Autumn Cleansing and Opening the Heart with Rick Calligaro.
On Saturday 17th November 2018 we gathered for the CYTA Autumn Seminar at Rixton with Glazebrook Community Hall.
The day began with the Teacher – Student chant before moving on to joint freeing exercises. We then worked on standing postures including a forward and backward bend in the Warrior 1 and 2 poses along with the Dancer. Next came some postures on the mat; we began with leg locks and moved on to a supine twist, finishing with the Cobbler.
In the last part of the morning session we focused on purifying the abdomen with dog panting on all fours, this cooled us down to work on the Kapalabhati breath and Nauli (abdominal churning). This involved moving the abdomen in a clockwise direction for digestion and in an anticlockwise direction for cleansing. Rick asked us how this affected our abdominal Marmas and we responded that we were ready for lunch!
Our afternoon practice began with Rick instructing us to lie down on our left side with our right hand on our abdominal marma. We learned that this position is beneficial to perform after eating as it aids digestion. Our pingala nostril (right) is open in this position and the heat from pingala also helps with digestion. Rick also mentioned that we should aim to sleep on our left side as this supports the stomach and places less weight on the vena cava.
We then sat in two circles one facing out and chanting Yam (the seed mantra for the heart chakra) the other circle facing in and chanting Hridaye (heart).
Rick then explained where the different heart marmas were: palm centre, centre of foot and the temples. We then placed essential oils which suited our doshas on chosen marmas.
The day continued with Ujjiya breathing followed by Nadi Shodhana and this was followed by meditation using mantras of own choice using the Heart Mudra. The day concluded with Yoga Nidra focusing on the heart and abdomen.
The day was a great success and everyone enjoyed the event.