Blog Archives

Once in a While You Can Get Shown the Light in the Strangest of Places if You Look at It Right...

28/6/2012

Had a nice synchronicity today while I was reading some blogposts.

Community Yoga Austin is having an excellent fundraiser tonight at Stubbs, featuring DeadEye, a Grateful Dead Cover Band. If you are in ATX, then come on out for a rocking good, sweaty and sweltering dance and groove fest with an excellent community of live deadheads, spirited yogis and consciously active fellows!

Bought my tickets today, got my day situated, and there I am reading some blogs when along comes this great one from Dave Romanelli - he's the Yogi who isn't afraid to bring chocolate, wine and the Grateful Dead to the mat. He wrote an excellent blogpost on what he sees as the singular commonality that binds yoga and the Dead community, beyond the external trappings.

Dave posits that both of these experiences reinforce living in the moment - being connected to what is occurring, to experience life as it presents and emerges (and I would offer, to have a gracious optimism coupled with an excellent sense of humor). I agree.

If you are familiar with the music of the GD, you know there's a lot of noodling on top of some lyrics - no disrespect, but I've found folks generally like the words, or the music. Luckily, there's both. Most of the Dead's lyrics and songs deal with topics from the realms of folks, legend, Americana and of course, straight up psychedelia...

I find the majority of Robert Hunter's lyrics to deal with the eternal concepts of redemption, of isolation or community, of myth and legend and of light and dark - here's a link to an excellent website with an article on the theme of dark and light. Says it better than I'm willing to at this time!

Thus, the title of this post, and the truth is speaks to me: the 'light' is not always where we seek it; sometimes it's actually deep in the shadows. Our 'guides' may come in many forms, beggars and thieves and scoundrels even. We simply do what we can, and keep on that path, keep working towards our own personal redemption - oh, and dance and sing and shake them bones!

I'll leave you to find your own light, in strange places, just keep looking - and with the words to one of my favorites: The Wheel.

"Small wheel turn by the fire and rod,
Big wheel turn by the Grace of God,
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground,
Bound to cover just a little more ground.

Wheel is turning and you can't slow down,
You can't let go and can't hold on,
Can't go back and you can't stand still,
If the thunder don't get you,
The lightning will!"

Give thanks and praise, and include all of yourself, your experiences as you look for the light!

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Getting Baked in the Asana Practice? What Are You Cooking Up?

27/6/2012

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Thoughts from the practice and teaching. When you create a regular asana practice, you have to balance your reality with your desires.

Sure, there are a lot of days we want to practice balance, but we just don't have it; we seek a vigorous practice, just to find that the body is unwilling, or we seek contemplation and the find the mind is unwilling to simply let go.

I like to start my practices with a period of time that is about observation, exploration and analysis. Just on the verge of judgement, but analysis that rings of discernment, not simply right or wrong.

You've slept or eaten poorly and feel sluggish or congested; you've got a little bit of allergies and they are throwing your balance off; you want to be stronger than you are. This information is what we get confronted with in the initial parts of the practice. And, it is up to us to honor what presents as firm limitation, to explore the boundaries of those limitations we understand are mutable, and to push where we can in the appropriate fashion.

A good practice is more of 'what we need' than 'what we want'. For many of us, that is why the public class and the teacher are so invaluable. They are an accountability system that encourages us to really show up in the practice. However, show up, don't show off!

So, what would you like to see happen any given day?? Well, let go of that! What have you got to work with on that particular day, in that moment and form, in that spirit and that environment? It will change, from moment to moment and practice to practice. Our role as the yogi is to be engaged in that process of change and to honor what serves the energy at the moment.

I was thinking of it like this, today (and I give myself away on this). A good asana practice is like an episode of CHOPPED. You show up, you've got the workspace, you've got the time, and you've got all this training and practice and background and passion and presence. Then, you get to open that basket - and all of the sudden, you've got some shite you simply weren't expecting, that you don't want to work with, that you find yourself judgmental of, and that you must face up to the challenge and engage with if you are to 'move forward'.

