Found Exhortation
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Afternoon Restorative Yoga
I attended a Zoom restorative yoga workshop led by my friend Suzanne. Maitri played sandbag and also provided a back massage while I was in child’s pose. Taking photos was tricky.
Sequence shown:
Supported supta badha konasana
Balasana
Viparita karani
Working on “Core” Strength
By the way, do you have an idea of what having/working your core or strengthening your core actually means? I believe it is something of much debate in certain circles.
- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Found Exhortation (and Tapas)
What does it mean to excel, to do well? I think there is no excelling in yoga, at least not the way we conventionally think of excelling in school or career or sports. But to practice in a way that is more than casual, there must be ardor–tapas.
Tapas is often translated as fire, and the texts are full of stories of outrageous physical exertions done to prove the tapas of the practitioners looking for boons from the gods.
There is a fiery aspect to tapas, but I question whether it must necessarily be burning from physical exertion, though that is a path that calls out to many.
The fire of tapas could be thought of as doing what it takes to manifest the will to know something deeply enough to be able to experience the fluency and grace and delight of expertise. It could be the ardor to show up in a disciplined and committed way for hours and days and years of practice, always still wanting deeper, fuller knowing.
- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Dance/Contact Improvisation | Food for the Body | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Creativity
We may not be able to change much of what we get in life–where and when we were born, certain innate talents and physical attributes, but we have the choice at every moment what we will create with what we have been given.
Will we create beauty and happiness where we can? The point of the yoga practices, I think and have been taught, is to lead us to choose what best serves more and more often.
For example, I cannot create a monumental sculpture if the only art material I have is a point and shoot camera. I could do nothing but lament my lack of resources, or I can still make art.
What do you choose with what you have?
