Haiku #3

Haikus work for me
Short and sweet and to the point
Even if they're round

Haiku #2

Once you've tasted it
You will want it every day
Inner voice of truth

Haiku #1

Finger talks to brain
Tiny cactus startles me
Drop of blood appears

Effort and Effortlessness - Pt 2

So how do we practice Sthiram Sukham Asanam?

YS 2:47 and the Mind of the Second Side

Thanks to Patanjali, he tells us in Yoga Sutra 2:47 – “Through relaxation of effort and meditation on the infinite.” Now that’s what I’m talking about, and what inspired me to do a few part series on Effort and Effortlessness.

“Relaxation in the midst of effort is a means, but it is also an end, that of dissolving all tensions.” 

---From Yoga: The First Steps, translated by Dr. Albert Franklin (my first yoga teacher. Thank you Bert, for this book and for teaching me what yoga asana practice is all about.)

So we get steady and comfortable by relaxing effort. How do we do that, “relax effort” and still do a physical practice, or even get the bills paid for that  matter?  We begin by approaching our practice consciously and eliminating extraneous effort and tension. In other words “work smarter, not harder.” Professional athletes use the least amount of effort possible to get the job done. That doesn’t mean they aren’t getting the job done. It means that they have refined their technique, focused their mind and cut out what doesn’t support the job at hand. Their choices are such that they do what it takes to get around the obstacle without taking a few extraneous laps around the field.

In yoga asana class, how many “laps around the field” are we taking in each pose? Just yesterday, I was breaking down bhujangasana (cobra pose) for the class. “Pull the chest forward, activate the triceps…” I said “if you’re not feeling you’re triceps (upper arm muscles) that’s not what we’re doing right now.” Some said that they were feeling it in the forearm. I thought to myself, “interesting.” I asked them to relax their hands. Voila! Triceps in, forearms out. And the hands were just fine during the finished product. The students had been instructed so many time to “activate the hands” that their hands were over-activated, aka tense. They had fixated on an instruction that had at one point been useful to them, and that same instruction, once mastered, was now an obstruction since now when they activated their already active hands, they were adding tension to an area that no longer needed extra a-tension (attention).

This is what I would call a mild case of “habitual efforting” in that by running the “activate the hands” instruction, they were subconsciously looking for the same feeling they had the first time they got that “aha” moment with active hands. Over time, the instruction was assimilated, and now the hands are naturally active, alive, aware. Looking for that same feeling adds tension. We see the same thing in downward facing dog. Over time the poses ceases to be a hamstring stretch and becomes a spinal extension. I see students try to get that deep hamstring opening satisfaction from a pose that will no longer give it to them without adding tension or other distortions. I say let yourself master the pose, have a moment of physical effortlessness and apply the “effort” to watching your mind during the duration of the pose.

But if I relax my effort, how will I get anything done?

Stay tuned…

Wow!

Now I can blog on the go with this new mobile blog app. No more excuses. It's time to seize those momentary quips of genius and post them for the world to see. Well, they'll be there, world seeing or not.

Peace on earth starts at home.

Effort and Effortlessness

YS 2:46

As a yoga teacher, I have over-arching themes and concepts for my students to explore. This year “effortlessness” has been the theme. So let’s begin the beguine again, and if we are starting from a yoga point of view, where better to turn than to the master of Yoga himself – Patanjali.

From Patanjali’s  yoga sutras, three of them talk about asana – the poses – the meat (or should I say “veet” for the vegetarians) of what comprises modern day yoga in the West. YS 2:46, 2:47, and 2:48.

2:46 – Sthiram Sukham Asanam.  Steady, comfortable poses.  Many have written about this sutra, myself included. But this sutra is so rich, we can (and do) keep coming back for more. 

Sthiram Sukham Asanam.  Steady, comfortable poses.  According to Patanjali – that is what we strive for in our asana practice. Seems simple enough. Hold the pose, don’t move, be comfortable. Right... Most of us who have tried this have found that it is not as easy as it seems. Something has got to go in that equation whether it be the steadiness, the ease/comfort of the pose, or the pose itself. My dog, Winston, is a master of this sutra. He can stay in one position for a loooooooooong time without effort and without moving. The ultimate "down dog" pose is my dog stretched out in a half-sleep state. His eyes are open, yet his body is totally relaxed. It’s as if he could stay there forever. And he does. Until the next thing comes along or I think he is so cute I have to pet him, pick him up and hold him. Is there a position or state that we can hold and feel so comfortable and steady that we find no reason to get up? I mean, even watching TV – at some point aren’t we moved to get up off the couch if only to walk to the kitchen to make a snack?

So how do we practice Sthiram Sukham Asanam? Tune in tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what comes next. If anything...

steady?

comfortable?

hungry?

Accounting

Accountability. We may resist it. We may love it. But it can give us the incentive to continue, to do better, to do our best, or at least to do when inertia sets in and that spark that got us going doesn't burn as hot.

I'm goal oriented. Yes I am. I write songs to be sung in public. I like to start and complete projects. I like a clean start and a clean finish. So when I'm doing "art for art's sake" in the form of a blog which maybe nobody is reading, or to write a song that nobody will hear because I don't have any gigs lined up, then those things that I love to do get put on the bottom of the pile. I may love to do them, but maybe I like the feeling of completion, of performance, of sharing the journey better than typing away at my computer, digging on my ruminations. Ruminating solo is fine, but I'm much more into conversations, even though they may be silent. Can a standup comedian be a standup comedian in one's bedroom with the door closed? (don't go there...) If I joke is told but no one hears it, is it a joke?

Accountability. I think it has to do with doing things that count. Or counting the things we do. And having someone outside of ourselves care whether we do it or not. Unless we are happy to count alone. Who can we count on? Who do we count in?

I'm happy when I'm "held accountable." I feel like I'm not all alone out there, counting grains of sand in a spoon and that there is more to it all other than the little "s" me. (self vs Self).

So this is another picking my blog up and dusting it off moment this year. But who's counting?