Luckily, you won't be judged, unless of course you internalize that. But you will be challenged, and pissed, or maybe bemused and perhaps once or twice delighted and amused. It will be what it is, right then. You preparation and prior practices will inform your present, but not control it. Doesn't matter how many times you've busted out a perfect float-forward; on that mat, at that time, in that space, you get what you get.

And, the wonder of it is, the 'ingredients' don't even have to follow the analogy completely - you don't have to be confronted with jelly beans, or quince paste, or duck livers, or celery soda. You can come with the same ingredients to every practice and at one point make scrambled eggs, at one point an omelette, at one point a soufflé and another, just a hard-boiled egg. Same cook, same kitchen same ingredients, different meal!!

Cooking, it's a good analogy... you've got to light a fire, and get to that heat. Not enough heat: no chemistry and no benefit to the combined ingredients. Too much heat and we fry or dry or burn rather than cook. Mindfullness is the basic skill, knowing, observing and adjusting - doesn't it take longer to bake at higher altitude or in more humid conditions? A great chef is in the process of micro-adjusting all of the time, and using what is in the pantry, not wishing for, but rather adapting to.

Surprise yourself, take the initial part of the practice to scan the pantry, to see what ingredients have come today. Then, observe the environment and notice what effect that might have on the 'batter'. Mix well, let rise and let set, then bake as appropriate, not afraid of the fire, but not ignorant of it, either.

Maybe you won't get a cookie, but maybe you'll get a really nice slice of bread... and someday, you might come in just looking for a biscuit and end up eating poundcake... Same ingredients, same baker, different day!

Give thanks and praise, mix it up, and get baked!!

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Simply Surviving, or Towards Thriving?

26/6/2012

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I don't doubt that in our modern lives, sometimes it seems like it takes all we've got just to make it through the day!

Often, we are our own worst enemies as we take on too many obligations, overcommit, give and give to others and forget to take care of ourselves. It's not uncommon to fall into a pattern where we're just making it day to day, doing everything we can to survive.

I was having a great discussion the other day about why we do these things? What is it in us that drives us to do and do and do? Why do we give so fully to others and why are we, most of us at some deeper level, doing things simply because it pleases others without having a connection to whether it is serving us or not?

Survival mode - that is one way of expressing how many of us can operate, and when you start to understand the para/sympathetic nervous systems, it's easy to see how many folks are blasting along continuously on their adrenals, pumping out that cortisol and staying in the 'flight or fight' reactivity state. It's addictive, and our society rewards it and as we are taught to want and desire and covet and crave more and more, we are 'rewarded' for doing more and more. Quantity of efforts overshadows quality of experience, often; and, in the pursuit of it all, we lose what we have right eat hand!

So, surviving?? That's what thousands of generation of our ancestors worried about. We're extremely blessed, extremely fortunate and extremely supported in this time and space. We should honor that ancestry by moving towards thriving, not staying in this primitive survival mode! It's about evolution of consciousness and learning newer and higher practices in order to more elegantly make our way through life.

Thrive? Survive we might already understand, but what exactly would it mean to thrive?? Here's some language, that always helps me:

Survive (v.) early 15c., "act or condition of one person outliving another," originally in the legal (inheritance) sense, from Anglo-French survivre, Old French souvivre, from Latin supervivere "live beyond, live longer than," from super = "over, beyond" + vivere "to live".

Now, we know the definition to be broader than that, but at it's base, Survive simply means to 'live through' an experience. I can't argue that we survive, day to day, but that seems like the least of the effort, the lowest expected outcome. Onto thrive.

Thrive (v.) c.1200, from Old Norse þrifask "to thrive," originally "grasp to oneself," probably from Old Norse þrifa "to clutch, grasp, grip" (cf. Swedish trifvas, Danish trives "to thrive, flourish").

Flourish, I dig that, but I actually really like the implication that the flourishing comes from 'grasping oneself', or maybe we should say to "get a grip!" Really, as in grasp life and direct it, rather than simply living through the ride.

