Our ego is like a sheet of glass that exists between the world and our mind. As information from the world filters through our senses, it passes through our ego on its way to our conscious thought. We screen though everything we perceive: “I like this because I did something like it before and that was good,” “This has made me look bad in the past,” or “This reminds me of the time…”. Whether we’re aware of it or not, our mind is continually making lightning quick assessments based on previous experiences in order to organize ourselves in the world.
Through the years, the sheet of glass begins to get a little, well, dirty. Our experiences, both positive and negative, begin to form a film over the glass that distorts the way that we perceive our environment. As these mis-perceptions get confirmed over the months and years, we soon have a good ol’ crusty cake of samsara baked over our plate of glass. Like a windshield that has endured a lengthy road trip, our glass has become overlaid with the splatters of past experiences. Soon we aren’t able to see through the glass anymore at all! Instead, we’re just acting out based on previous experiences. We’re sleepwalking.
Now, our mind is designed to draw the line between cause and effect; it’s one of those nice things it does that keeps us safe. (Who wouldn’t want to remember that the stove is hot after burning themselves once?) But our mind sometimes is indiscriminate or can get too good at its job, and begins to draw lines of cause and effect that aren’t really useful to us. Instead of keeping us safe and aware, our mind traps us in narrow lines of expectation.
Part of our work in our yoga practice is to PRACTICE freeing ourselves from expectation. I’m emphasizing the word practice here because it’s really okay if we’re not good at it. By actively letting go of expectation, we can start to clean off our nasty, cluttered windshield. We can begin to perceive the world as it is – not as how we expect.
In your yoga practice this week, can you dare to not know what will happen? Dare to surprise yourself? By undoing expectation, we can discover that there is a wealth of feeling, sensation, and intuition that we may been neglecting. The world will literally look and feel different.
Be patient with yourself and keep clearing off your windshield. Soon, who knows? You may even get that new car smell.
Shanti, of course, is the Sanksrit word for peace. (The tradition of reciting “shanti, shanti, shanti” 3 times reflects the trinary nature of existence – – the relationship of peace within yourself, peace between you and others, and peace throughout the universe. Buddhists also refer to the Threefold peace of the body, mind and speech). Aum, or Om, is perhaps the most commonly-known Sanskrit mantra, but it has so many significances an entire newsletter might not address them all! However, a few insights follow…
The simplicity of Aum is married to its complexity and its fundamental importance. It is considered the primary sound of the universe, the essential sound of consciousness or creation. Thus in vibrating our bodies and consciousness to Aum, we are aligning ourselves with the divine essence of the universe!
Written and chanted as A-U-M, the mantra again represents a trinity: that of the energies of creation, sustenance and destruction that together bind the universe together. These are sometimes represented by the Hindu deities Brahma (A = Creation), Vishnu (U = Sustenance) and Shiva (M = Destruction or Transcendance). (See below for a wonderful illustration of this representation!) Other trinities for the A-U-M include body-mind-spirit, or self-personal world-universe… there are many possible concordances.
To deeply experience the power of this simple mantra, sit comfortably in your usual meditation seat. Begin by simply working with A-U-M. As you chant aloud, resonate each sound for several seconds before moving to the next sound: Ah…. Oh…. Mm. Notice where you feel the vibrations of each sound in your body. Sense the “Ahh” emanating from the base of your body, vibrating and cleansing the root and belly. Sense the “Ohh” purifying your heart center and throat. Feel the “Mmm” resonating throughout your face and skull to the crown of your head. Repeat aloud at least six times.
Now, repeat the path of A-U-M, but repeat the mantra sounds silently, and feel the same internal vibrations. As you move to this more subtle layer of sensing the mantra, its purifying abilities move more deeply from the physical into the subtle body, releasing the emotions and burdens of the lower self. As this release occurs, the central channel of consciousness is opened and the jiva, your individual spirit, is freed to reunite with paramatman, the source of divine love and inspiration.
Now allow the A-U-M to combine into Aum, and feel you are receiving the divine light of Paramatman, the universe, through that central channel, from the crown of your head, flowing down into your heart, the seat of your jiva, your unique spirit, and into your body.
As you tune in to your breath, let the inhale carry this light down into the center of your body. Begin to let the exhale release from your heart center. Feel on this release the sound of Shanti, peace. As this cycle of inhale and exhale continues, you draw in the inspiration and unconditional love of the universe, filtering it through your unique essence and sending it back out into the world.
You might direct this powerful vibration of peace anywhere you’re inspired to: from your loved ones, to those in need, to places of conflict anywhere in the world. This simple, powerful practice reconnects you to the love, peace and divine oneness within your own heart and throughout the universe.
This meditation was one of the first that I learned from my teacher Alan Finger. It is a beautiful way to calm and still the mind and connect to the energy of your body.
The Hum-Sa Kriya is part of the “Ishta Diksha.”
Diksha, meaning “initiation,” is the physical transference of divine energy directly into the brain, which allows for enlightenment. You become free from the limitations and the conditioning of the mind and are released from unnecessary suffering.
Practiced daily, these techniques will tune your mind into a Higher source of personal power that will educate, inspire, and enliven every moment of your living.
