Moments of euphony with Emil

Thanks to my dear friend and one of London’s most fantastic, dedicated, centered and connected vinyasa flow teachers AJ, I had the pleasure of attending a Pranayama and Philosophy workshop with her beloved teacher Emil on Thursday evening.  Emil greeted me, taking my hands in his and his aura was so calming and warm I could immediately see why AJ had sung his praises and felt incredibly lucky to be there.  

We spent 1 ½ on pranayama/ breathing exercises.  As you may have picked up from this blog breath is a really integral part of my practice and I incorporate pranayama exercises into my daily practice.  However I have not experienced much teaching in pranayama, as Emil pointed out London is one of the leading places for yoga asana (physical practice) but there is not many classes focusing on pranayama, so this was eye-opening.  I would often do rounds of kapalabhati or bastrika in quick succession but Emil showed me that the true moments of peace are when you allow time to come into still silence between the exercises, when having worked and strongly manipulated the breath you completely let go and come into a natural state of breathing and bliss. 

Emil also showed me the beauty of subtlety when applying bandhas and using mudras and awareness.  When in kumbhaka (retaining the breath) I would typically come into full mulha, uddiyana bandha and jalandhara bandha but Emil encouraged us to soften and work with our awareness bringing it to the tip of the nose or our root.  By letting go gently, I found my mind letting go. 

We also did a wonderful variation of nadi shodhana; breathing in through both nostrils and raise the right arm out to the side and reaching up above our head, then bringing the right thumb to close off the right nostril to breath out of the left nostril as slowly right lower the elbow down to the centre and releasing the right hand to right knee and changing side to side.  During this exercise we took our awareness to our hands, my fingers tingled with energy and felt this freedom of otherness.  Emil talked about meditation being a holiday from yourself and complete rest and relaxation which completely resonated with my experience of nadi shodhana. 

Following the pranayama practice Emil imparted more of his wisdom and humour.  He reminded us that we are householders not professional yogis / sadhus – the renunciaters who leave everything behind to live in solitude in pursuit of enlightenment – so we should be realistic, find what works for us to create a balance as if we did follow all the practices of the renunciaters we would come into trouble.  Without a busy mind we wouldn’t survive one minute in London – crossing the road would be a challenge, we wouldn’t be able to hold down a job or support our families.  So allow this yoga just to let us slow down sometimes and be a rest, a holiday from the busyness.  And is it really so wrong to have desires?  Isn’t it in fact great to desire our partners?  Isn’t it lovely to feel attachment to our families and friends?  This was such a refreshing approach! 

Emil  talked about Tantra and this being a fairly new concept (in the ancient history of yoga that is), about spanda the vibration which connects the universe and allows us to stay connected to the world around us.  So rather than turning inwards and leaving everything around us and renunciating we can turn towards a viewpoint which connects us with the everything in the world, the bigger, the higher.  As a householder we can use the yogic ethics to guide us on this journey, to help us evolve but we can stay connected to the world around us and in the words of Emil it’s ok to desire chocolate!  Phew!

Emil Wendel
http://www.beyond-the-asana.com/

AJ
http://www.ajyoga.co.uk/