Yin-Yang-Yoga

Category: Yoga

  • Stubborn Child’s Pose

    It is a very common experience in a vinyasa yoga class to be told that Child’s Pose (Balasana) is a resting pose, and to utilize it whenever we need a break or a rest.

    The posture fulfills that purpose nicely as it is a tri-doshic posture and therefore energetically neutral and balanced.

    However, in my own experience, Child’s Pose is an excellent place to build strength and energy in the hands and arms, as well as prep the shoulders, hips, and core for postures like Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chathur-Anga Dandasana) and Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho-Mukha Svanasana).

    All of those benefits of the posture, of course, largely vanish if the posture is treated as a resting posture.

    It’s not so much a matter of a resting posture being “wrong” but rather a matter of being willing to ask: what if I treat this as something other than a resting posture?

    A dear teacher I’ve known would often remind us to “activate the posture” and this is precisely the premise I am interested in here. To activate the body, dynamically and definitively, while in Child’s Pose creates a much different experience than we get when we are using the posture as a place to rest.

    If the Mind is uncomfortable with the idea of Child’s Pose being anything other than your “homebase” when you need to rest during a vigorous practice, then give yourself the chance to explore a “Stubborn Child’s Pose” once in a while so you can take full advantage of what the posture has to offer besides being just a place to rest.

  • S**T.

    Surely everybody knows the phenomenon: you go to the bathroom and the result doesn’t match the expectation. You might think you’re going to evict days worth of food and get rabbit pellets. You might plop down expecting nothing to happen at all and require the courtesy flush! That’s life, eh?

    Practice sometimes feels the same way.

    Oftentimes when it seems like our efforts won’t be fruitful is when we get the wildest results, or have the most incredible experiences.

    If ever there were a meaningful case for DailyPractice, surely this is it.

    There are no guarantees that we will have epiphanies or transcendent highs, but if we don’t attend to Practice we are assured to not have such moments.

    The Gretzky-classic goes, “You miss one-hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.”

    Even when it seems irrelevant or unimportant, Practice.

    There aren’t substitutes or shortcuts. You just do the work.

    Sometimes it will feel wonderful and amazing.

    Sometimes it will feel procedural or difficult.

    But Practice is not about how it feels in that moment. It’s about tending to the moment, no doubt, but Practice is largely just for Practice’s sake. You do it because you can.

    Because you want to.

    Because you have to.

    Because what you develop through Practice pays off when it’s time for “performance”, so to speak.

    You don’t have to like Practice to get results. But you will have to do it.

    Shit.

  • 🕉

    Om was The Word/

    That still Occurs/
    PeacePeacePeace…

  • “Chathuranga,” Chips and Salsa…

    Chathuranga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Stick Pose?!)- a staple of American Yoga.

    In vinyasa classes all across the country, countless iterations of “high to low plank” are unfolding. In general, this is probably great news. However, there are surely some statistics to demonstrate at least some kind of measurable effect from all of these repetitions.

    According to the ____, and certainly by my accounts as well, all this “Chathuranga” business is causing some injuries among the growing number of Americans attending yoga classes. Repetitive movements and stress on troublesome joints seem to be the most common culprits cited by the ____ percent of people who report having been injured as a result of their yoga practice.

    While some people (high Pitta, anyone!?) truly thrive on the ecstatic and empowering action of holding (as well as flowing to, or through,) Chathuranga Dandasana, many Bodies simply don’t need that type of work. Indeed for those among the statistic, it has ultimately proven harmful.

    Sometimes we allow the will of the Sangha to string us along. There are certainly instances when it helps to utilize that group energy to inspire and motivate our practice, but it’s useful to remember that Practice is about opportunity rather than obligation.

    The “Chathuranga” flow in vinyasa class reminds me of the bottomless baskets of chips and salsa you sometimes get at a Mexican restaurant. You can eat to your Heart’s content, yet still more and more will keep coming. If you have a delicious entree in the kitchen though, you might not want to fill up on just chips and salsa.

    I often find that during power-flow classes, even something basic such as a Corepower C1 class, I will politely decline some of the early refill offers on my chip-basket.

