In Which Maitri Discovers the Laundry Room for the First Time (and Beginner’s Mind)
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- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Gardening | Meditation | Photos
Fine Weather for Walking
The past several days in DC have been perfect for walking. The mornings, for me, require a winter coat and gloves and a hat or scarf. At the warmest part of the day, the air is refreshingly cool, and I can shed some layers. In spring and fall, there is little I want to do more than take long walks. And so I take to the sidewalks even more than the usual walk to work, to the Farmers’ market, to the metro, to visit with friends, to teach, to go to the nursery or the grocery store, to go to the bank and post office, to go get a massage. I make no effort to be efficient and consolidate errands; every errand is an excuse to take a walk. I add a block or seven onto an errand walk. I walk and think and then my attention is seized by the beauty of the color and the light. I have to pause and drink it in.
on the train
I am on Amtrak heading to the Anusara teachers’ gathering in
Morrisville, NC. The train is surprisingly crowded and not surprisingly a whole different vibe than the train to NY.By day we will be practing and gathering in a hall at a Hindu temple. The grounds are reported to be beautiful and welcoming. By night, those of us who don’t have local friends will be staying at hotels off the highway with cable TV that usually serve the visitors to the big university ball games and events. We’ll then all be driving back and forth to the venue and out to eat.
I find it of mild interest that I spend more time in cars and more time in a place with TV when I travel to study yoga than at any other time during the year.
Different Ways of Turning Your World Upside Down
Yesterday at the William Penn House class, we were emphasizing strong working of our tailbones. One of the regular students came to class even though she was still exhausted from recent and sudden major loss and upheaval in her life. She wanted to be with the spirit of the class even if she would not be able to do everything.
When we went to the wall to work on half and full arm balance, I advised her to give it a try if she felt up to it and then said to do legs up the wall if she knew trying to hold the arm balance would be too much. After all, I pointed out, legs up the wall (vipariti karani) is just half handstand upside down. And what is awesome about both the poses is that the both turn us upside down (albeit in energetically different ways) and can thus help give us a fresh perspective on how we are in our bodies and minds.
Balasana (child’s pose)
Whenever I am studying with John Friend, and we are invited to move into balasana I recall as story he told of seeing Gurumayi move into the pose. He told us of the reverence with which she did the pranam — the bowing forward to touch the earth as she went into the pose. I like to start my asana practice with balasana because it reminds me to honor the teachings, the history of the practice, my teachers, and myself for coming to the mat. I think of the name of the pose, and I am reminded of the wonder (abhuta) of being embodied. I think of how children marvel and delight at everything they encounter. It is all new for them, but we can cultivate the sense of everything being new and wonderful. When we cultivate a sense of wonder, it brings us to the other meaning of bala, which is strength. For our lives will be stronger and fuller, if we can approach each pose on the mat, and each moment on and off the mat, with wonder and interest.
Balasana is also a good way to start the practice because it is a sweet, gentle way to open up the hips, groins, low back, and shoulders. It is a good way to shift from more active poses towards savasana because, as a forward bend, it is inward-going and quieting.
