Going backwards is helping me move forwards…

Sharings from the mat…

The last six months have been tough but finally things seem to be getting easier. Reflecting back, the one constant companion and source of strength has been my practice.

At the end of September I had a miscarriage and then a few months later my partner and I split up. More than ever before I have leaned on my practice hard and really focused on my breath and pranayama. One thing I have been consistent with is doing all kinds of backbends. Afterwards I would feel better and less sad- even initially if it was only for a short time.Grief is felt primarily in the lungs, heart and chest. When we feel sad we allow the chest to cave in as we withdraw inwards. Grief ayurvedically is a symptom of Kapha imbalance. Postures which balance Kapha and heal grief are more active postures, back-bends, fish pose, camel and bow.

Once a week I have been fumbling through the Intermediate series. A lot of it feels clumsy and intensely challenging but through it I have gained more strength and focus. About a year ago I did my first unassisted drop back into Urdhva Dhanurasana. My technique was terrible but the joy of actually being able to do it made up for that. During pregnancy I stopped and the fear of doing it crept back in. Three weeks ago I started doing them again and this time the experience is completely different. They feel more natural and I feel much more grounded and steady. Over the last 6 months I have been through a process of letting go of many things; emotionally, psychologically and physically. That there has been a shift in my practice and a progress is irrelevant. What is significant is how my practice has provided healing and guided me through a difficult time.

What has also helped has been sharing my practice time with others. I couldn’t have done it by myself.

“Grasping too tightly to the things of this world, attachments arise. Holding on to how we want it to be, anger is born. Not understanding the inevitability of change, confusion clouds the mind. Meet this transient world with neither grasping, nor fear,trust the unfolding of life, and you will attain true serenity.” Bhagavad Gita

Meditation Workshop with Swami Yogeshwarananda

This is a transcript of a Workshop at The Yoga Space on Saturday 24^th September 2011

Before you begin to practice meditation you have to have a theoretical understanding of what Meditation is. There are no brands or schools of Meditation. It is one and the same for the whole human race. It is based on spiritual laws and spiritual understanding that is common to everyone.

During this workshop we will look at the following 7 factors.

1. What is Meditation?

2. On what should we meditate?

3. How to Meditate.

4. Why Meditate. What is the purpose?

5. Obstacles- What are they?

6. How to overcome obstacles.

7. Techniques for practising Meditation.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is awareness of your divine nature. This is something you have forgotten. You have to train yourself to become aware of it. It is a process- becoming aware- and this process is said to be meditation. As you become aware you will become absorbed in it. To recognise that which is within you is called “ The beginning of entering into Samadhi”.

 On what should we Meditate? and 3. Why should you Meditate?

What is the divine? What is its nature? When you understand what it is not- then you understand what it is. The divine transcends the whole universe. It has no form. You cannot describe it. It has no colour, no hue. It is not material, yet it is everywhere. The divine is beyond your conceptions. How to think of the unthinkable? The only way is not to think. Your thinking process must stop. The divine is vast and limitless and it is within you. All you have to do is become silently aware of it. Be mentally still and know thyself.

For example when you see a flower your mind has a configuration of a flower and perceives it as such. Every time you perceive something you aquire an image of it. If your mind does not perceive anything, if it does not have a thought, your mind is in an unconditioned state. Then your mind becomes unlimited-infinite. Then the mind becomes synchronised with the divine.

Non perception of the non-self is meditation

The non-self is the known, the true self is the unknown. Anything other than you is the non-self. This begins from the ego. My ego, my mind, my intellect, my body, my senses, my world= non-self.

Non- self is your daily experience-your perception from the moment that you wake up. Non perception of the non-self- to be silent, eyes closed, mentally still, aware of nothing in particular.

Practice 1.

Close your eyes. There is darkness. Imagine a tunnel. What is it like? You have entered from the outside world. As you go in darkness surrounds you and you can see nothing. With total attention you are trying to perceive what is there. You are alert and vigilant. How far? How long? You do not know you just have to proceed with full attention carefully and slowly. In meditation you enter into the darkness ( an unknown state). Go into it with courage, slowly every day. It takes a long time and faith to keep going. Eventually at the end of the tunnel there is the divine light- full of consciousness.

When the mind is free of its contents it is naturally in a meditative state.

If you meditate for any other purpose that connection with the divine your meditation will be a failure- a spiritual failure. If you focus on anything else you are feeding your ego- your non self. Very few people undertake this. It is difficult and it is easy to become misled. We are a sum total of all our conditioning put together. Because of our conditioning we are unable to recognise our divine self. Meditation is deconditioning. No meditation is useless.  Every time you sit you are building up your divine impression and you keep meditating until the old conditioning gets cleared. The “I” has to be neutralised. As you cultivate this divine impression it has the capacity to clear the conditioning from your psychological nature.

Meditation Techniques

It is best to find somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed. If you want to practise meditation set up a place for it. The same spot each day, the same cushion or seat. Your energy will gather there so it is important that this is just for you, this place. Sit with a straight spine, comfortably. Use as many cushions as you need or sit in a chair.

