Marc & I will be teaching a Partner Yoga & Massage on the 3rd Aug Wed 7-9.30pm @ OmShiva Yoga (Turf City)
Marc will also be conducting a series of Acroyoga workshops on the 6-7 August weekend! Come and join us!!!!!
Partner & Acroyoga workshops with Marc Bauchet - Aug 2011
Marc & I will be teaching a Partner Yoga & Massage on the 3rd Aug Wed 7-9.30pm @ OmShiva Yoga (Turf City)
Marc will also be conducting a series of Acroyoga workshops on the 6-7 August weekend! Come and join us!!!!!
ACROYOGA WORKSHOP - TURN YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!!
ACROYOGA WITH JACOB HANDWERKERWed 2 March 7 - 9pm
This workshop will explore partner yoga, acrobatics, and human pyramids. By working together, we will cultivate trust, strength, and flexibility. A playful, safe, and supportive environment will empower the whole room to be upside down. This workshop is open to students with yoga experience and a headstand practice.(No partner required)
Investment : $40 (Early Bird Price : $35)
Early bird registration & payment must be made before 10 Feb.
Location : OmShiva Yoga Studio (Turf City)
Registration Contact: 90114405 / acroyogasing@gmail.com
www.acroyoga.org
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About Jacob Handwerker
 | Residence: Nomad Birthplace: Maine jacob@acroyoga.org / Ashtanga Lanka Yoga Resort |
 Movement has always been an integral part of my life. Before discovering AcroYoga, Ashtanga Yoga, and Vipassana meditation I spent years kayaking, climbing, skiing, backpacking, and dancing. Now, by "showing up" every morning to do my practices I have experienced profound and deep changes in my life. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is how to connect to my breath. The breath is the only constant we have from birth to death and can be one of our greatest teachers.I grew up in a house hearing the words yoga, meditation, tai chi, meridians, etc. but it was not until I was 26 that I started to explore them. Besides AcroYoga, I study Ashtanga Yoga with Kathy Cooper, and practice Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka. I believe that by helping people connect to themselves and one another we can create peace around us and in the world. I am excited to share my passions and teach AcroYoga across the planet. I am based out of Portland, Oregon but I travel throughout Europe and Asia for many months of the year.   | |
Happy shorts for Happy People by Happy People
COTTAGE INDUSTRY - COMMUNITY PROJECT
In a moment of folly, my girlfriend, Chin & I decided that we wanted to help poor tailors in India and ordered a bunch of yoga shorts! They are really quite cute and each one is unique! You can be happy knowing your shorts did not come from some sweat shop but were individually made by happy tailors in Goa!!!
Stretchy Cotton Shorts (Grey & Black)
We are selling them at S$20 / USD$15 / EUR12 (Including shipment anywhere in the world). You can order them by sending me an email elainehuilian@gmail.com or on-line from http://www.idband.net/product.php?type=3
28-32" Wasit / Hip (Worn below belly button) + 14-16" Thigh
I am not Buddhist
After a brief flirtation with Buddhism, I have come to the conclusion that "I am not Buddhist"!!!
I spent the month of December in India on what was originally to be a Yoga holiday. (It ended up being a lot more holiday and not so much yoga!) I will save the India story for a different post.
The highlight of the trip was the 10days I spent at a Vipassana Retreat. There was no talking, no reading, no writing and no yoga allowed!!! Just meditation and nothing but meditation except for 1hr a day of Dhamma talk (on video) by Goenkeji. Vipassana is not Buddhist. It is a meditation technique that will work for anyone; universal and non-sectarian. Goenkeji is however a Buddhist so even though the dhamma talks were about the Vipassana technique, they nevertheless covered quite a bit of Buddhist philosophy.
I was ok with everything he said probably until about Day5, then it became all about misery, and I honestly didn't get it anymore! Like at the Zen Meditation temple (I spent the month of June studying Zen Buddhism in Japan and didn't get it then either! http://elaineguru.blogspot.com/2010/06/zen-101.html) I started having issues as soon as they started on the 1st noble truth "Life is suffering". I don't understand; why is life suffering? Why would our loving and compassionate God create a world where there was nothing but suffering and misery? My God isn't masochistic. He isn't mean. He isn't cruel. He is love! I truly believe that life is nothing but an accumulation of experiences that we choose for ourselves so that we can experience our highest self! What we consider suffering or misery, is not good nor is it bad; it is just an experience. There can after all be no light, if there is no darkness. There is no pleasure like food for a hungry man or water for a thirsty man. It is the whole dichotomy of life so we can have the deepest experiences and remember our truest self!
