For the past few months Ida and I have been working alongside fellow yogi and all-around beautiful guy Jerome Armstrong on an exciting project. We discovered the lost manuscript of Buddha Bose, written in 1938 but never published, in which he describes and demonstrates the complete 84 asanas in the Ghosh Lineage. The book contains 84 asanas and 10 mudras, with more than 90 photos. It will contain a new introduction by Bose's grandson Pavitra Shekhar Bose. Everyone that has practiced the Bikram sequences, both his 26+2 and the 84 advanced sequence, will see familiar postures and also new postures and instruction from Bose. The album is presented in sequential sets of Padmasana, Sitting, Lying Down, Standing, and an advanced Kurmasana set, plus 10 Mudras. "Key to the Kingdom of Health: The Buddha Bose Collection of 84 Asanas" is set to be published and made available to all yoga scholars and practitioners in June 2015. Sign up for updates or contact for more information at www.buddhabose.com.
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A poem "Encouraging Words" by Zen Master Guishan, via friend and fellow yogi Paul. Make sure you read all the way to the end!
"Some day you will die. Lying on your sick bed about to breathe your last, you will be assailed by every kind of pain. Your mind will be filled with fears and anxieties and you will not know where to go or what to do. Only then you will realise that you have not practised well. The skandhas (matter/form, sensations, conceptions/apperceptions, impulses/mental formations, and consciousness) and the four elements in you will quickly disintegrate, and your consciousness will be pulled wherever your ancient, twisted karma leads it. Impermanence does not hesitate. Death will not wait. You will not be able to extend your life by even a second. How many thousand more times will you have to pass through the gates of birth and death. If these words are challenging, even insulting, let them be an encouragement for you to change. Practise heroically. Do not accumulate unnecessary possessions. Don't give up. Still your mind, end wrong perceptions, concentrate and do not run after the objects of your senses. Practise diligently. Be determined not to let your days and months pass by wastefully." Yogi Gregor Maehle recently wrote this blog post called What is Authentic Yoga? It is a brilliant discussion of the diverse and often misunderstood practice of yoga, the ultimate goals of the practice, where Asana and the other limbs fit in, religion versus spirituality, and the perversion of Asana as "physical exercise" and still calling it Yoga. It is definitely worth reading in its entirety. I am copying some of my favorite parts below.
"...there are actually two different yogas out there. The authentic one that mainly deals with spirituality (and has health arising from harmony and wholeness as a side effect) and a new exercise regime that is only called yoga for namesake. This new so-called yoga has been castrated to such an extent that it can now be introduced pretty much anywhere because all ‘offensive’ aspects have been removed." "There is an eternal, sacred core to each being and once this core has been seen, the individual can place itself in the service of humanity and the whole. It is to the search for this core, its cultivation and then the placing itself in the service of all beings that historical, true and authentic yoga was dedicated to." "...And this is exactly what true yoga is about. It is not what a particular religion says about the experience but having the experience yourself, and the way and methods to get there." "...Then Ramakrishna developed his teaching (as it was the teaching of the mystics of all ages) that THERE IS ONE UNDERLYING TRUTH AND ESSENCE IN ALL SACRED TRADITIONS OF HUMANITY. It is to this one underlying truth and essence that our practice must be dedicated. While there may be cultural differences in metaphor, these are only at the surface and once the mystic enters the mystical state, they all vanish." Maehle's website is here. He is among the most advanced and authentic yogis I have come across. "The practice of asana invites us to embody all of life's greatest and most enduring qualities, including courage, willpower, self-awareness, concentration, surrender or letting go, the pursuit of excellence, the empowerment that comes from overcoming resistance (both internal and external), and skillful action."
From The Four Desires by Rod Stryker. In our yoga practice, it is tempting to return to the places that have brought us joy and satisfaction. We seek the postures, the breathing and the teachings that spoke to us once. They become the structure for our new reality.
We must be careful of patterns and habits that we adopt. Any habit is a rut that contains the mind and prevents us from exploring new, challenging experiences. We must seek to be mindful always and not allow new habits to form, no matter how beneficial we think they are. A habit is a prison for the mind. In yoga practice, this can be summed up with two words, "Be Uncomfortable." Any time we strive to improve, whether physically or mentally, we push ourselves into unchartered territory and expand our minds. Any time we repeat what "feels good," we deepen a rut in our mind. We strengthen a version of reality, and that goes against the very purpose of yoga. Be curious, be courageous. I have always thought that teacher-worship was strange. It never made sense to me how anyone could credit a single instructor with their knowledge and growth. Maybe it is a symptom of our culture where we change teachers frequently, but I think of it more in terms of inspiration - a teacher can inspire us but ultimately we have to do the work. We have to study, practice and improve.
