Sacred Space Yoga & Healing Arts Center WON!

Thank you to all who voted for Sacred Space!  We won "Best Yoga Studio on the Grand Strand 2009!"

Vote for Sacred Space Yoga!

Hi Everyone!  Sacred Space Yoga & Healing Arts Center has been nominated for Best of the Grand Strand in Yoga Studios.  We need your votes to win!  Please go to:  http://wmbf.cityvoter.com/sacred-space-yoga-and-healing-arts-center/biz/491354  and vote now!  Thank you for your support!  Namaste!

Asana & Pranayama

Asana: Giving Structure to the Desire for Yoga
(from Jivamukti Yoga by David Life and Sharon Gannon)

Sit down!  Just sit down and hold still!  Sounds simple, but it's not so easy when you have a mind filled with thoughts moving this way and that.

The Sanskrit word asana is most commonly known as the name for the yogic practice of assuming various physical contortions, but it actually means "seat."  By taking a seat, you establish a connection to the Earth.  So asana, or the establishment of the seat, means the practice of connecting to the Earth.  By Earth we mean all things, all manifestations of reality.  Earth not only means the ground we walk on, the air we breathe, or the water we drink, but also all the beings--animals, plants, and minerals--that we come into contact with daily.  Through asana practice we consciously connect to a touchable, tangible, sense-able level of reality.

According to Patanjali, the seat that you establish should be steady and joyful, in body as well as mind.  The word asana, therefore, also describes the goal of this yoga practice, which is to consciously relate to all beings with steadiness and joy...

Once you have established a seat, you are grounded and can begin to play with prana, the life force.  The form of cosmic energy that moves a muscle is electrical.  Electrical energy moves through nerves to the muscles, causing them to respond in a certain way.  Your ability to articulate the muscles depends on your ability to control these electrical impulses inside the body.  You could define life as the gradual transformation of energy into matter.  Likewise, death can be defined as the gradual transformation of matter back into energy.  Yogis are interested in how matter changes into energy and how subtle energy changes into matter.  They harness energy to direct it toward God-realization, or enlightenment...

Asana encourages a balance of acting and being and movement within stillness that helps us strip away our layers of opinion, preference, attitude, and prejudice to reveal an unstained consciousness in touch with its source: Bliss...

Usually people come to class with certain ideas about what they are capable of achieving.  For example, they may feel that a handstand is something for kids.  Maybe they did such stunts when they were young--twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty (or more) years ago--but believe they could never do them now.  In some cases, this attitude prevents them from even attempting a challenging asana like handstand, or at least causes them to fail in their attempts.  With regular practice over a long period of time, however, one day they find themselves in handstand.  In this way, asana undermines the hold that our beliefs about our limitations have on us, and we gradually see that they are not necessarily true.  When we find that the old dog can be taught new tricks, we feel reborn...

There are asanas for bending forward, bending backward, sitting, standing, bending sideways, balancing, twisting, inverting--even asanas for practicing being a corpse.  By far the most potent asanas are the inverted practices.  In an inversion, the head is placed below the heart.  The Downward-facing Dog, Adho Mukha Svanasana, is one of the simplest inversions.  The profound nature of the inverted poses is due to their dramatic effect on both the physiology and psychology of the practitioner.

Physiologically, inverted postures reverse the internal dynamic pressures that affect blood flow, endocrine function, bone formation, muscle tone, connective tissue, waste removal, and organ function, including brain chemistry.  The effect of gravity is reversed, and to compensate for that reversal, the body must make dramatic internal changes.

Psychologically, inverted yogic practices make us feel "My whole world was turned upside-down today."  If we could get used to that feeling, it would not be such a drama when our lives are overturned.  If we turn things upside down, voluntarily and regularly, it's less of a shock when that happens without warning.  Inversions also give us a fresh perspective, such as a painter obtains when he or she turns a work upside down to view it with more detachment.  When we look at things from a completely different point of view, they may appear in a more honest light...