My second blockage came when Goenkeji started talking about attachment. Our sufferings are caused by desires; attachments to what we consider"pleasure" and aversions to what we consider "pain". err...... yeah, and what is wrong with that? God wired us to like pleasure and dislike pain!!! But the Buddhist feel that we should have NO ATTACHMENTS, and in that way, we will have no sufferings. Goenkeji told us a story to illustrate this. He was given a watch by a student from far away. It was a beautiful watch; magnificent, very rare and expensive. He loved the watch and wore it everyday. At night, before going to bed, he would carefully take it off and put it on his bedside table. One day, whilst taking off the watch, he dropped the watch and it broke. This was a very rare watch and there were no spare parts for this watch in India. He could not repair the watch and was very very very sad. Now if the same magnificent, rare and expensive watch were on another man's wrist and broke, Goenkeji wouldn't have been sad at all! Same watch, just as rare, just as expensive.... but since it wouldn't have been his watch, he would not have been sad! In fact, he probably would have chastised his friend for not being more careful! The sadness from breaking the watch did not come from the intrinsic value of the watch, but from the attachment that he put on the watch. The ME, MY, I!!! "My Watch"!
I liked the story, but my take on the story is slightly different. I think it is great that he was given a watch that he loved. It is great that he was given the opportunity to build an "attachment" to it, so that every time he looked at the watch on his wrist, he felt a silent elation at seeing that beautiful watch on His wrist (and not on the wrist of some other man!). Not only did he have the joy of wearing the watch, he had the joy of taking care of it, taking it off carefully every night and placing it on his dresser. Knowing that the watch was fragile and impermanent, he cared for it even more, taking pains to look after it. He enjoyed the watch for the years it served him. Now that it is broken, yes, he feels sadness, but the sadness will go away, and he can have fond memories of his watch and move on to buy a new watch. Should he have given up all the years of pleasure the watch gave him because he feared that it would one day break? Should he have treated the watch with disdain and carelessly, like any other watch? I say "NO"! The watch was special to him and because of the "attachment" and special importance he placed on the watch, he had years of pleasure wearing and caring for the watch. Why give all that up just because of fear that one day the watch would break? We know that the watch would one day break; because watches always break; because nothing lasts forever; because everything is impermanent. But that should not stop us from loving fully and freely whatever is here and now!
Don't get me wrong; I am not advocating that we should have attachments to expensive watches and the likes. The quest for material riches is futile; it is never-ending and the hoarding of material goods is senseless! I just feel that there should be room in us to keep "attachments" to things (and people) who are special; that we treasure a little more than the average. As long as when it is time for us to give them up for whatever reason (and as everything is impermanent, that time will come!), we can have the courage to let go; appreciating every moment we had in the past and happy to embrace whatever new thing comes to take it's place!
Buddhism aside, Goenkeji is a wonderful teacher and I loved all his stories. The Vipassana technique of meditation is also truly amazing and I have been telling everyone I know to go. It will be 10days that you will never forget!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The story of the Taoist Farmer
This farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to condole over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"
A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"
One day, the farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"
A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.
I spent the month of December in India on what was originally to be a Yoga holiday. (It ended up being a lot more holiday and not so much yoga!) I will save the India story for a different post.
The highlight of the trip was the 10days I spent at a Vipassana Retreat. There was no talking, no reading, no writing and no yoga allowed!!! Just meditation and nothing but meditation except for 1hr a day of Dhamma talk (on video) by Goenkeji. Vipassana is not Buddhist. It is a meditation technique that will work for anyone; universal and non-sectarian. Goenkeji is however a Buddhist so even though the dhamma talks were about the Vipassana technique, they nevertheless covered quite a bit of Buddhist philosophy.
