Discrimination

My seed spice dhaba....recently revamped!

“When you come right down to it, all you have is yourself.

Yourself is a sun with a thousand fires in your belly.

The rest is nothing”.

˜Pablo Picasso

 The recent New York Times article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html?pagewanted=all and the conversation that this article has generated in the yoga community has got me thinking about discrimination. My thoughts are only that it seems to me that in this instance no-one is right (at least no-one I read). We seem to be on one side or another and missing the point of yoga altogether.  Which is to say…just like any other day.

When I was a kid we used to stay at a ski lodge in the Laurentians called “Alpine Inn”. A fun place for a kid for certain: playing Pac Man, sneaking champagne and freezing my hair solid in the mountain air after swimming. Later the inn was sold and turned into a new age spa called, “Écoute ton corps”, which I’ve always felt was an utterly ridiculous name for anything (I wonder if we even know how to listen to the body, without the mind being in the way). But it does reflect how I think yoga has primarily been approached in the west. Then, on the other side you have my teacher who is known to say, “Nothing breaks!” which I have come to see as the more eastern approach to yoga. So here we have a certain duality (I’ve chosen this word carefully). Do we “Listen to the body” or do we forge ahead fearlessly, to some extent ignoring the small protests of the body? Which is yoga? Well, neither.

You will not hear the words, “do not go beyond your comfort level” at an ashram in India, however you will also not see (among Indians, I am not speaking of foreigners) an excessive pushing of the body, or focus on the physical perfection, strength or beauty in the practice that you see in the west. Of course, things are changing, and in more superficial ways the eastern and western approaches are shifting and switching as we influence each other. I still think that there remains a solid tradition in India untouched by all of this. When the dust of the yoga craze settles, there will be many in private, still standing on their heads.

I think if we look to yoga for the answer, and not to our cultural ideas about yoga, we can see that to “Listen to your body” is right, and also that “Nothing breaks!” is right. Yoga is both, or rather yoga is found in-between. At every moment in practicing yoga we are faced with duality, at the deepest level the duality inside ourselves (sun/moon, male/female, yang/yin, sympathetic/parasympathetic, exertion/relaxation, expansion/absorption, outer/inner, reason/intuition, analytical/creative, acceleratory/inhibitory…you get the idea). Yoga is the fine balance between the two. It seems that this debate about whether yoga is harmful is more about the outer experience or the trappings of yoga. The only thing that yoga asks us to do is to focus on the inner experience, and to try to discover and let go of our mental conditionings. Suppose I am the sort of person that likes to push myself too much, I need to work against that mental conditioning by learning to listen inwardly. If I am a little lazy by nature, then yoga will ask me to work against that. And, of course there are many more types of conditioning that we may have. But this is just the physical, which is a very small part of what yoga is.

I don’t think any practice is as symbolic of the true nature of yoga as is the pranayama ‘anuloma viloma’ (or nadi shodhana). Loma means ‘grain’, and we are working by playing with the opposites embodied within (two opposing energy channels) to go against the grain and to uncondition from old mental holding patterns. This is yoga.

With respect to a teacher causing harm to a student; absolutely they should not. However a good teacher should have the intuition and personal experience to help you to push beyond your mental conditioning. The pushing is up to the student, the teacher needs to have enough sadhana under their belt to be able to discriminate, and if they are not sure, or see their own ego interfering, to take a step back and leave it. The only issue I have with the article in NYT is that it creates more of a climate of fear around yoga, which is most decidedly un-yogic because it does not help us to see how to correct an error in our approach and to learn how to trust ourselves. The author has examined only the potential for injury within the physical aspect, and broadly labelling it as ‘yoga’ without examining what yoga actually is. I absolutely agree with the points about not practicing with ego or obsession. If we do not practice with awareness, and are not taught how to do this, it is possible that we will apply the same mental patterns as we do in other areas of life to our approach and risk injury by doing so.

I often say that the longer I practice yoga, the less I understand it. What I mean is that it is the unexamined mind that thinks I have a handle on it. Yoga is much bigger than me…I do know that. And while I think it is important, it needs to be practiced with a sense of discrimination (viveka) and non-attachment or dispassion (vairagya). I may not have to let go of it, but I need to be able and prepared to.