The Hum-Sa Kriya directs consciousness to the spinal column, the central cord of intelligence and awareness, and the central channel of energy in the body. The result of this focus is the creation of an alpha rhythm in the brain. Alpha is the scientific term for the brain state of relaxed alertness and accelerated learning- the mind is peaceful but aware and perceptive of its surroundings. It is known to be incredibly healing and revitalizing to the mind and body.
1. Set a small timer for 18 minutes, but don’t press start just yet. Do at least six rounds of Nadi Shodana Pranayama (alternate nostril breathing).
2. If you can, keep your eyes closed, but press the start button on your timer. Bring your focus back to the breath. Whenever you breathe in, silently visualize and hear the sound “Hum” going up the spine from the base of your tail bone to the space between your eyebrows. And whenever you breathe out, use the sound “Sa” down the spine and try to feel the energy move from the mid-brain down to the base of the spine.
Very important: Do not force the breathing.
On your inhalation, visualize a white ball of light lifting up your spine and into the middle of your brain, and on your exhalation, visualize the ball of light slowly floating down your spine back to the base.
3. Repeat this movement. On the inhalation “Hum” up the spine and on the exhalation. “Sa” down to the base.
This focus and repetition brings you deeper and deeper into the center of consciousness, revealing the true nature who you really are.
You’ll notice that in time, your breath slowly becomes smoother. Eventually pauses will appear, moments in between breaths where there’s just a pause and no need to breathe. This is the point at which a sense of just floating in pure bliss occurs.
4. Stay in this place until the timer sounds. When that happens, gently silence the alarm, and come back to sitting. Let yourself take about six or so full deep breaths. Gently open your eyes. Smile. You’ve taken one more step on the journey to Self.
Natarajasana, Pose of the Lord of the Dance, is a complex pose that is deep backbend with the added fun of balance. As with any backbend, is it essential to fully warm up the thoracic spine and hip flexors as well as integrate core stability for the safety of the lower back. A myriad of arm variations possible in this pose also allow for shoulder and chest opening.
Risk factors: Falling, low back.
What to warm up:
The hip flexors (front of the thighs). Low lunge, high lunge, and Virabhadrasana I are great poses for opening the front of the thighs. Hanumanasana with a bolster and a focus on a sagittally neutral pelvis in order to access the BACK leg. Instead of treating Hanumanasana as a stretch, instead use it to access and tone the adductors, make the legs neutral, and then open the hip flexors of the back leg. Ardha Bhekasana can also be used to stretch the quads, particularly when we focus on anchoring the pubic bone as we draw the shin in.
The thoracic (upper back). Work to open the front of the heart by broadening the collarbones, lifting the sternum, and drawing the shoulders deeply into the body. Can you work to isolate the drawing in of the upper back while you keep your lower back long? It’s a little bit of a conundrum, but this is exactly the paradoxical work that backbends require. Poses such as sphinx, bhujangasana (baby cobra), dhanuarsana (bow), and salabhasana (locust) can refine this work.
The core. To maintain a long lower back, we must use strength through the front of the body to contain the area between the front hip points (the ASIS) and the lower ribcage. Poses such as plank, forearm plank, and navasana (as well as other non-yoga varieties that might be in your repertoire) can bring awareness to this area.
The inner thighs/neutral legs. The adductors link to the core and help keep our legs neutral when they would otherwise flare into external rotation. Prepare the legs to remain neutral through engaging the adductors in lunges, Virabhadrasana I and Virabhadrasana III. By engaging the inner thighs and rolling them slightly to the back body, we widen the sacrum, create length through the back and more room to squeegie the buttocks flesh down the thighs.
The shoulders. Classical Natarajasana has the standing leg arm reaching forward, while the bent leg arm reaches over the head in external rotation and flexion to grasp the foot or big toes. (Like the upper arm in Gomukhasana.) While this is quite a feat for most of us dealing with tight shoulders and hip flexors, we can approximate the actions of this pose by using a strap around our bent knee ankle. Make a Grecian sandal with your strap by wrapping it around your ankle and threading the two ends between the big toes. Presto, you’ve made your leg longer! Work the actions of the pose here: draw the inner things to each other, tailbone to the floor, lower back long, upper chest opening. Breathe and then climb your hand down the strap as the opportunity avails. To prepare for the classical variation, use poses such as Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog), Utthita Hastasana (hands up in tadasana), Gomukhasana (cow-face pose, arms only), and inversions to open the shoulders.
A great variationof Natarajasana is to reach back with both hands and clasp the foot (like your clasping your hands around the top of the foot). In this variation, the shoulders are in extension, which creates a delicious opportunity for opening the chest. Use Prasarita Padottanasana C (wide-legged forward bend with hands clasped behind), Purvottanasana, Setu Bandha (bridge), and Dhanurasana (bow) to prepare the shoulders for this variation.
Props: Use a strap as a Grecian sandal to assist in the classical variation (see above). Use the wall to assist in balancing.
Variation: At Wall. Start in Virabhadrasana III at the wall, hands at the wall, with one foot under the hip and the other reaching back into the center of the room. Keeping the lower back long, begin to move into a backbending variation by walking the hands up the wall. Alternatively, strap the arms above the elbows and bring the forearms on the wall parallel, fingers pointing up. Option to bend the lifted knee , keeping the thigh open and neutral. Natarajasana at the wall!
