Unfolding

I want to unfold.
Let no place in me hold itself closed,
for where I am closed, I am false.
~ Ranier Maria Rilke

When I want to get better at life, I practice Yoga.

I recently took the Gallup Organization’s Strengthfinder test, a free offering with the book Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. It is interesting that one of my five greatest strengths is Intellection: “You like mental activity. You like exercising the ‘muscles’ of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions.” I then look curiously at that label in correlation with the focus of my current Yoga practice. Right now, my practice (and, my struggle) is getting out of my head (and, out of my bed at 4:30 a.m.) daily and really tapping into the physical body.

It is so easy for me to pick up a book and read, think, muse and use that information to make sense and applications in the labyrinth of the world we live in. It comes less natural, at this point in my life, to set aside time for physical practice. Part of that natural selection results from the last several decades of mind training with de-emphasis on body concentration. It’s easier and simpler to stay with the known strength.

Yet, sometimes, all of that focused and habitual practice may risk overshadowing and weakening parts of us that are equally important fibers at the core of our true nature. What seems to come naturally might be the result of habits and training over the course of a lifetime and driven by outer circumstances and influences rather than our heart’s great longings meeting up with the world’s great needs [1] in ways that can be sometimes effortless and a little magical. Some of our habits, training, and practices are all part of the practical considerations of living in the real world; and, it is also a great relief to know that if what seems to be naturally available to us is strictly a result of habit and training, then we are offered a window for adjustment and change. There is the opportunity to retrain, to unfold some more, and to develop existing, new, or different habits, talents, and strengths.

So, as though it was a pre-ordained part of the greater plan for my Yoga path of learning, I stumbled into an Ashtanga yoga class. Ashtanga yoga systemizes the physical practice of yoga into set sequences so a practitioner can memorize the sets and then practice without wondering which pose to take up next. That, for a person with the strength of intellection, is, for now, a great gift that balances the physical and intellectual natures. Ashtanga yoga is also a very strong physical practice, intense enough and requiring enough focus that the mind doesn’t have a lot of room to be engaged with intellectual curiosities when the body is in the midst of its practice.

The different styles of yoga offer different approaches and different ways to focus our attention and no one style of yoga is the “right” style of yoga. Each type of practice, when based on the traditional practices and teachings of Yoga, is part of the great patchwork quilt of Yoga practices developed within the larger Yoga community and are each interlaced with principles, advice, guidance, and methodical physical and spiritual practices, all carefully designed with the laboratory of our lives in mind. We are all scientists specializing in the observation and careful experimentation of our individual self in relation to the larger universe of life. Yoga is the melting pot for the best of all religions and all spiritual practices, not to even mention the best of all physical, breathing, and mind training practices. It is full of possibilities for all of us. And, the variety simply affirms the great beauty of Yoga as a set of practices that support each indivdual's personal journey. The style you choose depends on who you are and where you are at any moment in time. [2]

My beginning into the focused study and practice of Yoga, and my training ground for RYT 200, was through the system of Hatha Yoga as taught by Swami Rama of the Himalayas (Himalayan Institute, Honesdale, PA). When I began my focused practice of Yoga in 2007, the Himalayan Institute’s (HI) method and approach to practice nurtured me and provided sanctuary for turning inward; and, it weaved my intellection seamlessly with a strong and flexible physical practice that converged with meditation practices, contemplation practices, and self-knowledge and understanding as the ultimate goal. All of these practices helped bring me back to center and begin a new process in the evolution of self discovery. The HI training laid a strong foundation for a lifetime of Yoga practice. And, even as I experiment with Ashtanga, my practice is infused with and I continue to grow in the teachings from my Himalayan Institute education. These two approaches to Yoga practice have similarities in their family tree and marry well.

