Since beginning this yoga venture, I've found myself starting to look at the world through different eyes. Everywhere it seems there are companies, ventures, services, ideas, all vying for our attention. On the high street, on flyer notice boards, on the internet (although that's a little more hidden), on twitter - all this advertising shouts (some louder than others) for you to look, read, understand, participate, spend. Obviously this is just my perception changing.
Before, when I had a job with a salary, and a stable, everyday routine, I don't think I really ever looked at all this. If I needed something, I'd google it or ask around, then go get it - or go to it. Simple as that. The variety available was good. London was the best place to be because the variety was largest. But now I feel a little overwhelmed...
As I write this, the idea of memes pops into my mind. A meme is an idea, behaviour, or belief existing in culture that, like genes, becomes replicated through imitation and communication. Also like genes, they supposedly mutate and respond to selective pressures (survival of the fittest).
I'm thinking about how to market my existing classes, and weighing up the pros and cons of starting new classes in various centres. How do you go about attracting people? Is the market flooded with teachers, classes everywhere (gyms even with cover lists that are difficult to get onto); or flooded with students, not enough classes for the demand? How do you thrive in a busy market-place, facing the competition head-on, seeing it as a challenge rather than something insurmountable?
I'm very inexperienced at this. In astronomy, a certain amount of self-marketing was always needed, but (fortunately or unfortunately) I always worked in a fairly niche sub-field. It was more about getting people to understand the importance of what I was doing than competing against others doing similar projects.
I had a, in the end quite inspirational, meeting today with the manager of the Awareness Centre in Clapham (had a lovely feel, and I suspect they do some really great work there). He said that to some extent the success or failure of something like a yoga class is partly up to the Universe (fate, luck, or whatever). But, crucially, he also thought that success comes when you (the teacher) are ready. Not when the potential students are ready, but when you are ready. I think he's right. It's about having your energy in the right place, heading in the right direction.
Am I ready?
I'm not teaching my yoga, my mindfulness practices. I'm simply a conduit, a channel through which these practices are being communicated. And (for the record) I think the practices are awesome! - transformational maybe, connecting certainly, plain everyday useful absolutely.
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Enter Zen
At our housewarming party last week we were given a (signed) copy of this lovely little book by Dainei Tracy on zen awakening Enter Zen (not the contents, not the container). It's based on her experiences at a zen sesshin (retreat) at Gaunts House in 2011 led by our zen teacher's teacher Shinzan Roshi. It's beautiful! I love the illustration, the colours, the kind of jumbled up words and phrases that actually really make sense! I could really feel Shinzan Roshi's presence! The one Mu in the whole Universe...! It was so alive it felt like an animation. Great work!
Friday, 24 May 2013
mindfulness (for commuters)
I've been tasked by my Zen teacher Daizan Roshi with putting together a leaflet to hand out at the station in the morning on "Mindfulness for commuters". The idea is that it will explain about mindfulness, why it's useful, how it can help on their commute and in daily life, and how it can be put into practice during the commuting time. It won't be an advert for the zen group, but simply give the web address (zenways.org) if they want to find out more.
One thing that became clear as I was jotting down some ideas is that I really need to know our audience better. How can we best get to that closed off, head-buried-in-their-kindle commuter, and encourage them to experiment with mindfulness - and hopefully see some immediate effects/benefits.
So I joined Chris, one of our members at the zen group and who's been a London commuter for 32 years, on his commute in yesterday morning from Denmark Hill overground station in SE London to the city. It was fascinating! He's been thinking about this for some time and had many observations and little jems to show me. For example, it was a nice sunny morning, so why is it that some people choose to stand in the tunnel not on the open platform in the sun? It's not really that people are miserable (although the feeling might've been closer to that on a cold and wet, dark February morning...) but that they are just withdrawn into themselves. They stand in a little bubble with their iPod, kindle or book and pay little or no attention to the outside world except for the train time indicator. They're in this in-between time, between home and work. But is it dead time, or is it valuable alone-time where they can get on with some reading? Is it a comforting routine, or a stressful battle to get the right train, get a seat, fight through the crowd, and get to work on-time? As an observer, the platform and the train appeared strangely quiet and still, peaceful even. But I remember from the days when I used to commute, it was rarely quiet and peaceful in my head - even when I didn't have my iPod in.
