The Language Of Yoga – Not!

Here is an extract from an excellent article by an ex card carrying member of the Ashtanga cult, Lauren Cahn. For those who have not ventured into the often competitive world of Ashtanga Yoga it is a revealing read. Lauren’s take on all 5 words that do not belong in yoga are right on, below are the two I think are applicable to all yoga asana practice.

Ashtanga yoga (a type of traditional Indian yoga that is based on the linking of breath with movement) is notorious for its rules. From which days on which to practice which poses, to not daring to show up in the yoga room while menstruating, to when you should exhale and when you should inhale, to how many breaths should be taken in each pose, to what to eat and when to eat and exactly how many bites to have, to when and under what circumstances sex is appropriate (something about not having sex when one of the nostrils is clogged, but I can never remember which one), the rules are so numerous that countless books with hundreds of pages apiece are devoted to them. And endless discussion by Ashtanga practitioners. Endless, circular, sometimes angry discussion.

This linear approach to yoga teaching can be appealing to those who have a tendency to enjoy a little competition, whether with themselves or with others. This is odd, considering that yoga is essentially the practice of "stilling the mind", which would seem to subsume such distractions as thoughts of "when will I get the next pose" and "what can I do to get my teacher to love me enough to give me the next pose" and "why does my teacher give poses to so-and-so, but not to me?" and "I think my teacher hates me/I think I hate my teacher."

One of the potential effects of the "rules" of Ashtanga is a need to detail one’s adherence to the rules in the form of blogging. Indeed, this is how my own blog, Yoga Chickie, was born. If you go back to the early days of Yoga Chickie, you will see many references to the Five Words That (I now believe) Do Not Belong In Yoga Practice. I was a card carrying member of the Ashtanga cult, after all. Now, since I’ve managed to extricate myself and find some balance in what was always, essentially, my workout routine (that’s right, for me, the "ugly" truth is that the yoga has always been, first and foremost, a workout for me), I feel kind of embarrassed about that. Nevertheless, I feel the need to confess. So here goes, the Five Words That Do Not Belong In a Yoga Practice (but which I admit, I used all the time in the past):

3. Bad.
In conversations amongst Ashtangis, you will often hear the word "bad", as in "bad lady" (a phrase coined by the beloved Ashtanga guru grandaddy, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in jest) or I am "bad" at hip opening. I am "bad" at backbends. Look, I can’t stand bogus yoga blather like, "there’s no such thing as doing it ‘badly’", but really, it’s true (it just needn’t be said in the middle of a yoga flow). How can anything about practicing yoga be bad, except not practicing? (or being cranked?)

5. Pain.
Ashtangis often talk of pain like it’s a good thing: "If it hurts, you’re doing it right" or "Something snapped, but I think it was a good pain". Some use the word "opening" instead of "pain", as in, "I felt a real opening in my hamstring."
Sorry, but there is no good pain. All pain is a warning from your body. Pain contains no magic. It does not mean you are doing it right. It means you need to stop what you are doing. Pain is not an opening. It means something is being torn or broken. Pain has no place in a yoga practice.
Yoga should be an uplifting experience. It should provide a vacation from the thoughts. If it causes one to conjure up new ways to beat oneself up, then, well that’s criminal.

You can read the whole article on the Huffington Post

 

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Children Benefit From Yoga Practice

When Alayna Kurek panicked one day about forgotten homework, the 9-year-old stunned her school counselor by using a yoga breathing technique to calm down.

That stress-relief method is a reason Sherri Kurek says she takes her two children, Alayna and Olivia, 7, to classes for kids at the Yoga Studio of Shelby.

“It’s the one thing they stick with,” says Kurek, an in-home transcriptionist from Shelby Township, Mich.

Alayna gets exercise, going from downward-facing dog position to cobra to frog. And her improved confidence shows when she teaches her classmates how to pretzel up, Kurek says.

