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This is not a post about Wm. J Broad, except it is - kinda...

29/2/2012

3 Comments

 
So, of course, I'm aware of and experiencing some perturbation at Mr. Broad, but I won't digress here on that topic. I did not start this blog to critique the NYT or Anusara yoga, and I hesitate to have the voice be the singular one.

I'm committing to staying on top of what foolery I  believe needs to be held to account, so I will say, the two great concerns that I outlined before -- the indelible stain on the true study of Tantra, and the hyper sexualization of yoga through the actions of some male teachers and the detriment to yoga, to other male teachers, to our philosophy and to our business -- remain and unfortnately, have been exacerbated by Broad's piece of 'urinalism' - no sources cited, no fact checking on his 'history', a clear agenda and more fire for the flames to light the path to buying his book. I hesitate to give him the time.

But, he pissed me off - and that's real and I'm human and it's an experience. Of course, because I'm a yogi, and I like to practice what I teach, I have to look for clarity and discernment. I can do that in my practice; I can take my muddled mind and alleviate it's 'spinnings' by linking breath and movement. In that process, I seek focus and build that as my discipline. In that focus, I may find clarity and from that, discernment.

We know the  practice is powerful, and useful. We each understand the teachings in different ways, but let us agree that the intention of asana practice is not to work so much on the physical form (although that is indeed a beneficial by-product),  but rather to work on our experience in the world with the world, in ourselves and with ourselves.

For many, the asana practice is the place that can provide some of that focus, and lead to clarity. So, as we each take our place on the 'sacred colored rectangles', we must observe ourselves, lovingly, but honestly. I like to ask the question...

"Where do you go?" When it gets tough, are you present, engaged and receptive? Do you link to the breath and use that as your guide to detect what is presenting? Do you honor and observe the sensations, the emotional responses, the triggers - your samskaras? Or, do you go elsewhere into the distractions away from the action? Anything but here, or why am I here, or where else could I be?

You arrange, negotiate, carve time, make opportunity and get all ready to show up; well, show up! When you come to class, how often are you in the ‘elsewhere’ and ‘elsewhen’? When the poses present, when your least favorite asana is crowned host of the class, where do you go? When the Teacher just doesn't get the message and craft for you exactly what you'd like and deem appropriate? Where do you go?

Do you go outward, into your day, into your calendar, your checklists, your clocks? Do you go to a place of bitterness – stupid pose, idiot teacher, asshole, or sadist? Do you go to a place of defiance and tenacity -  “I can beat this” or “I’m not going to be the first to go down” – are you prideful, not to be broken, can’t let teacher or student see you falter? Why, for what, in service of what? It is a practice, not a performance – do it for the work, not the praise.

When the practice overwhelms us, it’s easy to go outward and away – to reflection of how great it used to be; to projection of how it should be, could be, might be... who are we to say, living life in the mistily-remembered past or the sweetly-conceived future? Easy to hit reflection of what was, or projection of how it should be, rather than inspection of what is, and introspection on where the experience takes us.

If we return to the practice only to continue to build tension or bitterness (rather than watching the natural emanation of it), and thereby ignoring when that is coloring our perception, then we fail in our efforts for clarity. This practice is tough enough; it doesn’t need to be harder, or fought. We need to surrender to it, and recognize that sometimes the class that ‘pisses us off’ the most, is the class that really serves us if we can disassociate from the ‘pissiness’ and recognize what it tells us… what it honestly tells us, and how we chose to honor that honesty.

Big work, good work – give thanks and praise you have the skills and tools in front of you. For me, I’ll have to take Wm. J and JF back to the mat and look for some clarity – after all, it’s my yoga to love them, to love yoga, and to care for each, equally.
3 Comments

There is a qualitative, marked difference between injury and soreness...

15/2/2012

13 Comments

 
Yup, asana practice can be very calisthenic - if that is the intention and it is applied correctly. For some folks, the vigor of the practice can be the vehicle for the union they seek. I'm of this type, it can be very effective for me to use the physical discipline to, and I gently kid here, tame the savage beast of the mind. It works, submission through supplication.

