Maintaining a Home Practice

“What’s a home practice?!” my friend Suzi from Portugal wrote, her irony not lost in the facelessness of the typed page. “Well, I guess I could say that my kids are my Yoga, as my husband is also, or the dogs, or making the beds, or doing the dishes…”

But of course, aren’t most of us householders, with Yoga as the focus of our lives being just behind round-the-world cruises and a fleet of sports cars in that ever-present lottery win fantasy? After all, for the majority of us it’s not Yoga that feeds the kids, makes the beds, pays the bills…

“The kids go back to school on Monday,” Suzi continued, a hint of relief in her words. “And then I shall be able to put my thoughts back in order.”

And that’s when it struck me - what use is this Yoga thing if it only works when we are free to clear the time and space to let it take effect? Who needs to feel the wonders of Yoga more, I wonder - the stressed business executive as she faces the demands of an uncaring world, or the reclusive monk with hour after day after month to indulge in the finest of India’s philosophies? And if Yoga only works for those with the time to follow a strict and lengthy course of behaviour, what use is it to the you or me in our everyday lives?

And yet, how useful this Yoga thing is was my very first thought after my first ever Yoga class. So strange, I thought, that I could lie there in a class full of complete strangers and yet be relaxed enough to fall asleep. There was something in this Yoga thing indeed!

Skip several months forward and, much as I still enjoyed classes, there was something limiting about the set times and places, the postures chosen by the teachers. Something inhibiting in the pace of the classes, by necessity aimed at the slowest learners, and (again, by necessity) lacking in the philosophical structure that I now know to be true Yoga. All in all, something that wasn’t quite right.

At that time, the “some is good, more is better” attitude still ran strong in me, and I tried (without much success) to go to more classes each week, desperate to find that “more” that eluded me. But gradually, over months (perhaps years), the realisation came that it wasn’t more of the same I needed, but less - and more of something different. Less them, more me…

I took my first tentative steps towards a home practice quite early, after just a few weeks of classes, when I received my first Yoga video as a present. But like a teetering toddler it continued in bursts and stumbles for over 6 months before finding its feet in any way. Even then (and even now) the falls are frequent, the merest social events or most inconsequential working demands wreaking untold havoc on my good intentions. Could this really be what Patanjali had in mind?

But something in Suzi’s words seemed to click, a connection to the very first sutra of Patanjali’s finest work. In fact, the very first word - Atha.

Now.

Not tomorrow, not next week. Not when the kids go back to school, or when work eases up and lets you home before dark o’clock.

NOW!

Yoga cannot take place another time, it must begin now with your intention to practice. Easy for me to say as I sit at the keyboard, typing ideals and impossible goals for people I don’t even know! Or is it? Where in the Yoga sutra-s does Patanjali say that Yoga must be a ninety minute class of asana-s? Or an hour? Or half an hour? Does he even prescribe that we must dedicate one minute to Yoga?

This fallacy, that we must set aside a block of time is second only to the prevailing misconception that Yoga equals asana. Together they make a deadly combination. So you’re at home, the dog’s barking, kids are screaming and tearing up the joint, dinner’s burning on the stove - right now, an hour’s asana practice is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. But can you spare sixty seconds? Or thirty? Close your eyes (oh yeah, better switch off that stove first!), take a deep breath and bring yourself just one step closer to calmness. Feel better? Of course. Was that Yoga? For sure.

But what can we do to maximise the likelihood of a regular, if not daily, practice? To begin, I think taking a good long look at yourself, your environment, and your needs from Yoga, is an excellent starting point. This is a large part of what Patanjali calls Svadhyaya or self-study, one of the three essential elements of Kriya Yoga (the Yoga of action.) And the first question must be to ask yourself what you are hoping to achieve from Yoga?

Discovering your intent is a very important preparation for practice, for that determines largely what you will do, and how you will do it. If your needs are spiritual, a dynamic asana-based practice is unlikely to help you achieve that - on the contrary, if you look to Yoga as a means of physical therapy, a practice centred around chanting and prayer will probably not meet your expectations.

The next step should be to look at how you can change your life to move towards those goals.

“Having a Yoga space helps me,” said Suzanne, another friend and a Yoga teacher from North Carolina. “I have my Yoga room back again it makes a huge difference. My stepson is still in and out, so there is still some of his stuff there, but having a space that’s clear and clean and dedicated is wonderful.”

