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Yogacharini Sonia and some of her students on Retreat at Rishi-Culture Yoga Ibiza
Yoga is ageless.
My youngest yoga student, Diana Bailley 14years and my oldest student Peggy Bennett 84yrs young! Three generations of the same family showing a variety of twist asanas! Grandmother Diana, daughter Barbara,and little Diana.
Grunts & Groans : Yoga 60+ Excerpts from YOGA & HEALTH Magazine : Aug 2005 by Sheila Froud Written by Sheila Froud, this article covers the comments and reactions of over 50s Yoga students, in particular the benefits they have discovered through regular practice.
“You are never too old to aspire.” “We are all treated the same in Sonia’s classes, regardless of age. We mention our ages only as they are relevant to this article. Ageing can mean having the time and wisdom to ‘live life to the full’, not in the Western way of seeking nothing but comfort and sensual pleasure, but to spend more time realising life and contemplating some of the deeper quesations. It is also an opportunity to be of service to those who need guidance and to share our wisdom...” “Regular practice can promote and maintain both physical and mental balance which I think becomes increasingly important as we get older”.
Above: Sheila Froud
"Sonia's oldest member (of the 'Shap School of Yoga') is Peggy,(see above)84 years, who is far from being "retired"! Peggy says, "I took my first Yoga lesson as a very stiff new recruit,aged 65 years when I joined Sonia's 'Grunt & Groan' class, as it is affectionately known by particiapants. It is designeed to cater for those who are not naturally flexible or who have other problems and feel they would not fit into the larger evening class. Students can grunt and groan their way through! We all work really hard but have some god laughs along the way!" Peggy continues, "the class which I thought was for beginners proved to contain students of mixed abilities. I marvelled at the supplenessof the more proficiant members and doubted if I would ever achieve a fraction of thier ability. However, over the years I have persevered and, ,with Sonnia's excellent teaching and constant encouragement, I now find that at the age of 84 years, I am more supple than I ever dreamed was possible! I have enjoyed the Pranayama sesion in the class work from which I derive energy and tranquility of spirit. Take my word, It is never too late!"
Diana Holiday says, " Now in my 60's, in spite of a hip replacement, I try to take part in all our Yoga asanas, helping to improve muscle tone. My upper body is good and strong too. Yoga gives me an inner peace and strength to cope with anything. I try not to miss a class as the week is never the same!"
At the end of the retreat, Sonia asked her students to write down what they had learnt using the WAVES (which we sat beside every day and looked at every night) as an ANALOGY. Here are two excellent renditions:- WAVES BY Sue Gordon.
Everything comes and goes in waves; The waves of the sea ebbing and flowing as the moon waxes and wanes.
Everything advances and recedes just like the waves of the sea. Constant Sometimes the slightest vibration Sometimes so great in size we cannot comprehend it. Sometimes, as with the waves of the sea there is just a gentle swell, Hardly seen on the surface, but Powerful below. And always between the waves a lull, a pause As power builds and gains momentum for the next surge. Just as seeds lie dormant Underground, sometimes for many years When the conditions are right they spring into life. And we are reborn at the right time and right situation. Everything comes and goes in harmony. EVERYTHING IS BRAHMAN.
WAVES by Jacky Bevan (pictured above)
We are all as the waves. We think we have an identity of our own, and fail to see the bigger picture, which is that we are part of the eternal ocean. We come and we go,like the waves, taking on a form temporarily before merging again with something of which we are a part of and which is also a part of us.
YOGA FOR GAIN By Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani - Editor and Publisher of YOGA LIFE What would you think if someone told you, "You will achieve absolutely nothing by taking up the practice of Yoga? There is nothing to gain by it and everything to lose?" Would you still be interested in devoting your regular ten minutes...half hour...one hour...three hours daily to your Pranayama, your Asanas, your Surya Namaskars, your Mantras and your meditative practices? Would you still devote a large chunk of your waking hours to a science if you knew that instead of getting more and more, you would be getting less and less? That instead of feeling more and more important, more and more accomplished, more and more beautiful, more and more sexy, you started to feel less and less important, realising your own limitations more and more keenly, understanding more and more the total insignificance of your being in the vast ocean of time? Watch out! This is where the real Yoga takes you! Right down to the rock bottom of the realization that in essence, you..and I...for that matter...are NO BODIES. The ego is an illusion, a bubble which can pop at any moment. Becoming aware that the "I" can do nothing,is nothing, and the ego-sense a falsehood, is a shock. That Maya is the TRUE LIVING LIE, and the producer of this Maya is none other than the Ahamkara...the I-Maker. Would we still want to buy those jazzy new Yoga leotards, or the latest high-tech Yoga mat, or pay the huge amount for "designer Yoga classes"...especially tailored to fulfill all our needs? Would we still rush for those adrenaline-tingling-aerobic exercises, dressed up in fancy Sanskrit terms, if we knew that those too produce only superficial hormonal highs...that eventually which goes up must come down.... Bouncing from Guru to Guru, this meditation school to that one, changing our Yoga T-shirts and affiliations with every passing season, standing on our heads, our hands, our neck...would we still do all that if we realised that in essence...the real Yoga can only lead us to the quite disturbing thought that our sense of "I-ness" is nothing but a big fat illusion, a wall we must break through, a fence we must jump over, and not the end all and be all of our Sadhana? Swamiji told us time and time again, "There is no such thing as a personalised Samadhi. To experience Samadhi "you" have to disappear, and if "you" disappear, who is there to experience that ecstacy?" No one liked to hear that. Most did not like much to hear the straightforward truths he taught. "No one can save you. Stop looking for an outer Guru. Stop seeking for thrills and spills in the name of Yoga. Dig into your own heart. That is the real true abiding place of the Guru Sakshat, the Guru Spirit." It is not much fun to sit quietly, observing nothing or at best, a cluster of confused, sometimes downright nasty thought segments. There is no sense of accomplishment, no adrenaline high, no spiritual glamour in being quiet, simple and still. There is absolutely nothing to gain; no money, no fame, no acclaim, no praise, no prizes. At least, materially, Nothing is gained that can be seen or measured with the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth or the ears. We have to enter another realm, when we walk the real Yoga path. A strange land, when everything which the world values so highly, no longer has any value for us. The souls journey is, as the Rishis told us, long ago, "The flight of the alone to the Alone". Perhaps we can take solace, from that ancient question put so well by a seeker of old: "What good doeth it for a man, if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?" Yoga cannot be practised for worldy gain. If we collect our payment in the coin of the realm, we forfeit our rights to the real spiritual treasure. What a bitter pill this is for the modern seeker to swallow!
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