Category Archives: yoga

All yoga-related posts.

Community in Sound

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This morning in class after we chanted OM ~ and the class is becoming less self-conscious and more vibrational as they grow accustomed to chanting ~ a student remarked how “good we sounded” as we had reached that exquisite blending of voices ~ that community of OMs.The experience reminded him of the Virtual Choir he’d seen on You Tube.  Eric Whitacre, the composer and conductor speaks in the following TED video of what the process of group singing meant to him. He said that the first time he sang in a choir he realized that he was part of something bigger than himself.

In yoga, we’d say that we ARE something bigger than our conception of our individual selves. This is the beauty of chanting before class. We acknowledge and surrender to that energy, that grace, that love.

It is from that space that we twist and turn ourselves in the poses and that we sit quietly in breath work or in meditation or savasana. This is true whether we have chanted in a hall with hundreds of yogis or if we chant silently to ourselves while practicing. This is the sound of the universe. Of the primal energy that flows everywhere. The vibration that is.

In class at Panterra on Tuesday night, we were fortunate to have sitar player, Justin Scarimbola strumming his instrument while we fell deeply into savasana. As one note fell away, another appeared, then another and another. The evening raga grew a little “on edge” as daylight was fading to dusk and the notes picked up steam, coming faster, more insistent and then sliding back into quietude. The music took my mind along on its journey. Afterwards, I felt that somehow, I saw the world a bit differently. Time and space shifting in their tides just as the Indian raga grew louder, softer, faster, slower, smoother, rougher.

Today is windy and hot. Yesterday was hot and still. It’s all labile, change, flux, even when it seems to be static. Do not stay stuck, the music, the chanting, like our practice tell us.

We are capable of so much more love than we realize.

MANTRA for today: May I open to unknown capabilities within myself today.

Elder care and yoga practice

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Rolling Brook Restorative (barefoot photos)

I am so sorry dear readers that it has been sooooo long since I’ve posted.

This is the thing, my father-in-law who moved into assisted living in Fredonia last fall, fell out of bed and clunked his noggin’ at the end of February. Ten days of hospitalization were followed by a transfer to a nursing home-the locked dementia ward. This man, who two months ago was enjoying homemade dinners and classical music concerts with us, can no longer walk, barely eats, is in diapers, has leg sores, and hardly knows who his son is, much less who I am. At nearly ninety years old, where is the dignity? What effect does my yoga training have on my response to his suffering…and the family’s grief and suffering?

Well, the first thing I rely upon is the breath. I take long sessions of ujjayi to assuage the grief that he is leaving us.

The second practice I engage in is TONGLEN meditation. I will write a page about that soon. Fortunately for me, my teacher, Mahala of ten thousand bodhisattvas dot com offered a Tonglen class shortly after Ben went into the nursing home.  Did the universe know that I needed this? I can hear my yoga teacher muttering karma, carolyn, karma!

As a caregiver of a ninety year old with end stage dementia, I now know that I need to learn how to take care of myself first because at present I am suffering from a very nasty case of the flue, probably due to exhaustion. So restorative yoga, here I come. The third practice. Pull out the bolsters and blankies, cause I’m resting, deeply. It’s the core practice of compassionate caregivers.

Savasana, aka corpse pose

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Savasana, corpse pose (barefoot photos)


I am an experimental yogini. Lately, I have been approaching savasana, the pose of deep relaxation that I “do” at the end of my asana practice to see what I can learn from ten or twenty or thirty or sixty minutes reclining in a prone position.

The physical aspects of savasana are quite simple: stretch out on the floor on your back, roll the palms up to face the ceiling, allow the legs to flop away from each other, gently lower the eyelids, part the teeth slightly, cover yourself with a light blanket, place an eye pillow on your eyelids, use a folded blanket beneath your head and neck and a bolster beneath your knees, if you’d like. There are other variations and possible supports that can be used to induce a greater level of comfort, but I’ll cover those in another post.

Here are my journal notes after a savasana “lab:”

10 minutes: a sudden drop into physical relaxation. The body felt as if it were melting into the floor

13 minutes: another drop deeper ~ a deeper release down

17 minutes: Oh, now this drop felt nearly blissful ~ a tumble into bliss ~ so lovely

I was shaken out of it when hearing voices upstairs talking loudly and I picked up the phrase: “She’s really in bad shape.” Felt my mind turn on with adrenaline ~ thought maybe I should get up ~ racing thoughts, but felt my body still relaxed, so decided to drop back down into the deep relaxation, knowing the alarm was set and I could get up in three more minutes. Later note: this was an amazing realization: that I could CHOOSE whether or not to relax deeply!

