Wednesday 13 June 2012

The Jivamukti Yoga Experience

Yesterday, I decided to return to my yoga home, Bliss Yoga, to realign my body in another Yoga Fundamentals class of Corey Wills. Unfortunately, teacher Corey wasn't able to make it to the studio. So Jivamukti yoga teacher Nacy Siy had to sub for him.

It was my first time attending a Jivamukti class and teacher Nancy was very kind to give us a brief background of the practice and what to expect during the class.

Jivamukti came from two Sanskrit words -- jiva which means soul, and mukti which means freedom or liberation. Jivamukti, the freedom of one's soul.

We started out with a chant of "ohm" then gently flowed into a series of Jivamukti Surya Namaskar. There were a few differences as to how the sun salutations were executed. For example, from tadasana, while lifting our arms up, we were told to hook our thumbs together with hands facing front doing a slight backbend at the peak before swan-diving into uttanasana.

Teacher Nancy also went around and applied a kind of balm (which felt like Vicks :) ) at the back of each of our necks. I'm not quite sure what it was really for but it somehow helped me regulate my breathing. When I forget to breath, my mind looks for the scent of the balm then I remember to inhale deeply.

Towards the end of the class I almost did my first unsupported headstand. Well, almost.
 
After a good 1 hour and 15 minutes and after liters of sweat exited my body, we were ready to rest in savasana. While in savasana, teacher Nancy again applied another kind of balm (this time it reminded me of the balm which the priest applies on your forehead during confirmation) on my nape, forehead, shoulders and gave us a slight head massage. It felt really good after a pretty intense (maybe for me) workout.

We ended the class in a seated pose and chanted a few Sanskrit lines before ending the class.

I loved the Jivamukti experience and I shall be looking forward to taking teacher Nancy's classes again.

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