Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice

Discussion of physical aspects of yoga (on and off the mat)

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    Spiced Rice and Sprouted Lentil Salad with Chiffonade of Leaf Lettuce

    ByElizabeth

    Sprout brown lentils for 2-3 days and use while just showing sprouts.

    Cook one or more types of whole grain rice (here a mixture of red and brown rice) (I like to use a rice cooker).

    Let rice cool.  Mix rice with lentils.

    Add some oil to keep the rice a good texture.  I used sesame oil.  You could use the oil recommended for your Ayurvedic type if you are familiar with the recommended oil for your type.  Though this does not really resemble traditional kitcheree, the basic/unprocessed elements of the dish –the mixture of rice and lentils and the spicing — are the same.

    Add a mix of spices.  Here, too, you could vary the spicing according to your dosha if that is something with which you have experience.  I used turmeric, ginger, clove, black pepper stirred into the salad mixture and then minced some green coriander seeds from the garden to sprinkle on top.  I think a squeeze of lemon, had I had it, would have added extra zest.

    Serve the salad on delicate, freshly picked greens–spinach and baby chard would be good, though I used lettuce because it was what needed most to be harvested.

    sprouted kitcheree salad

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    What Students Hear

    ByElizabeth

    Last week I took a lovely all-levels yoga class where the emphasis was on fully engaging in the practice rather than striving to achieve a particular outward notion of what the poses should look like.

    Near the beginning of the class, but after the emphasis on not striving had already been discussed, the teacher said that the ideal form in uttanasana — standing forward fold — for classical hatha yoga is with the feet together. But, he said, however, he said, but not, the teacher explained, if your back is curved like a “c” in the pose, and your lumbar vertebrae are higher than your sacrum. In that case, you want to take your feet wider apart or you will strain or injure your low back.

    As I was fully into the pose, I could see the rows of students behind me. At least two fellow students in my immediate line of sight, promptly put their feet together, even though they had tight hamstrings and bulging lumbar spines and were clearly pushing themselves hard to get their fingertips to the floor. As soon as the word “ideal” was uttered, they could not hear the caution or could or would not apply it to themselves.

    The evident intent of the teacher in his exposition of the pose was to give an example where the “ideal” form is most certainly not ideal and will not further the reasons we practice asana. But for so many in this society, striving is such an ingrained way of being, that yoga class can become just another way to achieve.

    It was useful for me to witness how carefully one must teach to high achievers this principle of the “ideal” being what suits and not what will win accolades. How do we teach (and learn) the practice of goalless goals, of enjoying working for fitness (of the mind, body, and emotions) without pushing and striving? I’m pretty sure that invoking the principle of actionless action from the Bhagavad Gita would not have made a difference here. It seems a shame to think that the only way to protect all the students’ backs is never to mention the classical form of the pose, and to have to tell all the students (especially in a big class) to have their feet apart (or some similar alignment rule)for protection of the few who do not (or are not yet ready) to hear the whole lesson.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Sun Burning Through Clouds

    ByElizabeth

    We need protection from the sun as much as we need the sun. The yogi philosophers could perhaps point to this pair of opposing forces/needs as an example of the elemental pulsation of opposites (spanda) that is universal to all manifest being.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Looking Within

    ByElizabeth

    The great texts and teachers of meditation exhort us to look within with the promise that by so doing we will find great peace or bliss or splendor.

    For many, though, initial attempts at meditation are just as likely to reveal troubling aspects of the self or agitating thoughts as any sense of beauty or quiet and the reaction can be a dismissal or disbelief in such teachings.

    The exhortation to look within is not directing us to introspection or the self-examination of therapy (which are also useful in appropriate circumstances), but rather is inviting us to open to seeing that the beauty and specialness that we might believe of and recognize in others is also within ourselves.

    Only when we can first look inside ourselves with love and empathy, can healing, change, growth, and compassion begin regarding those things that make introspection scary and challenging.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Found Exhortation

    ByElizabeth

    I prefer the exhortations: be careful, be mindful, pay attention. It is good to heed what is around us, being open to the optimal next step on the unfolding path.

    But if we get too wary or fearful, if we spend too much time watching out for and guarding against danger, then we may well miss opportunities to enhance our lives and those around us.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    More Ephemera

    ByElizabeth

    Spring flowers are not much more ephemeral than are we from the perspective of infinity (or even geological time). I think one of the central aims of yoga philosophy is to make some sense of the need for recognition of our own place and worthiness, while still acknowledging our undeniable individual smallness in the vast web of being. In that light, it seeks to offer us awareness of some idea of ourselves that is infinite and not just our distinct finitude.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Signs Around Town (and Tuesday Night Yoga)

    ByElizabeth

    Xome join us on Tuesday nights. All levels of experience welcome. Suggested donation is truly a suggestion–like the admission to the Metropolitan Museum. Pay what you can. Bring a friend from in or out of town. Comment or email with questions.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Signs Around Town (and the Yoga Siddhi of Bi-Location)

    ByElizabeth

    The “shelter in place” signs in my building demarcate suites where designated groups of employees are supposed to gather in the event of a threat to human safety where it would be safer to hunker down in the building than to go out.

    While I was sitting through a seemingly interminable, pointless, but only somewhat acrimonious meeting this morning, I was thinking how important it is to have a space within our own consciousness where it feels safe and peaceful even when we are in a situation where staying physically put is the most realistic alternative. This got me thinking about one of the powers (siddhis) that allegedly may arise from a steady, devoted, and long-term practice. That power is the ability to bi-locate–the power to be in two or more places at once.

    I’ve long practiced with part of my goal being to cultivate the space of meditation as a way of making bearable the unavoidably painful, such as when confined to bed because of severe illness. In such a situation, though my experience is thankfully limited, going into meditation is a going to another space of consciousness, but does not require staying mentally engaged and present.

    When in an unpleasant meeting or stuck in traffic or similar situations, the problem is that one needs to stay mentally and physically alert and present and cannot just go off into bliss.

    Then, I think the power of bi-locating is what would serve best. It would enable being simultaneously present and functioning while also being in the blissful and peaceful state of meditation. The space we go to in meditation would indeed then be a “shelter in place.”

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.