Inner Body Bright

As a lover of stars, fairylights, candles, lanterns, and anything that twinkles brightly, I have always been intrigued and inspired by the beautiful Indian celebration of Diwali or Deepavali, the Festival of Light. The Sanskrit word Deepavali can be defined as "an array [or row] of lights that stand for victory of brightness over darkness." During the five day celebration, people light earthenware lamps, decorate their homes with candles, and burst brightly coloured firecrackers at night.

Although the festival is marked with the lighting of external flame, the esoteric celebration of Diwali is the deep honouring of the inner light, known as the "atman". The part in each of us that is beyond the body, the part that is pure, infinite, and eternal. When we remember and celebrate this inner light, we awaken to our truest nature. We recognize that there IS something within us that is unchanging, always good, full of beauty, and ever present!

My main yoga teacher John Friend has always stressed two main reasons for practicing yoga. First, to remember our innermost spirit and our deep connection to the universal. What a practice this is itself ! How often do we walk through our day remembering this... and 2) to then fully participate in this life in a way that celebrates and honours our universal nature.

In my classes, I often use the term inner body bright to describe the soulful feeling of expansion, lift, and vitality that gives the heart a buoyant fullness. It is not something that can be felt by simply puffing out the chest, drawing the shoulders back, and lifting the chin. It is an inner remembrance of a deep truth--that we have something beautiful and worthy inside us to joyfully express, fully experience, and to share with others.

It is this remembrance that gives your backbends that awe-inspiring and painfree arc, that lifts your shoulders away from the earth in forearm balance, that floats your spine effortlessly skyward in Warrior II. And it is this remembrance of inner light that you see shining out from eyes of classmates and friends at the end of each yoga session.

Why bother practicing at all?

I think it is a fair assessment that most of us feel like we just don't have enough time in our lives these days. We struggle to balance obligations at work and home and wonder how and where best to fit in time for ourselves. Sometimes we believe that it isn't even possible!

Although many students rarely miss their weekly class, they tell me that finding the time, inspiration, and energy to practice at home very challenging. While acknowledging they feel more relaxed, more spacious, more positive, and really recharged after our yoga sessions, they struggle to carve out the time to make yoga practice a regular part of their day.

The beautiful thing about yoga is that you don't need to spend an hour and a half practicing each day in order to feel its benefits. Even a short practice of a few minutes--with a small selection of poses, mindful awareness of the breath, and a short relaxation--done regularly can shift your whole perspective, giving body and soul a boost!

I'd like to share this "practice parable" from A Flock of Fools: Ancient Buddhist Tales of Wisdom and Laughter From The One Hundred Parable Sutra (an English translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt).


PARABLE 1: WHY BOTHER PRACTICING AT ALL?

A man decided to go walking in the heat. He quickly became lost and dehydrated. He continued walking, and the more he walked, the worse he felt. Soon, he was so tired and dehydrated that he began to see mirages of water. He chased these mirages, desperate for relief. The more he chased the mirages, the worse he felt.

Miraculously, in his wanderings, he stumbled upon a real river. He sat at the river's edge, and looked at the water longingly. Another wanderer passed by, and asked the dehydrated and exhausted man why he did not drink from the river. "Clearly you are thirsty," he said. "Why don't you help yourself?"

The dehydrated and exhausted man said, "Oh, this river is far too much for me to drink. I could never finish it."


We don't need to drink the whole river in order to quench out thirst!! A little bit of practice that soothes and satisfies the soul serves us better than waiting until the "perfect" time, "perfect" body, or "perfect" inspiration presents itself.

The lotus blossoms from the mud

I recently had the opportunity to study the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Kausthub Desikachar in Wellington. Early in my yoga career, I was profoundly affected by his father's (TVK Desikachar) simple and brilliant work, The Heart of Yoga. This book is a beautiful introduction to the history, practice, and philosophy of yoga as taught by Krisnamacharya. Kausthub is Desikachar's son, grandson of Krishnamacharya, and an insightful, provocative, and jovial teacher of yoga in his own right. The workshop was a wonderful meeting of many passionate practitioners and teachers in New Zealand.

There were many insights that I took home but one in particular keeps resonating with my own experience of life: Yoga is a practice of choosing how best to respond. Often, we are not able to control the people, circumstances, situations, or even the emotions that arise to shape and affect our lives. However, through faith and continued practice, we CAN learn to see clearly with an open mind and heart-- actively choosing HOW best to respond to what arises.

According to the Sutras, yoga is a self-empowering process where we are given the option (and responsibility!) to take charge of our own happiness or suffering. In this model, as Kausthub offered, "life does not happen by chance, it happens by our own choice."

It is easy to suffer from the martyr syndrome, with the insistent "Why Me?" arising in the midst of crisis. I often struggle when I imagine or visualize the "perfect" practice and "perfect" life that I would like to have but look instead at the messiness, imperfection, and inconvenient emotions (indecision, anger, sadness) which might be the reality of my day.

What do you do when situations that arise in your daily life make the living of a spiritually connected life seem a far away dream?

My favorite sutra has always been 1.20 (here without proper Sanskrit pronunciation marks): shraddaviryasmrtisamadhiprajnapurvaka itaresam. According to Desikachar, this translates as, "Through faith, which will give sufficient energy to achieve success against all odds, direction will be maintained. The realization of the goal of Yoga is only a matter of time."

