by Mei Lai Swan | May 28, 2015 | Uncategorized
Dear friends,
Greetings from beautiful Bali!
…where I am in the second week of a month-long intensive Embodied Flow™ yoga training with my incredible teachers Tara Judelle and Scott Lyons. While intensives often conjure up the image of physical and mental exhaustion, and whilst our days are certainly long and full, the work is so rich, so deep, so authentic and so playful, that each day is a pure joy. Each morning starts with contemplation, journalling, meditation, and an asana practice exploring different systems/tissues of the body-mind – we dive into the felt sense of the organs, the glands, the bones, the cells, and allow movement and the poses to be guided by that felt sense. It is a practice that is at once exciting, challenging, confounding, and revelatory. The mid-morning and afternoon sessions of this ‘Mind’ module are spent exploring somatic psychology – individually, in pairs, small groups, and the larger group. We have been delving into embryology, developmental and childhood patterns, the role and nature of ‘stories’ or narrative, understanding and working with emotions from a somatic perspective, and so much more… needless to say, I am as happy as a pig in mud!
Embodied Flow™ is an approach to yoga developed collaboratively by Tara and Scott, through their personal journeys and extensive experiences with yoga, tantric philosophy and practices of awakening, Body-Mind Centering, somatic psychology, and a wide array of other spiritual and therapeutic practices. First and foremost, it is an approach to the art of genuine, authentic self-inquiry – which is really the essence of Yoga. It invites us into the rich landscape of ‘unknowing’, unites scientific and spiritual inquiry, and offers a direct path into some of the most esoteric practices and philosophies of true tantra, which offers a non-dual understanding of life and consciousness.
We start here, at the highest teaching of the Shiva Sutras: “Caitanyam atma” – the independent state of supreme consciousness is the nature of everything… and then we dive in deep.
Asana is there, to be sure, but it takes its rightful place as one amongst the myriad of practices that are available to us in the path of awakening – yet it also flowers through the expansion of rich somatic explorations, or what might be called “embodied anatomy”. The ultimate aim is the knowing of self, of awakening, and of true freedom.
And I am so excited to be exploring and sharing these teachings with you: I will be dipping back into Melbourne briefly in June, and offering a 5-hour Embodied Flow™ workshop at Gertrude Street Yoga on Sunday June 21st (yes, a winter solstice special!). If your curiosity has been ignited, I’d be thrilled to have you come and play, explore, and discover together…
Please visit here for full workshop details.
In the meantime, wishing you warmth, joy, and blissful discoveries in your yoga journey.
With love,
Mei Lai xo
by Mei Lai Swan | Jan 26, 2015 | Uncategorized
I recently returned to Melbourne from 4 intensive weeks of advanced yoga teacher training in Bali with the formidable team of Tara Judelle and Scott Lyons. Dubbed “The Embodied Science of Yoga”, the training was Tara and Scott’s first official offering of Embodied Flow – call it a style, a school, a practice, a method… it’s a term that captures a means of inquiry using the art of yoga, practices of embodiment (the felt sense of experience and anatomy, drawing on Body-Mind Centering and somatic psychotherapy), and science.
As we discovered together on the training, it is an offering of awakening practices that draws on both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’. And to me, it felt like home: a weaving together of all the things I love, a freedom to ask and to explore all the questions I have (did someone say ‘infinite’?), and to perhaps even experience something that feels like an answer… But mostly just learning how to swim in the unknown and the unknowing, and learning how to have fun whilst doing it…
Acknowledging the importance of tried-and-tested tradition (ie. the lineages of yoga or other spiritual traditions), what I really awakened into on this training was an understanding of the constant evolution and expansion of consciousness, of knowledge, of awareness.
As universal and timeless as the teachings and practices of the traditions seem, what if what we knew then, and how we knew it, is not the be-all and end-all? What if our capacity to awaken is even greater now than it previously was? Or what if we can find new ways for awakening that are more accessible and more attainable for those of us living in the 21st century. After all, isn’t that what the Buddha did, for his own time?
So amidst all the practices, the explorations, the sensing of glands and organs, the dancing from bones, the videos of breathing lungs and glistening fascia, the discussions on evolution, the brain gym exercises, the creative expression, the expansive meditation and the effortless asana that emerges from being embodied, my one true gift from these four weeks was this simple question, emerging from deep wonder and reverence: What does this make possible?
My sense is that this is what today’s lycra-tight yoga really needs: a practice of genuine inquiry that engages the entirety of our body-mind-heart-soul, and calls upon us to be fearless in the asking of questions, in the discovery of our own experiences, and the diving into the challenge and freedom of not-knowing. And we need a physical practice of yoga that emerges from within, from a deeply felt sense of being and connecting and experiencing, rather than an exercise routine that makes us look good and think we are better.
So it is with a deep sense of honour and gratitude that I have been invited by Tara and Scott to officially offer Embodied Flow. For those of you who already know me, it does not look so different from my “regular” teachings. But as teaching emerges from experience, well, I can say that I have experienced and discovered so very very much over the last month or so, and I have been gifted additional tools with which to offer these experiences.
Scott demonstrating the ligaments of the spine
So if you are a curious and fearless inquirer, I invite you to come explore, play and discover with me. While all of my classes will continue with this flavour and experience, my Friday 5.30pm class at Gertrude Street Yoga Studio is now my official Embodied Flow class, starting in the first week of February. Woven into your asana practice you will find embodied anatomy, some developmental embryology and movement patterns, partner work, and plenty of questions for you to ask and experience. There will be time to break it down, explore, play and yes… maybe even dance. Because really, what is yoga?
With love and curiosity,
Mei Lai xo
FYI – Here is the official Embodied FlowTM description from Tara and Scott:
Embodied Flow™ is a continuum of movement and expression that draws from the discoveries of various hatha, tantric and somatic movement systems in order to experience yoga as a living art form. Embodied Flow™ provides the technology for a deep sense of ease, strength and connectivity in the human form. This in turn, empowers the practitioner to be their own greatest teacher as they expand, integrate and facilitate awareness in their entire body-mind.
For more information check out Tara’s website: www.tarajudelle.com
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