Karen Lutz, who teaches child yoga classes at Providence Hospital in Novi, Mich., says, “A 4-year-old — they have a short attention span. They really don’t care where their feet are.” But as younger yogis mature, she says, “They want to know, ‘Where do my feet go?”’

University of Michigan pediatrician Dolores Mendelow says yoga, if done properly, is a suitable alternative to tumbling and team sports for getting stressed-out, sedentary children socializing, exercising and building discipline.

“It requires practice, patience and accepting of self-limitations,” she says.

Read the complete article here….

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I Don’t Want To Do Yoga

Let’s admit it, there are days when we all say I don’t want to do yoga today. It would take much time to go into all the reasons why we might feel this way, instead I want to look at what we do.

Obviously I can only really speak for myself, so I will tell you what I do.

Sometimes I just don’t do any yoga practice. I’m finding that I’m much more relaxed and easy going as I get older. I also find it helpful to break the habit of my morning asana practice, just like breaking any habit. It is interesting to notice how my body feels without the benefit of my practice in the morning. So this option kind of works both ways.

Sometimes I do a practice that is even more yin than usual. The way I practice asana  is pretty slow and contemplative  anyway, but there are days when going even slower and deeper feels like the right thing. For me practising asana very easily becomes meditation and I tend to just go with it.

The push through it and work even harder option, as you may have guessed by now isn’t one that I often take any more.

At least once every week or two I like to use my Earthlite back roller. It’s amazing how quick the time passes when you start slowly working it up the sides of your spine. Because it is underneath you and the pressure is created by your own body weight you can work into those old knotty areas with great precision and control. The feeling when you finish is really quite amazing, and there have been many times I have felt so grateful that I owned this fabulous tool. Back in the days when I used to travel all the time I really wish I’d had a mini back roller which are perfect for throwing in your bag when you travel.

Let me know what you do when you don’t want to do your yog a practice.

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The Paths Of Yoga Explained

Primarily there are four paths of Yoga, they are: Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Karma Yoga. We will look at each yogic path in turn.

Jnana Yoga – The path of wisdom.
The word ‘Jnana’  is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Jna to know, meaning knowledge. Like all paths of yoga its purpose is to reveal the absolute nature of the practitioner.  it is based on the monotheistic principles of the Advaita, or non dual system of Spiritual philosophy. At the core of this teaching is the subject and object are expressions of the one absolute truth. Or in other words there is only One consciousness which manifests as the vast multitude of forms.

Firstly the student studies the teachings of Advaita (or other non-dual tradition), ideally from a Sat Guru, who is their living embodiment, or from the Scriptures.  This aspect is called sravanam, meaning listening. Secondly, the student contemplates upon the teaching. This is called manamam meaning reflection or contemplation. Finally through meditation on the absolute truth the student comes to its direct experience and ultimately knows themselves as that absolute truth. This is called nididhyasana, meaning meditation.

The path of Jnana Yoga is then one of using the intellect of mind, contemplation and self enquiry to attain direct experience of the true nature of the one consciousness, from which all manifestation arises.

Obviously this path appeals to the more intellectual type, and its trap is the mind remaining bound in intellectual  knowledge without direct experience. Knowing something because you’ve read in a book over and over again, is entirely different from directly experiencing the truth of it. Yet we live our lives defining ourselves by such beliefs. Contemporary non-dual teacher Adyshanti said “absolute certainty is delusion.”

It is for this reason that having a teacher who is established in the truth of the teaching is it so important. In the presence of such a teacher there is a subtle energetic transmission of the truth of the teachings. It is in the energy of this transmission that the teachings become alive and vibrant in the students resonating with that truth as yet unrealized within them, calling it forth into conscious awareness.

Bhakti Yoga – The  path of devotion.
Bhakti Yoga  is in some ways the other polarity to Jnana Yoga. The Bhakti yogi is all about love devotion and worship. From a philosophical point of view Bhakti yoga is dualistic, meaning worshipper and worshipped are seen as different. Of course the full realization of Bhakti yoga is the union of  the lover and their beloved as one.

