How is Progress on the Path Measured?

In one of the yoga teacher training programs I took, I had a manual that had an interesting index heading:  "Measuring the Efficacy of Practice".   I turned eagerly to the page to read what it said.

“Progress on the path of yoga is defined by an increase in happiness and contentment; your relationships improve, your feathers get ruffled less easily and you can find contentment in any moment, even if it is painful.” ( I paraphrased, it was actually quite a bit longer, but that is the gist of it.)

The goal of any authentic spiritual practice is to stop suffering and attain perfect happiness.  We are hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain.  But, most people seem to be living in a state of vague discontent.  How do we become happy?  The first step is to look around us and see how unbelievably lucky we really are.  Count your blessings.  Focus on all that you do have.

In order for this to be effective it is necessary to establish the practice of gratitude.  Once a day stop and take stock of 5 things you have to be grateful for.  You can keep a journal if you like a writing practice, or you can simply pause during the day and think of these things.

There is a well known saying:  It is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us happy.

The next step is to go on a complaining fast.  If you don’t like something and you can change it, then do so.  If you can’t, complaining won’t help.

You may be surprised at how much of what passes for conversation is actually complaining.  Once you become aware of this habit you may notice when others are complaining.  In that case, don’t judge, simply take note and turn the mirror on yourself.  Is that what you look and sound like when you are complaining?   Does complaining help you get happier?  According to the laws of karma, complaining only brings about more of the same.

One interesting note is that there has been less complaining in class.  There are no good poses or bad poses unless we assign them such qualities.  Challenging yoga poses are the perfect opportunity to practice breathing with equanimity under pressure.

Try these three practices: Count your blessings, keep a gratitude journal and go on a complaining fast and let me know how you are making out.  Share your thoughts by leaving a comment in the space below.

Namaste,

Karin

P.S.

I wanted to share a poem I heard on my favorite podcast "On Being"  with Krista Tippet. It seemed to fit with the theme of gratitude.

“I had no idea that the gate I would step through / to finally enter this world / would be the space my brother’s body made. He was / a little taller than me: a young man / but grown, himself by then, / done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet, / rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold / and running water. / This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me. / And I’d say, What? / And he’d say, This — holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich. / And I’d say, What? / And he’d say, This, sort of looking around.”  - Marie Howe

The Heart Sutra Mantra

The mantra for the month of May is the Heart Sutra Mantra:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

Gate means gone. Gone from suffering to the liberation of suffering. Gone from forgetfulness to mindfulness. Gone from duality into non-duality.
Gate gate means gone, gone.
Paragate means gone all the way to the other shore.
Parasamgate sam means everyone, the entire community of beings. Everyone gone over to the other shore.
Bodhi is the light inside, enlightenment, or awakening. You see it and the vision of reality liberates you.
Svaha is a cry of joy or excitement, like "Welcome!" or "Hallelujah!"

"Gone, gone, gone all the way over, everyone gone to the other shore, enlightenment, Hallelujah!"

What Sangharakshita says about the Diamond Sutra equally applies to all Prajnaparamita Sutras, including the Heart Sutra:

…if we insist that the requirements of the logical mind be satisfied, we are missing the point. What the Diamond Sutra is actually delivering is not a systematic treatise, but a series of sledgehammer blows, attacking from this side and that, to try and break through our fundamental delusion. It is not going to make things easy for the logical mind by putting things in a logical form. This sutra is going to be confusing, irritating, annoying, and unsatisfying—and perhaps we cannot ask for it to be otherwise. If it were all set forth neatly and clearly, leaving no loose ends, we might be in danger of thinking we had grasped the Perfection of Wisdom.—Sangharakshita, Wisdom Beyond Words

A Rama Healing Mantra

“Om apadamapa hataram dataram sarva sampadam lokah bhi ramam shri ramam bhuyo bhuyo namam yaham”

This is one of my favorite mantras.  It is a little bit of a mouthful, but once committed to memory, it is fun to chant.   Repeating this mantra always makes me smile, which is part of its healing properties; joy and happiness are healing emotions.

