the way the grass moves in the wind.

I love nature and I love exploring it. If you want to join me on exploration adventure, let me know and I will guide you.

Travel yoga

I went to London yesterday - that's why no post from me - I know you were all soooo excited. I tried to write something on the train, but found it impossible.

It always shocks me - the amount of people on tube, train - everytime I go to London. But what really gets to me is the fact that hardly anybody is smiling on public transport. I wonder why that is - is it because they know they have to waste so much time of their days just travelling from A to B or is it because doing it everyday just totally gets to you?

That's why this blog is for all of you who travel everyday on tube, train and found it boring (I know you have those free papers to read through - but oh well - anything interesting in?). You can use this time for your own practise - there are few exercises that work very well - one is breathwork and the other is kundalini work out.

Becoming aware of your breath is meditation in itself, but try to slow down your breath, breathing through your tummy, deeper and deeper (I advice you to be seated first time you play with your breath - you can become lightheaded). Put gentle smile on your face - and you might find out that not only your journey was a bit quicker today, but that you actually did something for yourself on the way. If you have a chance to lock your fingers into some kind of mudra - that's even better.

"Kundalini work out" is basically working on the energy level - gathering energy and opening up chakras - in this case it's the first and second chakra we want to work on. This exercise is safe, but again as with any exercise watch your body and stop if you see any signs of discomfort. Now obviously as you know our energy centres - chakras are inside our body so to get to work with them we need to use muscles that are surrounding them - in case of second chakra is quite easy - pulling your stomach in (best practised with breath - on breath out you pull your stomach in). When it comes to first chakra - it's a bit more complicated due to its location - but again - worth trying. Calling this exercise "tightening anus" would probably put you all off even before you start reading this post, but that's exactly what it is. Tightening the muscles of your buttocks and inside.

Now both this practises are very easily done on public transport - they don't require any extra space and if you skip your hissing breath nobody will notice. They are very powerful though so I advice you to start slowly and build for longer period of time. They also generate and create heat inside your body as more and more energy is generated so be prepared for that. And of course unless you don't need to stay up late it's better to practise them in the morning to give you energy during the day.

Enjoy. Oh and don't forget the important bit - smile so that next time I go to London I can see who read my post. :)

Yoga and body time

Yoga is amazing. All those who have experienced the bliss that it can bring would probably agree. But I have to say it's not only yoga - any exercise that works the body and mind at the same time can help you achieve the blissful feeling. At the same time even practising asanas can bring you nothing more than stretched muscles if you don't engage your whole being into in as well as your mind and breath.

Yoga teaches us to watch and feel our body. And I found this very beneficial in daily life - getting attuned to  your body, to the pains, to the processes, to what's happening inside. Well - ask yourself a question - when was the last time you did something for your own body (and I don't mean brushing your teeth or washing your face in the morning - that's more for  your vanity mind - eee maybe even for the benefit of all those around you) - I mean really only for the benefit of  your own body. That obviously requires you to know what is good and what is beneficial for your body isn't it?

If you would like to really know your body, you need to become sensitive to it's calls. I do agree it's not always easy, because our mind likes chatting to us all day long and doesn't like anybody and anything to disturb it - yet if we want to create unity of body, mind and spirit - we need to be able to listen to them all.

So try this simple exercise - next time you practise yoga at home - instead of your regular practise choose only one asana and hold this one posture for the whole time. You will be amazed what your body has to say, although it might be at first only cries for help and of pain. Carry on through it and you will get yourself on the right way to understand and feel your body in everyday activity. And let me know how it went.

PS> obviously basic precautions apply, try to choose a pose that is not one sided at first (with muscles working more or only on one side of the body - creating balance and unity is about using your whole body).

The bread and butter meditation

Oh yes, you read that right. Components involved are: baguette or any other nice white bread - butter, garlic and parsley - oh my!!! Once you get it out of the oven.. warning for those who don't read the label - the content may be hot - be careful, make sure that you find yourself nice quiet corner to sit and enjoy.

I prefer milk with any garlic stuff (it takes the funny smell away you know) and make sure that you break into it, let it crunch under your teeth and then slowly swallow, making sure your taste buds are getting the full whack!

Now I see some of you already complaining.. where is the meditation bit - well.. it looks like you were not paying attention.. this is the meditation - the whole and complete practise - firstly, how you can meditate doing just about anything and secondly, more importantly it teaches you how to stay focused even though your senses are overloaded.

Well let me know how you getting on.. time for me to practise what I tried to pass on here today:)

The very special yoga week in Slovakia

For all those who have known me for quite a while I have finally managed to get my act together and am organising the yoga week in pure nature of Slovak mountains.

There is lots to look forward to - including yoga classes (yes, traditional Hatha, but also my special ones), walks in nature (be prepared that the weather at this time of year can be tricky, so obviously there is alternative programme just in case), evening spa (now for those who have not tried it yet - it's a bliss to stretch and work your body and then sink into hot bath or sauna), lots of traditional Slovak food and much more.

I have been very lucky to find this place - a gem hidden within the mountains and suprise suprise - looks very much like the one that I would like to have eventually.

Before you ask any questions, please feel free to visit my web - http://www.yogaslovakia.co.uk/ and I am definetely looking forward to seeing you all there (well at least most of you).

May the force be with you.. (oh, that's from different movie, ain't it?)