I was thinking a lot the last few days how there’s always positives we can find during challenging times like these. We just have to look for them.
Samkhya Yoga Philosophy.
The last 2 weeks of my Shiva Yoga 200hr RYT Teacher Training Program we dive deep into yoga philosophy. The students debate the Karma Theory and reincarnation. We learn about Samkhya Yoga Philosophy and the theory of the 25 Principles. We explore the Classical Yoga practice Sam-Yoga — concentration, meditation and Samadhi. And we contemplate how we can practice the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga in a deeper way, and practice more yoga off the mat!
Yoga philosophy is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever studied but it’s also one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever learned. Once you get it — once you really get it? Once you understand this practice and the incredible technology used in this practice? You feel like you have the keys to the Kingdom. It changes everything. You’ll never go back to doing yoga exercise and stretching again. What would be the point?
I’m grateful to my teachers for helping me to make sense of it all. And for giving me the incredible gift of their knowledge and wisdom. I do my best to let their teachings flow through me when I lead these training programs. And I think I’ve found a really unique approach to sharing some of the more complicated ideas in yoga philosophy. Some of the feedback I was so happy to hear after this training was how much the students enjoyed learning the deeper philosophy and how much it made sense to them because of how we broke it down. I think this is one of the unique gifts that I’ve found as a teacher. This stuff was really hard for me to understand. I think I’ve found some pretty fun ways to help my students figure it out too. I remember leaving my first training program and having no idea what the teachers had been talking about when it came to the yoga philosophy. It’s amazing how your mind opens and expands. Transformation! Are you ready? Time to get on the mat!
The lower chakras.
Most of us spend most of our time living in the lower chakras. Energy is constantly flowing down, through us, and out into the world. The first chakra is all about survival, the second chakra is all about pleasure, and the third chakra is all about power. I need to survive, I want to feel good, and I want to be in control. These three chakras are governed by the ego.
Vulnerability, intimacy, and connection.
Deep hip opening practice! Digging into some of that tension, bringing it to the surface, and letting it go! How quickly can you get passed the fear and resistance and go to the pain. Sit in that intensity. Feel that sensation. Let your stuff bubble to the surface. Look at it. Stay present. Don't distract yourself! Surrender. Let it go. Take the journey inward to the center of your Self. Stop running away. Yoga is about getting into deeper relationship with your Self. This is deep and profound work. It's not easy and it's not always fun. You've got to really show up for yourself. A spiritual practice is about vulnerability and intimacy and connection. It's not fake and phony and flowery and you don't get there by avoiding things. This practice is real and often raw and confrontational. If anybody is selling you rainbows and unicorns run away as fast as you can!
Are You Just Doing Exercise?
I was talking today before my event about the difference between practicing yoga and doing yoga exercise...
There's nothing wrong with a class that is simply a yoga exercise class but it's very different than a yoga class. The goal of yoga is to quiet the mind. In stillness, we have the opportunity to experience the deepest aspect of who we are. Yoga is really answering the question: Who am I?
Savasana, Sense Withdrawal, Taking the Mind Inward.
It’s one of the most important poses in a yoga class and often one of the most misunderstood poses. The Final Resting Pose. Savasana.
My teacher, Sri Dharma Mittra, includes savasana in the category of the eight essential poses in yoga. Dharma is well known throughout the world for being a master teacher and having created the asana chart, which hangs on many studio’s walls, featuring Dharma in 908 asanas. According to Dharma, though, there are just eight ESSENTIAL poses: Head Balance, Shoulder Stand, Fish Pose, Lotus Pose, Cobra Pose, Seated Forward Fold, Seated Twist and The Final Resting Pose.
The Cell Phone!
Yogis! We’ve been talking a lot in class this past week about Vedanta Philosophy and Non-Dualism and the influence of this philosophy on our modern yoga culture.
Vedanta gives us the idea that we are ultimately connected to everything and everyone and any separation that exists between us is only an illusion that is only in our mind.
Classical Yoga philosophy tells us that in the stillness, when the mind is quiet, we have the opportunity to experience the pure Consciousness part of ourselves. This is what the yogi’s call Self-realization, the realization of the Self, the experience of the pure Consciousness part of our self.
Lose Yourself In the Moment
Yoga Is the Journey to the Center of Your Wheel
Yoga Is the Journey to the Center of Your Wheel
So much of our practice is about getting to a place where there is more peace and calm, a place where we can be of service to others, a place where we can hold space for others, a place where we can support each other, a place where we can empathize and have compassion for each other and a place where we can love each other.