It's common for the folks who seek vigorous forms of Flow-Based yoga to be the type of folks who seek sensate, intense  experiences. This can be, as mentioned in the NYT article, a source of ego-driven, over-aggressive and irresponsible practices that indeed cause injury - I cannot argue that.

So, my responsibility - ethically, morally, karmicly - is to do no harm. And that can be a challenge with the tribe I attract. So, I continue to study, to learn, to apply and to really keep the students present so that the momentum doesn't overcome the intention and so the habitual can transform into the ritual... moving meditation and devotion in motion.

I tell you this, because, let's be clear - we're working on increasing stability to then move toward additional flexibility; when we really do the work, and stay focused and engaged, using our breath as a guide (firm or deepen the expression, or rather, back off and maintain the breath), we're bound to work muscles, open areas of the body that have been constricted and even begin to bear weight in new or different ways.

This month, we're sharing Yoga, so I have a new student who's joining my tribe, he's a novice yogi, but I'm comfortable with him in class because he understands the 'covenant' - he listens to the teacher more than his ego. And, one benefit of having come to the practice myself only in my 40s is that I clearly remember just how intense it can be for someone with little to no prior physical discipline - hamstrings and shoulders are tight and not used to the action of asana; wrists may lack the bone density for proper support. My recollection was loving the practice, but being sore every day!

Sore, yes, sore - like sore that comes after a great long day digging in the garden or working outside; sore like you are after you give the extra effort to finish a worthwhile project or help a friend move. I'm not the kind who wants to muffle or avoid that experience through pain relief. Be clear, we're not talking pulled muscles, we're talking quads that were worked. It can be tough, it can be intense, it can be a turn-off for some, so I give thanks and praise to my teachers who shared with me these thoughts:

Your body is a vessel, it's a container for essence and experience that is you - your body is not you,  but rather what holds you. If you imagine you as a vessel, then a vessel for what? A vessel for prana, love, experience, service, fulfillment, overflowing? Imagine you are a vessel for service, and made of beautiful burnished shiny gold. Why be anything less if you can create this? So, your vessel of gold that contains the you that is saying these very words in your own mind's ear right now is for service... and in that service, you are being used, sometimes even slightly abused. You get scratched, or dented or dinged or tarnished. That's life, that's service.

So, I view the asana practice as that place to serve the vessel of service - we come to light a fire, for no one ever works metal into shape without strong fire; we engage pranayama to stoke the fire and melt, for every forge has its bellows to encourage the heat; then we take the form to the fire, purify, soften and then work out the dents and smooth the scratches. After that, we allow the process of the practice to cool and firm, bringing the form back to ultimate expression, and in Savasana, we polish the vessel, removing the last of the tarnish, any remaining signs of the work, and basking in the shine.

You take the vessel, you move into life and you shine and serve... then you rest. Then, you're sore - this is the moment that matters... recognize that soreness as the brilliance of the shine from the work you've done to serve your vessel, so it serves the you that identifies you, so that you serve all. Your sore body is a gift from yourself that says you believe that you are nothing less precious than gold, and that your work is to define, refine and then shine!

Fill your vessel, then overflow as you shine. Serve and all is coming. Give thanks and praise!
13 Comments

Jessica made me think about it, then I started writing -

10/2/2012

2 Comments

 
There are excellent teachers.
There are excellent students.

There are teachers who are improving through their study, their practice and their correct expression of asana practice.
There are students who are improving through their study, their practice and their correct application of asana practice.

There are a lot of passionate, caring, yet seriously under-talented and misdirected  teachers out there putting students at risk. Sad, but true. Trying doesn’t a teacher make. And, a certificate is not knowledge.

There are some really shitty teachers who simply shouldn’t be teaching asana practice or any level of awareness. Ouch, but true.

There are a lot of passionate, caring, yet seriously under-listening, over-egoing and misdirected students out there putting themselves at risk. We see them, some seek them because that’s where the ‘advanced level poses’ are expected – expected, I repeat.

