WORKING TOGETHER – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #12 April 12, 2018

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Tags: Gary Soto, inspiration, interconnected, KISS MY ASANA, Mind Body Solutions, poetry month, vinyasa, vinyasa krama, Vipassana
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“As far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this:
You buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
From a fruit stand, and what coins
Are passed on helps others buy pencils, glue,
Tickets to a movie in which laughter
Is thrown into their faces.
If we buy a goldfish, someone tries on a hat.
If we buy crayons, someone walks home with a broom.
A tip, a small purchase here and there,
And things just keep going. I guess.”

– from How Things Work by Gary Soto

If you practice yoga (or anything) long enough – sometimes it only takes a few seconds, sometimes a few hours, sometimes days, sometimes months – you start to notice how things work. If you practice yoga (or anything) long enough – sometimes it only takes a few minutes, sometime a few weeks, sometimes years, sometimes a lifetime – you start to notice how everything is connected. The awareness of interconnectedness develops on and off the mat.

But, let us just begin with awareness on the mat.

The physical practice, hatha yoga, regardless of the style or tradition, is a combination of the third limb of the philosophy (asana, seat) and the fourth limb (pranayama, awareness or extension of breath/life force). Again, regardless of the style or tradition, building a pose starts with establishing a base – that’s the seat – and then building from the ground up so that you can breathe – that’s the awareness of breath. This makes sense, right? I mean, a carpenter does not build a house by magically floating a chandelier over an empty space and then building the ceiling, followed by the walls, and then the foundation. And, even if they used a crane instead of magic (to hold up the chandelier) at some point they have to figure out a way to remove the crane. One method makes sense, and is sustainable. One method might be a fun experiment, but eventually leads to chaos and a big mess.

Vinyasa is a technique as well as a very popular style of physical practice in the West. It involves the linking of breath and poses, but the way in which it is practiced can look and feel very different – depending on how and why things are connected. When we think of vinyasa as “flow,” instead of the literal “to place in a special way,” we may miss why some poses feel natural when linked together and why other sequences feel awkward and clunky.

Vinyasa karma is the science of placing things in a (special) way that leads to a step-by-step progression towards a goal. There is an element of vinyasa karma in every good practice – even when the practice is not a vinyasa practice. Here, I am defining a “good” practice as being one where you feel your time on the mat was well spent and that time leaves you feeling more connected. And, over time, you may notice that it is the sequencing of poses which creates that sense of connectedness.

Sequencing can also help us gain more awareness of how things work, because it brings our awareness to how we prepare. When we are focused only on the outside of the body, and not on the inner engagement or the breath, we miss the opportunity to prepare for the next pose or the next breath. Yes, the body and the mind can do amazing things – including, if we desire it enough, contort into one pretzel shape after another – but, some amazing feats are not sustainable.

For instance, if a non-dancer or non-gymnast starts off a physical practice with a big back bend like Camel Pose (Ustrasana) they may find the legs are a little shaky, the hips sink back, the core collapses, and the upper back is stiff – in fact, they may find the only thing ready for the pose is a hyper-flexible neck: Notice the difference. One the flip side, a person who works hunched over at a desk or an assembly line all day can progress into the pose if they first do something to engage the strength of the legs; the flexibility of the hips; the stability of the core; and the flexibility of the full spine, shoulders, and arms. What they do to achieve these effects depends on the style and tradition and, ideally, on the individual needs of their mind-body-spirit.

As another example, consider how you move into a balancing pose. Some people establish a base, shift the weight, engage the core, and “float” up. They then spend their time in the pose breathing deeply in, breathing deeply out. On the other hand, some people “jump” into balancing poses. They often get lucky – which means they don’t immediately crash and burn, but they may spend the whole time in the pose worried that they are going to crash and burn. Yes, everybody falls down. The question is what did falling down teach you?

The body and the mind have a way of naturally finding balance within the imbalance. When we mimic the body’s natural tendencies, we feel stronger, more flexible, more open and lighthearted, more grounded, and more at ease within ourselves and our surroundings. When we feel more connected to ourselves and our surroundings, we also have more awareness into what is. More awareness leads to more insight, which enables us to respond, rather than react, to the situations in which we find ourselves. (Note: Vipassana is a very popular technique and style of meditation that literally means to see in a special way.)

Great teachers, on and off the mat, have said, “You don’t have to believe me. Try it for yourself.” In “Looking Around, Believing,” Gary Soto wrote, “How strange that we can begin at any time.” Begin now.

How Things Work + Looking around, Believing + Between Words – by Gary Soto

(Practice Time: ~ 15 – 20 minutes)

Very deliberately and mindfully place yourself in Child’s Pose (Balasana). Notice how your body rests between or on your legs, and make sure your knees are comfortable. Remember, you can always place a cushion under the knees, under the hips, or under the chest. Notice how your head rests so that your neck can lengthen. Breathe and notice how the body expands on the inhale, settles on the exhale.

Start to engage your locks (bandhas) on the exhale: spread the toes and press the feet down (in this case tops of the feet down) for the Foot Lock (Pada Bandha); squeeze the perineum muscles together, lifting the pelvic floor for the Root Lock (Mula Bandha) – which engages your lower abdominal cavity; belly button up and back for abdominal core lock (Uddiyana Bandha) – which engages your upper abdominal cavity; draw the chin towards the throat and chest, lengthening the neck, for the Throat Lock (Jalandhara Bandha). Notice your awareness of your body when the locks (bandhas) are engaged versus when they are released.

Once you’ve engaged your mind-body-spirit, move into Table Top: stack shoulders over elbows, elbows over wrists, hips over knees. Press down to lift up, activating the arms, the legs, and the lower three (3) locks. Notice the length of the spine, and how you support it. Notice the air again shifting around you. Move through Cat/Cow or the “Un-Cat” sequence precisely matching the movement to the breath. Move from your core so that the gaze is the last thing to come up and the last thing to turn down.

Once your mind, body, and spirit are synchronized, curl your toes under and exhale into Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana). Double check your engagement of the pose. Make sure all your fingers are spread wide, with the majority of the weight/pressure in your hands moving into the thumb and first finger. (So that, there is less weight/pressure applied to your outer wrists.) When you relax your head and shoulders, make sure your big toes are parallel to each other and at least a foot apart. Big toes can be behind the thumbs or behind the middle fingers. Hips are high, heels are low (reaching, but not necessarily touching the mat); and neck is long. Even if you have to bend your knees, find Cow Pose in this position (so that you have a straight line from your middle fingers all the way up to your hips and then a second straight line from your hips to the back of your knees). Eyes are on your nose, your belly button, or the space between your toes. Engage your locks (bandhas) as you are able. Engage the air between your arms, between your legs, and in the space beneath your body. Notice the feeling of your entire back body (including legs and feet).

Remember you can skip the arm balancing, by moving into Staff Pose (Dandasana) and positioning the arms accordingly or using “Dolphin Dog.” Another modification would be to do the pose on the wall. Either way, strongly engage your legs and your core. Notice the feeling of your entire back body (including legs and feet).

Stretch back (meaning, push your spine towards your thighs) and on an exhale walk your hands to your feet or bring your hands and feet together. Once hands are in line with the toes and heels are flat to the mat, inhale to a Half Lift/Flat Back or Extended Forward Bend. (This pose may be called Ardha Uttanasana or Urdhva Uttanasana.) Place your hands on your thighs and press the shoulders into the metaphorical back pockets. Remember, you want to engage in a similar fashion to Cow Pose, Staff Pose, and Downward Facing Dog. In fact, inhale and find a little bit of Cow Pose (even if you have to bend your knees). Now, press the heels down and – as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine – engage the quadriceps to extend through the knees and press the thigh bones into the wall behind you. Engage your locks (bandhas) as you are able. Again, notice the feeling of your entire back body (including legs and feet).

If you have unregulated blood pressure, low back issues, eye issues like glaucoma, or if this is already challenging, remember to stay here with knees bent.

Otherwise, if it is not contraindicated, bend the knees and flex from the hips to prep Forward Bend (Uttanasana). Keeping the upper back extended, place the hands on the floor or a block and begin to extend through the legs while pressing the thigh bones into the backs of your legs. Do not force the extension. Use the exhales to settle the heart on the thighs (as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine.) If your legs are completely straight, make sure the knee caps are lifted and that you are not hyper-extending the knees. Also double check to ensure that if the knees are straight the hips are over the knees, not behind the ankles. Remember to engage your locks (bandhas). Notice the length of the spine. Again, notice the feeling of your entire back body (including legs and feet).

Inhale to Half Lift / Flat Back and use the exhale to engage your core. With hands on the hips, maintain the length of the spine and lift up to standing. Relax your arms by your sides. Balance the weight between all four corners of both feet. Feel free to move side-to-side or back and forth on the feet until you feel you are centered. Spread the toes, press big toes and little toes down, as well as both sides of the heels. (This establishes “all four corners of both feet.”) Engage the quadriceps in order to lift the knee caps and firm up the thighs. Sit bones point down so that the pelvic bones lift up. Engage your locks (bandhas). As you press down in order to lift the sternum up, use the core abdominal muscles to draw the lower rib cage down. Relax the shoulders and gaze straight ahead. This is Equal Standing / Mountain Pose (Samasthiti/Tadasana).

Changing as little as possible, stretch the arms out like the letter T. Once your arms are wide, extend out of the center of your chest. Make sure shoulders, lower rib cage, and sits bones are reaching down. Notice the air above and below your arms. Now, turn the palms up and inhale your arms overhead. (Many traditions refer to this as Arms Reaching Overhead (Urdhva Hastasana), but I tend to call this Tadasana). Make sure the lower rib cage drops down as the sternum lifts up and notice how that helps you engage your core. After several breaths, lower the arms to your sides on an exhale.

Now, maintaining the previously established alignment and awareness of breath, use the whole inhale to lift the arms overhead and the whole exhale to press the hands together through heart center. On the exhale of the third centering breath, walk to the front of the mat with hands through heart center.

