Category: Hatha Yoga

Posted on

sight, vision and yoga

Present in the yoga cosmologies is an  understanding that the world, the physical world with which we interact every day, is an illusion –  “Maya”.  What is  not an illusion is the love that is the creator who goes by many names. The illusion is ever changing but the loving awareness behind it stays constant and the same.  That loving awareness is within us and around us – omniscient, omnipotent, and everlasting.  The Sankhya philosophy maps out the non-spatial terrain between our sensory interactions with the illusion and our experience of that omniscient loving awareness. Our senses interact with Maya – and that is the field we must work with on our journey. Our sense of sight relates uniquely and powerfully to the experience of the illusion.  Through sight, we see a world full of enemies or friends, flowers or concrete. As with all the other senses, the yogic approach is to purify the sense of sightn so we can have direct vision through the eyes of loving awareness.  As our yoga practices blossom we don’t make ourselves think something positive about the world around us so we see it out there – we actually begin to naturally see differently.

We can consider two components of seeing and vision: the physical eyes (and all the associated physical organs), and the spiritual eye – which only opens as a result of spiritual conditions.  The physical eye sees the world of lack and separation – the illusion.  The spiritual eye sees the truth – loving awareness.  The seeing mechanisms of the physical eyes have a way of blocking the vision of the spiritual eye.   By consciously directing the use of our physical eyes, we unblock the visions of the spiritual eye. The means of preparing for this are our standard yogic tools of discipline (training the eye to focus), renunciation (turning our focus away from disturbing visions) and elevation (cultivating the desire to see in a more uplifted way, and seeking association with others who sincerely are seeing in that way). 

One fundamental practice is to monitor carefully what we allow in our visual field.  The yogi cultivates discernment and turns the gaze away from that which is not conducive to their path.  It’s not about ignoring the challenges before us, but but we don’t allow our sight to become absorbed in it. Think of the last explosive movie you saw…it’s easy to get pulled in. There are paths which work specifically with gazing on death or destruction but personally I don’t work with them, and I don’t recommend them – not because they are wrong, but because I believe that it requires extraordinarily skillful means to navigate that kind of practice effectively. It’s not something to be over confident or over trusting about.  It tends to plump the ego. There are many other simpler approaches.   

We work to choose what to invest our sight in. I think the best example of the challenge of gazing at the destructive was the television reporting after the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center.  I lived in New York City – and all our televisions went out – and were out – for days.  Most of us there saw the event as it unfolded in the material world around us.  The internet was not yet a primary source of information.  So, we went about doing what we needed to do.  Meanwhile in the suburbs and towns across the United States of America – the public was tuning in to a 24/7 hour a day show of the repeat of the film of the towers going down.  Many felt compelled to watch to be in the know about what was going to happen next.  I must say, my friends who watched that loop on repeat had a much harder time dealing with the trauma than most of the people I knew who lived in the city at that time.  That image of destruction looping before their eyes was burned into their consciousness – together with the accompanying fear.  Watching doom on a long term basis can create some inner conditions that are difficult to deal with and heal from.  So, yes, we must pay attention to the illusion, but elements of it which keep us fixed in undesirable states of mind we consume only enough to have the information that we need to manage our lives.  In this case a yogic choice may have been to check in from time to time for updates rather than really tuning for a long period of time.

In general the act of gazing magnifies what you absorb through the eyes.  Surround yourself with simplicity, beauty, upliftment, and check any tendency to rubber neck when the horrific or compelling crosses your path.  This isn’t a prescription for walking away from a tragedy where one might be helpful, but it is a prescription for discernment. While doing the work of helping if called to do so, the yogin focuses on the potential to be helpful and not the apparent tragedy.

A question we can ask ourselves regarding right sight is “Do I want my life force (or my time)  to be spent looking at this?” Intention and conscious decision making are fundamental to success in yoga.  Know that what you absorb will, in some way effect the mind.

The potency of the ability to direct our gaze becomes illumined as we train on our yoga mats and meditation cushions.  The directed gaze becomes a propellant for the movement of the life force, or prana, traveling in the yogi’s sushumna nadi (a central pranic channel which travels along the spine).  The gaze “pulls” the life force. An uplifted gaze will pull the prana upward.  This is cleansing and uplifting.

The directed gaze in an asana is called “Drishti”. Drishti means sight or vision.  In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.37 we meet this beautiful description of the practice of Siddhasana or Adept’s pose. 

“Press the perineum with the heel of one foot, place the other foot on top of  genitals.  Having done this, rest the chin on the chest.  Remaining still and steady, with the sense controlled, gaze steadily into the eyebrow center; it breaks open the door to liberation.” P 102,   Swami Muktibodhananda tr. Translation by the Bihar school

Drishti is a practice where the Hatha yogin rests a soft gaze on a specific point while performing, moving into or out of their asana.  Opinions vary as to where to rest your gaze.  Some general principles to keep in mind are that you should select a gaze where the back of the neck is long and the heart lifted.  A well-chosen and executed Drishti is not just about the eyes, it’s about the whole body.  As your sense of Sthira and Suhka (steadiness and joy in a posture) develops in your practice, the whole body will be energized and uplifted by the gaze.  The body looks towards the divine. So, yes, generally it will be an uplifted gaze.  For specific instructions on drishti in various yoga postures see Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar.

This uplifted gaze also is born in the mind of the yogi.  As we shall see when we get to the mind in our exploration of the building blocks of Sankhya Philosophy, the mind influences the senses and the senses influence the mind. And uplifted mind uplifts the gaze and an uplifted gaze uplifts the mind.

