Discussion of physical aspects of yoga (on and off the mat)
On the walk home from Union Station after teaching the Friday evening gentle/therapeutic class at Willow Street Takoma Park. Come join us some time. It is a fine way to spend Friday after work “happy hour [and a half].”
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Some think of yoga as folding or knotting oneself into pretzel-like shapes. No one wants to feel that they are tied into a knot in life, and those who make fun of yoga may do so because it seems silly to them intentionally to make knots with the body.
But carefully learning how to stretch and fold and bend and mold oneself into the shapes of the various asanas paradoxically can free one from feeling bound up or constricted by the knottiness of existence.
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Deferring gratification may make sense for all sorts of reasons–pursuing a goal, keeping on a budget, sticking to a healthful diet or lifestyle. But even if you are with discrimination (in yoga terms viveka) choosing to defer gratification…
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As I read the news stories of the “failure” of the world champion gymnast who merely came in third and therefore could not continue to compete because each country can only send two gymnasts to the medal competition (that’s the basic gist, though I might not have it quite right), I thought of what a friend had recently said about yoga.
“What I like about yoga,” he said, “is that it is not about competition, but just about doing it for its own sake.”
“Right,” I replied. “The only prize is enlightenment, and if you are doing it for the ‘prize’ you are still not fully doing yoga.”
What an extraordinary achievement it is just to be in the Olympics. And yet those who have none of the skills or talent or drive or fortune to compete feel free to call anything other than a medal a disappointment, a failure, a let down of team and country and family. Perhaps a little yoga would help give perspective.
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The endless dance and play of sun and shadow, light and dark–the more intense the one the more the other.
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It is when we believe only one way is the way for all that we become subject to the perils of tyranny and divisiveness.
Nonetheless, as the yogic philosophers tend to teach, each individual is most likely to find depth of knowledge, experience, and conviction sticking to a single path.
Which way is this way?
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Have you savored something today? Appreciated it essence? Have you found something for which to be grateful even if it is too hot, your garden is suffering from drought, and work has perhaps yielded no tangible immediate reward other than a paycheck if you are fortunate enough to have work? Can you taste some good in a mediocre meal–even if it is just reveling in the combination of plenty to eat and having a discriminating palate?
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I’ve never understood the t-shirt saying that “it’s all good.”. It just isn’t. This morning I found myself near to tears reading the news of violence, greed, malice, and willful indifference.
I do believe that we need to do our best to respond to everything we face with the greatest good we can offer. The ability to respond from spacious, illuminated awareness for the good and to discover the possibility of good in the most difficult and abhorrent is what yoga and meditation–or any other spiritual discipline–makes progressively more possible. No amount of yoga will make me love crisis, but it will make me better able to experience and offer love when in crisis, so I hope.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The yoga texts speak of a number of paths to enlightenment–the instant one (for those who have spent many previous lives on the path), the path of action, the path of knowledge, and the path of devotion. They are not completely separate. They intertwine and support each other. Individual practitioners do, though, tend to find themselves drawn more to the methods of one path than another. We have the greatest likelihood of staying and progressing on the path, if we do not fight with the practices, but go with what suits our nature.
That being said, it good also to challenge ourselves by trying practices that push our buttons. Those are the practices that truly give the opportunity to learn to be grounded, at peace, and centered in the face of frustration and discomfort.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.