Equal Standing is like a soldier in the “Ready” position. Moving through half of a Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar), inhale arms over head into Arms Reaching Overhead; exhale and stretch the arms out wide as you dive between the hands into a Forward Bend; inhale to a Half Lift / Flat Back; exhale back to Forward Bend. Keeping the knees bent and the core engaged, inhale to reverse swan dive and then exhale hands back to your sides. Repeat the sequence until you feel your movement and breath are seamlessly fluid.

After the final exhale into Forward Bend, inhale into a Half Lift/ Flat Back and then step your left leg way back into a low lunge. Make sure the feet are in two separate lanes. Inhale to lengthen the spine and then exhale the back knee to the mat. Give yourself cushion under the back knee, as needed. Pressing down evenly into both feet, lift your torso up and place hands on your right thigh for a variation of Crescent Lunge (Anjaneyasana).

Use an exhale to slide the hips over the back knee and then place the back of the right hand on your sacrum (the flat part of your bum/hips) and place your left hand on the front of your pelvic bones. Your hands are now bracketing your hips. Slide the back hand down in order to direct the sit bones down. You may feel the front hand lifting as the pelvic bones lift. Notice the length of your spine, especially your low back. You may also feel engagement in your left hip and thigh. Stay here or bend the front knee deeper into the lunge – remembering to maintain the space in your low back. Hands can come to your front thigh or reach the hands over head. Again, engage your locks (bandhas). Focus on the stability of the feet, legs, and hips. Focus, also, on the extension of the front of the back hip and thigh. This is the beginning of a backbend.

When you are ready to move on, place the hands on the mat and step back to Child’s Pose. From Child’s Pose, you may inhale to Cow Pose or, first time through, slide your body forward so that the legs stretch out behind you. Press the tops of the feet down, push the hands into the floor beneath your shoulders and inhale into Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana). Elbows should be bent behind the back like grasshopper legs (unless you are working on a baby cobra.) Thighs are strongly engaged and pushing into the floor. Hips stay on the ground. Keep the shoulders down the back and either isometrically engage the arms – by pushing the hands down and engaging the arms as if you’re going to pull your body forward – or let your hands hover (breathing into the space between your hands and the mat). After a few breaths, consider extending your Cobra by pressing the hands and feet down and lifting the body up until the arms straighten. Shoulders and hips are still pressing down. Notice the difference between how the front of your lift hip and thigh feel versus the right hip and thigh.

On an exhale, curl your toes under and press back to Downward Facing Dog. Repeat the sequence of standing poses (starting with the first Forward Bend after Downward Facing Dog, substituting left for right). After the Child’s Pose, you may inhale to Cow Pose, Cobra Pose, or, second time through, glide your body up and forward so that the legs stretch out behind you with the arms straight and the hips lifted away from the mat. Press the tops of the feet down, push the hands into the floor beneath your shoulders and inhale into Upward Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana). Thighs are strongly engaged and lifting up towards the ceiling. Kneecaps lift up towards the hips – again, so that the thighs are firm. Again, compare the feeling at the front of the hips and thighs.

After the second side of standing poses and backbends, move into Downward Facing Dog, and then into Staff Pose (Dandasana). Sitting tall with legs stretched out in front of you: remember, this pose is not disposable. Consider the length of your spine and how you use your locks (bandhas) to maintain it.

Keep the left leg extended and bend the right knee in order to set up the Sage Twist. Remember to keep the left heel and the right foot flat on the floor. You can place the right foot next to the inside or the outside of the left leg, as long as the knees are comfortable and the right foot is flat on the floor.

On an inhale, lift your right arm up and, as you watch it, reach the right arm back to the floor behind your hips. As you settle into the twist, adjust your left arm to provide additional support wherever you need it. You can always sit on a block and/or place a block under your hand if you’re hips and low back are really tight. If you don’t have a block, substitute a book.

Watch how you engage your base, your core, and your breath in order to lengthen your spine. Remember to start the twist in your base (not in your neck). Do not allow your body to collapse or untwist until you complete 3 – 5 complete breaths. Notice how the air moves within you and all around you. Pay particular attention to how the space shifts between your belly and legs. After the third or fifth exhale, inhale to center, give the lifted knee a squeeze, and return to Staff Pose. Repeat the Sage Twist instructions for the Sage Twist (replacing right with left).

After the third or fifth exhale on the left, inhale to center and give the lifted knee a squeeze. Bend both knees, placing the feet flat on the floor. (NOTE: If you’d rather not balance on your sits bones, lie down on your back and follow the cues.) Reach the arms forward with elbows next to the knees. Press down as if you are going to jump forward. Spread your toes, squeeze your perineum muscles together, belly button is up and back, press your shoulders down, and draw the chin towards the neck. Look up and press down to lift the ribs up on the inhale. As you exhale, lean back until the feet are off the ground and you are balancing on your tail bone. Bring legs up parallel to the ground. Check in with your locks (bandhas) – maybe even lifting the corners of your mouth up towards your ears for a smiling bandha. Begin to extend the legs by engaging the quadriceps and pushing through the heels. Keep your nose up and your eyes on your nose. This is Boat Pose (Navasana).

Find your edge, making sure your core works harder than your jaw or your arms. And then, lower down onto your back for Corpse Pose (Savasana). Classically, the physical practice is intended to prepare the body and mind for deep seated meditation. This final moment is an opportunity for your body and mind to process and absorb what you’ve done during the practice. Find a place where your body and mind are still. Let the breath naturally ebb and flow. Breathe and allow your mind to follow the breath into the space within you and the space all around you.

“Love,
The moon is between clouds,
And we’re between words
That could deepen
But never arrive.”

– from Between Words by Gary Soto

If you practice long enough, you start to notice how everyone is connected.

Poets, philosophers, preachers, students of dharma are all fascinated by the inner (and outer) workings of the world, how everything and everyone are connected. You see it in the poems of Mark Strand and Misuzu Kaneko, as well as in the poems of Gary Soto. You see it in the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and in the dharma talks of Thich Naht Hanh. You see it in Martin Buber’s concept Ich und Du; that we only truly exist in relationship. You see it, again and again, and yet….It is so easy not to see it.

One of the reasons I practice yoga is to actively and mindfully see the connections. Moving through the practice is like moving through life, with all of its twists, turns, and challenges. Sometimes, like in the practices I’m offering this month, we symbolically move through the stages of life: from the pose of a child we learn to stand up, to walk, to play and explore, and finally to slow down and rest. We do this every day, we day this every lifetime. Still, no part of us does it alone – everything is connected.

This opportunity to explore a poem on the mat is part of my offering for the 2018 Kiss My Asana yogathon. I encourage you to set aside at least 5 minutes a day during April, to practice with the poem as inspiration. You can practice in a class or on your own, but since the Kiss My Asana yogathon raises resources as well as awareness, I invite you to join me at the donation-based class on April 28th.

I also challenge you to set aside a certain amount every day that you practice with a poem in mind. It doesn’t matter if you set aside one dollar per practice or $25 – set aside that amount each time you practice and donate it by April 30th.

Founded by Matthew Sanford, Mind Body Solutions helps those who have experienced trauma, loss, and disability find new ways to live by integrating both mind and body. They provide classes, workshops, and outreach programs. They also train yoga teachers and offer highly specialized training for health care professionals. By participating in the Kiss My Asana yogathon you join a global movement, but in a personal way. In other words, you practice yoga. Or, as this year’s tag line states….

### do yoga. share yoga. help others. ###

Keeping Things Yoga…keeping things yoga – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #11 April 11, 2018

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 31-Day Challenge, Abhyasa, Art, Bhakti, Books, Buddhism, California, Depression, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Loss, Men, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Suffering, Surya Namaskar, Tantra, Texas, Tragedy, Twin Cities, Vairagya, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: heart, inspiration, KISS MY ASANA, Mind Body Solutions, Suicide Prevention
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“In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.”

– from Keeping Things Whole by Mark Strand

“Are you just an echo?
No, you are everyone.”

– from Are You An Echo? by Misuzu Kaneko

At the end of my very first yoga class, I learned about the philosophy and meaning of yoga. My first teacher, Robert Boustany, asked me to explain what I did for Houston Ballet, because I wasn’t one of the dancers or one of the musicians. When I explained my role in Production was to bring together the various artistic and design elements during a performance, he said, “Oh, you do yoga.”

Yes, it turns out we can do yoga off the mat, without doing a single pose.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means union. There’s lots of different ways to describe “union,” but ultimately it’s the coming together of two or more elements – with the underlying idea being that once together these elements will work as one unit. The elements can be our mind, body, and Spirit. The elements can be different kinds of energy. The elements can be an individual and a goal. The elements can be an individual and the community, the Universe, or God (whatever that means to you at this moment). The elements can be the Seeker and the Beloved. The elements can be two people whose life experiences are so different on the outside it seems natural that they would approach life in very different ways.

Misuzu Kaneko (b. 1903) and Mark Strand (b. 1934) were both born today and were both considered literary celebrities during their lifetimes. However, they (and their poetry) lived very different lives.

Born Taro Kaneko, Kaneko was able to attend school through the age of 17, despite most Japanese girls of the time only attending up to 6^th grade. Her poems started to become very popular when she was 20 years old. Unfortunately, her private life as an adult was so tumultuous and tragic that Kaneko committed suicide just before her 27^th birthday. At the time of her death, she had published 51 poems.

When Strand was born in Canada, four years after Kaneko’s death, Kaneko’s poems had been all but lost.

Strand grew up moving around the United States, Columbia, Mexico, and Peru. Raised in a secular Jewish home, he went to a Quaker-run college preparatory school in New York; earned a BA at Antioch College in Ohio; moved to Connecticut to study art and graduated with an MFA from Yale; studied poetry in Italy on a Fulbright scholarship; and finally attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (where he received an MA in writing) before teaching all over the East Coast and spending a year as a Fulbright Lecturer in Brazil. In addition to ultimately teaching all over the U.S., Strand won a Pulitzer Prize, served as U. S. Poet Laureate, and was honored with numerous other awards and titles. At the time of his death, at the age of 80, he had published at least 21 collections of poetry, plus three children’s books, several books of prose, and served as editor and/or translator for at least 13 more publications.

