PARTICIPANTS at the day-long fun(work)shop with Yogacharini Maitreyi at the GRT Convention Centre on Saturday called the 3M – Magick of Mindfulness, learnt how little movements of the body, stretches and deep and focused breathing can create wonderful changes in life.
The success and fulfillment of desires in life happen not because of the way we function in the conscious mind, but of the kind of impressions stored in the sub-conscious mind. This, along with the human body is the child in you says Maitreyi.
There are four ways to talk with this child, the sub-conscious mind – one is through sounds, the next is through movements of the body, the third is by visual imagery and the fourth is through the breath.
“When the body goes through stress and strains from work, practicing Jathis or conscious movements of the body parts such as the feet, legs, wrists, hands and the head and Asanas help,” she says.
Talking about making the right noises – real noises like birds and animals, she says are ways by which the stress that is accumulated is released out of the body. “As we become more and more modern, we get more inhibited about making sounds,” she says.
Asana according to Maitreyi is not just a posture as is generally understood, but it is a state of being. Most of the diseases that human beings get is said to be psycho-somatic and here these movements and sounds are a somato psychotherapy, using the power of the sub-conscious mind.
There was an interesting Burra Katha presentation by the Arkaya team that had the audience participating along with the actors in understanding the subtle nuances of yoga.
The evening was spent with group events among participants with simple techniques such as looking into each others' eyes without awareness in the beginning and again after being centred within oneself by breathing deep a couple of times.
She also spoke about handling emotional issues by applying the principle of Pratipaksha Bhavana or converting the irritating other into a little child.
A tasty yet healthy lunch with salads that one could be a mix of their choice, bajra rotis, bottle gourd kheer and glazed fruits dessert, butter milk and banana stem juice and cucumber or green tea for the coffee breaks added to the excitement of learning a yogic lifestyle to good health. (www.arkaya.net / arkayoga@gmail.com / 2822 1051).
swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com