Survived something - be proud and use that resiliency, but that experience is over so let it go. Grab on to what is, what has come, where you are going. Grab the wheel of the vehicle we call 'me' and drive that chariot onto your victory. Thrive!!

Isn't that the message you would give your friend in need, your child in wonder? Why not yourself?? I beg you, survivors, become Thrivers!!

And, give thanks and praise, we get that choice!

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Halfway to Somewhere on the Way Nowhere.

22/6/2012

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Hey, welcome to Summer, great to have you here!

Summer is alot of folks favorite season; I'm more of the 'down seasons' --- Autumn, Winter --- kinda guy, but I have a lot of sunshine daydreaming summer loving have-me-a-blast kind of friends, so I get it.

Summer is about doing things, being active, sharing with friends, celebrating and playing. We've made it through the dark nights of Winter, we've come through the deluges and changes of Spring, we've seen what's been planted begin to take hold, to grow, to become fecund and formed. It's a reassurance of life, of goodness, of the cycle coming to fullness.

However, did you ever wonder where the word "Summer" originates from? Turns out, through a lot of development, it comes down to us from the old Sanskrit base language, PIE. Actually, PIE, or Proto-Indo-European, is the acknowledged base language for the majority of language groups on the planet, and one of the reasons we see easy cognates in both Germanic and Romance languages.

So, Summer simply means 'halfway' - think of the great cognate you know and use - 'semi'. Half of something, in this case, half of the year. Reckoning a beginning at the WInter Solstice, when it seems that even the sun itself is born, and coming through the cycle until this point... halfway. Midsummers Night; go ahead, have a dream and celebrate your "Puckyness".

Reckon it then, will you. We're halfway away from something and halfway to something - quite in the middle. In the height of the velocity or the bell curve, out of the rise on the plateau and perhaps headed for a long downslope. Sure, the days get shorter, then the nights become predominant as it cools. The energy recedes in the down seasons, until in the depth of Winter, we find ourselves at the hearth, contained, introspective, reflective and thankful for all those 'acorns' we stocked away for later.

Celebrate the season, and celebrate being halfway to something or halfway away from something else. Recognize the cycles, the seasons, the changes as we watch energy ebb and flow, rise and fall. Enjoy - feel what you are doing and then do what you are feeling!!

Give thanks and praise!

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Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone?

21/6/2012

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Here in the land of metaphors - you've had this experience, perhaps. You're merrily tripping down a path that seems smooth and to be headed right at the destination of choice, directly towards what you are seeking.

We get on the path, we find our stride, we might even be enjoying the scenery. Then, lo and behold, right there in the middle of that lovely, smooth and engaging pathway, a huge stumbling block appears. Perhaps we simply trip, perhaps we have to change course, or sometimes, it's just a straight up obstacle and we simply sit there, non-plussed and not moving.

This is one of those times; a time of choice and perspective. Choice in terms of how we react to the situation, the obstacles, the stumbling blocks: perspective in terms of how we choose to view what lies before us, and how we see incidents within the 'bigger picture'. When we combine a non-reactive mind, with a larger scope of perspective, along with some healthy optimism, perhaps it's not a stumbling block in our path.

Instead, is there opportunity for you to look at this impediment, this block, this obstacle, and see the moment for what it is? Not a negation of the path you were on, but perhaps more of a course correction that we didn't know or perceive was needed? Can you trust in events playing themselves out in a way that is not conspiring against you, but rather building something greater with you, in supportive yet subtle guidance?

What if we looked at each of these metaphoric stumbling blocks as raw material for the experience we are seeking to build, to create and to manifest? What if rather than cursing the loss of momentum on the path, we examine the intentions and make the subtle changes needed to keep progressing? Perhaps our short-term thinking is leading us directly towards something we believe to be of benefit, or perhaps there is something even greater or more specific to come, and we wouldn't be available to it when it presented later, if we cleave to what we think we need.

You've heard it all - 'everything happens for a reason' or 'it's alright in the end; so if it's not alright, it's not ended' and of course 'we never get more than we can handle'. I believe in these aphorisms, for how they speak to me. I can clearly see in retrospect how little forethought and planning went into some of the greatest events of my life - how I surrendered to the moments and made the 'course-correction' and found even greater tides.

