Archive for the ‘General Yoga Philosophizing’ Category
This thought started in class this morning. Picked up again after teaching my volunteer class. Culminated during a short second practice this evening.
Things in my life which have changed in the past few years:
my profession
my address
my mood
my marital status
my name
my employer
my favorite books
my favorite websites
my favorite music
my hair
my dress size
my voice
my brain chemistry
But I am still here.
Hmmmm. Those things must not be me, deep down. 
Been reading off & on a lovely book on loaner from my friend at Schmetterling Yoga. http://schmetterlingyoga.blogspot.com
I’m not done with it yet & therefore not able to give a fully digested summation, but basically it’s about the mistakes we make when imagining the future. The way the human mind works means that we inevitably distort reality through selectivity & omission & really should just quit believing so firmly in what we think.
Find it interesting in relation to yoga as a useful tool in deconstructing how we think & what we think about. I’m a huge fan of using one’s brain, but also of understanding that it’s a tricky little bugger & must not be taken tooo seriously. Stumbling is a cognitive science-y light & humorous ride.
Here’s a few pithy bits. They are all supported by a bunch of psychological studies, mostly done on erstwhile graduate students.
“Perceptions are portraits, not photographs, and their form reveals the artist’s hand every bit as much as it reflects the things portrayed.” (p. 94)
“It is only natural that we should imagine the future and then consider how doing so makes us feel, but because our brains are hell-bent on responding to current events, we mistakenly conclude that we will feel tomorrow as we feel today.” p. 138
“Distorted views of reality are made possible by the fact that experiences are ambiguous — that is, they can be credibly viewed in many ways, some of which are more positive than others. To ensure that our views are credible our brain accepts what our eye sees. To ensure that our views are positive, our eye looks for what our brain wants. The conspiracy between these two servants allows us to live at the fulcrum of stark reality and comforting illusion.” (p. 188)
So things are likely neither as bad nor as good as one thinks. What you think you will feel about something in the future is likely wrong. Guess it is best to try & quiet the fluctuations of the mind (citta vritta nirodhah, for the Sankrit lovahs 
& not get too jacked up about living on a fulcrum.
Got into the early class then some time at the gym with Beloved Husband & extra stretchies. The household now is companionably reading & purring toether.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/phys-ed-can-touching-your-toes-test-your-arteries/
A few weeks ago, I posted on a NY Times article about a study showing that flexibility doesn’t improve athletic performance. (And ranted about the sit & reach test. It’s all right here: http://autumnlotusyoga.omblogger.com/2009/11/27/is-stretching-unnecessary/)
Well, skimming NYT on line today, found a fascinating article on how the sit & reach test can correlate with flexibility of the arteries. The stiffer the body is, the more inelastic the arteries, increasing the likelihood of fatal heart attacks. On the flip side, more flexible muscles correlated with more bendy arteries & better cardiac health. Pliable muscles = pliable arteries = overall better health.
Why, we ask?
To quote: “How it is that stiff muscles in the back and legs are linked to stiff tissues near the heart is an issue that hasn’t been fully elucidated, Mr. Yamamoto says, although arterial walls are composed of the same kinds of elastic tissues as muscles elsewhere in the body. So it’s likely, he says, that alterations in the composition of muscle tissues in the lower back (including aging-related alterations in the amount of collagen within the muscles) could be occurring in the arterial walls at the same time.”
Bitchin’.
Now that is right in line with the purposes of yoga & the idea of the unity of the body.
It’s been a busy week, physical & emotional practice-wise, & I am Wicked sore. (That’s an official Bostonianism for ya. Having lived here almost six months, we were granted dispensation to use Wicked without irony by the city government.
Did 30 minutes of back releases & now the blog post & then going off to cavort in Epsom Salts.
The link between blogging & yoga is something that doesn’t seem to cause a whole lot of examination these days. I missed the nascent & even pubescent days of blogging. Now, we all blog about everything. Got an interest? Pet peeve? Obsession? Blog about it. There’s an academic/spiritual/obscene/all-of-the-above (yahooooo!!!) blog for you & if there isn’t one out there, start one!
But I really do think of blogging as a part of my yoga practice, right up there with asana, pranayama, neti, seva, blah blah blah.