Energetics: Natarajasana is a pose about opening into fear. We are asked to open our hearts on uncertain ground (on one leg). Before you begin, relax. Smooth out the breath. Grounding the energy and stabilizing the standing leg are crucial pillars. Once the base has been established, then slowly open the upper back into a backbend. Less is more at first. From a stable base, let the breath open the pose from the inside.
Frequently when we leave yoga class, we’re feeling pretty good. We’re stretched, we’re stronger, our minds are a bit more settled. After all, feeling good in our own bodies is a crucial first step on our hatha yoga path. And if that’s what gets us to the mat, so much the better. But at some point in our practice, we begin to have the terrible inkling that our yoga practice is actually happening all the time. It’s just a little more obvious when we’re in our lulu’s and on our mats.
Our practice is just that: practice for our lives. The point of our practice isn’t to have the perfect downward facing dog – although greater physical health is certainly a side effect of yoga. The real juice of our practice is revealed in very practical and everyday situations. Our practice means having a little extra space to respond when someone pushes our buttons or cuts us off in traffic. It’s having the space to feel upset without lashing back. Or it’s using that feel good energy from our class to give back to our families and friends a bit more fully. While improving urdhva dhanurasana is fun, the real potency of our yoga practice is actually experienced off the mat and in our lives.
In honor of Gratitude Week, I’m inviting everyone to “Give their Gratitude Legs”. Take that gorgeous, expansive generosity that begins to flow in class and deliberately manifest it as something tangible in your life. Bring the energy from your heart chakra and manifest it into your legs and your hands — and take action.
Devote just one hour this week to manifest your gratitude. Spend the extra hour with your kids, research a charity to donate to, or listen to a friend that needs some healing.
After all, if we don’t pay it forward, then who will?
Pose of the Week: Ustrasana
In honor of giving gratitude legs, this week’s pose is Ustrasana. Camel pose requires a deep connection to our core, to our legs, to the earth. Out of this deep strength and connection into our roots, we can open our hearts into gravity and radiate. The interplay between opening up and grounding down makes ustrasana the perfect pose for manifesting gratitude.
Risk factors:
Because ustrasana is a backbend with gravity (as opposed to backbends where we lift up INTO gravity), it is vitally important to maintain the strength and connection of the front of the body to avoid over compressing the lower back. What makes ustrasana so invigorating and challenging is the play between opening and strengthening the front body. Another risk factor is the neck, as we’re often tempted to drop the head back and cut of the long line of energy up the spine. Dropping the head back should only be done when the chest is fully opened, and even then should only be done if it comfortable to the student. I keep my chin tucked into my chest as long as possible and often do not drop my head back at all.
What to warm up:
The thoracic (upper back). Coil open the upper back back by broadening the collarbones, reaching forward with the sternum, and drawing the shoulders deeply into the body. Can you work to isolate the drawing in of the upper back while you keep your lower back long? Imagine drawing the sides of the waistline to the back body as you lengthen the sides and lift the chest.
The core: The stability of our core is essential in controlling the opening our spine in ustrasana. While the core is important in all backbends, its role is crucial in ustrasana because we are resisting gravity. Engaging the inner thigh line (the adductors) will help to engage the core and support the backbend. As we move into backbends, we can grip the buttocks, which can cause external rotation in the thighs and squash the sacrum. By engaging the inner thighs and rolling them slightly to the back body, we widen the sacrum, create length through the back and more room to reach the sitbones away from the back. Practicing plank and forearm plank can also teach the front body to engage without shortening.
The hip flexors (front of the thighs). Prepare the hip flexors for ustrasana through lunges and Virabhadrasana I. To particularly access the quads, use a runner’s stretch or King Arthur’s Pose (low lunge with the lower leg vertical up the wall).
The shoulders in extension (arms reaching back). Warm up the shoulders in extension through garudasana arms (lower arm), salabhasana or bridge. I also like using a strap during uttanasana or prasarita padottanasana to encourage arm extension. Choose your leg variation, then hold the strap behind you with the palms forward, just wider than your hips. Draw the heads of the upper arms back (no slouching). Keep lifting the strap to the ceiling (rather than over the head) as you fold. Lift the shoulderheads up.
Props: The wall. I almost always do ustrasana with my hip points glued to the wall. I can clearly draw my inner thighs back into the room and lengthen my sitting bones to the floor. Keeping your hip points at the wall will ensure that you keep your hips and knees lined up and that you continue to use your legs and abdominals to support your weight. Use a bolster across the back of the shins to bring the floor up to you. Blocks on either side of the ankles do the same thing. You can place a block between the thighs to engage the adductors. An important note in ustrasana is to continually lift up as you go back. As if you’re lifting your upper back over a limbo bar. When your hands find purchase (on the bolster, blocks, or feet), lift up out of the arms and radiate your chest up to the sky. Finding and nurturing a sense of strength and containment as you drop back in ustrasana will help prepare the body for more rigorous drop backs from standing.
What is yoga? In this ten-minute segment, Mark – with his typical directness and humor – clarifies the purpose of yoga and exhorts us to participate with authenticity and intimacy in our own lives. I have studied with Mark on several occasions in New York and in Vancouver and always find his clarity and inclusiveness inspiring.
