Bowing Down and Touching the Earth

At the end of a yoga practice we often place our hands together and bow our heads down to touch the earth.


The simple act of placing the palms together could be a ritual of yoking the energies of the self into one place of pure presence. Have you ever felt like there are layers of you in different places? For example you are having a conversation with someone and your mind is involved with someone else... or worse yet... yourself?
Bowing could be surrendering the ego.

I have found this gesture useful. I am happy to come out of the drivers seat for a moment in time (because this isn't an easy thing for me!). I am pleased to use the moment as a dissipation of my thoughts. There is a possibility there to be opened by the moment and able to let go of self referencing.

I end my practice with this even if I am alone. Sometimes the act means that I am bowing to the center of my heart. It is always quiet there, vast, confident and completely free. It is the teacher.

Touching the earth with my forehead is also a reminder to me that I am part of the natural world. The earth shed a piece so that I could discover myself... and she will take my vehicle for exploration back some unknown day. It is easy to feel this in The Yoga Studio when I am gazing out at the great granite rock that blesses our space. This thought helps me stay aware of interconnectedness.


For some people this gesture might be a little weird feeling or even frightening? In a low grade, lukewarm sort of way. Maybe it even brings other sticky stuff? Mild aversion or repulsion or... whatever? Nothing is wrong with that.
Maybe there is a possibility that surrender or bowing in humility is not a part of our culture. Ritual or creating emphasis on the sacred may not be either.

If anything brings up peculiar emotions or brings up little waves of questioning - it is always skillfull to look deeper into the root of what is happening. This is the job of a yoga practitioner. To get to the root of things, record the data, find the closest thing that makes sense to the truth in that moment...
and prepare for that truth to perhaps have the fluid quality of change.

xoxo
Lydia

Slug

Dear Friends,
Thank you again for reading.
I took the time to go on a personal meditation retreat for a few days at the Sea to Sky Retreat Centre. Wonderful place.
In between the emptiness and the fullness of my mind I came up with a poem I want to share with you.



Slug.

Somewhere between cinnamon and turmeric.

Slugging at the pace of a puddle drying up.

Crossing many interesting paths, but sticking to your own with your personal adhesive.

Leaving slick traces of yourself behind, not even embarrassed about it, or trying to cover it up.

Feeling your way across cedar mulch and spirited green moss with your gelly belly.

Almost stepped on your dark brother, and back there your bodacious mother.

Noticed your talents in one leap over a lively green maple vine.

Steady

Sticky

Unshakable

Genius.




Some of you may wonder why Sarah and I post about things that may seem unrelated to the Yoga practice. We believe that Yoga can be a set of techniques to open up a pathway that brings us more into awareness of all of life. This pathway may be grown over at times. Yoga gives us the tools to clear out excess debris... but also the utensils to be kind to ourselves while we clean out the muck and the viscosity.

So Yoga encompasses each moment of life that we share. Each contemplation and each interaction. A Yogic mind is simply aware without pushing or pulling.

The journey is delicious. In a healthy way. Bitter, sour and pungent may be as good for us as sweet, in different times of our lives.

In hopes that our study of being alive may be enlightening. Together.



Lydia

Healing for Haiti

Thanks to all that attended our Freedom Class to enter 2010. Here are a few photos.
Huge thanks to Sasha Cecile (Healing Drums) for creating the beat that we could all feel in our hearts and with our breath!
We are going to feel those good vibrations again with a fundraiser for Haiti on January 29th at 5:30pm. A Level 1 Ashtanga Class to Sasha's drum beat. The class runs as normal and donations may be given on top.
All donations will go to Haiti.
After, at 7:15pm, a led meditation. After that a silent auction with a few items given by our community.
Please show your support in an expression of joy and movement with the intention of bringing about world peace and restoring balance.

“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Ashtanga Invocation

I have attached a video taken during the teacher's intensive with Richard Freeman in Boulder, Colorado. It is a call and response recording of the Ashtanga Yoga Invocation. Enjoy. Sarah

"Yoga is Resting in Residue, Not Knowing" R.Freeman

Rest in Space.
between here and there,
me and you,
earth and sky.

Hear the Residue,
time stands still for a moment - in the SPACE.

Alone not lonely.








A few weeks have passed since I returned from studying with Richard and Mary in Boulder, Colorado. Words seem like a futile form of thanks - but still worth it - so Thankyou to all who helped me to leave and study for a month, it is a gift to have such an opportunity.

It has been months since i have sat down to write a blog (aside from the odd short clip or picture) - below there is a collection of things that seem to be surfacing for me, perhaps it is useful?? For now, i'm not going to add dialogue - rather I just want to share some of the tidbits of things i am working with in my practice.

And when I say practice, i mean my life.

In any moment of true deep listening (thank you Sarai for inspiring this path of observation):
- the breath stops (kevala khubaka)
- the eyes soften and open to the periphery (drishti manifests)
- there is no objectification of the world, and the possibility of open transformation exists - maybe??

Asana:
Sometimes in stillness, the body disappears.
Sometimes in presence, time ceases to exist.

I've been working with spaces and hollows in the body (inspired by Gioia Irwin and Richard Freeman). The depths of the groins as they relate to the cave of the sacrum and the softness in the back of the palate...my practice is slow, breath deep - less poses, longer amounts of time. Less feels like more right now.