This is considered a Rama mantra: “bhi ramam shri ramam”.  Rama has a threefold meaning here.  First, Ram is the seed sound of the manipura, the third or solar plexus, chakra.  Here lies the power of your internal sun and life force.  The third chakra is associated with energy, will and mastery.  The body parts governed by the third chakra are the mid-torso, the side bodies, ribs, adrenal glands, belly and digestive organs.  When your third chakra is strong and balanced you radiate warmth, dexterity, skill and mastery.  When your third chakra is deficient you may feel controlling, dominating and be constantly active.  You may feel weak, passive and tired.  Chanting this mantra with the intention of healing can balance your third chakra.

Manipura, the third chakra

The second meaning comes from dividing Rama into its syllables: Ra and Ma.  Ra is associated with the solar current that runs down the right side of our body and Ma is associated with the lunar current that runs down the left side of our body.  These currents crisscross in our bodies.  Scholars say that it is this criss crossing action that spins our chakras.  Chanting this mantra can balance these energies and our chakras.

The third reference is to the god Rama himself.  Rama is a kind, benevolent healing energy.  You can read about Rama in a text called the Ramayana, which means Ram’s way.  It is a wonderful story filled with many lessons taught through intriguing twists and turns.

A typical mantra practice involves chanting a mantra 108 times, at least once a day for 30 or 40 days.    Once you learn this mantra, it will take you about 30 minutes (give or take) to chant it 108 times.  You can use a mala to help you chant it.  But you also do a practice of 108 times without a mala.  Time yourself chanting the mantra. Once you know how long it takes, you can simply use your timer.  There is also a way to make a mala using your hands.  You count the “segments” of each finger.  There are three segments on each finger, twelve on one hand.  Every time you go through all twelve segments on one hand, you count one segment on your other hand.  When you get to nine segments on the second hand you have reached 108 (9 x 12 = 108).  While there is something soothing about clicking through the beads of a mala, there are times when I want to chant and I don’t have my mala with me. It is very helpful to have different ways to maintain your practice.

Let me know if this mantra has helped you.

What does the Sacrament of Extreme Unction (Last Rites), change and the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic have to do with your seventh chakra?

Last Rites are traditionally given to someone who is preparing to die.  It’s symbolizes the sick person’s acceptance of leaving behind the possessions of his or her life, both physical and emotional.  Extreme Unction is traditionally administered just once, but from a symbolic perspective, in the realm of our own thoughts and feelings, it can be administered once a day, because it signifies our desire to release the unnecessary baggage we carry with us.  It represents the release of all that is dead in our lives, and our conscious choice not to use our life-force to keep alive that which has passed from us.  This sacrament offers us a discipline through which we can live in the present moment.

While you may not have thought as the past as “dead”, this is actually an apt description of the place we call “yesterday”.  Breathing our life-force into keeping the past alive is like choosing to live in a mausoleum.  It is cold and dark, and the dead do not speak to us.

We are not meant to carry the past within us as if it were still alive.  What is over is over, and using our energy to fuel events or relationships long gone is like breathing life into a corpse in hopes of a resurrection. The cost of such actions to both the body and spirit is enormous.

According to Caroline Myss, the sacrament of Extreme Unction is related to the seventh chakra, which represents our connection to eternity and the divine.  The divine truth of the seventh chakra is to “Live in the Present Moment”.  To live in the present moment, we need to surrender and let go.

This was brought home very powerfully for me this week as two major changes were unfolding in my life.  One event was the closing of the old Cornerstone, New Hope location and with it the beautiful yoga space at The Treehouse.  Change is always difficult, even if it is just your yoga studio changing locations.  While I was excited about the change, I could see that a lot of the students were not.  You could hear sadness and reluctance in their voices.  The new space is beautiful in its own way, but it’s different.  There will be some things we love about the new space and some things we are not too happy about.  But, regardless, on Monday morning, April 10th, we will be in the new location.  We need to let go of the old space and move on with enthusiasm for that which lies in front of us.

The other event was the fact that my mother was moved into Hospice care last week.  I have to contemplate her passing in a much more concrete way.  I actually had to have a conversation with a priest about administering last rites.  While my mother left her home and her possessions long ago, it is now my turn to learn to let go. I need to perform my own ceremony of last rites, of letting go of who I was and that part of my routine which revolved around her.

The inherent energy of Extreme Unction combined with the energy of the seventh chakra, celebrates that all that was good about our past remains alive within us and around us, and that which is dead needs to be dead.  We cannot feel the grace that assures us of our own immortality if we continue to fear and fight the passage of years.

