Marianne Elliott also known as @zenpeacekeeper, is our 21.5.800 yoga teacher who has yoga videos available exclusively for 21.5.800 participants who wish to practice at home.
She has been participating with us as a writer and a yoga practitioner.
Here are a small slice of her thoughts about yoga.
I am providing a link to her bio here http://bit.ly/ctn8mb because her bio is so interesting and you should really take a look at it in its entirety on her site.
She is currently at work on a memoir about her time in Afghanistan as a peacekeeper.
Why practice yoga?
Because it brings me back to myself, and takes me deeper into the heart of myself, day after day.
How can a yoga practice support creative pursuits?
By reminding me to start every day from where we are. This is as important in writing as it is in yoga.
By nurturing my sense of curiosity.
By supporting me to pay attention.
By inviting me to meet myself exactly where I am, in kindness.
When my inner critic gets too loud my writing freezes up. Yoga helps me move past the critic with kindness.
And by moving my body, simple as that.
Blocks in my body seem to translate into blocks in my flow generally, so yoga helps me get unblocked.
What does yoga offer that other forms of physical discipline do not?
What yoga has offered me that no other form of physical discipline previously had, is a path towards a loving, respectful and kind relationship with my body, mind and spirit.
One of the most consistent messages I hear from the people who sign up for my 30 days of yoga program is that their relationship with their body has been characterised by detachment, judgement and/or shame.
Yoga, as I have experienced and understood it, invites us into a loving, compassionate, attentive relationship with our bodies and that, in my experience, can be profoundly transformative.
Please comment on the importance and benefit of Savasana.
I just think that none of us, in the ‘West’ at least, spend as much time in rest as our bodies and spirits really need. Savasana is a pose that offers our bodies, our minds and our nervous system a chance to chill out and do nothing. We are so stimulated in modern life, so “on” all the time. We need time to assimilate and integrate all that we take in every day.
When I first began to practice yoga, Savasana was incredibly uncomfortable for me because I had NO practice at being in stillness. Little by little, over time, I’ve learned the deep refuge and relief that comes from allowing myself to rest back into the space of acceptance in Savasana – accepting that “everything is just fine as it is”, that I really don’t need to do anything, be anything or change anything. Real, deep rest. It is quite revolutionary. It is the space from which everything else is possible for me.
{ 9 comments }
Love this, love Marianne, love you Bindu, love love love.
I can relate deeply to the commentary about savasana and am still mostly in the place of discomfort with it. But I also have a firm belief in its value and share Marianne’s view about rest being under-valued in our society (hypocritically, I am bad at resting).
Thank you for this challenge, and for all that I am learning here.
xo
.-= Lindsey´s last blog ..An endless alleluia and a constant goodbye =-.
Wow! What a beautiful interview…it verbalized everything I love so much about yoga. Probably the aspect I love most about yoga is the silencing of my inner critic while I am practicing. The sense of calm and acceptance I feel by the end of a yoga class is unbeatable.
Thank you for sharing this interview, and I am so glad to be a part of 21.5.800!!
.-= Mary Elizabeth´s last blog ..You Capture ::FUN:: =-.
I love Marianne. Fact. x
.-= Susannah´s last blog ..Me & the boy =-.
As a complete yoga newbie, I downloaded Marianne’s Yoga For Writers and I can’t tell you what an enormous effect it is having on my relationship to my body, my spirit and my creativity. Just as Marianne says here, I’ve experienced a new found kindness and gentleness for my body, I’ve found a flow in my creativity and this has led to a new understanding of my spirit. Truly revelatory.
Thank you, Bindu, for this beautiful interview, and for pouring your energy into this 21.5.800 challenge.
Much love
Amy
xx
.-= amypalko´s last blog ..21:5:800 – Day 8: The Faith to Fly =-.
BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN! Gets straight to the heart of the matter in a clear concise way!
So Blessed to be part of this journey and new tribe
Love ~hugs
MaryBeth
.-= MaryBeth´s last blog ..vintage christmas =-.
Marianne is always a source of major inspiration for me. It is so good to see her sharing her beautiful heart and knowledge int his community.
Thanks for another fab interview, Bindu! Savasana: what an excellent antidote for the busy mind! It affirms our interdependence with the planet, the loving pull exerted by gravity, and it’s one great way to practice resting at ease, releasing thoughts (see Ponlop Rinpoche’s article on meditation, “Meditation: Catch and Release” on his HuffPost blog) and allowing full relaxation of mind and body. Love it.
.-= Ceci Miller´s last blog ..Ms Tillotson’s Class – The Amazing Room 11 =-.
I’m so thrilled to get to know a little about Marianne through this, Bindu. Thank you! And I did indeed read her bio – holy mackerel! Can’t wait to check out the Yoga for Writers that she created for the challenge. Hugs and squeals to you both!
.-= emma´s last blog ..Jumbled Thoughts =-.
That is a beautiful and compassionate way of expressing exactly what yoga can do. I am on my 2nd day of Marianne’s “30 days of yoga” program and I already feel my mind and body reawakening to all the benefits that she talks about – I had almost forgotten how great it felt. Great interview – so much wisdom squeezed into a few lines!