Another very potent yoga practice related to the sense of sight is tratak.  Tratak is a meditative, deeper more focused form of Drishti.  Taking a classic meditative posture, the yogin gazes, without blinking, at a candle lit at eye level until tears come and the eyes are flushed out.  Then, the yogin closes the eyes and gazes at the third eye center between the eyes and slightly back.  An inner vision will manifest of the flame, a blue dot, a deity.   The key to the practice is the steady gaze and not giving in to the temptation to close the eyes. Give the practice a specific length of time, say, 20 minutes.

 The practice of tratak is woven deeply into the experience of the third eye and the power of manifestation through the Manipura Chakra (the Solar Plexus Chakra). I don’t really recommend trying to manifest a specific desire, but rather to understand that  the truest desires of the heart – which we often are unaware of –  will manifest organically as we develop the skillful means of yoga: concentration, awareness, letting go, balancing, contemplating the Ageless wisdom, and cultivating joy, to name a few.

/*This concludes our exploration of the senses as the ground floor of the map of the Sankhya philosophy – the direct experience of the world around us and how we can work with them effectively to enhance our yoga asana practice. For the next post we will begin the elements.  All of the blogposts are accompanied by a separate newsletter I send out via mailchimp.  There is no marketing or advertising or charge (I promise)– it’s a just to share some deeper details with motivated students.  This month’s newsletter will touch on Yantras, and a closing statement on the senses.  If you’d like to sign up for the newsletter please subscribe below.  I don’t sell your info, I promise.  You can see this month’s newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/05b51002ed24/sankhya-the-senses-sight*/

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Posted on

Through the portal from Taste to Smell: Discernment and the Smell of the Earth

Once in the early 2,000’s a friend and I were strolling and shopping and dining in Greenwich Village when we came upon a small store – just a nook really,  filled with shiny clear rectangular  glass bottles stacked on wooden shelves.  A slender handsome hipster  with an untucked navy blue  shirt and somehow stylishly elegant slightly faded jeans manned the counter. 

The bottles and their rectangular labels  were identical except for the unique word on each label: Rain, Dirt, Beach, Grass, Dog among the hundreds. 

In response to our outburst of giggles he offered sample smells.

A gentle whiff of “dirt”;and I was transported out of the concrete canyon and back to a time before vanity when I was a simple child doing what kids like to do.  Play in the dirt.

Tobacco – was my 1960s father and warm leaves drying in the sununveiling a thought of slaves picking leaves in the hot, hot sun and wondering if the fragrance for them was unpleasant.   Grass in a bottle was a little too much for both of us, but we both loved tobacco which was mysterious and somehow informative.

 Smell emerges in the first trimester of a babies development, the smell of placenta and mother creating a subtle earthy unbreakable bond. 

Smell evokes memories – our minds travel far into our histories and possible futures in the presence of them.

The Sankhya philosophy as commonly mapped on a chart lines up, as a bottom line foundation, the senses.  Our connection to the physical realm moves directly through the five sense faculaties and the elements.  This will become more meaningful as we move beyond the dense material realm.

Smell is associated with the subtle element earth – the root chakra, the mooladhara chakra – the focal point of the yogi’s shift of attention from the material realm upward from the realms of hunger and fear into more exalted states of consciousness…into awareness, understanding and wisdom. Smell evokes an understanding of ourselves in time, life and death, and anchors us in the physical.

In that essential awakening into that experience of life and death we meet the kaladanada…the yogi’s alchemical transformation from death to immortality.  Yes, they actually mean that.  Hatha Yoga was a practice of alchemy – a system based on primordial wisdom encoded in the sound of Om.  Smell and it’s essential nature is a portal into the ancients through the root chakra, like an uplifting song moves us upward, so does an uplifting fragrance.

Of course for asana yogis, in the days that we still did this…wafting incense – burning of the earth, the smell of smoke offered up to the heavens – an invitation for ascended beings physical and non-physical to bless us with our wisdom. 

I always promise you will never receiving marketing emails from me – nor will I sell your information. But each blogpost has a newsletter with is, slightly different variations on a theme. sometimes really important divergent perspectives on what we are talking about…sometimes just a mantra, maybe suggested reading. Sometimes it’s just a sharing for a more selective audience. If that sounds interesting to you, please join my Mailchimp.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on

Yoga and taste – cultivating essence

Essence by Natalie Ullmann

रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययो: ।
प्रणव: सर्ववेदेषु शब्द: खे पौरुषं नृषु ॥ ८ ॥

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Sloka 8

7.8: I am the essence of pure water, O Arjuna, the radiance of the sun and the moon. I am the sacred syllable Om among the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether, and the ability in humans. (Bhagavan Shri Krishna)

In this sloka from the Bhagavad Gita Krishna points out that divinity expresses as the essential quality of all things.

I’d like to add the “leap of the cat” to this list.  My cat Lakshmi has had number of serious physical challenges – she is 13 and continues to blossom thrive.  Over the years I’ve seen that the sign that she is truly on the mend is the return of the “leap”.  She’s been recovering from surgery and I was delighted the other day to see her leap up on a forbidden table and knock over a lamp – signs of life. 

In our exploration of the senses – taste has a big part of play as a portal to the tangible essence of purity in the physical realm. 

The journey of yoga is a journey of reclaiming the aspects of ourselves that are NOT physically based.  It’s a journey to understand and experience our essential nature  which is unlimited and  wholesome(which is more fun than it sounds).   As the reclaiming occurs we discover our essential nature is divine.  We come to know what that means, and through that we come to know the divinity all around us and beyond us.    

