8-12-13

Attachment creates suffering. Oh boy does it! It’s easy to see where we go habitually. It’s simple to figure out even what the attachments are. It is very challenging to let go of them.

Yoga philosophy advises us to not get attached to anything, whether it’s pleasurable or painful, because it will change, like the weather, like the seasons. We could appreciate the sun on our skin and the next minute the clouds come in and there’s no sun. We can appreciate the sun when we had it, or we can lament that it is gone.

Yesterday I taught a yoga class at Virginia Mountain Vineyards. What a glorious day! It was less hot and humid. There was a breeze and the ever changing blue sky with clouds floating by. The vineyard was full of vines laden with grapes, different from our last yoga class there. I had an idea what I would teach, the yoga we would practice on a hot summer day outdoors. We were covered with a tent top, and the vineyard owner had wanted some deep stretching. I aim to please, especially since she was gracious enough to share her lovely space and incredible view with us!

And, I realized on the way out to the vineyard and winery, that I need not be attached to what postures I would teach. Actually this one is pretty easy for me, as I teach rather intuitively anyway. I like to have a plan but then tailor it to the needs of the moment. Sure ’nuff-someone needed shoulder work, so we got that in with the hip, hamstring and back stretching. So I wasn’t suffering from that.

Yet I did ask everyone to consider letting go of attachments while we were there. We can be attached to our expectations. As a beginner to yoga, we can be attached to not “looking foolish” in front of a friend. We can be attached to having yoga in the same spot or occupying the same space in the yoga room.

What I found was that I was attached to how a relationship used to be. I was caught up in the past and couldn’t move forward. I have a friend, and I’m finding the relationship between us has changed. Our paths do not cross as often, especially as often as I want. Our communication and therefore connection isn’t as frequent or as close. What I have found is that I was so longing for the friendship to be the way it used to be.  I was so attached to my expectation that I couldn’t see very clearly what was happening. When I was able to open my eyes, I realized we have each moved on to other friends, and actually, that we don’t really have similar interests in activities anymore. Maybe the other person changed or maybe I have, but my expectations had to shift because I was in pain. I was mourning the loss of the relationship, the loss of the friendship as I had once experienced it.

I had expectations about the friendship. I have expectations about how a yoga class will go. I have expectations and desires about how my day will proceed. As the song says, I can see clearly now. My attachment is gone. Well, maybe. Again, it’s one thing to recognize our suffering and find the root of it. It’s another to let go and find healing. I’m working on it. It’s always a struggle, until it’s not.

I look forward to when it’s not. Letting go of attachments is about letting go of how we think things should be, and opening ourselves up to how they are. We make the shift from illusion to reality. It’s a process.

Meanwhile, I invite you to look at your attachments, to the “habits” that create your suffering or do you some harm.

Namaste

 

 

August 1, 2013

Yoga practice… practice…practice

 Say it 3 times and it’s yours! Practice yoga for 3 weeks and it becomes a habit- a good habit!

Or, consider these ideas about practice.

When I questioned a student-new-to-me one night in yoga class if he’d practiced yoga before, he said he’d done yoga before but not practiced it! I thought Ah! Yes! He’s tried yoga and done it a few times, but not engaged in the ongoing investigation of himself through the practice of yoga. What a wise beginner to the yoga journey.

Some thoughts about practice…for students new to yoga they don’t want to look out of place. They want to look practiced! And so they might have a fear of practicing yoga, being the new kid on the block. So there’s a seeming contradiction, as we want to be practiced, yet we have to practice to get that way.

How often should one practice yoga? It seems 3 times a week would be great, as is recommended for other exercise. Every day for 30 minutes would be nice. I know a practitioner who practices every day but Sunday. I think everyone needs to find their niche, their way of being successful at this thing we practice.

We are all so glib about how we practice yoga. I think we are. Someone recently told me I didn’t need to worry because I practice yoga every day. I did practice that day. I had a good practice, where I went inward and my body slowly flowed without me thinking. I was able to meditate and sit in the early morning sun on the deck, overlooking the Smoky Mountains as they meet the Blue Ridge. But it’s not always that easy, or successful.

Here’s a dictionary definition of Practice: Habitual or customary performance. to perform or do habitually or usually: to practice a strict regimen. I don’t think this definition fits exactly because to me the word “habit” implies we just do it, like we drive to work the same way every day, out of habit. And yet that’s without thinking, without consciously choosing a way.

