Category: Yoga at Home

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Designing an Integrated Practice using the Map of the Five Koshas

*note – there are links to previous posts about the koshas below for your reference*

Moving towards the experience of yoga will always involve a bringing together, a yoking together, an integration. After journeying through an anatomical map like the koshas, there is benefit from integrating the information into our practice. Such integration brings individuality to our practice –  no two people integrate ideas into their practice the same way. Consciously integrating the koshas into your practice will create your own beautiful personal yoga mosaic  –an array of harmonious proportions uniquely adapted  for your life.

The classic teachings of yoga – taken holistically – are an invitation to develop skillful means. To learn through practice to rein together the forces acting within and without –  to become artful and harmonious co-creators. A sustainable  and integrated practice is built on working with our practices in harmonious proportions. The advantage of a sustainable practice is longevity – it stays with us our whole lives. In classical yoga practice this is ideal as it provides an enhanced relationship to our bodies and lives through times of change. The golden ratio establishes harmony and ease. It’s about  a state of interrelationship  which -like architecture -brings strength and stability.  In sutra 2.46 of his Yoga Sutra, Patanjali calls this the stable joyful seat. (tr. The seat should be stable and joyful).

What does this have to do with the koshas? A practice designed to address each of the koshas will create a stable practice in which all dimensions of ourselves become integrated.

To do this, we can construct a chart of the practices we want to explore that will develop each of the koshas. These are practices to bring the other parts of yourself into your practice is deliberate way.

Then select practices for each kosha that you would like to develop at a given time. Then, decide how much of each is appropriate to start out with and adjust it based on your needs at a given time – maintaining the presence of all five. Examples – when I was teaching yoga full time  asana was 1.5 hours a day and everything else was 5-10 minutes a day – or once a week or month. Now, my life needs less physicality and more inner peace. I meditate 45 minutes and my asana practice is sometimes only 20 minutes. You know that the practice is out of balance by your experience of the koshas. So, if I try to do 1.5 hours a day of asana right now – my mind chatter increases dramatically. If I tried to do an hour of meditation in my teaching days, I would fall asleep. Now, meditating awakens me. It’s important to note that it also needs to be in proportion to your lifestyle.  When I worked in corporate America, I also needed very intense asana.

You will know you are succeeding in creating a harmonious balance if your practice is sustainable (meaning – you are able to fulfill the personal commitment you have made over time) – and you will experience the wondrous personal transformation that is the promise of yoga – and that will occur not only on your mat but also in your relationships, your work, your creativity your passion. 

Introduction to the Five Sheaths

The AnamayaKosha

The PranamayaKosha

The ManomayaKosha

The JnanamayaKosha

The AnandamayaKosha

If you would like to explore ways to work with the physical body to integrate the koshas, my associated newsletter will be posted on my facebook page for NatalieteachesYoga. To receive future newsletters with alternate approaches to what is shared in the blog post, please sign up below. I promise you will not receive marketing emails from me. These are designed to be educational.

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The Yogic Anatomy of the Koshas:  The Anandamaya Kosha and Deep Rest

The Anandamaya Kosha, the subtlest of the koshas, bodies, sheaths, or dimensions is commonly translated as the “Bliss Body” .  Commonly is an important adverb here – as “nanda” is joy in form and “a” is often creates an opposite.  So, bliss, yes, but bliss beyond form. For starters we may want to distinguish between the state of ecstasy that can be achieved by high vibing our practices through drugs, music, endorphins, and exuberance – and the state of ecstasy which is Ananda.  Form bliss is not bad.  “Beyond form” bliss just does different things.  The nature of the Anandamaya Kosha is akin to a subtle sweet flickering sense of joy.  This sense of joy arises from the experience of wholeness that is characteristic of this beautiful dimension.  It is the origin of all healing, the resolution of  pain and trauma, and the understanding of our place in the universe – that we are infinitely unique, genuine, and valuable.  And so is everyone else.  If we are in touch with the Anandamaya Kosha we don’t have to force, cultivate or practice such a perception.  We experience it continuously and directly.  There is no perception of competition in the world as true sparkling confidence emerges.

