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Mind Body Messenger
Issue #28, September 2005
Keeping Up With Heather…
So, I’m leading an Ashtanga Yoga class the other day, taking
the students through a vinyasa (a flowing sequence of poses), and
I look up to see that one of my students, a good friend, is glaring
at me. What? I think, questioning her dagger-like gaze with surprise.
You have to hold Downward Dog for five breaths, it’s important.
It’s good for you.
This got me thinking. What do we want from our practice? Should
our practice, whether it’s yoga, fitness, sport, or otherwise,
be a mild experience where we feel proficient and strong and capable?
Or, should our practice challenge our boundaries, and take us outside
our comfort zone? Well, the answer is a resounding…both.
It is one of the greatest challenges to a yogi, or anyone committed
to a physical practice, that we strike a balance between determination
and intention. It is important -as you make a commitment to lifelong
health, wellness, and personal growth- that you enjoy cycles of
intensity, combined with cycles of initiation and cycles of support.
If we were always just maintaining our current level, we would never
grow. Similarly, if we exist in the chaos of transformation all
the time, we have a hard time stepping up to a new level as all
of our energy is being devoted to dealing with the uncertainty of
change.
Often students ask me, ‘it’s a bit warm in here.
Can we turn on the air con?’ No, it’s good for you
to be hot, I always tell them. ‘I’ve got a bit of
a busy day, can I leave before the relaxation?’ No, it’s
the most important part. ‘Do we have to hold this pose so
long? I’m tired.’ Yes, it’s important to go
through tiredness…just to see what’s on the other
side.
Something that I remind my students all the time is that Tapasya
– to burn – is an essential element in personal development.
We need a bit of fire, a bit of challenge, to refine ourselves,
to become something more. Gold is burned to refine it, to release
the toxins that lower its value, and to improve its quality. A sword
is burned to temper it, to strengthen it. The same must happen with
the human being to be strengthened, to be tempered, and to be refined.
You see, to grow, to become something more, we have to ask our
bodies and our minds for something more. The body doesn’t
get any stronger from doing the same exercise at the same intensity
for the same duration. The body gets stronger, more flexible, more
agile, more balanced, by asking of it something that it isn’t
capable of. Then, the body stretches and strengthens and becomes
able to perform the exercise. This is the essence of traditional
fitness training. If we try to stay within our comfort zone, we
will never improve. We must go through the fire of transformation
to become something more. Thus, the warm room, the sweat dripping
from your forehead, the shaking in your legs.
Having said that, your yoga practice doesn’t always have
to be physically challenging. Going to regular classes gives you
a great opportunity to test your boundaries and increase your intensity.
It is in your home practice when you have the opportunity to develop
more fully this new level of practice, and to work with the other
kind of intensity – intention. In your home practice you don’t
have to push yourself to the limit, but it is a great time to start
to visualize yourself beyond that limit. It is a time to dream yourself
as something more. And, its a great opportunity to build a foundation
around the new postures and levels that you have experienced in
class.
A great part of being in a class is all the extra energy and space
provided by a teacher to help you overcome fear, anxiety, restlessness,
and the perceived limitations and boundaries of the self. However,
it is equally important to take that practice home, and make it
a habit to provide yourself with the space and the energy to sustain
that change. With this foundation of home practice, your classes
will become an even greater adventure of exploring how much your
body can give you, how much it can release, and how much vitality
you can experience in every day life.
Don’t know where to start? Pick your favorite poses and
start there. A few sun salutes in the morning to start your day
off with a stretch; use your powers of visualization during your
cooldown from a run;, or pop in a DVD and let yourself be guided
through a series a few times a week. With the foundation of home
practice, you may still glare at your teacher in an intense class,
but at least you will have a better sense of why, and a base of
stamina to hold your arms for two or three more breaths in downward
dog!
Namaste, Heather
Yoga Teacher Training
Every thought of taking your passion for yoga and turning it into
an Inspiring Career?
Yoga Teacher Training will be offered in Moruya, NSW, Australia
from February 25-March 23, 2006 in a 1-month residential retreat.
For details please visit our upcoming events
page or call organizer Christopher at 0410 139 050.
As well, I will be offering the program in a non-residential format
in Tottenham, Ontario, Canada in 2006. For details, or to express
your interest please visit our upcoming
events page or call Heather at 416.722.7154.
Take a Deep Breath….
I’ve been meaning to write a book report for an excellent
autobiography/ yoga text called Yoga and the Quest for the True
Self. After being lent the book by an enthusiastic student, I sped
through it’s pages exclaiming, “Ya, that’s
it”, as the author, Stephen Cope, blends ancient Yogic wisdom,
contemporary psychology, and his own personal experiences to provide
a language to express the inner practice of Yoga that all students
experience over the years of their practice. I’ve also been
meaning to write a little something about how we can implement simple
breathwork exercises into our day to improve health, decrease stress,
and begin to cultivate a state of awareness that will decrease our
“reactivity” when the world doesn’t part it’s
waves upon our command in a traffic jam, at a meeting, or in the
midst of family conflict.
