sophie does yoga

a blog about the world of yoga, my world, and the overlapping of the two

[soyola73]

Kurmasana Watch

Sometimes the increments of our progress are so small that it is difficult to see if they even exist.  I suppose this is where faith comes in.  This is how I feel about kurmasana at the moment.

A fellow yogi once told me about something Pattabhi Jois said about learning to do 'jump throughs' (where you swing through from downward dog to a seated position with legs straight out in front of you).   The difficulty many people have with this is that at first it feels like your arms are too short and there is not enough space for your body to fit through.  So, instead of gliding through your arms and then floating your bum down gracefully to the mat, your feet crash into the mat before you get through your arms, like Tom trying to chase Jerry through one of his mouse-holes.

Anyway, this being the case, beginners often find it useful to use two blocks under their hands to give them an extra lift, effectively lengthening their arms and creating more space for their body to get through.  Of course if you always use the blocks, you'll never be able to stretch enough do it without them, so my teacher didn't allow me to use them when I was learning (cue months of very un-graceful vinyasas which, in a Mysore class of many lithe athletic types, was pretty good for ego-control).

The advice that Patthabi Jois had for people in this predicament was to find two books that are both three hundred and sixty five pages long.   These books were to be used in place of the blocks, under the hands.  Every day, the yogi was instructed to remove one page from each book, and so by the end of the year they would be able to do jump throughs without the need for books or blocks!   

The act of removing the page from the book would be a physical and visual signifier of an increment of progression so small that it would take months and months before it was even perceptible.  So without books to take pages out of  - how do we know we're actually making progress?    And here, I'm thinking not only in being able to bind in kurmasana, but in pretty much every other area of my life.

And the answer that I come up with is to trust the process.  To believe Pattabhi Jois when he says that if you practice, then all will come.  And in the end, its the practicing that is most important.

So, in the absence of anything perceptible to report in terms of progression with my own practice of kurmasana, here are some words about this asana from the great teacher, BKS Iyengar (to go with the pics).   The internet has been down for the last day or so here in sunny Camden, so I’ve taken that opportunity to watch a film of the great master doing an asana demonstration that I’ve had sitting on my desktop for the last year.   I think its interesting that what he says here is about the self knowledge theme that has been quite strong for me lately.   

“Here the back becomes like the shell of a turtle.  When this turtle goes, takes its limbs inside....it is never disturbed.   So also the yogi by imitating the turtle, he goes within himself.   The external world is completely dark to him, so he is in contact with himself in this position”

[soyola73]

Sri K Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009) on yoga and self knowledge

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Photos of Animals doing their asana #4 Cat Pose (bidalasana)

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Photos of Animals Doing Their Asana #3 Crow (Bakasana/Kakasana)

Check out the legs of the crows and the arms of the yogi.

[soyola73]

Stormy Days and Moon Days

I got to thinking this morning, on my walk home from the shala, which was closed when I arrived for morning practice.   Had I checked the handy little card they gave me I’d have known today is a full moon, but the autumn sun was shining and I enjoyed the walk regardless. I got to thinking about his whole moon day thing and  wondered who else, apart from us ashtangis, tunes into where the moon is in its cycle.

Turns out that most of America’s Eastern Seaboard (whether they know it or not) is feeling the effects of the moon as ‘Frankenstorm’ bears down from the Atlantic, today when there is a full moon in the sky and the tides are at their highest.

I wanted to look into it further.   Now, I am not a scientist, but I read on the internet (so it must be true) that  Isaac Newton’s laws of gravity (which I understand are generally accepted as real) prove that tides are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon.

Here is someone explaining it in a slightly scientific way:

"The gravitation of the passing moon pulls the nearest body of water a little away from the solid mass of earth beneath it, and at the same time pulls the earth a little away from the water on the farthest side. In this manner the moon sets up two tidal bulges on opposite sides of the earth."

This knowledge, that our physical surroundings are altered by the position of the moon in the sky, is not new.   Back in the day, when we were all closer to the land, there was a saying: 

"sew peas, good trull

when the moon is full.

fine seeds do sew

when the moon dost grow."

This is a bit of arable advice to farming people (or in those days, just people) on when its most advantageous to sew certain crops depending on the position of the moon.    Tradition says that when the moon is waxing, the earth is fertile and wet and so its the best time to plant above-ground plants.    Likewise when the moon is waning, the earth is believed to be dry and so, for best results, below-ground plants should be planted at this time.

(fyi, Trull is an old English word for prostitute, which, for me, only endows this saying with proper wise woman qualities)

We, as humans, are made up of mostly water (is it 70% or something?).  When we think of it like that, it makes total sense (to me, anyways) that we’d be affected by the gravitational pull of the moon in the same way that the oceans, the seas and the earth itself is.  Either way, the ashtangis traditionally believe that on full and new moon days, our energy is out of balance and so its safer not to practice.