I've made some big mistakes in the past; I'm sorry for the detriment that those caused to others and myself. And, I've endeavored to learn from those mistakes. To take those heavy blocks and fashion stepping stones. To create solid foundation to move forward and to carve a path, to make my way, but also to accept that the path will meander or vary. What seems direct today may never lead me to my next lesson.

And, I truly believe that Life, or Spirit, or Faith or whathaveyou has a role for us each to play, and play it out we must. So, even when we feel really directed and on that path and fully engaged, we'll stumble and we'll fall and we'll falter and question. I say, discern, use perspective and practice non-reactivity, surrender and acceptance. Listen, the lesson is not transparent, but it's clear.

Then, begin to change your relationship with the path and the stumbling blocks! Become the Grand Mason, the Lead Builder. Mine that path of experience for excellent hard strong pieces of rock and stone. Bedrock and stepping stones. Cornerstone and Stairs.

Cloister, Cell, Cave, Cathedral - build it, one stone at a time, one experience in each moment, and celebrate your own construction. Honor the foundation and aspire - set your bedrock and build your cathedral. Each requires finding some stones on the path.

Keep walking as you give thanks and praise!!

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Sun Stands Still After Taking Six-Month Inhale.

20/6/2012

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Yup, that's how I like to think about it - there is a sweet solar yearly cycle that happens that we in the yoga realm like to celebrate, and I like to relate the natural external cycles to our own natural internal cycles.

Summer Solstice - solstice from the Latin 'to stand still' (Sol = Sun + Sistire = Stand Still :: think Sthira, for steadiness). And, indeed, for this period of the year, as the sun hits it's highest point on our axis tilt, the days extend longer and longer, until they even seem to 'stand still'. Here, we may not notice it as much, but the more north you go, the more dramatic it is.

I recall being in Copenhagen one July, and after a solid midday of too much fun, we woke up an indeterminate amount of hours later to discover it was light outside, but not very light. Checking our watches and the clock, we determined it was 6 o'clock. Now, we were still worse for the drink, but it took us 30 minutes and an Italian co-hosteler to figure out that it was 6 o'clock in the morning, the next morning, not the same evening. I'm not sure how those folks live like that, the flip side in the winter is having it be dark until 10am, then dark at 3pm. Now, that's straight-up depressing, but the light 'too long' is really disconcerting.

But, I digress. We've got this great solar holiday. It's cyclical, and it speaks to our energetics - personal and cultural. I liken the solar holidays (the major four occurrences; solstices and equinoxes) to the passing of a full cycle of breath for the planet. When the Earth is moving from the Winter Solstice-Alban Arthan (the shortest and darkest day of the year) through the Spring Equinox-Alban Eilir and then into the Summer Solstice-Alban Hefin (the longest and lightest day of the year), this is akin to the inhale.

Starting from full recession and empty, and growing incrementally to complete presence and fullness - the Inhale is known in Sanskrit as Puraka. The Solstice (standing still) acts as the momentary retention; in Sanskrit, this is known as Kumbhaka - retaining the fullness.

After three of these days, the orbit of the sun will begin to diminish in this hemisphere, the days will grow shorter and shorter. This is the beginning of the exhale process, Summer Solstice-Alban Hefin, extending all the way through the Autumnal Equinox-Alban Elfed until the Winter Solstice-Alban Arthan. This Exhale is known in Sanskrit as Rechaka. The energetic is quite different, although the change predicating the shift is incremental and subtle.

Using this metaphor is instructive for me - in order to understand the seasonal shifts and changes, in order to create synergy between myself as living being and cosmos as living entity, and in order to mark time and create celebrations.

One way I love to celebrate the four major solar holidays - equinoxes and solstices - is through doing what we call a 'mini-mala'. A mala is a set of 108 prayer beads for devotional practices. Often, 108 Surya Namaskars are offered as a celebration of a major event or for auspiciousness. So, on the four solar holidays, we do a miniature version of the mala, one-fourth of the total, or simply 27 Surya As.

