Detox through asana

The purpose of asana is to achieve Samadhi - "enlightenment".  You're putting your body through the paces...pushing its limits...in the hopes of reaching some higher state.  This higher state is very dependent on where you are in your yoga practice.  For some, Samadhi means being unified in body, mind, and spirit. For others, they become intricately in tune with a cosmic consciousness.  Others claim oneness with the Divine.  Some just say they end up feeling comfortably "at home" in their natural state.  It doesn't matter what Samadhi IS for you; to each his/her own enlightenment.

Building on my post from yesterday, detoxing can help you get rid of what's bogging you down and keeping you from your Samadhi.  A clear body leads to a clear mind, which leads to a clear conscientious.  What better way to experience the world?  I ended yesterday's post by touching on the idea that detoxing can be accomplished through asana - a concept that I read about in Yoga Journal - so I thought I'd offer up some postures to get you started:

Cobra pose bhujangasana.  This is a great heart-opening posture that allows you to lengthen the front body.  It also stimulates your adrenal glands, situated on top of your kidneys.

Sage twist marichyasana.  This lovely pose feels fantastic at the end of a long day.  It stretches your shoulders and spine.  It also relieves tension by wringing out your kidneys and liver!

Wheel urdhva dhanurasana. This pose works on the ground just as well as it works up in the air, so if you don't yet have wheel in your practice, a gentle, regular bow (dhanurasana) will give the same results:  Opened heart and hips, and a nicely detoxed liver.

Wide-legged Forward Bend upavistha konasana.  This posture not only stretches the hips and pelvic organs, it induces calm at the end of the day and relaxes you to aid elimination, as well.

So go ahead and get rid of that toxic sludge that's residing in your organs - give 'em a quick wring out (it might be a good idea to drink a full glass of room-temperature water after practice to help flush things along), and you may find yourself a little closer to finding enlightenment, or at least ending your day on a positive note!

"when your mind is clear, pure, and untainted by judgments, you see things as they really are - an equal and balanced way of thinking." - Liz Lark. 1,001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom. pg 359.

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

Hypocrisy?

Spring Break is finally here!  The last 3 weeks have felt like 3 months, and I am in desperate need to catch up on sleep, take advantage of a little extra time to catch up on projects, and of course, get back on that mat!  Husband asked the other day what I planned to do over the break (he's not a teacher, and alas, isn't always able to take vacation when we have vacation).   The first thing I said was "Well, I'm going to do yoga every day...I've planned out all the classes..." and he interjected "Yeah, that went over really well with the boys on the last break".  I explained that it was my break, too, and wanted to enjoy it myself.  I shuttle those kids all over town and back every week for playdates, activites, and programs, so it won't kill them to indulge my inner yogi for a few days...

In fact, walking out of one of these activities this week, I struck up a conversation with a fellow "child shuttler", who inquired about how my yoga was coming along.  This friend, let's call him "Tonycal", also enjoys a yoga practice or two, and in fact, used to practice in one of the classes I used to take.  He let on that he ended up disappointed with the instructor who professed the great benefits of yoga, and led us through challenging classes week after week.  This instructor really pushed us, put us through the ringer, all the while spouting off from what Tonycal thought was a "holier than thou", "do what I say" pedastal...only to be overheard confessing to another student in the class that "a Valium or two" was a regular part of the nightly routine.  Tonycal was calling bullsh!t, which he was entirely entitled to do.

Tonycal has since moved on to spending a lot of his fitness time with more cardio-vascular pursuits, and I don't know how much of that has to do with his letdown, or just a preference for something different.  Still, his comments gave me pause to think; first, was this instructor truly a hypocrite?; second, can I blog about this?  Well, I'm not sure...and yes!

In his "Yoga Sutras", Patanjali describes the 8 limbs of yoga, but in these descriptions, he gives us 2 main messages.  The first is that practicing these 8 limbs, asanas included, leads us to find "samadhi".  It's what he describes as the deepest of human experiences: a balanced mind-state; awareness of the eternal.  The second message is that we can seek out sources of negativity and find ways to live with them.  With these thoughts, Patanjali (like yoga instructors who try to interpret his message) can come across a bit preachy.  This can be a turn off for people who aren't exactly turning to yoga for it's spiritual side.  Who exactly does Patanjali think he is?  The wise old man on the mountain top who knows the meaning of life?  Patanjali was far too humble for that.  In the Sutras, he's merely encouraging us to reach our full human potential (spiritual and physical).  His intention is that if we can reach this TRUE potential, we'll truly be free - we'll have the freedom to "live with ourselves", warts and all.  Is it such a big deal if it takes a Valium now and again to get there?

I can't say that I get myself on the mat with the goal of experiencing Samadhi, but I can say that I appreciate that is an option available for people who are looking for it.  At this point in my practice (I've been on the mat on and off for about 6 years now, regularly for the last 3), I'm satisfied with that hour of peace to myself; the physical benefits are a huge bonus.  I love that one of the basic ideas behind a practice is that the focus is on your own mat - realize that you are there for yourself and no one else - so you don't have to worry about keeping up, fitting in, or exceeding the limits.  Stretching it out, breathing deep, and having fun certainly gives me the freedom to live with whatever else I'm up to for the other 23 hours in a day, glass (or two) of wine included!  This helps me to gladly get back on the mat time and time again.  Everyone has their own reasons and motivation for getting on the mat, and hopefully Tonycal will look past the "hypocrisy" and find himself there again soon.  In the process, he may find his own version of Samadhi.  Is "Samadhi" open to interpretation?  I think so, but that's likely a topic for another blog post!

A blissful state - when your mind is clear, pure and untainted by judgements, you see things as they really are - you have reached Samadhi, and equal and balanced way of thinking.