Articles
Here you will find articles published in CHIL Magazine
by Seán Johnson and the Wild Lotus Yoga Staff.
CHIL Magazine - October, 2003
Finding a Yoga Practice That's Right for You
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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Yoga, an ancient technology for expanding human potential which originated in India 5000 years ago, has exploded into the mainstream in the last several years and more and more people are continuing to discover the healthy benefits of a yoga practice. According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 23% of Americans say they regularly do yoga, meditation, or other stress reducing exercises. And there were over 28 million Americans practicing yoga in 2002 versus 4 million in 1994. Still there are many people who have never tried a yoga class and seek guidance in how to go about choosing the right practice. Here is some advice for taking your initial steps on the yoga path....
Find a Teacher That You Resonate With
It is important to find a teacher who embodies the qualities you seek to cultivate through yoga. The personality of the instuctor should not eclipse the essence of the practices themselves, but it is important to find a teacher who guides you in a clear and inspiring manner, both through their words as well as their presence. It can be valuable to find out if the instructor you are working with is certified and how long they have been practicing and teaching yoga. Though it is also important to remember that there are yoga teachers, including the founders of yoga and many of the great contemporary teachers, who are not "certified" and yet possess a natural gift for transmitting the spirit of yoga cultivated through the experience of their practice and their teachers. There are many attributes to a good yoga instuctor. Some of the more important qualities include clarity of communication, sensitivity of touch with hands-on assistance, intuitive awareness of students, versatility in teaching to beginners and experienced students, familiarity with posture modifications, ability to convey the spirit of yoga philosophy, and a calming, uplifting voice.
Choose a Style of Yoga That Feels Right
Along with choosing the right teacher for your practice, it is equally important to choose a form of yoga that feels right for you. One of the most amazing qualities of yoga as it has evolved in history, and as it blossoms in the West, is the many diverse ways it can be practiced. Some of the names of these forms include: Iyengar, Astanga, Viniyoga, Kundalini, Kripalu, Kali Ray Tri-Yoga, Anasura, Jivamukti, Bikram, Power Vinyasa, Hot, Classical Hatha, Yin and other inspired interpretations of the practice of yoga. What all these styles have in common is that they are all expressions of hatha yoga, the branch of yoga that specifically works with physical postures and breathing practices to unite individual and universal consciousness. What distinguishes each style is the unique way in which the postures and breathing exercises are practiced and presented. Each style has it's own emphasis. For instance, the presentation in some styles is more traditional, and thereby has a stricter form than others. Certain schools emphasize holding poses for longer, while others encourage a flowing movement between poses. Some styles put more importance on breathing, while others on posture. Some forms are slower and gentler and some faster and more vigorous. It is best to find a style of yoga that resonates with your intentions, as well as your physical state, age, needs, and temperament. And it is also important to recognize that as you journey deeper onto the yoga path and develop a more refined sensitivity to the balance between body, mind, and spirit, you may be called to vary your practice to quench that balance.
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CHIL Magazine - September, 2004
Meditation 101
Stress Reduction & Personal Growth
by Hans Gruenig, M.A.,
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In recent decades in America, with the influx of Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist and other Eastern teachings, the word meditation has become strongly associated with stress-reducing and life-enhancing awareness training techniques that originated in Asia over 2,500 years ago. While some Westerners have been attracted to the Eastern philosophies, the promises of spiritual enlightenment, or the mystical aura that often surrounds these traditions, others have been attracted by the claims that meditation can lead to healthier and happier lives. Despite the growing popularity of meditation, for many people, the concept of meditation remains rather mysterious.
One reason for the haziness clouding many conceptions of meditation is that the term has been used to refer to a host of different activities. These activities are comparable in that they typically aim at a beneficial self-reflexive shift in consciousness – that is, they aim at consciously directing one’s own consciousness to create a beneficial shift in that consciousness. Yet under this broad definition we will find a variety of techniques used for a variety of purposes within a variety of cultures and worldviews. Meditation techniques have been developed to take advantage of latent capacities of consciousness in the contexts of different systems of religion, philosophy, mysticism, psychology, and medicine. The possibilities are limited only by the creativity and the flexibility of the human mind. The diversity of meditation techniques can be overwhelming to the beginner who is wondering how and where to start. So how can one narrow the field? Here are some suggestions:
If you are drawn to meditation, ask yourself: What benefits would you like to get out of meditation? What practices seem to suit your goals and sensibilities? What resources are available in terms of teachers, literature, and supportive communities? If possible, talk with people who have experience with the approaches that you are most drawn to. Then experiment with an open mind and be prepared to invest some time practicing the technique before seeing results. Note that most meditation techniques require considerable practice to master -- just as learning a musical instrument does.
Meditation for Stress Reduction
For many Westerners and Easterners alike, the prospect of stress reduction -- broadly conceived -- is the main allure of meditation. Buddha, the world’s most famous meditation teacher, said that all of his teachings point to just one thing: how to alleviate stress in order to achieve inner peace for the benefit of all. The stress that the Buddha sought to alleviate included a wide spectrum of stress conditions -- from minor stress as is common in experiences of low level tension, anxiousness, worry, irritation, nervousness, craving, etc. to major stress as is common in experiences of intense fear, anxiety, rage, despair, obsession, longing, etc. The Buddha himself used a medical model to describe his approach to stress reduction:
Symptom: There is an unpleasant symptom: stress.
Diagnosis: Stress arises due to certain causes and conditions.
Prognosis: Good news! Stress can be alleviated!
Prescription: There are measures that can be taken to alleviate stress.
The Buddha was a pragmatic proto-psychologist who prescribed consciousness training practices for dissolving stress. Following in Buddha’s footsteps, in recent decades Western medical researchers have been conducting studies on the effects of a number of meditation techniques and have concluded that these practices can indeed be powerful tools for improving mental and physical well being. Because some people are uncomfortable with the spiritual context of these meditation practices, several Western medical doctors and researchers have developed meditation programs that focus on the mechanics of the techniques and largely avoid Eastern cultural references. For instance, Herbert Benson, M.D., developed a "Relaxation Response" technique at Harvard Medical School as a more secular version of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation; meanwhile John Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., developed "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction" (MBSR) on the basis of Buddhist meditation techniques at the UMASS Medical School. Because these Westernized meditation techniques have clinically proven psychological and physical health benefits and can be accessed without subscribing to any special ideology or religious beliefs, such approaches to well being – often discussed in terms of stress reduction -- have been increasingly embraced among people of all religious (and non-religious) orientations.