I was ok with everything he said probably until about Day5, then it became all about misery, and I honestly didn't get it anymore! Like at the Zen Meditation temple (I spent the month of June studying Zen Buddhism in Japan and didn't get it then either! http://elaineguru.blogspot.com/2010/06/zen-101.html) I started having issues as soon as they started on the 1st noble truth "Life is suffering". I don't understand; why is life suffering? Why would our loving and compassionate God create a world where there was nothing but suffering and misery? My God isn't masochistic. He isn't mean. He isn't cruel. He is love! I truly believe that life is nothing but an accumulation of experiences that we choose for ourselves so that we can experience our highest self! What we consider suffering or misery, is not good nor is it bad; it is just an experience. There can after all be no light, if there is no darkness. There is no pleasure like food for a hungry man or water for a thirsty man. It is the whole dichotomy of life so we can have the deepest experiences and remember our truest self!
My second blockage came when Goenkeji started talking about attachment. Our sufferings are caused by desires; attachments to what we consider"pleasure" and aversions to what we consider "pain". err...... yeah, and what is wrong with that? God wired us to like pleasure and dislike pain!!! But the Buddhist feel that we should have NO ATTACHMENTS, and in that way, we will have no sufferings. Goenkeji told us a story to illustrate this. He was given a watch by a student from far away. It was a beautiful watch; magnificent, very rare and expensive. He loved the watch and wore it everyday. At night, before going to bed, he would carefully take it off and put it on his bedside table. One day, whilst taking off the watch, he dropped the watch and it broke. This was a very rare watch and there were no spare parts for this watch in India. He could not repair the watch and was very very very sad. Now if the same magnificent, rare and expensive watch were on another man's wrist and broke, Goenkeji wouldn't have been sad at all! Same watch, just as rare, just as expensive.... but since it wouldn't have been his watch, he would not have been sad! In fact, he probably would have chastised his friend for not being more careful! The sadness from breaking the watch did not come from the intrinsic value of the watch, but from the attachment that he put on the watch. The ME, MY, I!!! "My Watch"!
I liked the story, but my take on the story is slightly different. I think it is great that he was given a watch that he loved. It is great that he was given the opportunity to build an "attachment" to it, so that every time he looked at the watch on his wrist, he felt a silent elation at seeing that beautiful watch on His wrist (and not on the wrist of some other man!). Not only did he have the joy of wearing the watch, he had the joy of taking care of it, taking it off carefully every night and placing it on his dresser. Knowing that the watch was fragile and impermanent, he cared for it even more, taking pains to look after it. He enjoyed the watch for the years it served him. Now that it is broken, yes, he feels sadness, but the sadness will go away, and he can have fond memories of his watch and move on to buy a new watch. Should he have given up all the years of pleasure the watch gave him because he feared that it would one day break? Should he have treated the watch with disdain and carelessly, like any other watch? I say "NO"! The watch was special to him and because of the "attachment" and special importance he placed on the watch, he had years of pleasure wearing and caring for the watch. Why give all that up just because of fear that one day the watch would break? We know that the watch would one day break; because watches always break; because nothing lasts forever; because everything is impermanent. But that should not stop us from loving fully and freely whatever is here and now!
Don't get me wrong; I am not advocating that we should have attachments to expensive watches and the likes. The quest for material riches is futile; it is never-ending and the hoarding of material goods is senseless! I just feel that there should be room in us to keep "attachments" to things (and people) who are special; that we treasure a little more than the average. As long as when it is time for us to give them up for whatever reason (and as everything is impermanent, that time will come!), we can have the courage to let go; appreciating every moment we had in the past and happy to embrace whatever new thing comes to take it's place!
Buddhism aside, Goenkeji is a wonderful teacher and I loved all his stories. The Vipassana technique of meditation is also truly amazing and I have been telling everyone I know to go. It will be 10days that you will never forget!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The story of the Taoist Farmer
This farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to condole over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"
A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"
One day, the farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"
A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.
The Bullet Ant Yogi
NOVEMBER 2010 - I just finished my 4th Iyengar intensive with Peter Thomson and I am well and truly addicted! The asana practise is amazing but what I'm really hooked on are Peter's stories. These 630am philosophy classes brought light to so many things. I think part of the reason they worked so well is because our mind is still asleep and fuzzy at that time of the day so our understanding takes place at a different level... This master communicates to the being, not just to the mind! :) Afterall, communication does not need to be done with language or words... In fact words limit and restricts our understanding! Peter has given us reading homework on this- shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A lot of the week's teachings were on the Australian Bullet Ant- a fiercely courageous hardworking ant! Peter wants us to be Bullet Ant Yogis!