20 minutes: the alarm rang and because I had already “come back” a good way, I decided to remind myself to come back s-l-o-w-l-y and resist the urge to run upstairs and find out what had happened (what had happened was in fact, a continuing deterioration of an 86 year old relative’s condition, and certainly not an emergency in the immediate sense of the word)

I’d love to hear of your experiences in savasana!

Meditation Journal, breath

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Snow Shadows (barefoot photos)

A rambling excerpt of a practice journal entry that I thought might be of some use . . .  .

December 15, 2010, Wednesday morning, 9:10 AM

Just meditated with soft ujjayi breath for an hour. Shocked when I opened my eyes and realized how much time had passed. That happens so often. The timeless place opens and I enter.

Mind wandered. Thinking about the blog and books. But kept coming back to Breath.

Disengaging from the heaviness of the body, even the entanglement of the mind.

Breath is so light and free. It is always here, always available, as much as I want it. A gift I need to be present to.

A tool for growth rest healing love.

Breath teaches me to love my essential self, my core, my self dis-embodied and de-minded, essential, free, perfect, and imperfect.

Breath is eternal and brings me into eternity.

Breath is who I want to Be.

Breath is who I am.

Yoga sutra 1.1, NOW is the time for yoga study

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Prescott AZ Clouds (barefoot photos)


I LOVE the energy of a new year.

So many possibilities.

Such delicious energy to savor and digest.

In the studio, we opened the intentions we compiled last January. At least one of us (me!) felt a shiver of excitement up and down my spine as I realized how well each one of my six intentions had played out during the year.

Here’s my list:

1. Lose weight (I dropped 25 pounds)

2. Publish my poetry collection….well, I DID submit it for publication.

3. Develop a stronger support system. (I worked with a writing coach during the fall to develop the yoga book, and began working with a new meditation teacher)

4. Get artsy (I created a couple of collages ~ one was called The Perfect Yogini~ all of them I gathered without gluing the pictures and placed them, like grains of sand brushed off a mandala, into a folder) AND I finally broke open the paints and have created a couple of pieces I’m rather happy with)

5. Work on organizing the house (With Rebecca’s help, I embarked upon some serious cleaning/organizing jobs)

I’m psyched to create my 2011 list. Deepening my commitment to yoga and to studying the yoga sutras is on my list for the  year. Figured I may as well begin meditating, chanting, and writing about the very first one wherein Patanjali informs us that THIS is IT….HERE they are…perhaps in modern parlance, he’d say JUST DO IT.

The Sanskrit verse, atha yoga anusasanam is variously translated as:

With humility (an open heart and mind), we embrace the sacred study of yoga. (Nischala Joy Devi)

With prayers for Divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga. (BKS Iyengar)

Now concentration is explained. (Swami Vivekananda)

Now is set forth authoritative teaching on yoga. (Bernard Bouanchaud)

Now, the exposition of yoga. ( Rev. Jaganath Carrera)

Some questions to assist your meditation on Sutra 1.1:


If you are new to yoga, are you ready to commit to practice and study?

If you already are a practicing yogin, are your heart, body, and mind open and receptive for receiving the teachings?

Are you open to the transformation that will take place as you travel deeper into the heart of yoga?

What space is necessary in your life to make room for yoga? Do you need to shift anything, or get rid of anything in order to delve deeper into the study and practice of yoga?

YOGA BOOK GIVEAWAY

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Wrapped Gift (barefoot photos)



Woohoo….let the drums roll and the bugles blare.

There are two winners of the Free Yoga Book Giveaway announced on the Your Presence, The Most Generous Gift post.

Kathleen commented that “It is not about the “stuff” but about being with each other and spending time with those that we love. It is also about taking time for self.” Both thoughts I want to hold close to my heart during this new year. Spending time with those we love, and I include MYSELF among the beloved, is a core practice. Any nigglings of alienation dissipate when I am present to love. Self-doubt, one of my “corrupting nigglers” also wears thin in love’s presence. In the presence of love, I know who I am ….and feel good, spiritually and mentally healthy, and whole.

For K., A copy of Esther Myers’ book beautiful and honest book, YOGA & YOU Energizing Yoga for New and Experienced Students, is awarded. Esther passed away in 1994. Though I was never fortunate enough to have a class with EM, her struggle with breast cancer as well as her honesty describing the daily ups and downs of yoga practice continue to inspire me. Fortunately for us, her teachings live on in this text. Kathleen, I hope you enjoy, learn, and your practice is inspired in 2011!