There is a correlation between the two homonyms weight and wait.  The more of the past we carry with us, the heavier our load and the slower our mental, emotional and spiritual evolution.  The lesson of the seventh chakra and the ritual of last rites teach us to dump the contents of our emotional suitcases on the floor as a symbolic release of everything we no longer want to carry with us. 

A healing ritual of Extreme Unction

Begin by asking yourself:  How much energy is draining from me?  How much of the dead am I carrying with me in my daily life?  On a piece of paper, write down whatever dead weight of the past you feel like you are lugging around with you.  Put the paper into a pyrex or earthenware bowl  (on your altar, if you have one) and put a match to it.  As it goes up in flames, visualize yourself dissolving the bonds that have tied you to the incident or incidents and allow your energy to return to you.  Say a prayer in which you release your energy from the event saying, “I don’t want this in my life anymore.”  As you feel your energy returning, say a brief prayer of thanksgiving.

If you have a song or some music that helps you feel the energy of releasing, play it as you perform your ritual.  The song that always comes to my mind when I feel a chapter in my life ending is the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic.  This song was written by Dan Wilson about the birth of his first child and how that event was going to change his life as a rock and roller.

Closing time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here

[Chorus:]
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

[Chorus:]
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from

[Chorus:]
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Letting go of the past is one way we can heal ourselves.   What do you need to let go of?

Lessons of the 2nd Chakra

The lessons of the 2nd chakra have to do with the power of relationships. The sacred truth associated with this chakra is “Honor One Another”.  The Swadhisthana chakra can also be called the Partnership chakra.  This is where we receive the power to act with integrity and honor within all of our relationships, from marriage to friendships to professional bonds.  This energy is particularly active because it resonates in all financial and creative activity.  Integrity and honor are necessary for health.  When we violate our honor or compromise it in anyway, we contaminate our spirits and our physical bodies.

1. Meaning

   1. Swadhisthana - One’s Own Place

2. Location

   1. Sacral area

3. Principle

   1. Water

4. Properties

   1. Liquid, flowing, feeling, changeable, yielding, pleasureable

5. Body Parts

   1. Hips, sacrum, abdomen, sexual organs, large intestine, lower vertebraeinner thighs, knees

6. Mental and Emotional Issues

   1. Intimacy/emotions

   2. Blame and guilt

   3. Money and sex

   4. Power and control

   5. Ethics and honor in relationships

7. Physical Dysfunctions

   1. Chronic lower back pain

   2. Sciatica

   3. Ob/gyn problems

   4. Pelvic and hip pain

   5. Sexual potency

   6. Urinary problems

8. Divine Truth

   1. Honor one another

9. Affirmations:

   1. I deserve and experience pleasure in my life

   2. I absorb information from my feelings

   3. I embrace and celebrate my sexuality

   4. I move and change easily and effortlessly

Questions for working with the 2nd Chakra

1. Do you have a lot of creative ideas?

2. Do you act upon them or deny them?

3. List your personal creative strengths:

4. List ways in which you use/express your creativity:

5. List ways in which you use/express your negativity:

6. How comfortable are you with your sexuality?

7. What do you need to do or be willing to do to be sexually well-balanced and to honor your sexuality?

8. Have you been abused sexually?

9. Have you abused others sexually?

10. What is your personal code of honor?

11. When do you not keep your word?

12. Do circumstances determine your ethical behavior?

13. Do you feel that Divine justice influences your life?

14. How much do you control others:

    1. Sexually?

    2. Financially?

    3. In power plays?

15. How much power does money have over you?

16. Do you violate your values for financial security?

17. How much of your life is dominated by fears of:

    1. Financial security?

    2. Physical security?

    3. Sexual security?

18. What do you need to do or be willing to do to resolve your fears of:

    1. Financial security?

    2. Physical security?

    3. Sexual security?

19. What do you need to do or be willing to do to use your creativity optimally?

On a scale of 0 to 10—in which 10 means absolute health with no deficit whatsoever and no lack of full expression of this chakra—how healthy and well-balanced is your second chakra?

The Symbolic Power of the Chakras

According to Caroline Myss:

Eastern religions teach us that the human body contains seven energy centers.  Each of these energy centers contains a universal spiritual life lesson that we must learn as we evolve into higher consciousness.

