Practicing in Life

Reading the weekly blogs has been so much fun and has given me so much to think about.  There is much going on out there and I would like you all to consider starting to post some of your experiences as I believe everyone could benefit from each other’s stories.  One thing that has been coming up this week is the realization that our yoga practice can be so many things.  The immersion is about spending time everyday in some kind of formal yoga practice.  However, the truth is that our day to day lives provide the perfect stage for practicing all that we have learned through our formal practice.  What we do on a daily basis, how we spend our time, how we interact with the people around us, how we relate to ourselves, this is all our practice too.   Patanjali gives a definition of yoga in the Yoga Sutras.  He says “Yogash chita vritti nirodha” which means that yoga is the stilling of the thought waves in the mind.  When we practice, whatever our practice may be, this is what we’re working on – gaining some mastery over our minds.  But as we all know, this is so hard to do.   The mind likes to be all over the place, to obsess, to create drama.  It’s interesting to watch  what happens in the mind – what are our tendencies, habits, thought patterns, how do we handle difficulties and successes? At the same time, can we acknowledge what’s happening and then move on without tacking on our opinions or judgments to these thoughts.  Can we train the mind to listen to us, to come back to what is happening in this moment instead of being carried away, lost in thought, dwelling on what the mind presents to us, making that thought take over every space in the mind so there’s no room for anything else.  

Our lives are full of opportunities to work with the mind.  If you find you can’t get to your mat one day, don’t let that stop you from practicing. 

-kyra

Confessions

This post was written by one of our mysore students.  It is so honest, I just love it.   

If you would like to post something (anything... a subject or questions), please send it to alicia at info@ashtangayogarichmond.com and I will post it.  

When I last posted on this blog I talked about how great it was to make a commitment to do some practice everyday because it assured me that, even when life gets overwhelming, I would take at least 15 minutes for some meditation.

Well, last weekend ended up being emotionally exhausting. I spent Saturday hungover and Sunday in premenstrual tears. I did rally enough to go to superbowl party!

Throughout the weekend, I kept thinking – I need to do some practice, what I am I going to write in my log? I did some sun salutations, I started trying to meditate- maybe five minutes if I am going to be generous.

Here is the worst thing….I considered lying on the log. Well, I mean not really lying, just a little exaggerating. When I caught myself having those thoughts I realized this was the yoga lesson of the weekend.  What was worrying me? Was I ashamed? Did I feel like I had failed? That I would be judged? How I could I work at letting that go? At accepting what was, what is, and starting again?  Our yoga practices allow us to pay attention to thoughts and feelings in a way that though, hard and challenging, is deeply rewarding. One of the hardest things in the Ashtanga practice is accepting where one is at, not feeling like a failure when struggling to bind, or jump through, or drop back…I think harder than doing any of the postures is being able to see those emotions come and let them go.

So, you see. I did practice after all.

Inspiration from Reading

“The media drown us in such a low image of the human being that it is essen­tial to remind our­selves con­stantly of some­thing higher.”

“Books cho­sen from the annals of mys­ti­cism should be read slowly and well. We are not after infor­ma­tion, but under­stand­ing and inspi­ra­tion. Take in a lit­tle every day, reflect on it, and then try to prac­tice what you have learned.”   - Eknath Easwaran

We are two weeks into the immersion and we’ve had some time to get through a bit of reading.  A lot of these readings are pretty dense, packed with so much useful information about how to move further along on this yogic path.  It’s the kind of readings that take time and thoughtfulness but eventually we start to make a connection with our own lives and this journey that we have embarked upon. 

Easwaran is one of my favorite authors because he teaches what he knows, what he has experienced directly, and he shares this information in such a down to earth, storytelling style which is so easy to grasp.  He tells us how to cope with our feelings and cravings, how to interact more lovingly with our families and the world around us, how to discover our true selves, hidden away under so many layers of crud.   My favorite message that is repeated throughout all of Easwaran’s writings is that we are so much more than we can imagine – that we all have the divine within us, waiting to be uncovered.  Imagine that, with all my imperfections, insecurities, and attachments, that I have perfection just waiting inside me to be discovered.   It is uplifting messages such as these that inspire and excite me and keeps me plugging along on this path.

  

“We are not cabin dwellers, born to a life cramped and confined; we are meant to explore, to seek, to push the limits of our potential as human beings.”  - Eknath Easwaran

What have you been reading and have you found any passages that speak to you or have inspired you in some way?

-kyra