So, today, as my day was (albeit minimally) affected by the full moon, I thought about everyone else whose lives are and have been shaped by the cycle of the moon, from today’s residents of Manhattan to the wise women of ye olde England.  And that thought creates a sense of connection with my fellow humans, past and present, and to the universe we all inhabit.

p.s. I practiced anyway, but cautiously! 

[soyola73]

Self Knowledge through Asana

or 

How Marichyasana D Helped Me Through the Loss of Love.

The Yoga Sutras, written by the great sage Patanjali, contain a set of codes or guidelines for ethical or ‘right’ living called the Yamas and Niyamas.  A kind of yogic ten commandments, they set out what we as yogis should and shouldn’t do in order to live good lives and set ourselves on the journey to enlightenment.

One of these is the concept of Svadhyaya, which is translated as self-study or inquiry, and is understood as any study that helps you understand yourself.  This is meant to lead to greater awakening of the soul and the realisation of ‘God’ within us all.

Luckily for me (and all the other yogis), a regular asana practice is one of the greatest tools for self-inquiry and ultimately self-knowledge.   What started off as a quest for physical fitness, and then the perfect headstand, ends up being a much more profound journey inwards.   

Through a regular asana practice we come to understand the connected-ness of all parts of ourselves.  Our physicality and our emotions are one and the same, and our spirituality is interwoven with both of them.    The word ‘yoga’ is often translated as meaning ‘union’, but in many ways its not about creating a union, but realizing the union that already exists.

Through asana practice we begin to see and then understand our own responses  (to fear, pain, worry, stress, achievement etc etc).   We also come to understand how the breath helps us to respond (or not) and how all these things are impermanent. 

So, the asana practice illuminates the way, and we learn just as much (if not more) from not being able to do the asana as we do from being able to glide right into them.

In May of this year I returned to England after an 18-month stretch in India and Sri Lanka.    During that time I did many amazing things, but the two that are most relevant for this story are:  falling in love; and beginning my daily Ashtanga practice. 

During the time I spent in Mysore I was introduced to and (eventually) started practicing Marichyasana D, a really difficult bound twist (with a cheeky half-lotus thrown in for good measure) that comes about halfway through the primary series.

LIke most of my journeys with challenging asana, I had initially thought marichyasana D a physical impossibility.  So much so, that for most of my three months in Mysore I didn’t even attempt it.  Like many before me (and no doubt many more yet to come) I thought my arms were too short and my legs were too chunky and however much I tried, my anatomy would not allow me into this asana.     

While it is true that we often think our bodies are the wrong size or shape for certain asana, when in fact all we need to do is practice, breathe, and stretch and we can eventually ease right into them, Marichyasana D is a slightly different case.   

My teacher in Mysore, never one to mince his words, explained that excess fat on the abdomen prevents ability to bind. ‘Some people’, he told me, as he pinched his minimal stomach and love handles, ‘just have too much around here’, and then he shrugged and I got the message that my inability to bind was because I was currently too fat.

Fortunately for me, a daily ashtanga practice is a good antidote to this, and eventually, firstly through adjustments and then all by myself, I was able to reach my hands together and hold on.   

In that moment, of being able to bind for the first time, the physical shift was accompanied by a mental and emotional one as well.   I had told myself that I wasn’t capable of doing something and yet, here I was, doing it.   In that instance, my ashtanga practice had taught me that I put limits on myself and I am capable of more than I often expect of myself.   A good realisation to have!

But that was not all dear old Marichyasana D had to teach me about myself.  In ashtanga we go back to the same asana every day, and each new practice throws new light on where you are in that moment.

I carried on practicing Marichyasana D for a few more months.   I was still in India and then in Sri Lanka and the hot climate warmed up my body and helped me to twist further  and move deeper into the asana.

In the last week in Sri Lanka I realized that my relationship with the man I’d fallen in love with wasn’t what I thought it was, and deep down, on an unconscious level I knew it wasn’t going to work out.  But I didn’t want to acknowledge this, and I kept holding on to it, trying to convince myself that if I thought positively, then it would all be ok.

In that last week my right knee began to hurt and I decided to lay off anything that involved a half lotus on the right side.  But I was still binding on the left as I had been doing over the last few months.   

Then I returned to England, to a freezing cold May.  I immediately got sick, and when I returned to my practice a few days later my body felt tight and much less flexible.  As I acclimatized to the cold and gradually felt better, my practice returned to form. Almost.  Somewhere amidst the upheaval of my return, I had lost my marichyasana D.

All this time I persisted in the hope that the relationship would work out.  Blinkered to all the obvious signs that it wasn’t going to,  I held on, white-knuckled.