Here’s another definition: to perform or do repeatedly in order to acquire skill or proficiency: to practice the violin. Here’s the one! We practice yoga to become proficient at it! We practice to do it better, to be able to hold posture longer, to receive the benefits of strengthening muscles and stretching, balance and focus.

 Guru Pattabhi Jois had several quotes that he used over and over to answer questions about the yoga method he espoused. "Practice and all is coming" is one of his most famous quotes. This quote, though certainly flexible enough to answer any number of questions, applied to students who questioned the effectiveness of asana practice as a method to achieve enlightenment. It also encourages a long-term, consistent practice such as Ashtanga –about yoga.com

"You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal you to you.” - unknown

How can we practice yoga? By doing a little every day. By making it a habit. And yet a habit that is a conscious decision and a conscious performance.

Practice doesn’t mean simply on the mat. It doesn’t mean only the physical practice. Practice isn't always what you think it will be or even desire it to be. My practice one night…was letting go, letting go of what I had been holding on to, and changing the energy. I have had some run-ins with a neighbor. I’m not sure we’re on the same page. In this particular instance my tree cracked and fell down in her yard, just missing a vehicle and barely hitting the edge of the house. I called her to see if everyone was okay. She was not at home and heard the worry in my voice. I was right here, at the computer when I heard the crack and saw it right after it had fallen.

Well, neighbors were out and it was sad to me, that some neighbors were talking bad about others in our ‘hood. We were all without electricity due to trees fallen on the power lines at the corner, so there was a commonality among us. Yet there was some tension, and some words spoken, some of which spread toward me, like I was at fault for the tree falling, that I had been neglectful. I spoke with the insurance agent and felt reassured, and yet…I awakened at 4 AM one night. I woke up in fear, feeling very threatened by my neighbors. As I tried to calm myself and go back to sleep, I found that I needed to let go of the fear and let love in. In fact, I sent love to my neighbors, the ones I was feeling threatening vibes from. My practice became this, letting go of fear and sending out love. That was a new one for me at 4 AM!

From Rick Faulds, a Kripalu Yoga teacher and author of Kripalu Yoga: A Guide to Practice on and off the mat (I highly recommend this book!) new CD about Kripalu traditions, a student shared that discipline is freedom. Whoa! That’s a big one. Think of the times when you have wanted to practice your yoga and did not. Remember how you felt…imprisoned? Our yoga practice can be a way to set ourselves free. That’s a whole other topic. So for now…

I keep practicing being patient. I am getting more disciplined about it. I think I’m getting better at it, more proficient! My computer and email have had issues since early May. It’s been 2 months of dealing with these problems, finding a new computer person to work on my computer, and then a month ago, changing to a new website host, which created some new challenges. As it is still being worked through I sit in my chair, allowing the process to unfold in its time. Truthfully, I have a hard time when things don’t happen in a timely fashion, which for me, is….immediately. And so, practicing patience has helped me feel more calm about what is happening, or not happening, as the case may be. I feel less a prisoner of my own emotions.

Practice takes all forms. It can simply be getting out your yoga mat and thinking about postures. It can be setting the timer to sit and meditate. Mostly I think practice is actually doing it and not just thinking about it. It is an active thing, this practice. It’s a conscious decision to practice. Allow your practice to be conscious as well. Be awake. Be well!

I wish you best of luck on the mat and on the meditation pillow!

Namaste

 

Yesterday I missed my opportunity to help a friend. I wasn’t thinking clearly.  I wasn’t grounded. As an Aries, people think we are impulsive. We are. Or rather, I am. I am impulsive when it comes to my emotions, as they roll like a roller coaster, shifting very quickly. However, when called upon to respond or re-act to a situation new to me, I am actually pretty slow. Good thing I’m not a First Responder! It takes my mind a while to wrap itself around new things.

So in pondering this I wonder, what makes us grounded? What helps us to be present for ourselves and others? Certainly eating properly and when hungry helps the body/mind feel fed and secure. I am a bit erratic about eating times, often due to my teaching schedule which means I am teaching at mealtimes, and so have very little time to sit and eat and enjoy what I am taking into my body.

Jen & I landed in Mount Shasta in CA on our May vacay. It was a place she wanted to hike. Reportedly it's a place for grounding yourself, and it is certainly hiked often.

From Wikipedia: “In August 1987, believers in the spiritual significance of the Harmonic Convergence described Mount Shasta as one of a small number of global "power centers".^[22] Mount Shasta remains a focus of "New Age" attention.”

