Jivamukti yoga

Tonight I participated in my first jivamukti yoga class at Centre Luna Yoga in Old Montreal. I immediately understood the attraction - the music and the chanting creates a soothing environment, but I most enjoyed the hands-on approach used by the jivamukti teacher.

There's a lot of touching, but it's very gentle, compassionate touching.

For example, while in uttanasana, I was pleasantly surprised to feel the yoga teacher's hands massaging my neck muscles with a tea tree scented oil. She did this for everyone. She also made a lot of adjustments and not necessarily because you were doing something incorrectly - but also just to help you feel the pose more deeply.

I like being handled, what can I say?

The turning point came while in paschimottanasana, when the yoga teacher knelt behind me, pressed down into my hip joints with her thumbs, and then lay her torso full-length against my back to help guide me downwards. With just two inhalations, I found myself nose pressed against kneecaps (just like in the picture).

It was a turning point because it reminded me how important it is to keep renewing your yoga practice, especially if you want to improve. Yoga, just like anything else, can become commonplace and repetitive if practiced with the distraction that sometimes comes with familiarity. I've done seated forward bend a thousand times, but I tend to hang in the same place, not even trying to get my nose to knee.

When you mix things up a bit - by trying a new practice or even trying a new teacher - you renew awareness of your body and often discover space where previously there was little or none.

Same thing with tango. I can't help feeling that tango will make me a better yogi. And maybe - just maybe - being a yogi will give me a better tango.