A couple days ago I revisited Tony's "Level 4" video. It has been awhile since I practiced with one of his videos. I have been doing my own thing for many months, following my body, curiosity and intuition as I practice asana and pranayama. Upon practicing with Tony's video, I noticed that all of these important elements in my practice - my curiosity, intuition and courage - all began with Tony. He taught me that it is okay, even necessary, to develop an individual relationship with the yoga practice. This leads me to a strange realization: that while my practice is completely my own and I am fully responsible for it, I owe it all to Tony and his teaching. Without his guidance toward individuality and self-reliance I might still be doing Bikram's class 6 days a week or looking to vinyasa classes or other traditions to cure my boredom or inspire my growth. Or I might have quit and moved on to CrossFit. Tony taught me that there is great depth in a yoga practice, as deep as we are willing to explore. But we must be willing to explore. We must take responsibility for our own growth and progress. From my teacher Tony Sanchez:
SUSTAINABILITY IN YOGA At the very beginning of my practice, in the year 1975 sustainability was the main message I got from my yoga teacher. After 39 years of regular practice I am free of injuries and loving yoga more than ever. Can you say the same thing about your personal yoga practice? As discussed in The Purpose of Yoga, Part 1, the goal of yoga is the transformation of our perception of ourselves and the world around us to see things as they truly are. Physical Postures/Asana is one of the steps on that path, often the first and generally considered to be the simplest.
How can we practice asana to aid our progress in that direction? What does asana offer that transforms and purifies our perceptions? Does physical health have anything to do with it? What about strength, flexibility and balance? What role does cardiovascular health play? What role does stress play? The most challenging element of Physical Practice is that it is easily clouded by the many peripheral benefits like strength, flexibility, weight loss, reduced stress, etc. These benefits are real and they are wonderful, but they are side-effects of the yoga practice. Or rather they are sign-posts that we will pass on our journey. If we make these the goal of our yoga practice - if we exercise to lose weight or reduce stress - we are missing the forest for the trees. We are losing track of the bigger picture to focus on one small element within. We will attain the benefit we seek, but we lose out on the much greater possibilities that are available in a yoga practice. We are like a child who uses the pages of a textbook to make paper airplanes. The paper airplanes might be wonderful, but there is so much more available if the child were to look a little deeper. In Asana practice we use the body as a tool of awareness, presence, control. We start externally, farthest from the mind, bringing the physical elements of the body under control and understanding. It is control and understanding in the broadest sense; control of the muscles, limbs and body, external elements. Motion, tightness, strength, balance, pain, will-power. We use the body to develop the mind, learn about the mind and our preconceptions through the lens of the body. STRENGTH We build strength simply through using the body, by challenging it. Strength is not necessarily a goal of the practice except that it allows proper usage and function of the body. If we have areas of extreme weakness, like in the lower back, our spines and intestines will suffer and deteriorate. Building functional strength is therefore valuable in promoting full-body health. FLEXIBILITY Flexibility is another product of asana practice. We challenge the body and our perception of it. You know that creepy, uncomfortable feeling you get when you stretch a tight area? That feeling is closer to the true yoga than the flexibility it creates. The discomfort of the mind and body facilitate change - our minds relax and focus, our bodies relax and "stretch". This promotes mind-body connection and gradually creates a change in perspective. We once thought of ourselves as "tight" or "inflexible" and so we were. Over time we grow to think of ourselves as "relaxed," "present" and "open" so we are. BALANCE Balance is the element of asana that is closest to the true goals of yoga practice. Because it is difficult to balance on one leg or upside down with a wandering mind, the practice of balance encourages mental stillness, complete presence of mind, and mind-body unity. It is very simple in concept but very powerful. Practicing balance is the most powerful thing we can do with our asana. STRESS Most physical practices reduce stress in the mind and body, and yoga is no exception. By putting the body under stress and learning to relax the mind and body, we become skillful at responding to challenging situations. We become mindful and present and it becomes hard to shake us or wind us up. HEALTH My teacher, Tony Sanchez, has said that yoga is all about creating health. If we practice the right postures we can improve our physical health: our digestion, metabolism, sleep, endocrine, circulatory and nervous systems. Asana can massage the internal organs and glands, enhancing blood flow and therefore promoting healing of our tissues. Improved health facilitates the ultimate goal of yoga by freeing the mind and body from concern with physical issues. It is hard to do more advanced yoga, like meditating, if our body is full of pain and our mind is restless. ENERGY In the grander scheme, asana puts us in touch with the greater forces that lie within us. We become aware of the energy that runs through us; we learn how to recognize it and focus it. We begin to control and quiet the mind which will lead us to the next area of yoga, Pranayama, which is a dedicated focus on recognizing, focusing and controlling the energy of the body and mind, usually using the breath as a tool. The Purpose of Yoga, Part 1: Introduction The Purpose of Yoga, Part 3: Energy Control/Pranayama Why do we practice yoga? Is it for strong abs? To be able to touch our toes? To stand on our hands? To get our heart rate up? To calm our minds? To lower stress? To know God?
