Distinctions: Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain vs. "normal" Tai Chi and Yoga

Some classes start soon
Saturdays,
Sundays,
Monday at 9:30 AM
in the morning

They are called Yoga / Tai Chi and the Self / Brain

First:
what is the Self?

It's the real you,
the real me,
the one who is in us,
and always free,
always aware,
always present,
always open to the experience
and the wonder
of being alive.

Some yoga classes talk
of this,
and very, very few follow through.

So be it.

The major distinctions
on a watching what we do,
how does it feel to do it
level are these:

In the yoga class,
there will never be one
RIGHT WAY
to do any pose.

Every pose will have variations,
among which you can discover
who and how you are in your
body at this day
of your life.

In the yoga class,
the pose gets to be the focus.
That's fine, in a way.

In a way,
it forgets that postures
are just positions we take
on the way to something else,
and that core to human
life is movement.

Every pose in Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain
will have an element of movement.

In most yoga classes,
you are given
a pose,
and expected to put yourself in
that pose,
whether you are ready or not.

In Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain
every person,
or every level will have something
to learn and to discover.

In most yoga classes "teaching"
doesn't think about "learning,"
which is:
students learn something.

In Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain
the goal
in all parts of the class will
be to create situations of learning.

This makes "most yoga"
sound kind of punk,
doesn't it?

Oh, well.
"most yoga"
is still wonderful, as a way to get out
of a sedentary life,
and especially, if you are naturally
athletic, will give you useful
and interesting ways to get stronger.

Even there though,
"most yoga" encourages far too much
use of extra effort,
and it's really too long a story beyond saying this:

human bodies were designed to be unstable.

that instability is the key to amazing mobility.

"stabilizing" the core, or the this or the that,
comes at the expense of mobility and
really being able to use yourself
well.

And Tai Chi.

Well,
the normal way is a fixed
pattern,
done only to one side.

In Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain
we will learn to move both ways,
and we will learn variations
within that pattern.

In "most Tai Chi," huge effort
is put,
again,
on getting the form "Just So,"
while giving lip service to relaxation.

In Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain
the emphasis, will be on discovering
and loving your body,
and what it can do,
and what it can't do,
and the possibilities
that come open as we begin to move through
the tai chi
form.

Again,
sorry
for the snobby sound.

"Most Tai Chi"
is miles better than doing nothing.

And I hope
you'll find Yoga/Tai Chi and the Brain
a useful adjunct to your ongoing practice,
in either Tai Chi or Yoga,
or a
great way to begin a much
lighter,
and I think,
far more useful
practice
for yourself.

Who knows?

The experience
is always in each of us,
in each moment.

This is good.

Even now,
this now,
is the only one we have.

This is good.

Come experience
your Self
and your Learning
and your pleasure,
if you so wish.