    As I’m eating the main course, however, I will delightedly dip several chips at once and savor the crunch and the spice (if the salsa is sufficiently bold, that is!).

    The unlimited-chips offer isn’t going to be rescinded if we don’t eat enough chips.

    It isn’t a limited-time offer.

    Chathuranga Dandasana isn’t going to vanish from Reality just because we decide to not play it on a loop.

    Even if we’ve been modifying to the most gentle variation we can find, it’s fine to let a “Chathuranga” pass by; it might even feel sublime and divine.

    If only once-in-a-while, enjoy the act of not-pushing, of not-racing.

    When you partake of the Chathuranga Dandasana, be fully present and committed to it. If we’re careless with alignment and technique, it’s just as well to lay off.

    Chathuranga on purpose, with Intention.

    Or skip it, with that same purpose and Intention.

    It comes back to the familiar refrain we’ve all heard, and many of us have said- “listen to your Body.”

    When the Body is not craving chips, don’t eat chips. If the crunch of those tasty triangles is calling, then eat ’em all up!

  • Same-Cycle Circles, and The Common Ground of Yoga and Tai Chi

  • Meditation

    In meeting with several teachers and associates today, the topic of Meditation came up.

    Recently, Meditation has also been mentioned more often on SocialMedia and in other arenas of dialogue. Of course, this includes the voice of non-meditators, some of whom feel a sense of peer-pressure (if not the pressure of pure smugness and superiority) from the pro-Meditation crowd.

    Today’s conversations helped me appreciate the diverse possible approaches to Meditation. Certain systems of Meditation exist with specific instructions and time-tested methods. Some traditions and lineages of Yoga are examples of this, though Modernity has also spurred a large blurring of lines and borders between different traditions.

    In any case, if we were to avoid asking the adherents or advocates of a particular system or brand of Meditation, we would find that Meditation itself can be practiced and applied (or at the very least, conceived of) in many ways.

    There are Buddhist perspectives that suggest manual labor to be among the best of Meditations.

    Many Yoga classes invite us to use Savasana as a Meditation.

    TaiChi CHuan is often marketed as a “moving meditation”.

    These are all active attempts or efforts at Meditation;

    what of the inadvertent or unassuming Meditations?

    Riding a bicycle down a smooth road on a sunny day. Fishing a lazy stream in the late afternoon. Lounging, legs-up, on the sofa as gentle breezes whisper in the branches outside the window.

    Meditation might be more properly thought of as an Experience.

    Any Experience during which we are wholly (or transcendentally, to look at it from the other side of the coin) engaged, fully attuned, whether by way of keen mental-acuity, or that broader body-based proprioceptive perspective, being truly In-The-Moment is the bottom-line of Meditation.

    Surely an exception to the Rule might exist, but I believe Everybody pursues Meditation, whether they realize it or not.

    A Runner’s High. The first bite of a sumptuous meal. A job well-done.

    Meditation, in it’s truest form, is something that happens without our recognition more often than not.

    See if you can catch yourself meditating from time to time. The people who claim to not want anything to do with Meditation might find that they already DO meditate, and perhaps more often than many people who have bumper-stickers declaring their Practice.

    Meditation as a Practice in and of itself is certainly not Everybody’s cup of tea.

    Meditation as a general category of States-of-Being, however, is something inherent to the Human condition. It is simply a part of our Natural Experience.

  • Nurture Your Nature

    This is the principle I strive to convey in the class setting. 

    The Listening skill, being able to understand the Language of the Body, is the only way we can stay up to date with what we need in our Practice.

    The changing factors of our World impact us all in different ways. A hot summer day is the right time to play; fun in the sun, for some of us. Some of us find that a hot day is an indoor-holiday, or sends us looking for shade!

    The literal fact of the “Matter” of each individual Body suggests certain responses to various stimuli.

    Heat can feel refreshing and energizing to some, and oppressive and exhausting to others. 

    Likewise, it is, with the many manifestations of Asana Yoga. Let each session on the mat reflect what your Body is needing in that moment. 

    Cherry-pick the nine postures you truly need and use them to the fullest. Take Time to hone and stregnthen your Nature, but be sure to grow with Balance and Grace. 