“Yoga is your direct participation
absorption in the given wonder
the extreme intelligence of life
that is of course in every person
every creature
you can do this
it’s not a search
it’s not to use the mind
it’s not to use the body to try to get somewhere
as if you are not “Somewhere”
as if you are not the full blown wonder of life
dependent on a vast process
for your own existence
so there is a right yoga for you
you learn to do that yoga
and then you too can enjoy this direct absorption
participation in the nurturing force that is life already given to you
you are completely loved
completely loved
you are completely cared for
everybody is completely loved
completely cared for
even if the social conditions are suggesting otherwise
even if your mind doesn’t recognize it
by doing your yoga practice on a daily basis
actually and naturally
not obsessively
you too can enjoy this direct absorption
in the wonder that is this life
in all conditions of life including the unseen source
which is responsible for all this appearance here
please enjoy your yoga
YOU ARE HERE NOW
This is a simple argument.
It is easier than easy.
So simple, we seldom speak of it and do not grasp it.
But once seen, it is obvious
and we feel the stark reality of our life,
unmediated by the mind of doubt.
The idea of human imperfection
that is deeply ingrained in the social mind,
in old scientific and religious thinking
blinds us to the perfection that is already in us,
as us, as Life itself, as Nature “her”self.
We are not separate;
we cannot be separate from Nature,
which sustains us in a vast interdependence with everything.
The universe comes perfectly
and is awesome in its integration and infinite existence.
It is our natural state.
Our mission and passion
is to provide the spiritual
and healing powers of yoga
to all who recognize the ancient wisdom
and the wisdom of your own body and mind.”
~Mark’s Hridaya Yoga Sutra describes the spirit of Yoga of Heart: the Healing Power of Intimate Connection More Heart of Yoga.
My session at the Vancouver Yoga Conference had taken a pause. An hour-break, then we’d all come back for four more hours of chakra realization. So far, I’d been banging my hips and sacrum on the ground, trying to tune into my pelvis and the first three chakras. Now I was fantasizing about tuna sandwiches.
Such musings were interrupted by a voice to my neighbor to the left. It was one of those rich and resonant voices that reminds you of James Earl Jones. The kind of voice that Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan spent years in drama school to develop. A voice that puts fussy babies to sleep and reassures angry crowds.
The voice belonged to a man radiating kindness. I was complimented on my note taking, asked very politely if I would be interested in a five-minute experiment in YogaFLIGHT. YogaFLIGHT? Was that like Acro-yoga? I asked. Similar, yes, but YogaFLIGHT was the integration of two passions: yoga and skydiving. Finding the freedom of weightlessness here on the ground.
I put off the tuna sandwich. Definitely interested.
Slade, my yogaFLIGHT guide, started me off in a variation of Prasarita Padottanasana. He lay on his back and supported the weight of my hips with his feet, then stretched my arms over my head for one of those deep, delicious expansions. “Breathe,” he reminded me. Oh right, breathing. I closed my eyes…and let go.
YogaFlight's sKY and slaDE
To be honest, I cannot tell you exactly what happened. Slade’s quiet, confident voice would occasionally say things like, “Now reach for your feet,” or “This is called sleeping tortoise,” and I would find myself suspended in a miraculous yoga concoction. I don’t know how it looked from the outside, but from the little crowd of smiling faces that I awoke to I can imagine it looked pretty fun. However, I can describe how I felt: present, connected, safe, light, expansive, joyful. As if the playfulness and wonder from my childhood could merge with a deep and present awareness of another human. For those five minutes, everything dropped away except gravity, partnership, and breath. Guided by Slade, this divine experience was uplifting and centering at the same time.
For those of you who have not yet experienced the freedom and joy of partner yoga and “flying,” I humbly and fervently recommend you do. I was lucky to have YogaFLIGHT drop into my lap unexpectedly, and even more fortunate that my first guide was such capable and trustworthy partner.
Urdhva Dhanurasana, aka Upward Bow – don’t call it Wheel, that’s a different pose ;). One of the ultimate yoga stretches for the front of the body, Urdhva Dhanurasana challenges us to maintain our strength though the core as we radiate through our upper chest and heart and stretch our hip flexors and shoulders. Any restriction in the shoulders or hips will immediately translate into a crunched lower back, so Upward Bow requires a great deal of warming up and opening in order to be happily explored.
Risk factors: The low back. This is priority number one. In order to keep our low back long and strong, we much engage the rectus abdominus and create containment through the front of our body. Opening the shoulders and hip flexors will help us to find an even arch through the spine and take pressure off the lower back to do all the bending.
What to warm up:
The shoulders in flexion (reaching forward and up). Whenever we have the arms over our head, our upper arms must in in external rotation. This means that poses like adho mukha svanasana (down dog), urdhva hastasana (arms over the head in tadasana – I love this when squeezing a block between the wrists, arms straight, front ribs in), and handstand (urdhva hastasana upside down) will be great warm ups for the shoulders. You should be able to straighten the arms above the head without bending the elbows or bowing the spine. If this isn’t possible yet, then keep working on the shoulders and wait before trying Upward Bow. With time, it will come.
The hip flexors (front of the thighs). Low lunge, high lunge, and Virabhadrasana I are great poses for opening the front of the thighs. We are particularly interested in the psoas rather than the quads, as the knees in Urdhva Dhanurasana aren’t really that bent.