Sankhya, a classical philosophy of India, commonly taught alongside the practices of yoga, is represented by a chart of the journey from the densest physical experience to the essential sublime.  We have been exploring how the construction of the chart can be  used to hone and develop our practices in such a way that they have depth, sustainability and transformative potency.

With the sense of taste we delve into a further mining of the yogi’s jewel of discernment.  Though cultivating full awareness of the tastes we ingest we begin our journey to discern the pure, the nourishing, the essential.  Developing a taste for this in our food extends out into the development of the taste for that which is truly clear, supportive and essential in our lives.

The yogi’s journey is  very much about minimalism as ideal self-care. To hone simplicity, balance, nourishment and well-being in such a way that we can maintain it easily and leave time for practice.  The good life is an uncluttered life.    From this perspective an ideal is to learn to identify what is essential and detach from everything else.

To begin to taste pure food and pure water is to begin the journey of deep knowing about what we need – to care for our physical bodies, our relationships, our roles;  uncovering that which is essential for our well-being.  This isn’t good or bad – it’s practical.  Every facet of our lives take time.  By identifying that which is essential we can streamline. 

This is not to say that we don’t have fun from time to time. 

So how do we engage our sense of taste in a productive way?

Taste is a reflect of something – a reflection of qualities of a substance or an object.   Lettuce is light and juicy, potatoes are sweet and earthy, brown rice is also sweet and tomatoes are zingy and pungent.   Fresh food tastes vital and bright and stale  food tastes dull and  flat.  Our food is transformed into body tissue, and the more vital the body tissue, the more rapidly we will progress in our yoga practice. Imagine pouring red beets into your bloodstream, or cleansing the body with juiced fresh kale – dark robust and full of chlorophyll. 

Some general rules which can help with the development of yogic taste:

Think live instead of dead.  (fresh broccoli vs.  a hamburger)
Simple instead of processed.  (baked potato vs a potato chip)
Mother nature instead of the chemist (fresh herbs and spices vs. “natural flavoring”)
Nutritious instead of empty. (Butternut Squash vs. refined sugar)
Varietal instead of dull (Beets, cabbage, lettuce, lemon, seaweed vs. lettuce every
single day).
Satisfying instead of depriving (taco Tuesdays with fresh corn tortillas and tomatoes
vs. brown rice and broccoli every day)

The yogi develops deep awareness of the sense of the taste of freshness.  At first, it may not seem like the most fulfilling choice.  The experienced yogi may enjoy both steamed broccoli and store bought highly processed French fries – but recognizes clearly the fulfillment of the taste of freshness in in the steamed broccoli.  Divinely made -with discernment, the taste of fresh vegetables surpasses anything man made -without effort.  The more awareness we have around those choices – the more our sense of taste develops.

Remember, as hatha yogis we are transforming the lead of our bodies as they are into the alchemical body – withstanding of all disease processes, a body which can regenerate and heal itself.  We change on a molecular level through practice.  Nourishing the body with that which is pure and wholesome, comes from nature supports a practice through which the nature potency of the body mind spirit complex is brought forth. 

For every blog post (about once a month or less – there is an accompanying newsletter with a different perspective on the subject at hand. Yoga after all is experienced as trying things on from one perspective to another and another until the light goes on about the whole that encompasses the parts. You will not be subjected to marketing.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Posted on

An Intro and a Segue from Touching to Hearing; CAN YOU HEAR ME? TURNING TOWARDS THE SOUND OF OUR OWN HEARTS

For those of you first joining us, we have been looking at our yoga practices from the perspective of the classical teachings found in the yoga philosophy and related  texts.  We’ve been using the classical teachings as maps to explore in our asana practice.  The segment we are working on now is a segment on the Indian philosophy of Sankhya. The map of the philosophy is shown below.  It is a map of the cosmos from a particular perspective.  We are journeying from the densest most physical aspects of our being to the most ethereal aspects of the cosmos.  Technically, Sankhya and Yoga are completely separated disciplines. Philosophy, science, art are evolving permutations of interwoven understanding. All philosophies, sciences and arts touch one another, influence one another evolve one another. There is likely more than one map of Sankhya floating around the universe or the internet and ideas – like philosophy – end to cross-pollinate.  Most yoga teachers learn about Sankhya philosophy in teacher training and I believe it’s worth exploring the subtle influence that it may have exerted in the understandings of yoga that have emerged.  This post is  not intended as a definitive answer to the question of what the Sankhya philosophy is, but  rather how we can use an understanding of the philosophy to deepen our lived understanding of ourselves and our yoga practices.

/*Patanjali advises in Yoga Sutra 2.46:

*स्थिरसुखमासनम् ॥४६॥

sthira-sukham-āsanam ||46||

The posture should be stable and easeful. */

We began our exploration of Sankhya and the senses with the sense of touch.  We’ll be moving into an exploration of the sense of  hearing, but first there are a few additional notes on working with the sense of touch as it relates to our asana practice. 

As we develop our practices and deepen our awareness of touch – subtle deep unconscious patterns of tension will surface in our practice.  There are two  facets of working with that tension: first, to release those deep stress patterns and second, to move our bodies (on and off the mat) in ways that minimize the creation and holding of those stress patterns.  When practicing asana it is important not to pile new tension patterns on top of the more deeply held ones in our eagerness to make a posture happen.