    Take the Time to reveal your limits to yourself. Know where the line is without attatchment to the implications of what that means. It means nothing until you give it meaning. 

    If a pose happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. This instance has no bearing on tomorrow’s attempt until you define that influence. 

    Try it once more quick just in case, then try again tomorrow. Modify the pose and take a stepping-stone toward the pose if you want to make it happen.

    Or let go of the notion and work on what you do want to make happen. 

    Choice is there.

    Knowing your Doshas can help support your efforts on the mat. Knowing your unique constitution, or Prakrti, brings valuable depth to your Practice.

  • What Happens Off The Mat?

    Some of us were discussing a number of these ideas today. Taking our Practice “off the mat” is not mere lip-service. It is, indeed, the proper aim of any work that happens on the mat. When we encounter Stress, or difficult People or Situations, it is important to remember that these are all opportunities to test our Practice.

  • On Progress

    Embarking on a TaiChi or Yoga journey often seems like stepping onto a linear path, but in my own experience this has proven to not be the case.

    Something about the Western Mind, in particular, insists on this sense of linear progression.

    Always forward, upward, onward…

    Lately, it has occurred to me that the more Time I spend on the Journey, the less linear it becomes. To speak in linear terms, there is a lot of backward, downward, sideways, and cyclical.

    We tend to like Asana practice and Forms practice because they give us the tangible and concrete sense of improvement, achievement, and progress that makes sense to the Mind.

    Although growth in these aspects has plenty of value, it is simply incomplete, if we are truly engaging with Yoga or TaiChi. We might accomplish a great amount, but it isn’t whole.

    If our Practice were about Color, progressing in Asana or Forms would be like trying to get really good at Red; we could be the Reddest Red around, but we have been offered an entire rainbow!

    This is not to suggest that practicing only the physical aspects of Yoga or TaiChi is bad. Progress in these areas is absolutely valid and measurable, which is precisely why it is, in fact, good. To leave Asana or Forms training out of the picture would be equally problematic.

    But it’s easy to get lost in that linear-mindset. Our Type-A neuroses, our pathological Desire can easily creep in and undermine the Internal work which occurs often just outside of our field of awareness.

    It has been my impression lately that the expansion of that awareness is a more useful measure of progress. The longer we keep at it, and the deeper our Practice becomes, the more we realize how much mountain there actually is to climb and how deep the Rabbit-Hole really goes.

    Our perspective begins to take in more and more of the picture, and we zoom out rather than zoom in. It’s not about climbing the mountain at all. Just look at it!

    Linear progress suggests that we get to leave behind, or graduate from what we’ve learned. Progress in Practice is expansive. We don’t leave anything behind. We assimilate the old and the new simultaneously, perpetually, and wholly, and they always inform each other.

    We come to know the “basics” in an intimate manner as we are able to apply them across a broader and ever-broadening spectrum. Progress spreads outward, and we can grow in our Practice because we are always still embracing step-one.

    Find the Center, keep the Center. The TrueSelf resides there!

  • If You’re Bored, You’re Boring

    One of the best things about both Tai Chi and Yoga is that no matter how long you Practice, no matter how skillful you are with the postures or movements or principles, you never truly outgrow the Basics.

    This is precisely what attracted me to these disciplines.

    There is no Finish Line.

    My Tai Chi practice as of late has been simplified to just the first few moves of the Sun 41 set. The more attention we pay to the Internal aspects, the less need we find for dozens of postures.

    This is not a knock on things like Sirsasana (Headstand) or lightly flowing through a Tai Chi set.

    The same attention to detail, the mindfulness and Presence, can be exercised in these ways too. It’s just that our achievement-oriented Minds often believe that progress is only measured by accomplishing a more difficult posture or learning the next sequence of forms.

    I am fond of suggesting that if you’re bored, then you’re boring.

    If you’ve run out of things to discover in Tadasana or the commencement form in Tai Chi, then you’ve probably actually stopped paying enough attention.

    I’m not sure if it’s Restlessness or Entitlement-Culture, but many of us, myself included, are so busy striving and believing that we are ready for The Next Big Thing that we miss the Beauty of more simple achievements.