May
5
Written by:
Gina Macauley
Saturday, 5 May 2012
This is the view that greated us when we arrived for practice at 6.30 on Sunday morning.
Namaste.
I was thrilled to be able to attend the 2012 Yoga Australia Teacher’s Conference on April 28th and 29th at Manly Beach in Sydney last weekend.
The venue was absolutely stunning and brought back beautiful memories of when hubby and I lived in Manly with the kids for a few weeks when we first moved to Sydney. It was also a nice little respite from the sudden cold snap of Bendigo and Victoria.
The first session of each day began at 6.45am with an asana practice (as all good conferences should).
The two days were a plethora of incredibly wise, generous and inspirational yogis and I loved every session I attended. I could talk forever on each but instead I will summarise my highlights:
My first session was with Mark O’Brien of QI Yoga in Manly. Mark guided us through an autumn based practice aimed at balancing pranamaya kosha through the vayus (energetic winds). It included asanas that emphasised grounding, apana energy and several pranayama practices. The early asana practice was followed up later in the day with a workshop exploring the principles of the morning practice. It was a terrific practice, some of which I incorporated into this week’s classes. Mark’s studio is on the Corso in Manly and I’ve been wondering all week why I never went there when we lived in Sydney.
The keynote speaker was the wonderfully wise Mary Keizer. Mary has been practicing Yoga for over 50 years and talked about Yoga as a ‘body of wisdom and practical guide to self-understanding’. She was simply amazing and incredibly wise. She opened with: “I’m not here to impress you with my knowledge; I’m here to guide you to your own wisdom.” She talked about how, when we are aware of the mind and its influences, wisdom flowers. “Yoga is a very intimate connection with yourself”.
Swami Shankarananda from the Shiva School of Yoga and Meditation in Mount Eliza followed with an entertaining presentation whereby he ditched his notes and took us on a journey of his own self discovery through India in the 70s. He was very funny; I love hearing how people found Yoga.
Swami Satyadharma spoke very passionately about how an authentic teacher grows from an authentic personal practice and likened a sadhana (personal practice) to having a child – forcing you out of bed at some ungodly hour, rain, hail or shine, no matter what time you went to bed the night before, but also that it changes your life in ways you can’t imagine. “Climb the mountain of Sadhana. On that mountain you will find peace, inspiration, truth, your own Self, your highest potential.” She then went on to outline a simple sadhana practice. “All the things in your life transform the moment you take on a regular Sadhana.”
Mary-Louise Parkinson talk about following your Dharma (path). She co-founded Dharmik, a charity devoted to helping and educating homeless children in Nepal. She gave Bendigo Bank a big plug for its support by not charging them any fees, I felt like jumping up with a big WOO HOO!
Kieran O’Callaghan’s talk about Vedic wisdom was fabulous and inspiring. Kieran is the founder of the InSync Institute in Canberra. I always thought of the Vedas as big old books but Kieran dispelled that almost immediately. He said the Vedas are the laws of nature, the source code of the universe. “Vedic wisdom is to help us move into our highest level of relationship.” I did two sessions with Kieran and in both sessions he led us in an amazing meditation. “We already have within us everything we could possibly want to know if we just awaken to it.”
On the second day Trish Brown spoke to us about the World Peace Flame and its journey from Australia to Wales to be combined with the other flames from every major city around the world.
“The World Peace Flame is a symbol of peace, unity, freedom and celebration. We believe in the essential freedom of the human spirit to create peace at any time under any circumstances – a view endorsed by the millions of people who have lit The World Peace Flame as a symbol of this dream.” -- From the World Peace Flame website
Trish and Yoga Australia’s President Michael de Manincor then lit a candle from the peace flame for the conference. We were all invited to light our own candles from the flame.
Michael and Trish light the conference flame from the World Peace Flame
The whole conference had a strong wisdom base, each speaker spoke passionately with experience and love about union, connectedness, Yoga.
I am still amazed and honoured that I get to do this and call it a 'job'.
“Love is our nature – not an emotion.” – Kieran O’Callaghan
With Love.
The lights of Manly
3 comment(s) so far...
Re: 2012 Yoga Australia Teacher’s Conference
Sounds great, wish I could have made it.
By david Macauley on
Sunday, 6 May 2012
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Re: 2012 Yoga Australia Teacher’s Conference
Ah yes, but you were too busy swimming in the ocean, playing golf and checking out our old haunts! Glad you got to take in a Yoga class though.
With Love.
By Gina Macauley on
Sunday, 6 May 2012
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Re: 2012 Yoga Australia Teacher’s Conference
The yoga sounds really lovely.Looking at the pictures of Manly Beach brings back some lovely childhood memories.
By june danger on
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
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