 The Anandamaya Kosha is timeless.  I once apologized to a student for a short śavāsana (Corpse Posture) at the end of class. “No problem”, he responded,  “When I’m in śavāsana I’m in a timeless space  – so as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter whether it was 2 minutes or 10.”   Good point!  So, why does the amount of time that we spend in śavāsana or meditation – immersing ourselves in the Anandamaya Kosha – matter?

The koshas aren’t layered upon one another, but co-existent – like light, sunbeams,  oxygen molecules and wind – they influence our life experience in an integrated way.

In the Anandamaya Kosha – in that space of wholeness – all the experiences that fracture us don’t exist (sadness, fear, lack of self-worth).  The time we spend in the Anandamaya Kosha is a time of deep rest for all aspects of our being.  Resting in the Anandamaya Kosha there are no mental gymnastics, no triggers to the nervous system.  For whatever amount of time we are there.   This is why everybody looks 10 years younger after a retreat.  It is a rest in deep peace.

Practice Tips

  1.  Practice śavāsana or Yoga Nidra practice.  Use a timer to avoid being worried about time.
  2. Meditation.  Once again – use a timer to avoid being worried about time.
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Jnanamaya Kosha: Understanding the Past and Future in the Ever Present Now

The Jnanamaya Kosha or Wisdom Body is the 4th (sheath, dimension, body, or kosha) identified in the koshic anatomical maps of yoga. This kosha will reveal experience beyond time and duality, where our differences collapse and a single moment contains eternity.,

Wisdom is timeless and of the moment, and at a certain point absolute right and wrong dissolve into merely moments and choices. It arises from a perception that is not hampered by opinion.  When we are living in wisdom we move in synchrony with the workings of the universe.  This reflected in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra III:53

Through samyama on a particle of time and that which proceeds & succeeds it comes discrimination. –Translation by Swami Vivekananda.

A very simple way to consider this is a “flash” of  inspiration.   That unmistakable flood of everything all at once – like a holograph – you see the big picture and the details.  That holographic non-linear experience is a hallmark of the Jnanamaya Kosha. Sometimes it’s so subtle that you don’t even know the wisdom is moving through you, you just find yourself turning left when you need to go left. 

Time and sequence still exists in the JnanaMaya kosha – but  linear cause and effect dissolve into a bigger picture.   The Jnanamaya Kosha has a “zoom out” quality – the picture, the details and the context transform the sense of where you are in space and time.

My teacher used to say “You have to go way in to go way out”.  The deeper you go into your subtle interior in your yoga practice, the more expansive and holistic your vision is.  It is startling, surprising, and awesome.  It’s likely to be totally ordinary at the same time. 

Through the revelations contained in the Jnanamayakosha we may find the missing piece in the puzzle of our lives.  It reveals a deep understanding of an individual’s path through life, in the context of a billion other lives.  We may see the advantage of a shift in direction.  We are invited into intention,  discernment and awareness. The Jnanamaya Kosha is beyond time.

At the same time it reveals the macro operations of the universe. 

In the Jnanamaya Kosha – the large and the small lose their meaning.  A smile to a stranger on the street appears as significant as performing brain surgery – depending on the intent.  We may feel a sense of power and magnitude – as if our destinies are vast and magnificent, but all that wisdom asks of us may be a moment of kindness.  Because we see that an act of kindness, or honesty, no matter how small, is a magnificent act.

Here we meet our personal journeys to grow into deeply wise humans. It’s the intersection of the timeline of our lives with universal truth and how things work. 