The great Sufi poets Rumi  and Hafiz are wonderful examples of bhakti yogis. Bhakti yogis can be found in every religious and spiritual tradition.

Ideally through unwavering devotion the bhakti yogi comes to see God everywhere in everyone and everything. Life itself becomes the act of devotion and the individual will is surrendered to the will of the divine.  It is through this depth of surrender that the limiting consciousness of the egoic mind is dissolved and only the beloved remains.

Bhakti yoga is easily exploited by gurus who are not completely and entirely established in the true nature. Because of the deep emotional and energetic intimacy of the path of Bhakti, it is probably more important than any other path to have a Sat Guru, on who is entirely and completely established in the Absolute. Of course it is not necessary to have a guru to be a bhakti yogi.

Another potential distortion on the Bhakti path if the development of sectarianism, bigotry and fanaticism.  in such instances the chosen form of devotion is seen as superior to other forms, the consequences of which are all too apparent in our world.

Raja Yoga – Control of Mind and Body.
Raja means king, so Raja yoga is often called the “Royal Road”. Raja yoga Claims that whoever has gained mastery over his mind and body can become free from them. Raja yoga  is another name for Ashtanga yoga or Patanjalis  eight limbs of yoga.  I have written about each of the eight limbs  individually here Yamas, Niyamas, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyhara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

Karma Yoga The Path of Service.
Karma yoga, also called Seva  is the path of  selfless service,  the path of action. If we were to summarize the meaning of karma yoga it is to perform all action without any expectation of attachment to the results. When combined with Bhakti yoga, all actions are done in the service of God, as devotion.

In essence all the paths of yoga are a means of purification, removing the causes of the illusion of separation. The nature of the egoic mind is selfishness, the Karma yogi strives to perform each action in thought word and deed from a consciousness that isn’t not self oriented. It is a path well-suited to those would like to  be active and of service.

Obviously there is more to karma yoga than just the actions undertaken. Karma yoga requires the development of self-awareness, from which to recognize and surrender the increasingly subtle tendencies of the egoic minds tendencies to gratification and attachment to the actions and their outcomes.

Karma yoga in many ways seems to be the simplest and easiest of the four, but this is far from true. Karma yoga dissolves the egoic mind by giving it absolutely nothing to feed on. Its very nature is to feed on everything that we do think, feel, hear, see, smell, taste, in fact everything we experience. So Karma yoga  requires commitment and dedication within the very mundane nature of life. There are no grand philosophical treaties to espouse, there are no techniques or spiritual technologies to master.  There is in short nothing glamorous about it.  It is not a path for the fainthearted as can be testified by anyone who has tried to keep up with Amma or when she was alive Mother Theresa.

Of Course it is ideal to blend appropriate elements from each of the yoga paths as befits our tendencies and personality.

Other writtings on the paths of yoga can be found below

 

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Krishna Das & Sting Get Devotional

Time for some Bhakti Yoga, not my natural inclination, but like Amma says Jnana without devotion is like chewing rocks and she also said something about Bhakti without Jnana but I don’t remember what it was. So with no further adoo I give you the daddy of American kirtan Mr Krishna Das and some English ex copper called Sting, giving Krishna some love.

 

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The Power Of Yoga—for Kids

Yoga is becoming a powerful tool in our goal to raise calm, well-balanced, and socially aware children. Most people are already sold on the physiological benefits of yoga—improvements in posture, flexibility, strength, and endurance. But it’s yoga’s often overlooked cognitive/social/psychological benefits that read like a parent’s or schoolteacher’s dream. Kids who practice yoga on a regular basis show improvements in:

    * memory
    * concentration
    * learning ability
    * mood
    * social skills
    * self-acceptance

Today’s kids are bombarded by a neverending array of stimulus every day—from 500 channels on TV to text message overload. Add to this the controversial three hours of homework most kids receive each night, and it’s no wonder yoga classes for kids are finding their way into schools, gyms, and community centers across America. Adults, mostly yoga devotees themselves, are recognizing kids’ need for calm. Laura Whitesides, a kids yoga teacher in Redondo Beach, California schools describes it like this:  “Kids have so much energy, both naturally and from their outside world.  Yoga gives them the opportunity to take a break and focus that energy inward.” 