These seven spiritual life-lessons direct us toward greater consciousness.  If we ignore our responsibility and need to address consciously these seven spiritual lessons, however, their energy can manifest in illness.  Many spiritual Eastern traditions understand illness to be a depletion of one’s internal power or spirit.  The congruencies among major spiritual traditions underscore the universal human experience of the connection between the spirit and body, illness and healing.

Each of the seven levels of power in our biological system contains a single sacred truth.  This truth continually pulsates within us, directing us to live according to the right use of its power.  We are born with an inherent knowledge of these seven truths woven into our energy system.  Violating these truths weakens both our spirit and our physical body, while honoring them enhances the strength of our spirit and our physical body.

Energy is power and our bodies require energy; therefore, our bodies require power.  When we work with the chakras we are interacting with power and gradually we take control of our own power in successively more intense processes.  At the level of the first chakra, we learn to handle having a group identity and the power that comes within the family; at later levels we individualize and mange power as adults.  Gradually we learn to manage our minds, our thoughts and our spirits.  Every choice we make, motivated by either faith or fear, directs our spirit.  If a person’s spirit is impelled by fear, then fear returns to her energy field and to her body.  If she directs her spirit in faith, however, then grace returns to her energy system and her biological system thrives.

The major spiritual traditions hold that releasing one’s spirit into the physical world through fear or negativity is a faithless act of choosing personal will over the will of the heavens.  In Eastern spiritual terms, every action creates karma.  Acts of awareness create good karma; acts of fear or negativity create bad karma, in which case one must “retrieve” one’s spirit from negative places in order to enter heaven “complete”.

We are simultaneously matter and spirit.  In order to understand ourselves and be healthy in both body and spirit, we have to understand how matter and spirit interact, what draws the spirit of life force out of our bodies, and how we can retrieve our spirits from the false gods of fear, anger and attachments to the past.  Every attachment we hold on to out of fear commands a circuit of our spirit to leave our energy field.  What drains your spirit drains your body.  What fuels your spirit fuels your body.  The power that fuels our bodies, minds and hearts does not originate in our DNA.  Rather, it has roots in divinity itself.

Three truths that are common to the major spiritual traditions are:

1. Misdirecting the power of one’s spirit will generate consequences in one’s body and life.

2. Every human being will encounter a series of challenges that test his allegiance to heave. These tests will come in the form of the disintegration of one’s physical power base: the inevitable loss of wealth, family, health or worldly power.  This loss will activate a crisis of faith, forcing one to ask, “What is it, or who is it that I have faith in?”

3. To heal from the misdirection of one’s spirit, one has to be willing to act to release the past, cleanse one’s spirit and return to the present moment.

In the major spiritual traditions, the physical world serves the learning of our spirits, and the “tests’ we encounter there follow a well ordained pattern.  In the chakra system, each energy center warehouses a particular power.  These powers ascend from the densest physical power to the most etheric or spiritual power.  Remarkably, the challenges we face in our lives tend to follow this alignment as well.

The Lessons of the First Chakra

The lessons of the first chakra are related to the material world.  The first chakra is also called your tribal chakra.  The sacred truth at this level is All is One.  We are interconnected with all of life and to one another.  The tribal chakra resonates to our need to honor familial bonds and to have a code of honor within ourselves.  We first encounter this truth within our biological family, learning to respect the bonds of blood.  This connection can spread to others who are like you as members of a church, temple or synagogue.  However, your bond to your biological family is symbolic to everyone and to all that is life.  As Thich Nhat Hanh says we “inter-are”.   Violating this energy bond by considering those wqho are different than us to be less than us creates a conflict within our spirit and therefore within our physical body.   Accepting and acting according to the basic truth All is One is a universal spiritual challenge.

The First Chakra

Location:  Base of the spine at the coccyx.

Organs:  Spinal column and physical body support, legs, bones, feet, rectum and immune system

Emotional and mental issues: Emotional and mental health, physical family, group safety and security, ability to provide for life’s necessities, ability to stand up for one’s self, feeling at home, social and familial law and order.

Physical dysfunctions: Chronic lower back pain, sciatica, varicose veins, rectal tumors/cancer, depression, immune related disorders.