I like to practice them in three separate rounds of 9 Suryas each, with a long-held contemplative pose held between each of the three sets and followed by a finishing sequence with an inversion. You should spice them up the way you enjoy them best - sometimes I add one push up per Caturanga, other times I may never hop or float, just step... If you are able to commit to 27 Suryas then in each yearly cycle you'll have completed a mala and can keep your own cycle rolling: circle without end is circle without beginning.

Enjoy, we are at the highest energy, greatest potential, most exquisite fullness in these days. Discern, reflect and consider, and then engage in the process of making your life and your experience better, more present and in service to more than your self. This is a Holy Day, so bring devotion to your motion and move like you mean it!!

Give thanks and praise!!

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The Brighter the Light, the Deeper the Shadow.

18/6/2012

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That has all the gravitas and sincerity of a great yoga aphorism; mostly because it's quite true, and I would suggest, an unavoidable tenet of undertaking the asana practice.

We hear a lot about 'light' and 'illumination' in the asana practice, in the studios and in the community. We don't hear a lot about the shade, the darkness, the shadows and the negative - unless that is, of course, to be told we shouldn't be dwelling on this.

That leads to a pretty quick case of the spiritual bypass for a lot of yogis - you know this one: "I've left all of that behind; sure, I've had trauma in my past, but it's all light and happiness now." Perhaps, but highly doubtful. But, in my opinion, way too prevalent in our community.

Even the myriad translations of 'namaste' often include words that talk about the 'light in me' or 'that which is best and brightest in me' which implies that if we are successful at completing an asana practice then we should be filled with light and brightness and no worries. It just doesn't pan out that way, and in my opinion, casting the practice in this 'light' doesn't really serve the students.

Think about it, for real; as a teacher, you're there to create sacred space and to usher folks into personal transformation and change. That is sticky and messy and tough and emotional. So, you guide students through that, then basically package the whole thing in a ball of light and bid them farewell.

I don't know about y'all, but I've left plenty of classes with serious issues on my mind; with past traumas, current dramas, all of my failing and perceived losses. That gets stirred up in the asana practice, and it should be acknowledged that as we pursue and seek the light, our shadow grows rather than diminishes. Think about it, the brighter the light, the deeper and more distinct and large and exaggerated the shadow gets. And, when we think shade, we think cool... thus, it can be very confrontational, when we looking for bright and warm and fuzzy to get cold and dark and distinct.

But, I would argue, that is the reality of the practice - and this becomes entirely my opinion. Yoga is the linking of seemingly oppositional forces into complementary energies which creates overall greater alchemical and catalytic potential.

It is not the ablution of the ego, not to eradicate or triumph over, but to find right mindfulness and position and service. It is not the dissolution of negative energies or consequences (as we perceive them) but rather harnessing both the cusp and the trough of the wave - the energy is moving at either point, in the ebb and in the flow. It's our role to become accustomed to looking into the shadows, whenever we seek the light.

The shadows, the shades? What do I mean. Easy - your trauma, your sustained drama, your victimhood or survivorship, your abuse, neglect, frustration, diminishment. The acts you've perpetrated on others, the evils you have ignored, the deeds undone, the words spoken in anger, all of those things you'd rather just forget. As if somehow getting on your 'sacred colored rectangle' will somehow erase up to half of your life and experiences.

Nope, friend, as you've figured out, that's not how it works. It works like life - to fill you up with power, life is both sweet and sour (thanks, Bjork). So, you process it, on the mat, in meditation, for as long as you need to. You revisit it, more than you want to, more than you think you can.

You do exactly what it is that you are most afraid of... and you do it in service to self; not to conquer ego, but to serve You. And, you talk about it and process it.

You do the work, because the tests will continue to happen until we learn the lesson. There is one thing or theme that is following you in your life, frustrating you, haunting you, holding you back - own it, understand it, reach into the shadow and bring it to the light. See it for what it is - not what is was. You've already identified what is was, that is not what it is. What it is is what you see when you do this work, today and each other day in the practice.