Why reduce stress? From a subjective standpoint, being "stressed out" often involves unhappiness enough to motivate seeking relief. But there are other powerful reasons to look for an antidote to stress. From a modern medical standpoint, stress has been shown to suppress the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to sickness and disease – and slower at recovering from them. Research suggests that stress helps account for 50% of family doctor visits and 50% of deaths under the age of 65. Stress has been implicated in heart, stomach, and auto-immune disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, headaches (including migraines), backaches, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, PMS symptoms, infertility, insomnia, depression, anxiety, chronic anger, eating disorders, addictive behaviors, and other conditions. Stress reducing meditation techniques often reduces risk for such afflictions and can often play an important role in alleviating them.
In addition to being a health risk, stress can adversely impact our performance at work, at school, in sports and performance, and in our relationships. Stress-induced problems in our health, performance, or relationships tend to cause even more stress. In this way, stress and the stress-induced problems can exacerbate one another, causing a vicious cycle. If we are not good at coping with stress, it can make our lives a mess!
In order to lead healthier, happier lives that contain less stress, meditation practices can be extremely beneficial, as stress depends mainly on how we react to events rather than the events themselves. There are meditative techniques that offer ways to beneficially…
(1) …transform a stress reaction that has already arisen and is full blown;
(2) …transform a stress reaction as it is arising and gaining momentum;
(3) …transform a stress reaction at its very onset before it gains momentum; and
(4) …transform the habits of the mind so that the mind stays effortlessly peaceful in situations that previously would have been experienced as stressful.
These boons are often achieved progressively (starting at 1 and moving towards 4) as one’s skill increases. For reducing stress, I have found certain practices to be particularly beneficial due to their adaptability to different situations and their acceptability to people of different cultural orientations. These include MBSR and especially the ancient Buddhist stress reduction practices upon which MBSR is based -- including insight meditation; tranquility meditation; mindfulness practice; and cognitive reframing.
Many people find that -- while clinical stress reduction programs like MBSR often provide a useful introduction to basic tools -- the deeper potential of many meditation techniques can be most effectively accessed by interacting with living wisdom traditions. The teachers and communities of these traditions preserve practical insights and help people with the challenges of working towards profound personal transformation in order to live happier and more fulfilling lives. Many of these wisdom traditions hold in common (1) a particular insight into a flaw in the way that humans seek happiness, and (2) similar approaches to overcoming this flaw through meditative practice. These insights and prescriptions are part of what some call "the perennial philosophy" – a name for insights that are proclaimed nearly universally among the great wisdom traditions. Let us examine one of these insights.
Meditation for Personal Transformation
Reflections on Two Strategies for Achieving Happiness
Most people are drawn to meditation because they think that meditation will make them happier in one of two ways: either by fulfilling a desire -- or by working to make one’s happiness less dependent on desire-fulfillment. These two approaches reflect two strategies for achieving happiness. The most common strategy -- desire fulfillment -- usually involves unconsciously holding our desires tightly so that our happiness becomes dependent upon the fulfillment of our desires. A second strategy -- radical acceptance -- is often taught among the meditative wisdom traditions and involves relaxing our inner grasping and consciously holding our desires lightly, so that our happiness becomes increasingly less dependent on outer conditions. The first strategy is a commonplace but often unsatisfying orientation while the second strategy is a brilliant but often misunderstood contribution of the meditative wisdom traditions. Let us consider meditation in light of these two strategies for achieving happiness.
Strategy #1
Achieve happiness by getting all of your desires fulfilled.
One might approach meditation from within the conventional desire-fulfillment strategy for achieving happiness. Here, one might think: "I have a horrible cold and I hate it. I hear that meditation has been shown to benefit the immune system. So I’m going to start meditating so that I’ll be able to avoid getting sick (and unhappy) more effectively that way." Here one’s inner peace is seen as being dependent on having one’s desires be fulfilled. The perception is: "If I am sick, then I will be unhappy. The way to happiness is to avoid unwanted conditions like sickness."
When we are holding our desires tightly, if we can’t get what we want to get or can’t avoid what we want to avoid, then we feel dissatisfied, stressed, and unhappy. When emotionally grasping in this way, the stronger the unfulfilled desire is, the greater our unhappiness is. When approaching life in this manner, inner peace and happiness remain elusive for two reasons.
1. Craving what we don’t have. As the Rolling Stones put it, "You can’t always get what you want." But even when we do get what we want, we usually find that it’s not as satisfying as we thought it would be – and then we start craving something else. Many of us have internalized what I call the myth of arrival, the idea that if only I had X, Y, and Z, then I would finally feel complete, happy, and truly satisfied -- then I would have "arrived" and could live happily ever after. (X, Y, and Z might refer to things like marriage to the right person, material possessions, friends, kids, easy access to pleasurable activities, exciting experiences, goals, degrees, dominance in a field, excellence at certain skills, knowledge, occupation, reputation, recognition, wealth, power, etc.). But experience shows us again and again that people who work hard and actually get their X, Y, and Z typically end up wondering why they are not feeling fulfilled. We think these things will satisfy us, but they don’t. Whenever one set of desires is fulfilled, more desires appear. Unfulfilled craving-desires are endless.
2. Aversion to what we can’t avoid. The second reason that inner peace and happiness remain elusive under the conventional strategy is that many things that we would like to avoid happen anyway, and there’s often nothing that we can do to rectify them. "All good things must come to an end" – but we often desperately want them to continue. Novelty wears off; beauty fades; relationships dissolve; ice cream runs out; pleasant experiences end. At the same time, bad things happen, though we’d like them not to occur. We experience sickness; disease; itches, aches, and injuries; bad traffic; insults; relationship problems; financial problems; accidents; break-downs; break-ups; break-ins; break-outs; computer crashes; natural disasters; political dramas; wars; mortality. We can’t avoid many of life’s minor and major curve balls, so we experience a steady stream of frustratingly unfulfilled aversion-desires in addition to the endless craving-desires.
Indeed, life is often a barrage of encounters with real or imagined objects of fascination and irritation that keep us on the run, chasing after the good and running away from the bad. In the midst of all this instinctive chasing and fleeing, we become increasingly unable to truly relax and find peace amidst the chaos of our own minds. As the 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi put it: "All day long the kicks of imagination, worry over profit and loss, and fear of extinction leave the spirit no purity or gentleness or splendor, nor any way to travel to heaven. He is truly asleep who has hope in every image which passes through his mind and converses with it."
Strategy #2
Achieve happiness by radically accepting whatever arises in the present moment.