(That was just a warm-up. I am about to quote the Sutras, in Sanskrit, to illustrate my point. Really, mostly to demonstrate that I can, in fact, do something other than curse & neurose.
Patanjali, Section II on Practice, Verse 1: Tapah svadhyayesvara pranidhanani kriya yogah.
According to the translation I own, (not being a Sanskrit scholar, quoting really is just for show , ” Accepting pain as help for purification, study of spiritual books, and surrender to the Supreme Being constitute Yoga in practice.”
(Thank you Sri Swami Satchidananda. BTW, I like your beard.
Acccording to my interpretation of this (different thing than quoting or translation, please note), blogging fits kinda like this.
1) Tapas — a form of discipline or burning out to create purification. Writing is a part of daily discipline. Somedays good/bad/ indifferent but always a form of creating space, clearing out the pus & puke to which flesh is heir. And, also, sometimes a form of self-mortification along the lines of public flagellation (so many possible bad typos with those two words… pause to think about it…
2) Svadhaya — study. Can be looked at in different circumstances as study of Self or Self-Studying-Spiritual-Stuff. Swami definitely leans to the latter, but he is a Swami, not a mere navel-gazing mortal. In this case, blogging I feel works as both. The self-study (narcissism is the Freudian vs. Sanskrit term is obvious. The self-studying-spiritual-stuff is partly I think from trying to encapsulate & interpret/think out loud & put out there the spiritual bits absorbed along the way. Like reading back your study notes. And it’s also from reading other people’s blogs. Seriously. I don’t presume my ramblings are anywhere up there, but I do know that I’ve learned much from others in the cybershala. How can the study of another human’s heartfelt soulsearching self-practice be anything other than sacred?
4) And the Surrender to the Supreme Being… that must mean the Internet. Or Wordpress. Obviously.
The other level of Sanskrit I can throw out there in relation to blogging is Sangha. The creation of community.
On the Forrest level — here’s my personal Sanskrit-to-Forrest translation. (Note that it is much shorter & uses plain Anglo-Saxon.
Blogging: A commitment to investigate, articulate & communicate your process opens you up to yourself, others & the mysteries of the earth. Asking your Spirit “What the Fuck?” is a tool to use on & off the mat.
But that’s just based on my perspective/motivations for participation in this phenomenom. I’d be very interested to hear from others in some form (email, post, comment, energetic transmission on how their blog fits with their yoga practice overall.
I’ve decided I’ve internalized too much criticism about being a hyperactive, atomic squirrel. Like it’s a bad thing. Love the squirrel! Embrace the squirrel! Give it acorns & a nice tree to live in!
K, this is what brought on the current bout of epiphanic crazy. Beloved Husband connected me with a friend of his who also has uber-bouncy, perky tendencies & we all went out to see the sparkly vampire movie. Much high pitched squealing, giggling, hugging, mocking, laughing-our-asses-off ensued. (BH fortified himself with a shot of Jaeger for all this. It was priceless.
Then BH pointed something out on the way home, as I raved about how much fun I had. He observed that I felt so good cuz someone (two someones) had validated the squirrel. The squirrel got to come out & play & talk too fast & act like a twelve year old & it was FABULOUS. The squirrel was not told by look or word to settle down, stop metaphorically laughing in church, be quiet, behave, or otherwise rein in.
It’s been a little like walking on eggshells (or nutshells) recently around myself… yes, I need to breath & speak in pitches & speeds that normal human ears can comprehend. And to mellow out when I start buzzing around & stressing out. It’s good to go deep, to work seriously & with commitment on learning the craft of teaching , & to heal issues & pain. And “relax” is not a four letter word. (It’s five. Yes, I can count.
And yes, I do use humor as a defensive reflex. And to keep my distance from people, emotions, events.
But not most of the time.
I also use humor because it’s effing FUNNY! And it feels good to laugh; it can be as good a stress release as chanting Om for an hour, and, as Lynne pointed out in class today, it is also good for the abs. And I bounce around because it feels so fantastic to be light.
There was an amazing two hour class at Back Bay this morning — Lynne took us through some cranio-sacral stuff purely through breath, followed by SLOOOOWWWW abs, variations on handstand & forearm balance using a strap, headstands, then an awesome thigh-opening flow — but, bottomline, my yoga today was Laughter.