Each style of the physical practice of yoga asanas should, somewhere along the way, lead us back to the practices of Yoga where body, mind, breath, and spirit yoke or unite in a way that gives us a sense of equanimity. In both Ashtanga yoga and Hatha yoga as taught by Swami Rama of the Himalayas, the physical asana practice is one piece of the eight pieces that make up the whole Yoga pie. The other seven pieces of the pie are supported by our physical practice; and, vice versa, our physical practice is supported by all the other practices. It is these Eight Limbs of Yoga [3] which provide us with methods and practices that can touch all parts of our life and provide us with practical and methodical ways for learning about our self and our world and learning to navigate the complexities of life. Yoga practice is a tried and true method for unfolding.

When I engage in the methodical physical practices of yoga asana, pranayama, and meditation, my body, breath, mind, and spirit begin to unfold. These direct physical practices then foster and support the unfolding of practices off the mat and cushion, outside the ashram called home, and right in the middle of the mess of life: relationships, engagement with the world, unresolved conflicts, pain, joy, sorrow, peace, anger, love; crashing down of the soul and soaring high again; the mind unfolds; the spirit unfolds; the soul opens up. Everything. Everything unfolds effortlessly through the effort of a committed practice.

Enjoy your daily practice, whatever that may be, and the unfolding it can bring.
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Because “No man is an island, entire of itself”: [4]
Thank you to my teacher and friend, Akasha Ellis whose Ashtanga Yoga classes are making my body stronger; for his Kundalini Yoga teachings and practices that are helping me tap into another dimension of Prana; for his committed early morning sadhanas he offers the yoga community; and Mysore. Each nurtures my personal practice and supports my unfolding. You are so real and, clearly, beloved by so many. Lots of love.

[1] This concept comes from Parker J. Palmer’s book, The Courage to Teach, quoting Frederick Buechner’s image of vocation as “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” In our home, our ashram, we often refer to vocation as the heart’s great longing and the world’s great need.

[2] Article that outlines a plethora of different style of yoga practice: http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/165/

[3] In Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, the eightfold path is called ashtanga, which literally means "eight limbs" (ashta=eight, anga=limb). These eight steps basically act as guidelines on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. They serve as a prescription for moral and ethical conduct and self-discipline; they direct attention toward one's health; and they help us to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of our nature. http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/158

[4] John Donne's Devotions, 1624.

Blog Spice

Svādhyāya is the concept of self-study. Studying the Infinite that dwells within the finiteness of the individual self. [1]

As I studied this week, not so much for myself as to share information with others in the form of teaching, the study found me reading this passage which, in turn, generated curiosity about my approach in this blog:

“[I]t is in fact dishonest to reduce yoga to some sort of physical training . . .; it is a “world view,” a Weltanschauung [2] that comprehends reality in its totality --- material as well as spiritual --- and provides the foundation for certain practices” intended to enable the individual who commits to the practices of Yoga to assimilate and integrate totally into the reality of the world we live in, and to possibly transcend it. “As for the gymnastic part of it, that is just one prescribed practice among many; the most picturesque, admittedly, but not the most important.” [3]

And so, my studies turned back to the self. It’s been a very safe practice, with this blog, staying with the physical āsanas and using them, from time to time, to flirt with the possibilities that can happen beyond the physical pose. Today the path leads me back to my training and the training of all teachers in the lineage of Yoga tradition: The best teaching comes from your own experience and your own practice. We are all reminded of this through the living breathing words of yoga master and guru, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois that have echoed in our ears since his death last year: "Practice, practice, and all is coming."

The blog will begin to have a peppering of notes and reflections from my own practices. Less safe. More real. The notes will not propose to tell you what you should do with your life or with your Yoga practice because it is enough for me to find my own answers; and, I have great confidence in the teachings of Yoga that encourage each of us to take the practices and make them our own by using our individual life as the great experiment, finding how the practices fit and work uniquely for each of us, and how they assimilate for us into the larger world community. If my notes and reflections affirm, support, aid in your own svādhyāya, or otherwise give you fodder for your life experiment, then Namasté!!

So, these new pepperings, a little bit of blog spice, makes the blog, as a whole, more participatory in the cybersatsanga. Satsanga can be loosely interpreted as our “hanging out together” and sharing conversation and insights to support each other as we travel along this fascinating, interesting, and seemingly endless path called Yoga.