Alternatively, one might approach meditation with the goal of making one’s own happiness less dependent on desire-fulfillment. Here a person might think, "When I get sick I have physical pain and I feel really unhappy because I resent the pain. I hear that meditation helps people to have inner peace in spite of being in physical discomfort. Sickness may be inevitable, but I don’t have to let it destroy my happiness." Insight: here one’s inner peace is seen as being (potentially) independent of having one’s desires be fulfilled. The perception is: "I don’t want to become ill, but even if I am sick, I can learn be at ease with it. The way to happiness is to avoid resenting unwanted conditions -- embracing reality instead of resisting it."
In order to avoid a common misunderstanding, it should be made clear that the aforementioned practice of holding our desires lightly, embracing the present moment, radical acceptance, and non-resistance does not mean that practical measures are to be abandoned. Rather, in the midst of taking practical measures, one practices radical acceptance of how things are in the present moment. In this way, challenging situations are addressed practically -- but with a lot less stress, worry, resentment, and afflictive emotion. As a result, one is able to enjoy many benefits to one’s well being. However, for most people, it takes considerable practice in order to transform one’s own mental-emotional habits from resistance to acceptance -- from grasping tightly to letting go. Many forms of meditation aim at bringing about such a profound and beneficial psychological transformation.
One way of understanding the difference between these two strategies is by looking at how meditators immersed in either strategy are likely to deal with physical or emotional discomfort while practicing meditation. If a person practices meditation while predominantly seeking happiness via desire-fulfillment (Strategy #1), then that person will typically be meditating in order to achieve some temporary pleasure or relief -- perhaps the equivalent of a warm bath or a natural high. If such a heart-mind encounters discomfort during meditation, it will typically abandon the meditation because the technique is failing to fulfill a desire. On the other hand, if one practices meditation while seeking to have one’s inner peace and happiness become less dependent on the fulfillment of desires (Strategy #2), then one will not be quick to abandon the meditation when discomfort arises. Instead, that meditator will use everything that arises (including discomfort) as an opportunity for practicing radical acceptance and equanimity. Practicing equanimity with discomfort strengthens the ability of the heart-mind to remain spacious and placid in the midst of unpleasant circumstances. Such an approach is embraced by many wisdom traditions -- including meditative traditions within Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and modern psychology. Meister Eckhart, a 13th century Christian mystic and meditator, wrote:
"The essence of perfection lies in bearing poverty, misery, despising, adversity and every hardship that befalls, willingly, gladly, freely, eagerly, calm and unmoved and persisting unto death without a why."
While meditators who train their heart-minds in some form of radical acceptance may never reach such a lofty ideal, they typically do benefit immensely from their practice.
General Approaches to Meditation
Before looking at a specific practice, let us examine a few ways in which meditation can become part of one’s life.
1) Transformation of heart-mind in retreat. One useful way to begin to transform one’s heart-mind is to retreat from the stresses of daily life in order to practice a technique where there are few distractions. A retreat might be in a quiet, private room at work at lunch time; at a meditation class; or at a retreat center where one might devote a more extended period of time. Here one might aim at gaining some temporary relief; at training the heart-mind for the future; or at some combination of the two. For those who are interested in training in radical acceptance so that their well being becomes less dependent on desire-fulfillment, extended retreat time is invaluable for deepening the transformation of the heart-mind.
2) Transformation of heart-mind in everyday life. Once a person has learned how to transform the heart-mind in a retreat setting, skills that have been cultivated there can often be applied right in the midst of everyday situations – without retreating to a quiet place. This is crucial for deeper transformation, because the practice becomes integrated in life. If we spend 1 hour a day cultivating skillful mental-emotional habits and spend the other (16 or so) waking hours letting the heart-mind run riot with unskillful habits, the unskillful habits will be reinforced and will most likely predominate. The more we can integrate the skillful mental-emotional habits into everyday situations, the more those habits will be reinforced.
3) Transformation of the habits of the heart-mind. Ultimately, with dedicated practice, radical beneficial transformation of the heart-mind can take place -- sometimes gradually, sometimes in sudden moments of insight, and often in some combination of both. As a result, one’s practice becomes increasingly automatic, skilled, and effective.
In a way, this arc of transformation is like most forms of learning. Consider learning to walk. At first we flail around without a clue. As time passes we become slightly mobile, crawling and eventually pulling ourselves up to standing, where a new perspective is revealed. Then we fall down again. One day a few steps are taken. It’s very exciting. But we fall down and get frustrated. Eventually walking becomes second nature and we are able to navigate increasingly complex obstacles. The process takes years and transforms as we mature. Practicing meditation follows a similar path of development.
If you are interested in getting a small taste of meditation and its stress-reducing benefits, you may enjoy trying the following exercise. Admittedly, learning meditation from an article is not ideal. It is very helpful to work with a teacher who can guide you in real time and answer questions. But a little experimentation may be useful and fun.
This exercise is to be performed only in a safe, stable environment -- the kind of environment in which you would be comfortable and safe taking a nap. These instructions are necessarily abbreviated. If the exercise produces any discomfort, please feel free to modify or stop the exercise. Let your intuition be your guide for what is right for you.
1) Find a quiet, comfortable, and still space where you can spend some time with
minimal interruption.
2) Stretch your body to release any surface tension.
3) Enter a comfortable seated position and close your eyes.
4) Take three or four deep, slow, relaxing breaths. Pay attention to the sensations of the
air moving through the nostrils, sinuses, windpipe and lungs. On each breath,
* inhale slowly and deeply;
* hold the breath for a moment and relax in the hold;
* exhale slowly and let go of tension with the exhale.
* Repeat (or return to natural breathing if there’s any discomfort).
5) Return to natural breathing, feeling the sensations within the whole body.
6) Relax the jaw, shoulders, belly, and any obvious muscle tensions.
This stress reducing meditation technique involves moving your awareness through regions of body sensations in an unhurried cycle of Sensing, Relaxing, and Accepting. While it is important to include the entire body, you can experiment with using smaller body regions (scalp; forehead; eyes; nose; tongue; lips; jaw; etc.) or larger body regions (head; shoulders; arms; hands; chest; belly; etc.). Using smaller regions will often take more time and more concentration and will allow you to work more deeply. Using larger regions will take less time and less concentration. Feel free to experiment to find an approach that works well for your time and concentration resources.
1) Sense: bring awareness to the sensations in a particular body region.
2) Relax any tensions that are present in that body region.
Feel any palpable shift when relaxing.
Let subtle tensions drain away and dissolve.
3) Accept the sensations that are present – letting them flow without any resistance.
In other words:
Let pleasant feelings come and go without trying to hold onto them.
Let unpleasant feelings come and go without pushing them away.
Let that region of the body relax and find a spacious equilibrium.
Let whatever arises be ok. Welcome it! This is radical acceptance.
4) Slide your awareness to the next body region and repeat meditation steps 1-3 until you’ve moved through the whole body.