Another thing that came up in our discussion was how to define what mindfulness really is. What exactly are we encouraging them to do...?! In the end we came up with some ideas along the lines of "having a quiet mind: one in which judgements, discrimination and attachments to feelings are kept at a minimum" or "being in the moment, feeling and experiencing what is happening right now, not letting feelings generated in one moment spill over and affect the next moment".
But the challenge really is to work out how to direct a potential commuting reader towards these goals. How do you encourage mindfulness without it being too airy-fairy or, as Chris puts it, "twee"? A hard nosed commuter is probably not going to respond well to asking them to try and smile at everyone they pass! So let's concentrate on the breath. Everyone breaths, and I think pretty much everyone can become aware of their breath if you direct their attention to it. By becoming aware of the breath, nothing needs to change and nothing needs to be done except directing the awareness. So maybe that's it: as you sit there reading your kindle, doing your e-mails on your Blackbery, listening to music, or doing your make-up, just become aware of your breath, its rhythm and depth. Are you breathing in your belly or chest? Without purposefully changing it, does the rhythm or depth change as you're reading this? Can you feel its rhythm change when you begin to walk? What happens to your mind-state when you tune in to the breath? Is there room for thoughts or worries, stories or memories when you're really listening to the breath? How does it make you feel?
In the end mindfulness is not about learning to do anything. It is building an awareness of what is happening whether breathing, seeing, walking or laughing. An awareness that isn't busying itself with conscious thought; an awareness where thoughts come and are go, rise up and pass on, without leaving a trace. The important thing is that it's not about trying to do anything - whether breathing in a certain way, or walking fast or slow. It is just about being with what is.
(thanks Chris for that last paragraph!)
Comments very welcome
One thing that became clear as I was jotting down some ideas is that I really need to know our audience better. How can we best get to that closed off, head-buried-in-their-kindle commuter, and encourage them to experiment with mindfulness - and hopefully see some immediate effects/benefits.
So I joined Chris, one of our members at the zen group and who's been a London commuter for 32 years, on his commute in yesterday morning from Denmark Hill overground station in SE London to the city. It was fascinating! He's been thinking about this for some time and had many observations and little jems to show me. For example, it was a nice sunny morning, so why is it that some people choose to stand in the tunnel not on the open platform in the sun? It's not really that people are miserable (although the feeling might've been closer to that on a cold and wet, dark February morning...) but that they are just withdrawn into themselves. They stand in a little bubble with their iPod, kindle or book and pay little or no attention to the outside world except for the train time indicator. They're in this in-between time, between home and work. But is it dead time, or is it valuable alone-time where they can get on with some reading? Is it a comforting routine, or a stressful battle to get the right train, get a seat, fight through the crowd, and get to work on-time? As an observer, the platform and the train appeared strangely quiet and still, peaceful even. But I remember from the days when I used to commute, it was rarely quiet and peaceful in my head - even when I didn't have my iPod in.
Another thing that came up in our discussion was how to define what mindfulness really is. What exactly are we encouraging them to do...?! In the end we came up with some ideas along the lines of "having a quiet mind: one in which judgements, discrimination and attachments to feelings are kept at a minimum" or "being in the moment, feeling and experiencing what is happening right now, not letting feelings generated in one moment spill over and affect the next moment".
