Yoga From the Inside Out: Response 4

Being part of a group can also help to mirror back to us our greatness. If we are a part of a group that is committed to seeing what is possible in us rather than simply what might be showing up in our personality or body at the moment, then the group serves as a transformational function, not simply a social one (128)

I definitely relate to this idea of the group serving to motivate us to practice better yoga. When I am reading all the class blogs, I am motivated by other students practicing and improving on poses in their own time. In class, when another person finally gets a pose, like headstand or shoulder stand, I see that it is possible to get there at some point. Seeing other classmates’ progress is encouraging for me and proves that the process actually works. Another example is when I am in some pose, like downward dog, and Dr. Schultz says that my pose is coming along very well, I am motivated to keep working on it. 

I liked what Sell wrote about the word “Tantra” in thinking about a group dynamic,

Tantra can be defined as ‘looming together or a weaving together’ Tan- means ‘to stretch’ or ‘to expand,’ while tra- means ‘to integrate.’ This definition of tantra can be used as a metaphor for discussing spiritual community (133-134)

Threads weaving together to make a stronger and more beautiful piece of fabric. This reminded me of my high school cross country team. We each had a “stick” (it was actually a 1/2 inch wide wooden pole rod) that we would decorate and write our names on. We brought our stick to each practice to remember that all the sticks together are stronger than one stick alone. You could easily snap one stick in half, but with more than a few in your hand, they were difficult to break. We used this as a reminder that even though running was technically an “individual” sport, we still needed each other to become stronger and better runners. 

Even though yoga is technically an “individual” practice, it is hard to make much progress with out the help of others. That said, I am grateful for our class and the environment that we have created where we encourage each other and help one another get better at poses.

Yoga From the Inside Out: Response 3

“But there really is no shortcut in the work of acceptance. Acceptance means that we have made peace with a situation that we are ready to live with it as it is forever, as though it may never change. We may never lose weight, we may never balance in a headstand, we may never sit in lotus pose, our partner may never wash their dishes in a timely manner, our child may never get straight A’s” (98)

When I read this passage, I immediately thought of the practice of the Enneagram. If you are not familiar with the Enneagram, it is a model of personality types associated with numbers 1 through 9. Each number is a different personality with their own core motivating need. They have unique motivating desires and fears. While on the outside it seems a little arbitrary, it has incredible depth that has been studied for thousands of years. 

Why I thought of the Enneagram when reading this passage is that the ultimate spiritual goal of Enneagram study is acceptance. When you are first finding out about your number, you are learning about every other number as well. You begin to realize how different other people see the world. For an argumentative person like myself, I always found it annoying when one of my siblings would never take a side in a fight. Through the Enneagram, I realized that they are a Nine and their primary motivation was Peacekeeping. I learned to accept that their primary motivation is different than my primary motivation of finding what is true (in other words, being right). This Enneagram process taught me that I need to just accept people where they are, with no qualifications, no short cuts. This doesn’t mean accepting people’s bad behavior . It means accepting people’s limitations and not putting unnecessary expectations on them. This idea also applies to your own self and your number as well. As a Four, I have learned to accept that I will always wear my emotions on my sleeve and I will always be painfully empathetic. Instead of trying to deny that, I have learned to use those attributes as sources of creativity and meaningful relationships. 

This method of acceptance is found in yoga as well, or at least Sell’s idea of yoga. To progress in yoga, you need to accept where you are. Instead of trying to stretch beyond your limits to imitate how a pose is supposed to look, you need to recognize what your body can do. And if that means all leg extension poses will look like a newly born baby giraffe (like mine do), then you need to accept your hamstrings are tight but eventually they will loosen up with careful practice. Also, I think it is more rewarding to see how you have progressed after a few practices, then to do it “right” on the first try. 

Asana Practice Week Thirteen

I am really enjoying the fact that we are getting to the point in class where we know have enough yoga knowledge to suggest poses we like. It’s a new level of the class where I have to actually to try to remember the names of poses so I can recall them in practice. More importantly, I want to remember them so I can say them in front of my friends and pretend to be a Yoga/Hindu scholar. Suggesting poses in class also makes me think about which poses I would like to try everyday and focus on improving (so far they are Baddha Hastasana and Vasistasana). 

I am glad that we have also been practicing how to order a set of poses because it is so intimidating to try to do yoga on your own! I usually just do a few isolated poses that I really like, or more often, remember from class. It is a big step to move from that to creating a cohesive set! Thankfully, I wrote down the order of our first “custom” session so I will probably stick to that until I get better at creating “custom” sets on my own. In the meantime, I will be encouraged by the progress of Baddha Hastasana and Vasistasana. 