To my knowledge, Kaneko never left Japan.

Despite the wildly different details of their lives, both poets wrote about loss and darkness, belonging vs. being alone, how personal perspectives create our world, human’s vs. nature, and personal responsibility. They used different words, but they seemed to share an underlying idea: True power comes from being present with what is despite our desire to possess, change, and understand everything around us.

Are You an Echo? & Benton Island by Misuzu Kaneko / Keeping Things Whole & The Idea by Mark Strand

As you move into Child’s Pose (Balasana), notice the space you occupy. Notice the air moving within you and all around you. Notice how your body and breath shift the air. Breathe and allow your mind to follow the breath into the space within you and the space all around you.

Start to engage your locks (bandhas) on the exhale: spread the toes and press the feet down (in this case tops of the feet down) for the Foot Lock (Pada Bandha); squeeze the perineum muscles together, lifting the pelvic floor for the Root Lock (Mula Bandha) – which engages your lower abdominal cavity; belly button up and back for abdominal core lock (Uddiyana Bandha) – which engages your upper abdominal cavity; draw the chin towards the throat and chest, lengthening the neck, for the Throat Lock (Jalandhara Bandha). Notice how the air flow changes when the locks (bandhas) are engaged versus when they are released.

Find the place where your body like the last wave of sound at the end of an echo, and then curl your toes under and exhale into Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana). Double check your engagement of the pose. Make sure all your fingers are spread wide, with the majority of the weight/pressure in your hands moving into the thumb and first finger. (So that, there is less weight/pressure applied to your outer wrists.) When you relax your head and shoulders, make sure your big toes are parallel to each other and at least a foot apart. Big toes can be behind the thumbs or behind the middle fingers. Hips are high, heels are low (reaching, but not necessarily touching the mat); and neck is long. Even if you have to bend your knees, find Cow Pose in this position (so that you have a straight line from your middle fingers all the way up to your hips and then a second straight line from your hips to the back of your knees). Eyes are on your nose, your belly button, or the space between your toes. Engage your locks (bandhas) as you are able. Engage the air between your arms, between your legs, and in the space beneath your body.

Stretch back (meaning, push your spine towards your thighs) and on an exhale walk your hands to your feet or bring your hands and feet together. Once hands are in line with the toes and heels are flat to the mat, inhale to a Half Lift/Flat Back or Extended Forward Bend. (This pose may be called Ardha Uttanasana or Urdhva Uttanasana.) Place your hands on your thighs and press the shoulders into the metaphorical back pockets. Remember, you want to engage in a similar fashion to Cow Pose, Staff Pose, and Downward Facing Dog. In fact, inhale and find a little bit of Cow Pose (even if you have to bend your knees). Now, press the heels down and – as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine – engage the quadriceps to extend through the knees and press the thigh bones into the wall behind you. Engage your locks (bandhas) as you are able. Feel the air above and below your torso.

If you have unregulated blood pressure, low back issues, eye issues like glaucoma, or if this is already challenging, remember to stay here with knees bent. Otherwise, if it is not contraindicated, bend the knees and flex from the hips to prep Forward Bend (Uttanasana). Keeping the upper back extended, place the hands on the floor or a block and begin to extend through the legs while pressing the thigh bones into the backs of your legs. Do not force the extension. Use the exhales to settle the heart on the thighs (as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine.) If your legs are completely straight, make sure the knee caps are lifted and that you are not hyper-extending the knees. Also double check to ensure that if the knees are straight the hips are over the knees, not behind the ankles. Remember to engage your locks (bandhas). Notice the length of the spine. Notice how you can engage the air.

Inhale to Half Lift / Flat Back and use the exhale to engage your core. With hands on the hips, maintain the length of the spine and lift up to standing. Relax your arms by your sides. Balance the weight between all four corners of both feet. Feel free to move side-to-side or back and forth on the feet until you feel you are centered. Spread the toes, press big toes and little toes down, as well as both sides of the heels. (This establishes “all four corners of both feet.”) Engage the quadriceps in order to lift the knee caps and firm up the thighs. Sit bones point down so that the pelvic bones lift up. Engage your locks (bandhas). As you press down in order to lift the sternum up, use the core abdominal to draw the lower rib cage down. Relax the shoulders and gaze straight ahead. This is Equal Standing / Mountain Pose (Samasthiti/Tadasana). Notice how each side of your body echoes the other side.

Changing as little as possible, stretch the arms out like the letter T. Once your arms are wide, extend out of the center of your chest. Make sure shoulders, lower rib cage, and sits bones are reaching down. Notice the air above and below your arms. Now, turn the palms up and inhale your arms overhead. (Many traditions refer to this as Arms Reaching Overhead (Urdhva Hastasana), but I tend to call this Tadasana). Double how the engagement of each side of the body echoes the other side, and vice versa. Notice the length of your spine. Notice the air between your arms. After several breaths, lower the arms to your sides on an exhale.

Now, use the whole inhale to lift the arms overhead and the whole exhale to press the hands together through heart center. On the exhale of the third centering breath, walk to the front of the mat with hands through heart center.

Use an exhale to slide the hips over the back knee and then place the back of the right hand on your sacrum (the flat part of your bum/hips) and place your left hand on the front of your pelvic bones. Your hands are now bracketing your hips. Slide the back hand down in order to direct the sit bones down. You may feel the front hand lifting as the pelvic bones lift. Notice the length of your spine, especially your low back. You may also feel engagement in your left hip and thigh. Stay here or bend the front knee deeper into the lunge – remembering to maintain the space in your low back. Hands can come to your front thigh or reach the hands over head. Again, engage your locks (bandhas). If you have Hot Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) in your practice, feel free to add it by lifting the left arm up and reaching it towards the right. Notice how the air shifts around your body as you breathe.

When you are ready to move on, place the hands on the mat and step back to Child’s Pose. From Child’s Pose, you may inhale to Cow Pose or slide your body forward so that the legs stretch out behind you. Press the tops of the feet down, push the hands into the floor beneath your shoulders and inhale into Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana). Elbows should be bent behind the back like grasshopper legs (unless you are working on a baby cobra.)Thighs are strongly engaged and pushing into the floor. Hips stay on the ground. Keep the shoulders down the back and either isometrically engage the arms – by pushing the hands down and engaging the arms as if you’re going to pull your body forward – or let your hands hover (breathing into the space between your hands and the mat). After a few breaths, consider extending your Cobra by pressing the hands and feet down and lifting the body up until the arms straighten. Shoulders and hips are still pressing down.

After the second side of standing poses, move into Staff Pose (Dandasana). Remember, this pose is not disposable. Consider the length of your spine and how you use your locks (bandhas) to maintain it.

Find your edge, making sure your core works harder than your jaw or your arms. And then, lower down onto your back for Corpse Pose (Savasana). Find a place where your body and mind are still. Let the breath naturally ebb and flow. Notice the space you occupy. Notice the air moving within you and all around you. Notice how your body and breath shift the air. Breathe and allow your mind to follow the breath into the space within you and the space all around you. Allow your body and breath to spread into the space. Just be.

“Benton Island was still there
floating on top of the waves
wrapped in golden light,
green as always.

– from Benten Island by Misuzu Kaneko

“And we stood before it, amazed at its being there,
And would have gone forward and opened the door,
And stepped into the glow and warmed ourselves there,
But that it was ours by not being ours,
And should remain empty. That was the idea.

– from The Idea by Mark Strand

Yoga means union and brings two or more elements together as a unified whole. The elements be our needs and the needs of another. The elements may be someone who needs support and someone who can be supportive. And this is one of the ways the Kiss My Asana yogathon is yoga. Mind Body Solutions and the yogathon bring together people in community around the practice of yoga. They also bring together people who need support with people who can support them. Then, Mind Body Solutions goes one step further: They support the supportive, recognizing that caregivers also need yoga.

NOTE: Two (2) poets, four (4) poems, one (1) additional pose, and an Easter egg brings this practice to approximately 15 minutes.

If Misuzu Kaneko’s story resonates with you, because you or someone you know is struggling emotionally, please call 1=800-273-TALK.

### do yoga. share yoga. help others. ###

REMEMBERING THE MOON – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #8 April 8, 2018

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 31-Day Challenge, Abhyasa, Bhakti, Books, Buddhism, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Karma, Karma Yoga, Life, Loss, Love, Mala, Mantra, Meditation, Men, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Tantra, Twin Cities, Vairagya, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: Avett Brothers, Barbara Kingsolver, Catholicism, Hanuman, inspiration, Islam, Judaism, KISS MY ASANA, Matthew Sanford, Moon, The Ramayana, vinyasa, Vipassana, yoga
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“Remember the moon survives,
draws herself out crescent-thin,
a curved woman. Untouchable,
she bends around the shadow
that pushes himself against her, and she

waits.”

– from Remember the Moon Survives, by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver, born today in 1955, always seems to point her pen in the direction of struggle and suffering. Sometimes the struggle is within a single community, sometimes it involves multiple communities; sometimes it involves an individual struggling to find balance between a community; and other times the struggle is between man’s desires and the needs of the natural world. But, always, there is struggle, suffering…and hope.

The Buddha, whose birthday is also celebrated today by some Buddhists, pointed his heart towards struggle and suffering as well. Unlike Kingsolver, Prince Siddhartha Guatama didn’t grow up with awareness of the suffering of others. However, once he was aware of it, he started considering how to alleviate it. And so, like Kingsolver, the Buddha’s work includes the promise of hope.

The Buddha outlined Four Noble Truths: There is suffering/suffering exists; suffering is caused by desire and an attachment to ignorance; there is an end to suffering; and there is a path to the end of suffering. (Specifically, he points to the Noble Eightfold Path.) So again, there is suffering, there is struggle, and there is hope. However, in the middle of struggling and suffering, it is easy to get stuck in the middle of that second noble truth and forget all about the promise. In the middle of suffering, it is easy to forget all about the hope, and be filled with doubt – even when you’re on the road that promises freedom.