The greatest obstacles entering the Jnanamaya Kosha is the hesitance we have that a vast degree of change that may be asked of us as the result of encountering this level of truth. It may arise as skepticism, dismissal of the numinous, or commitment to conventional paradigms, our mental constructs, busyness, and ambition of all kinds. Some methods which open the portal to the Jnanamayakosha are:

  • Well-done  Vinyasa ignites and reveals the Jnanamaya Kosha. Cultivate a pure and steady rhythm of breath. a healthy amount of detachment, and an ability to flow well and wisely through the sequence of postures.  Surrender into  synchronization with the rhythm of breath and  establish the practice in an elevated intention.
  • Study how things work through the laws of karma. This breaks our conventional paradigms of why things happen and opens us up to new ways of understanding cause and effect. Hold these laws lightly for the best effect.  
  • Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra provides many, many prescriptions for practice and the expected results.  For example – the sutra above.  Many of them are simpler to practice than this one.
  • Study of music
  • Study the  yoga asana sequencing of  the great masters.

For a few additional suggestions for playing in the Jnanamaya Kosha please see my Facebook page – NatalieteachesYoga for the most recent newsletter – or subscribe and it will be delivered to your inbox next month. No ads, I promise! Just substantive yoga content. 

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The Field of Mind & Yogic Anatomy: The Manomaya Kosha

“Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha” Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.2 :

The state of yoga is achieved when we cease identifying with the fluctuations of the mind.

The mind as understood in the context of yoga anatomy is distinct from the brain. The brain doesn’t determine it’s function or condition. It is part of the subtle realms of consciousness which are distinct from the five senses.  Some yogic scholars identify the mind as a sixth sense.  The mind field, or what is called the Manomaya Kosha in the yogic anatomy maps of the five sheaths consists of conscious, unconscious, and super conscious thoughts, beliefs, concepts and ideas  — imagination, fantasy, projection, delusion and intellect.  In considering this sheath as a field we step into a realm of expansion revealed through the practices of yoga:  asana, meditation, observation, study.  Unlike the realms of prana, or wisdom or bliss the Manomaya Kosha sits in our awareness all the time. Some of it’s functions are more easily identified than others.  It interprets and defines. It assigns meaning. It governs perception. The world culture is permeated with instruction manuals for its management.   Just as we can become absorbed in the experience of the body to such an extent that everything else disappears (in sicknesses, deep pleasures or pain) we can become absorbed in the mind to such an extent that we lose sight of everything else (obsessive compulsive disorder, excessive worry, pessimism, delusion, illusion, fantasy).

Becoming aware of what happens in the ManomayaKosha, when we lose ourselves in it and what we can accomplish by managing it is a key development in our yoga practices. So essential is it in the practice of yoga – that the first line of Patanjali Yoga Sutra (which heads up this blog post) references it directly. Like the food body (Anamaya Kosha) and the pranic body (Pranamaya Kosha) can be clear and healthy and flexible and strong  – so can the mind body (the Manomaya Kosha).

The Manomaya Kosha sits at the juncture between what is human nature and what is spiritual nature. 

There are two primary tools for working with the Manomaya Kosha in our yoga practices.  The first is observation and the second is the mastery of the “seat”.

In yoga, our observation training consists of concentration on the breath, observing thoughts as they arise, consciously training to calm those fluctuations as we practice, and disciplining the body through focusing the mind.  There is association between the depths of postures and the depth of clarity in the Manomaya Kosha.  A deep posture being one where we are fully present (not lost in fantasy or topor or competitiveness or worry) and working deeply (relative to one’s own capacities) the tissues of the Anamayakosha (the muscles, bones organs skin – all of it – being squeezed and stretched and pressed upon.

We might work the observation piece like this:

  • Decide to awaken to what is in your mind
  • Establish a state of stepping back internally and witnessing (this can be the tough part)
  • Observe it objectively – meaning without getting involved – just “watch”. You will observe the arising, existing and falling away of a thought.
  • Keeping attention partially in the breath can facilitate the state of witnessing

The seat or connection to the earth is a foundation through which we master the mind in our asana practice.  It’s not unusual for awareness of our connection to the ground to be non-existent.  In all asana, and especially the classical meditative seats, there is a relationship to being grounded and experiencing a lifted spine.  This lifted spine is thought to work like an antenna for higher states of wisdom. If you are fortunate enough to see a buddha statue with a pointed hat…you are seeing his antenna!

