Hi,
My name is Anna (aka Annatma) and I would like to introduce you the system that I called «Gentle Yoga» and it consists of few main aspects of the actual practice, such as:
1. physical practice
2. mental practice
Physical part of the Gentle Yoga practice is based on hatha-yoga, constructed upon a prudent, cautious and careful approach to spinal column treatment, therefore I deliberately exclude risky poses from the yoga-routine. This way, practice becomes soft and safe, strengthens physical body without a need in any excessive exercising and improves general well-being of a practitioner. It doesn’t require any special skills or conditions to start the practice.
The mental part of the Gentle Yoga consists of intellectual and spiritual parts of the practice.
Intellectual part of the GY covers any intellectual activity that brings a practitioner to a clear perception of the Reality as well as of his/her individual potential. This part includes reading, satsanghs (discussions), life-coaching, personal mentoring and astrological sessions, card readings and playing psychological [transforming] games.
Spiritual part of the GY consists of so-called «inner practices», such as working with subconscious mind: various meditations, visualizations, pranayamas (breathing exercises) ect. which expand the capacities of a practitioner and lead to obtaining the state of awareness or presence in the moment, as well as to a higher level of self-consciousness and self-control.
Therefore, the main goal of Gente Yoga is:
— to make your body more healthy and easy-to-use,
— to get rid of any physical discomfort trough gentle and smart exercising,
— to obtain calm and manageable state of mind to become a happier person.
A story behind the symbolism and purpose of Gentle Yoga.
Being an experienced yoga practitioner, I always treasure every meditation I do, as it is always different. Sometimes I get very deep and clear insights during them, sometimes I can see images or hear sounds.
So, it was one of my usual classes. After a portion of asanas and pranayamas we had a meditation. At the end of it we had to close our eyes and concentrate on our inner self. As soon as I closed my eyes, I’ve faced a beautiful bright-green three-dimensional circle with a bright light behind it. The circle was moving towards me and deeply impressed me. I could clearly see every small detail of it and it looked like it was painted with a brush and was undone, when the ends didn’t touch each other. I had no clue about this symbol or its origin, but I was very curious to find it to know what would that mean to me. Later that day I was having another class in a yoga studio and was passing by the yoga brochures. I was amazed when I noticed the exact same circle on one of them. It was definitely a sign for me.
I have spent around a week or two searching for any information that could’ve explained the origin of the circle and I’ve finally found it. I was stunned when I found out that the circle I’ve seen is called ENSO and that it stands for Zen-Buddhism main symbol of enlightenment. I read it as a sign to look into Zen philosophy, as I knew nothing about it.
When I started to explore Zen and read about it, I was surprised by how deeply it corresponds and correlates to my own vision!
I gradually was puzzling up the information that was flowing into me and by the time I came up with a conception of GY, I already knew that Enso, just the way I’ve seen it back then, would definitely be a logo for my project.
The only thing left was to find the correct word that would describe the essence of the project. And I found it!
First of all, if you take a look at a transcription of the word «gentle» [ˈdʒentl], you can notice that it contains the word «zen», which makes my yoga be ZENtle, explaining my Zen-views in a way of being natural and free, easy but deep, clear and conscious ect. Zen philosophy is well-known for the simplicity of its forms and shapes, regularity, orderliness, discipline and calm nature. So is the Gentle Yoga: simple-looking but effective postures and meditation practices, slow moves, gentle and patient attitude, regularity of the practice, and the unique beauty that blossoms from inside out.
And second of all, being gentle towards anything we can possibly interact with throughout our life, brings more happiness and harmony:
— we are not harming our own body;
— we are being gentle and patient towards people around us, respecting their right to be free;
— we can be gentle in tough situations, being grateful for all life circumstances that make us the better person instead of complaining and fighting them back. and so much more.
As for the word «yoga» — it is translated from Sanskrit as unification. Of course, it also stands for a primary physical practice I work with, but it as well stands for importance of unification of all aspects of our essence: physical, intellectual and spiritual to give significant results.
I truly believe that it is vital to teach ourrselfs to practice gentle, deep and smart attitude towards our own body and mind, and then apply this skill to everyone and everything we encounter in life, making our world a better place.