Long live all that is nutty.
Quiet day on the yoga front. Bit knackered (love British-isms & am in fact legitimately entitled to Brit citizenship but that’s a story for another time) so went with just an hour of VEERRRRYYYY mellow home practice. Lots of lolling around on the mat, eyes closed, in supine supported stretchiness.
There’s a slightly complicated emotional storyline tied up with this restorative practice.
Being tired naturally kinda correlates with being relatively quiet & lower energy. No shocker, pretty normal. However, sometimes, I think friends & family find me easier to deal with when I’m tired. Sometimes I think I’m a better yoga teacher when I’m a bit tired because it slows me down. Other times, particularly social situations, I wonder if I’m just not very likable when tired/less gregarious. I don’t know which state or place along the spectrum I prefer… too far a swing either direction & even I find myself difficult to deal with.
The ups & downs of simply being human can feel like you’re being hijacked by fatigue or ebulliance or anger or joy or whatever emotional/mental state shows up. Sometimes this combines with an underlying insecurity that X person prefers one or the other manifestation of Self.
It’s a daily ongoing turning of the jewel, light shining through facets of personality — but we have a nap, or snack, or laugh, or time just passes & the mood changes. Om Mani Padme Hum. Whatever facet was dominant shifts but – The jewel is still in the lotus. I yam what I yam whether up, down, sideways, perky or tired.
And now, back to watching meaningless TV with Beloved Husband. The act of togetherness is meaningful even if the shows are not.
Down in New Haven for the Forrest mentoring workshop with Heidi Sormaz at Fresh Yoga, which starts tomorrow morning. Went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner & observed an interesting manifestation of kindness, patience, shared humanity…
There was (actually, probably still is!) an older man in his 60s or70s who seated himself at the spot closest to the wait station. Every time a staff member went by, he talked to them. Each and every one, just some little thing. If no one passed for a minute or two, he’d get up & go into the wait station to talk to someone. The wait staff, all young gals in their teens & early twenties, knew his name & even as they bustled about, would respond kindly to his little remarks & snippets of conversation. Not a sharp response even when loaded with trays & moving fast.
I wonder if he comes in many nights. He was obviously lonely for attention & they give him little acknowlegements of his worth & humanity with little strokes, every time they passed.
Sometime that’s all someone needs — affirmation of shared existence, recognition of being part of a greater whole Yoga in action, IMHO.
My little mat practice quite pales in comparison, but did do 90 minutes free form this morning & an hour of gentle stretching upon getting to the hotel.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Just been thinking about how our understanding of everything changes & shifts. In yoga, I think alot of the time we (me start out looking for solid ground, rules, absolutes, the “right” way to do poses, pranayama, practice. And structure, whether from principles of alignment or principles for living, or an entire system of practice, is a really useful thing.
But in any complex subject, smart, talented people can hold completely opposing views in good faith.
And the right thing for one person on one day may be the wrong thing for another person, or even the same person on another day.
Finding ways to practice a pose that works for the body to heal & open it up is a constant exploration. Working with breath is always different.
Delving the intuitive art of practice is complicated & fascinating & doesn’t give easy answers or solid ground. It’s fluid.
So we learn to swim.
*This post brought to you by a very adaptive home practice of a Forrest MP3 from a workshop I did six-plus months ago in DC. And yes, I’m still coughing!!*
So, like, FYI, Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet/mystic. Very popular within the yoga world. Go look him up on Wikipedia if you’re curious at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi – good life story & collected works.
A particular Rumi quote has been showin’ up in the ether recently, put forth as inspirational by people I care about & respect. Here’s the passage:
“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on, I’ll be mad.”
Nice sentiment. Great rhetoric. Have both given & received the essence of that speech. Very handy for inspiring oneself or others to conquer a challenge or get out of rut.
But, also, forgive me lovely yogis, kinda horseshit.
I have in fact lived where I feared to live. Have destroyed my reputation & the reputation of others. Been notorious. Told the world/The Man/ruling hierarchies to go eff themselves. Thrown off prudence & planning & all inhibitions & embraced my inner rebel & flake. Been mad in the sense of both totally pissed off & kinda off my nut.