Your ‘Achilles heel’ may be very different - for me, I know that the key to a regular practice is a good night’s sleep. A night owl at heart, I prefer to stay up late but know that if I do not get up and practice in the morning before work, I am less likely to do it. Several late nights have a cumulative effect, and it then becomes a feat for me to break the ‘downward spiral’, a much greater effort to drag myself to the mat. But how do we summon that initial effort?

A story springs to mind of an in-house training course run by my work, where the old seasoned veteran is trying to teach the next batch of young whippersnappers how to do the job. As they sit in expectation he forms them in a circle and places a lit candle in the middle.

“Now I want you all to close your eyes, and think hard, and concentrate on putting out that candle with your thoughts.” A few doubtful glances, then the eyes are closed and the trainees strain their faces as they will that candle to extinguish.

“Open your eyes,” he says, but when they do the candle is still lit. “Try again, but this time I really want you all to picture that candle blowing out.” Again they try. Again the candle is still lit when their eyes are opened.

Shaking his head, this dinosaur steps into the middle of the circle, licks his forefinger and thumb, then snuffs out the flame.

“Don’t think about it! Do it!”

While self-study may prepare you for success, all the planning in the world will never take you one step closer to extinguishing that candle. What you need is Tapas - often described as fire, austerity or self-discipline - to take you to your mat. This discipline always seems to begin with a sacrifice -whether a warm bed on a frosty winter’s morning, or a few more minutes with a loved one watching the latest blockbuster. This is where the elements of Kriya Yoga begin to interact - how much do you want to reach the goals that Svadhyaya have revealed to you? Enough to sacrifice fifteen more minutes in bed? Enough to miss that wonderful movie (and associated munchies)? Only you can decide, but without that discipline your candle will still be burning every time you open your eyes.

So you’ve done the thinking (and boy did that hurt), and summoned the willpower to take you to the mat. But then the phone rings, and your boss needs you in at work immediately, or a good friend has found a crisis to distract you from your path. Surely even Patanjali cannot get you out of this one?!

This is where the third element comes rushing in to the rescue - Ishvara Pranidhana, or surrender to god. And this is where a large proportion of Yogin-s go rushing out the door, as the threat of theology looms over their favoured pastime. But far from some devotional ideal, I see the practical application of this surrender as being a simple acceptance - acceptance that sometimes (most of the time) we are in a river not of our choosing, and that we must swim along with the current or perish.
“The slump is my guru!” declared David (yes, you guessed it, yet another friend), who teaches in Utah.

Just five words, but instantly I knew what he meant. Beyond the asana-s and the pranayama, beyond meditation and chanting, Yoga has so much more to teach us. A home practice is a far greater gift than a half hour’s mat time, and often seems amplified when Swami Slumpananda is in control. The trick then is to recognise your control is gone, accept it, wait and watch. Sooner or later the Swami cuts you free, and it’s time to dish out the Tapas again!

Scott currently teaches at Kilmarnock College, Kilmarnock, on a Saturday morning during the academic term. He is also available for one-to-one sessions in order to help you develop a regular home practice, to deepen your existing practice or to tackle specific issues that cannot be addressed in group classes. You can find further details or contact him through his website at http://www.exploreyoga.co.uk

Improve Your Eyesight with Trataka

Eyes are the windows of the soul and you can see what a person is up to by looking into his eyes. Hence it is important to have clean eyesight. In yoga, trataka is a technique devised by the ancient sages to improve the eyesight. It is a shuddhikriya or purification process to cleanse the eyesight and help in silencing of the mind in concentration. Sit with your back straight. Keep your eyes fixed on an object without winking till tears start streaming down your face. The small object can be the flame of an oil lamp, or an image or a picture or the letter ?AUM?. This object should be placed in the line of sight at a distance of about four to six feet. You can also do this kriya without any object in front of you. Having an object is not necessary. Just stare in front of you at the wall without moving the eyeballs or eyelids. Ensure that you stare at a certain point on the wall.