“All values must remain vulnerable, and those that do not are dead”.

˜Gaston Bachelard

Pranams,

jjz

Yoga Teaching is not Seva

The first Yogi I knew..

I read an article recently about yoga teaching as a career (unsurprisingly it was in Yoga Journal). The author inaccurately stated that in traditions like “Sivananda” that teaching yoga is viewed as “seva” or service. Here’s why I think this is inaccurate…

I think we’re in trouble if we give over to this attitude that our yoga class is serving others, even if we are not being paid for it. Serving others means being in the moment and responding with whatever the need may be. At times, yes, this may be offering what we know or what we have experienced to someone with a need for this information. It may also be washing the dishes, listening, doing laundry, or simply not reacting when someone tries to hurt you (if you deem their suffering to have caused the action, and your silence to be supportive). It seems to me that there is a certain ego in thinking that we are providing a service or ‘teaching’ people.

Here’s where the Yoga Journal went wrong; teaching yoga is sadhana. For those who feel a strong mission to teach yoga, it becomes part of our spiritual practice or sadhana. The teaching comes from a more authentic place of practice. A yoga class is not an ‘event’ but a moment in time where energy, intention and discipline are shared. So it may be more accurate to refer to yourself as a ‘yogi’ than a ‘yoga teacher’. I recently encountered a yoga teacher who refuses to call himself a teacher; he is just a ‘yogi’. There is something right in this.

I know that I’ve said before, that the best teachers really have nothing to teach or to ‘show’. For those who view teaching as sadhana, issues like how much to charge are really challenging. How can you attach a value to that which is part of daily life? Am I teaching well or not well? Who knows, I am only practicing.

A couple of words on the subject:

Many people practice for one or two months and call themselves great yogis. But there is no sadhana in them. The students deserve to know who has the real sadhana, and can actually pass on something real.

˜Sharath Rangaswamy (grandson of Pattabhi Jois)

It is interesting to note how the elderly Mahatmas living in the Himalayan valleys look at the missionary zeal of the young Mahatmas. Once…I reported…that my work of spreading the contents of our scriptures is being slowly recognized and appreciated by the younger generation, the ancient brows were raised…Swamiji said “Chinmaya, you had better stay here now and no need to go out in the world”, “if you think that you are spreading these spiritual ideas of Vedanta among the people, by the time you have, you will be a lost soul, because you will have developed a terrible ego”. “Devotees might come and ask us to clear their doubts. You may give your discourses in the cities; there is no-one who is doing it now as efficiently as you are. But one thing we should do – never talk to the audience, talk to your own mind and make it a louder reflection in yourself to yourself. Thereby you will not only stop the growth of the ego but also will be talking to the mind and heart of your audience. May your missionary lectures and inspired teachings be a homely talk and fruitful discussion between your own higher intellect and lower mind. If those who are around you benefit by your own self-reflection it shall be the glory of the Lord and not your personal efficiency”.

˜Swami Chinmayananda (disciple of Swami Sivananda and head of Chinmaya Mission)

All set for world domination...safe to say this is not sadhana.

Beautiful Mistake

“Fear is nature’s warning signal to get busy.”

˜Henry C. Link

It is our lack of insight and understanding that causes us to think that it’s possible to make mistakes in life. In fact, we believe so deeply in this idea that it causes us to fear unnecessarily. For example we think that cancer is the body attacking itself, and since we don’t know how to cure it, we begin to fundamentally distrust ourselves. This is an unfortunate place to be mentally. The truth of the matter, with respect to cancer, is that prevention IS cure. Even after diagnosis, turn to prevention, and by removing the causes and toxic conditions of the body and of the mind, create the conditions to enable the body to heal itself.

Life is wise. We are wise by nature. Mistakes are only the moments before we get it just right, or the moments in-between “rightness”. Mistakes are part of the process. Those in-between moments are often more beautiful than the polished ones.

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished.”

˜Jalal al-Din Rumi

 

Swami Vishnu's arms

I found this photo recently of Swami Vishnu-devananda. I immediately loved it. I guess artistically or aesthetically, but also that we are seeing an in-between, blurred moment.  His face is covered. There is a stillness, but at the same time, the arms are “going” somewhere. I also have my own in-between moment, captured…whether grasping or “un-doing”, we are not sure.

