Meditation

Practice, contemplation, and insights

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    Learning From Our Demons (Hanuman Leaps to Lanka)

    ByElizabeth

    Last month, Sianna Sherman taught a weekend workshop at Willow Street Yoga.  At the beginning of one of the segments of the workshop, she talked about the story of the monkey god Hanuman and his leap to Lanka (he did this to rescue Sita, who had been abducted by her own demons.  Sita sent Hanuman back to India without her, asking Hanuman where was Ram, but that’s a whole different thread in the Ramayana.)

    The first demon Hanuman encountered was Mainaka, a golden mountain who rose up out of the sea.  She gave Hanuman a place to rest.  She was helper.  But she was also demon in that she wanted Hanuman to stay and rest with her and to give up his journey.  Some of the stories characterize Mainaka only as a helper, and not as a demon.  If Hanuman had become stuck in the comfort Mainaka offered, though, and failed in his journey, she would have been for him the demon of complacency.  The question Sianna left with us to consider about Mainaka was where have we been too comfortable?  Where do we need to express gratitude and appreciation, but move on?

    The second demon, Surasa, was a fierce water serpent who emerged from the water to swallow Hanuman up as he was flying over the ocean.  To escape, he first tried making himself so big that she Surasa could not swallow him, but she just opened her mouth wider and wider, gnashing at him with her razor-sharp teeth.   Hanuman escaped by then shrinking himself to the size of a dust mote and flying out from between Surasa’s teeth.  Being able to make himself immense was one of the powers he needed to be able to fight the various demons, but he needed also to be willing and able to make himself small to complete the journey.  He would have been stuck if he had not been capable of taking on different shapes and approaching things from different perspectives.  Surasa may have tried to swallow him up, but she also taught him perspective.  “Are there places where you could use more perspective?” asked Sianna.

    The third demon , Sinhaka, at least according to some versions, tried to eat Hanuman’s shadow.  Inseparable from his shadow, the only way to escape was to turn back to face and claim his shadow as his own to battle Sinhaka.  Running away would have just kept Sinhaka champing at his tail and dragging him back from success.  We have to recognize and face our shadows in order to be complete and to understand the full spectrum of being.  We were invited to ask whether there were particular fears from which we were running.

    What stayed with me, and has me still thinking about the workshop, was that the emphasis was on treating ourselves and the obstacles we face on and off the mat with compassion.  We often give lip service in Western tantra to seeing the good or the necessary in our demons.  For example, whereas classical yoga thinks desire needs to be eradicated, tantra recognizes both that we would not get out of bed in the morning without it and that desire is what can lead us to practice and seek spiritual connection.  When we can truly look at our demons (both our own personal ones and those we see in both wider and more intimate relationships), our demons are not evidently nor necessarily to be slain or eschewed or to be seen as only malignant or pestilent.   When we approach our own demons and those of others with true compassion, we open the possibility of change through deeper awareness, connection, and recognition of humanity.

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    State of the Garden

    ByElizabeth

    The grapes are starting to bunch, and for the first time, the kiwi is covered with buds.  Two of the tomato plants have their first flowers.  Snow peas are climbing up the trellises.  Carrots, spring onions, radishes, and beans are sprouting.  There are plenty of cool weather greens and herbs for eating already.  The red roses are blooming.  I pray for sufficient rain.

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    Found Exhortation?

    ByElizabeth

    Honor your ancestors–both of blood and of teaching lineage (parampara). Yes, it is a critical element of the yoga practice, regardless of whether one practices in the guru tradition (I do not–more on that in coming weeks, I think).

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

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    Durga Slaying the Water Dragon

    ByElizabeth

    At the Rubin Museum (which graciously does not forbid photos). I regard that as a desire to have visitors expand the invitation. It is one of my favorite places to go in N), especially when I only have a few hours before heading back home.

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

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    Spring Greetings–Embracing Change (web version of e-newsletter)

    ByElizabeth

    Dear Friends ,

    Greetings to all in this strange, but glorious Spring.  As I sit down to write, I cannot help but recall that in my new year’s letter, I wrote of the practice in some Indian temples of cracking open a coconut to symbolically break open the head to get out of old living patterns that do not serve us.  I blithely wrote how blessed I was that in having taken myself to India, I was intentionally choosing to be challenged, while recognizing that we don’t always get to pick when challenges will come.  Less than two weeks after I returned, my family gathered to visit my father who was in the hospital for a hip replacement (he’s healing well).  Only a couple of weeks after that, the Anusara yoga community was turned topsy turvy,.  When I wrote of choosing to break myself open to discover new paradigms and possibilities, little did I know what was going to happen to the yoga community that has been and continues to be such an important part of my life.

    Even Spring is not behaving according to settled expectations.  It burst forth especially early–the cherry blossoms are already gone and azaleas and roses are blooming almost a month early.  Records were set around the country for the warmest March on record, and we are approaching drought conditions (again) in the Washington metropolitan area.

    Not surprisingl for one who likes things to be settled and secure, while admiring the wild blooming around me, I have been thinking about how disconcerting change can be.  For someone who prefers warmer weather to winter, getting Spring early is delightful, but I cannot help but recognize that it has come with disastrous storms and high risks for farmers and our food sources, evidence of the fraying relationship between our populous society and the earth.  What is a gardener, a yogi, and a member of society to do?

    As a gardener, it is necessary to remember old teachings and methods (for example, just because it was prematurely warm does not mean that the danger of last frost is earlier than in other, colder years), but it was also necessary to plant and tend the garden earlier to make sure that cool weather plants, such as greens and snow and sugar snap peas, actually have an opportunity to grow.  The erratic weather is also serving as a reminder to try and shift to be more in alignment with the forces of nature and to contribute less to global climate change.  In a word, a true gardener, like the dedicated yogi (on and off the mat) will rely on the lineage of teachings and experience, continue to be fully engaged without giving up, be adaptable to the vagaries of season–both serendipity and calamity, and seek to live in a way that fosters the good in oneself and all beings.

    It is going with the flow, but in an active and intelligent way.  In this time of uncertainty, I believe that an ever deeper and more open study and practice of yoga is a great gift.  Yoga when practiced sincerely and in community provides us opportunities to connect more deeply and techniques to turn unsought changes into opportunities for growth and transformation.  In that light, in my own yoga offerings to you, there is both stability and change:

    The big change in my yoga classes is moving my long-running gentle/therapeutics class at Willow Street to Friday nights.  I am very excited about this shift.  On a personal level, it gives me free weekends for the first time in six years, which will give me more time and space to study, practice and explore.  For you, I intend that the class will now be a perfect transition from the work week to the weekend, fostering and enhancing the ability to heal and celebrate.  Those who like things to be steady can still expect the same full hour and a half of nurturing, alignment-based, therapeutic poses and restorative practices.  Registration for the full session is preferred, but drop-ins are always welcome.  New to the class and want to know what it is about?  Please come join me on Friday, April 13th, as part of free class week.

    The Tuesday night all levels group practice at William Penn House continues.  As always, a portion of the proceeds support the work of William Penn House, and if you cannot pay the suggested donation ($12-15), do not let that keep you away.  We want to make the yoga available to those who truly seek it.

    I hope to see many of you soon.  Please feel free to be in touch by email or Facebook message when you cannot make it to class.  For in-between newsletter information, please “like” my “Rose Garden Yoga” page on Facebook, and there are always new photographs and musings about yoga on and off the mat on the blog.

    Peace and light,

    Elizabeth