Whether you are in handstand or mountain pose, your breath should remain the same: even and steady.  If it fluctuates, you've let your thoughts take over.  Any thought besides "I am the immortal Self, breathing in and breathing out" interferes with smooth, easy breathing.  Thoughts like "I can't do this" or "I'm doing this so well!" will distract you from your breathing.  

Prana: Freeing the Life Force 
(from Jivamukti Yoga by David Life and Sharon Gannon)

Where there is life, there is prana.  In Sanskrit, Pra means moving and na means always.  Prana is like electricity, in that electricity exist in the natural world in wild and unpredictable forms.  Lightning strikes here and there; you never know where it's going to hit.  But if you capture that same electricity inside a wire, its movements become predictable and controllable.  The electricity can be conducted via wire from point A to point B.  The difference between electricity that will strike anywhere and electricity flowing through a wire is that the latter is useful for turning lights on.

Pranayama is one such practice for gaining control of prana through conscious breathing.  Pranayama is really two words combined: prana and yama.  Yama means "to restrain or control."  Pranayama is the practice of restraining or controlling the normal movement of the breath to restrain or control prana.  But pranayama is also the combination of prana and ayama.  Ayama means "unrestrained."  The double meaning does not contradict itself.  To set prana free, the yogi must first learn to restrain it and direct it into the sushumna nadi, or central energy channel, where it can then flow unrestrained toward Self-realization.

The first step toward pranayama is breath awareness.  Relax on your back with your eyes closed and feel your breath going in and out.  Don't regulate or modify the breath in any way.  Experience the wonder of being breathed.  Who is in control of this breathing?  It happens twenty-four hours a day, every day for your whole life, without conscious effort.  Unconscious breathing is regulated by the medulla oblongata, the primitive brain at the top of the spine that regulates heart rate, digestion, and all other autonomic working of the body.

Now sit up in a comfortable position.  Sit still and breathe awareness into your muscles.  Don't let the breath get blocked anywhere along the way.  Endeavor to make it like the mirror surface of a windless lake.  The breath is the seat, the foundation for yoga practices like asana and meditation.  A steady, unhindered breath seats both the mind an dthe body in an unwavering state...Bring the chin parallel to the floor and open the chest, moving the shoulders back.  Lifting the chest creates an uplifting and inspiring psychological effect.  The chin is directly connected to the sense of ego self, so lift the chest to the chin and allow the mind to subside into the heart.

By consciously controlling the breath, you have moved this function from the primitive medulla oblongata to the frontal lobes.  you have made an unconscious activity conscious.  This is pranayama: replacing unconscious breathing, and consequently energetic movement, with conscious breathing and the conscious movement of energy toward enlightenment.

The 8 Limbs of Yoga

This week's topic focuses on Ashtanga Yoga -- the Eight-limbed Path -- not to be confused with Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (as was taught by Pattabhi Jois).  Way back in 200 A.D., a sage named Patanjali wrote down this path of yoga in an organized manner in a collection of short verses called the Yoga Sutras.  Patanjali was not the creator, or the articulator of this eight-limbed path, but he was the one who, hundreds of years after it had already been around,wrote it down.  Patanjali is revered by yogins everywhere for having written the Yoga Sutras.  One of its most famous verses is: 

"Yogas citta vritti nirodhah" -- meaning, Yoga is the stillness of the mind-chatter.

This sacred text [the Yoga Sutras] describes the inner workings of the mind and provides an eight-step blueprint for controlling its restlessness so as to enjoying lasting peace.
         The core of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is an eight-limbed path that forms the structural framework for yoga practice. Upon practicing all eight limbs of the path it becomes self-evident that no one element is elevated over another in a hierarchical order. Each is part of a holistic focus which eventually brings completeness to the individual as they find their connectivity to the divine. Because we are all uniquely individual a person can emphasize one branch and then move on to another as they round out their understanding.
       In brief the eight limbs, or steps to yoga, are as follows:

Yama :  Universal morality

Niyama :  Personal observances

Asanas :  Body postures

Pranayama :  Breathing exercises, and control of prana

Pratyahara :  Control of the senses

Dharana :  Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness

Dhyana :  Devotion, Meditation on the Divine

Samadhi :  Union with the Divine

(excerpt from: http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/eight-limbs.htm  )

Click the link above and read the whole article on the 8 limbs by William J.D. Doran.