Just the other day, a friend of mine mentioned her rosary. “In Islam,” Mya said, “using the rosary [for prayer/meditation/contemplation] is called dhikr (“remembering”).” As the devoted move through the beads, they are constantly “remembering” God and the nature of God.

The words may be different, but this practice of “remembering” is the same in Catholicism. Hindus and Yogis use mala beads, also a rosary, to count out a mantra – this too is “remembering” what the practitioner views as important.

The Jewish tradition does not include beads; instead, some wear a prayer shawl (tallit) or small tallit (tallit katan) with a knotted fringe or tassels of blue (tzitzit). Jews do not count with them, but the tassels are intended as a reminder of what is important within the Jewish tradition.

Whether you are on the mat, on the cushion, on the pew, or on the rug, part of the practice is to remember. The question is: What are you remembering? Go back to that José Ortega y Gasset statement from the 6th offering, “Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.”

“You are the one who knows, behind
the rising, falling tide
of shadow, the moon is always

whole.”

– from Remember the Moon Survives, by Barbara Kingsolver

Remember the Moon Survives – by Barbara Kingsolver

Remember how to move into Child’s Pose (Balasana), but also remember it is the beginning and full of possibilities. Remember to soften into the breath and allow the breath to flow freely in and ebb gently out. Remember your intention.

When you move into Table Top remember to move with full awareness of your mind and body in the present moment. Remember to check your alignment. Press down so that the shoulders and shoulder blades are even with the rest of the back and your belly is firm. Engage your locks (bandhas) if that is part of your practice. Remember this is an opportunity to remember the connection between your mind, body, and spirit.

Remember to move through Cat/Cow or the “Un-Cat” sequence precisely matching the movement to the breath. So that, as the breath gets long and fine and deep, the movement gets richer – whatever that means to you in this moment.

On an inhale, stretch the right leg back, remembering to keep the hips level – even and equal to each other so that the low back doesn’t struggle. On an exhale, step the right foot in between the hands so that the foot is flat on the floor (with the right toes pointed forward). If the foot doesn’t easily land between the hands, scoop it forward with your hands. If needed, add a knee pad under the back knee. Pressing down evenly into both feet, lift your torso up and place hands on your right thigh. This is a form of Crescent Lunge (Anjaneyasana).

Use an exhale to slide the hips over the back knee and then place the back of the right hand on your sacrum (the flat part of your bum/hips) and place your left hand on the front of your pelvic bones. Your hands are now bracketing your hips. Slide the back hand down in order to direct the sit bones down. You may feel the front hand lifting as the pelvic bones lift. You may feel space opening up in your low back. You may also feel engagement in your left hip and thigh. Stay here or bend the front knee deeper into the lunge – remembering to maintain the space in your low back. Hands can come to your front thigh or reach the hands over head. If you have Hot Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) in your practice, feel free add it by lifting the left arm up and reaching it towards the right.

Remember to breathe. Remember to breathe into the heart. Crescent Lunge is one of the poses inspired by Hanuman, the monkey king in the epic poem The Ramayana. In the great adventure, Hanuman is asked to take giant leaps to save or rescue others. He hesitates, he doubts…and then he leaps. Again and again, he does what needs to be done to help others. At the end of the poem he revels what is in his heart: a devotion to God. Take a moment to remember what is in your heart.

After a few breaths, place the hands on the mat and step back to Child’s Pose. From Child’s Pose repeat the sequence again (from Cow Pose) , this time on the left side.

Once you’ve completed the second side and returned to Child’s Pose, inhale to Cow Pose and then exhale into Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana).
Remember your can skip the arm balancing, by moving into Staff Pose (Dandasana) and positioning the arms accordingly or using “Dolphin Dog.”. Another modification would be to do the pose on the wall. Either way, remember to check your alignment – make sure your body is in the shape of capital A.

Remember to make sure all your fingers are spread wide, with the majority of the weight/pressure in your hands moving into the thumb and first finger. (So that, there is less weight/pressure applied to your outer wrists.) When you relax your head and shoulders, remember to place your big toes are parallel to each other and at least a foot apart. Big toes can be behind the thumbs or behind the middle fingers. Notice if you feel lighter or heavier when your feet are spaced further apart. Hips are high, heels are low (reaching, but not necessarily touching the mat); and neck is long. Even if you have to bend your knees, remember to find Cow Pose in this position (so that you have a straight line from your middle fingers all the way up to your hips and then a second straight line from your hips to the back of your knees). Remember, eyes are on your nose, your belly button, or the space between your toes.

Remember Downward Facing Dog is simultaneously an arm balance and a standing pose; a forward bend, as well as a back bend; and an inversion.
Stretch back (meaning, push your spine towards your thighs) and on an exhale walk your hands to your feet or bring your hands and feet together. Once hands are in line with the toes and heels are flat to the mat, inhale to a Half Lift/Flat Back or Extended Forward Bend. (This pose may be called Ardha Uttanasana or Urdhva Uttanasana.) Place your hands on your thighs and press the shoulders into the metaphorical back pockets. Remember, you want to engage in a similar fashion to Cow Pose, Staff Pose, and Downward Facing Dog. In fact, inhale and find a little bit of Cow Pose (even if you have to bend your knees). Now, press the heels down and – as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine – engage the quadriceps to extend through the knees and press the thigh bones into the wall behind you. Engage your locks (bandhas) as you are able.

On an inhale, extend to Half Lift/Flat Back and on an exhale fold into the Forward Bend. If you are modifying and using the Half Lift throughout, keep the back in the position that feels similar to an intense Table Top and use the breath to extend the knees on an inhale and flex/bend them on an exhale. Remember to precisely match the movement to the breath. Remember all the ways you are mimicking your body’s natural tendencies (e.g., extending/flexing, lifting/grounding, creating/engaging, rising/falling, etc.).

Move into Staff Pose. Keep the left leg extended and bend the right knee in order to set up the Sage Twist. Remember to keep the left heel and the right foot flat on the floor. You can place the right foot next to the inside or the outside of the left leg, as long as the knees are comfortable and the right foot is flat on the floor.

On an inhale, lift your right arm up and, as you watch it, reach the right arm back to the floor behind your hips. As you settle into the twist, adjust your left arm to provide additional support wherever you need it. You can always sit on a block and/or place a block under your hand if you’re hips and low back are really tight. If you don’t have a block, substitute a book.

Watch how you engage your base, your core, and your breath. Remember to start the twist in your base (not in your neck). Do not allow your body to collapse or untwist until you complete 3 – 5 complete breaths. After the third or fifth exhale, inhale to center, give the lifted knee a squeeze, and return to Staff Pose. Repeat the Sage Twist instructions for the Sage Twist (replacing right with left).

After the third or fifth exhale on the left, inhale to center and give the lifted knee a squeeze. Bend or extend both, as needed, and lower down onto your back for Corpse Pose (Savasana). Remember, just as the end of the inhale is the beginning of the exhale and the end of the exhale is the beginning of the inhale, this final pose is a beginning and an ending. Remember you are on the right path.

Founded by Matthew Sanford, Mind Body Solutions helps those who have experienced trauma, loss, and disability find new ways to live by integrating both mind and body. They provide classes, workshops, and outreach programs. They also train yoga teachers and offer highly specialized training for health care professionals. Thank you to everyone who attended the class on April 7th, and thank you to everyone who has already donated. By participating in the Kiss My Asana yogathon you join a global movement, but in a personal way. In other words, you practice yoga. Or, as this year’s tag line states…

## do yoga. share yoga. help others. ##

Perfecting Understanding – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #7 April 7, 2018

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 31-Day Challenge, Books, Confessions, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Food, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Karma Yoga, Life, Love, Men, Minneapolis, Minnesota, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Twin Cities, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: KISS MY ASANA, Mary, Mind Body Solutions, vinyasa, Vipassana, William Wordsworth, Women
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“And now I see with eye with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveler between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;”

– from Perfect Woman by William Wordsworth

The more you practice yoga the more insight you gain, insight into yourself and, also, more insight into the practice. The more you practice the more you may start to appreciate the beauty and the perfection of the human mind-body-spirit. For instance, the body and mind are constantly striving to maintain balance. You can see the natural balancing act in the way we process food and waste, as well as in the way we breathe.

Let’s say, for instance, that a person consumed the perfect amount of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fluids for their body type and activity level. That person with the perfect dietary habit would still produce waste – a good amount of waste, in fact. Because, the body is a machine that uses what it needs, in order to flush out what it does not need. It may be hard to view the food/waste analogy on the mat, but part of the practice is observing the process of breathing (which is another way the body takes in fuel and releases waste). Part of the practice is noticing how the inhale and exhale are opposite and equal reactions – and how the body reacts to the breath.

Since we were in the womb, our bodies have responded to breathing by extending on the inhale and flexing on the exhale. The reactions are subtle and autonomous, and they mirror the breath in that they are opposite and equal. So, here again is an example of the body-mind seeking balance within the imbalance.

In most physical yoga practices (hatha yoga, regardless of the style or tradition), poses are engaged in a way that exaggerates the body’s natural tendencies – extending on the inhale, flexing on the exhale. This is true even in static poses: we press down to go up or find a backbend on the inhale and engage the core or fold forward on the exhale. Vinyasa literally means “to place in a special way” and is a technique, as well as a style of yoga (sometimes referred to as flow, whereby the poses are linked with the breath – again, in a way that exaggerates the body’s natural tendencies. Vipassana literally means “to see in a spacial way” and is a technique, as well as a style of Buddhist meditation (sometimes referred to as Insight Meditation).

William Wordsworth’s poem Perfect Woman, also known as “She was a phantom of delight,” chronicles the poet’s growing perception and understanding of his wife. When they first meet, Wordsworth (born today in 1770) views Mary as “a lovely apparition” and very literarily refers to her as eye candy, an object that looks good on his arm. But, as they get to know each other better, Wordsworth starts to recognize his future wife as a multi-dimensional human being. Even though he is still slightly in awe of her otherness, in the end Wordsworth’s esteem reaches a point where he can describe her in the same way he might (as a Romantic poet) describe a peer. He develops insight.

