Osamu Tatsamura
Osamu Tatsamura, okido yoga teacher came to visit from Japan and teach in Laren at the okido yoga dojo and teacher training. This time not to teach us more kyoka-ho but trying to tell about and feel the difference between okido yoga and other yoga styles.
For me okido yoga means: listening to your lifeforce, acting from the heart, feeling solid in your hara. The main difference with other styles of yoga is that you become more aware of your capacities by regaining your lifeforce. Okido yoga is not one style or program you follow but every teacher gives his own interpretation because we are all unique and changing gradually. The basic principles; breathing, strengthening exercises, asana's, doing opposite things as you are used to, put yoga into practice in your daily life, being dedicated in service to others, becoming aware of your needs: good food, exercise, knowledge put into action and social activities are making okido yoga a complete lifestyle.
I feel less fear
I become more sensitive, of what I need and don't need
I'm aware of deeper emotions
Feeling really sad one moment
Feeling inner joy at another moment
And sometimes I can feel connected with nature and being united
I was very grateful for the opportunity this weekend to study with Tatsamura, he is such a wonderful teacher,
light and compact, flexible and strong in every way.
Putting knowlegde into action, learning from the difficulties in life, and receiving them as a gift, making yoga a lifestyle,
doing the opposite to balance, taking in the suitable, not taking in the unsuitable and eliminate the unnecessary.
Emotional rollercoaster
As they say, the first few days after the AUM you're very open. So don't try to fix the argument with your neighboor, get in the mood to ring an old boyfriend to settle for once and all and don't even think about telling the handsome guy you have this special feeling and...
No let it sink in and breath. As I do now.
For during the AUM you are in an emotional rollercoaster but after, you have to get back with your feet on the solid ground and feel earth.
To get in touch with earth I dig with my hands in the soil, plant seeds, weed, get my fingernails all filled with black earth and feel the dried skin on my hands.
As I massage the hands of my clients in the office I cannot notice but how soft their hands are to the touch and how solid and strong my working hands are.
After one of the AUM's I have this conversation about my work. One of the things I do, is teaching childeren in primary school how to cook healthy. From the first day I started I thought I'm never gonna stay long.. But now I already teach at the same school for the fourth season. What I show the children is my passion for food and that healthy can be mjammy as well. What I like is how open and forewarded the children are and some really pick up what I say and try out things at home and hidden qualities are opening up. What I don't like is playing the schoolteacher, getting tthem to listen to me, how they don't show any respect, keep on nagging about all sort of things, hit eachother and scold at each other.
But then this man I'm talking to says: sometimes you have to give up your own ambition and put your knowledge into service. And I keep on coming back to our conversation.
And then we had this amazing weekend with Osamu Tatsamura a Japanese okid yoga teacher. I must tell you about him, but later, my class is waiting.