The classical seats I’d like to illuminate today are Virasana = the hero and Padmasana the lotus.  I encourage you to explore both of these with physical teachers (in person) and through your own research. These postures often become accessible only after considerable yoga practice. 

Virasana the hero is taken with the knees together, sitting between the heels with the sitz bones grounded.  The knees together – drawing inward – create a powerful gathering and focusing of energy which supports concentration and focus –  practices required for managing the mind.  The focused energy also creates a stability which lifts the spine.

Padmasana – the lotus – is unique in it’s combination of deep grounding and expansiveness.  The sitz bones are rooted into the earth, the knees are out to the side and the shins cross so that the soles of the feet face the sky.    When the shins cross a powerful acupressure point known as SP6 – the juncture of three major “yin” channels -Liver, Kidney and Spleen is toned.  Yin draws the energy inward. As with Virasana this inward energy creates a stability that lifts the spine.  Any posture with knees open to the sides will create openness and spaciousness.  With Padmasana we master our capacity to remain focused and steady in more and more expansive states of consciousness.  Padmasana allows us to sit with the experience of enlightenment. 

Want a little more “woo” in your life? No? Me neither. But yoga philosophy approached with wisdom is grounding and empowering. The philosophical elements are explored in my newsletter. I promise…it’s not a marketing email although I do suggest readings and music. You can sign up here. They are also posted simultaneously on my facebook business page – NatalieteachesYoga. Thanks for reading!

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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. 

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Digesting Trauma: The powerful medicine of Hatha Yoga

“PTSD is the inability to forget” Dr. Ellen Kirschman 1

Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.  Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.1

Yoga is the ability to digest and transform our thoughts, feelings, memories, experiences so that our clear and sacred selves will shine through. 

Yoga is the experience of peace that emerges when our afflictions have been overcome.

Yoga is the freedom that arises when our past has been processed and we are fully present.

Some experiences are very difficult to forget. If, at the moment of trauma, we are unable to fully process and digest what is happening, that experience can be held in the physical body (also identified as the “Food Body” or Anamayakosha in the yogic anatomy map known as the koshas)   Sometimes food and experiences are indigestible – uncomfortable, painful, difficult to absorb and process. The blockage caused by the undigested matter can obstruct our access to the other dimensions of our being – our knowledge, wisdom and joy. Through understanding this we can use our yoga practices to digest and heal traumatic memories stored in the physical body.

There is an inherent wisdom in the process of yoga practice.  We can buzz along in our lives just fine, and then, one day the blockage becomes apparent and it’s time to heal it.  We’re not defective if we have issues. It’s pretty normal to have a degree of trauma in the body. Yoga is a fairly sophisticated method of dealing with the residue of trauma due to this potential for digestion and transformation. We could just manage our symptoms. But we are invited – in the deeper levels of yogic experience – to transform what was not processed into insight and wisdom. It takes deep willingness, an open mind and considerable bravery. But the rewards are ample. 

There are multiple approaches to processing trauma through our yoga practices. We may be experiencing the impacts of the trauma on the psychological level, and our yoga practice restores equilibrium. But going further - by breathing and feeling and observing arising memories on the mat – if we are spacious enough – the memories are released from the physical body and new understandings of experiences awaken. The experiences are digested. We can use those same techniques in the presence of physical symptoms which can range from tightness to chronic misalignment to pain or acute injury. Wise presence in yoga asanas can resolve physical trauma through wise practice. This can be approached well by experimenting gently with specific postures that intuitively, or as a result of research and study, we believe will be related to the anatomical structures involved.

