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Volume 3 Issue 6 June, 2002 |
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Every
Day an Adventure |
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Practice Guide
Asana Tips Your body exists in the past and your mind exists in the future. In yoga they come together in the present. - B.K.S. Iyengar
When one sees the pleasure and pain of others to be equal to one's own, he is considered the highest yogin. - Bhagavad Gita VI.32
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Heroes and teachers are sometimes the most unlikely of people. Zach and his friend, Quentin, were heroes the day we hiked down to the Colorado River. The trail we followed that day is at the very northwestern edge of Grand Canyon National Park. The trail leads to Lava Falls, a great place to watch kayakers and rafters. It is a very steep trail, beginning about 3000 vertical feet above the river and only 3 miles long. In some places we were actually able to ski (slide) down the loose rock. Coming back up in those places was quite a different story. We would slide back two feet for every four-foot gain. The trail is not marked as well as some since the cairns have a tendency to slide down the slope. It was Memorial Day weekend and the sun was already a force to be reckoned with when hiking in the desert, even the high desert with cooler temperatures. Once an intent is clear, commit. Our plan was to hike this relatively short trail to the river and back to our campsite above in one day. We arrived the day before our hike and scoped out the trail. It was practically straight up and down. Undaunted, we prepared for the worst and headed out the next morning. The hike down was delightful. It was fun sliding on the scree. The trail by the river was cool and lush. We were able to watch kayakers anticipate, then take the rapids. The river itself contributed to the atmosphere of peace, refreshment, beauty, and good company that we enjoyed below. The water in the river was really cold. We had stashed drinking water above so that we wouldn’t have to carry all the water we needed on this hot, dry day. But, the water in the river was so much colder than the water in our canteens. It was so inviting. We hadn’t brought a water filter so enjoying the river water as a cool beverage was out of the question due to our fear of giardia and other parasites. We had to settle for taking off our boots and dangling hot, tired feet in the cold water. I find my restorative yoga so fulfilling these days. Sometimes I just need to sit and rest. The trip up was not too bad until we got to the really loose rock (that we had slid down earlier). It took quite a bit of effort to move up the path. There was a whole lot of sweating going on. It wasn’t too long after clearing the loosest part of the trail that I began to feel pretty bad. Everyone was ahead of me, but still I had to stop often and rest. There was literally no shade. I was very low on water. I knew I had quite some way to go to the trailhead. Eventually I caught up with my husband who had found the closest thing to shade on the trail and was sitting getting his bearings. He wasn’t feeling well either. We decided we would not be able to make it to where we had stashed our water until the sun was lower in the sky. The sun was doing its best to stop our progress. There are times when I need help from others to maintain my progress. Zach and Quentin were doing much better than the parental units. They came back to check on us and were promptly dispatched to retrieve our cached water and bring it down. They looked like teen angels coming down with our bottles of water. It’s amazing the difference some water makes. We all made it back to the campsite where we emptied every container of any liquid we could find, including melted ice from the cooler. We determined that there was simply not enough water for us to make it through the night. We broke camp and drove to the nearest town where we enjoyed probably the best tasting meal any of us had had in our entire lives at the only diner in town. Discrimination. While I had thought that Zach and Quentin were more resilient because of their youth we discovered that their endurance was due not to advantages of youth alone but to the risks that youth take. While I was gazing at the river water and wishing so much for a glassful, they had gazed and partaken. Amazingly giardia was not in their future. Two good things for them that day, they got to save the day and though they engaged in risky behavior, for which they received the usual half-listened to lecture, they did not become ill from the water and actually were able to say, “See, if we hadn’t drunk the water at the river, who would have helped you?” When a typical day for them was about adult correction and guidance they could at last feel vindicated in a decision they had made which resulted in their heroic moment. None of us can foresee all of the consequences of our actions. Still, as we mature we are able to see further. It takes both youth and maturity in this world. Youth brings innovation born of risk, maturity keeps that innovation alive. My career, my relationships, my spiritual quest, my studies, my weight have all been a trail like the one at Lava Falls. There are times when I slip more than I gain; need help from others to make it through; must sit and rest; can just slide; must rely on my work alone; my only need is a little refreshment. But, always I can depend on there being others along the path sharing the experience.
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Virabhdrasana III
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Virabhadra was a mythic warrior who was created to bring justice to an unright situation. The warrior postures require great integrity in the legs and arms; they strengthen the spine, abdominal, chest muscles; they improve flexibility of the knees and thighs; and expands the chest. The third version of the pose requires balance between the opposing forces of the arms and legs while adjusting to a change in the center of gravity.
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