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Live online Yoga sessions with Matt Ryan
19 Mar 2020
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
For Sale 1 Zafu like new - might be broken as my life didn't get better after a ten minute meditation session.But the thing is , things are happening - but very subtly. It's hard to see it at first it's a bit like one of those puzzles where you have a picture hidden in lots of dots and you have to adjust your eyesight to see the picture- well same same ( but different !). Meditation is a practice that has to be done every day - like brushing your teeth. So don't delay sit down and shut up and meditate today ! If you're interested in starting meditation Yoga Manchester is now hosting '1 day introduction to meditation' workshops - the next one is on Saturday 18th March - click this link for more information. Matt Ryan teaches Yoga and Meditation at Yoga London Club.
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
The first time I played a bass, I was successful. Success is not a goal. Success is in the doing. Always.- Ian MacKaye owner of Dischord Records, Which I thought was absolutely brilliant – the same philosophy could and should be applied to a yoga practice. In fact I’ll go as far to say that this should be lesson #1 for ALL yoga students getting on the mat for the first time. A very similar message can be found in this cartoon…
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
'It says nothing to me about my life'What does resonate with me is when I see quotes like this one..
Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while peeling potatoes. Zen is just peeling potatoes.I think we could rephrase that beauty to , maybe to something like this
Ashtanga Yoga is not in the pontification of the Yoga Sutras or even in the boring laborious debate about how old the practice is. Ashtanga Yoga is Ekam inhale Dve exhale etcPerhaps we can also take a leaf out the book of Dogen the 12th century Japanese Zen Monk. Dogen basically said taking the posture of Zazen was enlightenment itself i.e. the practice of zazen and the experience of enlightenment were one. And so maybe to take (asana) practice is Samadhi. I read somewhere that one Zen teacher on entering a Zendo (a place where people practice Zazen meditation) full of his students remarked ‘what a silly thing to do’ and then proceeded to join them. And I must say this thought (what a silly thing to do) crosses my mind a few dozen times during practice – usually in postures like Garbha Pindasana or Tittibhasana B when I’m looking up my own backside, I mean WTF …. But I do it and I do it again. So keep climbing the mountain and keep digging for that bone Yoga warriors.. Samadhi is for sissies . Ps and if you want a FREE cheat sheet click here.
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
The first time I played a bass, I was successful. Success is not a goal. Success is in the doing. Always.- Ian MacKaye owner of Dischord Records, Which I thought was absolutely brilliant – the same philosophy could and should be applied to a yoga practice. In fact I’ll go as far to say that this should be lesson #1 for ALL yoga students getting on the mat for the first time. A very similar message can be found in this cartoon…
Robert M.Pirsig. We can quite easily re-calibrate the quote to the following..The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
The only Shanti you can find in a Yoga Shala , is the Shanti that you take in with you.Matt Ryan : )
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
‘As long as you have a body Matthew…’ Dr.SuA few years back a friend recommended I go see a Chinese acupuncturist called Dr.Su after I was complaining about a tight hamstring. My friend had told me that the footballer Ryan Giggs had credited Dr.Su with sorting out his own hamstring problem that had plagued him for most of his career. So I booked an appointment and off I went to Dr.Su’s tiny office / treatment room in Nothenden in South Manchester. It was the start of a beautiful relationship. After a couple of visits the hamstring problem had cleared up and he was now treating me for my sore wrist. Each time I went I was always complaining about one physical problem or another and Dr.Su would smile at me and offer the most simple but powerful advice on the body that I’ve ever had… ’As long as you have a body Matthew, you will always have problems’ There endeth the lesson. So get this boyfriend /girlfriend if you’ve got a body then something will go wrong at some point. The main problem is that we set up in our minds about the level of practice we need to maintain to make the whole thing worthwhile and if we get an injury of some sort which means we can’t stick to the same level of practice then that somehow invalidates what we do. Which if you sit down and think about it, is just (mind) bullshit. However we practice whether it’s all singing all dancing 10th series or maybe it’s just one measly 1 sun salutation (because your body is knackered) it’s all good, it’s all valid, it’s all practice.
‘I see , I see , I see’ Dalai LamaThis is my favourite ever true Dalai Lama story, and maybe I’m a little biased because it happened to a mate of mine. Once upon a time in the seventies Albert (name changed to protect identity) was enjoying the good life a little too much. Both legal and illegal substances were being taken on a daily basis which resulted in the good life turning into well, not so good. Determined to sort himself out, Albert ( a practicing Buddhist) decided he would make a pilgrimage to Dharamsala in Northern India where the 14th Dalai Lama was living. Now in the 70’s Mr.D.L. was not as famous as he is now and a personal appointment with him was not outside the realms of possibility. So our friend Albert rocked up at Mr D’s gaff and asked if he could organise a private audience with the top man. After a 3 day wait he got his chance and was ushered into Mr. D’s front room. For the next hour or so Albert went into explicit detail about how messed up he was and how his life was a complete mess. Each time he finished a sentence the Dalai Lama would comment ‘I see , I see , I see’ . Finally after a couple of hours young Albert finished his tales of woe and sat back slumped in his chair, the Dalai Lama looked straight at him and said ‘ You know , my mind is crazy too’. KER BOOM – how’s about that for a curve ball of an answer. In that moment Albert realised that he was not alone in feeling crazy , granted the illegal stuff hadn’t helped but the fact that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama also had a ‘crazy mind’ made him feel ok. I love this story, I tell it a lot in class. We think sometimes our mind is out of control and maybe sometimes it is but the mind certainly has a mind of its own – there’s no on or off switch. Put it this way the heart beats, the lungs breathe and the mind ‘thinks’. We would think that the Dalai Lama would have a mind that was completely peaceful and serene but this isn’t the case – his mind is crazy too. And so is mine and so is yours. But I find that when I do my Ashtanga practice my mind feels a little less crazy so I practice most days so I can enjoy being a little less bananas - it’s a no brainer. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so one day I decided I would do my practice first and then watch football after to see what happened – a little experiment on myself. And do you know what, I managed to get through the whole game without annoying anyone least myself. Read the other parts of Matt Ryan's Experiments with Ashtanga Yoga .. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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30 Apr 2019
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019
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19 Mar 2020
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11 Feb 2020
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28 Jan 2020
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16 Dec 2019
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11 Nov 2019
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25 Oct 2019
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31 Jul 2019
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30 Apr 2019