How I Came to Yoga.....continued
by Granville Cousins
One January morning whilst preparing to get on with my job, after returning back from the Christmas holidays, I was taken aback when I was summoned from within to leave the joinery trade and go and teach yoga. A new direction had been prepared for me, and a new life-style was about to be forged. I went down to the unemployment offices and applied for The Enterprise Allowance Scheme. With their funding, this would allow me to go and teach yoga on a full time basis until I could build up enough classes to make a living. Manchester was where my classes were set up and I had just made inroads into teaching yoga in health clubs. At that time yoga and the leisure industry had opposing views on many aspects of fitness so it was quite something when I was able to set up classes at one of the premier health clubs in the area, 'Living Well'. After teaching Iyengar Yoga for some years, in 1995 I was introduced to Michael Taylor and Elizabeth Wilson with whom I learnt Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga at their house on Sunday Mornings. These were some of the most enjoyable yoga sessions that I have attended. In an upper bedroom with about 5 of 6 other yogis, we sweated our way through the Primary Series. After a short while I was invited to meet a person with whom the yoga world has much to be grateful. This man was Derek Ireland, and I attended one of his Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga workshops in London. He also accepted my application to teach for him in Crete, at The Practice Place. Together with his partner Radha, I studied with them in the morning sessions and taught Iyengar Yoga in the evenings. Since those early days I have now set up classes teaching mainly Ashtanga Yoga and Posture Classes that are based for the most part around the Primary Series but incorporating my knowledge of the postures gained mainly from my Iyengar Yoga background. My classes are quite thorough, my students tell me, and on my Workshops and Yoga Holidays I introduce meditation practice as part of the daily regime. This is most important, as yoga is very supportive to the discipline of mediation. If we cannot sit still, how can we allow the deeper levels of our consciousness to manifest? I practice the Sound and Light Meditation and my Meditation Master is Suma Ching Hai. The requirements for this path are an Ethical life Style, a Vegetarian diet including no eggs, Abstention from Alcohol and Drugs, and to devote a certain proportion of the day in contemplation of the Holy Sound and Divine Light. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be filled with Light".
During these times when the planet needs to be treated with respect, I feel that Ecology and working with the environment are crucial issues. Myself I have an Organic Reed-Bed System installed on my farm, which deals with all my Sewage and grey water. In the Summer when the Reeds are blooming, it is really beautiful and looks just like a garden with 4 foot high Norfolk Reeds occupying a portion of the field. There are no chemicals involved, the whole process relying on the natural elements and bacteria living around to roots of the reeds. My farmhouse has just been refurbished with the aid of a council grant and I hope to continue to improve and incorporate environmentally friendly ways towards completion of the development.
May I take this opportunity to thank all my teachers and students, and let us enjoy together the Bliss of the Divine and the Ecstasy of His Grace.
Granville Cousins 12th May 2002