But the challenge really is to work out how to direct a potential commuting reader towards these goals. How do you encourage mindfulness without it being too airy-fairy or, as Chris puts it, "twee"? A hard nosed commuter is probably not going to respond well to asking them to try and smile at everyone they pass! So let's concentrate on the breath. Everyone breaths, and I think pretty much everyone can become aware of their breath if you direct their attention to it. By becoming aware of the breath, nothing needs to change and nothing needs to be done except directing the awareness. So maybe that's it: as you sit there reading your kindle, doing your e-mails on your Blackbery, listening to music, or doing your make-up, just become aware of your breath, its rhythm and depth. Are you breathing in your belly or chest? Without purposefully changing it, does the rhythm or depth change as you're reading this? Can you feel its rhythm change when you begin to walk? What happens to your mind-state when you tune in to the breath? Is there room for thoughts or worries, stories or memories when you're really listening to the breath? How does it make you feel?
In the end mindfulness is not about learning to do anything. It is building an awareness of what is happening whether breathing, seeing, walking or laughing. An awareness that isn't busying itself with conscious thought; an awareness where thoughts come and are go, rise up and pass on, without leaving a trace. The important thing is that it's not about trying to do anything - whether breathing in a certain way, or walking fast or slow. It is just about being with what is.
(thanks Chris for that last paragraph!)
Comments very welcome
 |
| Kanji for mindfulness |
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Six Paramitas
In Zen they talk about the six 'perfections' or Pāramitās as listed in the Prajñapāramitā and Lotus Sutras. These virtues are to be cultivated to help you live an unobstructed life on the way to full awakening. The Sanskrit word paramita means to cross over to the other shore, so these can be thought of as boats or vehicles for making the crossing (from the shore of delusion to the shore of awakening). In Sanskrit they are:
1. Dāna pāramitā: generosity, giving
2. Śīla pāramitā : virtue, morality, discipline, proper conduct
3. Kṣānti (kshanti) pāramitā : patience, tolerance, acceptance
4. Vīrya pāramitā : energy, diligence, vigour, effort
5. Dhyāna pāramitā : single-pointed concentration, contemplation
6. Prajñā pāramitā : wisdom, insight, understanding
This week I've been mostly trying to practice kshanti.
One of the main sources of this practice has been our internet company (the internet in our house still doesn't work) and their call centre, which I assume is based in India. Nothing like a touch of down-to-earth reality in your endeavour towards enlightenment... Their advisers seem only capable of reading certain scripts written for certain situations, and the engineer they finally booked to come yesterday phoned to say he couldn't come because the parking was too difficult. Added to that I spent the day yesterday with one of Jo's relatives who gets easily distracted and finds it difficult to do anything at any speed. Needless to say he's a lovely chap and very well meaning, but kshanti practice was very much in my mind.
Kshanti and to some extent Virya have also been needed this week in relation to my yoga classes. Not many people have been coming to my classes, but I have had some enquiries about people wanting to come this evening, so there's hope!
I hope you're all having a lovely week and rowing steadily along the river of life, allowing its currents to take you where you need to go whilst allowing yourself to glance now and then in the direction of "the other shore".
Friday, 10 May 2013
Classes away...! [read like "chocks away...!"]
Well, no-one came to my first class on Wednesday morning except my lovely girlfriend Jo. I should not only thank her for supporting me, but thank her for going through the class with feedback and thoughts on how well/not well my sequences and descriptions worked. It's like gold dust, comments from an experienced yoga practitioner - and teacher to boot!
Besides the nitty gritty of how I explained (or failed to explain) a certain sequence in a way she could grasp easily, we also discussed what people might want from a morning class (comments welcome by the way...) I think maybe starting with a nice long relaxation and wake-up, then building the pace to something fairly energetic, and finishing with some longer stretches before the closing thanks might be the best way to go - i.e. leaving out the final relaxation. You want to leave people in an awake and energised state for the day ahead. Just some thoughts, I'll have to see what the feel is when I actually start getting some students!