Yoga From the Inside Out: Response 2

Also it is important to learn how to work on our bodies to continue to create opening. Not just to say, ‘Oh my body doesn’t like to do that I am not even going to go there.’ But to work in a way that you continue to grow. (Sell 43)

I like the words ‘create opening’ because I think it has two meanings. On the one hand, you are creating a physical opening of your muscles, joints, bones, etc. by trying the pose, no matter how terrible you are at it initially. Each centimeter you put into the practice, creates some sort of new opening.

On this path, no effort is wasted (Bhagavad Gita)

I also think of this opening as mental, and the opening of a new journey in your life. It’s effective to think of yoga this way as an opening of a door to a new journey, not the destination itself.

I relate this to research I am doing on the Jesus Prayer right now. The prayer is,

Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner

It is a deceivingly simple prayer yet it is the cornerstone of Eastern Orthodox monastic thought. Just like you can practice a pose “wrong” when you are first beginning yoga, you can say the prayer without really knowing its true depth and significance. The Jesus Prayer creates an opening to deep prayer of the heart and communion with God. It is often said that the entire gospel is found in the Jesus Prayer. I won’t bore you with the details but essentially, both the fall and redemption are found in this prayer. This is similar to when Sell discussed how all the Universal energies were found in the body,

Through the body we are connecting and seeing that the Universal can be in this little individual package (Sell 41)

When you start practicing the Jesus Prayer, you are just saying the few words. They are located just on your lips. As you practice more, the words move from your lips to your mind, where you begin to contemplate what each word means. Finally, after years of practice, the words move from your mind to your heart where you commune with God when you understand what these words really mean. This is where the command from Paul to “pray ceaselessly” (1 Thess. 5:17) is brought to life. Once the prayer enters your heart, you will constantly be focused on God, and will stand in prayer with Him without ceasing, in waking or sleep. 

Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind (Sutra 1.2) 

Using the asanas we align the mind, the body and the spirit in the present moment, becoming more aware of what we find inside ourselves right now (Sell 61)

In the same way, Yoga focuses and aligns your mind and body so you can connect with the “winds” of the Universe inside of you. The more you practice yoga, the more aligned you are and the more you are in communion with yourself.

Yoga From the Inside Out: Response 1

The practice is a journey through which we confront our fears and our conditioning, and receive the opportunity to glimpse the greatness of our true nature (Sell xviii)

Yoga is the cessation of movements. Then the seer abides in his own true splendor. (Sutras 1.2-1.3)

I think some people’s true splendor must look like curves on their body that embrace every inch of you in their hug or it must look like sturdiness in thick thighs. I also think some people’s true splendor is manifested in lean bodies who are agile and move lightly. 

I found my true splendor in college, sophomore year, when I decided to stop chemically relaxing my hair. I have always had vibrantly curly hair but when I entered middle school, it turned from soft, delicate curls to dreaded fullness that was no longer cute but intimidating and painfully noticeable. I began going to salons every six months to have my hair chemically reformed to transform my hair from ‘curly’ to ‘wavy’. Because ‘wavy’ is cute. Curly is scary. I maneuvered through middle school and high school with a full head of ‘wavy’ hair, often straightening it to blend in with high school hallway crowds even more.

But the thing is, even when my hair was ‘wavy’, it was still dynamically noticeable. The thick fullness of my hair still seeped out awkwardly through the limp waves. 

On the contrary, [my teacher] is suggesting a natural relationship to the body and to food--a relationship in resonance with the Divine. In such a natural mood the addictions and tensions around food and body image can begin to relax (Sell 28)

The natural relationship to my body and to my hair was through the full embrace of its curliness. It’s hard to explain to people whose hair never owned them how liberated I felt when I went home on Christmas break and for the first time I did not schedule an appointment at the hair salon. Even more so, when after a year, I had completely grown out every inch of processed hair. I was truly abiding in my own splendor. 

What I celebrate most about my body is that it is a temple for my soul. It is this beautiful house that I tend to, but try not to possess or be too attached to. I love that it stores and releases the most amazing currents of energy. I like how joyous it becomes (Sell 31)

After embracing the natural swirl of my hair, I am also learning detachment from its unpredictable ways. It changes with the weather and in Texas, that means it looks different every hour. I cannot be too concerned with controlling it anymore. I embrace its fullness and let its vibrancy also lift my mood.

