|
Volume 4 Issue 4 April, 2003 |
Spring Cleaning |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asana Tips You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of rewards, nor should you long for inaction. - Bhagavad Gita, 47
|
It’s time for spring cleaning. With the sun peering brightly through my windows I see dust and dirt that was easily missed in the glow of electric light. I look around and begin to see how shabby some of my ’things’ are. Though we clean our homes every week, every day, we have the clutter of too many possessions. We keep things, lots of things, in our homes in our cars, in our storage barns. Most of our possessions we hang on to for no good reason whatsoever. We just do. Authors whose specialty is organization say that there are only 3 reasons to keep anything. It must be either useful, attractive, or dear. I look around and find that I have quite a bit that does not fit any of those criteria. I have no excuse. I move often, and each time I move I get rid of quite a bit. So, where does all my stuff come from? Why do I load it into a truck and move it from coast to coast every few years? Habit. Some items were once useful, attractive, or dear. I hang on to a faded sentiment, even though I have long since outgrown it. I look at the children’s books I kept as a prayer for my son’s interest in reading to develop. I look at textbooks long outdated. I have clothes that will never fit either my body or my lifestyle again. Yet there they are. Even worse, in the kitchen are cans for the recycle bin, a mere 6 steps away. How could I walk away from that clutter? What excuse do I have to avoid that small task? Keeping our homes and lives clean and clear requires that we keep our minds on the task at hand, finishing one task before moving on to the next. Instead, we want to multi-task, even if it means no one task gets done well. Nor is any task allowed the potential to truly enrich our lives. Learn happiness. An exercise for increasing happiness is to perform each day at least one task we dislike with joy, with mindfulness. Begin with a task that you dislike only a little. It could be the dishes, do them with joy and mindfulness. Finish each task you begin. After washing a dish, dry it, put it away. Everyday our minds walk away from tasks before they are completed. At the end of yoga class we scurry to wherever. We are ready to talk to our friends about all the happenings of the day or week that walked through the door with us. Our minds are already home with the kids, or out to dinner. We put our mats and blankets away, not noticing what we are doing. The prop closet shows it. At the beginning of class the props were of great concern. Which props will we need today? What turn will class take? At the end of class we believe the adventure is over. We have lost interest. There is no yoga in prop management. So often our yoga practice becomes just another chapter in our own personal book of delusion. We are able to develop the discipline of practice but not detachment from it. We become attached to how long our breath is in pranayama. My breath is longer than yours. We become attached to the beauty of our posture. I would like a photo of this one. We become attached to the postures we do. I can do more postures than you. We use yoga as a competition with our selves and with others. Yoga is not a competition. It is not a medal we wear to display our place on the path to wisdom. We can practice yoga as though it is just another thing to add to our accomplishments in life. Or, with detachment, Yoga can turn us from the delusions of our senses and ego, and attune us to our true self. Practice and detachment bring us ever-deepening levels of self-awareness. In the 17th verse of the 1st pada (book) of his Sutras Patanjali tells us there are 4 levels of awareness. These 4 levels are known through the evolution of our practice and through the grace of God. In Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali B.K.S. Iyengar explains the 4 levels of awareness related to asana practice:
Remove the obstacles to I—am—ness: use discipline to find joy in every activity, not just tolerance. Let go of clutter. Abide in each moment.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Pada Sirsasana
|
Sirsasana is headstand. Urdvha is upward, prasarita is stretched out, eka pada refers to one foot. In this posture one foot is stretched upward with the body in headstand position. This is preparation for headstand, preparation to bear the weight of the body on the neck, arms and shoulders. Since the neck is not not accustomed to carrying more weight than of the head, this posture should be approached cautiously and time given to build strength so the cervical vertebrae are not placed at risk. Practice this posture in front of a wall to reduce the risk of falling. Place a folded blanket on the floor for padding. Leaning on the knees towards the blanket, interlace the fingers of the hands. Place the forearms on the floor, fingers close to the wall, with the elbows no more than shoulder-width apart. Press firmly on the wrists, keeping them vertical throughout the posture. Straighten the legs, lifting the hips as in downward dog. Walk the feet in close to the elbows, the hips close to the wall. Place the crown of the head on the floor between the palms of the hands. Keep the thoracic spine from moving forward toward the wall. Pause. Lift one leg towards the ceiling, keeping it straight. Come down and rest in adho mukha virasana (child’s pose). Repeat with the other leg.
On this path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure. Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will yield protection from the greatest fear. - - Bhagavad Gita, 40
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
