A silent practice is where I lead by having students follow my movements.  But just because I stop talking does not mean things go quiet!

In fact, the opposite can be true.  You start to hear other sounds more intently.  Other voices, the water trickling, the wind swishing, the sound of clothes rustling.

It is why many teachers discourage people from leaving a class while others are meditating or relaxing; you might think you are being quiet but when the teacher stops talking all other sounds can be amplified.

And even if we could be alone in a room, we still would not be in silence.  You start to hear the sounds of your breath, the sounds of the inner workings of your body—stomach gurgling, pulse throbbing.  And, unless you are a seasoned meditator, you will likely find your internal voice can take on a noise all of its own!

That said, a non-verbal (physical) yoga class can help you in many ways.  Since I teach one every 9 weeks and will be teaching at least one at our retreats, you will get to one eventually.  Below are some of the benefits you can expect.

Letting go

First, it is a practice of letting go.

Without a teacher’s verbal instructions you need to ‘be’ where you are at that present moment in time.  Indeed, you cannot ‘be’ anywhere else.  When no one is telling you how to do bakasana or a handstand (or even something less complex), if you cannot figure it out, you need to let that pose go.

That means you also get a snapshot of where you ‘are’ at that moment in time and what your level of readiness for particular postures is.  It gives you some insight into what you might need to cultivate further.

Going inside

Second, you gain an appreciation of just how much mental energy it takes to listen.

Listening is a great skill.  It helps you to be a kinder, more socially able person.

But language processing, even when people are saying helpful or kind things, takes up a lot of your brain’s capacity.

When you do not need to listen anymore you are free to follow your own internal voice and intuition.  Again, you become more in tune with what is going on with you at that moment in time.

Many religious orders and spiritual retreats harness the insightful power of this type of silence.

Greater connection

But being in silence does mean being alone.  A third benefit is the amazing capacity of the verbal silence to enhance a feeling of connectedness.

In a silent class you are not just doing your own thing entirely.  You are still following the basic movements and timing of the class.

And the silence combined with shared movement, helps you feel more connected to others in the group.  You sort of become a bit like a school of fish who move collectively—communicating via something other than spoken language.

The connection is not just to the group, however, because the silence of the group also helps you become more in tune with the environment.  You attain a keener sense of the ground beneath you, breeze and sun on your skin, wildlife around you, and the people passing by.

Thinking less

A fourth benefit is that this type of practice can help you out of ‘over-thinking’.

With no verbal instructions you have less to question—what does that mean?  What is she talking about? Am I doing it right?

Over-thinking is one of things that can block movement of energy through our body and, as such, block feelings of overall well being.  It can make us stiff, rigid, anxious, and prevent us from seeing clearly.

When we cannot ‘see clearly’ we do not feel at our best.  We tend not to make the best decisions.

Practicing calm

These four things—letting go, going inside, a sense of greater connection to the group and environment, and thinking less—all help you to practice bringing about a sense of calm.

Most people, at the end of the silent practice, find it easier to meditate and find the quality of their meditation much enhanced.

We will be sharing some beautiful silent practices with you at our retreats and in the classes we teach around the world.  Looking forward to seeing you somewhere soon!

At the time of ancient Rome there were very similar products to jam, made from whole fruit dipped in sweet wine, mulled wine, juice and even honey.

The Italian Geography of fruit and their flavours are:

South Italy, thanks to high temperatures is famous for citrus marmalade.
Lemon marmalade in Sicily, oranges in Calabria and quince and figs in Puglia. In these lands citrus are vast and can enjoy a hot and tireless sun.

Central Italy offers a wide range of grape jam.

In Northern Italy, thanks to the humid climate, the forest fruits are used for jams. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Jam can be made from: cherries, plums, oranges, strawberries, peaches, apricots.  One of the greatest benefits of not boiling the fruit unlike  the traditional way of making jam is that all the enzymes are intact and so much less sugar is needed. They can enjoyed with raw crackers and breads.

It’s ideal for the whole family.

An abundance of colors and flavours to be tasted at any time of the day: breakfast, snack time and can also be used for the preparation of so many other raw sweets.

I used lemon and dates as the preservative. Dates with its natural sugar enables ‘marmelada’ a 4-5 day life in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 500g of ripe apricots, or any fruit of your choice
• 7-8 large fresh dates
• Juice-half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon of lemon peel
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Put all the ingredients in food processor and process until a thick mass – the marmelada is formed. It will need 2-3 min, depends of the power of food processor.

Put the jam into a jar, eat and store the rest in the fridge.

Hugs from Italy! :))
Neli Todorov writes an active blog http://nelisraw.blogspot.it/ and shares news of workshops and events on her facebook page

Also, sometimes a more passive posture may end up looking much the same as the active posture.  But the feeling is completely different.

In the first picture I used active spinal movements to come into the pose.

In the second I came in by ‘falling’ with gravity and mainly by flexing my hips.

While they look much the same, the feeling in the torso especially is completely different.

Active movement (spinal forward flexion first) – Non-active movement (hip flexion first)

I don’t want to suggest one is right or wrong.  I choose to do the first version in my practice and teaching to help develop strength and mobility in the torso.

Aside from helping my spine feel good, moving actively and having activated muscles around my tummy in particular, helps me come into the arm balance variation that follows this posture in our current sequence.

Here I have to say, I got a six-pack without ever doing a crunch or by adding a ‘core yoga’ section into my classes or self-practice.