This sutra tells me that the "stuff" of our daily life is not at opposition with our yoga practice. In fact, this "stuff" of our lives becomes our practice! On the mat, we practice virtues like compassion in seated forward bends, courage in urdhva dhanurasana, trust in supta baddha konasana. BUT how more powerful to find the means to practice these same virtues in the midst of LIFE! In trying times with children, conflicts with the boss, or when faced with hurt or betrayal by a loved one.

Pema Chodron writes, "There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice IS your life, twenty-four hours a day."

The beautiful lotus blossoms out from the mud! Beauty arises up and out of the earth with such shape and fragrance and colour that we do not even notice the dirt underneath. Thank you Kausthub for the beautiful metaphor and gentle reminder!

A Path with Heart

I once read that, "we teach best what we most need to know". How often this statement rings true for me this year! How often does it ring for most of us?

Lately life has thrown me quite a few ups and downs. I am besieged by indecision. My emotions have been as dependable and as certain as our local Christchurch weather! And although I try to keep "going with the flow", this practice brings challenges much deeper and more trying than the garden variety handstand!

Looking at a calendar that is already planned through mid-December, I wonder where my year has gone. And, for me, this simple feeling of overwhelm leads to paralysis! I'll admit I am one of those annoying people who sits undecided at a good Thai restaurant...With extensive options and each so tempting, how can you decide which dish is just right? How do I make a sure and definite decision without regret?

Reading Jack Kornfield recently reminds me of something that I often stress to my students. "In undertaking this life, what matters is simple: We must make certain that our path is connected with our heart...Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?"

Discovering what we really value involves opening ourselves up to our heart with an honest and a genuine willingness to listen. What we hear may fly in the face of accumulated notions of who we think we are and who we think we should be. This honest listening requires real courage and a tender compassion for our own experience of living this life. Again and again, I encourage my students and friends to seek this path and it is one that I also find challenging to walk!

Kornfield shares a story from Don Juan (visionary and teacher of Carlos Castenada): "Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone one question. The question is one that only a very old man asks...Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."

May we all find the courage to choose and walk the path that truly touches and softens our heart.

Seize the Day!

As many of you know, I am hosting Desiree Rumbaugh (http://www.desireerumbaugh.com/) for an Anusara Weekend Workshop this December here in Christchurch. Desiree is a senior certified Anusara teacher and world renowned for her vibrant spirit and inspiring teachings! Her workshops and retreats aim at powerful personal transformation and self-expression, leading each student to celebrate their own greatness through the practice of yoga! If you've enjoyed your yoga journey thus far, I strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to study with a master yoga teacher.

In this weekend, you will experience the simplicity, strength, and fun of Anusara yoga. By aligning our body with nature and balancing effort and surrender in each pose, we consciously and steadily train our hearts and minds to help us have a more positive experience of each moment.

Find the full weekend schedule and link to more info on the sidebar to the right.

Freshness

In class last week, I kept returning to the theme of "beginners mind". For me, the season of Spring heralds not only a fresh beginning (and blessed end to the chill of winter) but also a fresh perspective. This sense of freshness is key I think to yoga as a lifelong practice. As a "yoga teacher", I am not immune to the feelings of stagnation, isolation, even boredom and depression that can arise when I sit on my mat and have to face the "stuff" inside. Not every day is instant inner peace... As I continue to practice yoga, an important and regular part of my practice is learning how to keep cultivating this freshness.

What do you think of when you hear the word fresh? For me, I immediately think of the lemon. Its clean, crisp scent. The light, playful taste that dances and zips across the tongue. How it lightens and transforms even the heaviest dish. I think also of the feel, smell, taste of the early morning air. Freshness has both a quality of spaciousness and also a clarity, or cleanness about it.

On the yoga mat, we can practice finding freshness every time we fully open to the breath--as it is--without expectation, without judgement. With each exhale, we release whatever isn't serving us so that the inhale arises naturally and easily, full of new possibility and potential. We can maintain our clarity, our intention to be present by connecting to our foundation and then softly engaging and hugging to our core. In each pose, we return to the breath, and as we move into and between each posture, we find the place where we feel a sense of spaciousness and freedom. Why choose to be anywhere else?

At the start OR end of your yoga practice, if you find your energy and spirits are still dragging, try lying for 5 to 10 minutes in a heart-opening, supported savasana. Fold a firm blanket in half and then half again, lengthwise. Sitting in front of the long end of your blanket, lay down on your back so that your whole spine is slightly lifted and supported all the way up to the back of the head. If you feel discomfort in the neck or shoulders, add another blanket to lift and support the head. Allow your arms and legs to fall open to the sides and the body to soften and sink into the earth with each exhalation. Without forcing or changing the breath, feel the inhalation expanding your side ribs, spreading and lifting your collarbones, and moving across fronts of the shoulders. Enjoy the feeling of lift and vastness in the heart, each exhale softening the body and mind more and more into your present moment.

Sacred Pause

I need to recover a rhythm in my heart that
moves my body first and my mind second;
that allows my soul to catch up with me.

I need to take a sacred pause,
as if I were a sun-warmed rock
in the centre of a rushing river.

Dawna Markova