It really is all practice. Your comments are welcome.
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Because "no man is an island, entire of itself": [4]

Thank you to my newfound co-practitioner, colleague, student, teacher, and friend, Dr. Mark Richard McClish, who turned me on to new texts that have me steeped in svādhyāya; and, whose company and conversations during our satsanga lunches are a beautiful gift that spur my mind and my practice.

Thank you to my life partner, guru, and friend, Dr. John David Tatter, who loves watching me grow and has nurtured that growth in so many ways, too many to name. And, thanks for all the literal spices in all the beautiful food you lovingly prepare in our home because you love the art and process of food coming to the table and you love preparing it for our table; and, thank you for doing it because I'm too busy growing to cook. I love you; I love your love; and, I love your food!

[1] As defined within the Himalayan Institute Teacher Association’s training program: Self-study is the study of the Self, the Infinite dwelling in the finite. Through mantra repetition, a teacher’s words, and reading, Self-study inspires us to the Self.

[2] A worldview describes a consistent (to a varying degree) and integral sense of existence and provides a framework for generating, sustaining, and applying knowledge. . . . One of the most important concepts in cognitive philosophy and cognitive sciences is the German concept of Weltanschauung. This expression refers to the "wide worldview" or "wide world perception" of a people, family, or person. The Weltanschauung of a people originates from the unique world experience of a people, which they experience over several millennia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view

[3] Yoga and the Hindu Tradition, Preface, Jean Varenne.

[4] John Donne's Devotions, 1624.

hands and knees - part one

Hands and knees pose is a foundation pose for many warm up poses and vinyāsas.

In our practice of Yoga, it’s important to pay attention to 1) engaging the entire body with ease; 2) maintaining a neutral spine when we aren’t intentionally working an area of the spine in a specific way (for example, backbends and twists); 3) breathing deeply in through the nose and out through the nose and generally coordinating our breath with our movements.

This deceptively simply pose can build arm strength, leg strength, strength in the lower abdominals; and, precisely because the pose is simple, it allows us the opportunity to get a sense of what it means to engage the entire body in a pose. If you come to hands and knees and your body is not engaged, it’s not a yoga pose, it’s just hands and knees. But, when we engage our entire body and begin to breathe in through the nose and out through the nose, sensing the breath traveling the full length of the spine as it flows in and out; and, when we push our hands and knees into the earth and draw the energy of the earth up through our hands and knees, that’s a yoga pose. So, you get the idea….

* Place your hands under the shoulders/shoulder directly over the wrists
* Your fingers should be spread wide with middle fingers pointing forward
* Place your knees directly under the hips/hips over the knees
* Push into the earth with your hands
* Engage the arms
* Rotate the upper arms in so the eyes of the elbows face each other
* Though subtle, rotate the lower arms outward (this movement asks the hands to do their part in supporting the upper body in this pose)
* Engage the lower abdominal muscles
* Push the knees into the earth engaging the thighs
* Option: Turn the toes under to engage the feet and lower legs
* Crown of the head is reaching forward (not looking down and not looking up --- sensing that neutral curve of the neck)
* Sense that, at this point, you have a neutral spine from the tailbone to the crown of the head

Now close your eyes and breathe. Breathing in through the nose, the breath travels the length of the spine to your tailbone; and, breathing out through the nose, the breath travels the length of the spine back to the crown of your head. Breathe several rounds of breath until you begin to feel the energetic work of your arms and legs.

You can also sense, as you breathe in, that your hands are pulling new energy from the earth into your body, traveling up your arms, down the length of your spine, down your thighs, through the bend in your knees, down the calves, into the feet; and, on your exhale, the breath travels back the way it came and the energy goes back into the earth for recycling.

Enjoy your practice and let me know how it goes.

“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson
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Thank you to my teacher, Shari Friedrichsen, for collaborating with me on how to best describe the mechanics of this pose.