People new to yoga often experience a similar evolution of perspective. At first, they may just see the top surface of the practice; they see the obvious physical benefits. Over time, people may start to notice that there is something more going on than just the physical elements. They get more in touch with their emotions and become more of how to manage their emotions. They also start to notice that the practices changes as the body and mind change, and that every day is different. Ultimately, people begin to see things in a special way. They start to recognize the symbolic elements of the practice; how the sequences often mimics life – like “A traveller between life and death;” – and how there is “something of angelic light” in all beings everywhere. As they gain insight into themselves, they may also gain insight into the world.

Perfect Woman – by William Wordsworth

Placing your body parts in a special way, move into Child’s Pose (Balasana). Notice how much of what you do is now automatic and how much is mindful of the way your mind and your body are in this present moment. Has your understanding of Child’s Pose changed over the last week? Has your understanding changed over the entire lifetime of your practice? Does your appreciation of the pose – even as a simple possibility – change throughout any given practice?

When you move into Table Top again check to ensure you are moving with full awareness of your mind and body in the present moment. Double check your alignment. Press down so that the shoulders and shoulder blades are even with the rest of the back and your belly is firm. Engage your locks (bandhas) if that is part of your practice. Notice how you feel in the pose (physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically).

Move through Cat/Cow or the “Un-Cat” sequence precisely matching the movement to the breath. So that, as the breath gets long and fine and deep, the movement gets richer – whatever that means to you in this moment. This is the first vinyasa in this practice, notice all the ways you are mimicking your body’s natural tendencies (e.g., extending/flexing, lifting/grounding, creating/engaging, rising/falling, etc.).

Pause with the spine back in Table Top position and then move into Staff Pose (Dandasana). Sit down with your legs straight out in front of you. Sit up on a blanket or a block if you have a lot of tightness/stiffness in the back of your body.

Press your heels down into the ground, flex the ankles so the toes reach for the nose, and then spread the toes. At the same time, fire up your thighs and engage the quadriceps (the four muscles at the top of your things) in order to lift the knee caps into their full extended position. Press the sit bones and hands down (with the hands next to the hips). If this engagement is too extreme, bend knees or place the hands behind the hips (but still wide enough to just barely be outside of the hips).

As if they are seeds you are planting, push your shoulders and everything touching the floor, the mat, or a prop down into the earth. Allow your heart to blossom. With your eyes on your nose, watch your breath and notice how you feel in the pose (physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically).

Engage your locks (bandhas) as described in earlier practices. Changing as little as possible, lift the arms over the head, with wrists in line with the shoulders, and turn the palms up so that the finger tips point towards the wall behind you.

Extend the elbows and, as much as you are able, rotate them towards your nose. Keeping the shoulders down the back, push the whole body down to lift the heart and the arms up. If this is too much intensity for the shoulders, modify by bending the elbows to 90 degrees and extending the wrists rather than flexing them. Again, notice how you feel in the pose (physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically).

NOTE: If you want to skip the arm balancing below, move back into the poses after Downward Facing Dog. Another modification would be to do the Downward Facing Dog or “Dolphin Dog” with hands on the on the wall.

For the arm balance Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), return to Table Top – engaging as you did at the beginning of the practice. Curl your toes under; then use your arms and legs, hands and feet to lift your hips up in the air.

Check to make sure all your fingers are spread wide, with the majority of the weight/pressure in your hands moving into the thumb and first finger. (So that, there is less weight/pressure applied to your outer wrists.) When you relax your head and shoulders, make sure your big toes are parallel to each other and at least a foot apart. Big toes can be behind the thumbs or behind the middle fingers. Notice if you feel lighter or heavier when your feet are spaced further apart. Hips are high, heels are low (reaching, but not necessarily touching the mat); and neck is long. Even if you have to bend your knees, find Cow Pose in this position (so that you have a straight line from your middle fingers all the way up to your hips and then a second straight line from your hips to the back of your knees). Eyes are on your nose, your belly button, or the space between your toes.

If you are staying off of your wrists or need something to minimize stress on the shoulders, bring the elbows to the mat when you are in Table Top and lift your hips up for “Dolphin Dog.”

No matter which variation you choose, notice how and what you feel (physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically). Notice how Downward Facing Dog is simultaneously an arm balance and a standing pose; a forward bend, as well as a back bend; and an inversion. Notice how much of the engagement in the Staff Pose variations you can also feel here. How and what can you adjust to experience more of the sensations of Staff Pose?

Stretch back (meaning, push your spine towards your thighs) and on an exhale walk your hands to your feet or bring your hands and feet together. Once hands are in line with the toes and heels are flat to the mat, inhale to a Half Lift/Flat Back or Extended Forward Bend. (This pose may be called Ardha Uttanasana or Urdhva Uttanasana.) Place your hands on your thighs and press the shoulders into the metaphorical back pockets. Again, you want to engage in a similar fashion to Cow Pose, Staff Pose, and Downward Facing Dog. In fact, inhale and find a little bit of Cow Pose (even if you have to bend your knees). Now, press the heels down and – as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine – engage the quadriceps to extend through the knees and press the thigh bones into the wall behind you. Engage your locks (bandhas) as you are able. You can play with the position of the arms for a moment; again, noticing the similarities between this pose and the other two poses.

If you have unregulated blood pressure, low back issues, eye issues like glaucoma, or if this is already challenging, stay here with knees bent. Otherwise, if it is not contraindicated, bend the knees and flex from the hips to prep Forward Bend (Uttanasana). Keeping the upper back extended, place the hands on the floor or a block and begin to extend through the legs while pressing the thigh bones into the backs of your legs. Do not force the extension. Use the exhales to settle the heart on the thighs (as much as you are able without losing the extension of the spine.) If your legs are completely straight, make sure the knee caps are lifted and that you are not hyper-extending the knees. Also double check to ensure that if the knees are straight the hips are over the knees, not behind the ankles. Engage your locks (bandhas). When you reach your edge, take a moment to notice you feel (physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically).

On an inhale, extend to Half Lift/Flat Back and on an exhale fold into the Forward Bend. If you are modifying and using the Half Lift throughout, keep the back in the position that feels similar to an intense Table Top and use the breath to extend the knees on an inhale and flex/bend them on an exhale. This is the second vinyasa. Move through the sequence precisely matching the movement to the breath. So that, as the breath gets long and fine and deep, the movement gets richer – whatever that means to you in this moment. Notice all the ways you are mimicking your body’s natural tendencies (e.g., extending/flexing, lifting/grounding, creating/engaging, rising/falling, etc.).

Move back into Staff Pose. Keep the left leg extended and bend the right knee in order to set up the Sage Twist. Remember to keep the left heel and the right foot flat on the floor. You can place the right foot next to the inside or the outside of the left leg, as long as the knees are comfortable and the right foot is flat on the floor.

After the third or fifth exhale on the left, inhale to center and give the lifted knee a squeeze. Bend or extend both, as needed, and lower down onto your back for Corpse Pose (Savasana). Notice the breath, as Spirit, and how it is still moving you towards balance.

## do yoga. share yoga. help others. ##

BEING WATCHFUL – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #5 April 5, 2018

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 31-Day Challenge, Abhyasa, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Men, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Movies, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Science, Tantra, Texas, Twin Cities, Vairagya, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: awareness, farming, inspiration, KISS MY ASANA, Mind Body Solutions, walking
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“Practice, practice, practice…all is coming.” – Sri Pattabhi Jois

“It comes in its own good time
and in its own way to the one who will go where it lives,
and wait, and be ready,
and watch.
Hurry is beside the point, useless, an obstruction.
The thing is to be attentively present.
To sit and wait is as important as to move.”

**– from Being Watchful by Wendell Berry**

We’ve been here before, and we will be here again – that is the nature of the practice. Practicing hatha yoga (the physical practice, regardless of style or tradition) can be a little like being in an old Western where characters pass the same rock again and again. In the movies, the only thing that changes is the characters’ bodies and their awareness.

Come to think of it, the same thing is true of our practice.

Some practices (e.g., Ashtanga – one of the earliest forms of vinyasa, introduced to the West by Sri Pattabhi Jois; Bikram Choudhury’s hot yoga sequence; and Sivananda Yoga – based on the teachings of Swami Sivananda) include the same poses in the same order every time. These practices give people a standardized measure by which to gauge their practice and their evolution within the practice.

On the flip side, some practices include an ever rotating set of poses and sequences so that we keep coming at the metaphorical rock from a different direction.

Either way, as the body and the mind change, the practice also changes. The body and the teacher will repeat the same information again and again, but we won’t “hear” the information until we’re ready to process and synthesize it. That’s why, when people new to yoga ask me how they can hurry up and get up to speed, I tell them to keep practicing.

“And then I began to learn perhaps
the most important lesson that nature had to teach me:
that I could not learn about her in a hurry.

– from “Being Watchful” by Wendell Berry

We’ve been here before…but now something is different. It may be a while before we notice the difference, but it’s there…just waiting for us to be ready. In some ways, this is all like walking the land.

Walking the land is not unusual for a farmer – it’s what they do after all. They walk the land, pausing to assess something or just to soak it all in. Sometimes they just walk for the sake of walking. And, anyone who has walked just for the sake of walking will tell you, it is not unusual for the mind to open up on a walk.

Wendell Berry is a poet, a farmer, a novelist, an environmentalist, a Christian, an activist, and a Kentuckian. He is also a walker – and by that I mean, he walks. Naturally, being a farmer who is also a poet, he writes poems inspired on his walks. He calls them “Sabbath poems.” Consider today’s practice a “Sabbath poem.”

Being Watchful – by Wendell Berry

Move into Child’s Pose (Balasana) as if you are moving into a new house. Take your time to balance the effort and relaxation inherent in the pose. Watch the breath. Pause and take in the landscape that is your mind and your body in this present moment.

