Why Sit Quietly?

All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms. – Blaise Pascal

Client Testimonials

I have always wanted to get involved in Yoga but was reluctant because I was so out of shape. I have been attending nilambu classes for 7 months and absolutely love it! I have seen such an improvement in my flexibility and I also have become much more aware of my posture. Yoga has had a very positive impact both mentally and physically. - Carol Brouillette

Sign me up. Pretty much from now until I die. – Cissy Newbill

Our yoga classes are somehow relaxing and energizing at the same time. I always feel refreshed and recharged after a session. Cass gives us instruction in yoga discipline and philosophy and makes sure that we understand why we are doing the postures as well as how to do them. Her knowledge of yoga is only surpassed by her love of it and she shares both with her students. I truly love my yoga practice with Cass. – Ellen Spencer

New Session Begins Next Week!

A new 7 week class session begins next week and runs from June 13th and through the week of July 25th. At nilambu the student gets very personalized attention in small classes. Only 5 students are permitted to enroll, so the teaching responds closely to the participants. You are welcome to join up at anytime.

Classes are held on the following days and times:

• Tuesday 10 - 11:15 am (space available)
• Tuesday 5:30 - 6:45 pm (space available)
• Tuesday 7:00 - 8:15 pm (space available)
• Wednesday 5:30 - 6:45 pm (space available)
• Wednesday 7:00 - 8:15 pm (full)
• Saturday 8:00 - 9:15 am (space available) – see special schedule below

The cost for 7 weeks is $135. I am especially keen on finding students for two of the Tuesday classes – 10 am and 7 pm. Please consider Tuesday! As ever, single classes are available ($20) if space is available. Please email me first to ensure a space at cass@nilambu.com.

No classes will be held on Saturday June 25th, July 2nd or July 16th. So the Saturday class meets only 4 times, and the session costs $75.

New comers are welcome anytime! New clients are entitled to a free 45 minute private orientation session with me. Ideally, this private time should be scheduled before attending any class, but this orientation is not a prerequisite. If there's room, we'll accommodate you in the class.

Private Sessions are available and personal time is a great way to boost your practice or to hone in on a particular challenge. Also, if you have a group of friends and would like to schedule a class, with a minimum of three, I'd be happy to set up a session at a convenient time.

Alleviate Your Back Pain - Neptune Seminar Offered

Two Neptune Seminars will be offered this summer on Saturday June 18th and Saturday July 23rd. Neptune Seminars afford time to go to the depths. In this format, students can concentrate and distill aspects of yoga in a manner that a regular class session simply doesn't allow time to do.

The Neptune Seminar on June 18th will focus on yoga poses that help relieve back pain. Registrants will complete a questionnaire prior and leave with a written home practice sequence. Class will focus on how to do the poses and suggest common household items to set up, when applicable. The class will be from 10 am to 11:30 am and cost $30.

The July 23rd topic is yet to be determined. If you have a suggestion, please email me at cass@nilambu.com.

Corpse Pose - Playing Cemetery

Yoga is primarily thought of as a type of movement, but yoga is more than that. These notes aim to expand your knowledge beyond the physical practice of yoga and provide “stretches for your mind and soul.” The stillest of yoga poses, savasana, provides the clearest connection between the physical and mental benefits of a consistent practice.

How do you play Cemetary?
A favorite childhood game was Cemetery. Everyone but the cemetery watchman would play dead and the watchman watched for anyone who moved the slightest bit. If you did, you were out. The last one who successfully maintained stillness (or at least undetected movement) got to be the watchman in the next round.

My siblings and I quickly learned that lying on the stomach better protected your interest – eyelids flickered and regularly caused elimination. Occasionally, someone would actually fall asleep and snoring would be cause for dismissal, too.

Yes, my mother was brilliant to teach the five of us a game in which to win you had to be quiet and still. But we enjoyed the game immensely and played it all the time and even shared the game with playmates. As rowdy and lively as we could be (and we could be!), we were naturally drawn to this game of being still and quiet.

What is savasana?
Most yoga classes end with shava-asana or savasana, which means corpse pose. The object is to play dead (but on your back, not your stomach)

In this asana, you lie flat on your back with the feet slightly parted and the palms face up. The eyes and the mouth are closed. Sounds simple? The goal is to then relax the entire body with a slow, rhythmic breath that engages the diaphragm. Most find this challenging.

In fact, in a study on the medical effects of savasana, three weeks passed before the subjects adequately mastered this pose for the evaluation to begin. The tendency to hold onto tension is difficult to relinquish. Some area of the physical body throbs for attention. And once you master the relaxation of the physical body, the mind rattles on and beyond. In this pose, you strive to quiet and subside the consciousness.

All yogis – even advanced ones – encounter days when relaxing the body or mind is very difficult.

Often times, in this still, quiet pose emotions arise. One of my yoga teachers shared that tears arose every time she did savasana one summer. Her relationship was ending, and by August, she was ready to do what was true to her heart. All the savasanas allowed her heart to speak to her mind so she could act with clarity and allocated time for mourning so she could act with courage.

So why do we do savasana?
Iyengar says we do this at the end of our practice to remove fatigue.

This conscious relaxation invigorates and refreshes both the body and mind. (Light on Yoga, p. 422).

The pose also serves to transition out of the practice of yoga back to the rest of your life. In a lovely essay by poet Tara Bray, she searches for the origin of corpse pose while she reflects on the death of her mother. (Shambhala Sun, July 2003) I think she uncovered some truths about the pose:

• Death shows us how to live and then we die. Savasana: we stop, and we remember who we are.
• Mystery. Perhaps that’s the answer…Trust in what cannot be completely known. Mystery. Savasana. Death.
  
• And maybe Savasana is like coming to the edge, the border between one world and another so you can remember what it means to be alive.
  

In savasana, you achieve ease, lucidity and as Bray put it, There [in Savasana] is a certain vividness. The pose may be outwardly still, but the inside is fluid and all sorts of wonders arise.

Refreshing nilambu

I am excited to announce that on June 25th and 26th, I will travel to New York City to attend a Teacher Training Refresher course at Om Yoga where I did my original training over two years ago.

Many asanas will be re-examined including forward bends, twists, inversions, arm balances, backbends and standing. Yoga philosophy such as service, mindfulness, stability, joy and balance will be discussed. And sequencing classes too! The community at OM Yoga Center overflows with knowledgeable, generous and authentic yoga teachers, and I’m thrilled to be with and around them for a few days later this month.

I’ve no doubt I’ll return to DC refreshed and renewed. For more on my yoga training, click here.