5) Bring awareness to the entire volume of the body and continue to embrace the sensations that are arising. Sensing, Relaxing, Accepting. Rest in this accepting awareness of body sensations, anchoring your awareness on the breathing sensations arising in the torso and abdomen.
6) If you notice that your mind has wandered away from the body sensations, notice if your body has become tense while the mind was focusing on an object of fascination or aversion. If so, systematically re-relax the body and continue to dwell in the full body awareness of (5).
This exercise can be used:
* as a way to prepare for a challenging day where you want to be calm or perform well;
* as a way to dissolve pent up stress at any point in the day;
* as a way to prepare for sleep (try it lying down);
* and as a rejuvenating exercise. If you can rest in the relaxed awareness of (5) for 20-30 minutes without spending much time in the distraction of (6), you will typically experience a surge of energy that’s roughly the equivalent to that of a 3 hour nap!
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Natural Awakenings Magazine - July, 2003
Simple Yoga Practices for Awakening the Heart
by Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.
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Yoga is an ancient technology for expanding human potential which originated in India 5000 years ago. The yoga tradition encompasses a wide range of practices for uniting physical, mental, and spiritual consciousness including: ethical disciplines, methods of self-observation, breath control, physical postures, meditation practices, chanting, and service to others. The ultimate intention of yoga is to control the fluctuations of the mind, thereby dissolving illusions of separateness and unifying individual ego consciousness with cosmic consciousness.
Yoga practice improves the health of the whole being by addressing the grossest and most refined layers of consciousness. Through yoga postures and breathing exercises, the body becomes strong, supple, and vibrant. Consistent practice of yoga postures lengthens and strengthens the muscles, lubricates the joints, energizes the organs, improves circulation, soothes the nervous system, regulates the digestive system, stimulates the endocrine system, and keeps the body in natural alignment. Yoga postures combined with deep breathing release tension in the body. As the body relaxes, the mind becomes clearer, calmer, more focused and insightful. Breathing and meditation practices refine this awareness even further. A more sensitive awareness of the flow of life energy is cultivated that transcends the denser boundaries of the physical body, and ultimately blossoms into a harmonious awareness of oneness with the life force in all things.
The physical, mental and spiritual benefits abound, but yoga is also an excellent way for people to nourish emotional wellness, and awaken the loving essence of the heart. The yoga tradition tells us that emotional energy is channeled through the heart chakra, the subtle energetic station which correlates to the heart, chest, and lungs. When the heart channel is blocked due to emotional affliction, physical tension can manifest in the chest and between the shoulder blades. For instance, you might feel the pain of a "broken heart" literally as a tightness in your chest, or a block in the breath. Or your body may gradually respond to emotional trauma and fear by slouching forward in a posture that contracts your chest in an attempt to armor your heart from more pain. In combination with other therapeutic modalities, yoga practices can be used prescriptively to nourish the weary heart through the grieving process, to open the heart again into its natural brilliance, and to channel love and peace through the heart to other beings. Feel free to experiment with the following gentle practices to awaken your heart consciousness.
A Practice for Nurturing the Heart: Breathing into the Chest
If you are experiencing emotional pain or the physical residue of that pain, and are seeking comfort for your heart, this is a wonderful breathing practice. Lie down flat, resting the front side of your body into the floor. Turn one cheek to the ground. Rest your arms parallel to your body, palms up, with fingers pointing towards your feet. Bring your awareness to the center of your chest and inhale deeply. Notice how the chest swells into the earth. Hold the breath for a moment. Exhale slowly with a sigh. Notice how tension is released as the chest gently contracts back toward the spine. Continue to breathe, holding for a few seconds after each inhalation and then sighing as you exhale. Feel comforted by the sensation between your chest and the earth. Let waves of breath soothe your heart, molding your sternum into the ground. If feelings and thoughts come, let them flow, but don't analyze or judge them. Keep your awareness on the breath. Gradually lengthen the duration of the exhale in relation to the inhale. As you breathe, imagine sorrows released from your heart and absorbed into the earth to be transformed into new life. Eventually turn your face so the opposite cheek rests to the floor, balancing the stretch to your neck and continue to practice. After several minutes, rest and relax again into your natural breath.
A Practice for Opening the Heart: Reclining Backbend
If your heart feels closed and you want to open it again, then backbends can be very helpful. There are a wide variety of backbend postures to choose from. The reclining backbend described here is especially beneficial because it is a passive posture that doesn't require a lot of effort, and can be held for a longer period of time. (If you have back issues or high blood pressure, it is best to consult your physician before doing this pose.)
Stack two firm pillows on the floor. Lie down onto the pillows, so your upper back rests evenly to the pillows and your chest is lifted higher than the rest of your body. Relax your legs across the floor, rest your head softly back, and open your arms overhead into a "Y" position across the floor, palms up. If you feel any strain in your neck, rest your head on a smaller pillow. Guide your shoulder blades towards each other and press the sternum high. Be sure you feel a deep stretch to your chest, but are not feeling strained. Soften into this pose and let the breath do the work. Initiate a deep inhale from the belly and continue to breathe into the chest, feeling your rib cage swell in all directions. Pause after the inhale for a few seconds and then softly exhale, relaxing the chest and belly. Continue deep breathing, gradually extending the length of the breath. Visualize your heart as a beautiful flower blossoming wider and wider with each breath cycle. Feel your heart vibrant and spacious with more room for love to flow inside you in its many shapes and forms.
Another practice that can be used simultaneously in this posture is chanting. In the yoga tradition, sound is regarded as a powerful tool for dissolving physical blocks and expanding consciousness. One simple sound to use in this posture is the vowel sound "AH". Inhale deeply and exhale the sound "AH" You will feel the "AH" sound vibrate the bones of the chest, and stimulate energy there. Visualize the sound dissolving blocks in your heart. Continue for several minutes massaging the chest with this sound and then relax into your natural breath.
If you feel any soreness after practicing the reclining backbend, counter it with a gentle forward bend. Over time, as your chest becomes more flexible, feel free to use more pillows or a foam yoga block under your back for this practice.
A Practice for Connecting to the Spiritual Heart of Others: Namaste
This practice is a version of the common greeting between people in India called Namaste (pronounced nah-mah-stay), which translates "The spirit in me honors the spirit in you and recognizes the oneness between us." In a comfortable quiet place bring your focus to the life force within you. Allow your heart to be sensitized to feelings that arise as you touch into a deeper awareness of yourself. When you feel inspired, bring the palms together at the center of the chest and softly bow your head saying "Namaste - I honor and celebrate the spirit within me." Once you are comfortable with this practice of honoring your own spirit, expand your devotion by sending your heart energy towards others, with the same gesture and greeting, "Namaste - the spirit in me honors the spirit in you." As you cultivate this practice, do it in silence without gesture as you pass strangers on the street, and eventually practice greeting all beings silently with "Namaste" This simple practice done sincerely will nurture love, compassion, humility, and peace in your heart--as you honor the universal spirit dancing through you and through all living things.