Read the complete article here….

  

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Yoga For Runners & Athletes

Many runners and athletes reject yoga as a beneficial part of their training even though runners are notorious for their lack of flexibility. Their argument is that static flexibility doesn’t translate into better performance and static strength building is of no benefit. The increasing evidence is this view is just plain wrong. All yoga asana practice involves some degree of movement, creating dynamic flexibility and greater elasticity in the muscles.

This is increasingly so with more dynamic styles of yoga like ashtanga and vinyasa, which can also feel like a workout. This can be psychologically important to many results-driven runners and athletes.

The really big benefit of yoga to runners and athletes is it’s strengthening of the small stabilizer muscles, which coupled with greater flexibility greatly reduces injury. Couple this with better balance and mental focus, in addition to all the health benefits of yoga and it’s relly a no brainer.

Imagine then if a yoga teacher who has taught yoga to thousands of students. (Including the Canadian National Snowboard Team, & Olympic Champion runners) designed a home study program that will

    *  Strengthen and tone every major muscle in your body.
    * Build your core strength.
    * Dramatically increase your flexibility, head to toe.
    * Improve your balance and posture.
    * Burn fat.
    * Give your cardiovascular system a healthy workout.
    * Improve your mental focus.
    * And literally melt away stress.

Here it is honed and refined to 30 minutes a day runners yoga everyone can find 30 minutes a day! So give it a try.

 

Here you will find a slide show  of recommended poses for runners

  

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Has Yoga Become Fitness Masquerading As Spirituality?

Yoga instructor and social scientist Tom Pilarzyk argues in his recently-released yoga book "Yoga Beyond Fitness", that yoga in the Developed world today is an strange blend of ancient spiritual path from India and American commercialism, begging the question, has yoga become fitness masquerading as spirituality?

An estimated 16 million Americans practice Yoga and spend roughly 6 billion dollars annually on classes, workshops, products, and services. On the one hand, yoga’s widespread popularity means that more people are being exposed to the benefits it offers. And yet, yoga has expanded over the decades to become a full-fledged industry of the contemporary marketplace, with producers, sellers, and consumers outnumbering the spiritual teachers, healers, and devoted adepts.

Its double-edged development as a popular fitness workout and a path of spiritual liberation poses a unique dilemma for those sensitive to yoga’s ancient roots. "As it morphs into physicality, fun and foolishness attracting more secular and fitness-driven consumers," says Pilarzyk, "industry leaders argue that more people now have a chance to explore its spirituality. But what is the inclusive spirituality inherent in the path and can yoga students ‘get it’ if more and more teachers only teach hatha yoga poses?" He wants to provide a resource for those just discovering Yoga and those who have practiced for a while and feel that there is a deeper meaning readily accessible but not directly evident.

Pilarzyk argues for restoration of yoga’s transformative heart by showing how to bring greater attention to its more serious practice, both on and off the mat. His recent publication, he says, "is both a sober wakeup call about how Yoga is being transformed and a hopeful, heartfelt tribute to its highest aspirations." Or as a December 2008 review of his work in Yoga Chicago Magazine concludes, "Ultimately, Pilarzyk’s book is both a love letter to yoga and a plea to yoga’s leaders."

He received his doctorate in the social sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has written on Eastern religions and yoga as well as on educational management, and has practiced daily yoga and meditation for over 20 years. Currently a college administrator, he has been a staff director for a national medical society as well as a market researcher which together shape his unique views on American yoga. With personal stories and testimonials from students, teachers, and other professionals, Pilarzyk delivers a guide for staying true to the essence of Yoga.

If you care about yoga and consider it a spiritual path this yoga book is a must read

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Beginning Yoga? 7 Tips For Success

Yoga is well proven to relieve stress and create well being by using postures and breathing that unify the mind, body, and spirit. If you are thinking of beginning yoga, these tips will help you on the road to a sustainable yoga practice and more fulfilled and healthy life.

