Prana Journal
Writing as a yogic practice
As part of my on-going reflection on "
How Yoga Has Changed My Life," I have added a
longer piece on how I have gained new energy in my writing through applying yoga. I am not saying that I am a better writer than I was before my yogic rebirth, just a more energetic, challenged writer. The concept of
tapas has clarified a lot of the mystery around the writing process.
Linking fingers
Nearly two
months of
working to loosen up my shoulders and upper torso have paid off. I was able to touch my fingers in
Gomukhasana or Cow Face Pose. This pose requires you to put one arm behind your head and bring the other one up your back and touch your fingers somewhere between the shoulder blades. In the past, I've been using a strap. But on Wednesday at
Flow Yoga, I was able to join my hands (really tips of my fingers). This pose requires you to loosen your shoulders and also flex your upper back.
By the way, my first yoga teacher, Andrea Franchini, had an appendectomy last Friday, the same day that the NPR radio feature came out with her giving instructions to my class -- setting the context, as they say in the radio biz -- I guess. Convalescing, she's probably had plenty of time to listen to the story. I've heard that she's doing fine and is itching to get back to her classes.
Leslie Kaminoff starts blog
The
Breathing Project's Kaminoff already has substantial information on the blog, includingi
Interview with T.K.V. Desikachar conducted by Leslie Kaminoff in Madras, October, 1992.. Desikachar is Kaminoff's techer (guru?).
Kaminoff's e-mail list has always had fascinating contributions from many big -- and not so big -- names in yoga since 1999. He is reposting a lot of material from then so the blog will be an intriguing online resource on yoga.
He will also be starting a site on yoga anatomy since he is writing a book on the topic.
Call and response
I am listening to
Dave Stringer's Japa album, which I bought online. It gives me another chance to listen to
Donna de Lory, who sings many of the backup and chorus vocals, just as Dave did on her last album. This type of
kirtan is not for meditation, yoga practice or even more casual listening when you just want to leave the music and lyrics in the background -- it is just too celebratory, too joyous to cultivate your inner stillness. Despite the lyrics being in Sanskrit and repetitive, I feel myself engaged in the music.
NPR : A Father Bounces Back
NPR : A Father Bounces Back: "After combating depression and rebuilding his life, a middle-aged father reconnects with his adult daughter." The audio is now available online. I guess that this counts as five minutes against my "15 minutes of fame."
I heard the story as I was about to get on the Metro, my wife sighing beside me, "And you told them about living in your parents' basement, too?" Teresa does not believe in wearing your neuroses -- or their consequences -- on your sleeve. I could quibble with some phrasing, but it's really hard to condense 30 years of life into a sentence or two. As much as possible, Allison tried to let Stephanie and me do the talking in the report. Of course, I am used to having 100% control over content in this medium.
When I was a journalist in Peru, I used to do radio news reporting and hated it. I was self-conscious about how my voice sounded, about the spontaneity and quick reactions to news stories, about the inability to correct wording a story once it was phoned in. And I never did it enough to get a handle on it, meaning my angst meter was moving into red whenever I had to do a story. This latest experience reminded me of those days with a tape record and alligator clips.
I am going to be a star!
Unless there's a major breaking news story on Friday, June 17, National Public Radio's Morning Edition program will broadcast a special report on the topic of -- well, I'm not entirely sure -- yoga, depression, fatherhood -- and me, I think.
Last Wednesday, I spent four hours with an NPR reporter, Allison Aubrey who covers the consumer health front, talking about how I got involved in yoga, how it's helped me deal with my depression, how I share my yoga experience with my daughter, Stephanie, and wife, Teresa. She recorded my Wednesday class, talked to my instructor, then we chatted until 10 at night. Well, Stephanie and I said lots of stuff during 4 hours of recording so I have no idea what the final product will be like. Allison was originally looking to do something on "male babyboomers who belatedly get into yoga" (that's me), and my yoga studio put us in contact.
Allison came by on Monday to record me doing my breathwork routine, and ask a few more questions. She said that the story looks firm, being pegged to Father's Day, June 19. I have more information about the exact time, which can probably vary because NPR is broadcast by local stations. I will try to post a link here so that those who can't listen to NPR can get the story on the Web. Since the story does not fit into a neat news niche, I don't know if it will appear on the Health and Science page. I will post the link once it become available. Last Friday, there was an interesting piece on cutting, called The History and Mentality of Self-Mutilation, which might give an idea of the style for laid-back end-of-week features.
Work up a sweat, work out your problems
Working Out Your Issues: "John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a specialist in mood disorders, said as little as 10 minutes of exercise at 60 percent of one's maximum heart rate -- that is, walking briskly enough to just begin sweating -- 'has an effect. [But] the more intense the exercise, the better, especially if you're only going to do short bursts.' (Of course, it's not safe to work out intensely until one has achieved a basic level of fitness. And no one should exercise intensely without a doctor's approval.)" Rather than repeat the mantra that I often fall into -- "yoga is the answer to all mood disorders," the
Washington Post cites research about the psychological benefits of exercise in general. The extensive article appeared in the June 14 Health section, and struck me as valid.
The televised art of name-dropping
'Hot' Yoga Burns Bright: What a puff piece this
60 Minute news feature about Bikram Choudhury was. It appeared on the Wednesday version of the show, which apparently has lower standards than the Sunday one. You can see the video on this webpage, as well as the full text of the narrative. It even gets the facts of the legal settlement wrong.