Before starting this exercise, you can start off by movement of the eyes without moving the head, where you roll your eyeballs up and down, sideways and from corner to corner diagonally. Initially, you can make this movement with the open eyes and then repeat them with the closed eyes. This will give the requisite exercise to the eye muscles. This is then followed by trataka. Trataka makes the eyes clear, improves eyes and silences the mind. Over a period of time, you will experience the silence of the mind. If you want to meditate, start with trataka to silence the mind and then go to the meditation. This way, you will reap the benefits of meditation. Since you are exercising the eye muscles, they become stronger. You can perform this kriya daily without any harmful effects.

Kevin Pederson is the webmaster for Yogawiz that provides loads of information on Basics of Yoga, Office Yoga, Asanas and Poses. Trataka is an excellent eye exercise. It can also lead to silencing the turbulent mind.

http://www.yogawiz.com

What Is Yoga? Asana In the Context of the Six Yogas System

What Is Yoga?

Yoga is freedom. It is love. It is pure, radiant, unobstructed joy. It
is pure awareness, wide-awake and clear.

~ Richard Freeman, director of The Yoga Workshop, in Boulder, CO

Here in the United States, on the cusp of 2006, just about everyone has heard the word ?yoga.? For many if not most, the word conjures images of scantily-clad beings with expanding and twisting limbs: a well-worn ?scene? in health clubs, retreat centers, and yoga spaces throughout the country. In other words, it brings to mind the practice of asana ~ sequences of physical movements and postures ~ which, as it turns out, represent just a tiny slice of the entire ?pie? that is the Yoga Tradition(s) of the larger world (universe, cosmos). Now there?s nothing wrong with the practice of asana (I do it myself, and find it quite wonderful!), but it might be useful to be able to place this particular aspect of yoga onto its larger ?map? ~ to have a sense of the tradition(s) from which it arises and to which it returns, and to understand asana to be just one of many possible entry-points into this vast and beautiful territory. So let?s explore ?

The word Yoga originates from the Sanskrit word Yuj (literally, “to yoke”) and is generally translated as “union” or “integration” — to yoke, attach, join, or unite. The ?union? referred to here is that of the individual soul with the cosmos, the Supreme; of the small ?self? of ego/individual identity with the larger ?Self? or ?Spirit? of which we?ll all a part. But what does this mean? And how to we get there?! It is in the quest to answer these questions that the various Yoga traditions have arisen.

Perhaps the broadest categorization within the world of Yoga is along the lines of the great spiritual traditions of the world, and in particular, their mystical wings/branches: Those within these traditions who identify as ?mystics? are seeking yoga, or direct (unmediated) union, with the Divine. Examples of Yoga at this level include: Buddhist Yoga (e.g. the ?six Yogas of Naropa?); Taoist Yoga (commonly known as Qigong ~ the basis for all of the martial & healing arts with origins in China); and the Yogas associated with the so-called ?Hindu? traditions of India.

The practice of asana, as it?s best known in this country, falls into the last of these categories: the Hindu Yoga traditions. But this tradition itself has numerous aspects. One way of looking at it is through the lens of ?The Six Yoga Systems,? which can be understood as six different doorways, entry-points, portals, or vehicles through which a practitioner might approach, engage with, and enter the territory of Yoga.

The Six Yoga Systems

1.Hatha Yoga is the category under which asana falls. One way of translating the word ?Hatha? is to break it into two parts: ?ha?=sun and ?tha?=moon. Sun and moon, in this context, refer to the two opposite currents that regulate all processes in our body: the ?masculine? and the ?feminine,? or ~ in terms of subtle anatomy, the pingala and the , the two nadis, or channels of energy, whose union within the central channel of the shushumna nadi is ~ for those practicing in this tradition, the very definition of Yoga. Aside from being, in the way described above, a vehicle for mystical union, the asanas ~ on a more mundane level ~ are great for improving health & strengthening the nervous system ? and this is understood to be the first and a necessary step along this path. Forms of Hatha Yoga being practiced in the United States today include: Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kripalu, Bikrams, and Anusara (to name just a few!).