Questions to ask yourself in regard to the health of the first chakra:

1. What beliefs and values do you share with your family?

2. What beliefs and values do you not share with your family?

3. What beliefs and values, when shared with your family, create anger, guilt, anxiety, or depression?

4. What beliefs and values, when shared with your family, create joy and acceptance?

5. Identify and list any superstitions that you hold.

   1. Which of these superstitions create fear?

   2. Which of these superstitions create pleasure?

6. Can you define your personal code of honor?

7. List situations where you did not live up to your code of honor.

   1. List situations where you have resolved the issues listed in the previous question.

8. List unfinished business (anger, guilt, anxiety, depression) with:

   1. Your mother

   2. Your father

   3. One or more of your siblings

   4. Other family members

   5. What are you willing to do to heal any of these relationships?

9. List all the blessings you received from:

   1. Your mother

   2. Your father

   3. One or more of your siblings

   4. Other family members

10. What are the major values you would wish to instill in your children if you had/have any?

11. What tribal rituals/traditions do you wish to honor and continue?

12. List tribal values you wish or need to strengthen.

On a scale of 0 to 10—in which 10 means absolute health with no deficit whatsoever and no lack of full expression of this chakra—how healthy and how well-balanced is your first chakra?

The Gayatri Mantra

This month we will be chanting the Gayatri Mantra in class:

Om bhur bhuvah suvaha

Tat savitur vareniyam

bhargo devasya dhimahi

Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat

-Rig Veda 3.62

Translation:

Om, we meditate on the glory of that being who has produced this universe, may he/she enlighten our minds.

Listen here to a classical version of the chant.  Listen here to a Deva Premal version.

The Gayatri mantra is a beautiful and ancient chant from the the Rig Veda, an ancient Indian collection of Sacred Sanskrit hymns.  This mantra is dedicated to the Savitur, the sun deity.  "Om bhur bhuva suvah" is the opening incantation of the Gayatri Mantra to pay homage to the interconnectedness of the earth (bhur), the atmosphere (bhuvah) and the heavens (suvah).

Some people are uncomfortable when I bring up the spiritual aspects of yoga.  Especially when there is an indication of a deity as mentioned in the translation of the Gayatri mantra above:  "We meditate on the glory of that being, who has produced the universe, may he/she enlighten our minds."    I often talk about surrendering our will to a Divine Will or to a higher power.  Who or what produced the universe?  I don't really think that there is a he or a she that can enlighten our minds.  But what is that power?

It is how Krishna describes himself to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita:

I am the taste in water,

the light in the moon and sun

The sacred syllable Om

in the Vedas, the sound in air.

I am the fragrance in the earth,

the manliness in men, the brilliance

in fire, the life in the living,

and the abstinence in ascetics.

I am the primal seed

within all beings, Arjuna.  -BG 7. 8 - 10

These don't describe a god as a he or a she, but the forces, wonders and beauty of the natural world and the mysteries that surround us. There is a wonderful description of the idea of a higher power  in the book of Job, when Job is crumbling under all of the bad things that have happened to him and he questions Divine Will.  God's response to Job is, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?  Have you ever given orders to the morning or sent the dawn to its post?"

To me, this is what chanting the Gayatri means: celebrating whatever force it is that causes flowers to bloom, the sun to rise an for me to be alive.

The Guru Mantra

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheswara. Guru Sak Shat.  Param Brahma.  Tasmai Shri Guravey, Namaha.

This month in class we have been chanting the guru mantra.  This is a chant done at the beginnings of teachings, whether it is a yoga class, a meditation or a satsang.  It is a beautiful chant.  One of my teachers does it at the beginning of our weekly meditation group.  She always asks people to join in but I find that I am the only one joining her. I didn't know if the other students didn't like to chant or if they just didn't know the words, so I thought I would share this beautiful chant and tradition by teaching it in classes this month.

This is a chant to the guru, your guru and all gurus.  A guru is a teacher. The word has two parts, "gu" which means darkness and "ru" which means light. The guru is said to be one who leads you from darkness to light.  There are official gurus or teachers.  But almost anyone or anything can be a guru.  You can have an official guru or teacher, a swami perhaps, someone who dresses in orange robes and lives in an ashram.  Your best friend can be a guru when they have to tell you something that might be difficult for you to hear.  Your dog can be a guru when they teach you about unconditional love.

Let's go through the chant.

There are three main gods in the Hindu tradition:  Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.  The first part of the chant recognizes the principles these deities represent.

Guru Brahma.  Brahma is the god of is-ness or being.  The principle of Brahma is that of unmanifested consciousness; the universe before the big bang.