The thoracic (upper back). Work to open the front of the heart by broadening the collarbones, lifting the sternum, and drawing the shoulders deeply into the body. Can you work to isolate the drawing in of the upper back while you keep your lower back long? It’s a little bit of a conundrum, but this is exactly the paradoxical work that backbends require. Poses such as sphinx, bhujanghasana (baby cobra), urdhva mukha svanasana (up dog), and salabhasana (locust) can refine this work. Twists such as parivrtta parsvakonasana and parivrtta trikonasana are excellent at teaching the body to open the upper spine while engaging the abdominals and lengthening.
The core. To maintain a long lower back, we must use strength through the front of the body to contain the area between the front hip points (the ASIS) and the lower ribcage. Poses such as plank, forearm plank, and navasana (as well as other non-yoga varieties that might be in your repertoire) can bring awareness to this area. Doing a mild camel with your frontal hip points stuck to the wall and focusing on lifting up an out of the hips can be an effective way to bring attention to the work of the abdominals.
The inner thighs. The adductors link to the core. Also, as we press into backbends, the tendency is to grip the buttocks, which can cause external rotation in the thighs and squash the sacrum. By engaging the inner thighs and rolling them slightly to the back body, we widen the sacrum, create length through the back and more room to reach the sitbones away from the back. The adductors can be accessed in almost every pose, but are particularly obvious in neutral lunges when we can “scissor” the inner thighs towards each other. Putting a block between the upper thighs or the inner feet immediately creates and adductor-engaged imprint in the body.
Props: Use a strap shoulder-width above the elbows to prevent flailing out in the arms and loss of external rotation. Strap the upper thighs at hip distance apart to keep the legs parallel the hips (and inner thighs down, and sacrum wide). A block between the upper thighs cues the inner thighs to engage and roll to the floor. A block between the feet or a strap around the big toes helps to keep the feet parallel and tracking (keeping the thighs neutral rather than externally rotating). Blocks tilted at the wall can take the pressure out of the wrists by decreasing the angle at which they need to bear weight.
Energetics: Urdhva Dhanurasana is one of the great heart openers. But we cannot move to opening unless there we have strength through the core of the body. We need a solid foundation through the legs, pelvis and lower core (energetically we need stability in chakras 1-3) in order to radiate and expand through the upper chest (chakra 4, the heart chakra). In a recent workshop, Anodea Judith invited us to open our hearts while staying in our core. In relationships – the purview of chakra 4 – we often find ourselves either hardening and retreating or becoming too malleable and floppy. We are either defensive, or we let too much in. Urdhva Dhanurasana invites into the great balance; the more strength and grounding that we can find in our center, the more open and receptive that we can safely become.
Backbending thoughts from Aadil Palkivala:
Physically speaking, backbends move the spine into the body, creating strength in the back of the body and length through the groins, abdominal cavity, rib cage, throat, and frontal shoulders. Backbends charge the kidneys by drawing them into the body, rejuvenating the adrenals and drawing the life force given by the kidneys back into the body. Backbends generally open up three major areas of the body – the pelvis, heart and throat. Therefore, they can open the hips, free the chest from congestion, and bring back a healthy curve to the neck. Most of our daily habits (sitting, driving, working at a desk) cause a collapse in the front of our bodies and push the spine backwards. This is why you will often feel bony lumps on the spine of older people. Backbends bring healthy alignment and mobility back into the spine, moving the vertebrae forwards.
Psychologically speaking, backbends move us toward our future and away from our past, since the back of the body represents the past and the front of our body represents our future. Backbends quieten the hyper-analytical activity of the front brain, and because of the extension produced, trigger a feeling of openness in the limbic system (the emotional center of the brain). In contrast, when we are in a state of fear or anger, we curl up and go into a position of flexion (protection). Thus, psychologically speaking, backbends move us from fear to power.
Energetically speaking, backbends move the spine toward the Pillar of Light in the body. They open up congested and stagnant pelvic energy. This allows the energy to move upward in an expression of aspiration for growth, where it can be transformed by the wisdom of the Heart Chakra. Backbends open up the Heart Chakra, expanding the feeling of love and joy. They also open the throat, allowing the Heart Chakra to express words of beauty and love. This opening also allows the mental energy to move more easily down to the Heart Chakra.
However, a caveat: All the above happens in backbends only if there is the intention for this to happen as you practice. Otherwise you will simply become more flexible!
On my latest trip to New York City, I had the privilege of assisting Chrissy Carter in the Yoga Works Teacher Training. In addition to being a superb instructor, Chrissy has a gorgeous voice. On the last day of the training, we recorded a few of her favorite chants, which I later converted into a duet by adding a harmony line. The sounds of midtown Manhattan in the background add their own flavor. Gayatri Mantra with Chrissy Carter
So for that past few years I’ve been practicing ashtanga. Flow, flow, breath, breath. There is a cycle and rhythm to the practice. You move. You keep going. You jump around. You breath some more.
But here I am visiting my old Yoga Works crew. And they study Iyengar.
See, in the yoga world, there are three main lineages: Ashtanga, Iyengar, and the yoga of Desikachar. Most our our Western yoga springs from the same teacher (the granddaddy of yoga as we know it, Krishnmacharya). But where ashtanga focuses on movement and breath, the Iyengar tradition focuses on alignment.
Ruthlessly. Meticulously. SLOWLY.
