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Eva Ruchpaul, a yoga teacher.
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My name is Eva Ruchpaul.
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I belong to the community
of slightly odd people,
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somewhat uncommon,
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who practice hatha yoga in Europe.
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We are going to do the Bow Pose.
It's very simple.
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Lay flat on your stomach,
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and place your chin in front of you.
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Then grab your ankles.
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Go ahead, calmly.
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Very peacefully,
as if moving through oil.
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Then take a deep breath.
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As you fill your lungs,
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raise your nose
and look up at the ceiling.
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Hold your head as high as possible,
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still looking at the ceiling.
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Yoga means to unite.
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It comes from an old Sanskrit word
that gave us the French joug,
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the yoke joining 2 oxen.
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When you've had enough,
breathe out,
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and let everything go,
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putting your head down
and relaxing your arms.
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Feel your weight
pressing down on the mat.
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But for us,
in a more accessible way,
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we could also say that unite
means reconcile.
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Reconcile with ourselves
and what is around us.
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It is a way of life.
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A way of surviving for the very tired.
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It means giving your best
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and accomplishing
a little more each day,
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thinking: "Two or three years ago,
I couldn't have done that.
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"This is new.
I can do it and do it well."
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Like someone who is developing,
a child who changes every day,
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who grows up every day.
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How can movements
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make you feel happy
and, let's say it, more intelligent?
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Very often,
we see in instructional material,
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and very superficial technique books:
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Do yoga and your hair will grow back,
eternal youth, blah, blah, blah.
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If you have arthritic tendencies,
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if all your bones crack,
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after 50 years of age,
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you may see your scalp
more and more exposed to bad weather.
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But if you practice yoga,
you will be less arthritic.
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I won't go as far as saying
that you'll keep all your hair,
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but it may survive.
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People always ask me
who can practice yoga,
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at home, for example.
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Why, gosh,
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I have students of every age
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and of every type.
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They tell me about their troubles,
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then depending on each situation,
we practice a more active yoga
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to work their muscles
and give their minds a break.
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With others,
we offer a more relaxing yoga.
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The other leg.
Up!
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Don't move your head.
This is better and better.
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Students may need to confide
in their yoga teacher,
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just like they would in a psychiatrist.
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That's it.
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But the yoga teacher
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will react in the opposite direction
of the psychiatrist.
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The other leg.
Yes, that's good.
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The psychiatrist tries to go deeper,
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to make the patient understand
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the origin of their trauma,
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to make them dig deeper and deeper
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into their subconscious.
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As to the yoga teacher,
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they try to give their patient
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a moment of complete and total oblivion,
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better than in sleep.
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Rest now, OK?
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Relax completely, like a wet mop.
Feel yourself sinking into the ground.
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We try to establish
a form of continuous flow,
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calm breathing,
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like the sound of waves
on the beach under the sun,
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ebb and flow,
extremely slow, soothing.
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Take a deep breath.
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Up, up, up,
unfold, unfold, unfold.
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Stretch well.
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Your head as high as possible.
Yes!
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That's the Cobra Pose.
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Your head is stretching you out,
opening up the front of your rib cage.
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You may wonder
whether practicing yoga intensely
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is compatible with normal life.
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It's doable.
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You don't have to become
a great mystic or a great ascetic,
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or even an eccentric.
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You can be very simple and honest
and be a good yogi.
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When you want to breathe,
exhale and go down.
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Some people have been
practicing yoga for years,
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but it doesn't show
when they walk down the street.
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They look like you and me.
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Mrs Ruchpaul,
how did you come to yoga?
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A health problem brought me to yoga.
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I practiced
all through my long rehabilitation.
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Afterwards,
when I was almost normalized,
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I kept practicing,
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out of interest
and because I enjoyed it,
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thinking it is the best balance
that can be attained by a human being.
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And also, I've come to think
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that my health problem
was a blessing in disguise,
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since it's made me discover
both a way of coping
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and a way
of helping others cope.
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Subtitles: Chloé Bourgogne