including the yogis or perhaps especially the yogis, Patanjali’s urging to avoid getting caught up in the pair of opposites, pleasure and pain not withstanding,
As the child of Depression era parents, I was taught to use every bit of the food that we bought. I was an impoverished scholarship student for the first eight years I lived on my own. I also started paying attention to environmental issues early on; in high school, I worked to bring awareness of energy and water consumption and recycling in connection with the earliest Earth Days. Having gotten into the habit of being resourceful and creative with food early on, I never got out of the habit–though many of my law school and better off friends thought I was weird or cheap.
With the recession continuing (and only likely to deepen dreadfully for my lifetime given the tenor of the debt negotiations) and thankfully growing interest in being kinder to our environment, it is becoming fashionable to be more mindful of waste of any kind. Here is a great article on how to savor more of your food and diminish your trash output (which, by the way, also lowers your carbon footprint.)
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.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Including gentle yoga asana to address the places that feel a bit stuck after 2 1/2 hours in a hard small chair with a desk attached to the right side (I write with my left hand). I change my position almost constantly, but slowly, so that it’s not disruptive.