Yogis practice for all of these reasons and many more. There are as many reasons as there are people on the planet. But what is the true purpose of yoga? It is a practice with many physical, mental, spiritual and emotional benefits. Which of these is yoga's true purpose and which are side-effects? Playing guitar will make your fingers tough and calloused, but few would claim that callouses are the purpose of guitar playing. Yoga is a complex endeavor. Traditionally it has between 6 and 10 diverse areas of focus, or limbs. These include Disciplines and Values, Physical Postures, Breath and Energy Control, Inward Focus of the Senses, Concentration and Meditation, Chanting and Ritual. Some yogis focus intently on one area, others dabble in all of them. I will explore each of these areas in some depth over the coming weeks, discussing how they aid and hinder us as we progress toward the true goal of yoga. It is simple in concept but unending in practice: to see things as they truly are. We see the world through a filter that is unique to each of us. Our perceptions are colored by our own experiences and the mental constructs that we have in place to explain the world and the people in it. This is why, if you ask 5 different people for their explanations of an event, you will get 5 different but equally plausible answers. We all see the world differently. The purpose of yoga is to purify our perception of the world. In the words of Pattabhi Jois it is the "purification of the sense organs." We change the way we see the world, how we interpret and interact with it. Step by step we notice and dissolve our individual prejudices and preconceptions, from the most obvious all the way down to the ones we don't yet know we have. As William Blake put it, "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern." With this in mind, let's explore the various practices of yoga, starting with the most common: Physical Postures (Asana). The Purpose of Yoga, Part 2: Physical Postures/Asana The Purpose of Yoga, Part 3: Energy Control/Pranayama Ida and I have decided to compete in January. It is two months away. We have never been "competitors," especially not in yoga, and it has taken some time to wrap our minds around the idea of mixing yoga and competition.
A lot of people say that competing is against the greater goals of yoga; that competing is about winning, looking good and conquering your adversaries while yoga is about self-exploration, compassion and unity of self and community. I suppose all of those things are true. I am not competing to win. I don't expect to win, and I have no intention of shifting all of my energy and focus toward physical perfection and presentation. If the past year has taught me anything it is that my own practice is different than everyone else's, and it is my responsibility to honor that uniqueness; to follow my own path. Already, though, the renewed attention on postural details - the locked knee in Standing Head to Knee, the teardrop shape in Bow, and trying to touch the head to the toes in Stretching - has revealed new depth and focus to my practice. I have heard other yoga competitors say that competition is not about winning but about doing your best. I am finding that to be true. Since physical, mental and spiritual progress take years, it is impossible to force your way into good postures. And since the actual competition only allows 3 minutes per contestant, it becomes simply a display of your current abilities. For better or worse. There is no time to "go deeply" into the postures, only enough time to come to a comfortable place and then move on. As I prepare mentally for the stress of performing 7 postures, I realize that I have no choice but to be where I am. I can practice and prepare, I can progress, but that is no different from any other day of practice. I am excited and empowered by the idea of getting up in front of a crowd of people and simply exhibiting my ability. I may fall, I may wobble, I may be tight, but that doesn't seem to be the point. The point is that I find the confidence to do it. |
This journal honors my ongoing experience with the practice, study and teaching of yoga.
My FavoritesPopular Posts1) Sridaiva Yoga: Good Intention But Imbalanced
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