Perce wrote that it was during a yoga practice (don’t you love those little epiphanies that arise out of nowhere during practice ~ I sure do and they remind me that my BRAIN needs yoga as much as anything else) that she realized she had many items already on her shelves that her family would enjoy. Don’t we all, Perce!

Thanks for the reminder to look around and mentally, or in your journal, inventory, your assets. There are so many gifts already in our possession, from the “stuff” we own, such as the jewelry you mentioned in your comment, to the personal characteristics we’ve developed over the years, such as an ability to listen and be present to another person.

For you, a book that was on my shelf: Mira Mehta’s How To Use Yoga, A Step-by-Step Guide to the Iyengar Method of Yoga, Relaxation, Health, and Well-being. Perce, I hope the precision shown in the writing and the clear photos in this book will assist the alignment and sukham (happiness) in your practice.

Your Presence, The Most Generous Gift

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Red Bow (barefoot photos)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yogini-blogger, Donna Suguna Marguglio (Emotional Healing Through Yoga) commented on an earlier barefootandupsidedown asteya post that “Teaching and practicing yoga has lifted the burden of wanting “stuff”.”

Why is that?

Simply because yoga is an inner-directed journey. California-based yogini-writer, Judith Lasater on the Yoga Therapy Web teleconference The Art of Forward Bending, reminds us that the eight limbs of of yoga, beginning with the yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama, and moving deeper into pratyhara, dhyana, dharana, and finally, samadhi, all take us deeper and deeper on this inward journey.

And guess what? This inward journey doesn’t require a lot of stuff!

All I need is to be present. Easier said than done, eh? I mean, really, between work, my grown kids, and my elderly parent, I have all I can do to eat three meals a day much less Be Present for my life. How can I possibly be HERE while I bounce from taking my Dad to the doctor, advising my kid on whether he should move or not, and writing up a proposal for a really cool new energy saving device my company – and the world – will profit from? Most of the day I feel as if I’m running on automatic. And now I’ve got to buy gifts, write holiday cards, prepare a special meal for the family, and decorate a tree. There’s no time or energy to be present.

Yoga happens once we let go. Let go of taking care of everyone’s else’s needs. Even let go of taking care of our own peripheral needs. Our deep longing is to connect with our core self. We need to listen to an often quiet inner voice that is only heard once we relax the walls built up during our daily “run.”

I have to let go of the grip my life and the grip everyone else’s life has on me in order to get to my mat in the first place. I make a conscious decision, knowing that this is the way to a more richer, deeper, more compassionate, and fulfilling life.

This is the way to take better care of myself. Of my family. My work. My neighbors. My pets. Garden. House. You name it. I will let go and I will practice.

 

Wrapped Gift (barefoot photos)

 

Getting to my mat and my cushion is one way to practice. However, there are times when I am needed to be present for, say my father-in-law’s needs regarding his assisted living facility. Should I head to the mat for a much needed headstand practice and tell him “Later, ‘gator” OR should I turn being with him, LISTENING deeply and BEING PRESENT to him, into a yogic practice, say a compassionate practice of the third yogic YAMA: asteya, or generosity?

If I did that, I’d be practicing non-grasping or asteya toward my own yoga practice.

What’s so beautiful about this is that only you can really judge how important your “mat” practice is at that moment. Only you can decide if you would like to exercise your heart opening into generous listening and being present through yoga asana, meditation, or gifting your self to another person. It’s all one practice. It’s your life.

Whether or not you practice any of the other yogic limbs this holiday season, please join me in the practice of asteya. Grow awareness of how you can and do GIVE of yourself as well as to yourself over the next couple of weeks. Your heart will blossom and your generosity will grow deeper and deeper.If it suits you, reinforce your practice with a running log in your journal of a couple of ways you practiced asteya off your mat each day.

There is no limit to love! Being present is the greatest gift. Asteya is both an expression of love and a way to open ourselves into love. Hmmmm, how can I wrap that and put it under the tree?

