Monday, March 31, 2008

Warrior: Right Effort, part 1


Related to the idea of "being grounded" and to "fierceness" is this idea of effort.

There are plenty of stiff days when I'm forced to think of this idea of effort on my first forward bend. Heck, there are days when just getting out of bed takes effort, right?

And the warrior poses, because of their relative simplicity, give us a chance to explore the various textures of effort we can bring to our practice, our everyday lives and even getting out of bed.

"Effort" traditions:

In Ashtanga Yoga, the idea of effort is embodied in the first two limbs of Patanjali's 8 fold path--Yama and Niyama can be roughly understood as: effort and relaxation. This also corresponds to the 6th step in the Buddhist "Noble Eight Fold Path," "right effort." While Pantanjali takes a more restrictive and arguably more ascetic approach than the Buddha's "Noble 8 fold path," the basic idea is the same: do things that create a life conducive to a experiencing fulfillment: a peaceful, non-violent, healthy mind and body.

Or as the great Dorje Dradul of Mukpo described it:


"The sudden flash is a key to all Buddhist meditation, from the level of basic mindfulness to the highest levels of tantra. But it is not enough just to hope that a flash will come to us; there must be a background of discipline."


In other words, you won't find instant enlightenment for sale at the bookstore or at those expensive spiritual retreats. If you want to experience the peace, health, stillness, and special insight of the present moment, available through yoga, you have to make the effort to create the right conditions for it.

But while these paths usually deal with WHAT we should be directing our effort to, in order to create those conditions, I'm interested in HOW we exert that effort. As it turns out, it seems that the "WHAT": and the "HOW" might be the same thing....

I'll explore more on effort in part 2....

Ahimsa Shoes


Ahimsa Shoes.



Nope, not yoga shoes, just old friends made new again.

In our modern disposable economy, when things go bad we're supposed to "GO SHOPPING!"

But hiring a professional from my community to repair a well-made pair of old shoes gave me an opportunity to make a mindful choice toward non-violent foot-wear.


These particular old friends were a conscious buy from the start. They were well-made shoes in a classic style that never gets old. But more importantly, they're the flat, hard, thin-soled shoes that Alexander teachers and yoga teachers alike, both recommend. Yes, I paid a little extree for them at the time, but it was worth it to know they weren't made by child-laborers in Thailand. And that all that is difficult to find in today's current fashion market.

By choosing to repair old shoes instead of buying new, I:
--opted out of an industry that depletes our resources and puts children to work in sweatshops over-seas.
--strengthened my community by giving my money to a local professional who takes pride in his work.
--helped my feet by stepping into a comfortable pair of shoes that are already broken-in, and perfect for my feet.
--made 1 happy cow.

And all for the low price of $45! That's a huge savings! And now they look more beautiful than ever for the careful, hand-care they received--it's quality that shoes, I mean shows.

A new pair of shoes has never made me so happy, not to mention my community, my planet and my feet.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Connecting to grounding energy in Warrior Part 2

Because it's relatively simple, the warrior poses are excellent poses for experiencing this connection to that grounding energy.

So it's no wonder to me that the "Warior" asanas are named after the demon Virabhadra, as this grounding energy, not to mention that well-developed lower body strength has long been prized by martial artists, bar-room brawlers and competitive athletes.

That "energy" is how we experience the "structure" and the "power triangle" defense teacher Mark "Amimal" MacYoung talks about in his books on violence:

Let us categorically state: Martial arts poses were developed to create structure. If these poses are correctly taken, the body's own skeleton, tendons, joints and muscles will "lock into place." When this occurs your momentum will be delivered into your opponent.


As an aside, while MacYoung seems to be an expert on hurting people, his approach is about as "non-violent" a fighting method as you'll find--deglorifying violence and the "hero" mentality and emphasizing avoiding it instead.

And while we're on the subject of expert people hurting, I have to mention competitive fighter Benny "the Jet" Urquidez (why is it that hurting people earns you a cool nick name?) While I now have trouble with any sport that glorifies violence, Benny's body intelligence is masterful, and images of him in action have deepened my understanding of this grounding energy. If you don't mind the violence (after all, Virabhadra wasn't exactly all bubble gum and roses)here's one of the less violent clips of Benny available on youtube. Check out this "structure" he always comes back to--that's our "warrior" pose, no?

Feeling it:

Here are some tips that have helped me get in touch with this grounding energy:

The wall.

1. Breath. Take a high warrior position (like Benny in the video) with the front foot about an inch from a wall.
2. Allow your back leg to bend a little (which helps to feel the flow of energy) and let your upper body feel relaxed.
3. Breath. Relax.
4. Place your hand against the wall like an open handed "punch." Push. As you push against the wall, you may first feel your core tighten into a relaxed toned condition and your posture adjust appropriately to convey the force from your body into the wall. This will be your ideal posture for virabhadrasana.
5. Once your core is engaged and your body stops shifting, you will start to notice that same energy transmitting directly from your feet, (probably especially the back foot) into the wall.