There are a lot of pleasant, good-hearted people, students and teachers, who have encountered yoga in their physical body, but are applying mentalities like ‘no pain, no gain’, ‘penance’, ‘reward or punishment’, ‘escape’… asana practice is being you, with you – not any of those things.

There are some really egoistic competitive people abusing themselves through asana practice who shouldn’t be. Life is inherently dangerous and as robust as we are created, we are frail when abused; e.g. Madonna stumbling around  - call it the heels, but 5+ hours of Astanga a day for over a decade would more likely be called ‘destabilized joints and diminished integrity in the connective tissues.’

And, please knock it off with the haterism crap - when you love someone or thing, you're willing to say it true... would you  blame a mother for sreaming 'no!" if her child was about to touch a hot stove? I'm sad  that someone who was so expressive and involved in physical expression had to take it to the Spinal Tap 11 and  just screw the pooch (special Sanskrit term). I love her, but she pretty much epitomizes ego…

Teachers – be students and do your own work so your teaching isn’t to stroke your ego or to perfect someone else’s form, but rather to share the teachings of awareness and presence via asana practice.

Students – be students, listen, ask questions, probe, learn, ask why, but again, most of all, listen. That’s your part of the deal. Do no harm, pay attention, not  on how to ‘get into a pose’ –  but on how to get out of that mind.

GIve thanks and praise!
2 Comments

A response to yesterday's NPR story on the NYT story -

9/2/2012

1 Comment

 
It is very difficult for me - total disclosure - to take anything the  "Pulitzer-Prize winning science writer for the NYT" says seriously or as informed when in the fourth paragraph (link included below) he indicates that while practicing shoulderstand  and plow (Salamba Sarvangasana and Halasana), and I quote - "you're  rotating your neck around 90 degrees..."

Actually, I would  expect a science writer, who has studied physiology and yoga and deigns  to write about it would understand that rotation and flexion are two  quite distinct spinal movements and that the postures that he is talking about indicate a flexed cervical spine, but no rotation (to be fair, it is absolutely a way for a student to hurt themselves if they choose to 'look around' and rotate their neck in Shoulderstand - that's a truism, but not what he is discussing).
 
It's  quite simple - turn your head over your right shoulder, you've quite  possibly been able to safely rotate your head up to 90 degrees... drop  your chin to your chest, you've quite possibly been able to flex your  neck approaching 90 degrees.

Of course, in an inversion, with  the added gravity, for 90% of casual practitioners, Shoulderstand is contraindicated. But, somehow a man who is trying to inform us all about the dangers of a yoga teacher who has such limited training in anatomy - one of many commentators biggest concerns is the 'limited amount of anatomy' that is studied, and to be fair, 20 hours is not a lot to learn if you start from scratch and intend to guide physical movement. However, for a science writer who seeks to be published and comment from his authority, he obviously is not coming from a place of information, experience, or investigation (former hallmarks of journalism, abandoned almost completely in modern media). 
 
Very troubling - and, in my estimation, low-leverage fear-mongering, limbic-system engaging panic is not informative or elevating. This conversation can be rational and based in truth, but that was not the impression that is given... seems like he wants to help sell a book and now is enjoying his time in the light.

No dispute that there are many, many, unsophisticated  or less than talented teachers out there. Apparently, the same can be  said about journalists.

Here's my advice - grill your teacher, ask them their background, their practice, their training, how long since their last training, what is their intention in teaching, have they studied anatomy further than the minimum expectation?? If you are pleasant, and inquisitive and get answers and have a dialog, that's in everyone's benefit. If the teacher is shocked, not responsive or defensive, you have all the answers you'll ever need there!

No effort on this path is wasted - effort is not pain, effort is not excessiveness - effort is presence and intention.

GIve thanks and praise - multitudes are healed and blessed; few are harmed, and those who pay attention will know the difference.

The Risks And Rewards Of Practicing Yoga : NPR
1 Comment
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