So I attended a Jivamukti Yoga workshop in N. Ireland on Friday Sept 24th. I wasn’t expecting a huge turn out on a Friday night so was pleasantly surprised to see the floor filled! The workshop was run by recently Jivamukti graduated teacher Sibylle Dallmann, a lovely girl from Germany who now lives in Dublin and had already been teaching yoga for a couple of years. Like me, once she had started teaching, her practice evolved and she was drawn to the Jivamukti teachings which led to her completing the teacher training in New York.
Sibylle had a lovely timbre to her voice, a lilt that was easy to listen to and gently encouraged you in the asana practice.
We began the workshop with a little talk from Sibylle about her practice and about Jivamukti before leading us in some pranayama and chanting of Om. She set up an intention and the sutra Sthira sukham asanam (steadiness and ease in the pose) as the focus of the practice. Then the asana practice began!
In my experience, the flow of the class was quite similar to classes I have done with other flow teachers like Shiva Rea so I didn’t feel it was too difficult to follow. Doesn’t mean I didn’t start to sweat! I was sweating so much that I couldn’t hold my ankles in Dhanurasana (Bow Pose) as I was too slippery!
The class was great fun and I enjoyed myself very much. My only disappointment was how little we chanted. What little I had read had spoken of how chanting and music flowed through Jivamukti classes and how vital they were as another tool to help us gain understanding and enlightenment. For me, this seems to be the one thing missing from classes and workshops I usually attend, including those I teach myself. My way around this is to have a spoken kirtan (call and response) at the end of class. Sibylle managed to get us to follow her in kirtan at the beginning and end of the workshop, which I take my hat off to her for! I just wish we had done more. Ironically, the two chants we did sing are my favourite two, both of which I have taught in class:
Asaatomaa Sad Gamaya (Take me from the unreal to the real)
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya (From the darkness to the light)
Mrityor Maa Amritam Gamaya (From death to immortality)
and
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu (May my thoughts, words and actions contribute to the health, well being and freedom of all beings everywhere)
These also happen to be the two chants I end my daily practice with.
The workshop has given me an urge to explore this style a bit more. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet a wonderful person in Sibylle. If anybody gets the opportunity to attend a class with Sibylle, take it! She is a lovely teacher! And for anybody wanting to bring another dimension to their yoga practice, explore Jivamukti.
If anyone has any experience of Jivamukti they would like to share, I would love to hear from them!
Below you will find a video of Jivamukti founders Sharon Gannon and David Life with musician Michael Franti moving through their versions of Surya Namaskar A and B (Sun Salutations A and B). I hope this may help give you a glimpse of the possibilities that are out there.
Namaste,
Rain
om shanti