So, this month I’m including an excerpt from Stephen Copes
excellent book to guide you towards better daily breathing habits,
and to encourage you to pick up a copy of Yoga and the Quest for
the True Self for yourself. So, on the subject of the breath:
There are a multitude of ways in which full breathing can be restricted…the
most common is called “chest breathing”…which
is the body’s automatic response to fight or flight and to
all sorts of overwhelming stress. In traumatic situations, as we
have all experienced, the diaphragm is constricted, and we breath
only partway down into the lungs. The lower loves of the lungs are
then split off from the breath, and there is an uneasy sense of
the breath not being fully satisfying. The rate of breath is somewhat
more rapid and irregular, and there is a much lower “tidal
volume” of air than in normal breathing. “Chest breathing”
may be accompanied by raised shoulders and contraction of the chest.
Shallow breathing can also affect the voice, by narrowing the throat
and thereby heightening the choke response.
Inhibition of full abdominal-diaphragmatic breathing immediately
cuts us off from feelings. But it also cuts us off from prana (lifeforce)-and
deeply depletes the lifeforce in the body. An increased reliance
on chest breathing to supply the body’s oxygen requirements
produces chronic muscle tension in the chest and abdomen, but that’s
only the beginning. It also increases cardiopulmonary stress, increases
blood sugar and lactate levels, increases our perception of pain,
decreases oxygen to the heart and brain, inhibits transfer of oxygen
from haemoglobin to tissues, and increases our sense of fatigue.
Cope refers to comments made by Swami Shri Kripalvanandji (Kripalu)
“Yoga postures done with conscious breathing…are
ten times more powerful than they otherwise might be.” Because
the breath is the switch that integrates the emotional-prana body
with the physical body, postures done with conscious breathing open
parts of the body that may have long been shut off from life force.
And when the wave of breath moves into these exiled areas, the results
can be instantly dramatic.
So what do we learn from this passage? Not only to breath deeply
and consciously during our practice, but to allow ourselves to move
our awareness to the breath in the midst of our every day lives.
When we find ourselves reacting to our external circumstances, this
is a time to be present and breath. When we find ourselves tired,
lethargic, or tense, this is a time to provide the body with prana
(life force) in the form of breath. And, when we want to communicate
with the body, check in and see how things are going, the breath
can offer us a gateway into the inner workings of our Self that
when used consistently can help us to develop a deeper connection
with all levels of Self.
Thoughts On…
Our Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you
but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies
but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot
visit,
not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward
nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent
forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends
you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the
bow that is stable.
Kahlil Gibran,
The Prophet
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Yoga For Mind and Body
Part of an ongoing series offering yoga postures for men, women,
and children to practice at home, school, on the road or in the
office. With special thanks to Ross Pottinger of Wink Photo Design
in Brisbane, Australia for the photos and the support in this project.
And many thanks to Louisa Dick for taking part in the project. Do
check with your health care practitioner before beginning a yoga
practice. Many postures are not suitable for pregnant women, people
with joint replacements, those with hypertension or other medical
conditions. If you have a posture that you would like to see in
this column, I welcome your suggestions. Namaste, H
 To
Begin: Kneel with knees somewhere between shoulder width
and hip width apart (what is comfortable for you?). Allow shins
to stretch flat on the ground and toes facing the back of your mat.
The Pose: Place hands on lower
back with fingers facing down, and slowly lift up through front
of thighs while gently bending back through lower, middle, and upper
back. If comfortable, release head completely. Maintain your hips
over knees position, and keep abdominal muscles supportive of the
arching lower back.
To Intensify: Focus on drawing
your pelvis forward and upwards while reaching back one hand at
a time to reach heels.
To Modify: Many adjustments
can me made to this pose to make you more comfortable and supported,
such as doubling the mat under knees for more cushioning, kneeling
on a raised mat with feet off the ends for tight shins, or bending
back onto a chair for more support.
Breathing: It can be a challenge
to breath deeply in backward bends, but do your best to take 5 deep
breaths without strain while holding the pose.
Focus: Your internal gaze should
be focussed on the third eye (point between the eyebrows).
Cautions: Take care not to
over-arch the lower back, be sure to keep a smooth curve through
the whole spine. As well, ensure that you keep hips over heels,
and that the knees do not spread wider than shoulder width.
Benefits: Improves flexibility
and strength of spine, thighs, shins and feet. Benefits digestive
and reproductive organs, and develops self-trust as you support
yourself to move into a position where you are not guided by sight
but rather by feel and internal guidance
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