 As we use the tools of yoga to train ourselves to be calm, objective and present to reawakened memories of traumatic feelings and experiences, we mitigate the cycles of recurrence.  We move from the experience of being bombarded by the repetitions of memory and subconscious patterning to creating new relationships with the stories we have lived.  The charged quality of the memory becomes neutralized and laid to rest.   We may never “forget it” – but we can transform it into a tool for awakening, empowerment, deepening and opening to ourselves.

Just as digested food nourishes the cellular structure of the body, digested experiences nourish the stability and robustness of our neural landscape.  They transform the very mechanisms through which we understand the world.  We become less fragmented, less dissociated and more integrated. We become whole. In this way well-practiced yoga can be a powerful tool in the management and healing of PTSD.  Some tips for practice are:

  • Work with the quality of your breathing. Begin with gentle but focused breath and explore how the different qualities of breath impact the physical experience of a posture. Look for the quality of breath that is in effect when you feel a muscle release.
  • Work with the quality of your attention. Begin with gentle but focused presence. You can train specifically in this – take a posture and maintain your gentle receptive attention on the bones, the flesh, the skin. The moment when a memory arises and you stay present rather than becoming lost in it is a power point for healing.
  • As you train in this way, it’s important to notice your reactions to the awakening of trauma in the body. The most common reaction is to attempt to control it by pressing it down – psychologically, physically – a kind of powering through. This will interfere with the release of stress pattern in the body. Allowing is key to healing. Assuming you are practicing with moderate intensity – you can practice staying present to discomfort. Of course – don’t force.

.Through a carefully cultivated yoga practice we reintegrate the parts of ourselves that have been locked away through trauma.  No longer fractured in this way, we become whole, and the experience of PTSD can be transformed into a process of healing.  While the knowledge of the experience still remains, we are now no longer bound by it. 

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT40YKvLBTg ↩︎

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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. 

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About the Body: Focus, Concentration, Drishti

What is Drishti?  Drishti is the placing the gaze at a particular place while in a yoga posture (an asana).  Specific points of gaze are prescribed for certain postures, but it can be helpful to begin with just a few general rules. 

  •  The gaze is placed specifically and gently and a little out of focus.  Ideally you don’t really “look” at anything.  (this technique can be applied in tratak as well – see this week’s newsletter on Facebook).
  • A properly placed gazing point will properly position the head and neck, so if your neck hurts in a posture, adjust where you are gazing.
  • As a general rule, the neck is long, and the chin is neutral.  The gaze then rests directly in front of you. 
  • In some postures, the head is turn to look upward (Trikonasana or Ardha Chandrasana).  In these cases the head is turned and the gaze is directed towards the sky, however if that strains the neck or forces the chin up or down, then place the eye gaze straight in front of you – in the same direction your heart or sternum bone is facing.
  •  The tip of the nose can be used in any posture.  In my opinion this can be the most intense of the drishtis.

What does the drishti do?  It builds your focus!!  Through applying it you may discover what focus can really do for your postures.  It raises the heat level in the body.  It steadies the mind, and thus steadies the body.  It brings you into the present – which can help enormously if you are practicing being in postures for a long time (which is really good to do!).  Focus can help you learn to manage discomfort – not through ignoring, but used wisely focus gazing outward and breathing when you are uncomfortable can teach you to be present to and transform your experience of pain.    

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About the body: Upping the Asana Game

Yoga is designed to be a lifetime practice.  Well-done practices evolve with us as we move through the changes of our lives – inviting ongoing processes of healing to unfold as our consciousness opens into deeper levels of awareness.  We’ve been talking about awareness of the spiritual heart.  One facet of the practice is that discipline and structure are required in order to have mastery over the mind and body so they don’t interfere with or obscure our experience of our essential being – our spiritual heart. 

