This Week: Being in Life, Andre in my Heart

Listen to this show; it's beautiful:
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/wild-love-for-world/

"The great secret of death, and perhaps its deepest connection with us, is this: that, in taking from us a being we have loved and venerated, death does not wound us without, at the same time, lifting us toward a more perfect understanding of this being and of ourselves."
-Rilke


I've just driven down at 5:45am from West Brattleboro into Long Island, NY this early morning... I thought I was driving down to sit by my dying friend only to find out at the 7-11 gas station, as I filled up for my drive before dawn, that he made the passage last night.

Jean-Andre Martheleur, Dearest Friend, inspired Lover of Life (& everything that came with it), Photographer by Practice, Father, Artist of Everything, Amazing-Creative Cook, Spiritual Warrior, Disciplined Free-Man, Free-Man of Discipline, Belgian-turned-New Yorker, Music Connoisseur, Opinionated with Impeccable Taste, and SO MUCH MORE, ... passed away last night at 8:47pm.
Our friend Dick said it stormed quite violently a half hour before he passed. Our friend Tomo, who had introduced me to Andre almost 10 years ago, helped carry his body down the 5 flights of stairs in that Mott Street walkup. He, and the other 2 close friends who helped carry the body, could imagine Andre chuckling at them for the task of carrying his corpse.
I like knowing all this.
I feel him next to me and in me, and I felt him, during my drive, turn my head eastward to take in the sun behind the clouds at some point in Massachusettes, "Look, Banghan. It's a new day."

I imagined being next to him, to be in the presence of his body and to sit meditating on the passage of the soul . . . but I didn't make it in time.
So, I will sit in his space, smell the familiar smells, walk on that slanted chinatown-bought bamboo covered floors, sit in his comfortable meditation chair, with his tools & a picture of his childhood nanny, touch his art books, put on one of his old records, look in his fridge, and look out the window with the 2 silver maples that grew so so big during the years & years he lived there. His place is infused with HIM, as if the cells of those things have merged with His cells.
He's put up 2 drawings I sent him. He loved them, mainly because he loved me. My heart feels a lot.

I'm sure I'll miss him. I feel it. I want to honor his life, his gifts and cherish the seeds he so lovingly planted in me and his community. Funeral this Saturday...

Love You Andre. So so so blessed to have met you in this life.

Autumn Yoga with Nabi

Colors

Crispy Cool

Crackle of Fire

Crunch of Dried Leaves

Calling, Falling, Autumn!

Yoga, this week:

Sept 22nd, Wednesday, 9-10:30am: MAHA of Putney

Sept 23rd, Thursday, 5:30-7pm: Bhava Yoga, Brattleboro

Sept 24th, Friday, 8:30-10:00am: Lorni's Studio, Guilford

Please email me with any questions about these classes, directions, etc...

In practice, In process, In peace,

Banghan Nabi

Shifts & Turns

Sun, clarity, air change, shifts in every moment and in every settling of the breath. . . as Mercury if (finally) moving out of retrograde (hallelujah!), I'm feeling a bit lighter, clearer, and ready to engage again.

When we make choices from the heart, the seat of our true and deepest intelligence, we manifest growth, even if it may feel painful at first.

Being here in NYC to be with a dear, dear friend living with prostrate cancer and enjoying what was a celebration around his bed with family and friends was so heart-fulfilling and mind-expanding; an insight to the Way to Live Life started to penetrate into me... and I'm sure I'll fall off the wagon again and again, but that's why we have each other and we have our practices...

THIS WEEK'S PRACTICE:

This week, I will not teach any classes:

-Emily Wolfman, wonderful teacher and Certified Yoga Therapist will take on my Thursday Bhava class at 5:30pm - if you haven't experienced her, please come!

-MAHA of Putney class on Wednesday is canceled for this week.

-MAHA of Putney classes on Fridays, from now on, will NO longer be.

*A wonderful opportunity to teach in a beautiful space with a wonderful group was blessedly offered to me for Friday mornings, 8:30am-10am in Guilford.

I am only letting the YogiNabi list in on this, but if you'd like to join this group, please let me know and I'll happily forward the information. These classes will started Sept 24th!

Please let me know if you have any questions whatsoever-

In peace,

Banghan Nabi

The Kidneys in the Home of Our Bodies

In the School for Body-Mind Centering, the kidneys are regarded as our personal energy, our inner resource, and the feeling of being safe in our bodies and in the environment. The kidneys are blood-rich, filtering organs that are related to the element of water.

We started our exploration by asking ourselves, in meditation, where we feel overdrawn, overextended, pushed-out of ourselves, not just in the kidneys, but in our entire Self. Then, in partner work, we investigated the organ touch onto the kidneys in Child's Pose. Without judgement, always without judgement, we observed the breath naturally filling into our partner's kidney area; the breath naturally widening their wings on the inhale, and letting them rest on the exhale. We helped to express the downward, watery flow of the kidneys by moving our hands down the kidneys, buttocks and then to the feet, pressing on them to ground that easeful, downward motion.

From this place, we moved in asana.
What did you feel as you moved and outwardly expressed? Perhaps fullness and natural support through the kidney/ lower back region? Did you feel the need to push-out and "express fully", especially in backward bends, and if you did, did you feel supported? How integrated did you feel through the upper and lower body, inner and outer body, front and back body?

What does it mean to release the kidneys and allow them to do their work and be? Thus, what does it mean to fully nurture ourselves and engage in the world As ourselves being truly Enough?

Yoga with Nabi, Sept 8, 9, 10: Bratt & Putney

Working with Change, as we come into the Autumn season and watching the transitions in and around us!

I am excited to announce that Wednesday morning classes will be added to the Old Ballroom space in Putney!

So, my schedule this week:

Wednesday, Sept 8th

9-10:30am

Embodyoga

133 Main Street, Putney

(entrance across from Offerings, 2nd floor, Room 6)

Thursday, Sept 9th

5:30-7:15pm

EmbodyFlow

Bhava, 21 Elliot Street, Brattleboro

Friday, Sept 10th

9-10:30am

Embodyoga

133 Main Street, Putney

For the Putney classes, please continue to bring your own props, including a small pillow or blanket. If you have any questions whatsoever, do not hesitate to contact me!

Looking forward to practicing with you,

In peace,

Banghan Nabi

Sacred Bowl : Pelvic Halves

Earth water fire. Goddess pose.
Grounding, containing, flowing, heating: standing our ground but allowing flexibility.

Differentiating the pelvic halves, at the pubis and the sacroiliac joints, moving into trikonasana, virabadhrasanas, parsvakonasanas, ardha chandrasanas.

How do we say vertical split in Sanskrit?
It's a nice pose to practice: excursioning the hip over the femur: the hip gets to take a little trip while the upper hip goes along for the ride!

It's fun and spacious to work on spiraling belly organ stuff out of the pelvic bones, like getting a soft snail out of its hard shell. come out, little snail, come out and play!

ahh.. thus, allowing comfort in the home of our bodies. yoga!