Janaki's arms

These days the artist is creeping back into everything I do. I think I’ve always applied my artist’s mind to yoga, but now the arms are aching to “make”, and “do”. The mind is making connections that are more evanescent, symbolic. It’s all sadhana.

Pranams,

jjz

Patanjali’s “Yoga Sutras”

Rajasthani temple in Uttar Kashi, India

“If all the vast traditions of India’s philosophies and literatures were to vanish

 and the Yoga-sutras of Patanjali alone were to be saved,

each of those philosophies and literatures could in time be created again.”

˜Pandit Usharbudh Arya

In the Saturday class, we have begun a study of a text called the “Yoga Sutras”. Here is a little background on this text and its context, and some recommended commentaries if you’d like to follow along. I hope you come to like reading them as much as I do!

The yoga sutras are not authored by Patanjali Maharishi; he was putting into print what was at the time being passed down from guru to disciple in an oral tradition. The sutras date from about the 3^rd century BC (roughly 400 BC); about the same time as the Buddha lived (500 BC). So we can say that they are roughly 2,500 years old. There is certainly a sharing of many of the ideas presented in the yoga sutras with those of Buddhism. A student of Buddhism had once asked me, “Where are the ethics in yoga?” Here they are, in the system described within the yoga sutras.

The word “sutra” means thread. In this context a sutra is a short, dense expression in Sanskrit which conveys the teachings in a compact manner. The yoga sutras describe a system to develop the mind, cultivate psycho-physical evolution, and inner freedom – called “yoga”. Traditionally the student would memorize the sutras, and over time would come to understand them properly through contact with and the elucidation of the teacher. Today we can find many different commentaries on the yoga sutras by various teachers; some more spiritual, some more academic, some aiming to place the teachings in a more modern context. Translations of the sutras themselves vary greatly from one text to another. Choosing which to read is really a matter of connection or affiliation, or simply choosing a commentary that resonates with you.

It is said that in order for the purification of the soul to occur, there has to be what the Greeks call “metanoia”, a total and radical change of mind. That means, everything we think we know has to be turned on its head, a difficult task perhaps. We need practices in order to help us do this. So we can also say that the yoga sutras describe the system of practices that help us to change the mind. All of the modern practices of yoga trace themselves back to the yoga sutras, though it should be noted that there is very little written about asana in the yoga sutras. The system presented is referred to as “Raja Yoga” or “Ashtanga Yoga”, which is one of the four main paths of yoga. Asht-anga means “8 limbs” which are:

1.       Yama (restraints, social code)

2.       Niyama (observances, private code)

3.       Asana (steady, comfortable seat)

4.       Pranayama (control or restraint of prana)

5.       Pratyahara ( withdrawal of senses)

6.       Dharana (concentration)

7.       Dhyana (meditation)

8.       Samadhi (superconscious state)

 

The yoga sutras are not particularly intellectual, however more practice –oriented. There are 196 sutras. They are divided into four chapters:

1.       Samadhi Pada – general theory of yoga and the mind and how to reach Samadhi

2.       Sadhana Pada – eight limbs and how to practice

3.       Vibhuti Pada – cultivation of psychic powers (and pitfalls of such)

4.       Kaivalya Pada – path to liberation

 

To give you an example of how the same sutra can be variously translated.

Atha yogānuśāsanam

Has been variously translated as:

Now, therefore, complete instructions regarding yoga.

(“now”, suggesting that there were previous instructions)

Thus proceeds Yoga as I have observed it in the natural world.

In the present moment is the teaching of yoga.

(“now” meaning, literally “NOW”…yoga only existing in the present moment)

I will now review for you how we become whole.

 

So you can see what I mean. Here are my favourite commentaries:

• Swami Venkatesananda (Divine Life Society), “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” (brilliant, but hard to find)
• Swami Satyananda Saraswati (Bihar School), “Four Chapters on Freedom” (solid understanding)
• Geshe Michael Roach & Christie McNally, “The Essential Yoga Sutra: Ancient Wisdom for Your Yoga” (from a Tibetan Buddhist approach)
• Swami Vishnu-devananda (Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres), “Meditation and Mantras” (good, shorter commentary included in book about meditation)
• Dr. Rammurti S. Mishra, “The Textbook of Yoga Psychology”

I also like what Michael Stone has to say about the yoga sutras in his book (though it is not a commentary), “The Inner Tradition of Yoga”.