1. Take time to find a yoga class that best fits your abilities and objectives. Talk to prospective teachers and their students and explain what your needs and limitations are. Ask them if the style of yoga they teach is a good match for you. Also get a sense of who the teacher is and if they feel compatible for you. You might even ask if you can sit in and watch a class before you join or at least try a class to see their teaching style. It is very important to take it one step at a time and finding the right teacher teaching the right style is vital.

2. Take your time and avoid competitiveness to move ahead too quickly. Give your body time to adjust to your new practice and enjoy noticing the gradual changes. Learn to listen to your body and develop awareness of your physical abilities and limitations. Remember it’s a process there is no goal. Communicate with your teacher if you have questions and let them know any limitations you may have. Especially let them know any physical or medical conditions you have, they may rule out specific poses if you have high blood pressure, glaucoma, a history of retinal detachment, or heart disease for example.

3. Remember, this is supposed to be fun and relaxing, if it isn’t making you feel good identify why so you can find exactly what you need.

4. If you can’t find a class that meets your needs, why not try private lessons? You can book some one-on-one sessions with a teacher in your area. Many yoga teachers offer private instruction and can design a program specifically for you. While more expensive this is a great way to jump start your learning. You can move on to group lessons or personal practice at home after you’ve done private lessons and learned a solid foundation to build on

5. Find a yoga buddy. Its nice to go to class and practice with someone. You will both support and encourage each other to stick with it so it’s a great way to keep up your enthusiasm and interest.

6. Eat lightly before doing yoga practice and drink plenty of water afterwards. The scriptures say it is best Wait two hours after meals before doing yoga practice. This is because generally a meal takes two hours to fully digest and your body can complete that process. Equally it’s not a good idea to practice when you are hungry as your mind won’t be clear and then injuries are possible.

7: Once you’ve found a teacher and style that works for you make a commitment to attending for at least two months, this will give you time to make some progress and really begin to appreciate the benefits. This in turn becomes a major encouragement to make yoga practice a regular part of your life.

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Yoga Practice – When Is The Best Time?

First of all let me start by saying that that whenever you do  yoga practice, anytime is better than not doing it all. There are though distinct differences in both the experience and result of doing yoga practice at different times of the day.

First  thing in the morning for example, the body tends to be stiffer. On the other hand the mind tends to be clearer.  A stiff body and a clear mind can work very well together  for asana practice. 

A clear and fresh mind and is a vital element in the practice of asana, and one that is not that often consider. The benefits it brings go to the heart of what yoga practice it is,  the path to union. With a clear mind the potential for the necessary union of mind and body is highest. With a mind clear and rested from sleep a deep state of awareness is also more possible.

This  heightened level of awareness and mental clarity  lowers the potential risk through injury. Even though the body is stiffer we are less likely to overdo  extend ourselves. When awareness is present in and can penetrate into the asana, we are more likely to use the practice for opening rather than stretching. It can also make our practice more meditative in nature and therefore increasing the benefit.

The other  advantage of morning practice is that the benefits of raised metabolism, body mind integration, and energetic stimulation, are carried with us into the day. As a result we start our day energized, grounded  and feeling good.

In the evening our bodies are looser, but our mind can be tired and scattered or overstimulated.  The benefit then is that the mind can through the practice become calm and focused. On the other hand the combination of the body being looser in the mind being tired can lead to over extending and increase the potential for injury.

To get the best out of the advantages of practicing at any time of day is to bare all of the above in mind and adjust our practice accordingly. For example, in the morning and Ashtanga or vinyasa  practice is a good fit. And in the evening more year in tight practice that is slower, relaxing and calming, while allowing deeper opening in the poses is more appropriate.

 

So no matter what we do yoga practice remembered to be intelligent in what you practice and why, but the bottom line is always some practice is better that non, even if it’s just 15 minutes before bed to ease out the days stress.

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