Receptivity And Awareness On The Mat

Jan 25, 2012 by ArkieYogini

If you have time, check out the link to David Garrigues’ latest blog post – Variance in the Breath, Effort, and Receptivity.  His blog should be on your RSS feed if it isn’t already.  Always good stuff.  In fact, I won’t post any of his quotes or videos here with the hopes that you’ll click through and discover his amazing site. 

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in this idea that it’s the breath that drives the movement in a yoga practice…well, not just the breath…but rather, a controlled and regulated breath that drives a practice.  And maybe some days it does.  There may be days when you want to experiment with the effects of a long, drawn out, rhythmic breath.  There may be other days when you adjust the pace and quality of the breath to inquire into any possible effects.  Personally, I find myself often drawn toward sustaining a specific rhythm and quality of the breath throughout the practice — which can have dramatic implications in movement.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with experimenting in this way — perhaps it is part of the learning process.

In his post, David talks about not only becoming aware of the breath, but also becoming receptive to the forces behind the breath.  When you become aware of…well…yourself, you open up the possibility of having this awareness direct the breath.  Instead of placing some sort of contrived rhythm and quality to the breath, you can allow that quality to spontaneously arise from within.  This may mean that sometimes the breath is slow and deep while other times the breath may be quick and shallow.  It’s a subtle dance…between effort and receptivity…and it’s something I’m still just learning.  I have a feeling I’ll be learning more about this dance throughout the rest of my yoga journey.

Amazing how something so simple as the breath can lead to such powerful insights on awareness.

~ Kathryn

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Yoga Rave…Uh…

Jan 23, 2012 by ArkieYogini

Oh boy…is this where group yoga classes are going?  Attending a yoga rave is about as appealing to me as going to one of those classes with 100+ people.  What’s the allure?  Like….the “energy” or something?  Think I’ll pass on this trend.  I don’t have any cool dance moves anyway.

If you’re interested in these sorts of things…there’s actually a website (of course there is):  http://www.yogarave.org/us/

Here’s more about what to expect if you should stumble into such an event.

At the party one can enjoy both music & silence. It all begins with some Yoga to warm up the body & continues with an easy guided meditation that leaves attendees in the ideal state to hear So What Project!’s opening chords & slowly begin connecting with the music. At the end of the night there is another meditation. The party, which lasts 4 hours, is accompanied by a bar offering exotic & energizing drinks that are completely alcohol-free plus gourmet vegetarian food.

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Not about the asana…no really…it’s not

Jan 22, 2012 by ArkieYogini

This post is a long time coming…must be the new theme of my blog seeing as how I only post about once a month now.  Ha! And it’s a strange one to write because what I’m about to say flies in the face of everything I’ve known about myself and my practice since the first day I stepped on the mat.

I remember my first year of yoga practice — complete fascination with not just the asana…but with what would come next…the next posture…the next big thing.  Progress.  Moving forward.  Reaching for more.  It was completely awesome!  Sometimes I had to wait a while for the next posture to become available to me, but that was okay.  That waiting process presented a variety of learning opportunities —  many of which I’ve already written about.  But the waiting was always there…hmmm, maybe not “waiting”…more like a desire for something else.  As my practice developed and became deeper, I found myself mentally repeating the phrase “it’s not about the asana.”  It’s a nice quote I found in a book somewhere that jived with the yoga philosophy I’d been reading about.  I’d even say it to my classmates and yoga teacher colleagues.  And we’d all nod our heads in agreement.  Of course this was always said kind of tongue-in-cheek because, lets face it, it was about the asana for me.  I said this to myself for years.  I’m no dummy…I was intellectually aware of the underlying truth to the statement.  Yoga is not really about the asana — duh.  But believing something in your mind and feeling it in your heart are two entirely different things.  So I went about my practice — searching for the truth in books or from workshops, while still chasing after the next posture on my mat.

Why does it take so long for something that’s known in the mind to be embraced by the heart?  And what’s the process for this transfer?  I don’t know.  But somewhere along the way my heart listened to my mind and let go of its desire for more asana.  I wish I could say when this happened — but I really have no idea.  Unfortunately, I suspect it happened a while ago but my mind only recently got wind of what was going on.  What can I say?  My heart and mind have some serious communication issues.

A bout a year (or so) ago, sense of softness began to permeate my practice.  I found myself working on deeper levels in existing postures.  And I found myself becoming more interested in what I like to think of as crazy-hippie-stuff (no need to elaborate — we all know what that stuff is).  It was only recently that my mind stepped back into the picture and realized what was going on — that I wasn’t trying for new postures.  Sure, I was still working hard in my practice, but the effort was in a different place.  For example, I’m still working on opening up my backbends — but not in an effort to conquer a new pretzel shape — I continue working out of a sense of curiosity.  Curiosity about how the mind functions (or malfunctions) in backbends and how the body feels energetically.

I won’t lie, asana practice lately has been tinged with a sense of loss — the loss of that desire I once had for “progress” in the postures.  And although other things have stepped in to take the place of that striving, I don’t feel like the void has been completely filled.  So where does that leave me in my practice now?  I don’t know.  This is new territory for me.  Maybe in another month I’ll have something more to add…

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Breaking Out Of The Grooves

Dec 7, 2011 by ArkieYogini

I’ve had an epiphany of sorts in my yoga practice, although it’s one of those things I feel that I’ve known all along but only recently came to the surface.  The majority of the actions I take in life seem to revolve around a series of goals or desires — big or small.  I used to want to have a prestigious job, make a lot of money, and feel “successful” in the eyes of those around me.  I went down that road, worked as an attorney, and discovered that life wasn’t for me.  I spent years (too many years) unquestionably working for a goal — but without stopping to enjoy the moment.  I found myself so caught up in schoolwork, clerkships, and passing the bar exam that I never stopped to check in with myself and see how I was doing.  I was too busy chasing the goal.  And in the end, I suffered for this lack of present awareness.  I ended up working in a career that wasn’t right for me — I was downright miserable.  And it literally took an act of God to break me out of the patterns I’d locked myself into.

