A Joyful Practice

Deeper Inside Makes That ‘Outside’ (an abridged post for Monday) March 13, 2023

Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing Lent, Great Lent, and the Baháʼí 19-Day Fast during this “Season for Non-violence” and all other seasons!

The following was originally posted in 2021. In some ways, calling it “abridged” is a mischaracterization since the original post contained information regarding several different Saturdays, connected together despite their uniqueness. Class details (and some context) have been updated. Post revised 3/15/2024.

Yoga Sūtra 3.7: trayam antarangam pūrvebhyah

— “These three practices of concentration (dhāranā), meditation (dhyāna), and samādhi are more intimate or internal than the previous five practices.”

Patanjali devoted a series of “threads” to the distinctions between internal/intimate and external in order to illustrate that perspective can make something that feels internal feel “external” simply because there is something more “internal.” One great example of this can be illustrated by comparing different types of physical practices of yoga. For instance: Since it is a moving practice, a vinyāsa practice is more “yang” or active than a YIN Yoga practice — in which part of the practice is not moving for what can feel like an incredibly long amount of time. On the flip side, the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga can be significantly more “yang” or active than a “Slow Flow” and a Restorative Yoga practice can be significantly more “yin” than a YIN yoga practice.

By the same token, focusing on the breath and the awareness of the breath begins to feel more internal than just moving the body without breath awareness. However, the former begins to feel more external when you can concentrate without actively thinking about the fact that you are concentrating on your breath (or anything else). In other words, the object of focus is the “seed” — something tangible and understandable, with a reference point. Then, there is a point in the practice when the focus becomes “seedless” — at which point being “Deeper Inside Makes That ‘Outside’” (which was our thread on Saturday, March 13, 2021).

Yoga Sūtra 3.8: tad api bahir-angam nirbījasya

— “These three practices are external, and not intimate compared to nirbija samadhi, which is samadhi that has no object, nor even a seed object on which there is concentration.”

More often than not, we use the breath as our primary “seed” in our physical practice. At first we may simultaneously engage it on multiple levels. After all, we can feel it, we can direct it, and (under the proper conditions) we can see it. Eventually, however, we become absorbed in the experience of breathing and being alive — which is obviously a different experience than actively working with the breath, but it is also a different experience than breathing and living without being aware of the breath. I often think about the breathing (and awareness of breath) of someone like Joseph Priestley, just as I think about the breathing (and awareness of breath) of those three people who left footprints on the side of a mountain in Italy over 350,000 years ago.

On March 13, 2003, the science journal Nature published the work of three paleontologists who had identified fossilized footprints (and handprints) as belonging to three homo-genus individuals fleeing the then-actively erupting Roccamonfina volcano. These external impressions, embedded deep in the earth, give us an intimate glimpse into a brief moment of their lives. We know two fled the volcano together, one assisting the other. We know about their pace and trajectory, based on the zigzag patterns and the places where it appears one or more supported themselves with their hands. We can use their steps as tools and then, based on our own experiences, move deeper from there.

Joseph Priestley, born March 13, 1733 (according to the Julian calendar), was an 18^th-century English theologian, clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, liberal political theorist, and a member of the Lunar Circle (also known as the Lunar Society). He is credited with discovering oxygen in its isolated gaseous state, which he considered “dephlogisticated air”. He also invented soda water — which he called “impregnated water” and erroneously believed could cure scurvy. He also believed that science was integral to theology and, therefore, all of his scientific work was a reflection of his liturgical work, and vice versa.

Even though much of what Joseph Priestley believed, scientifically speaking, has been superseded by advancements in technology and science, his work is one of the steps that brought us closer to the knowledge we have today. Think of his phlogiston theories as “seeds” at the beginning of the process. Now, consider, how — having moved beyond that point of understanding — we start anew… and go deeper. (As we did on March 20, 2021.)

“(175.) […] Could we have entered into the mind of Sir Isaac Newton and have traced all the steps by which he produced his great works, we might see nothing very extraordinary in the process. And great powers with respect to some things are generally attended with defects in others; and these may not appear in a man’s writings.”

— quoted from “Chapter VII. (1780—1787.) Memoirs” in The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley, LL.D. F.R.S. &c. in Twenty-Five Volumes, Volume I. Part I, Containing Life and Correspondence, (1733—1787.) by Joseph Priestley (edited, with notes, by John Towill Rutt.)

Please join me on the virtual mat today (Monday, March 13^th) at 5:30 PM for a 75-minute virtual yoga practice. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below.

There is no playlist for the Common Ground practices.

The playlist for Saturday, March 13, 2021 (the “Deeper Inside Makes That ‘Outside’” practice) is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “10202020 Pratyahara”]

The playlist for Sunday, March 13, 2022 is also available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “03132022 Breath & Steps”]

This is a 75-minute Common Ground Meditation Center practice that, in the spirit of generosity (dana), is freely given and freely received. If you are able to support the center and its teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” my other practices. Donations are tax deductible)

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