Sky was having a
heart-shaped clouds everywhere
you look kind of day.
It is my experience that if I can simultaneously accept that I am ultimately not in control even while I am working to meet a particular goal that I feel less stressed by the vagaries of fate.
It’s not easy to do, but I do think that is the balance that the yoga practices–the ones that aren’t trying to have us transcend embodiment–are trying to teach us. And as the weather gets wilder, there will be more opportunities for practice.
Ether (akasha) is the fifth of the mahabhutas. In science and perception, it is the space between the other elements, it is that in which the other elements reside. It is to some degree, the critical element of how we are able to perceive the other elements. I find focusing on the Anusara alignment principle of “open to grace” is the best way to experience the element of ether in myself. By softening, opening, and inviting spaciousness, I can better experience the subtle elements and appreciate how it is that I experience them.
The subtle elements or the panca tanmattras are smell (gandha), taste (rasa), form (rupa), touch (sparsa), and sound (sabda). The subtle elements are not what we sense (which is composed of the mahabhutas) nor are the tanmattras our sense organs. Rather the tanmattras are, as it were, the space in which perceptions arise, the ability to be perceived.
The next sets of elements are the panca karmendriyas, the organs of locomotion, which correspond to how we physically move, digest, and change in the physical world, and the panca jnanendriyas, the organs of perception or cognition, which correspond to our sense organs themselves. Our movement in and perception of the world bridges the physical elements, the perceptability of the physical world, and ourselves as physical beings, beings who move in the physical world, and beings who perceive the physical world. All of this, I think of as needing space or residing in space. As I consciously think of space giving a place for the world, my movement in it, and my perception of it, I become more conscious of consciousness. The physical practice of “opening to grace” and experiencing the element akasha makes possible for me in my practice knowing or experiencing a greater consciousness.
To start discovering your own understanding of akasha, try this meditation: listen to the sounds beyond the room without trying to analyze or change them. Appreciate how far in space your senses and consciousness can be. Then bring your attention into the room and hear the sounds in the room. Then open your ears to the sounds within you — your heart beat, your breath. Then open to all the sounds (don’t try to change or analyze them), both those physically far away and those within your own body, and be aware of them as all residing within your own consciousness. Appreciate that your consciousness is as spacious as the world around you and within you. Rest in the space of consciousness.
See whether spending a few minutes using this meditation technique helps you when your day has gotten too busy with work, errands, family or other demands. I find it very helpful.
This week I have been working on twists both in my own practice and in my classes. In so doing, I have been thinking about the difference between turning around or doing an about-face and staying steady and true to oneself, while truly being open to another perspective.
In order to get into twisted and bound asanas, it is critical to be steady in your place and to use the three self-affirming elements of muscular energy — hugging into the midline, embracing the muscles to the bone, and drawing from the periphery into the focal point — to be able to revolve on the midline and open the heart to a new direction.
The same is true off the mat. If we just flip our position or turn an about-face, we are not grounded or reliable. Inside the beltway, for example, I’ve heard people saying they think McCain and Specter should be voted out of office because it is not clear where they stand. Their positions seem more about expediency than about a steadiness of conviction, coupled with an openness to listen to and work with others with differing views.
Ideally, we want to embrace ourselves, our history, and our nature, and be sufficiently comfortable and secure with ourselves that we can hear others. Even if it feels convoluted or binding to open to true listening, by reaching while staying steady, we can better have compassion and recognize the light and humanity in those with whom we disagree. By doing so, ultimately, just as we create greater strength and flexibility by practicing twists, we experience a greater openness of spirit with respect to ourselves and all around us.
This is a big part of my current practice, and perhaps one of the very hardest. Steadfast commitment to a balance of steadiness and openness makes possible, I think and hope at this point in my practice, radical affirmation of the good in everything.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