The primary way that a new tension pattern is created is to skip a level of your practice.  To push through to a new level of posture before you have released the tension patterns which were revealed in a lighter expression of the posture.  This results in a strain in the body’s tissue as opposing forces are exerted on a joint, muscle, or a specific pattern in the fascial tissue. 

/*Forcing a yoga posture to happen is not the same as transcending pain and pleasure.*/

To stay in ease is to stay in union (yoga).  To force, grip or struggle is to create separation – dis-ease.  Anti-yoga.  To stay in ease doesn’t mean you don’t work hard, stay focused and open to the idea that you might be able to accomplish something beyond your own expectations. Consider this: a certain amount of ease is necessary for any kind of success.

And then there is prana…

As we begin to develop discernment through the sense of physical touch in our practice, we will develop a sensitivity that allows us to detect sensory experiences which originate in prana.   Prana is a subtle substance –  an energy. Like sound it travels and has a felt presence.  Like sound it manifests in a spectrum where different beings can perceive different levels of it.  We know that different species perceive sensory information very differently.  That would be true of perceiving prana as well.  Some of us can feel it acutely, some of us can’t feel it at all. 

And finally, sound is prana.  Sound in various subtle degrees travels through the body in pranic circuits. This is why it reveals and heals. When we touch the ground with our hands and feet the channels are charged with the heartbeat of the earth.

As we begin to  develop this feeling/touch/sensory discernment we discover that some of what we perceive as physical pain are  actually blockages or fragilities which on the level of prana.

The clarity of the pranic channels (which we can feel through our sense of touch) is directly related to our capacity to hear and to hear on a subtle level (and to see and to smell and to taste, etc).  This is the connection between touch and hearing in the yoga practice

/*Notice in the modified Sankhya Chart below the position of the sense on the map*/

CAN YOU HEAR ME? TURNING TOWARDS THE SOUND OF OUR OWN HEARTS

The Sankhya philosophy provides one possible map of the terrain of the mind body spirit connection.  The journey can unfold as a trip where we elevate from tuning in only to our dense physical senses to opening to consciousness awareness in different degrees.  This would commonly be called a journey towards enlightenment.  The journey can also unfold as a kind of embodiment – where  – like shamen we experience an inspired state of consciousness and then bring the inspiration down, to  embody and manifest that experience in the physical world.  One of the most “known” experiences of this process of bringing spirit into physical reality is the manifestation of deep healing by various saints and mystics.  Probably the most well-known is Jesus – whose miraculous healings of lepers and raising of the dead are probably heard of by most people, even if they don’t believe in it.  If you dig enough there are tales of other such healings by saints in all traditions.  A more secular example of bringing spirit into the physical  occurs with inspired innovations i.e. the light bulb or the personal computer.  Sometimes innovation is planned and sought after but often it’s inspired. 

The senses are the interface of consciousness with the manifested world on the Sankhya map.  We touch the world, we hear the world, we see the world and so on. The yogi seeks to manage and clear the senses so that they do not interfere with our exploration of elevated states of consciousness.  Yoga seeks to do what some people turn to substances to do. Drugs can numb the chatter of the mind, drugs can ignite an expanded state of consciousness. But with yoga, these states are attained through personal mastery, awareness and skill (i.e. mastering and clearing the senses). It removes the dependency that substances require.  Yogis are independent.

Mastery of sound is an essential practice in hatha yoga. The yogin becomes unified with the ancient wisdom that permeates the deep silence connected with through practice.  Then, the yogin aspires to staying harmoniously anchored in that “vibration” as they move through the world. This vibration  is depicted by the ubiquitous symbol Om.  Asana practice is both the ground of that harmonic synchrony and the training for sustained experience of that harmonic synchrony.  There are a variety of practices used to cultivate this experience.   In a very straightforward everyday way on the mat we can begin to condition ourselves to excel in these practices.  The training goes something like this:

  1.  External sounds capture our attention on the mat. Some are quite annoying – talking,  sirens, construction, airplanes, and other machinery.  The yogin trains themselves to turn their attention from the external noise and into the inner landscape. There they meet another layer of sound –
  2. Internal Chatter. Much of the chatter of our minds originates in experiences and beliefs rooted in the past with  no place in the present.  With mindful attention the yogi becomes aware of their absorption in this inner chatter and they train themselves to turn inward to a still deeper level of sound –
  3. Subtle Sounds – The yogin hear many subtle sounds within as their pranic channels are cleared through consistent practice – Bells, whistles, drums and humming.  In time, willingness to turn away from these distracting subtle sounds reveals yet a deeper subtler sound –
  4. Nadam – Most likely this is the subtlest sound that a human can hear.  It is steady, constant, ever present – like white noise but more ethereal.  Tuning our attention away from more overt inner and outer noises to this perpetual background hum within and without, and allowing ourselves to relax into it begins a process of deep healing and awakening.   But even then…the yogin turns their attention away from it, and towards something deeper –
  5. The Anahata Nadam.  The anahata nadam is the sound that is complete silence without vibration – the “unstruck” sound.  Here the yogin relaxes into the deep silence and in stepwise fashion becomes absorbed in expanding stages of continuity. 

We practice this way on the mat, and asana facilitates this process.  In later stages conscious meditative seats (asanas) like virasana and padmasana support the process of allowing ourselves to be absorbed in silence without falling asleep or going unconscious.