1. Becoming quiet- Practice 15 minutes.

Sit and close the eyes and be still. Notice your thought patterns. Notice what happens. How you are feeling,  the flow of your thoughts, the chatter.  Notice the distractions mentally and physically. Be aware of everything that is happening and what comes up. Practice this just being quiet and calm and relaxed. Don’t do anything, just be. The more you practise this the easier it will become. You are training your mind, eventually the chatter will get less but it will take time and patience.

2. Om Mantra- Practice 15 minutes

This technique uses the Om Mantra and the silence that follows it.

Om is the sound for the nameless, formless divine. It has a power and vibration that is correlated with the divine. Its purpose is to manifest the divine in consciousness. We can use it as a technique to get to the divine. There are 5 stages to this technique

Stage 1- Repeat Om out loud several times concentrating on the sound.

Stage 2- This time repeating Om but also giving attention to the silence inbetween the Om.Give equal attention to the Om and to the silence. Again repeat several times.

Stage3- Repeat Om several times but increase the period of silence between the Om.

Stage4- Increase the silence between the Om to the maximum that you can. When you feel the urge arise burst the silence with an Om. Let the gap of the silence vary. Really focus on the silence.

Stage5- Let go of the Om and remain in the silence for as long as possible. Finish your practise with OM.

Om will manifest divine in your consciousness. This technique helps you get into the state of silence.

Technique 3- Life Breath- 20 minutes

This technique is a famous technique used by Buddhists. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to practise it! It is known as Observing the breath and is a most important spiritual practise. This breathing will lead you to your true life. It is a glorious practise.

You sit quietly, close your eyes and simply watch the breath at the tip of the nose. All you have to do is observe the ingoing and the outgoing. Don’t interfere with it or try and change it. Just watch. Eventually, naturally as you keep observing it will become equalised. When this happens you get transported to another level of existence. Stay mindful, keep bringing your attention back to it. Keep observing.

Obstacles and how to overcome them.

There are 3 categories

1. Sleep/ Dullness- usually when you close your eyes it is to go to sleep. We are conditioned in this way. As soon as you notice you feel sleepy become alert and more aware. Sharpen your focus.

2. Agitations of the mind-the habitual pattern of thinking. We are constantly thinking and we have to learn not to think. Keep bringing the mind back. If you keep doing this the less it will run away. Never be tired of bringing it back. Eventually the grace of the divine will come and the strength will flow out of it.

3. Psychological Obsessions or Impediments. These can take various forms and often in the form of strong emotions or desires which can disturb you. Observe the obsession but don’t allow it to overtake you. Remain detached. If you do not feed it the desire will subside.

Once your mind is peaceful and quiet do not disturb it. Flow with it for as long as you can. Remain in that state, silently aware. The divine is your Guru. Do not seek a guru, rather seek wise teachings. You don’t need to be initiated into meditation. You need the understanding  that comes out of good teaching. After that it is up to you. Never lose faith in the divine. Practise one technique at least once a day for at least half an hour. Ten minutes is not long enough. Make meditation your priority and everything else will slot into place. The best time to meditate is when you are at your best. If you are a morning person then do it in the morning. If you are more alert in the afternoon then that is when you practise.

You should face North when you meditate. The North pole is the magnetic South. Your head is your North so always face North and you will be in harmony with the earth. Train yourself to live more peacefully. This is called Meditative living. Do not be in a hurry. Peacefully function. Be balanced, maintain your mental balance and calm. Do not think unnecessarily . Keep hold of the reins of your mind. Live with awareness and quiet calm. Meditation will help you live like this.

I ran a teachers workshop with my teacher Brian Cooper at the weekend and thought I would share a little bit of it in this blog with you as yet again I have been neglecting my posts!!!I asked the teachers why they teach Yoga and what inspires them. Here are some of their responses;

“I like sharing with other people things that I enjoy.”

“To share the amazing benefits and feelings Yoga generates.”

“I love to see people getting so much out of it”.

“Because I find it fascinating.”

“It is something for me and it gives me self-belief”.

“Its creativity. It makes me use my mind”.

“My students developing and changing in order to achieve.”

I went on to look at sequencing and ideas for creating sequences. How do we keep creative and enthusiastic as teachers? Teaching is a creative profession and it is certainly our duty as teachers to also reamain as students. Forever learning and discovering. The great thing about Yoga is it is such a vast subject with many layers. Bringing us to optimum health, challenging us physically and mentally and leading us to a more peaceful conscious existence. How many subjects offer us so much?

I think it is important for all of us to feed our souls with art, music and movement. Theatre, film and dance. Creativity in whatever form inspires creativity. Yoga awakens our ability to see, to hear, to listen and to feel. Delve in and enjoy.