Mt. Shasta is believed to be one of 7 “natural wonders in the world”, specifically a place where energy centers .  Each of these 7 places is associated with one of the 7 chakras. Mt. Shasta is aligned with the root chakra. It is an active volcano, the second highest peak in the Cascade Range. It last erupted about 200 years ago. What a force! Rooted in the ground, measuring 85 cubic miles, rising to the height of 14,179 feet.

I didn’t feel anything special there. My daughter Jen once had a spiritual/energy experience or 2 in Sedona, AZ. We know we can feel energy. I just wasn’t feeling it-- the energy.

Or was I? To feel grounded is like feeling rooted, stable, like you’re on your own 2 feet and you know where you are. Your mind is not distracted and you’re able to focus on what’s at hand. Maybe I DID feel that!

It was the last day of our annual Mother/Daughter May adventure, and we were headed back to Jen’s home by that night. It had become unseasonably hot and we, and the faithful dog, were not comfortable outside the vehicle. I was driving and not feeling overwhelmed. We missed the hike Jen originally planned, due to her ankle injury. Then we somehow by-passed the walk around Shasta Lake. And yet we both felt okay about what we missed and were happy to move on down the road. So no histrionics, no drama, no bad feelings, simply acknowledgment and then moving on. Feeling complete and no desires left unmet.

Again, perhaps we did feel the root chakra energy there.

I cannot help but think of the victims of Monday’s tornado in Oklahoma. They are not grounded. They are not rooted. In fact, many are homeless. One woman said she didn’t know if she should buy a house or re-build or move. It’s like people were thrown into a shaker and thrown out like a pair of dice, to whatever fate lies ahead. In the un-knowing lies the lack of feeling grounded.

To feel grounded we need the basics: shelter from Nature and harm’s way, food & clothing, and don’t forget water. Sometimes we feel un-grounded or unsettled when we need water. And we need enough money to meet our needs. Those are all basic root chakra needs.

What I recommend is… yoga. Of course! Yoga helps us feel our bodies and be conscious with our minds and focus on what’s happening right now. Try a standing yoga posture, like Mountain or Tree pose or Warrior 1. Feel yourself reaching to the earth. Feel the strength of your legs. Feel all your needs met, not wanting for anything.

Or try a seated posture, rooted in the sitting bones, feel yourself reaching forward for your legs and toes. Feel grounded, rooted, and stable.

Imagine you are helping others feel grounded as well.

Know that anything you need, you can have. It's all good. And yoga helps make it even better.

Namaste

Debbie

 

 Ishvara pranidhana. Letting go. To the god(s) and letting go of controlling or thinking you can control anything. This last of the 5 Niyamas from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras came to me in an email recently and I have been pondering it since then.

We see letting go as a weakness, a way of saying “I give up” you’re right, yielding to another person’s desires while abandoning our own. We think if we surrender, we let go of who we are and we disappear.

Yoga is so about finding the balance. And on the yoga mat we try to find control over our bodies and our minds by posturing, focusing on bone & joint alignment and muscles. We focus on controlling the breath, making it go to the depths of the breathing space. We concentrate the mind…letting go of all other possible thoughts and focusing on just what is happening in the moment. So it's all about control, right? Ah, not so much. It’s finding your feet in Mountain or Warrior and then settling in to the posture and…letting go. Relaxing. Finding ease, and even trusting that everything will be all right.

Isn’t that the essence? Letting go of our own needs or desires and belief that we can and are in control, and breathing into the spaciousness of letting go to the Universe. Recently someone near to me said the Universe kept telling her to slow down and she wasn’t listening, so she sprained her ankle and had to slow down. Then she decided to vacuum with the new sprain and the new vacuum cleaner broke its belt and the old stand-by vacuum wouldn’t work either! We cannot control our environment.

We also cannot give up or yield unless we have a starting point. We cannot surrender into the yoga pose until we are certain the feet & legs are supporting us. First we need to find solid ground, align the joints, activate muscles and THEN relax into it.