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CHIL Magazine - June, 2004
Office Yoga
Part I: Simple Practices for Releasing Stress At Your Desk
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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You're at work. A deadline is looming. Maybe your boss is putting pressure on you. Perhaps a client is giving you a hard time. Maybe your co-workers are cranky, or it just feels like there's just too much to do and you'll never catch up. The stress builds in your body. Your shoulders tighten up. Your neck stiffens. Your jaw tenses. Don't worry-- there is relief! There are many simple yoga practices that can help you release tension right at your desk in just a few minutes time. Following are instructions for working with several practices to set free tension in the shoulders, neck, and face. In next month's column, we'll focus on simple ways to release tension in your back, hands, and legs. Feel free to try these stretches to help bring more ease to your work life. Be gentle with yourself and remember to keep your breath flowing. If you have a shoulder or neck injury, please check with your physician before engaging in these practices.
Letting Go Of Tension in Your Shoulders
Begin this stretch by slowly extending your arms overhead. Lace your fingers together and turn your palms up to face the ceiling. Press your chest upward, opening your ribs, and arch back carefully. Breathe deeply into the stretch. Keep the arms erect and gently stretch to the left. After several cycles of breath, stretch to the right. Center your arms again and unbind the hands, resting your arms to your sides. Enjoy the fresh sense of spaciousness in your shoulders.
Another practice for releasing tension in the upper body is to roll the shoulders. Sit tall with broad chest, and rotate your shoulders while breathing long and deep. Roll the shoulders up towards your ears and then guide your shoulders down your back, then forward again, and continue to cycle around. Pay particular attention to the rotation of the shoulders as they roll back- most of us tend to slouch forward and this stretch will help break that habit. Then reverse the direction of your rotation and continue until you feel you have thoroughly massaged away the tension in your shoulders.
Dissolving Tension in Your Neck
Tasks like sitting at the computer and talking on the phone can quickly build tension in the neck. The following sequence is a simple, but highly effective way of freeing built-up tension in your neck. Please practice these stretches slowly and gently.
Sit tall in your chair, with chest and shoulders resting wide and relaxed, and close your eyes. Come into a gentle awareness of your breath. Breathe deeply through the nostrils. Gently tilt your head back, creating a nice stretch across your throat, without pinching the vertebrae at the back of your neck. Close your mouth, draw your teeth gently together and continue to breathe, feeling your throat relax more deeply with each exhalation.
After 10-20 cycles of breath, relax your mouth, and gently guide the head back to center. Then, slowly draw your chin towards your chest, until you feel a pleasant stretch along the back edge of your neck. Hold this stretch for 10-20 breath cycles.
Guide the head back to center. Exhale and slowly ease your right ear towards your right shoulder, creating a wonderful stretch along the left edge of your neck without strain or force. Hold for 10-20 breath cycles. Center the head and float the left ear towards the left shoulder, lengthening the right side of the neck for 10-20 breath cycles. Bring the head back to neutral.
Keeping your shoulders and chest square and your head tall, very slowly rotate your chin above your right shoulder, as if you were looking at something behind you. Breathe into the spiral you're creating with your neck. With each inhalation feel the skull growing taller. With each exhalation, relax more deeply into the twist. Hold for 10-20 breath cycles. Center the head, then slowly guide the chin above the left shoulder, holding the gentle twist for 10-20 breath cycles.
Freeing Tension in Your Face
Sit tall, then inhale and lean forward slightly in your chair, prepping for lion's pose. Open your jaw very wide, stretching out your tongue dramatically and exhale vigorously. Simultaneously open your eyes wide, gazing at the tip of your nose. Hold for a moment, then inhale and relax. Repeat several times. This pose is excellent for releasing tension in the eyes, cheeks, jaw, and throat. Lion's pose could also be a fun way to lighten things up at the office by drawing laughs from (or frightening) your boss and co-workers!
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CHIL Magazine - June, 2004
Office Yoga
Part II: Simple Practices for Releasing Stress At Your Desk
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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Many people report that the majority of the day-to-day stress they experience is work-related. This tension can manifest in many ways including physical discomfort, mental anxiety, or emotional turmoil due to pressure at work. Many of us believe that the appropriate time to release this build-up tension is before or after work or on the weekends. That's great-- but it can also be very beneficial to our overall health to integrate stress-reduction techniques into our time at work to help counter the tension as it occurs. In last month's column, I focused on easy ways of letting go of tension in the neck and shoulders at work. This month, I focus on two of the simplest, most effective postures for releasing tension in the legs and back. These gentle yoga practices also have a soothing and rejuvenating effect on your mind. If you have any injuries, or physical conditions, please check with your physician before trying these exercises.
Stand up with the feet grounded a hips distance apart. Slowly fold forward, hinging from the hips. Let your arms hang towards the floor. Don't worry about whether your fingers touch your toes. Keep your head and neck soft and, most importantly breathe slowly and deeply through your nostrils. Totally relax your facial muscles, letting your jaw and cheeks hang towards the ground. With each exhale, soften your torso, relaxing towards the earth. If you feel especially tight in your hamstrings, very slowly bend one knee just enough to deepen the stretch to the opposite leg. Then bend the opposite knee and stretch the muscles of your other leg. Gently trade off from side to side, loosening the muscles along the back edge of your legs.
After you've focused on stretching one leg at a time, see if you can keep both legs straight. If your hands do not come down to the floor, it can also be helpful to clasp opposite elbows with your hands, or to ground your palms to an object on the floor, such as a chair or a stack of books. (There are special foam yoga blocks you can use here as well.) Lift your quads, lengthening the muscle along the fronts of your thighs up and away from your knees. Gently spiral the inner thighs towards each other to create more strength and stability in your standing. Take a few deeper breaths, appreciating the stretch across your spine, and the fresh flow of energy to your brain. When you're ready, carefully bend your knees, and curl back up to standing, rolling up a vertebrae at a time. Repeat several times. You should find that the more you repeat this forward bend, the easier and more comfortable it becomes. Through repetition of postures, you can train your muscles to become more supple and relaxed.
This gentle forward bend lengthens your leg and back muscles, increases flexibility in the spine, massages your internal organs, brings fresh circulation to the brain, and can rejuvenate energy in the body-- countering tiredness.