But I did get one whole one student (+Jo!) to my class on Thursday evening!! This was the first 1h30 class I've taught in a very long time - boy it's quite long when you're used to just 1hr... I decided to skip out some of the slower warm-up kind of stuff I normally do at the beginning and get straight on with a flow sequence I've been working on. It was lovely, but complicated to teach. Because it's different to normal "yoga", it takes a while for people to get it, and it's going to take me a while to get really fluent in it. I think in the future I need to break down the sequence and teach it bit-by-bit, building it up first, then putting it together maybe at the end - or maybe even not until after a few classes. Lots to work on… A 1h30 class needs a bit more thought than a 1hr class.
I got some advertising up around the Camberwell area too. Nice little posters attached to the railings in a few parks - see below. We'll see if that generates some interest. Next step is to see if I can get some more classes elsewhere...
Besides the nitty gritty of how I explained (or failed to explain) a certain sequence in a way she could grasp easily, we also discussed what people might want from a morning class (comments welcome by the way...) I think maybe starting with a nice long relaxation and wake-up, then building the pace to something fairly energetic, and finishing with some longer stretches before the closing thanks might be the best way to go - i.e. leaving out the final relaxation. You want to leave people in an awake and energised state for the day ahead. Just some thoughts, I'll have to see what the feel is when I actually start getting some students!
But I did get one whole one student (+Jo!) to my class on Thursday evening!! This was the first 1h30 class I've taught in a very long time - boy it's quite long when you're used to just 1hr... I decided to skip out some of the slower warm-up kind of stuff I normally do at the beginning and get straight on with a flow sequence I've been working on. It was lovely, but complicated to teach. Because it's different to normal "yoga", it takes a while for people to get it, and it's going to take me a while to get really fluent in it. I think in the future I need to break down the sequence and teach it bit-by-bit, building it up first, then putting it together maybe at the end - or maybe even not until after a few classes. Lots to work on… A 1h30 class needs a bit more thought than a 1hr class.
I got some advertising up around the Camberwell area too. Nice little posters attached to the railings in a few parks - see below. We'll see if that generates some interest. Next step is to see if I can get some more classes elsewhere...
 |
| My poster in Myatt's Fields |
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
my new classes are the wight choice...
I'm very excited... Tomorrow I start my new career as a yoga teacher! Wednesdays 07:30-08:30 ZenYoga Camberwell, £10 drop-in price. Then Thursdays 19:00-20:30 ZenYoga Camberwell, £14. Do come along if you can!
I need to spend the afternoon today though doing some practice for myself. Over the bank holiday weekend we went down to the Isle of Wight with a few friends to do the Isle of Wight Randonee - a one-day 100km cycle ride all the way round the island. After such a long and protracted winter I've been thinking we're long overdue a nice sunny weekend, and boy was it a nice sunny weekend!! Plenty of sun, but not too hot with a nice breeze to help cool us off after each and every one of those *** hills…! (What else should you expect from a coastal ride I suppose.) Still, it was a great day - the longest and hilliest single-day ride I'd ever done. And considering I've got a touring bike (not one of those very fancy lift-with-your-finger road bikes like most others) I was pretty happy with my pace.
A non-competitive cycle ride - that was refreshing. This meant that we all stayed together as a group and were able to enjoy each others' company as we pootled along (or puffed and panted in my case). And I must say, we had a lovely group (all my girlfriend Jo's friends). Easy to camp with, easy to chat to, and thankfully happy to throttle back to accommodate those of us who were weaker links in the chain. With four couples together I can't say there weren't any issues that came up. I think the biggest for me was being (un)comfortable as a new-comer to (and new boyfriend in) a well-established friendship group, and being judgemental of the behaviour of people when those people might be from slightly outside your normal friend-types. Seeing past the superficial and appreciating that everyone is in a different place with different stories and backgrounds is a very very difficult lesson to learn. Being patient and soft, not letting these judgements dictate your behaviour, and staying relaxed - all very rich soil from which to grow and learn.
