You carry all the ingredients to turn your life into a nightmare-- don't mix them!
You carry all the ingredients to turn your existence into joy-- mix them, mix them!
-Hafiz
As we discussed last week, the yogic path offers powerful practices that support us in discovering a holistic experience of body, mind and heart. We need these practices in order to move out of the shadows of our habitual patterning and into the light of our essential nature. Our essential nature is expressed and can be experienced at the level of the body, the mind, and the heart. The most effective practices are the ones that help us to experience our natural aliveness--grounded presence, open warmth, clear, wise wakefulness.
Of course, we are deeply inter-connected beings but we need different practices to address these different aspects. All our practices will relate to and feed one another, but we need to understand which practices are most effective for which aspects of our being. Again, good practice methods can help us to move beyond the constriction of our usual patterning and into the freedom of our innate potential!
The physical practice of yoga asana is one of the most powerful methods on the yogic path, and the most effective method for awakening at the level of the body.
My specific intention this week was to support you all in establishing simple, home Yin yoga practices, since Yin is an especially powerful and unique practice.
Remember, growing more mature in your yoga practice is about learning how to listen to your body, and how to support it in a compassionate and precise way. Yin Yoga sequences can be one way of doing just that! Taking responsibility for your own practice, even if just for a few minutes a few times each week, can be inspiring and invigorating, and is an important step in your maturation.
Here's a review of the sequences we touched on this week.
Kidney Sequence: Good for overall nourishment of body-mind. Especially good when tired, sick, or just a little run-down. Good after or during travel. Can help resolve the emotional state of fear. Even if you're going to emphasize a different meridian pair, it is skillful to begin with a few kidney poses because of the way these postures relax and open the body-mind.
SHORT:
Badda Konasana Forward Fold - 5 minutes
Sphinx - 3 minutes, Seal - 2 minutes
Straight legged forward fold - 5 minutes
LONG:
Badda Konasana Forward Fold - 5 minutes
Sphinx - 5 minutes
Seal - 5 minutes
One leg straight legged forward fold - 5 minutes
The other leg, straight legged forward fold - 5 minutes
Laying Down Spinal Twist - 3-5 minutes each side
Stomach/Spleen: Can be helpful for those who have digestive trouble as well as those who experience frequent anxiety. Can bve helpful for those with circulation issues, as well as for women with hormonal imbalances.
SHORT:
Badda Konasana Forward Fold - 5 minutes
Lunge - 3 mins
Lunge on other side - 3 mins
Straddle Forward Fold - 5 minutes
LONG:
Badha Konasana Forward Fold - 5 mins
1/2 Virasana (Deep Thigh Stretch) - 5 mins
1/2 Virasana (other side) - 5 mins
Lunge (3 mins) into Pigeon (3 mins) - 6 mins
( add 1 minute high pigeon, optional)
[other side] Lunge (3 mins) into Pigeon (3 mins) - 6 mins
(add 1 minute high pigeon, optional)
Happy Baby - 5 mins
Liver/Gallbladder: Helps to support the detoxification processes in the body. Good to practice if you're noticing irritability, agitation and/or anger. Also good to practice if you've had a fatty meal, been exposed to strong environmental toxins, are a women on your menstrual cycle, or have had some alcohol.
SHORT:
Badda Konasana Forward Fold - 5 minutes
Sphinx - 3 minutes
Knee Pile - 5 minutes each side
Wide Legged Straddle Forward Fold - 5 mins
LONG:
Badda Konasana Forward Fold - 5 minutes
Sphinx - 5 minutes
Knee Pile - 5 minutes
Pigeon ( top knee in knee pile becomes front leg) - 5 mins
[other side] Knee Pile - 5 minutes
Pigeon ( top knee in knee pile becomes front leg) - 5 mins
Wide Legged Straddle Forward Fold - 5 mins
Happy Baby - 5 mins
For more support with your Yin practice:
Books:
Yin Yoga : A Quiet Practice by Paul Grilley
Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers
DVDs:
Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers
Yin Yoga by Paul Grilley
Please let me know if have comments or questions!
Week 1 : An Overview of the Path of Yoga
"You're perfect just as you are..... and, there's always room for improvement!" - Suzuki Roshi
The practice of yoga is commonly defined as a practice of self transformation-- transformation at the level of body, mind, and heart. While I often use this definition, and I appreciate the incredible potential for change offered in yogic methods, I am going to suggest a different perspective to explore this week and ongoing -- yoga as a practice of self discovery.