When you move into Table Top – hands and knees to the mat with shoulders over elbows and wrists, hips over knees – or into a seated position if that is more accessible, move as if you are taking a leisurely stroll. Take your time, and pause to get the lay of the land. Move through Cat/Cow or the “Un-Cat” sequence precisely matching the movement to the breath. So that, as the breath gets long and fine and deep, the movement gets richer – whatever that means to you in this moment.

“from this

moment this moment

is the first

– from Be Still In Haste by Wendell Berry*

Pause with the spine back in Table Top position. Sit down with your legs straight out in front of you. Sit up on a blanket or a block if you have a lot of tightness/stiffness in the back of your body. This is Staff Pose (Dandasana), which appears on the Top 10 Poses People Overlook/Underestimate.

As if they are seeds you are planting, push your shoulders and everything touching the floor, the mat, or a prop down into the earth. Watch how the engagement of your feet, your legs, your hips, your core, your hands, and your arms allows you to lift the heart and the ribs away from the lower body. You are actively creating space. Now, engage the space: squeeze your perineum muscles for the root lock (mula bandha); draw the belly button up and back for the core lock (uddiyana bandha); and press the chin into your throat for the chin lock (jalandhara bandha). With your eyes on your nose, watch your breath.

Watch how you engage your base. Again, like you a planting, use every inhale to press down in order to lift up – creating more space between your ribs and your hips. Use every exhale to twist and rinse – engaging that space. Remember to start the twist in your base (not in your neck). Do not allow your body to collapse or untwist until you complete 3 – 5 complete breaths. After the third or fifth exhale, inhale to center, give the lifted knee a squeeze, and return to Staff Pose. Repeat the Sage Twist instructions for the Sage Twist (replacing right with left).

*Yes, clock watchers, the extra poem in this post is just for you!

## do yoga. share yoga. help others. ##

JUST VISITING – 2018 KISS MY ASANA OFFERING #2 April 2, 2018

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 31-Day Challenge, Abhyasa, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Suffering, Twin Cities, Vairagya, Vipassana, Volunteer, Whirling Dervish, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: inspiration, KISS MY ASANA, meditation, Mind Body Solutions, poetry month, Rumi, yoga practice
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“Embrace sorrowful thoughts for they / sweep the heart of your house clean”

– Rumi translated by Maryam Mafi (page 16)

“Welcome and entertain them all! / Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, / who violently sweep your house / empty of its furniture,”

– Rumi translated by Coleman Banks

Every time we step on the mat and move into a pose we are sitting. Asana, literally means “seat” and if we refer to the “poses” in Sanskrit, almost everything we practice ends in the word asana, seat. So, here we are – sitting and breathing on a mat, not unlike so many other meditation practitioners who sit and breathe on a cushion.

As we sit, and breath, sensation/information bombards us. We are met with physical information in the form of physical sensation. Then, just as we get comfortable, we are met with mental and emotional information in the form of thoughts and memories. The mind wanders; the breath gets shallow; the body shakes or slouches; we judge the moment and then remember, “Oh, yes, I’m sitting and breathing. Get back to the breath!”

We have a moment of peace – maybe a second, maybe a minute, maybe more, maybe less – and then the sensation/information calls to us again and again. Again and again, we do what we need to do to focus our awareness back on the breath. That is the practice.

Too often, we forget that the sensation/information is part of the practice. Too often, we forget to be grateful for the sensation/information. Too often we take for granted our ability to feel and think.

What happens if we sit, breathe, and express gratitude not only for the breath, but also for everything that pulls our awareness away from the breath?

It is a blessing to feel – anything. It is a blessing to smell, to taste, to see, to feel, to hear, to think. On the mat, it is a gift to notice where you feel strong, flexible, able, or not able, powerful, or weak; because, that information informs our practice and brings awareness to what needs to happen in order for us to find balance. It brings awareness to what needs to happen in order for us to breathe deeply in, and breathe deeply out.

This body is a guest house / This being human is a guest house – by Rumi (see 2 translations above)

Move into Balasana, the Seat of the Child, as if you are moving into a new house. Notice what you notice; bring your awareness to your awareness. Take a moment to be grateful for how you feel in this moment. Allow your-self to shift around; get more comfortable; be more grateful.

After a few minutes, prepare yourself to move into Savasana, the Seat of the Corpse. Find a position on your back where you can be still and quiet. Get rid of your physical fidgets, even if that requires some shifting, micro-movements, or the addition of props. Then, get rid of your mental fidgets by fixing your eyes on something that’s not moving: your third eye (the space between your eyebrows, about an inch into your forehead, and half an inch above there), your heart center, or the tip of your nose.

Again, notice what you notice. Bring awareness to your awareness. Express gratitude for your sense organs: nose, mouth/tongue, eyes, skin, ears, and mind. Count how many different things you sense and express gratitude for your ability to experience all this sensation. Visualize your body as a guest house and greet each sensation/information warmly.

Just as the beginning of life is full of possibilities the end of life means leaving everything behind. Consider Savasana to be the death of your practice. As you relax your body and deepen your breath, visualize each part of your body (and the accompanying sensation/information) as a guest going to bed or leaving your guest house. Relax, release, breathe, bid them rest or adieu – with gratitude for their visit. Here is one possible order:

Toes, feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs – sense of smell
Hips (back and front), genital organs – sense of taste
Belly, low back, abdominal organs – sight
Chest, upper back, organs of the torso, fingers, hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, upper arms, shoulders – sense of touch
Neck, mouth, tongue, lower face, ears – speech / hearing
Nose, eyes, forehead, temple – mind
Crown of head – consciousness

Breathe, and remember, we are just visiting these bodies. We are just visiting these minds.

Part of my offering for the 2018 Kiss My Asana yogathon is to post a poem, which you can explore on the mat. I encourage you to set aside at least 5 minutes a day during April, to practice with the poem as inspiration. You can practice in a class or on your own, but since the Kiss My Asana yogathon raises resources as well as awareness for Mind Body Solutions, I invite you to join me at one of the donation-based classes listed (April 7^th and April 28^th).

do yoga. share yoga. help others.

###

Going With The Flow, When There’s An Obstacle In The Way December 31, 2017

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 108 Sun Salutations, Abhyasa, Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Fitness, Healing Stories, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Life, Mala, Meditation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, New Year, Peace, Philosophy, Science, Surya Namaskar, Tantra, Twin Cities, Vairagya, Vipassana, Whirling Dervish, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: 108, Alex Lickerman, inspiration, Marcus Aurelius, New Year, obstacles, Ryan Holiday, Sun Salutations, Surya Namaskar, WBYeats
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If we learned nothing else in the last year, it was that things don’t always go according to (our) plan. 2017 was a year that, for some of us, seemed to go awry even before it started. There were times when we fell down and wanted to throw our hands up. But, instead, many got up…and kept moving forward. There’s merit in that.

I didn’t think I needed a personal reminder of the merit of moving forward, no matter the obstacles. But then I started confirming my plans for the New Year’s Day 108 Sun Salutations and well…let’s just say William Butler Yeats had it right:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

In 2013, I started leading a New Year’s Day morning japa-ajapa mala practice of 108 Sun Salutations. A year later I added an afternoon practice. At times I thought about renting a space and combining the two, but I ignored the writing on the wall. I was in the flow of my own making, totally and utterly attached to the momentum that worked for me.

So, this year I was thrown into a bit of a tailspin when I discovered I needed to relocate the morning practice. I kept moving forward, confirmed a new location, and, for the sixth year, the practice is full.

Then, on Wednesday, I learned about a scheduling issue that resulted in the cancellation of the afternoon 108 practice at the Downtown Minneapolis YMCA. Thankfully, anyone who was planning to attend that practice can scroll to the end of this blog post for options which will allow them to keep moving forward.

And there’s merit in that. Not just merit in the idea that we keep moving forward, no matter the obstacles. There’s something to be said for letting go of our attachments and going with the flow.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that we rollover and play dead when things don’t go our way. Nor am I suggesting that we jump on a band wagon headed for Hades just because there’s a lot of momentum pushing us in that direction. Instead, what I’m suggesting requires going a little deeper – into ourselves and into the situation – in order to leverage the momentum in a skillful manner. What I’m suggesting requires understanding the powerful dynamics of movement(s).

Vinyasa, a popular form of Hatha Yoga (the physical practice of yoga) is often referred to in English as “Flow” or “Yoga Flow.” Three (3) of the 12 poses in Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) are so ubiquitous in the West that some practitioners think those poses are what makes something a vinyasa practice. All of which contributes to people overlooking a key element of the style and tradition: the meaning/intention underlying the practice.

The word “vinyasa” comes from the words “nyasa, “ which means “to place, to touch, to apply” and “vi,” which means “in a special way.” In a Vinyasa yoga practice, poses are placed so that, in theory, the movement matches the human body’s natural tendencies (to extend/expand on an inhale; to flex/contract on an exhale) and practitioners can move one breath (to) one motion (i.e., flow). When we match the movement to the breath, the movement becomes seamless and very much like a dance – or a moving meditation.

Similarly, the name of the insight meditation technique and tradition “vipassana” literally means “to see or to recognize” (“passana”) “in a special way” (“vi”). In Insight Yoga, Sarah Powers wrote, “So vipassana is the art of seeing or relating to life freed from the mesmerizing power of our entrenched prejudices and preferences. This unconstricted view breeds insight into the underlying nature of things.”

Therefore, if we can see and/or recognize the underlying nature of ourselves and our surroundings (causes and conditions), if we have insight into the evolution of ideas (starting with the desires, which are the seeds of these ideas), then we may place or apply ourselves in a way that works with the flow of energy, rather than against it. The very thing that stood in our way (the obstacle) becomes our way. Or, as Marcus Aurelius wrote is his personal notebook, “Our actions may be impeded, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

In a 2014 Psychology Today review of Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way (which is a great handbook on old fashioned stoicism), Dr. Alex Lickerman refers to situations that train us to deal with challenges, stating, “… when victory over external barriers is contingent upon victory over internal ones, the greatest benefit a situation has to offer us is training—by which I mean a challenge that forces us to grow in a way that makes achieving our goal possible.”