Sitting Practice: practice of getting to know myself
Mind as a muddy pond.
Let water be water.
Let earth be earth.
Let fire be fire.
Let air be air.
Let space be space.
---then the flower can emerge---

-watching the way constructs of language seek to define and limit experience, and the way the ego function seeks to stir up the muddy waters...let water be water, let earth be earth...etc.

Anjali Mudra
Holding a seed - two thumbs together beside the heart
prana and apana
together unite.

The residue of my time away is extensive and vast. It is all the ideas that don't fit into the concepts and all the thoughts that remain that are yet to be understood. It seems so simple to just reduce the residue to the formula, but within the residue, within the muddy waters lies the unknown. And within the unknown is where i find the most humble learning.

'Yoga is resting in the residue, not knowing' R. Freeman

have a wonderful holiday.
love sarah
p.s. the photo i posted is a picture that Dan Schmidt took while i was away.
p.p.s. the recipe below is for Chocolate Coconut Macaroons...gluten free...easy to make!!
pre heat the oven to 400
1/2 to 2/3 cup of oat flour
1 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup coconut milk
3.5 cups coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisens/dried blueberries/cranberries
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients and bake for 15 minutes (approx. till browned).

Moving towards Balance.

Photo by Ben Moon. benmoon.com


It is November in Squamish.
The rain is a massive and opaque shield between us and the sun. The sky has been falling without mercy for a week. However, we live in a world where there are two sides to everything, and where everything may ALREADY be balanced, so the rain also has an incredibly soothing effect. There is a rhythmic sound but also a quiet to the world. As if the earth were perspiring, it's musty fragrance is seeping from it's flesh. Half of me wants to incarnate into the dark ground and half of me wants to ascend on a beam of light to where my skin can drink the sun.
But I am here somewhere in the middle, after 2 sunny weeks in Boulder City, Colorado. What a wonderful trip!
So I find some way to "make the best with what I got", (as my friend Martin says about coming to a Yin Yoga class with a broken foot).
The practice of yoga continually takes my breath away - and gives it back fully - with a wave of appreciation. It seems the ancient yogis could diagnose almost any mundane affliction with some sort of magic yogic antidote.
So we know that the damp cold might bring our mood down and make us slump a little bit, caving in the sternum and compressing the lungs and heart. Shortness of breath may arise and a slackness in the center of our anatomical universe. Forward head and winging shoulder blades. Not to mention the increased time on the computer or in front of a screen. Innately, we know we need to pick it up.
Yoga is a practice of inquiry into the paradoxes of life. Often, it prompts you to look in two directions at the same time or to see opposite points of view. So simultaneously as we pick it up, we can see that this is a time of rest and quietude. The darkness asks our terrestrial bodies to rest, digest and contemplate.

Medicine:
Supported back bends on a bolster to start practice. Neck roll under the head to support the neck and elongate the back of the head right where the cervical spine meets the occiput. Take full pranayama inhales and exhales into the buoyantly lifted heart and chest area. If you have a sand bag place it on your thighs to ground the tops of your femur bones into the floor. This will release your hip flexors and calm your mind. Tune in to the rhythm of your body and breath. Ask yourself with a curious and gentle mind, "Do I have to control my breath or will it take care of itself?" 10 minutes.

Many Sun Salutations. Sweat and breathe whatever it is - out!

Standing poses to strengthen the legs and direct energy up the spinal channel.

Active back bends. Salabhasana, bhekasana, dhanurasana, ustrasana, urdhva dhanurasana.
For those of you who speak english as well, these translate to: locust, frog, bow, camel and upward facing bow or wheel postures. Back bending is proven to enhance mood, and aid in curing chronic depression.

Make sure you are back bending with a strong contraction of energy to the center. Be aware of the bandha areas and press out through your periphery. Create a container for yourself and then expand and free your central axis - the front of your spine.

Properly close yourself down for final relaxation:
Long holds and long breaths in the closing asanas (postures).
Eating too much dessert before the main course will ruin your appetite and skimp on the nutrients. As much as it is amazing to uplift yourself and open your heart and lungs, it is just as important to wind down well.
Postures like paschimattanasana, salamba sarvangasana, halasana, karna pidasana, viparita karani.
Forward fold, supported shoulder stand, plow, ear pressure pose and legs up the wall (inverted) poses. These postures increase blood flow to the brain, and calm the nervous system.

Meditate: Sit quietly with a not-too-loose and not-too-tight posture. Give your breath attention without asking for anything in return. If you stray, escort yourself politely back to your breath as if guiding a blind person down a busy street. Patiently be with your breath again and again. Ask yourself, "Do I have to control my breath or will it take care of itself?"

Savasana: sweet surrender.


Open! + Close. = Moving towards Balance.

It is a great time of the year to come to class and breathe in synchronicity with others who are experiencing the same thing as you.

We are all in this thing together, we ARE this thing together.

Enjoy the rain and I hope to bump into you soon.
Love!
Lydia

A little clip of The Yoga Studio.

A big thanks to Alex Lavigne who made us a little video to give people a taste of Squamish and the little yellow room.

Check it out by clicking here.

I am enjoying Boulder, sunshine, stillness and learning from Richard and Mary.

Many ideas but for now, i am letting things simmer and observing the residue between the thoughts.

shanti.
sarah