Yes, this may all seem very mundane at first: "I'm pushing the wall and I feel the force in my body, so?" Well, yes, it's very mundane, but this experience is putting you in touch with you innate kinesthetic intelligence and focusing on this transference of energy has brought great mindfulness to my yoga practice.

In Virabhadrasana.

Now that your on your mat, how to cultivate this feeling in the pose? This helps me:
1. Visualize doing your warrior in the ocean with a giant wave approaching you. Take your pose and then strongly visualize that wave pushing you, let your body prep for the wave and direct that energy into the ground. Again you should feel your core and your essential protecting musculature energizing and your non-necessary muscles relaxing. Now rise up from that rooting energy and make sure to keep your torso erect. That's how I find my ideal warrior.

2. If you want to get into the spirit of Virabhadra, you can also visualize enemies pushing you from all sides--don't let them push you around! Let your body prep for it. But hey! Most importantly, relax and remember to treat those imaginary peeps with compassion!

3. Take a Tai chi class, especially one that does "push hands" practice. Tai chi and yoga are very complementary, to me. And "push hands is all about feeling the flow of this energy (again, look for the "warrior" poses:)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Connecting to grounding energy in Warrior, part 1

Prana--life force.

In the Hindu philosophy of yoga, all living beings have a vital energy force called "prana."

As someone with a rationalist temperament, I was a long-time "prana" skeptic. I don't like to believe in things that can't be proven to me with scientific methods. To me, it's a dangerous road, choosing to believe something simply because you want to: once you start making those leaps of faith, where do you stop?

So as I studied "prana" or it's apparent taoist counterpart "chi," I was frustrated to find these systems of "energy" and their explanations frequently contradictory and unsatisfactory. For example, there doesn't seem to be much consistency between the different kinds of "prana," what they do and how they relate to the "elements."

But for me, this remains: the reported experience of so many sensitive yogis and sages, with highly cultivated body awareness. And I have my own experiments with their teachings and so I have my own direct experience with some small part of this "prana" or "chi."

When my practice is good and I'm really in my body and aware of the flow of energy, strange things happen. This is a silly example, but, I'll go to open a heavy door and before I even I touch it, I get an intuitive sense of the door's energy. I'll feel my own energy connect with and, through me, connect downward to the earth and like an electric shock, straight from my hips, when those energies connect the door seems to fly open without feeling like I even moved my hand. It feels like the energy pushed the door. As if there were no muscular effort involved. When I'm that aware, everything feels well-coordinated, smooth, effortless and even a little "magical:" getting in the car, eating, walking and yes, yoga. To the rationalist in me, that "energy" sense is my kinesthetic body-intelligence crunching a bunch of numbers on the mechanics of opening the door, and then conveying that info to my conscious mind in a way it understands: "energy." It's a very real phenomenon. And that physical/mechanical intelligence is just one kind "energy" I've learned to experience in such a real, tangible way.

So it's easy for me to see how these great yogis and sages could reason by analogy and translate their profound experience into the accepted "scientific" language of their day.

From my theosophic world-view, I've learned to accept their intuitive experience of "prana" as truth and appreciate that our human intuition and body intelligence does not speak to us in "ohms," "torque" or "normal force" but instead in this more mysterious kinesthetic language of "energy."

For me, giving up trying to understand this energy and put labels on it and just accepting it has added a real beauty and utility to my practice.

Feeling "prana" in warrior.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Virabhadra: call him "warrior."


...because “warrior” sounds nicer than “demon,” doesn’t it?

The warrior asanas, "Virabhadrasana" were named in honor of Virabhadra, the big ugly, googly eyed demon/warrior who wore severed human heads to Dahksa’s sacrifice party. He was conjured by a pissed off Shiva for one purpose alone:

To kick ass.

So to me, Warrior is an excellent representation of grounded earth energy at it’s fullest extreme: fierceness, stubbornness, getting things done, kicking ass and taking names all without breaking a sweat.

You don't get the "fierceness?" Just stay in warrior 2 for 5 minutes.

Still don't get it? Commit to a another 25.

In our western tradition, it could be represented by Taurus, the bull. It is grounded energy, sensual and earthy, body-centered in rest, possibly stubborn, but you know what happens when you piss off a bull?

The warrior poses are an excellent way to get in touch with that same physical-mechanical energy in a very direct physical way and learn a little about our human mechanical instincts and kinesthetic intelligence. And in turn, a deeper connection with that grounding energy can bring greater awareness into your warrior poses and the rest of your practice.