And, really, all of the above are highly overrated.
The point of coloring outside the lines is to paint a new world for yourself. To rebel enough so that you create a life that you don’t need to rebel against. To motivate yourself to meaningful change. Cuz if you’re given a choice between being happy & being “mad,” choose happy. Really.
Rephrase: Live where you love to be. Cultivate a reputation you’re proud of. Be who you dream of being. Plan what needs planning & then let it go. From now on, live authentically & joyfully.
Okay, rant done. Marathon yoga day at Back Bay was awesome — 2 hrs teacher practice, then assisted class, then did 2 hr fun pop workshop. Good day. Can see improvement in that it hurt alot less this month than last month.
One of the good quotes from the Barbara Benagh workshop yesterday.
First, the health update: I am incredibly stoked to NOT feel sick this morning. Like, dancing around the house in a pink fluffy robe excited simply to be back to normal. (Literally. The pink fluffy robe is for real, & should be a surprise to no one. It always amazes me after I’ve been sick or injured or whatever how great it is just to be normal. Must remind self of that on days when I’m p’od about being normal.
Okay, back to the workshop. Barbara Benagh is a highly intelligent & well-educated yogi in the more classical mode, writes a lot for Yoga Journal & is a big local teacher. She does classes around town & workshops at Back Bay & a few other places. Yesterday’s focus was on the mechanics of the breath, types of breathing & incorporating breath into asana practice.
It was a three hour workshop, but mostly lecture. In the initial 15 minutes we did a few supine (lying down) poses with blankets to open up the breath. She used the blanket to create a mini-rolled up mat for a very gentle version of the Forrest lying over the roll to loosen up belly muscles at the start, then did some side lying & reclined work. A single sloooooooooooooow sun salute & wide legged forward bend at the end illustrated some of her points. Was very glad I did a mellowed-out Hip Hop Yoga class with Vanessa (subbing for Lynne) prior to the workshop to get the body moving again.
Barbara provided a relatively good discussion on how breathing actually works but it wasn’t super organized so if I hadn’t walked in with an understanding of it already, can’t say it would have provided a sufficient base. She totally KNOWS the biological mechanics of both cellular respiration & ventilation (that’s the inhale/exhale part), just since it was a lecture format, it could have used a bit more academic-style presentation & preparation. There was a whiteboard & once she began using that it organized her thoughts enormously, but it would have been helped by a very prepared outline & handouts. But I’m Type-A that way.
Barbara did recommend the book “The Science of Breath” published by the Himalayan Institute. I’d also say read the chapter on breathing from Leslie Kaminoff’s Yoga Anatomy. Or one day I’ll do a post on it – since I’m critiquing a master teacher, better put my money where my mouth is.
Most interesting part for me was her typologies of breathing. She organized it into
1) Belly breathing: relaxed, passive breath where diaphragm contracts & flattens at level of xyphoid process causing a slight expansion of belly on inhale & contraction of belly on exhale. Reverse breathing (not recommended; see initial quote) is, well, the reverse of that.
2) Thoracic breathing: more complete breath used during active phases of practice, adds three dimensional expansion of chest (up/down; front/back; side to side) incorporating intercostals
3) Clavicular breathing: stress response fight-or-flight breath that goes strongly into the neck & throat; can recognize it because shoulders come up. Good for running away from bears, not needed in yoga class
On ujjayi breath, she was for it as a choice during practice, used quietly & consciously. Did like the line “it’s great to lie down & great to run around, but not if either is the only game in town.”
She also associated particular types & qualities to the exhale/inhale process & those dominated by one or the other.
Exhale: Kapha, parasympathetic nervous system, vagus nerve specifically, lower energy state, can be depressive or relaxed, spinal flexion
Inhale: Vata (can be Pitta, but that’s more irritable , sympathetic nervous system, phrenic nerve specifically, can be overly excitable or energizing, spinal extension
Overall, good three hours. Also the feeling of being in “intellectual yogi/student mode” was interesting — it’s been awhile since I was more focused on understanding yoga with my head than with my body. Frankly, the former is easier for me & I need to get back to the latter today! Peter is subbing the 9:30 Core Vinyasa class, then doing Restorative with Heather. Yay for healthy!!