So now I’m not jumping around. I’m laying on the mat and contemplating the slight external rotation of my thigh in the hip socket as I reach my other leg into the air in supta hasta padangustasana. And then I’m holding it there. For a long time. I’m meditating on the percentage of weight in the ball of my foot during my forward bend. I’m finding that extra degree of external rotation in my upper arms in downward facing dog.
It’s slow, it’s sweaty, it’s focused, it’s hot.
The exquisite attention to detail is like a life-sized magnification glass. We’re using the acute sensation of one part of the body to develop focused concentration (or dharana) that helps settle the monkey mind down. Similar to ashtanga, it’s not really about the body (though it sure can feel that way!), but about the mind. The bodily sensations become a lens for the practice and a means of cultivating mindfulness in our lives. After all, if we can focus and breathe in the discomfort of utkatasana (fierce or chair pose), we may have a little more space to be present in oh, say, an argument with our ex about who left the fridge open. And the capacity to focus on the details in our practice makes us more sensitive the the miraculous detail of everyday life.
We tend to think of joy as something that involves big events: weddings, success, births. And while this is true, the sustaining marrow of life is found in the smallest of everyday occurrences. It’s finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. The shape of a flower, the smile of a friend. The play of light on a skyscraper at sunset. These are the small joys that sustain us when the greater flow is not revealed.
The devil is in the details. And through those tiny portals lies the magnificent expanse of the divine.
I arrived early to my Tuesday class, so asked some of the students if they had any inspirations for the practice. “Levitation,” replied one particularly cheeky monkey. “Inversions!” another cried. “I may get in trouble for this,” said a third, “but I’d like to do abs.”
Alright, I thought. Levitating, inverted abs it is.
Challenge is an inherent part of any arm balancing themed class. After all, a solid core connection is essential for any standing on the hands, and that invariably winds up being, well…hard. You need to connect to the arches of the feet, then follow the inner leg line of energy through the adductors, into the pelvic floor, into the transverse abdominals. It takes a little effort.
And now, I have to mention India.
While I was in India, I did not practice. Well, okay, maybe a couple times. But for the majority of my trip, I spent my time walking, eating, observing, haggling, and generally doing everything but yoga. So I went from having a 2 hours plus practice most days of the week to doing almost nothing.
And it was GREAT.
You see, about a week into my trip, I suddenly realized that something was different. I didn’t hurt anymore. The repetitive injuries that I’d been “working through” had faded and my body seemed to be functioning happily. Rather than fall apart without my yoga practice, my body seemed to be actually doing better.
Now, this isn’t because yoga is bad for you. On the contrary, yoga is very (very) good for you. But I’d been practicing in a way that became counter-productive. I had been over-stressing my body because I liked the challenge. I wanted to advance my practice, and it seemed like the only way to do this was to do harder poses. Wasn’t it?
There’s a part of all of us that thrives on challenge. On advancement. (You type A’s know exactly what I mean.) But when we overdo it and impose a practice on on our body, rather than experience the practice, our body sends us signals that we’re going too far. If we’re ambitious, we rarely listen and instead “push through,” only to be stopped in our tracks eventually by some sort of injury.
Does this mean we shouldn’t challenge ourselves? Of course not! But we must challenge ourselves while still respecting the voice of our body. So, in other words, how can we honor ourselves and still attempt levitating, inverted abs?
We must listen to ourselves. Rather than “do” your practice, “be” your practice. Be inside your practice, rather than inflicting it on your unsuspecting body. When the challenges come (and they always do), give yourself the space to respond rather than react. Instead of shutting off or overcompensating, breathe and integrate the experience. These moments of stress in yoga class are fertile ground for practicing how to consciously respond to anxiety off the mat.
Notice: what’s your pattern for coping with challenge? Do you ferociously attack it, or succumb without a fight? Can we practice being with the challenge without adding a psychological agenda? Can we actually soften in order to be strong?
Since you may be curious, we wound up practicing the transitions from tripod headstand to bakasana and back again. Fun, fun, all day long. Levitating, inverting abs, indeed!
Ajna Chakra, located at the third eye center, opens us to element of light. In addition to literally seeing, this chakra draws us into the power of visualization, imagination, and abstraction. We literally connect to a higher frequency (Vishuddha was the frequency of sound, Ajna of light) and our experience moves further beyond the tangible plane.
Suddenly, our world is much larger. We can use the power of our imagination to understand experiences beyond our own. Though the understanding of images and words, we can visualize our place in a greater context. Our sight is both external and internal. The sixth chakra opens us to the world of intuition, where we are assimilating information more rapidly than our conscious mind may process. We begin to learn to trust our sixth sense.
The power to visualize is a powerful tool that can expand or limit our consciousness. While our imagination can set us free to imagine possibilities beyond our immediate experience, we can also impose mental boundaries on ourselves that prevent us from moving into our potential. Discernment in the sixth chakra is the power to separate vision from illusion. As Anodea Judith writes, “Vision leads us forward and illusion holds us back. A vision is a possibility, a goal to inspire us, constantly changing and evolving. We know a vision isn’t real, and yet we believe in its potential. An illusion tends to be held as certainly and forced into place – something we believe is real and unchangeable. An illusion binds the energy; a vision consciously directs it.”