Enjoy! I look forward to seeing you on Saturdays!

Pranams,

jjz

 

Teachable

Dakshinamurti - Siva in the form of the Teacher

 

“You cannot help anyone – you can only serve”.

˜Swami Vivekananda

You’ve heard the expression, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. It is absolutely true. In yoga, or on the spiritual path, many of us spend time and resources looking for the ‘right’ teacher, always searching for the one who can offer us something better. The better approach is to make yourself a better student, teachable. Remain open to what is around you. The irony is that unless we are teachable, we won’t be able to recognize the teacher when they present themselves.  How to make yourself teachable? Good question.  I read an article on education some time ago that suggested that as a society we are no longer teachable. We don’t know how to listen and we all think we know everything.

The best plan of action in entering any class situation or new situation is to let go of expectations. That can be expectations for yourself, your practice, or for the class itself. If we are mentally ‘in the moment’ instead of a state of memory (which is both past and future) this is a good start. We also need to constantly forget what we have learned. I think this goes against very deep cultural conditioning that we have. We see learning as cramming in more and more on top of what we already know. We have a fear of losing what we already know. Instead, it is more an integration and the process of learning is not instantaneous. We take in something new, without judging whether it is of use of not and slowly let it percolate. In a sense, it becomes part of us. Initially it may just seem “interesting” or our intuition can be strong that there is value it in, however, In time, we can better understand if it is of use or not.  And finally to ask the question, “Am I here to learn or to show how much I know?” It’s a tough one!

It is also important to understand that even the best teacher really has nothing to teach. By being around them, the environment and conditions may make it possible for us to learn, but they have nothing to ‘show’ or teach us.

The prayer that we say at the beginning of the class is about the student and teacher, recognizing that the two are interchangeable but also that the roles each plays are important:

Om Saha Navavatu

Saha Nau Bhunaktu

Saha Viryam Karavavahai

Tejasvi Navadhitam Astu

Ma Vidvisavahai

Om Shantih Shantih Shantih

Accept us both together

Protect us both together

May our knowledge and strength increase

May we not resent each other

Om Peace Peace Peace

 A good yoga class is difficult to define, because while it should be “kind” and leave you feeling mentally relaxed (and thus better able to look at yourself clearly), it should also push your buttons a little. I’ve observed this most excellently accomplished by David Life (of Jivamukti Yoga in NYC) when he asked workshop participants to find some space against the wall. He observed everyone claiming space without awareness or concern for the others in the room. He used this as an opportunity to remind the class that we are all in this together. If we all don’t find space, it’s not going to work. The mistakes in our thinking need to be looked at right away. And this is yoga, simply put.

Pranams,

jjz

 

Light

India at night during Diwali

Happy Diwali! Today India celebrates to commemorate the victory of good over evil, when Lord Rama defeated Ravana and rescued his wife Sita. It is said that Lakshmi, goddess of spiritual and material wealth, roams the earth on this day and enters the house that is pure, clean and brightly illuminated. The word Diwali originates from the Sanskrit word Deepavali, meaning “rows of light”.

May you experience the light of spiritual illumination!

Pranams,

jjz

You

All of human history, time, past, and future has been leading only to you. Everything has happened in just the right way to make your life possible. All the people who have come before you have worn a path and acted in such a way to make “you” possible. In doing so each person has left traces of themselves on the world. You also will leave traces yourself, your own indelible mark. It is completely your choice to decide what to leave behind. And it is also your responsibility to act in such a way as brings honour and fulfillment to the inner stirrings of your soul.

You are the most important person in the world. It’s not about ego. But if you were to live your life at every moment aware of the perfection and power of “you”, if each of us were, we might do a much better job of avoiding pain and conflict and experiencing beauty. I don’t mean to sound hokey. Just what I’ve been thinking about.

“Heyam dukham anagatam”
Future misery should be avoided.
˜Yoga Sutras, 2:16

This sutra suggests that indeed, we do have a choice. But I leave the final word to Rilke:

“The world is large, but in us it is deep as the sea”.
˜Rainer Maria Rilke

Pranams,

jjz