News
We will have the pleasure of receiving instruction from instructors Bela Breslau and Stephen Billias.
This workshop is open to all levels. There will be 2 keiko Saturday and 1 Sunday morning.
As we are only a few weeks notice, we will not have a price for pre-registration. However if you are interested please let us know as soon as possible, we will inform you about the last details of the workshop.
Cost: 100$ (Can)
You can also find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/shintaidodequebec for information or to register at 418-609-0723 (Hervé) or
418-759-3331 (Carole).
Hope to see you all again and practice together very soon!
Sincerely,
Hervé Hofstetter and Carole Brouillette
Québec Shintaïdo Doshokai
2018, All Years, Body Dialogue Newsletter
by
Tomi Nagai-Rothe
I have enjoyed steam cleaning the floors at Ojas Yoga Center for over a year. It is a quiet time when I have the studio to myself. On reflection, I realized my attitude toward cleaning floors was probably different than others at Ojas.
I learned the traditional Japanese style of floor cleaning through my Shintaido practice. I describe this to yoga practitioners as pushing a wet towel across the floor while running in Downward Dog — often in full-sized basketball gymnasiums with dirty floors. I put in about 15 years’ worth of pushing wet towels!
Americans generally think of cleaning as menial labor, but I always remember Ito telling me that floor cleaning was an act of spreading good Ki (Chi) energy as a base for our practice. So exhausting though it was, I tried to keep in mind the benefit to those practicing with me.
Tomi Ahhh!
I remember that when our bodies couldn’t do the traditional floor cleaning any more, we switched to a wide floor mop but kept the same intention.
So when my yoga teacher showed me how she cleaned the floors at Ojas I knew exactly what to do: start at one end and clean board-by-board until the whole space was done. Using a Swifter mop is even easier than a floor mop so it felt almost luxurious. I’ve tried to remember to spread good energy when I walk back and forth across the yoga studio, though of course my mind eventually wanders.
I really feel that intention is important in life. One of the things I do outside of yoga is teaching visual meeting facilitation. When we talk about group dynamics I always say that a facilitator’s intention creates the space for great conversation. And I always remember Ito telling me that I should hold an image in my mind of what I want my students to experience, without revealing what that image is. People feel and respond to a strong intention in subtle and powerful ways.
Care and intention, practiced over tens or hundreds of years, create rich layers of awareness. I am reminded of the feeling in Kyoto, Japan where people have been meditating for over a thousand years.
Kyoto
There is an amazing and indescribable feeling that hangs in the air which I can only ascribe to 1,500 years of Buddhist and Shinto practices. Cleaning the floor is a small thing, but something important in the long term.