Sit sideways on a chair, so one side of your body faces the back of the chair. Sit tall, with your pelvis tilted forward, and your chest and shoulders expanded. With your feet grounded a hips distance apart, gently clasp your hands to the top lip at the back of the chair. Slowly begin to twist your belly in the direction of your hands. Inhale as you lengthen the spine taller, and exhale as you gently allow the midsection of your torso to turn following the lead of the belly. With each exhale turn the ribcage, eventually revolving the chest, spiraling the shoulders, and finally rotating the head. It's important to let the torso turn thoroughly before revolving the head. Hold the twist for 10-20 breath cycles of deep cleansing breath, and then gently come out of the twist back to center. Sit on the other other side of the chair and practice this twist in the opposite direction. Repeat once more to either side. This seated twist brings great flexibility to the spine, relieves stiffness across the whole torso, releases toxins held in the body, and helps tone the digestive system.
If you take just a few minutes amidst the hubbub of your worklife to practice the simple postures explored in this column and last month's column, you will bring greater ease and well-being to your life in and out of the office.
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CHIL Magazine - August, 2004
Five Ways to Practice Yoga
Without Doing a Pose
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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Most people in the West regard yoga as a series of physical exercises and breathing techniques. Yet, postures and breath control practices represent just one branch of yoga-- Hatha yoga. The traditional intention of Hatha Yoga is to stretch, lengthen, tone, and strengthen our bodies to create an enhanced flow of vitality, priming the body for meditation and deeper states of spiritual consciousness. Hatha yoga is a powerful, embodied spiritual practice that can be a great vehicle for expanding awareness. Yet there are also other branches of yoga that we can engage in. In this article I will introduce simple ways we can embrace and practice five other branches of yoga: Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Mantra Yoga. We can focus on one of these branches, or work with these modes of yoga in tandem with each other as a path to self-realization.
Repeatedly asked how to become enlightened, the great Indian saint Neem Karoli Baba said "Feed people." What he is advocating is Karma Yoga, the practice of selfless service towards others. To practice Karma Yoga, devote yourself to helping others. Volunteer to assist those in need. Deliberately, break the illusion of separation from others by reaching out to them and offering your service unattached to receiving any reward.
Raja Yoga is the "royal" path of meditation. This contemplative approach to yoga is defined in the eight limbs of yoga compiled by the sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. The eight limbs teach us how to live a yogic way of life through ethical principles, self-discipline, posture, breath control, sensory withdrawal, concentration, meditation, and liberation. Learn more about the path of Raja Yoga by reading a translation of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. One of my favorite versions is a translation by Swami Satchitananda.
One of my most influential teachers Bhakti musician Jai Uttal, says,
"In Bhakti yoga, we keep our minds concentrated on the eternal, but we lead with our hearts. We sing, we dance, we play music, we write poetry, we cook, paint, make love and do it all as part of our dialogue with our eternal beloved." Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart, the yoga of devotion, of channeling our emotional energy into our relationship with spirit. To practice Bhakti Yoga, work with ways of awakening an emotional relationship with the divine in all things. Traditional ways of stirring the heart in Bhakti yoga include chanting, dancing, and other forms of devotional art. It can also be helpful to create an altar, a sacred place in your home where you can pray and kindle your relationship with the divine. Whatever your religion, or your name for God, you can practice Bhakti yoga.
Swami Sivananda Radha says "The chanting or recitation of mantras activates and accelerates the creative spiritual force, promoting harmony in all parts of the human being. The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit root words whose meaning is "to set free the discursive mind." In mantra yoga, we pour all of our awareness into the recitation of a mantra, allowing all of our random thoughts to be washed away by the energy of the sacred, energy-based sound. Commonly chanted mantras include Om, Om Namashivaya, Om Shanti, and many others. One of my teachers Russill Paul recently released a book called The Yoga of Sound and also has a series of recordings by the same title which are a great resource if your aspire to practice Mantra Yoga.
Jnana means "wisdom" or "insight". Jnana Yoga is the path of introspection as a tool for discerning the real from the unreal. Jnana yoga can be a excellent path for people who seek to understand yoga through the vehicle of the intellect. One of the primary practices in Jnana Yoga is to repeatedly ask the question "Who am I?" Through active, alert meditation, the seeker continuously answers the question. For instance "I am a man, I am a husband, I am a teacher, I am a New Orleanian, I am a singer, I am.....none of the answers deeply quenching the core truth of
"Who am I?" Through a process of elimination, eventually the meditator is left in a state where there is nothing left but pure Awareness. For more information on Jnana Yoga consult the work of Ramana Maharshi.
There are many ways to practice yoga without ever stepping on a mat and doing a pose. The world of yoga is vast and holds many tools to attune your soul.
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CHIL Magazine - September, 2004
Yoga Breathing Practices for Releasing Stress
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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In the yoga tradition the breath is considered to be a manifestation of the great life force (prana) that flows through all living things. We know on a practical level that without breath we cannot live. We also know that when we're stressed out, anxious, angry, or depressed, our breath becomes fainter and shallow. The good news is that just as our breath is weakened in response to a negative mental and emotional state, deeper breathing can tip the scales in the other direction to enhance our well-being, release tension, and calm the mind. So if you want to improve the quality of your life, start by improving the quality of your breath. Following are three simple yoga breathing techniques (pranayama practices) for releasing stress and creating a more peaceful state of being. Please practice these techniques gently and slowly, without force or strain.
A Practice to Connect with the Full Exuberance of Your Breath:
Three Part Breathing
1. This exercise can be done either sitting tall or lying down. Place your palms on your belly. As you inhale slowly, allow your belly to gently expand into your palms. As you exhale slowly feel the belly contract back towards your center. Continue, gradually deepening your breath, lengthening the duration of your inhale and exhale without force or strain. Don't feel rushed. Breathe with patience and kindness, visualizing the breath nourishing your body. The simple practice of deep belly breathing alone is extremely powerful and effective for calming the mind. Keep going for about 10-20 cycles of breath.
2. Now place your hands on the sides of the ribcage. Focus your breath on the midsection of your torso. When you inhale slowly, feel the ribs swelling outward into your hands, massaging the space between each rib bone. When you exhale slowly, relax the ribs inward. Inhale and the ribcage expands, exhale and the ribcage contracts. Continue for 10-20 cycles of breath.
3. Now place your hands at the region of your chest above your sternum and below your collar bones. Inhale, focusing on the sensation of the chest slowly puffing outward into the hands, and exhale feel the chest and shoulders relax. Keep going for 10-20 cycles of breath.