In practicing asana how can we support this process in personal practice or when leading a class?  The playlist.  The playlist is most beneficial at early stages of this process.  When the chatter of the mind is overwhelming and distracting on the mat that is when you want the playlist.  It is also really helpful in situations of deep unconsciousness where you or those you are leading just can’t stay present – which is a result of trauma.  It either wakes you up or calms you down.  The goal is the experience of yoga – this inner absorptive yoking.  It’s important to be aware that familiar music or verbal music will have associated mental imagery and memories and feelings that will be ignited and it’s likely to draw the attention outward rather than inward.  Sometimes this is needed.  But just be aware that a rousing playlist of familiar or exciting song might operate in a way that is inconsistent with your goal. 

When you create your playlists consider creating a musical experience which propels the journey towards yoga and not to somewhere else.  Like a soundtrack to a movie you are building up to something:   an experience of yogic absorption for yourself or the student. 

Indian classical music is designed to take you to this point, so it’s very useful. But if you use it too early in the process it can be too potent and cause a different kind of distraction.

Consider as well that when we take in music it can nourish us; pure sounds are deeply nourishing.  Note that doesn’t always mean soft or new agey.  A pure note is a perfect note.  Some music that we love has those pure notes, and you will develope an ear for the perfect note as your practice unfolds.  Allowing yourself to be nourished by deep clear sound is deeply healing as well as enlightening, and this can lead to all kinds of magnificence if approached with an open mind and heart. 

The anahata nadam – that deepest level of sound resides in your spiritual heart.  That’s where the note of silence lives.  So when you touch it for the first time as a yogi you will feel and hear the spiritual heart. 

Working with sound in asanas is accessible to all  and an abundant and beautiful experience. 

Each blog post has an associated newsletter. No marketing! I promise. To sign up to receive the next email please do so below. To see the accompanying newsletter for this post, they are publicly posted on my facebook business page for NatalieteachesYoga.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Posted on

sankhya

संख्या

The next map of yoga we will explore here  is the Sankhya Philosophy, which maps the terrain from the unified field of awareness to our experience as individuals evolving into knowing ourselves and our place in the infinite universe .  We can use it as a guide when we traverse the landscape of the material realm seeking evolution, liberation and peace.  We can also use it as a guide as we carve out a pathway for the rivers of pure consciousness to irrigate the material world that we inhabit.  Translating into ideas of enumeration and rational decision making it appears to be a highly analytical discipline disconnected from our day to day experience on the mat.  But that is far from true.  Right discipline in practice creates a crucible for personal actualization. It paves the way from a life lead astray by every passing influence to alive of personal sovereignty – aligned with the will of the infinite, limitless omnipotent loving intelligence that goes by many names.

For an image of the map please see this website Sankhya.

The journey of begins with awareness of our senses – direct experience of our awareness touching the physical world via the physical body and ascends through the individual mind, the collective mind, the wisdom mind through the experience of pure duality (me and you) and then in some maps to a unified field of consciousness beyond that duality.  We will take the map beyond duality  to the unified field. 

The heart of healing exists in the unified field. The heart of yoga (which is a dualistic discipline) is  experienced in communion with the unified field. 

/*Whereas the koshas or sheaths (the five dimensions of you) are really about the individual, the Sankhya philosophy is about reorienting ourselves into our  unique place as an individual within the cosmos.  .  The practice of yoga asana leads us directly towards, aligns us with and supports us in staying steadfastly and joyfully engaged in this  ever changing process of reorientation. /

The practice  we will be exploring is using asana to bring awareness to the senses, our actions, the general qualities of nature, the individual mind, the cosmic mind, our sense of separation and yoga or unification.

As we explore these maps we gain the ability to attain mastery in asana, meditation and life. 

How can we start to consider this?  It helps to explore a new sense of our physicality.  Some approaches to yoga work with transcending the physical body, but to really understand ourselves as living as physical bodies from a yoga perspective – we start with physical awareness.  When we start our yoga practice we are entombed in conditioning about our physical bodies- that the body is shameful or exalted or it drives us or it pulls us down.  The flavors of conditioning about the body are infinite.  Open Vogue, or Grey’s Anatomy or unpack your experience of gym class in the second grade. Conditioning is subtle – Habits are generated in our unconscious.

What we do want to do is to open our field of awareness as we practice. Just by giving up preferences and practicing observation we will come to know our conditioning and we may choose to leave it behind.  What thought arises as we tumble out of tree posture – or come down with a thud out of headstand.  We will break down some of these explorations in asana as we walk through the map in the coming months – but for now you can get ready, just by beginning to notice what arises on and off the mat in a very general sense.

If you’d like to receive a newsletter prepared in conjuction with these posts – illuminating other facets and designed to prompt your creative thinking about your practice Please sign up below. And I promise…you won’t be subject to marketing emails from me…this is just about talking about yoga.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on

Deep Asana:  Igniting the power of prana through grounding and focus

sthira-sukham-āsanam ||46||

Patanjali’s famous sutra – the posture should be steady and joyful

The process of grounding in the science of electricity clears fragmented electrical charges and releases them into the earth where the charge is absorbed, allowing the main stream of electricity to flow to its useful destination -say- igniting a light bulb.  Grounding in an asana allows misdirected prana to be absorbed into the earth facilitating effective circulation of the well-directed prana.  Misdirected prana is a result of our being swayed by the fluctuations of the mind (fear, desire, distraction).  Combine steady focus with a stable connection to the earth and your asana becomes a powerhouse. 

When pranic channels are flowing it is easier to cultivate alignment in a posture – there is less stagnancy and resistance.  Good alignment is actually a sound relationship between the organic forces in the universe (Gravity, centrifugal forces, centripetal forces, wind, temperature and so on).  When our inner forces (focus, prana, breath) unify with the external forces there is union, yoga and the electrical charges within and without are amped up in a harmonious fluid, balanced way.  We are joined with the universe.