It’s the same with any project. Make a plan, get your proper tools and begin to work, while allowing yourself to breathe and relax into what happens. We know that some of the greatest art, whether a building,  a song or a painted landscape, happens when the artist is in the “zone”, that place where one lets go of the “plan” and surrenders to the energy that is happening. For the “Yoga Girl” or poster practicing Tree pose that we had at our table at Earth Day celebration in Grandin Village, it began as  an idea: wouldn’t it be cool to have a life size person practicing tree and collage it in colors of the chakras? Then I had to begin with materials. I found the recycled large cardboard at our friendly co-op. A friend laid down (after showing me which direction on the cardboard) and I drew around her for the outline. Then 2 other friends came over and cut out the cardboard while I tore up papers and we kind of delineated where each color would be on Tree girl. The creative process really began then, or was it surrender that happened then? And the pieces of paper and glue went flying here and there and when we stopped we found something we liked!

 

If there is ever a reminder of how we are not the decision-makers, look at Mother Nature. We never know if it will be sunny or rainy or we’ll get snow twice - at the end of March and early April - in Southwest VA! Another way of looking at allowing yourself to relax into higher power is to realize and remember that we are not the only ones. We do a yoga practice for our health and well-being. We meditate to ease a stressful mind. We devote ourselves…to our selves…and yet yoga is about the connection within us and with what is around us and outside us.

Meditation and other rituals or “habits” can remind us of our Oneness. When I forget that I'm not in charge, when I forget I cannot control all, I take myself back to the basics…the meditation cushion, the yoga mat, or the Greenway to re-connect with Nature.

From Wikipedia, ishvara-pranidhana is attention to god or surrender to god. Attentive-ness and surrender. When we are gripping on the yoga mat, it’s time to surrender…to remember the breath and find it slow and steady, and that helps make our pose slow and steady, the mind slow and steady.

Attentiveness may show up as going to the mediation cushion, and finding a comfortable seat to allow yourself room to expand into what is beyond you. Find the breath. Focus on it. Or for some, maybe a devotional candle or small icon to focus on. Whatever serves you, serves you.

At Earth Day in the Village I experienced a random hand reading. One thing I was told was that I think too much. Really? Yes, really. So again, the antidote for me is to not think, but instead to breathe, paint without planning, be active outside. And in those moments I may actually begin thinking and then find all my thoughts get exhausted and go away. I like that.

Swami Satchidananda translated the Yoga Sutras, saying this one niyama is all we need, “By total surrender to God, samadhi is attained.” If we allow ourselves to let go we achieve that 8^th limb Patanjali wrote about. We find bliss. We reach enlightenment. In our self-centered society, yoga affords us the opportunity to go within ourselves and to be able to then go with –out ourselves and connect more deeply to all that is around us. Sometimes for me it is like the walk at Happy Hollow, where I can marvel at the beauty of the azaleas, the fern fronds, and the water in the creek. And know that all is well.

 

I invite you to explore Ishvara-pranidhana, to find surrender. On the yoga mat.  And off the yoga mat. Whatever you call what is bigger than you, be it God, or Higher Power, or Nature, to surrender to, allow it to happen.  Namaste

Debbie

Balancing the edge

When my friend Linda was in town recently, she asked me 2 questions: how do I achieve balance? That one’s easy, I said. I tell students to practice balancing postures. You feel out of balance? Try balancing on one foot. The other ways I try to seek balance in my life is by being in all the ways I want each day. And sometimes I like to use a timer to simply get in 20-30 minutes of what I want to do for myself and my own health and well-being, what I need to do, for work, or the household. In that way I can balance how I spend my day. In this way I don't spend hours at the computer, or cleaning or creating artwork, or practicing yoga or anything else. I seek balance by doing some of each. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!

And why do I paint?

I was just finishing up a mixed media piece for the SPCA show Feb. 22. I had really found my edge with this. First of all, I want to do a painting—it’s for a good cause…to benefit the animals. I am taking a new class with Tracy Budd at the Studio School that is very exciting, creating lots of surface and putting found objects in our pieces.  I have done collages forever and mixed media previously, but this seems really new to me. A true challenge. A stepping outside the box for me.

I have really been meeting my edge, going beyond what I know. I’m in a class with true artists, and artists far more experienced with different media and techniques than I am. I missed the first class by the time I found out about the class. And I struggle with time. It’s like the only block of time I really have to put effort into art and creating, and yet I then have to rush off to teach. So I go to class because I am very excited and interested to see what we will play with next! And I got into this process of creating a painting of my cat for this show, so I had a goal and a deadline, both good motivators.

What I found most challenging was being patient…with myself…with the process. I started working in photography because that felt more “instant” to me than painting. SO to wait for paint to dry and now, to work a piece and then re-work it…and then work it again! Oh my! My need to be finished quickly was stretched. I found myself working on the piece in my head, in my dreams, and working out things with my cat Zoey during this process, not always finding the outcome in the way I would have preferred, I might add (you cat lovers get it!).