I simply do active movements throughout my entire class and am pretty much doing a ‘sit-up’, aka active spinal forward flexion, in every forward bend I do.

Back to the postures at hand!  There are two.  A standing posture, then an arm balance.
Watch the video first to get a sense of the flow and process.

Spinally speaking, the standing posture is basically a twisting, side bending, forward bending backbend.  That is, once I am in the lunge and lengthen lower back (sitting bones down, top of pelvis back), I do a twist, a side bend, a forward bend, then a little back bend in my upper back.  A little hip flexion creeps in but after the spinal forward flexion.

Step 1: Get into a lunge
In this lunge I have my back heel up.  That is because I am going to make this posture dynamic and move into the arm balance.  Traditionally heel is down.

Many people find having heel up difficult to balance.  You need to be using your feet and legs actively to assist with the balance.  I grip with my toes lightly.

Also, if you allow your hips to be sinking it is often a sign you are not using your legs actively enough and will make it harder to balance.  I keep my hips a little higher and legs active here.  Nothing wrong with going lower but just in an active and not sinking way.

Step 2: Lengthen lower back
Here I have taken sitting bones down, top of pelvis back in order to lengthen my lower back.

To me, this is different and more subtle than ‘tucking under’.  Remember, rather than fret about action, go for feeling.  The feeling here is to have space in your lower back and not squashing.

In this picture I have also lengthened my entire spine. I have taken my lower ribs back and up lightly.  You cannot see my neck but I have head down, neck back slightly to lengthen back of neck.

I have begun to push my armpits forward and lightly down, elbows lightly up.

Step 3: Active spinal twist
I try to move from base of spine upwards.  That means, turning from navel, area then lower ribs, then chest, then shoulders.

Look at the front foot.  See how much it is still working.

Spine still long, not arching.

Step 4: Active spinal side bending
Here I initiate side bending by bringing back hip forward and up towards the rib.  At the same time I am reaching opposite arm up and forward from my waist/pelvis and trying to move that side hip back slightly so the whole side body lengthens.

The side of my body that closest in this picture is firming.  This side bending firmness will help me in the arm balance.

You can see I start to have more weight on my front foot—the back heel is raising as well in preparation for the arm balance to soon come.

At this stage I am in a back lengthening, twisting, side bending posture.

Step 5: Spinal forward flexion
Now I have begun a spinal forward flexion process.

See the space you can see between the top of my thigh and torso and how the angle is still relatively open.

I am now in a spine lengthening, twisting, side bending, forward bend.

I proceeded to do the splits right there and then, with no preparation.

Well, let’s say I managed the position but did something to my butt that had me limping for a month!

These days I can do the pose almost first thing in the morning as I have been practicing for many years.  However, most people will need quite a bit of preparation.

The splits should not feel like too much stretching. It is not about splitting apart.

Working actively means the pose is actually about coming together again.

You remain at whatever stage you feel comfortable in (feel like lengthening and relaxing, not stretching and tugging).  But first, some keys to practice. Below I have shown step-wise progression into the posture.
Hover the curser over the photos to see the steps

The back thigh is rolling in, which means you might feel the inner thigh firming a little.  If you could turn around and see your knee is trying to move so it is more towards the centre line of your body.

The subplot here is that I am also trying to move the side of front hip back and draw side of back hip forward.

If you are not mindful the opposite tends to happen.  That is, when you roll the front thigh out it can often bring the side of front hip forward and when rolling the back thigh in it can often send the side of back hip backward. So you need to watch out for this.

The second key thing I am doing is to try to suck my legs or feet together.

Yes. I am not actually trying to split them apart.

Sucking them together could be likened to someone at foot trying to push your legs back together (what I am doing).

Whereas most beginners just try to let their legs come apart. Actually, they do not even do that so much as let the weight of their entire pelvis and torso just hang and sag in the middle.  Its not a pleasant feeling. Sucking it up is key.

In our yoga practice of this pose we need to be thinking of trying to draw our feet back together again (while they move apart).

This makes the posture active rather than passive.

It will help make you stronger and more mobile.

The video shows these movements in action.  I have also provided a 2nd video to show advanced variations of the posture (intended for demonstrational purposes).

The breeze on your face is good for you.  That air conditioning (or heating) just dries you out.

The ground beneath your feet–be it grass or dirt or sand is good for you.  Wooden floors are nice, don’t get me wrong, but they are inside!!

When you practice outside beneath an open blue sky you look up and feel almost as though you are a part of it. It’s breath-taking.

When you open your eyes from savasana to behold a starry night you can’t help but feel at peace.

It’s awe inspiring.

When you start your pre-dawn practice and watch the sun rise, you feel the sun’s rays shimmering on your skin.

It’s radiant.

When you practice in nature you are continually amazed by the beauty of the world around you.

No matter what wallpaper is pasted, what music is played, or what statues are placed, I will never find a better place to practice than the great outdoors.

On days when I feel exhausted, I always feel better if I just open a window or door.

On days when I think I can’t practice, I simply step outside and find myself drawn to move or sit quietly and meditate.

It might be freezing, it might be boiling. It might be windy, it might be raining.

I simply pop my head outside and figure out what I need to wear and where I can be as sheltered as necessary without ‘succumbing’ to the elements.

It can be hard. Sometimes you need to be creative. But it is always worth it.

One of the main elements on our retreats is to get connected to mother nature. To be inspired and supported by the simple things in life.

Why don’t you try for yourself?  Expose yourself to the outdoors and feel yourself embraced by nature.

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www.artofliferetreats.com