—————————————————————————

The previous stages of Deep asana – where we develop our kinesthetic awareness are essential to developing mastery of energy (prana)  in asana.  And this, we learn from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika,is the heart of the practice.  When we can master our energy we can direct the prana to travel up our main pranic circuit or nadi – the sushumna nadi – igniting various energetic structures which awaken deeper self-awareness and understanding  – eventually opening into the experience of realization – where we operate consistently with a level of deep self-awareness and understanding of the forces operating around us.  Wisdom.  Mastery.  Understanding.  Empowerment.

Posted on

Pratiṣṭhāyāṃ:  A Path to Deep Asana प्रतिष्ठायां

/* To be established in a posture is not about the first time you attain it (although that is to be deeply celebrated). It’s about accessing it – in an aligned fashion – consistently enough that you can grow your alignment within it.*/

Pratiṣṭhāyāṃ – to become established in, is a fundamental concept in yoga practice as described in Patanjali Yoga Sutra. It’s pervasive; we are guided to become established in focus, established in asana, established in meditation, established in practice, established in the experience of yoga and more.  Once you are established your path is clear and unfolds quickly.  Yoga does not peak with  the experience of a flash of insight  (although that’s a valuable thing – it’s not the heart of the practice)  it’s about establishing oneself in an internal landscape where insight continuously fosters understanding.  To be established in a posture is not about the first time you attain it (although that is to be deeply celebrated). It’s about accessing it – in an aligned fashion – consistently enough that you can grow your alignment within it. You are relating to the posture.  Deep asana then becomes about that capacity to deepen the alignment of the posture over time. There is an eternal, never-ending quality to establishment.

/*All postures become deep postures through the practice of inhabiting them in time with greater alignment and understanding.*/

Deep asana then is relative to one’s own body – built into the practice over time and emerges with stability and ease.  It’s always advisable to step back in practice when one cannot stay stable in the posture with relative ease.

A first mode of deeper alignment which unfolds in deep asana is internal – at the level of the ManomayaKosha or mind body.  Presuming you have placed yourself well to begin with in a posture, discomfort is first addressed in the mind.   This does not mean that sensations are ignored – on the contrary paying attention to them is awakening into the posture.  But, for most of us, placing our bodies in these unusual positions is…odd. So, there is likely to be psychological discomfort and an opening up around that is very powerful. 

For those with backgrounds of dance, gymnastics or similar –  expectations take the place of the psychological discomfort of the novice.  They are constructs in the mind that obscure new levels of awareness. For the physically experienced deep asana is an invitation to shift into a new awakening, into a different kind of bodily experience – experiencing the shape without judgement, competition or preconceived ideas about how the body should inhabit the shape.  Discomforts, expectations and conquests are often mental constructs which obstruct our ability to deepen an asana in a fresh, organic and transformative way.  They are subtle forms of fear and resistance.  If we meet them with spaciousness we come to know and understand ourselves and the posture differently . 

/*Discomforts, expectations and conquests are often mental constructs which obstruct our ability to deepen an asana in a fresh, organic and transformative way.  They are subtle forms of fear and resistance.*/

Tuning in is a second mode of shifting into deep asana.  Feeling the  body holistically in space and time. Inner body scans, proprioceptive or kinesthetic exercises and relaxing around resistance  deepen  the holistic sensory experience of an asana – not once, but continually.

A third mode of establishing into deep asana is time   – time in the posture and consistent practice of the posture daily, weekly, or monthly  – over months, years, or decades.  Doing less, more consistently will yield a deeper result than doing a lot intermittently.  It’s seldom a linear process, but the intention to consistency will do much for establishing your practice.  A general rule for this is that your posture should always be stable and easeful.  So, find your edge at 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and so on.  Work the mental resistance first.  Begin to identify what your mental resistance looks like. 

Example:  I’ve been working a 10 minute Virasana, and 10 minute Padmasana (5 minutes each side)  sequence for months now.  In those postures I’d been meditating in a whole new way.    A new proprioceptive awareness (my body in space) of my pelvic girdle began to emerge.  This week as I take the postures for practice my mind bounces all over the place – it’s hard to get on my mat to begin with and there is no peace. Breakthrough time – time to step back a little and cultivate the stability of mind that I need, that I can reside in consistently enough to experience the breakthrough.  I modify the postures slightly in consistent, strategic ways. A little extra propping, a little extra warming up.  I reduce my time in them at the beginning of practice and then engage them again for a short time at the end of practice. 

This kind of strategic approach to asana, while analytical, lays the ground for being your own teacher in a personal practice in an illuminated way.  You may find other ways to bring strategy and discipline to your practice, but I encourage you…gently…to experiment with  modes of deepening your understanding of your practice.  It leads to deep healing and a different flavor of progress.