Guru Vishnu.  Vishnu is the god of creation. This principle brings all of our world into being

Guru Devo Maheswara.  This refers to Shiva, although it does not use his name.  The word "devo" refers to god.  The word "maheswara" is really two words: "maha" meaning great and "Ishwara" meaning god.  So this line refers to "the teacher, the god, the great God".  You have to know that this means Shiva.  Shiva is the god of death and destruction.  He is often depicted dancing on the burial grounds.  His dance does bring about death and destruction, but because of the idea of reincarnation, his dance also brings about re-birth.  These three lines tell us to remember that the only constant in the world is change and that change can be one of our greatest teachers.

Guru Sak Shat.  This refers to the guru nearby, the anyone who could be a teacher in the moment.  There is a song by Joan Osborne called "One of Us".  (Joan is a real spiritual seeker.)  She sings, "What if god were one of us, just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?"  Since we are all said to be made of a piece of divine consciousness, then any one of us can be a deity and could be standing right next to you right now.

Param Brahma.  This refers to the guru that is beyond comprehension, the guru that is beyond the beyond.  We just have to open to the present moment to receive a teaching or enlightenment.

Tas Mai Shri Guravey.  The "ey" ending to the word guru changes it to be refelxive.  This refers to the guru inside of you.  The wisdom of your own heart.

Namaha means I bow to.

I hope you enjoy this chant and will join me as we chant it at the beginning of classes.

Learning to Relax.

The pose of the month for December is Savasana.  That does not mean that we will spend the entire class in Savasana.  Just like every other pose of the month, we will spend maybe 10 or 15 minutes working on the featured pose.   (And, if you are lucky, you will get a lovely Savasana assist by yours truly!)

So what do we need to work on in Savasana?  Aren’t we just supposed to relax and do nothing?  Absolutely, but how many of us can do so?  I know many students who cannot stay for Savasana.  They don’t see the value in “doing nothing”.

But relaxation is so important, it breaks the stress cycle.  We all know how stress is bad for our body and immune system. (You can read about how harmful stress is for your body here.)  While we cannot avoid stress in our lives, we can take steps to promote relaxation and Savasana is one of those ways.

We live in a high stress society.  I am amazed at how many people cannot relax.

All during class I am cueing, cajoling and encouraging my students to engage this, or straighten that, or hug towards the midline, or extend out.  When we finally get to the end, it is time to relax and let go.  Often a strong and sweaty practice is conducive to letting go.  But, I am surprised at how much tension some students can still be holding onto in their bodies during Savasana.

Sometimes during final relaxation, I will go around and adjust a few people. I usually let people know I will be doing this so I don’t startle anyone (and I allow people to opt out).   I approach them quietly and touch them gently before lifting their arm up and slowly wiggling it.  If they are relaxed, the arm should move like the empty sleeve of a jacket.  But more often than not, the arm comes up rigidly and the person moves the arm with me, anticipating which way I am going to wiggle it.  Some students are unconsciously helping me, even though I tell them I don’t want them to help.  It is not unusual for the arm to stay up in the air even after I have let go of it.  When I quietly tell the person that if they were relaxed, the arm would not stay up in the air by itself, they often smile and let the arm down.  Then I begin again.  I ask students to “let go”, to “play dead”, “relax”.  Some people simply cannot do it right away.  It takes practice.  We are so used to being on guard, to protecting ourselves from being taken advantage of, of not allowing ourselves to be vulnerable.  The result is that we cannot let go.

I discovered what I need to do is to prepare people for relaxation; to tell them at the beginning of class what they need to do at the end, to describe what I see and feel in people’s bodies when they are tense.  This seems to help a lot.  In a society that values doing over being, we need instructions on how to relax.

Here are some tips on how to relax:

1. Plan a place and time to relax (if this is done outside of your regular yoga class.) Showing up is 80% of the work!

2. Determine the amount of time you have to relax and set a timer. It is easier to relax when you know how much time you are willing to give.

3. Make yourself comfortable. You should be lying down on the floor.  Place a blanket under you if the floor is hard and you are not on carpet.  Use blankets, bolsters or pillows to support your body in away way to insure you stay comfortable.

4. Make sure you are warm. As you lay still you will feel cooler than when you were moving, particularly if you were sweaty.  Put on an extra shirt, socks or even cover yourself with a blanket.