“The nature of the body and mind is movement, we find that by sanctifying that movement- our actions and our work- the mind can be freed from attachment to the outcome or fruit of our action. This is a potent way of eliminating ego from daily and necessary work. ” Richard Freeman

“Yoga is a subjective expression of an experienced feeling. Yoga is action. Outwardly it is static but dynamic within “

“The self is doing the Asana- not the body or the brain.” Iyengar

I will be writing up more of this workshop and thoughts in my next post.

Nichi

Last year I had to have one of my kidneys removed. Whilst waiting to go into theatre, I was beginning to feel a little anxious so naturally I put some breathing techniques into place to alleviate my fears. When I came round after the op and was encouraged to get out of bed, I was horrified to find I could barely walk and obviously felt pretty shocking. The following day I managed to drag myself outside for some fresh air. I was still in a sorry state, struggling to breathe and walk. I sat down on one of the benches and let the glorious sun warm my face. I tried to sit up straight and breathe a bit deeper, I felt about 100 years old. I had hardly moved in the last 36 hours so I started stretching my arms up over head and down again as best I could, in time with my breath. After a few rounds, I caught the eye of a fellow patient, a little old guy who was striding up and down the pathway, forwards and back, over and over again in his t shirt and pyjama bottoms. He came over to me and said in an Indian accent “you do yoga?” I nodded. He said “I do yoga 20 years, it make you happy!”. What could I do but smile at that!

So there you go, one reason why you should do yoga - It makes you happy! (and according to my surgeon,  there’s hardly any fat on my insides, so there’s another one!)

Alan writes:

In the second part of the talk held at the Yoga Space on 18 February (first part here) I described the characteristics of so-called Mysore practice, and the rationale behind it and behind the firm and physical style of adjusting often experienced as part of such a practice. I’ll summarize what I said here.

Read More

Alan writes:

A couple of Fridays ago about fifteen people kindly turned up in the evening at The Yoga Space to hear me introduce the Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga system. The talk was intended for those with no experience of the system, but also for those who might have been studying it for some time. Talk around yoga tends often to be Chinese whispers, so I hoped to clarify a few basic facts about the structure and character of the Ashtanga system as well as to sketch some more controversial themes about its origins and relation to other forms. The talk was illustrated with photos and video, but I will try to give some idea of what I said in this and a couple of subsequent blog posts.

Read More

I have been neglecting the blog. I don’t mind admitting that November and December were tough work wise and I lost a fair bit of my usual sunny optimism.

It would be good to hear back from anyone reading this because as usual its my Yoga students and their enthusiasm and passion that gets me going again.. Oh and a big yellow Yoga Bus! Who would have thought that driving around in a minibus with Yoga in pink writing on the side could make me smile so much??

 January, new beginnings, milder weather and a fresh start. Im teaching Mysore in the mornings. I love it! The quietness, the more personal connection with the student and working in the mornings.

February is going to be a Mysore focus month in the Ashtanga classes. Always being led in your practice takes away some of that discipline and depth of focus and I find calmness. Your head can often still feel busy at the end of a led class because you have been listening to someone else and less to yourself.

The quietness of a morning practice when the mind is more still is wonderful. Try it.. even if its just a few sun salutations before breakfast. Listen to your breathing and move with it. Feel that  internal flow and rhythm. Have the courage and confidence in yourself and your own ability. Smile and breathe.

Om Shanti

Nichi 

Monkey Mind  from

 Mind and the State of No- Mind by Swami Yogeshwarananda

“We can compare the mind to a monkey. A monkey is restless in nature. If a monkey takes an intoxicating drink and then gets bitten by a scorpion you can imagine how he will jump up and down. This is the state of the human mind. It is restless by nature and drunk with life. It has been smitten or bitten by the things of the world. It is whirling with a million thoughts. Ever agitated like the scorpion-bitten monkey. Ever in turmoil over something. As a result we lose our equilibrium and poise.”

I have just finished a Yin practice focusing mainly on the Liver and Gall Bladder Meridians, it also works on the 2nd and 3rd Chakras.  

Just to explain, Yin Yoga is a series of simple ground based poses, held for a period of between 3 to 10 minutes.  The theory is that these poses stretch the connective tissue in the body rather than work on the muscles.  Also this connective tissue is the pathway of the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine.  So the poses tug and stimulate the meridians in order to unblock and increase the flow of Chi.   It works with the Chakras and Nadis from the Indian Ayurveda and Yoga system in a similar way encouraging Prana to flow where it is needed.

So why this practice?  The liver is the big detoxing organ of the body and at this time of year will need all the help it can get.  It is also believed to encourage self-nurturing and calming tendancies, soothing anger and divisiveness.  The Gall Bladder element enables us to follow through on our plans and keep to our path in life, but also to recover gracefully from the shock of having those plans changed or destroyed.  In general Yin yoga is a good companion to Astanga Yoga, in that it gently releases out areas that are not really accessed in the short held poses of that practice. 

For more information and Liver/Gall Bladder practices read Sarah Powers book Insight Yoga (Published by Shambala) or her excellent DVD Insight Yoga (Pranamaya).

With my body gently opened and my meridians tugged I am now ready to face anything with equinemity.

Liz x