2.Raja (royal) Yoga is often referred to as the ?crown of Hatha Yoga.? What makes it the ?crown? is its addition ~ to the physical practices of Hatha Yoga ~ of a kind of mental training intended to improve concentration to the point at which it flows into meditation and, finally, samadhi (which is, for this tradition, the ultimate definition of Yoga). Raja Yoga is known also as Ashtanga (eight-limbed) Yoga. These eight limbs include:

1. Yamas, or Restraints (harmlessness, truthfulness, non-stealing, control of senses)

2. Niyamas, or Disciplines (cleanliness, purification of body, mind and nervous system, study of metaphysical principles, contemplation on God)

3. Asanas or Postures

4. Pranayama, or Un-binding of breath and life-currents

5. Pratyahara, or Turning the attention within, by reversing the flow of the energy of the sense organs

6. Dharana, or Concentration

7. Dhyana, or Meditation, i.e. prolonged periods of perfect concentration and contemplation

8. Samadhi, or Mystical Union

The exposition of Raja Yoga is contained, most famously, in the sage Patanjali?s Yoga Sutras.

3. Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of Devotion, of love for the Divine in its embodied forms. Radha and the other Gopis are ~ in their relationship to Krishna ~ the archetypal, quintessential Bhaktas, for it is through their love and devotion and delight in the presence of Krishna that they come to know themselves as Divine. Selfless love, compassion, humility, and purity, along with this desire and serious intention to merge with God, are qualities which are cultivated along this path. (Amachi, Shree Ma, and Karunamayi are three contemporary Teachers of this path.)

4.Jnana Yoga (the Yoga of Knowledge) is a Yoga that uses the intellect as a tool to understand that our true Self is behind and beyond our mind. It is, in other words, a path which uses the power of the intellect to ~ ultimately ~ free us from conceptual elaboration of all sorts, and allow us to relax within the space beyond all concepts of mind. For the purpose of this sort of Self-discovery, Jnana Yoga probes the nature of the Self through the question “Who am I?” Thus Jnana Yoga is sometimes called the Quest for the Self or the Inquiry into “who we are.” (Shankara ~ a yogi ?claimed? by the Buddhist as well as the Hindu traditions ~ and, more recently, Ramana Maharshi are two well-known practitioners of Jnana Yoga.)

5.Kriya Yoga is a yogic system covering a wide range of techniques, including mantras and techniques of meditation for control of the life-force (prana). The term ?Kriya? is often used in reference to (intended or spontaneous) actions which free the body and/or mind of obstructions. The goal ~ as in all forms of Yoga ~ is to unite with pure Awareness (God). Since pure Awareness is our original condition, it is also, within this system, referred to as Self-awareness. (Yogananda?s Self-Realization Fellowship is one example of a modern organization devoted to this form of practice.)

6.Karma Yoga is the Yoga of work/action, of selfless service. Practitioners of Karma Yoga engage whole-heartedly in the ?mundane? work of the world, for the benefit of all fellow human (and non-human) beings, and devote the fruits of their labors to the Divine. In this action of letting go of hope/fear around future outcomes, attention is brought more and more completely into the present moment, which is the Heart of the Divine. And so in giving away all fruits of labor, the practitioner ~ paradoxically ~ receives, continuously, the greatest of gifts, the greatest wealth: the treasure-house called Yoga, the radiant ?aliveness? of the Present Moment.
Yet another way of dividing the Yogic pie (so delicious!) is into the two categories of (1) Yoga as path, which including all the various sadhanas (techniques & practices), schools & historical traditions; and (2) Yoga as fruition, which includes the various siddhis, accomplishments or fruits, of practice, as well as the ultimate ?fruit? of Mystical Union itself ~ the final goal ~ which, once received, transcends even the path/fruition polarity. At that point ~ the realized Masters tell us ~ one finds oneself in a place both new and quite familiar ? a place eluded to, perhaps, by the Sufi mystic/poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, in this poem of his:

Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I?ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn?t make any sense.

Hope this overview (my Karma Yoga for the day!) is useful and/or interesting to you ? And if you?d like to learn more about these and other Yoga Traditions, one great resource is Georg Feuerstein?s book The Yoga Tradition.

Namaste! (the spark of Divinity in me bows to the spark of Divinity in you!)

Elizabeth Reninger holds a Masters degree in Chinese Medicine, is a published poet, and has been exploring Yoga ~ in its Taoist, Hindu & Buddhist varieties ~ for more than twenty years. Her teachers include Richard Freeman and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. To read more of her yoga-related essays, please visit her website: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger