Let me count the ways:
- I can put my arms behind my back and reach it as far as my opposite hip and even get as far as touching my thigh. I can clasp my hands together and press my arms together, getting a good stretch in the shoulders and opening my chest and collarbone.
- In extended side angle pose I can get into the bind, which consists of slipping my arm under my thigh and reaching up for my other arm coming behind my back, which is why point one is so important.
- My heels touch the ground in downward facing dog, but only when I shorten the stance a little. If I move my hands further forward, my heels rise up a little.
- In the jump forward in the transition from downward facing dog to standing forward bend, I don't land in a semi-crouched position, but with my legs almost fully extended.
None of this happened overnight. I noticed some of these changes months ago, but the accumulation of evidence shows that no consistent practice stays static. The body responds to stimulation, to challenge.
Can there be any doubt now of yoga's cultural influence among fashion elites? A photo spread in Vanity Fair magazine called Spiritual Stretching:
No wonder Americans are Downward Dogging by the millions: yoga can work wonders on mind, body, and soul. In the U.S., 16.5 million people practice it, and it's thus become a coast-to-coast, Zeitgeist-defining phenomenon as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry. In these outtakes from the yoga portfolio featured in our June issue, Michael O'Neill photographs the movement's leading figures, from Christy Turlington and Sting to Rodney Yee and B.K.S. Iyengar.
The irony is only made more biting by the beauty of O'Neill's photographs of yoga luminaries and celebrities.
That's a rhetorical question. Last night I took in a yoga 2 class at Flow Yoga and it was sheer torture for most of the session. Angela, the normal instructor, was out for the week, and her place was taken by Jennifer Rene, another Flow teacher who also leads Pilates classes as well as yoga. Her cheery disposition lured us into the easy flow of the practice and then she ambushed us with a hellish combinations of high lunges into Warrior III into splits and then poses that I've forgotten the names of because I was lost in a cloud of trembling muscles, panting breath, and even dizziness. The most aching vinyasas came in repetitions of four on each side, but who was counting. I sobbed quietly as I folded over in half pigeon. The episode was like a big billboard alongside of the highway to self-realization and enlightenment: "You are not there yet."
And at the end, in all the numbness that comes over the body and the mind, there is the satisfaction of having endured, having persevered and found comfort in savasana.
And I keep telling myself that I don't want to go back to yoga 1 classes because they can be potentially so unfulfilling physically.
Labels: class
For those who are frequently looking up references to yoga poses, Yoga Journal has just put online a new pose finder, with bright new photographs and additional information beyond the straightforward instructions. There are many more sites that have asana photos and instructions, but Yoga Journal tends to be an easy, authoritative reference.
Labels: yoga_resource
I've come to the conclusion that two days in a row of yoga flow 2 classes or equivalent is just about all that my body can take. Even though today is a holiday and I could have taken in a morning class without complication, I needed to allow my body to recover. Yesterday, I could tell that I had less reserves of strength. I could not get into crow and hold it (all the sweating did not help either because it made my knees slip off my elbows.), meaning my core strength was depleted.
I will probably still fit in some yoga today, working on my core and problem areas, doing my pranayama and meditation. I find that doing some pranayama goes a long way for picking up my energy levels. It's nice that I have something to fall back on.
This morning I took the Vinyasa Flow 2/3 class with Jan at Thrive Yoga. Jan is probably the most athletic teacher at Thrive and she always pushes me to my edge and beyond. I had to stop several times to let my breath catch up with me. My muscle still feel the exertion of the practice, six hours later.
Probably the most difficult part for me was seated in easy pose and doing as series of kundalini-like arm movements. My shoulders have loosened up a lot in the past month, but I still have a lot of issues with tightness and even pain. If I am moving into side plank, I have to handle the transition carefully because I feel an intense pain just above my shoulder joint. It strikes me as strange because I've done side plank hundreds of times in the past two years so it's not as if I should be sore from tackling a pose for the first few times. The small repetitive movements of the hands and arms that Jan asked us to do (kind of like flapping my arms) seemed to bite through the fatigue in my shoulder and arms muscles. I simply could not do it at the same pace as Jan. Plus, easy pose (crossed legs) was far from "easy" because it was hard to maintain my back erect; I wanted to loose the curse in my spine and hunch over, which also made my hip tilt back. I felt as if I was falling part in the vinyasa.
The most rewarding part of the practice was when we were doing wheel. As I was moving into my first full wheel, Jan came to assist me by pulling up on my thoracic core, which allowed me to arch more completely, extend my legs and arms, and get a taste for the complete expression of the pose. When I went into wheel the next two times, I made a point of moving my feet towards my hands, something that I had never tried to do before because I felt or feared that my feet would slip out from under me. The action of stepping my feet towards my hands allowed me to activate my thighs more and also seemed to release my spin.
The bottle of water that I chugged down after class barely started to quench the fire lit by the practice.
This is my third and final installment on Stephen Cope's Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam Books: 1999) Anyone who wants to embrace yoga in its fullest manifestation should (must!?) read it. There, I said it. I would not recommend it for a novice. The reader should have a few years of regular practice and have a working knowledge of yoga's fundamentals, its history and philosophy. The book wet my appetite for digging deeper into yoga: my daily practice, my lab work in classes, my explorations in meditation and my intellectual engagement, in other words, the whole shebang. I feel that there is so much more that will be opened up to me with acceptance, patience and persistence, and it might come after a second reading. I'd give this book five stars on Amazon.
A trained observer of the human condition and a compelling storyteller, Cope combines his own life experience with those of other people who took up yoga and saw it change their lives, and throws in scientific research, philosophical scholarship and the theory of chakras for the bargain. It also provides an excellent look at how yoga is evolving in American culture, both the points of tension/friction and the synergy. Cope provide wise commentary and eye-opening insight into the human condition -- you can see why he changed the names of the people he chronicled.
I had originally thought that the book focused on the Kripalu Center's transition from a guru-focused institution to a more egalitarian, self-sustaining and more American organization. But only 15 pages (out of 330 pages) actually address the "scandal" of Amrit Desai resigning from the center because of sexual liaisons he had with disciples and the upheaval it brought to the people who had followed him. Cope really does not go into all the details so a full account will have to be found elsewhere. So the "crisis" only plays a minor role in the narrative, though it does give a distinctly different perspective to look at a yoga-centered residence (a kind of mega-studio/monastery, if your will) going through changes and it does influence Cope's own perception because he has gone through this test by fire. By the way, Amrit Desai is still teaching in Florida, and has launched a CD on yoga nidra. No mention of his years in Kripalu.
Here's a blogger's opinion. Here is a negative view from What's Enlightenment magazine. The first and second parts of my review.
Labels: philosophy, reading
A while ago, I turned on the moderating comments feature, which means that I have to approve each comment before it will appear in the blog. Well, I forgot to go back and do my moderating. I checked in this evening and there were four comments waiting for me. I will have to checking in more regularly. I have noticed that comment spam is starting to seep into my blog and I wanted to put up a barrier. I will see if the moderation feature takes too much interference from me and remove it if it does.
By the way, I did more changes the resource gateway, DC area yoga, reading and Art of Living pages. Nothing radical, just incremental changes to make them reflect my practices and changing links.
Labels: website
I am working my way through Stephen Cope's Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam Books: 1999) and find it a fascinating read. It's up there with my three favorite yoga books. Cope makes a strong point for seeing yoga and transformation within the context of the community. Given the U.S. tendency to focus just on the physical side and strip away the rest, Cope writes, "Consciousness is transmitted in relationships... Company is more powerful than willpower... A caring community can help us create a safe domain in which personal experiences can be expressed, expanded and enriched." (pp. 166-7 — these are just a few of the sentences that I had highlighted.) Of course, Cope's own experience comes from within the Kripalu Center and naturally reflects that exposure to a sangha.