Exercise: Practice discernment between vision and illusion. Do you impose limits on yourself that have no basis in reality? Can you replace these assumptions with a visualization that pulls your more firmly into your real potential?
Guru – the dispeller of darkness. It’s a wonderful song for the wintery time of year! I originally sang this song with the musical group, Circle of Soul in New York City. I learned both the melody and harmony line with these fantastic ladies. Om Guru
The link from the heart chakra to the more etheric upper chakras, Vishuddha (the throat chakra) is the center of conscious communication. Like the second chakra, Vishuddha is a creative nexus. However, unlike the unconscious, earthy, and sensuous energy of Svadisthana, Vishuddha’s creativity is connected to our higher consciousness. Through its power, we literally express and identify ourselves in relationship to the outside world. We choose how to allow our energy to impact others, and use our voice to express our boundaries, desires, and needs.
Very pragmatically, we can sometimes feel as if we’ve “lost our voice” when there is a disconnect between our experience and our ability to communicate our needs. At other times, it is through communicating that we actually realize our own experience. For example, it is common to “hold it together” until someone asks us to communicate our experience. This act of articulating facilitates the integration of the experience, and causes us to “break down” or release the emotional energy.
A well-balanced throat chakra allows for an equilibrium between expression and listening. The element of Vishuddha is space, and it is in the openness and potential of this space that exchange can occur. Rather than engulf our listeners in a deluge of conversation or retreating into a silent shell, we allow for a meaningful sharing of energy and ideas. The powerful, unconscious energies of the lower chakras (our emotion and our ego) are refined and processed as we develop our capacity to communicate our personal experience with others.
Our lives are in continual, creative evolution. Through Vishuddha, we enhance our capacity to filter and share our experience with others.
Exercise: Notice your habits in conversation. Do you tend to dominate conversation, or retreat and stay silent? Do you fall into comfortable and disingenuous patter because it seems easy? Is there a better personal balance for you that you might find in increasing your capacity for conscious communication with others?
What more appropriate chakra to explore on Valentine’s Week than the heart chakra?
We are all familiar with the sensations of the heart. Almost everyone can relate when someone says that they feel ”light-hearted” or that they have a “heavy heart.” In this way, the sensations of the heart chakra are some of the most accessible of the system.
At the heart, we reach the very center of the chakra system. Perfectly balanced between the upper and lower chakras, anahata is the chakra guiding relationships, compassion, and emotional well-being. It is in the heart that the intuition of the body and the wisdom of the spirit come into manifestation.
While the heart chakra usually is thought to be outer directed (compassion to others), it is also the place where we come into deeper and more harmonious relationship with ourselves. Here we resolve the myriad of relationships within different (and frequently contradicting) aspects our own life. Only through the compassion and spaciousness of love can we fully accept and integrate the lost or shadowed parts of our history and personality. When we are able to accept ourselves fully, then we can also begin to accept others fully, without being triggered by the remembrance of fragmented parts of ourselves.
As you practice heart-opening, notice if any judgments or restrictive sensations arise. Practice nurturing a space of radical self-acceptance and expansion. Utilize the surrender and freedom of the inhalation to physical space for compassion and integration.
Manipura Chakra is the seat of the ego and self-definition. Its element is fire and it the seat of the ego. Too much fire breeds anger, aggression, over-assertion; too little fire and we are not able to create boundaries, self-determine, or speak our minds.
A healthy third chakra is marked by empowerment. When we are self-empowered, we do not need to dominate in order to fill the gap. Self-empowerment leads to autonomy and personal responsibility, which are key in initiating conscious transformation. When we honor the power within us, we can freely make decisions that honor our own personal truth. Rather than internalizing the voices of our parents, peers, and culture, we give ourself the power to question, re-determine, and transform.
To access manipura chakra, open yourself to the fire of your own practice. Through heat, we begin to safely shift and transform the physical body. Through twists and navel focused asana like bakasana, we access the power of the core. Connection to the stability of the core anchors us in our own body. From the core, we discover the fantastic movement of radiation and contraction. Energy moves from the center out, just as energy draws into the center. This dynamic flow and pulsation is a reflection of the greater movements of our life: learning what to let in, learning what to let go. The constant ebb and flow keeps us alive, invigorated, open to new ideas, and anchored in what we choose to keep.
Explore the fire of your practice. Become attuned to your relationship to your own personal power. Can you relish responsibility without guilt or shame? Can you risk transformation in order to connect to a deeper, more authentic expression of your self?
As we move into the second chakra, life starts getting juicy. Now that our primal survival needs have been addressed, we move into the realm of feelings, pleasure, creativity, and sexuality.
To paraphrase Anodea Judith, we are creating a container in the first chakra…and in the second chakra we fill this container with fluid and movement. This movement of the second chakra takes us into the world of balance and grace. When can we go too far? When are we too stuck?
In our culture, there is frequently a dismissal of pleasure in favor of asceticism and work. In reclaiming the second chakra, we validate the needs of our pleasure body and emotional body. When these centers are fed, they reward us with deep insight, intuition, and embodiment. Part of being fully alive is to appreciate the magnificence of our own capacity for sensuality and pleasure. Whether we are sipping a cup of tea or feeling the sunshine on our face (or in Vancouver, we are frequently feeling the rain), we are connecting to a primal deliciousness. In my own experience, finding this connection allows me to honor my body’s needs: to rest when I’m tired, eat nourishing foods, and practice yoga from a place of joy rather than obligation.