When I discovered yoga, I thought it was the answer to my counterproductive behavior.  Somehow my yoga practice would liberate me from decades of bad habitual reactions…as if the sequencing of asana or the ratio of breath had some sort of magical power.  All I had to do was show up on the mat and do my practice, right?  I wanted to believe it.  But as the years went on, my pattern of chasing after goals continued.  The grooves that these patterns carved were deep, and there was nothing “magical” about the yoga practice to break me free.  These samskara slowly but surely worked their way into my yoga practice, and I found myself setting little goals — dropbacks, arm balances, leg behind the head postures, etc.  When I started a sitting practice (with good intentions, mind you), I eventually found myself chasing after certain sensations or lack thereof.  The same thing started happening with pranayama — I’d discover a sensation or thought or pattern, and I’d look for it again.  Always chasing after something — always looking forward to the next thing.

I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with setting goals.  Goals are what help us move forward, to progress, to make us “better.”  But sometimes we have to step back during the process and ask ourselves why we’re always grasping.  Because too much grasping can lead to a loss of the present moment.  If we’re always reaching for something (the next yoga posture, the bigger raise at work, a bigger house, etc.) then we may wake up at the end of our lives and realize that these patterns of chasing goals and grasping for the next big thing caused us to miss out on enjoying life.

So that’s what I’m trying to bring to my practice these days — a sense of enjoyment and/or awareness of whatever is going on.  If I find myself forming a goal, I try to stop and ask myself “why.”  If it’s a valid reason, I’ll move forward…but not blindly.  In this process, I’ve found that many of my previous goals have fallen by the wayside.  They no longer have any importance to me.  And I feel  like I’m left in some sort of in-between place where I’m just practicing being present.  It’s not always enjoyable, but it seems like the right place to be at this moment in time.

xoxo  Kathryn

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Yoga is NOT my workout

Nov 16, 2011 by ArkieYogini

Got in my workout this morning…which almost NEVER happens.  I’m usually an after-work exercise kind of gal…and I do my pranayama and yin yoga in the early morning hours.  Thought I’d mix things up a bit and go for one of my favorite at-home workout resources from Bodyrock.  Anyone else use this site? 

Here’s the link to today’s workout:  http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/11/14/you-make-me-feel-workout/  A great example of how you don’t have to spend hours toiling away on the treadmill or eliptical in order to get a complete workout.  This one was 12 minutes and I was feeling it about mid-way through.  The ninja jump tucks are my favorite.  Here’s some more info:

Workout Breakdown

• Ninja Jump Tuck50sec.interval
• Sandbag Combo50sec.interval
• HighKnees/Knee Cross Push Ups50sec.interval
• Plank Jacks50sec.interval

And the video:

Of course the downside to being an exercise fanatic and a yogi is that the more muscle mass I get, the harder it is to maintain flexibility.  And I’ll have to admit that I could be WAY more flexible if I didn’t workout…but I’m okay with the tradeoff.  Lately though I’ve had to work much harder on the leg-behind-the-head flexibility.  Lots of pigeon pose and fire log pose.  Also, a few minutes in kasyapasana seems to keep things fluid.  Practice, practice, practice.

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David Garrigues Video – Stuck in a Posture

Nov 15, 2011 by ArkieYogini

 With my practice being primarily a solo practice, I haven’t had to deal much with the issue of being stuck in a posture.  Through trial and error, I’ve been able to come up with a nice system to help me determine whether or not I need to move forward in the practice.  David makes some good points that the determination of whether to move forward is more subtle than just thinking, “Oh, I’m able to do the previous posture so I should move on to the next one.”  Or “Technically, I can drop back to a backbend from standing…even though I’m just throwing myself back instead of approaching it with intelligence.”  It’s important to approach each posture and each movement with a sense of intelligence — both from an energetic and physical level.  If the body awareness isn’t there yet to drop back into a backbend with some sense of control, then perhaps the student needs to slow down a bit and take things step-by-step.  I’ve learned this the hard way through self-inquiry on the mat — just because I can muscle myself into a posture doesn’t mean I’m mentally or physically ready for it.  Would be nice to have a good teacher for daily guidance…maybe one day.

David Garrigues Ashtanga Yoga: Stuck in a posture from David Garrigues on Vimeo.

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Need more time…

Nov 10, 2011 by ArkieYogini

…time for myself, that is.  It seems lately that every Monday morning I wake up and count down ’til the weekend. When the weekend comes, it always goes by so quickly.  I feel like I’ve been running around like a crazy woman when all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch trashy reality tv shows.

This week I’m teaching 6 classes at the studio.  Six classes!  Plus a full-time job.  Makes it hard to squeeze in a practice of my own.  I enjoy teaching classes…but I’d probably enjoy it even more if I only worked part-time, or if teaching was my full-time job.  I know I really shouldn’t be complaining since there are busier people than me…it’s just that I value my free time so much.  Trying to find ways to squeeze in non-work time during my days…it’s a challenge for sure.

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