Most yoga studios are not going to have the capacity to create community, unless there is a very strong personality driving the initiative beyond being a mere business venture. This opens up a lot of other issues because of the bad vibes from gurus and cults. For that matter, not that many of practitioners are actively seeking community.
Cope's insistence on the context of consciousness and the power of human relationships strike a resonant cord with me — I'm a PK and I grew up in the shelter of a church, a natural extension of my family.
In response: Asia Nelson asked in a comment whether I had any tips for promoting sangha. As a writer, I am not qualified to give advice in creating community. I tend to be aloner who shows up for class. Because most studios tend to be swamped by newcomers, there is a certain transience to classes, rarely the same people showing up for a class. The needs of a novice are different from an experienced yogi who would be more inclined to seek community. So the challenge of the instructor and the studio is to find ways that build continuity and collective experience. I've noticed that programs like teacher training, work study exchanges and workshop/retreats tend to instill a deeper sense of community.
Labels: philosophy, reading, yoga
I took a break from blogging these past few days because I needed to catch my prosaic breath and I was just physically exhausted. On Monday and Tuesday, I took two Level-2 vinyasa classes at Flow Yoga with my daughter, Stephanie. I felt pretty good after the first class, but the second one really made me notice that my body had not completely recovered from the previous class — the strength was just not there, especially in my core, thighs and shoulders. By the time I got home last night, I just wanted to eat a light dinner and then go to bed. I got a full eight-hours of really deep sleep, which is unusual for me.
But I notice that throughout these intense sessions, there was a subtle shift in my body's conditioning. In most practices in the past, there would be a moment when I'd say "What am I doing here? Why am I putting myself through this torture?" These past few sessions, I was waiting for that threshold to be reached. I may not have the flexibility or strength to get into a particular pose or through a transition, but I never let that bring me out of my focus. There were poses when I was in way over my head, but I just explored the approach and space into those poses. It's intriguing that a milestone so intangible could seem so significant to me.
So tonight, I am taking it easy. Doing some pranayama, meditation and core strength conditioning. And I'm getting to blog a bit.
I purchased a new microfiber yoga mat from Drishti a few weeks ago. As I used it over the past few weeks, I became increasingly dissatisfied with it. It actually has a slick surface. From reading the product description, the stickiness is supposed to increase with sweat, but I didn't notice a difference. I guess I just don't sweat enough; it must work for Bikram or Ashtanga classes. I found my feet slipping further apart in Warrior I and II poses, and Wheel was impossible for me to even attempt, which was a major bummer because Wheel is one of my favorite poses.
On returning to the website to return the mat, I found that Drishti has a no-return policy for mats. I can fully understand why they have this policy. Who wants to buy a "refurbished" mat that has been sweated and stepped on. But I wrote a message making the case that the microfiber mat is a bit different from the standard sticky mat because you can't determine if it's suitable for the your practice until it's been used, until it's been sweated on. What's more, this is a premium ($65) mat; I could buy two or three mats for the price I paid for this one.
To Drishti's credit, they accepted my argument and allowed me to return the mat. Jennifer Rawlings, the owner, wrote back "You shouldn't be stuck with a $65 mat that doesn't work for you!" I can get a refund or request items in exchange. I dropped it into the mail last night. I will be placing another order with them tonight.
Kudos to Drishti for coming through. They are an outfit that definite tries to live their yoga. I would not hesitate in buying from them in the future, and I recommend the store to anyone else.
New York Times: The Yoga Therapist Will See You Now underscores the recent growth of yoga therapy, but also carries a warning:
But experts inside and outside the industry say yoga therapy should be approached with caution. In general, a person can practice as a yoga therapist after 200 hours of yoga teacher training, which might include basic training in anatomy, breathing, meditation and giving adjustments.
At the end of the article, there is a paragraph about NY-based designer Donna Karan "sponsoring a 10-day Well-Being Forum in Manhattan to bring together doctors, yoga therapists and yoga teachers..." That may explain why the article got commissioned in the first place. The event is organized by UrbanZen with Rodney Yee, Christy Turlington and a host of big names serving on the board. Karan is pushing integrative medicine that combines alternative health with conventional medicine following the death of her husband from lung cancer.