Take a look there, it's waiting for you, according to Goethe! "There is strong shadow where there is much light!"

Give thanks and praise!

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Today is a Special Day - I Would Love Your Support!

15/6/2012

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Tonight is service in action - extending our reach and our stretch! Several excellent Austin-based yoga teachers are coming together in volunteer support of fund-raising efforts that will be dedicated to the 2012 Global Seva Challenge - India.

I've personally accepted this challenge and am dedicating my efforts in this year to raising both funds and consciousnesses towards this goal: please check my Seva Challenge Page here.

In the early part of this year, I fulfilled a years-long goal of attending a week-long training with Off the Mat, Into the World - a dedicated group of yogis who have elected to use our privilege and position to become conscious activists. Conscious activists who can both offer service, as well as being able to create sustainable work in areas that have or are experiencing trauma, without internalizing the experience and causing personal burnout.

I've been fortunate to have had two great careers, both where I worked in a conscious industry aimed at empowering people and supporting them in their pursuit of lifelong health, at every level. And, I've been privileged to interact with, both as student and teacher, some fantastic individuals. I've also been blessed with a lot of opportunity, and the ability to lead, teach and inspire.

I feel that at this point in my life, it's an opportunity to give and serve, in complement to what I have been doing, but in 'another row of the garden'. Since the completion of my OTM training, I've made some major life shifts, bringing my values, actions and intentions into alignment, and working on moving into this new space of selfless service, or Seva.

Each year, Off the Mat (OTM) sponsors an international service project called the Global Seva Challenge. The Seva Challenge is a transformational journey that builds community, provokes awareness and action around global issues, and raises significant funds to support communities in crisis. Since 2007, the Seva Challenge has raised over two million dollars for projects in Cambodia, Uganda, South Africa and Haiti. In 2012 the Seva Challenge will be focused on the issue of sex trafficking in India and worldwide.

Participants who take the Seva Challenge have up to one year to raise $20,000 through local outreach and community building. Tonight, at Yoga Yoga Westgate, the proceeds from the Third Friday Seva class will go towards several ATX based yoga teachers who are all Seva Challenge participants. Please come out if you can and support with your dollars and your flow - if you can't make it, please contribute however you can. If you are interested in more information, please contact me directly!

In 2013, OTM will lead a Bare Witness Tour to India which will include an immersion into the history and culture of India – the birthplace of yoga – as well as an examination of the environmental and socio-economic conditions that are the root causes of sex trafficking. OTM will partner with organizations that not only rescue victims of sex trafficking but are actively working to rehabilitate and provide a healing process for survivors.

In addition, OTM will support organizations that are raising awareness and creating economic opportunities and empowerment for survivors. This year Off the Mat NYC launched the Yoga Freedom Project whose mission is to unite the yoga community around the issue of sex trafficking.

Please help me support this important cause, come to the event tonight, give directly on the OTM site, or link here to donate to OTM directly in my name.

Thanks and praise!

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Moving From and With Purpose.

14/6/2012

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Quick thoughts today - straight from the mat and into the rest of the day.

Vinyasa, it's about 'intelligent sequencing' or 'to place in order', not about moving swiftly or getting a hardcore workout. It's a 'work in' and an opportunity to observe how we allow and even use the momentum of our lives to carry us through our days.

I really like to stress to folks to slow way down - like I like to say, 'slow is the new swift.' So, when I teach, we do some great sweaty flows, but like we're moving through molasses or in a thick haze of sensation. I'm working to create a space to experience the very real difference between moving from momentum or moving from intention.

In a vinyasa practice, you have to create the efficiency in your practice wherever you can find it - retaining the bandhas and minimizing foundation transisitions or modifications... if we can keep the foundation steady, and keep the energy contained within the vessel, then we can really create an intentional subtle power in the asana practice. Rather than rushing through it, treating noble asanas as pass-throughs, not the vessel for experience they can offer - staying present, moving into the sensation instead of away from it; this is what motivates my teaching.