5. Use an eye pillow, if you like, or cover your eyes with something like the sleeve of a shirt or a hand towel. This does two things for you: First, it creates darkness which is more conducive to relaxing.  Second, it weighs the eyes down and helps to keep them from moving around.  (You don’t need something heavy on the eyes, just a gentle suggestion of weight.) Eye movement stimulates the brain and we want the brain to slow down as part of the process of relaxing.

6. Commit to stillness. Sometimes when I lay down for Savasana I may feel as if I am too fidgety to relax and all of a sudden I have these itches and twitches and urges to move.  90% of the time, if I ignore these urges, they will go away.  It seems that they are the mind’s resistance to staying still.  The mind wants to be stimulated.  If I am able to resist movement I begin to relax.  Now, 10% of the time, you may actually have to scratch that itch, move your leg or grab another pillow.  You have to use common sense here, but don’t be fooled by your restless, monkey mind or you will never be able to relax.

If you don't have the time or inclination to relax at home make sure you come to class during the month of December to work on it.  You’ll be glad you did!

Come on!  I know what you really come to class for:

I’ll see you in class!

Karin

Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude

Several years ago I developed a daily gratitude practice.  I wanted to shift things in my life.  Somehow I knew I had a good life, or even a great life, but I found myself complaining a lot about things. I felt dissatisfied somehow.  I began to see that I was focusing on those things that were going wrong in my life, rather than what was going right.

Back in November 2013, I was waiting in line at the grocery store and I picked up O magazine.   I have always loved Oprah's article called "What I Know for Sure" which is on the last page of the magazine.   In this particular article she wrote about how much her gratitude practice helped her.  I remember thinking that Oprah, who seemed to have everything, had to practice being grateful???  But she did.  And, so, I thought that if it was good enough for her, then maybe I should give it a try.

I keep a journal by my bedside and write in it every night 5 things I am grateful for.  That was the beginning in a big shift in my attitude.  Sometimes I am grateful for the same things every night: my husband, my son, my house.  Sometimes I am grateful for the simplest things:  my car starts every morning when I turn the key, I have hot water, I don't have a tooth ache.  The act of being grateful points the way to other things that I am grateful for and so my life changes from feeling somewhat vaguely discontented to realizing how wonderful my life truly is!

One of the things I am enormously grateful for is my job.  I love teaching yoga and I love my students.  In one of my teacher training sessions, one of my students, who also shared a love of Oprah, shared a book with me:  29 Gifts by Cami Walker.

Here is the description of the book from Amazon:

"At age thirty-five, Cami Walker was burdened by an intensified struggle with multiple sclerosis, a chronic neurological disease that left her debilitated and depressed. Then she received an uncommon “prescription” from South African healer Mbali Creazzo: Give away 29 gifts in 29 days.

29 Gifts is the insightful story of the author's life change as she embraces and reflects on the naturally reciprocal process of giving. Many of Walker's gifts were simple—a phone call, spare change, a Kleenex. Yet the acts were transformative. By Day 29, not only had Walker's health and happiness improved, but she had created a worldwide giving movement. 29 Gifts shows how a simple, daily practice of altruism can dramatically alter your outlook on the world."

Check out the 29 gifts website here.

The book details the "prescription" given to Cami by Mbali Creazzo which I wrote about here.

I know that Thanksgiving is the time of the year that we are already supposed to be be thankful.  So, I thought it would be a good idea to take this time to cultivate an "Attitude of Gratitude" that lasted for more than one day.  You might feel that with the beginning of the holiday season that you are already worried about what you are "getting" other people.  But I encourage you to think about these gifts differently.  A gift could be: a compliment, a hug, giving somebody something you already have (but maybe don't use) that you know they would want.

Mbali writes about how the prescription of giving for 29 days changed her life.  She says:  "When I am in service to another person, I am moving from a place of self-centeredness to selflessness.  The act of giving inherently carries gratitude in it.  For me, it is impossible to give without feeling grateful."

Maybe the timing is not quite right for you to begin giving 29 gifts right now.  If it isn't,  wait until you have read the book.  Maybe you start in the new year, as I did on January 4th of last year.  If you do this practice, I guarantee it will cause a shift in your perspective and may very well change your life.

I leave you with my favorite quote about gratitude.  I read this every Thanksgiving to my classes and at my own Thanksgiving dinner table:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” - Melody Beattie

If you embark on this mission, please share your experiences below.  May you have a wonderful holiday filled with gratitude for all the blessings in your life!

Namaste,

Karin