For more on the Siva-lore on Virabhadra:

1. A nice excerpt from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4:5:3-17 can be found here.
2. A nice overview including more excerpts can be found here

Warrior Week (the new reason for this blog)

This week I started a new element to my practice, to set goals toward deepening my understanding, awareness and refinement in specific poses. Toward that goal, I named this week "warrior week."

So I set out to seek refinement in my warriors and I started researching...

and I started taking notes.

And then I realized, I have been writing about my yoga practice for almost 15 years. occasionally when I look at those notes, I'm often surprised to find them interesting: sometimes as personal progress markers, other times because of how boldly wrong those notes seem, and sometimes the notes serve of excellent reminders of tips and lessons, and finally, occasionally I'm surprised by the wisdom I found in the the simple practice of yoga.

And then it occurred to me that these notes might be interesting to someone else too.

So without further ado, Warrior Week, notes on the "Warriors."

Yoga is this: Joining.

Yoga is this: Joining.

Some say it’s “controlling,” controlling the body with the mind or controlling suffering, pain or desire. It’s taking control of your life with discipline. To yoke suffering and ride it out of town, John Wayne style. Samurai style.


And yeah, the classic texts, the yoga sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika are filled with that: abstentions, observations, controlling the breath controlling the mind, controlling the body: no stuff, no wanting, no senses, no sex (yikes!)

I’m sure somebody needs that, but I think I’ve already got enough coercion in my life.

Others say forget the yoke, forget the control, yoga is joy. It’s ananda, samadhi, bliss. So says Steve Ross, and he’s bad-ass. So says Pantanjali and well, he’s the “father of yoga.”

And, I kind of like that: “yoga” as this bubble of love and light where pain and suffering become meaningless. And I don’t doubt that it’s possible. I’ve known people who were there in one fashion or another. And hell, I’m sure yoga can get you there a lot safer than heroin or crack can.

But I’ve got rent to pay. And whether I’m strung out smack or a love and light trip I don’t think you want me driving. Anyway, I don't think that's what Steve Ross wants me to do either.

So that brings me here: Yoga is joining.

Here’s how I take it, whether it’s joining “earth and heaven,” “Ha” (sun) and “tha” (moon, gives you “hatha”) or yin and yang…

for me it’s about finding your balance.

Heaven energy, or sky, or mind can take you anywhere. It can take you on the love and light trip or to a union with god or exploring infinite internal metaphors of creation—and I don’t doubt that they’re every bit as real and meaningful as my thumb is. And there is infinite wisdom there, yes…

but it won’t wash my dishes.

Or feed me, (unless I’m a real scoundrel—there are plenty in the world today who think they can buy wisdom and just as many who are willing to sell it.)

Anyway, paying the rent takes body. It takes earth. It takes learning to recognize a grounded energy that means you’re right here right now. And to me, “yoga’ teaches us to bring that infinite mind into the grounded now, with just the right balance, anytime you need it.

Now that’s wisdom I can use to pay my rent, wash my dishes and feed myself.

Quick, think fast: you’re in warrior 2 pose. Your arms are killing you and your front leg is starting to tremble. Where do you go? Up into your head, into the love and light trip? Do you “deaden the senses” and swim of into a sea of never-ending bliss?

Quick think again: your family is in crisis, a loved one has died, a friend is in danger, you lost your job, your family needs you… Where do you go? Up into the heavens? Union with god? That sea of never ending bliss?

Or do you come back to the mat? Do you explore the infinite inside this moment? You feel the grounded prana (energy) connecting from foot to foot and up your spine, supporting your shoulders, and that red fiery energy of lactic acid buildup warming your muscles? Do you live in that breath, the basic pulse of life and explore that wisdom inherent in the now? Do you bring that creative mind together with the creating energy of body?

And yeah, what you learn from that moment and what you need to learn will be different for everyone, and every moment: sometimes it’s a shot of bliss, others need a pint of control, sometimes it’s a little abandon and others a little discipline but there’s a joining together that means balance and for me that’s “yoga.”

It’s an exotic sounding word for a simple thing: be in your body, right now. Learn.

At least that’s what I’m trying to do.

NOTE: the Perry Ferrel picture is a postcard for sale at gorey details. And yes, it's very cool.

Rebirth!


This blog lives!

Here's what I've got planned:

For the time, I'd like to use this blog to post my thoughts on my own yoga practice. I'll be posting my current journal as well as some writings going back about 15 years come April 22nd.

Hopefully, what will follow will be a journal of my own personal theosophical experiments with different yoga traditions including asana practices, "meditiation," diet and other elements of "yoga" practice and related traditions.

 
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