Yoga on Netflix!

I like to think that I'm a better mother than most of the mothers I watch on TV...but Nancy Botwin sets the bar really low.  My husband was away for much of this week, so after the kids were snuggled nicely in their beds each night, I settled down for some Netflix...but there's only so much dysfunction one can take.  So, I decided to browse the offerings, and see if there were yoga selections I could check out...thankfully, there were!  On the streaming Netflix (playable through our Wii and PS3) there were workout selections that were actual yoga and some that were related to yoga, and there were lots of titles that needed to be ordered through the traditional Netflix.  I kept browsing, and somehow stumbled upon a movie about yoga.  THIS was intriguing.

The documentary was called Enlighten Up! and is definitely for someone who is pretty serious about yoga.  Suffice it to say, it's a good thing Husband was away, because he would never agree to watch this flick.  He's more into the Exit Through the Gift Shop brand of documentaries.  Anyway, even I, she who loves yoga, had to split this documentary up over two sessions.  It's not that it was tedious...it's more because of the fact that I wasn't starting to watch until 9pm, and I'm a 10:30 bedtime kinda girl.  I need at least a half-hour to brush teeth, wash face, and slather on the eye creme du jour (crow's feet be damned!)

Enlighen Up! was a project set up by documentarian Kate Churchill, who is big time into yoga.  She feels that yoga has the power to physically, emotionally, and spiritually transform anyone, and this movie was her project to prove that this is possible.  As her test subject, she chooses Nick, a single, 30-something (nowadays...I think he was 29 when the film was made) NYC journalist, who is skeptical.  Watching the film, you learn that his parents divorced when he was very young, and his father is a lawyer.  Nick mentions this without hesitation.  He also mentions without hesitation that his mother is a "shamanic healer"..but he doesn't elaborate at all.  He just answers the question point blank:  "What does your mother do?"  "She's a shamanic healer", and he stares at the camera for quite some time saying nothing further.  It's almost as if he's uncomfortable with his mother's path/lifestyle/outlook for some reason.  Nick seems to be a guy who hasn't quite found himself yet - he probably grew up a privileged kid, who was conflicted about a lot of things (marriage/relationships/religion/career). He iterated many times that, as a journalist, he felt the need to seek truth and be convinced of things.  I also detected that he'd been given a lot, and when he needed to find things for himself, he wasn't quite sure where to begin.  He didn't quite strike me as "driven" by any means, so it didn't seem to be a hardship to give up several weeks to participate in this project.  I agree wth Kate - this guy was an excellent candidate.  If she can convince him that yoga is transformative, she can convince anyone.

The duo travelled all over the globe:  New York to Hawaii to India and back again.  The "Celebrity Yogis" whom they interviewed were hilarious. They all said virtually the same thing and commented on the commercialism of Yoga ("well, my DVDs are doing well", "I've expanded product offerings to include bedsheets", etc!). DVDs and bedsheets? Wow...so not what yoga is about for me!

By the end of this journey, Nick got to meet some pretty amazing people who freely shared their "enlightened philosophies".  My favorite, the one who made the most sense to me, was Guru Saran Ananda in Gokul, India.  Listening to his advice, I thought for sure Nick would be transformed.  But Nick struggled time and time again with the issue of Spirituality.  Towards the end of the movie, we find out that Nick has moved to Colorado and has given up Yoga in favor of Rock Climbing.  So I suppose Spirituality was his hang up afterall.
 
Is spirituality a hangup for all of us, when it comes to yoga?  Maybe.  I'm not quite ready to give up my Christianity, but I am absolutely open to listening to all that yogic philosophy has to offer.  My search is a way to meld the two.  I know yoga is an 8-limbed path; asana (postures) and pranayama (breathing) are but two parts designed to ready your body for meditation.  Seeing as I rarely have time to get myself on the mat, I don't necessarily think I'll be getting myself to the point of real, honest to goodness mediation any time soon.  However, many of the principles of yoga: Ahimsa (non-harming) and Satya (living according to your own truth), coupled with the 8th limb of Samadhi (acknowledgement of the devine), really make sense to me.  They speak to me in such a basic way:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Treat yourself the way you deserve to be treated.  These "golden rules" make sense to me, and seeing as they don't really harm anyone or get in the way of anyone else's beliefs or ways of being, it helps me to feel "enlightened"!
 
It doesn't matter what you do.  It's why you do it that's important" - Guru Saran Ananda

First day of Spring

Ahhhh!  It's finally here!  A change of season.  The vernal equinox.  The first day of Spring!  Where are you going to let your life wander during these next 90 days?  It's amazing to think that some of us are going to experience things that will irreversibly change our lives.  Some of us know that these changes are on the horizon, but as life is unpredictable, many of these changes will be unexpected.  How you respond to these changes is about the only thing that is controllable.  Of course, flexibility - physical and emotional -  is an advantage in these instances.  Yoga postures certainly  help achieve physical flexibility, but how do you work on emotional flexibility? 

Yama  is known as the first of 8 limbs of a yoga practice, and it recommends following 5 ethical "practices" in your daily existence.  You can follow these guidelines in your self-awareness, in your relations with others, even in your diet (which might be a challenge for some of you meat-lovers out there!).  Trying to keep these practices in mind will certainly give you some emotional flexibility, and influence how you perceive changes that happen to you as well as how you respond to them!
Ahimsa is the first ethical practice (it's also the subject of my most viewed blog entry ever! 82 pageviews and counting...)click here.  It stands for applying non-violence to every part of your life - this means not harming others OR yourself - ie, not pushing yourself too hard during a workout, not really eating meat (sorry, Husband), that sort of thing. 
Satya means truth; specifically, living according to your own truth.  Okay, got it: to thine own self be true. 
Asteya is fairly straight-forward:  non-stealing.  Hmmm.  Ironically, I steal many of the images used in this blog.  Note to self: perhaps I should devote a little more time and attention to this particular ethical practice of asteya...
And then there's Brahmacharya.  Uh-oh, I can already tell that this next "suggestion" is not going to go over so well.  This is the "ethical" practice of abstinance.  Yeah.  Containing your sexual energy is restraint, alright!  How this is going to help you with your Yama and emotional flexibility, I'm not quite sure...  Okay, dear readers, why don't we just keep moving along to the last ethical practice:
Aparigraha, which means non-grasping and non-covetousness (is that a word?).  This is one practice that can help you best deal with change.  Relax your grip on things, and just observe the world.  Keep your mind open to the change - reality is that change is going to happen whether you compel it to or not. 
While practicing Yama can present it's own challenges, it certainly puts forth a few guidelines worth considering.  If all else fails, or you feel as though yama just isn't cutting if for you, the best thing of all is to just breathe.  When changes come too fast or seem like more than you can handle, open your mind to all possibilities,  including the possibility that a negative change can be turned into a positive one, and B-R-E-A-T-H-E.

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love" - Marcus Aurelius