Historical Yoga Room newsletter — originally prepared in November 2013 and restored from the Yoga Room archive. References to classes, retreats, prices and events below are retained as part of the historical record and are no longer current Yoga Room offerings.
At the time of this newsletter, Daniela was recovering from injuries and temporarily unable to teach. The Yoga Room teaching team stepped in to cover her classes, allowing the regular programme to continue.
Our thanks went to the teachers who generously supported Yoga Room during that period.
In this newsletter
- Asana of the Month — Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana
- Article of the Month — Routine Versus Retreat
- Question of the Month — Do you think I’d make a good yoga teacher?
- Patanjali Yoga Sutra of the Month
- Quote of the Month
- From the 2013–2014 Events Archive
Asana of the Month — Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana
Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana, or Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose, combines a seated lateral extension with rotation.
Parivrtta means turned or revolved, janu means knee and sirsa means head.
One leg remains extended while the other bends outward. The trunk rotates and extends sideways over the straight leg, with the arms working towards the foot.
The original November 2013 newsletter referred to B.K.S. Iyengar’s detailed description of the pose in Light on Yoga. The posture requires mobility through the hips, spine, shoulders and side ribs and should be approached progressively and with appropriate guidance.
The original newsletter particularly noted the strong extension through the spine and sides of the trunk.
Reference: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga.
Article of the Month — Routine Versus Retreat
By Daniela Casotti
Last month, while Maurice was in Bali holding his yoga retreat and I was in Burleigh looking after Yoga Room, I found myself pondering the difference between retreat and routine.
I realised that yoga done in a retreat setting is very different from yoga done as part of our everyday routine.
Both are equally important, but understanding the difference added a depth to my yoga practice that was both refreshing and stimulating.
Routine and retreat represent quite different attitudes.
Routine involves the customary activities and procedures that become part of everyday life. Retreat means withdrawing for a time — stepping away from those normal patterns.
Routine is important because it allows us to build upon an established foundation.
Retreat is important because it gives us an opportunity to review and reassess that foundation.
A retreat asks us to step outside our mechanically performed routines and consider questions such as:
Who am I? What am I creating? Is this how I want to live my life?
Yoga within our everyday routine offers balance and focus. As well as supporting health and vitality, regular practice provides strength and stability and helps us remain on track.
Yoga practised in a retreat setting provides something different.
It gives us the opportunity, courage and sanctuary to step away from that track for a while and ask whether it is actually taking us in the direction we want our lives to go.
During a retreat we can step outside the “box” that has gradually become our life and look at it from a more distant vantage point.
Add several hours of yoga practice to that environment and there is considerable potential for transformation.
Retreat is not simply a holiday
A yoga retreat can certainly provide a welcome break from the activity of everyday life, but it can also provide precious time and space for deeper reflection.
Several days spent immersed in practice can create an opportunity to consider our direction in life and reconnect with something deeper within ourselves.
Routine is obviously essential for achieving goals.
But when we look at the larger picture, retreat can be equally important. It is easy to become so absorbed in routine that we lose sight of why we began in the first place.
Regular periods of retreat can give us the space to reconnect with our deeper purpose, reconsider our goals and put our routines into perspective.
Routine is like one wing of a bird and retreat is like the other.
Both are necessary if the bird is to take flight.
Seen in this way, retreat is not simply a luxury.
And you do not necessarily need to travel somewhere exotic to experience it. A retreat can happen in your own backyard.
What matters most is creating a different mental space — one in which we are open to fresh understanding and the possibility of change.
Question of the Month — Do you think I’d make a good yoga teacher?
The popularity of yoga has brought enormous benefits, but it also raises an important question about what it means to teach yoga well.
The original newsletter referred to Prashant Iyengar’s observation that when a subject becomes very popular, there is also a risk that its depth may become diluted.
Yoga teacher-training courses were becoming increasingly common at the time, including on the Gold Coast.
That led us to ask a simple question:
Why do I want to teach yoga?
Is it because I enjoy practising yoga and would like to spend more time doing it?
Or is there a deeper commitment to the art and philosophy of yoga and to the responsibility involved in passing it on to others?
Teaching yoga is different from practising yoga.
Teaching brings considerable responsibility.
At Yoga Room we believed that teaching wisdom grows from a deep, stable and long-term personal practice, together with an ongoing commitment to personal development.
Before learning how to teach yoga, there is enormous value in simply learning how to practise it.
Imagine trying to teach a foreign language before first learning to speak it.
Practice undertaken primarily for the purpose of becoming a teacher can also change the quality of attention. Instead of being completely immersed in the experience of the pose, part of the mind may already be analysing how the pose could later be communicated to someone else.
There is great value in practising yoga simply for one’s own physical, mental and emotional development.
At Yoga Room our emphasis at the time was therefore on providing opportunities for students to deepen their own practice rather than immediately moving towards teacher training.
Retreat practice was one of the ways we explored this.
Spending several days immersed in practice can give us time to examine our strengths and weaknesses, observe our inner dialogue, establish clearer intentions and experience what may be possible beyond our habitual limitations.
The first responsibility of a yoga practitioner is to practise.
Patanjali Yoga Sutra of the Month
Chapter 1, Sutra 14
The original newsletter explored Patanjali’s teaching that a practice becomes firmly established when it is pursued consistently, attentively and over a long period of time.
This idea reflects one of the central themes running through the November newsletter.
Progress in yoga is not created by occasional enthusiasm alone.
A stable foundation develops gradually through sustained practice, attention, sincerity and commitment.
The retreat experience may give us new perspective and inspiration, but it is our continuing practice that allows those discoveries to become part of our lives.
Reference: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, p. 60.
Quote of the Month
“Discipline in freedom is real discipline in life, not freedom in discipline.”
B.K.S. Iyengar
From the 2013–2014 Events Archive
The following activities appeared in the original November 2013 Yoga Room newsletter. They are retained here for historical interest only.
Summer Yoga Intensive
With: Maurice McCann
Time: 6:00–7:30am
Price recorded in the original newsletter: $190
The intensive was promoted for two main reasons:
- To celebrate the summer solstice — a time traditionally associated with energy and potential.
- To provide some balance during the busy period leading into Christmas.
The classes were designed as a progressive course, building day by day over twelve days.
2014 Gold Coast Yoga Lifestyle Retreat
With: Maurice McCann
Location: Yoga Room, Burleigh Heads
This retreat was designed as an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, clear the mind after Christmas and establish intentions for the year ahead.
The programme included approximately five hours of yoga each day, with time between sessions to enjoy the Gold Coast environment.
Three-Day Mini Retreat
Dates: 2–4 January 2014
Included: Three days of yoga tuition and one group vegetarian lunch
Price recorded: $240
Full Retreat
Dates: 2–11 January 2014
Included: Nine days of yoga tuition and two group vegetarian meals
Early-bird price recorded: $525
Full price recorded: $590
From the Yoga Room archive.
Daniela Casotti and Maurice McCann
Yoga Room, Burleigh Heads