Bon Anniversaire

I approach all that interests me with the curiosity of a novice and the sensibilities of a journalist. I have been in the mass media profession since graduating from college, but my passion has been yoga since I discovered it almost exactly one year ago. For 12 months I have enjoyed practicing Ashtanga Yoga and continue to reap its benefits today. I am now more athletic, eat a more balanced diet, increased my stamina, and restored some of the flexibility that I once had as a teenager.

I also feel I’ve reached a turning point after one year. As a journalist it’s become second nature to always, always ask why. Apart from its physical aspects, why are so many like myself attracted to yoga and why has it survived and thrived for thousands of years?

Based on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, yoga is not just postures, or asanas, but a way of life. The Indian sage describes in four chapters how yoga also involves Yama - Rules, Niyama – Regulations and Pranayama - Breath Control, Pratyahara – Sense Control, Dharana – Concentration, Dhayana -- Meditation—7 of 8 limbs of Ashtanga with each limb being a step towards the path of self-realisation. In class, we are taught the primary series of Ashtanga Yoga, from Suryas A & B, the standing, seated and closing sequences. Many will agree that Ashtanga is the most physically challenging and demanding of the yoga styles—so I am wondering how all the non-physical, the spiritual dimensions of yoga play out. How does Ashtanga, with its physical adjustments that cause the body to tense up and result in muscle guarding, fit into this structure?

A quick read of the Yoga Sutras reveals that only a few sutras ever touch on asanas but it is these sutras, in particular Sutras 2.46-47, that appear to link the postures to achieving a mental and meditative state that is necessary to reaching Samadhi, the culmination of the eight limbs of Ashtanga.

Like many ancient classical texts the Yoga Sutras has been subject to different interpretation. I refer to BKS Iyengar, Georg Feuerstein, Kofi Busia and BonGiovanni as sources as they seem to have the most similar translations.

Sutra 2.46: sthira sukham asanam
Sthira: firm, fixed, steady, steadfast, lasting
Sukham: happiness, delight
Asanam: postures, poses

1. Posture (asana) should be steady and comfortable.

2. Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence and benevolence of spirit.

(Note: Here Iyengar makes a clear argument for asana practice as 'meditation in action:')

Commentary by BKS Iyengar: Some have taken this sutra to mean that any comfortable posture is suitable. If that were so, these would be asanas of pleasure (bhogasanas) not yogasanas. This sutra defines the perfected asana. From the very first sutra Patanjali demands the highest quality of attention to perfection…. As asanas are refined they automatically become meditative as the intelligence is made to penetrate towards the core of being…. When (action and perception) are fused together the discriminative faculty of the mind acts to guide the organs of action and perception to perform the asanas more correctly; the rhythmic flow of energy and awareness is experienced evenly and without interruption both centripetally and centrifugally throughout the channels of the body. A pure state of joy is felt in the cells and the mind. The body, mind and soul are one. This is the manifestation of dharana and dhyana in the practice of an asana.

3. That attitude or mode of being that is maintainable and brings joy is 'right being.'

4. The posture should be steady and comfortable.

5. Posture (asana) (right poise) refers to the physical, emotional, and mental demeanor of the student. This practice does not require specific (literal) physical postures, but requires a certain quality (poise) and attitude on all levels of one's personality expression. "The posture assumed must be steady and easy." "Steadiness and ease of posture is to be achieved through persistent slight effort and through the concentration of the mind upon the infinite (reality)." The student should achieve and maintain spiritual poise (qualified balance of physical, emotional, and mental natures) (balance of one's lower (personality) nature with the higher self, external world, etc.), easily and naturally (almost effortlessly).

(Note: Kofi Busia also elucidates a broader context for the concept of asana. Rather than the performance of Hatha Yoga postures, the term asana is understood to mean a poised demeanor in life. This sense of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual balance, as one moves through the day, influences one's surroundings and helps to create friendly relationships, a pleasant environment and agreeable surroundings. This poise is a crucial precondition for further progress.)

Sutra 2.47: prayatna saithilya ananta samapattibhyam

1. [The correct practice of posture is accompanied] by the relaxation of tension and the coinciding [of consciousness] with the infinite.

2. Perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.

3. When correctly practiced it is infinitely transforming and brings endless release.

4. In effortless relaxation, dwell mentally on the Endless with utter attention.

5. Right-control of the life-force (pranayama) implies proper qualification of the breathing process (physical, emotional, and concrete mental levels). It implies equilibrium in the context of the karmic flow, i.e., in responding intelligently (non-actively and non-passively) to karmic consequences (circumstances, external and internal forces). It implies conservation of forces and their proper utilization and application (internally and externally) (and taking responsibility for same (effects)). Breathing is as much or more an etheric process than a dense physical process. Even on astral levels, that- which-corresponds-to-prana is inspired and expired through the astral (emotional) body as the student relates to conditions in the astral environment (however consciously or otherwise)

Just a little research I wanted to share for my first year anniversary. Namaste.

Yoga: Striking a balance between mind and body

Part of my yoga practice is a daily ritual of perusing the blogs of fellow practitioners. It keeps me in the loop and aware of what’s going on in the local yoga community.

An interesting read is the blog of Jon Cagas who discusses a full-spectrum of topics from durians in Davao to his yogic adventures with pals Chona, Jane, Trin and Crissy. His yoga studies have taken him around the globe and have made him a credible resource for the theory and practice of Ashtanga , Hatha Yoga and Pranayama as well as something of a culinary expert in Middle Eastern vegetarian cuisine.

His post today caught my eye and I hope to draw others attention to it. Yoga Sutras Q&A, sheds light on how to approach the yoga philosophy with an open mind. He deconstructs the opening chant, which if translated literally would provoke but in Sanskrit is beautiful and poetic. In class, Jon's voice is deep, booming and heartfelt, as he goes through the prayer line by line so that students may respond and connect with the chant.

Being chiefly a teacher, he spares readers a visit to Indian websites that attempt to explain the sage’s eight-fold path of yoga which yes, can be confounding, perhaps too metaphysical for other denominations. He answers 7 basic questions for the layman in this 2-part series.

Having only started my practice, I’m still at a level which many may consider superficial: I’m doing yoga for self-gratification, to de-stress and escape the demands of my job, to forget about the difficulties of parenthood, to restore the flexibility I once had as a ballet dancer, to perspire and a host of other narcissistic reasons. I’m at a stage where I’m enjoying the physical benefits more than the spiritual. This could be the reason why I can’t memorize the primary series. “Dance with it!” Jon says during vinyasas. Now that, I understand.

If you’re like me—beginning to feel guilty about not being diligent enough—go to this link and post questions. On the surface, I think (and this is my pedestrian interpretation only, ok?) the goal of yoga is to achieve a balance between mind and body. One must be fully-focused and concentrated, stilling the mind and controlling it with a long-term and earnest practice of yoga. Success in yoga comes to the keen and intent practitioner.

Namaste. Practice with integrity!