When I finally finished, and it was outside the classroom, I was really proud, and appreciated staying with the goal and touching my edge.

 

It’s about the process, patiently waiting, just like yoga. Waiting for the work to be finished. Working on the pose. I realized that what I was doing painting was what I do on the yoga mat. Only on the mat it seems more familiar than at the art table. I may be more relaxed and even go into habits on the yoga mat. What a challenge! To just come to the mat, show up and try to do your best and meet your edge and see what happens. Day after day. Time after time. The edge shifts. Our abilities change. We can do more. We can hold that balancing Tree pose longer, lunge deeper into Warrior one, work on Shoulder Stand toward that Head Stand. It’s all about patience, and seeking to push beyond what we know we can do and reach new places.

May you be inspired in your practice. May you seek to reach your edge and then go beyond that.

"Let ego, go go go" - Swami Satchidananda.

My daughter, always a source for entertainment as well as thought provoking subjects, told me about going to a yoga class. As she has back issues, she is very mindful of trying to take care of her back, listening to different teachers, trying different things so that the yoga helps, not hurts, her. She is not always successful, but she is open.

 

At a recent class she was emphatically told by the yoga teacher to not double up her mats, even though Jen had explained she works on her knees and feet all day and appreciates the extra padding and that it seems to work okay, even with balancing poses. And, she was told by this teacher, not to check her posture in the mirror, even after Jen explained she does so because her knees rotate and so she checks in, but doesn't rely, on the mirror. End result? A frustrated yogi who is considering not going back to a class because she was doing what she has tried and found works for her and was told not to do those things by a teacher she is relying on for guidance. Frustration!

 

So I am here to say, that yoga is about shedding our egos. And yoga teachers are the first ones that need to let go of trying to control our environment, and certainly to let go of making students do what we want. I apologize for yoga teachers everywhere. May we all let go of what the head thinks and follow what the heart wants!

 

Swami Satchidananda speaks of Samadhi as the final stage of life, or going to heaven, or finding freedom. He says that when the ego “ceases to be”, and there is no longer an “I”, then you are free from the ego and are pure.

 

Here’s more from Swami Satchidananda, founder of Integral Yoga:

All you have to accomplish is to see that all selfishness goes away. Where does the "I" dwell? In ego. Where does the ego live? In the mind. The ego is, in a way, the very source of mind. All the expressions of the ego, thinking, feeling, willing, could be put together under one term, "mind." If the mind gets completely purified, then it's no longer an obstruction to your experience of the Truth. When it is clean and clear, the mind doesn't color the appearance of the pure Self. It becomes a pure reflector of the Self to see its own true nature. That is the essence of spirituality.

Here’s yet another definition of ego: “In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the dictates of the superego.” From wiki.answers.com

The superego reins in the other two so we do what is considered “right” and moral. The id seeks what it wants: pleasure. And the ego tends to balance the 2.

Or, from Dictionary.com, ego is “the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.”

For my purposes, I am thinking that the ego is what gets in our way. It’s the mind and the part of us that says we are separate from others. And sometimes, even makes a judgment about how we are different from others. In the instance with Jen in the gym with the yoga teacher, my concern is that the teacher tried to impart her knowledge without trying to become one with the student. To me it appears the yoga teacher wanted her student(s) to be a particular way and do the practice in a particular way, her way, if you will, instead of seeing it the way of the student’s good.

Okay, so I’m defending my daughter against a yoga teacher. Not really. As a student and as teacher of yoga, I attempt to seek knowledge. Sometimes that means the teacher learns from the student, letting go of the power trip that the teacher might be on, thinking that (s)he is right and all other methods are wrong.

That’s where I think the ego, the self, the individual “I” comes in and wreaks havoc.

Yoga is about letting go, surrendering the ego. We practice yoga mudra as the symbol of yoga, with the head below the heart. It’s a sign of letting go of the restraints of the mind and opening ourselves up to the boundlessness of the heart. Surrendering the ego can be freeing, liberating and powerful.

Here are some cues for letting go of the ego:

Don’t think you have to be right.

Let go of having to have the last word.

Let go of perfection. It’s okay to not be perfect.

Do breathe.

Allow yourself to be open to the experience, to new ideas.

May we all learn from one another. May we be open to listening to other thought and ways. May we continue to learn and grow, without allowing our minds to hold us back.

Namaste