New York Times Study Suggests Meditation Can Help Train Attention: Although this findings of this study does not surprise anyone who has become familiar with meditation, it does provide scientific validation of its powers.
...three months of rigorous training in this kind of meditation leads to a profound shift in how the brain allocates attention.
It appears that the ability to release thoughts that pop into mind frees the brain to attend to more rapidly changing things and events in the world at large, said the study’s lead author, Richard Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
We need to use all our senses optimally through awareness.
Labels: meditation, news
While shaving (beard and scalp) this morning, I realized that it had not always been so easy. For the past 10 years, at least, I have cut my own hair, basically buzz-cutting my hair to the smallest setting on the electric hair clipper. This year, I have gone even further and applied an electric razor to give me the billiard ball look. It used to be that I could never get my right hand to reach the left side of my head; I'd have to switch the clipper or razor to my left hand. I noticed this morning that I don't have to make the switch anymore, unless my right arm becomes fatigued from the awkward position. I attribute this improved range to my yoga practice -- what else could it be. All my time spent in downward-facing dog has served a purpose.
I went for the shaved head look as a gesture in support of my brother, Richard, who was undergoing treatment for lung cancer and losing his hair involuntarily. After an operation, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, his doctors have declared the cancer in remission, allowing him to look forward to some semblance of normalcy in his life. I don't know if I am going to stop shaving my head. I kinda like it -- a Buddha look that goes with my increased emphasis on mindfulness.
In an an op-ed piece in the New York Times, A Big Stretch, the Indian writer Suketu Mehta explains why his fellow Indians are upset by the appropriation of Indian knowledge through U.S. patents and other niceties of intellectual property rights:
Knowledge in ancient India was protected by caste lines, not legal or economic ones. The term 'intellectual property' was an oxymoron: the intellect could not be anybody's property. You did not pay your guru in coin; you herded his cows and married his daughter, and passed on the knowledge to others when you were sufficiently steeped in it. This tradition continues today, most notably in Indian classical music, none of whose melodies have been copyrighted.
Yoga is one of those ancient knowledge systems that is finding its way into the dispute. Mehta writes, "The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued 150 yoga-related copyrights, 134 patents on yoga accessories and 2,315 yoga trademarks." What's more, the U.S. capitalist market and the American spiritual demiurge are transforming yoga in ways that Krishnamacharya could never have dreamed of.
I have completed my 30-day challenge of blogging, starting on April 6. Because I had a double entry yesterday, I came out one ahead of the standard count. There might have been a few days of fluff because I came home late after a practice and did not have a lot of creative juices left in me. I don't think anything, like an injury or violated secret, has happened to me because of this increased posting. Another milestone is that it's my 300th posting, but my other blog, La Esquina del Movimiento, has 2,067, since November 10, 2000, compared to April 2004 for this blog.
To prevent this from being pure fluff, I am including a pointer to a site of yoga videos, Channel Yoga. It also has forums, interviews and a Google News ticker. I believe this is the inspiration of Kyra Rider, who has a blog, a yoga demo site and a yoga studio in southern California. I chanced across her network of sites before and forgot to mention them.
Labels: website, yoga_resource
May 12-18 is Yoga Week in Washington, DC at 14 yoga studios. Special events are being organized at all the participating studios. At my DC studio, Flow Yoga Center, they are offering reduced price ($5) sessions and free classes and workshops. Although the week is meant to reach out to people who have not tried yoga before, that does not mean a non-novice could not take advantage of special pricing. The week is a great way to explore other studios, styles, teachers and intensity at little expense. This is the second time that DC Yoga Week is held.