I would love to give away some of my over-stocked yoga library, so please share your experiences in the comments.The best ideas for practicing asteya this season will receive a free yoga book.

yoga sutra 2.23, witness consciousness

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Seeds Ready For Flight (barefoot photos)

The Yoga Sutras, the ancient text of yogic principles recorded by the sage, Patanjali, reveal the path for a yogin’s practice.  In the second Pada thread 23, he says:

sva-svami-saktyoh sva-rupa-upalabdhi-hetuh samyogah

Bernard Bouanchaud offers a translation in The Essence of Yoga: The union of that which is perceived and the perceiving entity permits understanding of their respective faculties.

Can I get out of the way of my self while perceiving?

Can I see and feel things as they are—without judgment?

Can I divorce what I know of the past or expect in the future from what I am actually experiencing NOW?

Stephen Cope rightly says in The Wisdom of Yoga that there is no yoga without the witness.

If I am not watching, I am not yoga-ing!

B.K.S. Iyengar, in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali comments upon this sutra:

“If the master maintains constant watchful awareness of his consciousness, associates with nature without attachment and remains a witness, nature (prakrti) leads its owner, the soul, to freedom, moksa.”

Can I open myself enough to do this?

It takes practice.  It takes mental muscle.

And it takes faith that with continued practice my facility to see through illusions will increase.

I will awaken into freedom.

sutra 1.39, choosing meditation

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Apricot Petals (barefoot photos)

1:39 Patanjali: yathabhimatadhyanadva

Bouanchaud:Choosing meditation according to one’s affinities also brings mental stability.

Iyengar:Or, by meditating on any desired object conducive to steadiness of consciousness.

Fuerstein:  Or restriction is achieved through meditation (dhyana) as desired.

Desikachar:  Any inquiry of interest can calm the mind. Sometimes the most simple objects of inquiry, such as the first cry of an infant, can help relieve mental disturbances.  Sometimes complex inquiries, such as into mathematical hypothesis, will help.  But such inquiries should not replace the main goal, which remains to change our state of mind gradually from distraction to direction.

GRADY: Do we accept our own spiritual practice as a valid means to enlightenment just as we accept others’ paths?

Do we rely solely on the asanas for development of mental stability or Do we choose meditation as a means for mental stability?

Do we continuously strive to eliminate distraction and develop direction in our lives?

October Practice Journal

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Red and Green leaves (barefoot photos)


Occasionally, it’s helpful to look at the trends in your practice over time.

For me, this month started out with a focus on the inversions of downward facing dog, headstand, shoulderstand, and plough, but then, when I experienced more and more tightening in my right shoulder that I wasn’t able to release no matter what I tried,

so I moved into a set of more involved (than my usual morning) guided seated meditations on wisdom dakinis from a cd of Tsultrim Allione

and then morphed into a strong forward bending exploration and practice (which had begun while listening to the explanatory parts of the cd).

It wasn’t quite as straightforward as it sounds. There was overlap and occasional days of doing something completely different, such as the day I was tired and practiced a couple restorative asanas, or the day I focused on backbends for a change.

Each practice group offered its own surprise teaching that provided intrinsic motivation to continue. Headstand continues to amaze me as I slowly hold my feet off the wall for longer amounts of time. Each day with the inversions is its own, and change, for me, is seen gradually, over time. I vary the way I do shoulderstand and plough, both the amount of support (number of blankets, chair, blocks, strap)  used and the type of support (whether on feet wall, or sacrum on a chair, whether blankets or rolled mat or bolster beneath neck). That keeps practice an interesting exploration of mindful awareness of the body.

Other days I practice strengthening for inversions, without actually inverting. I’m heading more in that direction, especially as I observe Mike building his chaturanga practice.

The Tibetan guided meditations have helped me learn to transform my negative emotions into positive. Whewee….I need lots of more work in that arena!


Blazing Maple Leaves (barefoot photos)


The forward bends have really been a pleasure as I’ve discovered with increased hamstring flexibility, some poses such as heron and ubbaya are now open to me. However, not only could I not do ubbaya a week later, my ego was kept at bay a little bit by Judith Hanson Lasater’s advice that if you think you love a pose, try holding it for five minutes. I tried holding uttanasana for five and uh, it was certainly a challenge.

For one thing, I noticed how I moved my head and my gaze to different places in an effort to remain in the pose. That was coupled with my mind outscreaming my hamstrings. A person could become deaf in all of that noise. I wonder, if I can learn to breathe into that screaming, what will happen?

Following that practice with teaching three classes on Thursday loaded with forward folds and geesh, my back is feeling the effects.

Backbends, I’m heading your way tonight.

Every practice begins with listening. Every practice ends with opening into being.

What’re the trends in your practice lately? I’d love to hear about them.