I have enjoyed reading your comments on the previous post.  I welcome your additional comments on experiences of our class time, but remember that you are responsible for commenting on the posts, specifically, each and every week. :)

Yoga

The word "yoga" is often translated to mean "union."  Union of ourselves with something bigger than the individual.  Yoga also refers to not just the practice of yoga, but also the state of yoga.   It is the journey and the destination, in that way.  Very simply put, when we make a significant connection with anything (be it a person, a spiritual concept, a place, a thing, etc.) we expand our own consciousness, and thereby we expand ourselves.

Right now, just where you are, take a moment to settle into your seat and lengthen your spine. Breathe deeply into your ribs (back, sides, and chest) about five times, slowly. Notice how your whole being just slowed down, how your skin feels more relaxed now, and your heart softer.  While you read the rest of this post, continue to check back in with your breath, periodically, and enjoy it.

The word yoga is related to the English word yoke. Yoga is the union of body, mind, and spirit--the union of your individuality with the divine intelligence that orchestrates the universe.  Yoga is a state of being in which the elements and forces that comprise your biological organism are in harmonious interaction with the elements of the cosmos. Established in this state,  you will experience enhanced emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being and will increasingly notice the spontaneous fulfillment of y our desires.  In yoga--in union with spirit--your desires and the desires of nature are one.  As you participate in the process of creativity along with the infinite being, your worries fall away and you feel a sense of lightheartedness and joy.  There is a spontaneous blossoming of intuition, insight, imagination, creativity, meaning, and purpose.  You make correct choices that benefit not only you but also everyone affected by your choices...

The proliferation of yoga classes and yoga centers throughout the Western world is a tribute to yoga's indisputable power to enliven physical well-being.  In cities across North America, Europe, and Australia, yoga studios offer students a vast range of styles and techniques designed to enhance fitness.  Yoga postures can increase your flexibility, strengthen your muscles, improve your posture, and enhance your circulation.  Athletic programs from gymnastics to football now incorporate yoga for its systematic approach to stretching muscles, tendons, and joints.  Fitness enthusiasts are often pleasantly surprised by how quickly the addition of yoga postures to a workout routine can improve tone and posture.

If the practice of yoga provided only these physical benefits, it would fully justify its place in our lives.  However, at is core, yoga is much more than a system of physical fitness.  It is a science of balanced living, a path for realizing full human potential.  In these tumultuous times, yoga provides an anchor to a quieter domain of life, enabling people living in a modern technological world to stay connected to their natural humanity. Yoga offers the promise of remaining centered in the midst of turbulence.

The purpose of  yoga is the integration of all the layers of life--environmental, physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual.  The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means "to unite." It is related to the English word yoke. A farmer yoking two oxen to pull his plow is performing the an action that hints at the essence of a spiritual experience.  At its core, yoga means union, the union of body, mind, and soul; the union of the ego and the spirit; the union of the mundane and the divine...

Even if your primary motivation for taking a yoga class is to lose weight or to develop a more muscular body, you cannot escape the subtler benefits of enhanced vitality and a noticeable reduction in your stress level.  Yoga is a practical system to awaken human potential.  It does not require you to believe in a set of principles in order to reap its benefits.  On the contrary, the regular practice of yoga naturally generates a healthy belief system based upon your direct experience of the world through a more flexible nervous system.  Perform yoga poses on a regular basis and your mind and emotions will change.

- Deepak Chopra & David Simon, from "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga"

Now let me know your thoughts.  Read, digest, and then comment on what all of this means to  you, or how you feel about it.  What was your experience with the breathing exercise?  If these ideas are new for you, can you dig it?  Does it turn you off?  Think about it, and blog!