Even as other parts of my practice were progressing, the bind in marichyasana D remained illusive.   I felt as I had done when I first started trying it, my body simply wouldn’t twist far enough, my hands reaching, but never finding each other.   Something was blocking my flow.

A couple of months and a visit later,  and then the inevitable moment arrived.  He had met someone else.  Out with the old, in with the new.  Brutal.    

That night I didn’t sleep well.   My mind was racing with deepest fears and long-standing insecurities.  My inner voice trying to soothe and reassure amidst the din of negativity.

The next day I woke early, relieved to see the light, but feeling like I’d gone ten rounds of spiritual battle with a Mike Tyson-sized demon.   Even though I was exhausted through lack of sleep and lack of food and not sure I even had the strength to get through one sun salutation, I obeyed when my inner voice told me to get on the mat and practice.

And then a little bit of yoga magic happened.   From seemingly no-where a surge of energy came though me and I felt light as a feather.   I sailed through the practice effortlessly, feeling better and better with each flowing moment.  And when I came to marichyasana D, without a moments hesitation, I went straight into the bind.  On both sides, just like that.   I had begun to let go, to release.

My body was telling me what my mind had yet to fully realize.  The energy was flowing now and I was free to go wherever it would take me, even if I didn’t know where that was just yet.

[soyola73]

Photos of animals doing their asana #2 Cobra (Bhujangasana)

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Photos of animals doing their asana #1: Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

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Kurmasana Watch.    

I had one of those amazing home practices a couple of days ago.  One of the ones where you literally drag yourself to the mat, with countless other things to do that seem much more enjoyable, like drinking tea and messing around on the internet.   But I get on the mat anyway with two "mantras" going round in my head.  One is from Sri K Pattabhi Jois: "Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory", which I often think is the yoga version of the Nike line 'Just Do It'.   The other is something my friend said to me the other day as a general piece of life-advice: "Don't think, just do", and something I am trying to apply in many different areas of life.

Anyway, both those thoughts got me out of my head and onto the mat.  And then from nowhere I get an amazing bolt of energy.  My body is light, I'm loving the stretches, and flying through the vinyasas.

I bounced into kurmasana and stretched down onto the mat, my legs over my arms and my chest melting towards the mat. As I breathed into the asana, I felt something new.  Something opened in my shoulders and somehow I moved deeper into the asana than I had ever done before.   It felt a bit more...comfortable and steady I guess, which makes me feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

[soyola73]

Waiting for the Great Leap Backwards

Backbends are great.  They’re liberating and sometimes terrifying.    They are some of the most intense asana, both physically and emotionally.   Not only do they require a good deal of strength and flexibility, there is also a dimension of emotional open-ness that is needed, as it has been said that ‘backbending awakens sleeping areas of the body and the emotions that reside there’.   

As I’ve gone deeper and deeper with backbends I can certainly say that I’ve experienced the intense sensation (or soreness!) of moving parts of my body that have maybe never moved before. And with that, yes, some intense and sometimes difficult emotions have come along too, although with me, its hard to say whether that would have happened anyway.

Backbends are about opening up your heart to an uncertain world.   Your heart (anahata) chakra opens as your arms go back to find the ground.  But our eyes being where they are, and not in the tops of our heads, we can never be sure that the ground is actually there.  In many respects, we have to trust that it is there to support us.  

I remember when I first started practicing yoga and I didn’t have enough power to push myself up. I’d manage to get the top of my head on the mat,  and then I’d be straining my arms to try and find the strength to lift it off the mat.  And there I stayed for a good few months.  It seemed, as these things often do, like an impossibility.  But,  given that all my fellow students were going up into a chakrasana (or urdhva danurasana) I huffed and puffed and tried to make like everyone else, without really believing that I’d ever get up there.

Then one day, up I went.  I remember getting such a shock.  The shock was two-fold. Firstly of doing something that I had written off as un-achievable.  And then the shock of seeing the world upside down, a new and previously un-experienced perspective.  At first it seemed a little scary, like peeking off the edge of a cliff.

But once you’re able to get up, urdhva danurasana becomes another part of the practice and an every day exploration into both your physical and emotional open-ness.  Gradually building strength, flexibility, and confidence to open further and further via the cycle of breakthroughs and plateaus.

And now I’m working on my drop-backs.  It took me a good few months to not be totally freaked out as I go down backwards, losing all sense of being in my own body and putting total trust in my teacher to stop my head smashing on the floor.   (Once I did get dropped on my head and as it turns out, its not nearly as bad as you’d think).

Slowly, slowly, I un-freak out.  I stay more and more in my own body as I go down, and every day there is a tiny bit more control.  