To me, the physical practice of yoga (any style or tradition) or a seated meditation practice are ways to train the body and mind for the challenges of life. Each practice comes with a different set of challenges, and a different set of obstacles. Every practice, in its own way, pairs internal barriers with external barriers, and (because so many of my practices are vinyasa practices) a different set of ways to go with the flow.

2018 promises to be a year full of challenges.

Let’s start it off with a practice, or two.

Monday, January 1^st– New Year’s Day:

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM 108 Sun Salutations with Susan (Yoga Center of Minneapolis, St. Louis Park – REGISTRATION)

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM 108 Sun Salutations with Myra (reservations required – THIS PRACTICE IS FULL)

10:00 AM – 12:30 PM “Set Your Course!” with Nora Gordon (Big River Yoga – REGISTRATION)

10:30 AM – 1:00 PM New Year’s Day Practice with Nancy Boler (reservations required – THIS PRACTICE IS FULL)

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM 108 Sun Salutations & Restorative Yoga with Vie Boheme (Radiant Life Yoga – REGISTRATION)

12:00 PM – 2:30 PM 108 Sun Salutations with Aubrey Weger & live music (Yoga Sanctuary Mpls – REGISTRATION REQUIRED)

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM 108 Sun Salutations with Kate L and Rachel R (CorePower Maple Grove)

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM New Year’s Day with Ian M (Downtown Minneapolis YMCA, members & their guest)

1:30 PM – 4 PM “Sankalpa Shakti: The Power of Inspired Intention” with Ben Vincent (Vincent Yoga at One Yoga – REGISTRATION REQUIRED)

2:00 PM – 3:45 PM 108 Sun Salutations with Jennifer Davis (Blaisdell YMCA, members & their guests)

Tuesday, January 2^nd – “What’s In A Name?”

Wednesday, January 3^rd – “New Beginnings”

Saturday, January 6^th – Epiphany / “Manifesting Your Intention”

~ SEE YOU ON THE MAT ~

###

Quick Announcements and A Thank You! May 3, 2017

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Black Elk, Buddhism, California, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma, Karma Yoga, Life, Loss, Meditation, Men, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Texas, Tragedy, Twin Cities, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.
Tags: KISS MY ASANA, Marcus Young, May the Fourth, meditation, Mind Body Solutions, Mindfulness, Star Wars, Walker Art Center
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First, the thank you:

I am deeply grateful to everyone who participated in this year’s Kiss My Asana yogathon to benefit Mind Body Solutions. It doesn’t matter if you made a donation online, attended a donation-based class, hosted a donation-based class, or asked a question (and, maybe, are still waiting on my answer) – either way, you made a difference in how we view yoga and how we, as part of the yoga community, keep our sacred circle open to all bodies and all minds. During one class in particular, when I listed all the types of people who can benefit from adaptive yoga, I found myself referencing every person in the room. Just a reminder that it’s not about modifications, it’s about the practice.

Thank you, also, to Sandra Razieli for spending part of her birthday weekend co-teaching with me!

Thus far, we’ve raised $855 this year to support the Mind Body Solutions Solutions, where awakening the connection between mind and body transforms trauma, loss, and disability into hope and potential.

Oh, and by the way, you can still donate here!

And now, the quick announcements:

May the 4th is with us! While I am sad to report that I will not be leading any Star Wars yoga classes this year, I am very excited about returning to the Walker Art Center to facilitate meditation during MN Artists Presents: Marcus Young (5 – 9 PM). This free event is kid-friendly and has a lot of mindfully interactive moments. For more information, check out the event page or the Walker’s Facebook page. (Please note: road closures may create delays and detours. Breathe deeply. And may the force be with you.)

Finally, my YMCA classes will have subs on Friday night (5/5), Saturday morning (5/6), and all day Sunday (5/7). Enjoy!

###

Are You Ready? Are You Ready…to Kiss My Asana? April 1, 2017

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 31-Day Challenge, Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, Confessions, Depression, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma, Karma Yoga, Life, Loss, Love, Mathematics, Meditation, Men, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Movies, Music, Mysticism, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Super Heroes, Tantra, Texas, TV, Twin Cities, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: community, grief, inspiration, kindness, KISS MY ASANA, laughter, Mind Body Solutions, recovery, union
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“Are you ready? Are you ready? / For what’s to come…Oh, I said Are you ready? / Are you ready? For what’s to come / Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one / Count down to…”

– Are You Ready by Creed

It’s that time again! Spring? Yes, but also it’s time for Kiss My Asana. For the fourth year in a row, I am joining joyful yogis everywhere to raise awareness and resources for Mind Body Solutions and their adaptive yoga programs.

Matthew Sanford and the other teachers at Mind Body Solutions are committed to a yoga practice which “transcends ability and disability, opens people’s lives to new possibilities, and transforms the delivery of health care.” The annual yogathon is a virtual four-week challenge open to anyone, anywhere, and it’s pretty much open to any way you want to do more yoga, learn more about yoga, and share more yoga.

“Are you ready? For what’s to come?”

Then let’s get started. There are a lot of ways to help raise awareness and resources during the month of April. Here are just a few suggestions.

Since my previous Kiss My Asana offerings are still available, you can participate in this April’s yogathon by practicing “30 Poses in 30 Days” (posted in 2014); use the 2015 “30 Songs in 30 Days” as your practice playlist; add one of these 5-minute yoga or meditation practices to your weekly/daily routine (posted in 2015); and/or revisit last year’s yogi videos and profiles (featuring 5 practice focused questions).
If you join the “A Joyful Practice” donation team, you will receive a studio passport which will enable you to practice at participating passport studios for free. You may also use the joyful link above to donate to Mind Body Solutions and the 2017 Kiss My Asana Yogathon (without committing to raising additional resources).
You can attend one or more than one of the donation-based yoga classes being offered during Kiss My Asana.
- Erika Peterson will host a KMA donation-based class at Nokomis Yoga on Sunday, April 9^th.
- I will host donation-based classes at Flourish on Saturday, April 22^nd (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM) and at Nokomis Yoga on Saturday, April 29^th (3:30 PM – 5:30 PM).
- For more opportunities, check out KMA registered classes for 2017.

Erika teaches a Vin-Yin class at Nokomis, and her KMA class will be a Slow Flow Vinyasa. The classes I host (or co-host) will be inspired by the practice principles featured in the adaptive yoga DVD “Beyond Disability” as led by Matthew Sanford. (Please RSVP using the links above if you would like to join one of these donation-based classes.)

You can challenge yourself by practicing one thing (an asana, pranayama, or a meditation) every day for 30 days.
You can use yoga to embody your favorite story, song, emotion, poem, prayer, visual art, person, or moment in time.
You can blog, tweet, instagram, or Facebook link about how your yoga practice on the mat transforms your experiences off the mat.

This is all good, but “What,” you might ask, “are you (Myra) doing as the virtual part of this year’s Kiss My Asana?”

Good question. As you may have noticed (especially after last year), I love questions. I’ve fallen for “Questions” by R. S. Thomas and, like the Creed song quoted above, my personal playlist currently features question-centered songs by Fink, X Ambassadors, Ed Sheeran, Cole Swindell, and Garth Brooks (naturally)!

In my favorite “Letters To A Young Poet” passage, Rainer Maria Rilke urges Franz Kappus: “… try to love the questions themselves…. the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.”

Oh, and did I mention that questions led me to yoga teacher training?

When I started practicing in Texas, I often encountered people whose only intersection with yoga was me. These people had questions – lots and lots of questions. I, unfortunately, had no answers…other than telling people they could come with me to practice. When some of my teachers suggested teacher training, I thought, “Sure, someday. Then I’ll know some answers – or, at least, know a resource where someone could live (or practice) their way into their own answers.” Flash forward to “someday” and I’m in Minneapolis attending a teacher training focused on teaching people how to teach – and everybody had to teach.

So, last year I asked people questions. This year, you get to ask me questions. Answer word count will be divisible by 108.

Want to ask me a question? You can make a comment below, ask me before or after a class, or send an email to myra at ajoyfulpractice.com. Subscribers to ajoyfulpractice.com will receive my answers as they are posted – or, you can check back here throughout April.

### Peace In, Peace Out ###

2016 Kiss My Asana #25: What It Means to Journey with Insight February 27, 2016

Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Daoism, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma, Karma Yoga, Life, Mantra, Meditation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Movies, Music, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Taoism, Twin Cities, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.
Tags: community, donation-based events, faith, finding hope, Karma Yoga, KISS MY ASANA, Mind Body Solutions, Mindfulness, music, union
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“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”

– Lao Tzu

“He who asks a question is a fool for a minute. He who does not ask remains a fool forever.”

– various sources

When I decided to ask people 7 questions as part of my 2016 Kiss My Asana commitment, I greatly underestimated how many times I would feel foolish and how much I would learn. Even if I had spent more time thinking like a research scientist, I’m not sure I could have anticipated the insights that came up when Yogi #25 (Helen) volunteered to answer the questions.

“All the insight we will ever need to live well will come from fully being who and where we are.”

– Excerpt from Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World by Brenda Shoshanna

Aha moments, also known as (intellectual or emotional) epiphanies, require a certain amount of awareness and knowledge. But no matter how prepared one is or how hard one works at it, no one seems to be able to mass produce “Eureka!” moments on demand.

In Your Brain at Work, and his Psychology Today blog of the same name, David Rock relates neuroscience research which indicates that “while it seems unlikely we can ‘control’ when we have an insight, it’s now very clear that we can dramatically increase the likelihood that an insight emerges.” According to the research, the elements required to help your brain produce more “aha” moments are the same elements practiced in meditation: Quiet; Inward-looking; Having a positive mood (i.e., being slightly happy/open/curious); and Non-Attachment/Beginner’s Mind.