When I was practicing today, I was experiencing some real challenges with both balance (ha, yesterday's topic) and having the core strength to be able to hold my balances and inversions. It's just what my practice was today, but in the absence of 'feeling the flow' and really harnessing that power, I had to concentrate on just looking for more opportunities for grounding, and for minimizing the movements from that stability.

I didn't 'bust out' any great moves, I had a face plant, I got to feel 'not very good at it' so what else to do? I just did my thing, faulty and frail as it was, and continued the practice and took my savasana. And, took my lesson - today's lesson is that even when the choreography isn't working out, you just keep dancing. Even when you stumble, you pick up your step and move it on down the line. You concentrate on setting a stable base, then moving from that base with engagement.

Move into it, even shakily - when you feel off balance, eliminate distractions and just keep on the perseverance and in the work. Concentrate on the transitions between actions - make meaning, erase the momentum that fosters mindlessness. Take some deep breaths, get your purpose, and put meaning into the actions. Not for them to work out, but for you to be able to experience moving from purpose.

Is there someplace you've been 'failing' lately that you can readdress your efforts? Is there something you've been meaning to do? What's got you down, or held back, or troubled?? Can you try to approach it, mindfully and purposefully and see if you can create an elegant vinyasa off your mat, even if there's a face plant!?

And, give thanks and praise!

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Get the Balance Right!

13/6/2012

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Balance - it's happening, it's now, it's all about you, how are you with it?

Balance is one of those things that maps perfectly into the asana practice. We can feel out of balance in life due to many factors - giving too much, doing too many things, not taking care of ourselves. Once you've got a yoga practice going, you get aware of being in and out of balance in your daily life.

And, being a yogi, you've got teachers that throw the balances poses in, when you like it and when you don't. Some of you may even have the teachers who not only throw in lots of balance poses and opportunities, but like for you to long hold them, as well.

You know how it is, somedays you've got it, no worries - bam, catch that foot and just stand there steady; hit that tree and stand like a hickory... other days you're all over the place, might as well be practicing 'timberasana' for all your effort. And, for me at least, the best part is that it generally doesn't correlate to anything. I can be having a really strong practice and have no balance; or get a lot of balance in arm balances, but not a breath in tree or half moon. Or, I can be as subtle and inward as can be and feel really not up for a challenge, and lo and behold, it's so right there... I've had every tree: sequoia, weeping willow, Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, you name 'em!

It's challenging, absolutely! Physically, mentally, even emotionally. And, while that is part of the intention - intentional tension - part of that process also yields insight into the true nature of balance. Balance is NOT the absence of effort, It's equal parts effort and ease. Balance is not steadiness; rather, for those who really practice, you know it's continual micro-adjustments and corrections, over and over. Holding the breath never helps hold the pose; holding a focal point, or dristhi, can really help. Dristhi is where we set a gazing point and then really look more through it than at it. At some points, or dristhi may be our toes, or our hands; in most standing balance poses, it helps to set it at the horizon.

I think of dristhi as an energetic extension of the breath, almost an externalized bandha (this is 100% my interpretation). It's a tether, energetically, with the breath and the dristhi point being like a rope and a pier, respectively. So, the body, like a boat, is afloat in the balance, slowing ebbing and flowing with one energetic tide, while the rope of the breath links to the pier of the dristhi and keeps one tethered to the moment.

In any of these instances, the trees or the boat, there is inherent motion in balance, Continued micro-adjustments, one way and then the other then again the one way. It's endless and can become really subtle. On a physical level, it's excellent for strengthening and helping stabilize the joints and connective tissues. All of those micro-adjustments help to create more long term stability and keep the connective tissues working and encouraging them to become more 'intelligent'.

And, beyond the physical, the humbling of falling 10 times, the burning quads - what else can be learned and then taken back into the greater experience of life? Can you learn to keep your balance in your daily world through many small individual motions, adjusting as you go? Can you laugh at not being able to stay balanced and just come back to it, once more, with a beginners mind? Can you set an energetic dristhi and tether yourself beyond the rise and fall of the swells in your day, and keep connected to something of higher intention or purpose?

Go, give it some thought, while you stand on one foot until you fall over - then smile, and give thanks and praise!!

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