When we use the word "discovery" instead of "transformation", we are putting an emphasis on the implicit capacities that are part of who we already are, right here and right now. So instead of thinking of yoga as a way to improve ourselves, we can think of it as a practice that enables us to uncover our essential nature, our innate well-being of body, heart and mind. This innate quality is intrinsic, it is our birthright. It can be experienced as a grounded presence in the body, as a warm, tender open-ness at the heart, and as a clear wakefulness at the level of the mind. These qualities of our being are never far away, since they are intrinsic and indestructible. This innate, open, clear presence is what Suzuki Roshi was referring to when he reassured his worried students -- "You're already perfect just as you are!"
Meanwhile, the methods of the yogic path can absolutely enhance our experience of our bodies, hearts, and minds. We can build strength and flexibility in the body, clarity, concentration and spaciousness in the mind, and compassion and connectedness in the heart. These increased capacities enable us to work more skillfully with those things that block our access to our intrinsic, essential nature, which is like a sun that always shines regardless of the clouds that may temporarily block our view.
A common part of the human experience is to take on defensive structures, or armoring, at various levels of our being. We do this in an attempt to protect ourselves from the ways in which life has been difficult, the ways in which we have been let down, the ways in which we have not been fully met, seen, held in safety, and loved. These defenses exists in the energy body, in the physical body, in the heart, and in the mind. The yogic path includes methods for working with these blockages and for recovering our access to our essential selves at each aspect of our being. This is what Suzuki Roshi was referring to when he told his students "....but there is always room for improvement!" . We must have awareness-based practices that help us to uncover our essential selves! The essential self may be innate, but it can easily remain undiscovered, not understood, and not lived from.
In order to awaken our full human potential, we need to be able to hold the paradox of this statement. You ARE already perfect just as you are--your essential nature is intrinsic, indestructible, and right here! -- AND there's always room for improvement-- you need practices for the body, heart, and mind in order to break free from the defensive structures and conditioned habits that block access to this essential nature.
We'll spend the rest of our time this summer working with the specific methods and practices that are most effective for body, heart, and mind-- the different aspects of our being require different methods and practices.
Our starting point, however, needs to be an understanding that while we may need these practices to support our unfolding, rather than a self-improvement project, yoga is about discovering who we already are.
For further reading:
Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers
Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Suzuki Roshi
The practice of yoga is commonly defined as a practice of self transformation-- transformation at the level of body, mind, and heart. While I often use this definition, and I appreciate the incredible potential for change offered in yogic methods, I am going to suggest a different perspective to explore this week and ongoing -- yoga as a practice of self discovery.
When we use the word "discovery" instead of "transformation", we are putting an emphasis on the implicit capacities that are part of who we already are, right here and right now. So instead of thinking of yoga as a way to improve ourselves, we can think of it as a practice that enables us to uncover our essential nature, our innate well-being of body, heart and mind. This innate quality is intrinsic, it is our birthright. It can be experienced as a grounded presence in the body, as a warm, tender open-ness at the heart, and as a clear wakefulness at the level of the mind. These qualities of our being are never far away, since they are intrinsic and indestructible. This innate, open, clear presence is what Suzuki Roshi was referring to when he reassured his worried students -- "You're already perfect just as you are!"
Meanwhile, the methods of the yogic path can absolutely enhance our experience of our bodies, hearts, and minds. We can build strength and flexibility in the body, clarity, concentration and spaciousness in the mind, and compassion and connectedness in the heart. These increased capacities enable us to work more skillfully with those things that block our access to our intrinsic, essential nature, which is like a sun that always shines regardless of the clouds that may temporarily block our view.
A common part of the human experience is to take on defensive structures, or armoring, at various levels of our being. We do this in an attempt to protect ourselves from the ways in which life has been difficult, the ways in which we have been let down, the ways in which we have not been fully met, seen, held in safety, and loved. These defenses exists in the energy body, in the physical body, in the heart, and in the mind. The yogic path includes methods for working with these blockages and for recovering our access to our essential selves at each aspect of our being. This is what Suzuki Roshi was referring to when he told his students "....but there is always room for improvement!" . We must have awareness-based practices that help us to uncover our essential selves! The essential self may be innate, but it can easily remain undiscovered, not understood, and not lived from.
In order to awaken our full human potential, we need to be able to hold the paradox of this statement. You ARE already perfect just as you are--your essential nature is intrinsic, indestructible, and right here! -- AND there's always room for improvement-- you need practices for the body, heart, and mind in order to break free from the defensive structures and conditioned habits that block access to this essential nature.
We'll spend the rest of our time this summer working with the specific methods and practices that are most effective for body, heart, and mind-- the different aspects of our being require different methods and practices.
Our starting point, however, needs to be an understanding that while we may need these practices to support our unfolding, rather than a self-improvement project, yoga is about discovering who we already are.
For further reading:
Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers
Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Suzuki Roshi