The other amusing thing in the video was to see the variety of ways that Birkam comes his hair. And what this about him being a national yoga champion in India? I didn't know that yoga was a competitive sport.
For a more knowledgable and perceptive read of this guru, check out Yoga's Bad Boy: Bikram Choudhury, an article that appeared in March/April 2000.
Art of Living news
New Age Rage: The Art Of Breathing: "The premise of the program is to perform 'sudarshan kriya' every morning for 25 minutes. If that sounds like the approach of Transcendental Meditation, it's because Shankar was a disciple and associate of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi... Sudarshan kriya, which Shankar says came to him during 10 days of silent meditation in 1982, involves rhythmic breathing to infuse the body with oxygen and help rid it of toxins and stress. India's ancient yogis considered fresh oxygen and calmness key to physical stamina, so breathing in tune with the rhythms of nature has always been an integral part of yoga." This Associated Press article original came out in July 2004, republished on CBS News and I chanced across it today. I thought it was a well-done piece and reflects that the AoL work in India is roughly the same as in the United States.
What I learned about the Buddha
I have been lugging Jon Kabat-Zinn's book,
Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness, around for the past month, reading on the Metro, rather than sticking my nose in a newspaper.
Kabat-Zinn tells us that Buddha was not a Buddhist and that Buddhism is not really a religion, but a highly sophisticated psychological technique for relieving human suffering. That 17th and 18th century Westerners ("ethnologists, philogoists and religious scholars") put the religion tag on the Buddha's followers because that's the way Westerners' brains worked, they needed to classify them with Christians, Muslims and pagans.
"... so we could say that the historical figure of the Buddha, and those who have followed his lead, gave the world a well-defined algorithm, a path of inquiry, which he himself pursued in search of what was amost fundamental to the nature of humanity: the possibility of being fully conscious, fully awake, and free from the fetters of our own conditioning, including our unexamined habits of thought and perception and the afflictive emotions that so intimately and frequidently accompany them unbidden." [page 129]
So "Buddhism" and Zen are not doctrines of faith, but systems of methodologies to explore the human condition. Just as yoga is not a religion -- and you can practice it while remaining a Christian, Jew or atheist. This realization intrigues me because I now have another tool set to add to my survival kit and explains why I have felt drawn to understanding more about the Buddha and his teachings.
Cool, I feel more empowered already. Of course, I now have enough knowledge to be dangerous. Excuse my overgeneralization.
Vegetarian advice
Vegetarian Organic Life: "It is recommended that women eat a minimum of five servings of fruit and vegetables every day. The American Cancer Society urges men to eat nine servings of fruits and veggies a day. I don't think that goes far enough, though. All adults and adolescents should eat a minimum of nine servings of fruits and veggies per day and children a minimum of five. In other words, produce should constitute the bulk of any diet whether vegetarian or not... Most of us react with shock at the prospect of eating so many servings of fruits and vegetables." The writer then proceeded to show how easy it is to reach that target by knowing how to count.
I have yet to take the step of converting to vegetarianism, something that some yoga practictioners see as a natural consequences of their beliefs. But I have been trying to change my eating habits, sharply cut back on my consumption of red meats, and generally improve my diet. Today I chanced across this website and newsletter with good references. Amira Elgan gave some sensible advice so I will check it out in more depth. By the way, the newsletter is free.
I should note that an issue of the newsletter have not appeared since July last year. Amira is a very busy lady. But there is plenty of information and advice to process.
Will work for yoga classes
I have started to host the
Thrive Yoga web site on my hosting service. In exchange, Susan and Kim give me some free passes each month to yoga classes. I will also be providing a few other services, like e-mail accounts and site updating.
Thrive Yoga now has a new design thanks to Dan Trachtman who has lots of experience at creating appealing web sites.
Mind, Core and Solitude
Anne Morrow Lindbergh was a wise women. I've been reading Kabat-Zinn's latest book, and the following passage resonated with it, even though it was written decades ago. Maybe she was Buddhist:
It is not physical solitude that actually separates one from others; not physical isolation, but spiritual isolation. It is not the desert island nor the stony wilderness that cuts you from the people you love. It is the wilderness in the mind, the desert wastes in the heart through which one wanders lost and a stranger. When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others. How often in a large city, shaking hands with my friends, I have felt the wilderness stretching between us. Both of us were wandering in arid wastes, having lost the springs that nourished us - or having found them dry. Only when one is connected to one's own core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be refound through solitude.
This excerpt comes from Gift from the Sea, written in 1955. I came across it in the Daily Dig sent out by Bruderhof Communities.
Getting something off my chest
I think about writing in this journal far more than I actually type at the keyboard. In the middle of practice, afterwards, as I survey my body and mind, and when I am reading or daydreaming. And then, I let a whole week go by before actually sitting down at a computer and putting together some thoughts. By then, most of the ideas have lost their urgency and I am left staring at the screen. I used to justify it because I was also doing a lot of private journaling, but that has petered out too. Maybe I am just in a nonverbal phase. More likely, there are issues that I simply can't address here or on paper.
Curiously, over the past few weeks of semi-silence, my hatha practice has really blossomed to the point that I feel I can graduate to Yoga II at Flow Yoga
For the past five years, I've been an active blogger, both here and on my other sites, like Peruvian Graffiti and BackdoorTech.com. The web has become my preferred medium of expression. When I am not actively engaged in my blogs, I start feeling guilty, somehow flawed.