|
Labels: dc_yoga
Thanks to a pointer from Yogamum, I came across LibraryThing. This online service allows you to catalogue your personal collection of books, and these then form part of a universal collection (13 million, according to the site). I searched on the tag "yoga," and came up with the following listing of the term, 2,300 times by 742 users. The top 11 books were:
- Light on yoga : yoga dipika by B.K.S. Iyengar (53)
- Yoga : the poetry of the body by Rodney Yee (17)
- The American Yoga Association beginner's manual by Alice Christensen (14)
- Anatomy of Hatha Yoga : a manual for students, teachers, and… by H. David Coulter (14)
- Yoga : the path to holistic health by B.K.S. Iyengar (13)
- The heart of yoga : developing a personal practice by T. K. V. Desikachar (12)
- OM yoga : a guide to daily practice by Cyndi Lee (12)
- The complete idiot's guide to yoga by Joan Budilovsky (12)
- Yoga : the Iyengar way by Silva Mehta (13)
- Yoga for dummies by Georg Feuerstein (13)
- Ashtanga yoga : the practice manual by David Swenson (11)
- Yoga mind, body & spirit : a return to wholeness by Donna Farhi (9)
I am a little surprised by the high ranking of the Christensen and the Budilovsky books. They are kind of generic starter books so I guess it's what might be expected from a non-specialist, average consumer database. I am ashamed to admit that I do not own a copy of the most popular book, Light on Yoga. I have three of the 12.
Labels: reading
Labels: yoga_resource
During my yoga class tonight, we were going through a series of twists. I was again contemplating the lack of range that my body has, especially when dealing with my core. After three years plus of yoga (of which a good 18 months could be considered consistent and persistent), I am still very far from half lotus, from eagle arms, etc. I've worked at tackling specific issues, like my hips or my shoulders, but that does not seem to make a difference, except when measured against months of time.
While I was trying to relaxing into the poses, I thought about doing something drastic, like taking a day or week off and work on nothing but my hips, or using sandbags (weights, my wife's body) to push me past my limits, or hiring a personal trainer to whip me into form or a private yoga instructor to show me whatever I am missing to get through these obstacles.
In yoga, kundalini is the female energy that lies coiled at the base of the yogic body, a sacred power that rises out of the loins, coils around the spin and rises upwards towards the crown; the goal is to enable the free flow of kundalini, Well, my kundalini seems to be firmly knotted around my hips and wound tightly around my spin.
Then, I thought that perhaps it's not the physical side that is holding me back. There must be something non-physical inside me that is tightly bound and thoroughly even entangled. I like to pretend that yoga and meditation has made me mellow and grounded, but I am just deluding myself: hidden underneath the surface is a small boy who's afraid of moving or even fidgeting and freezes his muscles to the bone. When the musculature has been locked in position for nearly 50 years, it's excruciatingly difficult to ply it loose.
I've been reading Stephen Cope's Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam Books: 1999) for the past few weeks, mainly while on the Metro to and from work. It makes for fitful reading, but Cope has produced a book that is worth thoroughly absorbing and pondering. It is definitely not a book for a yoga novice. It is not a book about asanas, vinyasas and how to fit them together. It is not another book about interpreting the enigmatic refrains of Patanjali (Cope's latest book is actually about that).
Cope's book deals with how yoga can change you in dramatic ways, with why yoga is uniquely equipped to help delve into the human mind and condition, and with the dilemma of self-identity and the real world. But despite its lofty topics, it is still very accessible because it comes at yoga and human change from a personal perspective of his own life, his process of change and the community within which he was working, the Kripalu Center in western Massachusetts. Cope is a trained psychotherapist so he brings a full tool kit to analyze his experience and also a remarkable capacity to communicate a potentially ethereal process in palpable terms.
In order for the book to make sense, you need to have sweated on the mat for at least a year or two. It's also worth trying to discuss it with other practitioners and teachers because it challenges the intellect and benefits from multiple perspectives. At this point in my evolving practice, it has responded to a lot of formless questions that were bouncing around in my head and I could not condense into concrete inquiries.
Labels: philosophy, reading, yoga
I chanced upon this video montage and it really struck home. I need to remember its message. It's inspired by Carl Sagan, one of my intellectual mentors from a distance, and the Hubble space telescope.
Labels: inspire