4. At this point, you have connected with the movement of your breath in your lower, mid, and upper torso. Now it's time to put the three sections together in a practice called three-part breathing. Place your hands on your belly and begin a slow, meditative inhale. Initiate the breath in the belly. Slide your hands up your body as the inhale rises to the mid-torso, and follow your breath with your hands to the upper chest. Exhale and trace the release of the breath from the upper chest down through the ribs, back home to the belly. Inhale and the breath rises from bottom to top. Exhale and the breath is released from top to bottom. Use your hands to help trace your breath awareness fluidly up and down your body. Practice this for 10-20 breath cycles. Then play with practicing complete breath without the support of your hands.
There are many pranayama practices that involve working with different breath ratios. In advanced pranayama you inhale, exhale, retain, and hold the breath out of the body in different ratios to create a variety of effects on the body and consciousness. Following is one of the simplest of these practices, used to fully release any stale energy in the body and to create a deep state of relaxation. In this practice the duration of the inhale is doubled with the exhale. This practice can be engaged lying down or sitting with an erect spine.
Inhale slowly on a slow count of two, then exhale slowly on a count of four. Continue the 1:2 ratio of breathing at a slow easy pace. Practice for 10-20 breath cycles, and as your breath grows stronger, gradually extend the length of the inhale, continuing to double that duration with your exhale.
A Breath Practice for Calming the Mind and Releasing Anxiety:
Alternate Nostril Breathing
Alternate nostril breathing is a wonderful practice that is used to balance and harmonize the life force in the body. It can also be an excellent way to quickly soothe anxiety. This practice is a little more complicated than three part breathing and 1:2 ratio breathing, but once you get the hang of it, it will serve you very well.
1. Sit tall on pillows or in a chair, keeping the spine long and vibrant, and close your eyes drawing your awareness inward.
2. Exhale completely through both nostrils.
3. Using the right thumb as a valve, gently close the right nostril and inhale quietly into the left nostril.
4. When your inhale is complete, gently close the left nostril with your pinky finger, release your thumb from your right nostril and slowly exhale through the right nostril.
5. When your exhale is complete, inhale softly into the right nostril and then gently close the right nostril with your thumb.
6. Release the pinky finger from the left nostril and exhale through the left nostril. Continue this cycle. Every time you exhale through one nostril, you inhale through the same nostril, then exhale through the opposite nostril.
7. Continue for 10-20 breath cycles. With practice this technique will become more and more comfortable and intuitive.
Work with each of these practices to create a more serene way of being, and to create a deeper appreciation for the delicious life-sustaining nectar of your breath! In next month's edition of The Yoga Path we will explore simple breathing practices for invigorating body, mind, and heart.
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CHIL Magazine - October, 2004
Yoga Breathing Practices for Releasing Stress
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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In the yoga tradition, the breath is considered to be a manifestation of the great life force (prana) that flows through all living things. We know on a practical level that without breath we cannot live. We also know that when we're stressed out, anxious, angry, or depressed, our breath becomes fainter and shallow. The good news is that just as our breath is weakened in response to a negative mental and emotional state, deeper breathing can tip the scales in the other direction to enhance our well-being, release tension, calm the mind, and create a fresh flow of vitality through the body. So if you want to improve the quality of your life, start by improving the quality of your breath. In last month's column we explored yoga breathing techniques (pranayama practices) for releasing stress. This month, in part two of our exploration of pranayama techniques, we will learn two simple, yet powerful breathing practices for stimulating energy in the body. If you find yourself feeling sluggish, lazy, and drained of vitality, you may find these practices quite helpful in raising your energy level and lifting your spirits.
It is important that you practice these vigorous breathing practices gently and mindfully, engaging in the exercises for shorter spells at first. Then gradually- over an extended period of time- you can lengthen the duration and intensity of your practice. If you have any health issues, please consult your physician before working with these exercises. And for more detailed pranayama instruction, it is best to consult with a qualified yoga instructor.
Following are two simple yoga breathing techniques for stimulating energy in the body, creating a more lucid mental state, and awakening a vibrant awareness of the dance of life energy in your body and in all things.
Sit down either in a chair or on the floor, whichever is most comfortable. Sit erect with the shoulders rolled open and the chest expanded. Rest one palm inside the other in your lap, hands turned up in the shape of a bowl. Breathe with ease. As you inhale, feel the torso naturally expanding. As you exhale, feel the torso naturally contracting. Prepare to breath with more vigor.
Now, inhale slow, long, and mighty through your nostrils, following the long path of your breath with your hands from your belly up to your chest, past your face and overhead as your inhale resolves. Turn the palms face up, then exhale heartily through your mouth as you part your hands out to the sides, turning the palms down, and lowering your hands back to your lap where you started, as the exhale resolves. Inhale again with vigor through the nostrils and trace your palms from your belly up to the sky. Exhale with volume through the open mouth, circling the hands out to the sides and back down again to your lap. Practice 5-8 cycles of cleansing breath. Overtime, as you become more comfortable with the technique, you can expand the duration of your practice.
After you finish the practice, sit with your eyes closed, returning to gentle, calm breath. Scan your body, noticing if anything has changed, if there are any new sensations present. Observe any transformation in your mental and emotional state. This practice can often create a minty fresh sensation in the lungs, a tingling energy across the body, a sharpness to your senses and clearer mental focus. If at any point during the practice you feel lightheaded, please rest before continuing, or cease the practice completely.
This is an extremely powerful technique for invigorating the body, stimulating mental clarity, and creating a more sensitive energetic awareness. Sit comfortably, placing your palms gently on your belly. Settling in, begin by breathing tranquilly through the nostrils, enjoying the sweet essence of your breath. Prepare to intentionally quicken and intensify the pace of your breath.
Inhale with a rapid pulse through the nostrils and feel the belly pumped forward into the hands. Immediately exhale and feel the belly naturally contracting toward the core of your body away from your hands. As soon as the exhale is complete inhale with a quick puff of the belly into the palms and then exhale. As opposed to the deep drawn out breaths of Cleansing Breath, in Breath of Fire, the breath is short, quick, and even. Let each rapid inhale and exhale be for one count only, the belly pumping like a bellows. Practice 10-20 cycles of breath of fire. On your concluding inhale, breathe all the way in, holding the breath in your body, and gently tuck your chin into your chest. Hold the breath for 6-10 counts and then slowly exhale, relaxing your head. Close your eyes and return to gentle, fluid breathing, tuning into the effects of the practice. Trace your awareness across the landscape of your body, noticing any changes. Make a note of any mental or emotional shifts. Savor the bright energy you've kindled inside yourself. Gradually build up your practice, eventually engaging in several rounds of Breath of Fire with mindful rests in between. If the practice makes you feel lightheaded or dizzy, please rest, or cease the practice completely.
Next time you're feeling dull, resist the impulse to drink caffeine or resort to other stimulants. Drink your breath! Give your spirit a wake up call with Cleansing Breath or Breath of Fire.
