Planning

Our trip plans are coming along nicely with a few major obstacles out of the way. Last Friday, we went to Passport Health for a lengthy discussion of possible illness we might encounter. It was not uplifting to say the least. More mosquitoes than I'll ever be able to plan for. On the other hand, we talked through lots of useful information about food, water etc. We also got to ask some questions. Then we got vaccinations. After stiff arms and rusty bodies, we are feeling totally hulked out and more confident in maintained health. Healthy bodies, happy practice.

Also we have heard back from a man who helps students make living arrangements while staying in Mysore. We will be there for at least 6 weeks and it will be nice to leave knowing we won't have to begin each early morning with long taxi rides. More to come on this, Krishna is on vacation until April 10th so we'll try not to bother him anymore.

There will be lots to do in Mysore. Practice will be done early in the day and we'll have lots of time to explore. Included is a picture of Mysore Palace, one of many places we're hoping to see. It still seems very far off. There's kind of an interesting website http://wikitravel.org/en/Mysore if anyone is interested. It's the latest one I've been reading through.

We have still not decided what we are going to do after our time in Mysore. We will likely travel a bit around India. It's nice to have some time planned and some unplanned.

Who Knows

Seven more weeks

Savasana

The vultures come first, burying their smooth heads to feast, untidy and greedy, until the belly is picked clean and hollow. The stiffness of rigor quickly passes; the tongue lolls back. Soon enough the maggots arrive, and then in a flurry beetles, worms, and weevils of all kinds, until the flesh is a writhing, rolling turmoil. It splits, sags, droops; the white of bone begins to shine. Finally, the flesh cleared away, plants emerge from the hollows, shoots peeking up through the rib slats and eye sockets, reaching for the sun.

The in-breath undoes it all, pulls the body back together, and consciousness returns to the front brain. Just practice today. A dress rehearsal. But maybe tomorrow, or the next day.

Soon enough, anyhow.

Quotastic

Who knows?
Maybe there isn't
A vein of stars callin' out my name

No glow
From above our heads
No one there to see you down on your knees

Who knows?

- The Flaming Lips

Saturday/Satchitanada

Well it's alright, 'cause it's Saturday...afternoon yoga. Not catchy, but always fun. The last few weeks, we've been trying a new arm balance each class, just for that aforementioned fun. I've felt for some time that these are some of the most enjoyable poses, but people (students and teachers) are intimidated. I say "What's the worst that could happen?"

Two weeks ago it was Koundiyasana II, last week Ashtavakrasana, and this week Eka Pada Bakasana I. That's Eka - One/Pada - Foot or Leg/Bakasana - Crane pose. It's a bit like a lunge, with the shin of the front leg on the back of the arm and the long leg lifted up and back. Check out this guy in the yellow shirt. He's all "Hey everybody! Look at me doin' this pose on a rock in California and you're not!" So smug.

We tried it first as a modified headstand - manageable - then in its full glory, head lifted. It definitely takes strength, but you also have to play around with the physics to get it right. I think that's true of many of the arm balances: trying them once or twice usually reveals how difficult they are, because the margin of error is so much smaller than, say, Triangle pose. But with practice, the tricks are revealed.

As far as Eka Pada Bakasana today: you know it's been a successful yoga class when everyone leaves with all of the teeth they brought to class. And based on those criteria, I'm happy to say today was a success.

PS Even though I went on and on about Eka Pada Bakasana I, these cats in the second picture are doing a different pose. Duh.

Missing Your Ashtanga Today?

Standing at the front of your mat.

Samasthitih

Inhale - Ekam

Exhale - Dve

Inhale - Trini...

... and vinyasa

Best Sub Ever

Quotastic

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

- Crowfoot, 1890, on his deathbed

Because I'm stronger now, or Why I left the gym

I recently read a story - perhaps, testimonial - of a professional bodybuilder's discovery of and eventual conversion to yoga practice. In this case, Ashtanga yoga. At his "best" during the bodybuilding, he weighed 245. After 5 years of yoga, he now weighs 145.

I cannot deny that yoga has crippled this man - he's lost 100 lbs!! It's like some kind of wasting disease...Oh yeah, he also said he feels stronger that he has ever felt before.