I'm also pretty pleased not to be aching, either yesterday or today (ok, maybe a little in the shoulders)!! I led a little group yoga class the day before the race - some very simple stretching and mobility sequences - and of course there was some warm-down stretching at the end of the day, but I must say I'm surprised I'm not so stiff I can't tie my shoe laces, or so sore I can't sit down. I put it down to the yoga. Nuff said.
I need to spend the afternoon today though doing some practice for myself. Over the bank holiday weekend we went down to the Isle of Wight with a few friends to do the Isle of Wight Randonee - a one-day 100km cycle ride all the way round the island. After such a long and protracted winter I've been thinking we're long overdue a nice sunny weekend, and boy was it a nice sunny weekend!! Plenty of sun, but not too hot with a nice breeze to help cool us off after each and every one of those *** hills…! (What else should you expect from a coastal ride I suppose.) Still, it was a great day - the longest and hilliest single-day ride I'd ever done. And considering I've got a touring bike (not one of those very fancy lift-with-your-finger road bikes like most others) I was pretty happy with my pace.
A non-competitive cycle ride - that was refreshing. This meant that we all stayed together as a group and were able to enjoy each others' company as we pootled along (or puffed and panted in my case). And I must say, we had a lovely group (all my girlfriend Jo's friends). Easy to camp with, easy to chat to, and thankfully happy to throttle back to accommodate those of us who were weaker links in the chain. With four couples together I can't say there weren't any issues that came up. I think the biggest for me was being (un)comfortable as a new-comer to (and new boyfriend in) a well-established friendship group, and being judgemental of the behaviour of people when those people might be from slightly outside your normal friend-types. Seeing past the superficial and appreciating that everyone is in a different place with different stories and backgrounds is a very very difficult lesson to learn. Being patient and soft, not letting these judgements dictate your behaviour, and staying relaxed - all very rich soil from which to grow and learn.
I'm also pretty pleased not to be aching, either yesterday or today (ok, maybe a little in the shoulders)!! I led a little group yoga class the day before the race - some very simple stretching and mobility sequences - and of course there was some warm-down stretching at the end of the day, but I must say I'm surprised I'm not so stiff I can't tie my shoe laces, or so sore I can't sit down. I put it down to the yoga. Nuff said.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
website up and let loose in the wild
Coming up with a name for my website was harder than I thought! Last week I was happy with www.yogawithmarkw.co.uk, but after sleeping on it for a few nights it started to sound far too boring and functional. I'm sure you agree :-) So, how to brand myself? The obvious thing would be to try to bring in some influence from my former life as an astronomer. So my thoughts went to things like astroyoga, starburstyoga, and all manner of terribly cheesy or astrological sounding names... It was on the bike, cycling from Herne Hill to Brixton that the (roughly) alliterative name YourUniverseYoga came to me. I couldn't think of anything better, so it's stuck!
www.youruniverseyoga.co.uk
And thanks to my girlfriend's sister for recommending Weebly as a free web-based package for putting together the content in a kind of drag-and-drop way.
The name ties in quite well with the name of this blog, and leaves it open for possible future connections with astronomy/physics (I've got some ideas bubbling around, which I'm sure will surface in a future post). For now, I'm happy with the tag-line "So that your inner universe relates better to the whole Universe".
So, with a website and a new e-mail address I can start my advertising campaign! CVs, flyers, posters and FB here we come...
www.youruniverseyoga.co.uk
And thanks to my girlfriend's sister for recommending Weebly as a free web-based package for putting together the content in a kind of drag-and-drop way.
The name ties in quite well with the name of this blog, and leaves it open for possible future connections with astronomy/physics (I've got some ideas bubbling around, which I'm sure will surface in a future post). For now, I'm happy with the tag-line "So that your inner universe relates better to the whole Universe".
So, with a website and a new e-mail address I can start my advertising campaign! CVs, flyers, posters and FB here we come...
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