In your yoga practice, see if you can connect to the yumminess of movement. Close your eyes and feel the practice from the inside out. Rather than worrying about what the posture looks like, see if you can sense it from within. Give yourself the freedom to relish your body. Even in “still” poses, there is always a divine movement. Our breath, our blood…we are in constant fluid motion.
Re-energizing the second chakra doesn’t take much and a little attention can reap enormous rewards. Simply pause a few times a day to connect to your senses. Feel the carpet under your toes, enjoy the taste of your food, stretch deliciously. Tasting the little pleasures of your life will create spaciousness for presence and increase your capacity for juicy joy.
Can we be strong without being rigid? Can we own our own space without being overbearing? Is our relationship with our body healthy?
These are just a few of the issues encompassed by our first chakra. Located at the base of the spine, muladhara chakra is the “root” of the chakra system. Like the foundation of a house, the health of this chakra affects all the others above it. Anodea Judith describes the first chakra as reflecting our “right to be here,” which includes our “right to establish individuality” and our right to take care of ourselves” (Eastern Body, Western Mind).
The element of the muladhara chakra is earth and the chakra resonates with the part of ourselves that solid and physical. Judith estimates the development of this chakra during the first year of life, in which we first learn if we can trust the outer world to meet our essential needs. This primal experience shapes our future interactions with our environment: do we have enough to sustain us without hoarding? On a more psychological level, can we allow ourselves to take up space without becoming impermeable?
In our asana practice, can we be strong without becoming rigid?
As we practice, we can connect to the strength of the earth through any part of our body that is connected to the ground. As we press into the earth, the strength of the earth radiates back into our muscles and bones. In standing poses, the feet and legs to draw up the strength of the earth into the core of our body. In downdog, uttanasana, and chaturanga, our hands become like a second pair of feet, anchoring us into the solid girth of the planet. Explore becoming more animal in your practice. Get low to the earth and play with the weight and rebound of gravity. And as you connect to the deep stability and safety of the ground, can you trust enough to let go of any hard edges?
When you feel spacey or ungrounded, explore some slow, steady standing poses like Warrior II or chair that work the hips and legs…or simply lay in savasana for a few minutes and give the floor your weight. As you connect to earth, be reminded that you are of the earth. Embrace your right to be here.
I first started practicing yoga so that I didn’t get fat.
I was a fairly neurotic, athletic, 20-something, looking for a way to stay flexible, “healthy” (skinny), and (sure, why not?) centered. Living in NYC with a healthy competitive streak and a does of obsession, I was determined to get “good” at yoga. Handstand, shoulderstand, arm balances! I wanted to take the hard classes. I craved the challenge.
Was my yoga practice serving my life? Well, sure in a way, and rather inadvertently. Although my ego was in the driver’s seat, the inherent benefits of the practice gradually began to seep in. Since savasana and meditation were part of the classes, I began to calm myself and become aware of the incessant chattering of my mind. After a few years of yoga, I eased up on the sthira (effort) and started to cultivate some sukha (sweetness). I started to love restorative classes. While yoga had started as another form of exercise, it slowly became a way to move deeper into myself.
After we practice for awhile, it’s time to ask the deeper questions. How can my practice truly serve my life, and my life’s purpose (dharma)? Can I connect my practice to my greater spiritual evolution? How is my soul’s intention fed and nourished through my practice?
Our intentions can be simple. Perhaps we need to open the body and breath so that we can do our daily job and stay well. Perhaps we need to practice being present so that we can make conscious decisions. Maybe yoga makes us kinder to other people because we’ve been able to take some time for ourselves. Or maybe we want to take a challenging class because it makes us feel more alive. Your reason can be simple – and it is absolutely your own. But take a moment before you practice to consciously set an intention.
As we turn the corner into the New Year and the days begin to become longer (even if we don’t quite notice yet!), NOW is the fertile time to initiate profound change. Before we dive in, though, it is important for us to take the time to distinguish between reflexive and conscious change.
Reflexive change isn’t really change at all. These are the intentions that we habitually set – and break – every year (eat less ice cream, be nicer, get up early, lose five pounds….insert your favorite chestnut here). Usually these are symptoms of some deeper disconnection with ourselves. The eating ice cream or staying in bed late may be because we’re not properly taking care of ourselves or we are hiding a deeper dissatisfaction under a distraction. Reflexive intentions feel good, but they often falter after just a few weeks. Usually they’re ego driven, rather than heart driven. If this sounds familiar, give yourself a pat on the back. Congratulations, you’re human! You are in stellar company.
In conscious change, we go beneath those initial voices. Beneath the ego and the blaming (or just as enticing, the validation) and instead ask ourselves, “what change would really serve my life’s purpose?”
Take a moment and let this sink in.
Maybe you don’t quite know what your life’s purpose (dharma) is yet. If so, again, no worries. As Aadil Palkhivala writes in Fire of Love, “exploring your dharma is your dharma.” Take a few moments every day to sit and ask the question, “What is my life’s purpose? And what change would really serve my life’s purpose?”
Wait for the answer to arise. Not from your head, but from your heart. Have the courage to listen to the quiet voice. You’ll know it when you hear it.