Patanjali’s outline of the yoga philosophy begins with Yamas (External Restraints – what B. K. S. Iyengar refers to as “Universal Commandments”) and Niyamas (Internal Observations). The fifth and final Yama is Aparagraha (Non-Attachment); the Niyamas include practicing Santosha (Contentment), Svadyaya (Self-study), and Ishvara Pranidhana (Letting Efforts Go Back to the Source). Practitioners of various traditions of Buddhism will note that the teachings of the Buddha also emphasize non-attachment, contentment, self awareness/study, and skillful effort – which, in certain circumstances, may be non-effort.

Helen didn’t know the questions before I asked them – and I actually asked her an extra question. But, since she brought to the table a strong background in psychology and meditation, perhaps it was pretty natural, instinctual even, for her to do what I always suggest at the beginning of a practice – go deeper.

So often we can invest so much energy trying to repress the thoughts that most trouble and distress us, that we don’t spend the time needed to properly understand, heal and grow from these often insightful and potentially liberating thoughts.”– David Cunliffe

After her final answer, Helen and I spent a few minutes talking about some of the questions. In particular, we discussed Question #5: What words or sounds do you try not to utter in class?

Unbeknownst to Helen, Question #5 was partially inspired by people who have told me they don’t like to practice yoga in groups because they feel self-conscious about farting in public, and it was mirrored after James Lipton’s question about a person’s favorite curse word. If you’ve watched the other videos, you’ll notice that the answers to Question #5 vary; however, one thing the answers have in common is something Helen very insightfully pointed out. The answers to Question #5 inevitably relate to things society pressures people to suppress even though they are things naturally arising (and descending) in our minds/bodies. In other words, they are things are bodies/minds want to release.

Several meditation practices and dharma talks, as well as psychological and neurological studies, focus on what happens when we suppress emotions and natural bodily functions. These discourses often will also detail the ways our bodies and minds become polluted, and methods for cultivating more wholesome habits (i.e., habits which do not lead directly to suffering). However, one of the things that struck me as Helen and I talked is how much energy we humans spend conforming to what society has deemed “normal” – even when society’s scale is skewed, artificial, or incomplete.

We see beautiful people in magazines or posters striking a pose – without any information about what it took for them to achieve that pose. We get annoyed when someone the needs of someone other than ourselves disrupt our desires – without ever considering what’s most important or how we can compromise. We create spaces we say are inclusive, but which are – almost by definition – exclusive. Then we value that exclusivity with our time and money.

“There are times to let things happen, and times to make things happen. Now is that time. You will either make things happen, watch what happens, or wonder what happened.… The choices you make today sow the seeds for the future.”

– Excerpt from No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior’s Guide to Daily Life by Dan Millman

Dianne Bondy, a Canadian yoga teacher and a leading voice of the Yoga & Body Image Coalition, leads workshops and teacher trainings which remind us that the philosophy of yoga does not describe a yogi as having a particular skin color, body type, socioeconomic or education level. Nor does it prescribe a particular ethnicity, political persuasion, gender or sexuality. Nowhere does it state that you can’t practice (or teach) yoga because you aren’t flexible, strong, and 100% fit. In fact, great teachers like B. K. S. Iyengar (who early in life suffered from malaria, typhoid, and tuberculosis) might not have practiced yoga at all if they had been born in the U. S. in the mid-20^th century, because they wouldn’t have been deemed healthy enough to practice. If you feel me, don’t just say “Amen!” or “Ase, ase, ase!” Do it: Kiss My Asana – because we all create the spaces where we practice union (yoga).

My donation-based KISS MY ASANA class on Saturday, February 27^this full; however, I still have spaces available for March 5^th (6:30 – 8:00 PM at Flourish). Contact Myra at a joyfulpractice.com to reserve a spot (or two). Space is limited. Bay Area yogis, don’t forget: Sandra Razieli’s KISS MY ASANA class is in Oakland on Sunday, February 28^th.

A Joyful Practice

WORKING TOGETHER – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #12 April 12, 2018

– from How Things Work by Gary Soto

How Things Work + Looking around, Believing + Between Words – by Gary Soto

(Practice Time: ~ 15 – 20 minutes)

“Love, The moon is between clouds, And we’re between words That could deepen But never arrive.”

– from Between Words by Gary Soto

Keeping Things Yoga…keeping things yoga – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #11 April 11, 2018

“In a field I am the absence of field. This is always the case. Wherever I am I am what is missing.”

– from Keeping Things Whole by Mark Strand

“Are you just an echo? No, you are everyone.”

– from Are You An Echo? by Misuzu Kaneko

Are You an Echo? & Benton Island by Misuzu Kaneko / Keeping Things Whole & The Idea by Mark Strand

“Benton Island was still there floating on top of the waves wrapped in golden light, green as always.

– from Benten Island by Misuzu Kaneko

“And we stood before it, amazed at its being there, And would have gone forward and opened the door, And stepped into the glow and warmed ourselves there, But that it was ours by not being ours, And should remain empty. That was the idea.

– from The Idea by Mark Strand

### do yoga. share yoga. help others. ###

REMEMBERING THE MOON – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #8 April 8, 2018

“Remember the moon survives, draws herself out crescent-thin, a curved woman. Untouchable, she bends around the shadow that pushes himself against her, and she

waits.” – from Remember the Moon Survives, by Barbara Kingsolver

“You are the one who knows, behind the rising, falling tide of shadow, the moon is always

whole.”

– from Remember the Moon Survives, by Barbara Kingsolver

Remember the Moon Survives – by Barbara Kingsolver

Perfecting Understanding – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #7 April 7, 2018

“And now I see with eye with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A being breathing thoughtful breath, A traveler between life and death; The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;”

– from Perfect Woman by William Wordsworth

Perfect Woman – by William Wordsworth

## do yoga. share yoga. help others. ##

BEING WATCHFUL – 2018 Kiss My Asana Offering #5 April 5, 2018

“Practice, practice, practice…all is coming.” – Sri Pattabhi Jois

“It comes in its own good time and in its own way to the one who will go where it lives, and wait, and be ready, and watch. Hurry is beside the point, useless, an obstruction. The thing is to be attentively present. To sit and wait is as important as to move.”

– from Being Watchful by Wendell Berry

“And then I began to learn perhaps the most important lesson that nature had to teach me: that I could not learn about her in a hurry.

– from “Being Watchful” by Wendell Berry

Being Watchful – by Wendell Berry

“from this

moment this moment

is the first

– from Be Still In Haste by Wendell Berry*

## do yoga. share yoga. help others. ##

JUST VISITING – 2018 KISS MY ASANA OFFERING #2 April 2, 2018

“Embrace sorrowful thoughts for they / sweep the heart of your house clean”

– Rumi translated by Maryam Mafi (page 16)

“Welcome and entertain them all! / Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, / who violently sweep your house / empty of its furniture,”

– Rumi translated by Coleman Banks

This body is a guest house / This being human is a guest house – by Rumi (see 2 translations above)

do yoga. share yoga. help others.

###

Going With The Flow, When There’s An Obstacle In The Way December 31, 2017

~ SEE YOU ON THE MAT ~

Quick Announcements and A Thank You! May 3, 2017

First, the thank you:

And now, the quick announcements:

Are You Ready? Are You Ready…to Kiss My Asana? April 1, 2017

“Are you ready? Are you ready? / For what’s to come…Oh, I said Are you ready? / Are you ready? For what’s to come / Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one / Count down to…”

– Are You Ready by Creed

“Are you ready? For what’s to come?”

This is all good, but “What,” you might ask, “are you (Myra) doing as the virtual part of this year’s Kiss My Asana?”

In my favorite “Letters To A Young Poet” passage, Rainer Maria Rilke urges Franz Kappus: “… try to love the questions themselves…. the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.”

Oh, and did I mention that questions led me to yoga teacher training?

So, last year I asked people questions. This year, you get to ask me questions. Answer word count will be divisible by 108.

### Peace In, Peace Out ###

2016 Kiss My Asana #25: What It Means to Journey with Insight February 27, 2016

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”

– Lao Tzu

“He who asks a question is a fool for a minute. He who does not ask remains a fool forever.”

– various sources

“All the insight we will ever need to live well will come from fully being who and where we are.”

– Excerpt from Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane WorldZen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World by Brenda Shoshanna

So often we can invest so much energy trying to repress the thoughts that most trouble and distress us, that we don’t spend the time needed to properly understand, heal and grow from these often insightful and potentially liberating thoughts.”– David Cunliffe

“There are times to let things happen, and times to make things happen. Now is that time. You will either make things happen, watch what happens, or wonder what happened.… The choices you make today sow the seeds for the future.”

– Excerpt from No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior’s Guide to Daily Life by Dan Millman

~

HONOR YOUR HEART AS IT’S DESIRES BECOME YOUR THOUGHTS,

HONOR YOUR THOUGHTS AS THEY BECOME YOUR WORDS,

HONOR YOUR WORDS AS THE BECOME YOUR DEEDS,

HONOR YOUR DEEDS AS THEY CREATE THE WORLD.

~

“Love,
The moon is between clouds,
And we’re between words
That could deepen
But never arrive.”

“In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.”

“Are you just an echo?
No, you are everyone.”

“Benton Island was still there
floating on top of the waves
wrapped in golden light,
green as always.

“And we stood before it, amazed at its being there,
And would have gone forward and opened the door,
And stepped into the glow and warmed ourselves there,
But that it was ours by not being ours,
And should remain empty. That was the idea.

“Remember the moon survives,
draws herself out crescent-thin,
a curved woman. Untouchable,
she bends around the shadow
that pushes himself against her, and she

waits.”

– from Remember the Moon Survives, by Barbara Kingsolver

“You are the one who knows, behind
the rising, falling tide
of shadow, the moon is always

“And now I see with eye with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveler between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;”

“It comes in its own good time
and in its own way to the one who will go where it lives,
and wait, and be ready,
and watch.
Hurry is beside the point, useless, an obstruction.
The thing is to be attentively present.
To sit and wait is as important as to move.”

**– from Being Watchful by Wendell Berry**

“And then I began to learn perhaps
the most important lesson that nature had to teach me:
that I could not learn about her in a hurry.

– Excerpt from Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World by Brenda Shoshanna