Aloha: Teaching Yoga at Maui Yoga Path: October 9, 2021: Kihei, HI

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“True yoga isn’t about the shape of your body. It’s about the shape of your life”—Aadil Palkvivala

No heels to the ground in Downdog? No problem. “True yoga isn’t about the shape of your body. It’s about the shape of your life”, says Aadil Palkhivala.

For me, it’s a little of both. Teaching yoga oceanfront at Maui Yoga Path is a dream come true, I’m also very interested in the shapes of poses these days. Because I’m bendy, it’s easy for me to reach ambitiously into poses. And I’m learning to move more from aligning my boney landmarks. Newfound inner stability has taken the edge off my anxiety, rather dramatically I must say.

Yoga meets us where we’re at. How lucky to find my way to an Iyengar studio. How awesome it is the learn and practice and share in new ways. While our practice on the ocean has an eye on safety, to be sure, for some yogis, it’s all about alignment of the body. To me it feels completely amazing to stack my bones. And a funny thing is happening on my yoga path at the Maui Yoga Path, that my stable body alignment is giving me freedom from panic attacks and general fear of people and new things. Which has come in very handy because yoga is new everyday, and more people are showing in in my life, in class and otherwise, and I’m learning to connect with my heart in more whole and meaningful ways.

In today’s class we talked about yoga sutra 3.35 (concentration on the heart reveals the contents of the mind) as well as feeling the island aloha, which, one translation is “in the presence of the breath”. And we did the following sequence with some focus on both of them.

Swastikasana
Hand rub/Thigh rubs
Gaze and heart
Sutra 3.35 meditation

Supine knees to chest
Apanasana
Supine padagustasana
Half swaistikasana
Savasana

Supine Tadasana

Ado Muka Swastikasana
Marichiasana (inner and outer twist_

Anjenayasana with. backbend option

Tadasana
Uttithatadasana with block with shoulder opener

Prasarita padatadasana with twist
Trikonasana with 2 blocks
Tadasana with aloha meditation

Navasana

Setu Bandasana
Supine baddha konasana
Savasana

Sit
Namaste