I wish people would think about their bodies the way I have learned to think about my hair. Feel the joy in every extra bounce of a round booty, or the strength of sculpted calves as you walk up all six floors of Collins. As Dr. Schultz likes to say, God gave you that pose. And God gave you your bodies. And my crazy, unexplainable hair. 

Asana Practice Week Twelve

Recently, one of my friends from church decided to open up a Montessori Pre-K school in Woodway and bought a gutted building to house it in. The building had nothing but the frame and thus needed a lot of renovation to make it ready for school in January. As the deadline approaches, the work gets a little more stressful: on the emotions and the body! 

Today was one of those more difficult days when we spent the morning on our knees, scraping and smoothing the cement floor to prepare for installation of wood floors. I was really feeling the cramping coming on in my hands and back after just a half hour. Luckily, I have recently acquired a yoga toolbox thanks to this class and remembered to pull a few tools out to help me. 

I started doing hand stretches every few minutes. First, I did the stretch where you hook your thumbs together and stretch your arms outward. Then, I would do the pose where you stick your arm out, with fingers pointing upward and you use the other hand to pull your fingers backward. I eventually incorporated a few twists while I was sitting down.

After a little while, everyone took a water break and they seemed sore, so I asked my friend if she wanted to stretch out with some yoga poses. She did! We executed standing, sitting, twisting, and shoulder-opening poses. It was so fun! I really felt a lot better after a few minutes. 

After a solid four hours, I came to the realization that I am not cut out for construction. Other than that, I also thought about how cool it would be if construction workers, plumbers, etc., had some knowledge of yoga and could prevent the inevitable injuries that come when you put that much stress on your body. It would be quite entertaining to see all those workers outside East Village doing a few rounds of sunrise yoga before starting work but who knows, it might be really helpful! 

Reading Response Week Twelve

That which seems like poison at first but tastes like nectar in the end -- this is the joy of sattva, born of a mind at peace with itself. (18.37)

This quote reminded me of those Sour Patch commercials where the mascot does something bad, then something sweet because “Sour Patch Kids are sour first, then they are sweet”. But even beyond making me crave the candy, I really appreciate the sentiment. I especially liked the end part of the quote, that explained why someone could endure something that tasted like poison at first before becoming sweet. Someone with the mind “at peace with itself” can endure that bitter process. As someone who has been involved in athletics all my life, I am definitely of the mindset that athletic achievement is 90% mental. Most pain is mental and your ability to overcome it is largely a reflection of your state of mind. I like this idea of happiness, the “no pressure, no diamonds” approach. It makes the good parts of life much sweeter. Although, if I was going to be honest, in my college years, I have been more of this mindset,

Those who are tamasic draw their pleasures from sleep and indolence (18.39)

Right now I am pretty sure I draw most of my pleasure from sleep and laying in my bed eating peanut butter m&ms. But ideally, I’d like to be more sattvatic in my fitness and general life. 

In addition to athletics, I think this idea can apply to difficulties of everyday life. If you can have peace of mind, whether through faith or other means, you are preparing yourself to go through the “bitter” parts of life that although challenging, will shape you in a positive way. It is encouraging to believe that if I cultivate a true peace of mind now, I can survive the inevitable difficult days ahead of me. It brings a sense of control to the unpredictable future. 

Asana Practice Week Eleven

Advice for all those students planning on sleeping for 14 hours straight: make sure you pick a position that will be the least painful to wake up in. 

I learned this lesson the hard way this morning after I woke up from a post-Homecoming slumber. In my first sleep in 48 hours, I slept on my stomach, with one leg hiked up to side, and both arms over my head. Although it was extremely comfortable when I first fell asleep, after 14 hours, my body was parts asleep, parts tangled, and many parts in pain. In addition to that, I was extremely sore from sitting on my knees all friday night for face painting, biking in the parade on saturday morning and standing during the football game. I was miserable. 

But then I decided to do some yoga to untangle myself. I did some downward dog, some twists, and plenty of chest and shoulder openers. I felt so much better. I will definitely need an ice bath later but I am so thankful to have yoga to help me on these mornings! 

Speaking of shoulder openers, I have been doing the bound-elbows-behind-the-back pose throughout every day recently. It is my new favorite pose! For someone like me who has terrible posture and is always slouching over, this pose brings me relief in so many ways. First, I have really tight shoulders and this pose relieves the tension around that area and through my neck. Second, this pose also brings relief to my back because it forces me to straighten up. For this reason, I have been doing the pose at work where I sit at the front desk for hours at a time. It has been a lifesaver!