My experience has been similar, though not as dramatic. It was painful to leave the gym, and it took some time to do it. But without question I am far stronger now than I ever was then.
Strong is a relative term. In using it, we may mean the ability to move our own body, or to move an external object. Yoga is the former; bodybuilding/weight training the latter. Through yoga, the body becomes increasingly lean and efficient, while bodybuilding, by definition, adds mass with strength. Very quickly we encounter the law of diminishing returns, as the bulk becomes cumbersome and the strength to move it easily falls further and further behind.

Clearly I'm biased.

The perfect example is the Ashtanga vinyasa. It is really quite simple. Sit down on the floor, draw the legs in and cross the ankles. Press the hands into the floor to lift up the sitting bones. Tuck in the feet and swing the legs back through the space between the arms, landing in a push-up position, arms bent (Chaturanga Dandasana). Oh yeah, and do it very slowly, no cheating with momentum, please. Go ahead, just swing back...whenever you're ready...just SWING back...no?

This chick makes it look easy.

Somehow, crunch after crunch at the gym does not translate into the strength to simply lift up the legs with the abs. It eluded me for a long time. How is that? I can do over 100 lbs on the ab machine at the gym...clearly my legs don't weigh 100 lbs (they seem to weight at least 500)...somehow the math doesn't work out. What is missing from the equation is an integration of the body toward this movement, all of it working together toward the common goal.

Developing this agility - in part or whole - is how the body becomes en-lightened, strong and efficent. It is able to easily carry, balance, and lift its own weight. There is a sense of freedom in it that shades past fitness toward well-being, contentment. The psychology in addition to the physiology. This is called sattva in yogic philosophy. It is the quality of light, clean, clear, and peaceful, as opposed to the extremes of overactivity/anxiety and inertia/lethargy. Classically, these qualities are applied to the workings of the mind, but they are just as true in this age, when yoga has flowered in the form of fitness.

Green Grass and Lawn Mower Rides Coming Soon!

Missing Saturday Classes

As you may know, Evan and I are away this weekend. It's nice to be in another town and have another routine, on the other hand, I'm missing a few classes today and one tomorrow. My Beginning Ashtanga class would be in week 5 today and we've really been rolling. My kids class is on break. Then there's the prenatal class. Probably the most difficult to teach and most rewarding class I have right now.

Last week, a former student brought her baby in for the first time. It was really a treat to see and hear that they were doing so well. A beautiful little girl. Then just yesterday, I was at one of my favorite stores and they told me the owner, who was in my Trinity prenatal class, had her baby on leap day. What a surprise.

This class is especially interesting because I see these women, and often their significant others week after week, changing, and then bloop! They disappear! It's like no other class in that way.

One current Saturday student has been coming to class for sometime now and is so close, I almost didn't want to leave. She assured me though they have other plans and she would wait.

So my class starts in 10 minutes or so and needless to say, my thoughts are there right now. Take Care

All these intricate and difficult positions bring results quicker than the simple ones. When the body becomes more pliable, the simple poses will have little or no effect. The wise therefore discard them and practice the intricate poses...

- BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga

Quotastic

Then he realized: "I, indeed, am this creation; for I have poured it forth from myself." In that way he became this creation. And verily, he who knows this becomes in this creation a creator.

- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.1-5

Lazy Sunday

It was anything but during Mysore class last Sunday. K and E were somehow able to hold their tongues for a whole class (except for some opening chanting...and one-on-one instruction...and some witty banter...and...) as each student, with the help of study guides, wove together his/her own practice. The energy was distinctly different and...delicious. Most students found that when practicing on their own, it became apparent that during regular class K and E's definition of five breaths is distinctly longer than average. 

Go figure.

The Primary Series has its own topography, beginning with forward bends, peaking with some arm balances and other assorted madness, and then cooling down with some fun poses - Ubhaya Padangusthasana and Urdhva Mukha Paschimottansana - that have us rolling up to balance on the sitting bones. All Ashtanga series finish with backbends and inversions. The inversions are said to be the height of purification, when all of the toxins loosed during the other poses are consumed in the gastric fires. Whatever that means. And then Savasana: that's the one were you fall into a pile for a while before trying to make it out of the practice room. It's very devotional, as in "Thank God that it's over."


We're thinking about making this Mysore thing a regular part of class, maybe once a month. It is surprising how different the practice feels when done independently, even though it's the same room, same poses, same day and time. A new awareness, and that's what it's all about, eh?

Well, enough talk. Let's step back from the computer, lift up and jump back...