But when I’m in a backbend,  I still feel largely disconnected from my legs, and as much as I want to, I can’t fully communicate with them.  Try as I might, they are not receiving the messages from my brain telling them to be strong and hold my weight.     As I work on trying to improve the communication channels in my body I’m also wondering about what emotional disconnects I might also have to work on.

Because I don’t feel fully in control as I go down, I guess I’d been approaching my (assisted) drop-backs a bit gingerly.  Then my teacher told me that you can’t be half-hearted with back bends, and that you had to really want them.   Like anything in life that involves a leap of faith, it has to be an actual leap and not a shaky micro-step.    And then I realized I needed to step up my backbend game and grow some backbend balls as it were.

So thats where I am right now.  Trying to improve the communication channels between my brain and my legs,  wondering what emotional blockages might be impeding my drop-backs, and all the while, endeavoring to grow my backbend balls.

[soyola73]

David Swenson Ashtanga Yoga (by moliro4)

Yoga Porn

No, I'm not talking about Yoga4Dudes (its real!); being happily positioned in class behind a lady with a nice bottom doing cat/cow stretches; or the online naked yoga classes that my ex suggested I start up (I'm sure I'd have a subscription of one).     I'm talking about the fascinating, voyeuristic pleasure of watching a master go through their asana practice.

We know that yoga is not a gymnastics competition (thank god!), or a contortionist circus act.  Yoga is about the journey, how you approach your asana practice (and other practices), the challenges that are brought up, and what that teaches you about yourself.   Yoga is about accepting where you are in your asana practice and the work that you, personally, have to do.

Yet, there is still something mesmerizing about seeing someone making their body so light that it seems super-human, and gracefully doing asana that require enormous strength.

There is genuine value as well in watching others go through their asana practice.  It can give you a different perspective on your own and helpful pointers in how to proceed.  Its not complete voyeurism then, although sometimes it does feel a little bit like that.

Here, then is some triple X yoga porn.  An Ashtanga demonstration by the master, David Swenson.

[soyola73]

Happy Moon Day 

[soyola73]

Even David Beckham Has Bad Days

Sir (not yet, but surely one day soon) David Beckham was in the news today because he was not chosen for the Olympic GB football squad (who knew there even was one?).  He was reported to have been 'in bits' at not being picked  (although still managed to release a generous and magnanimous statement on the subject).   It made me think about the fragility of us all, and that even those of us who seem to have achieved so much and are looked up to by so many, are still vulnerable to the effects of the human condition.   

I guess it also made me feel better about being vulnerable to those effects as well.  

The article went on to say that Ryan Giggs had been picked for the squad, and for the talented Welshman, it is his first chance to play in an international tournament.   And then I remembered that both of them were also yoga practitioners  (Beckham favors Bikram apparently).   So here's hoping that Giggs' yoga practice will help him play well for team GB and that Beckham's will lift his spirits. 

Here are some pics of dear old Ryan Giggs doing Urdva Mukha Svanasana; Uttitha Parsvakonasana; Navasana; and Matsyendrasana.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any pics of David Beckham doing Bikram.

[soyola73]

Juice Fast Tuesdays!!!

Once I went to see a Vedic astrologer in Rishikesh and he told me (amongst many other things) that I should fast every Tuesday.   So I'm giving it a go.  Juice fasting though as opposed to total absence of things to ingest.   Giving my digestive system a much needed rest and hoping to eliminate a few toxins.  I'll wait and see if I have a burst of energy tomorrow and only time will tell if my immune system is strengthened.

In the meantime I'm loving the juices.  Deeeeelicious ;-)

[soyola73]

Swami Vishnudevananda was a disciple of Swami Sivananda and a great teacher of hatha yoga.    He said:

The guru is within you, not here.   Guru is not outside.   Guru awakens that knowledge which is within you.

[soyola73]

Kurmasana Watch

Today I got a strong adjustment and managed to bind for a millisecond.   Continuing to remind myself to breathe and create awareness of every single part of my body as I'm in this asana.   Also trying to create awareness of the lessons that this journey with Kurmasana is teaching me.

[soyola73]

Primary Series Ashtanga with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (by adamwade)

Since leaving Mysore, I have studied with some incredible teachers who were students of Pattabhi Jois (Michael Lear at Ashtanga Lanka, Hamish at Dharma Shala).  

This is an amazing video from the early 90s that shows Pattabhi Jois leading the Ashtanga Primary series (Yoga Chikitsa) to six of his students (Chuck Miller, Eddie Stern, Maty Ezraty, Tim Miller, Richard Freeman and Karen Haberman).   These students went on to become some of the most respected and influential teachers of Ashtanga yoga as it became increasingly popular in the West.    

This video is a piece of Ashtanga history!