Thank you for reading! Concurrent with each blog post a newsletter is issued. If you’d like to receive it please sign up below. This is not sued for marketing purposes. If you’d like to support financially, my designs are available on Redbubble. See designs on menu. New designs are available on Redbubble within a day or so of being posted here.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on

The Five Dimensions of You:  The Yogic anatomy of the Koshas – The PranamayaKosha

The study of yoga and yogic anatomy is a slowly evolving process of ever deepening understanding.  There is a difference between “knowing” yogic anatomy on a visceral level and memorizing the vocabulary.   Why is this relevant? Self-Mastery. As we explore these different modes of viewing ourselves through yogic anatomy, we open ourselves to new depths of understanding physically, psychologically, and spiritually.  We gain an illumined understanding of ourselves, our purposes and our pathway.  We become wise enough to navigate subtler realms as mapped in the concept of the sheaths or koshas (Yogic Anatomy – The Five Koshas,). The sheaths or koshas are interwoven and not distinct, like oxygen and helium molecules in the air – or dimensions as mapped by mathematics and science.  Experiencing them is like opening a portal to a universe similar to the one we live in “normally” but, it’s different.  . One moment we feel dull and confused and then an inner portal opens and we experience elevation – organically. We access wisdom, knowledge or subtle sensations of the body – and understand our wholeness differently.  Last post we explored the concept of the food body or Anamayakosha. Today I’d like to open the portal to the pranamayakosha – the pranic or breath body. It’s near and dear to all of us, and we experience it all the time.  We might not be aware of it. Exploring the pranamayakosha we step into the subtle realms of yoga.  It’s the first of the subtle koshas that many practitioners experience, which tells us that it’s connected the food body.  It’s impact on our psychological well-being tells us that it’s connected to knowledge, wisdom and bliss as well.  Just as becoming aware and awake to our physical body requires some understanding and attention, becoming aware and awake to our pranic body requires some understanding and attention too. This is why the pranamaya kosha is so important in our yoga practices – it’s where we start to explore a world beyond our usual perceptions. When the pranamaya kosha is clear – not muddied – it’s easier to experience the other bodies or sheaths with clarity.

It’s hypothesized that  prana (subtle energy – like human electricity) flows through the fascia. We don’t know for sure. We can’t yet measure it; we can only observe its effects.  This could change – science moves towards understanding yoga all the time. 

Within the pranamayakosha, the ancient yogis discerned a vast network of tiny channels which they called the nadis There are hundreds of thousands of nadis. One portal which opens the yogi’s perceptions of the pranamayosha is the breath.  Consider how breath is processed by the physical body: an invisible substance – air travels through a physical network of tiny tubes and sacs in the lungs through which the invisible substance of oxygen is absorbed and the invisible substance of carbon dioxide is released.  Prana is like this – it’s absorbed from the universe around us and it permeates and moves through the physical form –nourishing and cleansing it.  When the prana moves we are awakened, energized and healed.

Within the pranamayakosha are numerous structures formed by the intersection of the nadis. The chakras are vortexes located at key junctures of the nadis and the physical nervous system. There are three primary nadis which bracket the chakra system– the ida,  pingala and sushumna.  The prana moving through these three nadis governs the process of spiritual evolution.  When it moves clear and unobstructed we plug into knowledge, wisdom and bliss.

A first pathway to working with the pranamaykosha is to unclog the nadis and get the prana moving. All asana will unclog the nadis.  Vinyasa yoga will get the prana moving quickly.  . 

A second pathway to work with pranamayakosha is pranayama.  Pranayama is is a practice of restraining the breath in order to unclog the nadis. This is most effective when asana has been practiced consistently for a long time. Asana clears superficial levels of congestion – so the work of pranayama – deep and powerful breathwork – is not obstructed by more superficial congestion.  Pranayama is a transformative healing practice.  It’s best to prepare for it.

A third pathway to working with the pranamayakosha is sound.  The familiar sound and symbol of OM is called the “nadam”.  The ancient rishi’s or wise ones observed that Om purifies the whole system, like an ultrasound which accesses deep internal caverns of the body below the surface.  My experience with this is that working with classical Indian sound practices is the most effective means of actually clearing the nadis. Yogi’s chant the sound of OM, they meditate on the sound of Om, they listen to the sound of Om.   This would also include listening to or studying and learning Indian classical music which is designed around an understanding of OM. A fine experiment would be to explore different kinds of music when you practice.  At first what you are used to listening to may prove to be very energizing, but as you grow more adept at working with prana and sound, you may notice that Indian classical music is a distinctly powerful complement to your yoga practice.

A fourth pathway for working with the pranamayakosha is ”managing your energy” and in the yoga practices this is accomplished through attention.  A starting practice is focusing the breath or the gaze in your asana practice, with an intention to understand what your attention does to your energy and your postures.  Too weak of a process of reigning in attention leads the energy to scatter.  Too powerful of a restraint will be too harsh for the tender pranic channels. 

Four modes of creating a relationship with the pranic body:

  1. Yoga Asana
  2. Pranayama (advised for well experienced practioners)
  3. Sound
  4. Attention

A last note about the pranic body – The ancient yogic texts speak of the adamantine body formed by the hatha yoga practice.  This is distinctly related to and an outcome of the management and toning of the pranic body.  When the pranic body is well cared for – clear and moving and strong we become incredibly resilient.  The texts say all dis-ease is eradicated.  As contemporary yogis we can say that our immune system becomes incredibly potent in response to the health of the pranic body.  This, as the article included here indicates, is a result of consistent, well-done practice. 

To receive newsletters with a different perspective on the blogposts, please subscribe to my Mailchimp! I promise…no ads. Just more talk about yoga, maybe some reading and musical suggestions. All designed to supplement your yoga practice.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on

About the Body: Headstand

Let’s not take a headstand out of the yoga practice!  Find a good Iyengar instructor and learn it from them! 

Around 2012 there were rumors that yoga  teaching  insurance would no longer cover classes where headstand was taught.  It was a rumor.  A  threatening one to us old school teachers who were under the gun at the time.   But headstand  is a posture which is open to debate.  In the classical schools it is the king of all postures.  In more modern accommodating classes, you may not ever encounter it. 

