Heart Opening with Marcela

Yesterday I spent a wonderful afternoon with one of my dearest teachers Marcela for a touching heart opening workshop in The Yoga Garden; a stunning Mogalian style Yurt in the beautiful sussex countryside.  I loved the intimate space and was lovely to be in the midst of nature, definately something I'd like to emulate in future.

I've been going to Marcela's classes for around 3 years and attended two yoga holidays with her, I can't begin to summarise how much I've learnt from her teachings, incredible attention to the anatomical body and core strength/bandhas, creative sequencing, building ujjayi breath and sense of fun and play!  As a teacher what I now really appreciate and find inspiring is seeing how Marcela's own practice is continually evolving and shifting and how this reflects through her teachings with real authenticity in a constant state of enquiry and passing on.  I'm determined to honour my students in the same way and have this real yearning to continually learn, stretch myself and seek knowledge and inspiration from the widest sources.

Marcela devoted the anahata chakra awakening workshop to compassion.  Being compassionate to ourselves means allowing suffering.  Suffering is a natural part of life, and to be compassionate with others we need to experience and feel emotions.  This is part of surfing the wave of life, sometimes the sea is calm and happy and sometimes the sea is rough and angry.  We need to be flexible and release feelings otherwise our surfboard will get stiff, tense and eventually snap.  We should trust in the flow of life, everything is moving, no emotion is constant. 

However our brain can get addicted to certain emotional patterns amd the neurotransmitters these produce so we can use certain techniques to trick the mind.  For example if we smile even if we don't feel happy it releases endorphins which make you feel happy - try it for yourself.   In our yoga practice we can work with our body to override negativity and physiologically cultivate positive feelings.  A great example is backbending which opens the heart and as Marcela explains,  

"Performing them makes you feel elegant, light and clear-minded. There is a euphoric sense of liberation in releasing the heart, and feeling fully alive and connected to nature. when we let go, so does the spine, and then universal Prana can flow through us."

Marcela Enriquez Wakeham http://www.stillflowingyogateachertraining.com/teachers/marcela

The Yoga Garden http://www.theyogagarden.co.uk/index.html