1) Have a braveheart and be courageous; you won't know until you have been.
We did a lot a lot of jumping - jumping throughs, jumping up and down.... And a lot of times, our efforts are half assed.... Half the body is jumping and the other half (controlled by the all powerful doubtful mind) is holding us back. "commit to the jump!" And this little lesson has long legs taken off the mat......
2) Be hard-working. Work with tenacity and perseverance.
Peter keeps telling to stop thinking so hard and just DO DO DO!!! You cannot know what your practise has not taught you.
He did warn us to practice Mindfully but Thoughtlessly though.
(words, words, words..... how confusing!!)
The act of being Mindful is doing with the quality of knowing, building intelligence.
Doing with Thought however is doing with the selfish objective of an end result... and if we practice like this, we are stealing from the asana and not letting the asana teach us through understanding of the process. Do like a child; practice with no expectations and let the result be a surprise!
3) Be ferocious; steadfast and unflinching. Stand firm in the practise and not be intimidated by imagined sufferings. But have the dexterity to be kind and generous when necessary.
4) Be loyal and faithful to the practise and trust that it knows the path. Be loyal to your "highest principal" and do not just work to your convenience. When working with props, don't just do what is habitual, or what is easy...... work to the highest truth and understand exactly what the asana is meant to do, what your body needs, and apply the correct props accordingly.....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let the practise be a creative work of art. Like playing a piece of music or painting; let there be no thought involved, just let it happen.....
A lot of the week's teachings were on the Australian Bullet Ant- a fiercely courageous hardworking ant! Peter wants us to be Bullet Ant Yogis!
1) Have a braveheart and be courageous; you won't know until you have been.
We did a lot a lot of jumping - jumping throughs, jumping up and down.... And a lot of times, our efforts are half assed.... Half the body is jumping and the other half (controlled by the all powerful doubtful mind) is holding us back. "commit to the jump!" And this little lesson has long legs taken off the mat......
2) Be hard-working. Work with tenacity and perseverance.
Peter keeps telling to stop thinking so hard and just DO DO DO!!! You cannot know what your practise has not taught you.
He did warn us to practice Mindfully but Thoughtlessly though.
(words, words, words..... how confusing!!)
The act of being Mindful is doing with the quality of knowing, building intelligence.
Doing with Thought however is doing with the selfish objective of an end result... and if we practice like this, we are stealing from the asana and not letting the asana teach us through understanding of the process. Do like a child; practice with no expectations and let the result be a surprise!
3) Be ferocious; steadfast and unflinching. Stand firm in the practise and not be intimidated by imagined sufferings. But have the dexterity to be kind and generous when necessary.
4) Be loyal and faithful to the practise and trust that it knows the path. Be loyal to your "highest principal" and do not just work to your convenience. When working with props, don't just do what is habitual, or what is easy...... work to the highest truth and understand exactly what the asana is meant to do, what your body needs, and apply the correct props accordingly.....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let the practise be a creative work of art. Like playing a piece of music or painting; let there be no thought involved, just let it happen.....
OCTOBER 2010 NEWSLETTER
Love & light to all,
Elaine
Tel : 90114405
Email : elainehuilian@gmail.com
PS : If you want me to stop hounding you with emails (and I won’t be offended if you do!), send me an email to let me know!
YOGA FOR RUNNERS WORKSHOP
The last session 
for this series will be on at 7pm this Friday (8th Oct) @ 7Aura Studio. We will be focusing on pain relief and self massage techniques. (I just bought an eco-friendly roller so I think we will take out the rollers and play around with them a little too!)
There have been inquiries about holding a weekly Yoga for Runners class. Drop me an email if you are interested with a suggested time & day of the week.
ACROYOGA
AcroYoga teacher, Marc Bauchet, is coming back in November and we have scheduled a delicious buffet of workshops for EVERYONE. If you have never tried AcroYoga, this is the time to try it out; we will hold a 1 day AcroYoga Fundamentals workshop so you can learn the basics from A to Z! For those of you who are into funky acrobatics, we have also organized an intermediate / advanced workshop so you can learn the more elaborate transitions (eg : Washing machine) & variations in Star etc….