I am in the first group.  I studied and taught Jivamukti Yoga which has roots in the Krishnamacharya lineage.  Krishnamacharya was the root guru of three notable  traditions originating in his students  – Ashtanga (associated with K. Pattabhi Jois), Iyengar (associated with B.K.S.  Iyengar) and yoga as taught by T.K.V. Desikachar which he called “yoga”. 

At Jivamukti we practiced headstand for five minutes a day, and it was taught in almost every class.  I feared it deeply.  When K. Pattabhi Jois came to New York to teach I walked through my fear and took some of the classes the classes.  The first day he singled me out and did not let me run to wall during headstand.  He held me off balance in the posture for 12 very, very long breaths.  I was sweating bullets and seeing my life pass before my eyes.  The next day, he walked over, put in me in the headstand in a balanced way, and then walked away.  From that moment forward it was a favorite.

This was how it was taught in those days.  For me, this  was very effective. 

I’d had a long-standing issue in which  my cervical spine would lock up and cause much pain to me.  Going to the chiropractor helped but nothing really changed. 

I walked out of the Puck building that day and stopped on the sidewalk to stretch my post headstand neck.  As I stretched my neck the spaces between the cervical vertebrae expanded and my neck elongated in a way I’d never felt before.  I was already sold on yoga, but with that opening I was sold in a new way.  My curiosity about Patanjali, ancient sage of yoga and so called “jungle doctor” had been unleashed in my practice in a whole new way.  There was healing to be found in yoga.  The world looked a little different.

As a body worker and Shiatsu therapist I suspect in a casual unproven way that the pressure on my cranial sutures released some stress patterns in deep levels of my fascia.  (but don’t try this at home on your own, find a good teacher!). 

Remember headstand is just Tadasana, mountain posture turned around.  The posture is famed for the capacity to uproot all those places where we are stodgy and stuck in our ways.  It’s a fabulous transformer


No more than once a week I send a newsletter…no ads, just commentaries, perhaps the words to chant and perhaps some songs for your playlist. No ads, no pressure, just sharing a little of my experience of yoga. Its usually paired with a blog post and offers a different perspective of what I’m exploring in the blog.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on

Repetition and Understanding Asana

There are a few ways that repetition is useful in a yoga practice.  First, it wears a groove and opens us to experiences of greater depth.  Constant change in our yoga practices is amazing- it builds resilience and the ability to adapt.  But this experience of yoga – to become yoked to our deeper wisdom self – requires that we dig down deep enough to hit a level of awakening beyond our normal waking state.  One benefit of getting in a groove, if we do it consciously, is that when our practice gets disrupted it’s easier to shift back into the positive mental and physical states we are cultivating.   Perpetual change can break  apart obstructions which obscure those deeper levels of ourselves, but once again, repetition is a key component to really getting deep in there.  Like digging a hole, if we just take out a scoop here and there as we wish…our well will never be dug deep enough to access the clear pure water.  Yoga works the same way.

Repetition is also a great tool for assessing our bodies from day to day.  To get an accurate assessment, we need to do the same posture as we did the day before.  Yesterday, my Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half seated spinal twist) was at a level I’d never experienced in 30 years of practice.  Today, it wasn’t even at my average.  This is interesting.  It’s information about my body, my habits and my stress responses to the world around me.  Repetition can lead to realization and understanding.

The other thing to consider though, is that repetition invites unconsciousness if it’s not the right time and place to do it.  I remember when I started practicing I frequented the local  Bikram studio. I thrived in the heat and the repetition.  Then one day my knees started to hurt.  I took a break from the practice and focused on Vinyasa for a while.  As I embraced returning to vinyasa, I realized that in Bikram class I was going to sleep. Instead of using repetition to fine tune my execution of the postures – I practiced by rote, but was thinking about cupcakes.  At first I thought the form of yoga I was doing was the problem.  I realized as I practiced more and became more knowledgeable that, no, I had just gotten bored and stopped paying attention to the details.  As a teacher I saw many students who gave up a posture or a style of yoga because they felt it wasn’t good for them. My experience is that when we experience a painful result it’s a call to greater attention to our moments on the mat, and to develop greater self awareness of the body in whatever way we can.  Sometimes a change in practice wakes us up.  Sometimes we just need to tune in deeply to what we are doing.

So how to practice with repetition in a way that is wise?  You can place the posture repeatedly at certain junctures in the sequence you are practicing.  Say Arhdhamatsyendrasana…at the beginning  before sun salutes, after standing, between back bends and forward bends, between each back bend.  Working this way requires that you begin with a very gentle execution of the posture and go progressively deeper. 

Another approach is to design a short sequence to prepare for the posture you are working on  and then repeat that entire short sequence at key junctures in your daily practice.  This creates depth, and you can tweak the  sequence to explore the impact of various lead ins to the posture you are exploring.

The last approach I’ll mention today is that you can just repeat a single posture several times a day, every day for a certain amount of time – a week, a month, a year.  This will help you truly own the posture in a healthy way – it creates an intimacy with it that can change your whole understanding of yoga. Practicing repetition in asana practice is a profound way to deepen your practice and to experientially deepen your understanding of particular postures, how they work, the dynamics created by placing them in certain points of sequence. It’s a great way to transition your practice and teaching from a place where you are practicing and teaching what you have been told by others into a place where you are practicing and teaching from your own inner knowing.