I’ve been talking a lot in class about how the practice is like one of those children’s wheels in the park that spins around. The children laugh and scream, holding on tightly, as the wheel spins faster and faster.
Your Energy Affects Everyone Around You
Your energy affects everyone around you.
If you choose restraint you encourage others to restrain themselves. If you choose to stay calm and focused in the middle of intensity then you encourage others to choose to remain calm and focused in the middle of intensity.
In yoga, as a yoga teacher, I watch this happen all the time and it’s fascinating. When the group is focused and present (even newer students who have trouble staying focused and staying present), get caught up in the group energy and are pulled along. Everyone stays focused.
The reverse is also true. When several new students are in class together and are unable to focus and unable to stay calm in the middle of intensity, the whole class starts to become distracted. Everyone gets caught up in the group energy and pulled along. Sometimes even the strongest students get caught up in the distraction and are unable to stay focused and present.
Jnana & Cin Mudra
The past few days in class I’ve been talking about jnana and cin mudra, two mudras that we use a lot in our practice. Jnana mudra and cin mudra are very similar, both consisting of bringing the index finger and thumb together. These mudras are most commonly used during meditation practices.
Jnana means knowledge. When the index finger and thumb are placed together and the hands are placed facing down on the knees this is called Jnana mudra. Cin means consciousness. When the index finger and thumb are placed together and the hands are placed facing up on the knees (or thighs) this is called cin mudra.
One of the ways to remember these two mudras is to think of knowledge as coming from below, from the world around you and from other people in the world -- and to think of wisdom coming from above, from inside of you, from the pure consciousness part of yourself.
My teacher Dharma Mittra always says, “you have to contemplate the knowledge you are learning.”
It is in contemplation that we receive wisdom and our understanding of things we are learning deepens. If you never contemplate the knowledge you are learning then you never gain a deeper understanding. Things just go in one ear and out the other. Where does the deeper understanding come from? You didn't gain any more knowledge during your contemplation. Nobody told you anything new. When you go inside you tap into Universal intelligence. Wisdom and greater understanding of things comes from within and flows through you.
One of my teachers used to say, "You don't have thoughts, thoughts have you!".
The little finger, ring finger and middle finger in jnana and cin mudra represent the 3 constituents of Nature. In yoga we call these the 3 Gunas. They are: tamas (stillness), rajas (movement) and sattva (illumination). The index finger represents the individual self and the thumb represents the Universe.
These 2 mudras symbolically represent our journey beyond the 3 gunas and the uniting of our individual self with the Universe. This is what we are trying to achieve in yoga and in meditation. In my practice I want to let go of the world and the distractions of my mind and bring my individual self into alignment with the Universe.
Jnana and cin mudra are primarily used in seated mediation practices but you can also find them in other asanas throughout your practice.
Clean Your Pot!
This week in class I've been talking a lot about having to go through the fire to get to the other side.
There is a saying in yoga and spirituality called spiritual by-pass. This is where you don't do the work. Where you pretend that you are already there. Everything is love and flowers and sunshine and everyone is so amazing and so incredible. Have you ever met someone who says things like this but immediately the voice of your intuition says something doesn't make sense with this person, something doesn't feel right? It's like you can feel the tension within them that they aren't acknowledging. These people scare me a little. They are pushing their stuff down and repressing so much and one day they are going to snap and on that day everything isn't going to be all flowers and love and sunshine.
It's Up To You!
The Same Light That Is In Me Is In You!
The sun is the lightest and brightest thing in our world. One of the things we are working to do in yoga is to become lighter and brighter. The ego and mind are constantly pulling us down. It takes hard work to move out of the tamasic state of heaviness and sluggishness. We must lift ourselves up and elevate ourselves, shifting our perspective away from the ego and the mind, attachment and aversion, and connecting with the part of ourselves that is pure consciousness, pure awareness. That same pure awareness, that same pure consciousness, that same light that is in you is also in me. That same light that is in us is in everyone. When you see me -- try to look past all the noise, all the confusion, all the armor I've put up to protect myself, all the walls, all the judgment and all the fear. Try to look past my ego and my mind. Can you see the light in me? I will try to look for the light in you too. Then we will be able to connect. I'm sure of it. :) Namaste! Let your light shine and flow through you.