Marc is now also a certified TULAYOGA practitioner. If you would like to try a massage that is completely out of this world, take the opportunity whilst he is here! I don’t think there is anyone else in Singapore (or the whole of Asia) that can give you a TulaYoga Massage! (For more information, check out www.tulayoga.com)
PARTNER YOGA & MASSAGE
Marc & I will be holding a partner yoga & massage workshop whilst he is in town too.
You would like to go a little deeper into a stretch and would like someone (who kindda knows what he/she is doing) to come and give you that extra pull / push.
You would like a 5-10min back rub to ease away the tensions of the day, but your partner just isn’t getting it right.
Or you are merely looking for something fun & interesting to do on “Date-night”!
Or looking to bond with your teenage daughter / son / parent / friend!
The workshop will consist of 1hr of partner yoga where we will show you how to take your partner deeper into certain stretches and 90mins of simple massage technique. No yoga or massage experience is required!
JAMS
I am sorry the jams have not been as regular as we had originally planned. For those of you who have never attended any of the jams, these are informal gathering where we get together and do Yoga, Massage, Acrobatics (BTW, we call this Acroyoga, but that seems to scare some of you!) or Contact Improvisation Dance. The sessions are free but Mat &I are asking for donations to raise money to support events for the Acroyoga & CI community.
Poh Yen & Rodney, Ann & Matt at our last jam
Photos : We had the amazing Jenny Lee (pro photographer & AcroYogi newbie) take these photos & she even gave little Stephan (Age 6) a couple of tips on how to iphone pics look cool!
Sharada & I, Amber & Guy, Su-Ann & Dennis at our inaugural AcroYoga Contact Jam in Aug.
The Chain Gang
We have tentatively scheduled a jam on the 17th Oct Sunday 2-4pm. We will be sending out notifications through the various Facebook groups!
MEDITATION
Many of you have been asking me about meditation classes. I would like to recommend that you check out Singasatsanga. Amber does dynamic meditation sessions from the world of OSHO. http://www.singasatsanga.com/
I had planned to do monthly silent sittings at my place but have not been very good about it. Sorry. If you are interested, we can have one on the 28th Oct Thursday 7pm. Let me know. The sittings are free.
"For where two or more are gathered together in My Name, I am there in the midst of them."
PRE-NATAL YOGA
There are 2 girls who want to start pre-natal yoga class. We will probably do this at 7.15pm on a Thurs or Fri night. If you are pregnant, or know someone who would like to join this class, please let me know.
GROUP VINYASA CLASS
Mon & Wed 7am / Thurs 9.30am / Sat 7.30am
(Pls note that class this Sat 9th Oct is canceled. I need to be at my “other job” @ the North Face 100 ultra marathon!)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
KIDS YOGA
I am sorry we had to suspend the kids yoga class. We may try to start the class again in the new year. Stephan & I miss you guys too! I hear that Daniel now has his own yoga mat and sleeps with it by the side of his bed! Way to go, boy!
Nick Lee trying out the new Yoga ropes
Z-YOGA
We have decided to stop the classes @ Z-Yoga (United Sq) as there aren’t enough students. A big thanks to the team @ Z fencing School and all the girls who practiced there with me this past year. Hope you will continue practicing somewhere else.
GIFT VOUCHERS
An early Christmas gift idea.....
COMMUNITY
We are trying to keep our little “community” going with events and workshops. Please join one of the facebook groups. It would be great if you could share information on other events and happenings too.
Contact Improvisation Singapore
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PARTNER YOGA & MASSAGE WORKSHOP
Connect with a loved one : A partner, parent, child or friendBring health and well-being to your relationships. Deepen your understanding of yoga and develop greater awareness of each other. Bond with a partner through breathe, touch and posture; guiding and supporting each other in a creative & playful journey.
The workshop will consist of- 1hr of Partner Yoga work
- 1.5hrs of Massage Technique
(No yoga or massage experience is required)
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Date : Tues, 16 Nov 2010 & / or Sat 20th Nov 2010
Time : 7-9.30pm
Location : The Substation (Armenian Street) / Oasis Holistic (Selegie Road)
Cost : $55/person (early Bird Price before 20 Oct : $48)
Registration : 90114405 / acroyogasing@gmail.com
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ABOUT MARC & ELAINE
Marc & Elaine are yoga teachers and bodywork massage therapists. They will share their experience with the healing powers of yoga, massage and touch using techniques from the worlds of Contact & partner yoga, Tulayoga, Thai massage and sports therapy.
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