In observation as a teacher, and as a long time yoga student, a primary focus in discipline is managing   sloth and torpor – and their  opposites – ambition and grasping.  To obtain the best results in our practice – we are well served to find a structured path between these two extremes.  We might call this the “Goldilocks” amount of effort.  Just enough.  When we are a bit lazy about our practice – it won’t be enjoyable enough to motivate us to make a commitment – we won’t really get the full picture what the yoga can do for us.  When we drive too hard there can be a backlash that causes us to drop out for some time.  Consistent practice (which in and of itself requires discipline) joined with healthy effort creates not only a lifetime practice, but also sufficient internal results to ignite the desire to keep practicing. 

One simple and very universal nonaggressive technique that we can develop to up our game in yoga is focus. Generally the practice of focus in asana will unfold from the external to the internal.  At first, we cultivate focus by not thinking about what is going on outside the room, then not thinking about what is going on beyond our mat, and then having full attention in the body and then full attention in the breath and then being able to abide consistently in the small quiet space in our hearts or minds as we move through a series of postures.  At some point we are able to do this for a sustained amount of time.  One way to check your focus is whether you are sweating or not!  Yep.  Breath makes you sweat, but so does focus.  If your practice isn’t “warming up” for you, try bringing a little more focus.  Some ways to do this might be practicing moving from one asana to another focusing on the breath.   The same move over and over i.e. Downward facing dog to Warrior One.   One breath one movement.  If your mind drifts outside of your body, try really focusing on the feeling of your hands and feet on the floor.  At first, it’s good to focus on something really neutral – and within your own body mind.  It can be helpful not to tell a story to yourself about what arises.  Just observe.  And stick to it for a while.  One week breath and movement, one week feeling hands and feet. 

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I publish a newsletter in conjunction with these blog posts which rolls out themes related to the inner practices of yoga – the landscape of the mind in practice – often tied in with classic philosophical notes. Like to take a look? It only comes out every week or so, and there are no ads. I promise!

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About the Body – Hatha, The Heart and the Thoracic Spine

Hatha Yoga in the classical sense is a journey of integration where the body becomes the perfect vehicle for a different kind of consciousness – the adamantine body.  This happens through integration – where the physical form is transformed by the substance of that consciousness. Through breath and positioning the energy channels of the body – the nadis – become clear.  Allowing yourself to experience breath in the varieties of positions  is essential.  And I use the word “experience” deliberately.  It isn’t about forcing the breath through a posture that feels stuck.  It’s about being easeful and allowing enough that the breath can still be felt and enjoyed regardless of what shape you in.  In that sense it is a cleansing the breath is a cleansing solvent for the nadis.  There is not better place to breathe than in a posture where you are bumping up again your limitations.  Often they are not muscle and bone, they are energetic – energy is stagnant.  And, when the energy is stagnant, so is your mind.  Movement is so important, and yoga asana is designed for this.  This cleansing of the physical form allows the spirit to become more tangible in the physical realm.  A well-done posture facilitates this integration.

That intersection of matter and spirit begins at the level of the thoracic spine – at the heart.    The integration is simplest and most straightforward in the backbends.  This alignment of these two forces (material and spiritual) occurs when the feet are well positioned. Parallel the feet in a back bend and the point of integration of the primary opposing forces – of gravity and upliftment  is shifted from the lumbar spine to the thoracic spine.  This  creates a gentle, subtle space in that very restricted area.  You will know the opening has occurred by the way you feel.  There may be tears or a sense of wonder or great love which occurs with the opening.  The practice at that juncture is to be spacious and allowing of the powerful feelings which unfold -and to understand that your practice is moving into another level – beyond mere physical release and into transformation. 

Interested in stepping a little more deeply into the philosophy and inner practices of yoga? I send a newsletter once a week or less, in conjunction with blog posts, where we explore the inner practices of yoga within the context of a life. Sometimes drawn directly from the traditional yoga texts, and sometimes just commentary on the big picture of a yoga practice – I always intend it to convey something that will be useful to you. I don’t sell anything in these newsletters – it’s an offering and a way to keep my own practice fresh.

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