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CHIL Magazine - November, 2003
Yoga and The Art of Surrender
"The Yoga Path" - A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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Yoga: The Art of Surrender
"Surrender" is not the most redeemed word in our fast-paced, action-driven culture. Most people's first association to the concept of surrender is connected with the idea of losing, giving up a battle. In fact, surrender is often perceived as the opposite of winning. In this context, surrender is antithetical to the values of a culture so beholden to competing and winning the game. So it's not surprising that when Western students first come to a yoga class, they are not sure what to make of the instruction to surrender in their practice, particularly when engaging in sometimes challenging physical postures. After all, in many forms of physical exercise and competitive sports, we are encouraged to push ourselves beyond our limits, to exert lots of effort and will power to strive ahead towards our goals. Hatha yoga is fascinating because it is a physical experience, but in it's essence, it is a spiritual practice whose specific intention is to unite individual consciousness with universal consciousness. And surrender is the vehicle for this unity.
Surrendering to the Breath
As yoga students begin to deepen their practice, the guidance from the teacher to surrender becomes less of an abstraction. The ability to discern between forcing oneself into a pose and relaxing into the pose becomes more sensitized. This awakening of awareness comes as students learn to experience the visceral power of surrender in their own bodies through their breath. One of the simplest and most profound practices in yoga is to consciously surrender with each exhale. When you place your body in a posture-- observing healthy alignment-- try surrendering to your breath, instead of willing yourself into the pose. Let the breath do the work, and with each exhale feel tension and resistance dissolved and a fresh openness and spaciousness in your body awakened. Let the smooth flow of your breath replace willful effort and the compulsion to try too hard. With each exhale, feel physical and mental obstacles melt away and a new freedom born inside the form of the pose. The practice of surrendering to the breath eventually creates a more refined and enlightened awareness of the life force within the breath and within all things. Renowned yoga teacher Shiva Rea says, "In my own practice, I am becoming more and more able to recognize tension as a signal; holding and gripping are signs that my connection with (surrender) is lessening. As I offer my tension back to the Source, emptying and surrendering again, I very often experience a boost of strength or a deepening of my breath and flexibility. Even more importantly, I experience a shift from my small, crowded inner world to a big picture of being alive."
Yoga Spreads from the Mat into Our Lives
As we begin to hone our ability to surrender inside our yoga practice, something wonderful happens-- our lives begin to change. Sometimes the metamorphosis is subtle, and sometimes more obvious. The internal alchemy created by practicing surrender again and again on the yoga mat changes the way we interact with the world. The forms of the postures become mirrors for transforming the structures in our daily life that can sometimes feel restricting and difficult. It becomes easier to release the struggle, conflict and affliction that can arise in our jobs, our relationships, our families, or other life challenges we encounter. When this happens, a new face on our culture's idea of surrender is created. Surrender is no longer associated with losing, but with liberation.
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CHIL Magazine - March, 2004
Outdoor Meditations
"The Yoga Path" -- A Monthly Column with Seán Johnson, R.Y.T.,
Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga
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Springtime has arrived, and the trees around us are calling to be admired-- standing tall and noble in dresses of fresh leaves jeweled with budding flowers. As winter can be an inspiration for retreating into the dark, barren mystery of the unknown--the fertile spectacle of the blooming trees in spring reminds us of our natural ability to rise again, to stretch out of the rich soil of emotional hibernation and blossom into the world. The ancient sages who created yoga gazed, unafraid of their reflection, into the mirror of nature to receive inspiration until that mirror disappeared-- the experience of separation between their individual form and the rest of the Universe dissolved. A yoga studio, or the refuge of our own home, can be a wonderful sanctuary for practicing yoga. But this month, amidst the parade of spring, I invite you to turn to the altar of nature for inspiration. Following are some very simple outdoor practices designed to break down the illusion of separation between ourselves and the natural world.
Go outside, take off your shoes and socks, and walk in the park. Feel the soles of your feet caressed by blades of grass, massaged by the soft earth. Marry the rhythmic experience of the breath to the gracefulness of your walking. Inhale and exhale in easy pattern with your stride. Walking and breathing...breathing and walking.... until it is difficult to distinguish the difference between the two. The breath is the walk. The walk is the breath. As the action of walking and breathing unify, enjoy a fresh sense of freedom and lightness. Allow your movement to become effortless as the individual responsibility for your motion, and the willfulness that comes with that responsibility, begin to disappear. You are no longer walking -- nature is walking you. You are in the moment. (For more inspiration and insights on walking meditation, consult books by the great Buddhist mindfulness teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.)
Close your eyes and spend some time paying attention to the touch of the wind softly stroking your skin. Become more and more sensitized to the experience of the wind brushing against the surface of your body. Then, with a deep inhale, drink in the wind and now feel it caress the insides of your body. Exhale, letting tension ride free on the breeze of your breath. Deepen your breath. Tune into the action, the dance of the breath as it expands and contracts inside you, massaging the inner walls of your torso, melting away any tension dwelling there. Gradually, let the boundary between your breath and the wind become more ambiguous. The wind is your breath. Your breath is the wind. It's no longer just you breathing-- everything is breathing together.
Find a tree that you admire, and stand in front of it. Let this tree be your mirror. Gently shift your weight to your left foot. Spread the toes of the left foot wide and engage the muscles of your straight left leg without fully locking your knee. Standing tall, rest the sole of the right foot to the inside of the left leg. Gazing at the tree, visualize roots growing from your left foot into the earth, anchoring you strongly in your standing. Look into the heart of the tree at its majestic trunk and awaken the core strength within you, hugging your pelvic muscles and abdominal muscles up toward your ribs and back towards your spine.
Drawing your awareness up the trunk of your body, slowly extend your arms straight up towards the sky resting your hands a shoulders distance apart, palms facing each other. Let your arms reach tall like the strong, ambitious branches of the tree, while your left foot remains earthed. Breathe smoothly, and stand regally with broad shoulders and an open heart-- your body transformed into an axis mundi, a sacred channel linking heaven and earth. If you feel unbalanced, don't worry about it. With a sense of humor, watch for a moment as the tree's branches move subtly in the wind.
Then return your fixed gaze on the solid trunk of the tree, and allow your body the same freedom to shift and play inside the form of the pose. When you are ready, mindfully release the right foot back to the earth, and relax the arms to the sides, settling into standing evenly on both feet again. Then practice tree pose in the same fashion, balancing on the other foot. By practicing this pose, we embody the virtues of the tree: honoring our capacity to stay rooted in the foundation of our being while simultaneously expanding our potential upward and outward-- all the while remaining flexible enough to dance in the winds of change.
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