Translator: Evgeniya Peshkova Reviewer: Denise RQ
Yoga.
When I say that word, what comes to mind for most people
a skinny flexible girl wearing active wear.
(lLughter)
And while I'm here to convince you otherwise,
I realize that what I look like today might just be that stereotype.
(Laughter)
But fortunately, I have words, pictures, research, and you.
Every single one of you today gets to do yoga.
But first, what is yoga?
Yoga as we know it today, in the West,
is a combination of physical postures, asanas,
and breath work, pranayama.
If you manage to get through an entire yoga class
without getting angry,
you will probably stay for meditation.
And in that meditation, you will firstly withdraw the senses,
pratyahara,
you will secondly pick a point of focus, usually within the breath, dharana,
and then you will observe the mind, dhyana.
Hopefully then, slipping into a meditation.
And these activities are commonly used in mindfulness meditation.
Neuroscientific research has shown that mindful meditation
has decreased the physical markers
of inflammatory disease by interleukin-6.
Science is catching up on what we've known for thousands of years
that there are many benefits to this practice.
But the best thing about it is that anybody can do it.
You can be any weight, have any disease, and have physical limitations.
This is Tiffany Joiner.
Tiffany is 85% paralyzed below the waist.
She came to yoga a few years ago again
after thinking that she might never ever come back.
But here she is today doing a hand stand with one arm.
Dana Falsetti came to yoga after years and years of weight battles,
confidence struggles, and binge eating.
She advocates that you can be any size to do yoga.
You don't have to be skinny, flexible, or strong.
And finally, we have Tao Porchon-Lynch.
Tao is a youthful 97-years young, and she is a yoga teacher.
So as you can see, yoga provides an opportunity
for many individuals to overcome barriers.
So why not make it more accessible to everybody?
What I started here in Brisbane is yoga by donation.
I teach a class under the big fig trees by The Brisbane River,
and we finish with a cup of tea in the sunset - tough life.
So everyone that comes is simply asked to make a donation
based upon what they can afford and how frequently they come.
I simply ask for truthfulness.
And through this, I get to demonstrate that yoga is for everybody
from every background, irrespective of social or financial status.
Before we run this class, however,
we are doing an important exercise in yoga:
the art of self-reflection or svadhyaya.
In this self-reflection, we are deciding in that moment
whether to apply two restraints to our situation:
aparigraha or non-greediness, and asteya - -non-stealing.
Considering we are born with nothing,
and we won't get to take anything with us when we die,
we have a very small window of opportunity
- consider we have plenty of opportunitites in our life! -
to consider how attached we are to the physical.
Donation yoga provides an opportunity to create good karma by being honest,
practicing truthfulness, practicing aparigraha,
practicing asteya,
with self-reflecting and surrendering.
And when I say 'surrendering, ' people are drawn to this class,
they see that I am vulnerable.
I get to say to them that I trust you this much.
"Should I? Show me."
We have a word for that in Sanskrit, it's ishvarapranidhana.
Look at how long that word is.
And it means "surrender". Surrender to what you cannot control.
So by running this class, I have an amazing opportunity
to marry together this amazing concepts
which are actually yoga's ethical and moral codes.
I marry them together with our asanas,
with our breath work, and with our meditation,
and it makes for a more rounded yoga practice.
So I'll finish up by saying that the goal of yoga is not to become more flexible,
it's not to become the best at doing hand-stands,
and it's not to become the best at meditating.
It's to create space where we once were stuck,
to live in the present, and to learn to love freely and wholeheartedly.
Thank you.
(Applause)
So without further ado, everybody get to your feet.
Come to a neutral position: feet hip-width apart,
bring the palms at the heart center
closing down the eyes.
Take a deep breath into the belly
(Music)
and exhale.
Feel the earth beneath you, supporting you,
Another inhale and exhale.
(Music)
And then gently open the eyes, take the palms up, inhale.
And then part the palms apart and exhale bringing the palms down.
Take an inhale halfway down, and exhale all the way down.
Bring hands up again, inhale,
and exhale again.
Feel free to close down the eyes, inhale halfway down and exhale.
Feel your energy coming into the earth;
inhale, hands up,
and exhale.
Again, taking that breath halfway, exhale, the hands all the way down.
Then inhale, take the hands up again, bring the feet together,
and exhale, sitting down into our chair pose.
Squeeze the knees together.
Take the arms to 45 degrees looking up between the palms.
Take a big breath in and out here.
Inhale and exhale, sit down way further.
Not on the seats.
(Laughter)
Inhale, bring the hands to heart center.
Then exhale, bring the right elbow to the left knee,
Press onto the knee,
Then inhale, bring the hands back to the center
and coming over to the other side.
Beautiful.
Then inhale coming back to the center, place the hands on the knees,
step the feet apart, then straighten the legs and look forward
coming into a flat back, inhale.
Then exhale.
Slowly, move the palms down the legs and come into a bit of a forward fold.
Inhale, bring the palms back up the knees, looking forward,
and then bend through the knees, bring hands to heart center.
And then exhale. Bring the hands up again.
Take an inhale and then exhale again, lowering that energy down to the ground.
Bring the hands up, take the right over the left,
and then take the right leg across and sit down.
Inhale, coming out, releasing.
Left over right, left foot over right and exhale coming down.
And then coming out, and coming to a seated position for a meditation.
So place the hands in the lap, close down the eyes.
(Music)
Beautiful.
So gently closing down the eyes, bring your awareness to the breath.
Bring softness into the face, into the shoulders, into the hips.
Let that relaxation spread down the arms and down the legs all the way to the feet.
And then become aware of your body sitting on the seat,
feel the earth beneath your feet supporting you,
know that you were exactly where you were meant to be in this moment.
You are perfect exactly as you are.
If your mind continues to wander,
gently bring it back to the gentle rise and fall of the chest,
allowing the breath to slowly flow in and out,
becoming completely present,
imagining the beautiful beach, wiggling the fingers, wiggling the toes,
gently bringing your awareness back.
I'd like to send a thanks out to Oka for the beautiful music.
And thank you very much, TEDx.
(Applause)
I forgot to use my bowl.
(Laughter)
(Applause)