Hold two opposites together.
Yogis! One of the things we talked a lot about on our recent retreat in Tulum was the idea of holding two opposites together in our yoga practice and what happens when we hold these two opposites long enough. This concept is told in so many different ways and in so many different yoga traditions and practices. Patanjali talks about tapas and surrender. Go into the fire and while in the fire practice surrendering. When you close off and contract you create suffering. When you open up and expand you increase your awareness. Karma Yoga from the Bhagavad Gita tells us to move with skill in action. This is like saying bring movement and stillness together. Yoga is an active practice. You have to show up. You don't move out of your tamasic state of heaviness, laziness, dullness, ignorance without first moving. It takes some work. Show up for yourself. Once you are moving, though, can you find some of the stillness you just left behind. Can you move with skill in action. The term vinyasa breaks down to mean: vi = movementny = no movementasa = posture. Movement, stillness, posture -- and is often translated as putting something carefully in its proper place. Hold two opposites together and something amazing happens. Awareness increases. We move from the heaviness, the ignorance of tamas to rajas. There's fire, tapas, intensity. We surrender into that fire. We find stillness in the middle of the movement. Holding those two opposites in perfect balance we reach a third state, a state of neither movement nor stillness alone, a state of sattva -- lightness, illumination -- and expansion occurs. If we hold this space long enough we reach what Patanjali calls samadhi, the dissolving of the ego, mind, thoughts, the quieting of the mind, letting go of the body and the outside world, Self realization, the experience of pure consciousness. No ego. No separation. No you. No me. All meditation begins with concentration. Surrendering towards the object of concentration, holding the two opposites together leads to a state of meditation. Sustained meditation, holding those opposites long enough, we merge with the object of concentration. The body, ego, mind and thoughts, all disappear. There's nothing but the object and pure awareness. Hatha yoga, with roots in Tantra, describes these opposites coming together as the masculine and feminine forces uniting at the mani poora chakra and the kundalini awakening, rising up the sushumna channel. Shiva and Shakti energy then coming together at the 6th chakra, the eyebrow center, agnia and the yogi turning inward and experiencing the Ultimate Reality, absorbed in pure consciousness. All these traditions, describing the same truth. Hold these two opposites together long enough and something amazing happens. Show up for yourself, yogis! Go into the fire. Do the work! Take the journey. Now, you're on the journey, practice surrendering, surrender into the fire. There's no goal. The journey is the goal. You're in it. There's nowhere to go. You're already there. You're already here. Karma Yoga. I offer my practice. Skill in action! Movement and stillness. Hold the two opposites together. Let your consciousness expand until there's nothing left but pure consciousness, the experience of yourself as pure awareness, the Ultimate Reality. This is yoga! This is the end of all suffering. Happy Monday! It's been a great week of practice since I got back from the retreat in Tulum, Mexico. I look forward to seeing you in class this week! :)
The Journey Inward...
We've been doing a lot of focus on Head Balance in class recently and using this asana to stimulate the energy at the sixth chakra, Agnia -- the Master Control. We want to stimulate this energy center to help encourage going inward.
"My Guru taught that when you start seeing the light at the space between the eyebrows, that is the first sign that indicates the Sixth Sense (the Pituitary Gland) is awakening. This is the dawn of Divine Perception, the activation of the Psychic Telescope." -- Dharma Mittra
Concentration and meditation practices help us to stimulate this area and the Head Balance is one of the asanas that helps us to stimulate this area as well.
Road Rage on the Freeway!
I was driving to teach a class today and this very aggressive driver behind me was right on my tail. We were in heavy traffic on the freeway and the traffic was ‘stop and go’. I watched this driver in my rear view mirror come really close to rear-ending me several times. I decided to get out of the way and move lanes and let the car go by me. I pulled into another lane and the car sped past me and then hit the brakes and almost rear ended the next car. I watched the car for several minutes almost rear end this car several more times as we continued in the ‘stop and go’ traffic. There was one moment where I was beside this car and I looked over to see what was going on with the driver. There was a middle-aged woman behind the wheel and she was incredibly angry. She was yelling at the car in front of her. She suddenly noticed me watching her. She stopped yelling and glared at me with ‘daggers’ in her eyes. She then lifted up her arm and gave me the finger and mouthed the words F&%k Yo%! I thought to myself, “Wow! This woman's behavior is crazy.”
