Just Breathe...Out!

I was so grateful to receive this email from Nischala Joy Devi:

1:34 Slow, Easeful Exhalations can be used to Restore and Preserve Balance


Rhythmical breathing allows the mind and emotions to return to their natural state of equilibrium.

This is her interpretation of the Yoga Sutra 1.34. I wasn't breathing so well, having just spent 15 very uncomfortable minutes with a guy at the laundromat* who insisted on telling me about all the women and girls in the area who had been raped and assaulted. In fact, he said the word rape so many times, I was starting to feel quite twitchy. I would have left, but had to wait for my laundry to finish. Needless to say, I had to stop and take a few deep breaths, and a few more deep exhales, once I escaped!

Thank you for the reminder, Ms Devi!

*Still waiting for my furniture to arrive, and with it, my beloved washing machine. Sigh. Soon.

Brahmacharya

This is a fantastic piece, republished with permission from the author, Christine over at Yoga Every Day. I had not thought of brahmacharya in quite this way before!

Brahmacharya is one of the Yamas, or Suggestions for a firm foundation for practice. Brahmacharya means conserving your life force. As I was listening to folks discussing our current gas prices and “Energy Independence” on the radio, I realized that this is another application of Brahmacharya.

When we are aware of where and how we expend our life force - our precious time, energy and resources - we can make choices that reflect our deepest values.
Energy Independence begins with not using our life force carelessly. So if we’re sitting in front of the TV it’s because we mean to, and we’ve chosen the images we’re taking in. Or, if we realize mid-activity we are involved in something that doesn’t reflect our deepest truth, knowing we can choose differently any time.

The other part of Energy Independence is choosing the most efficient methods for moving through the world. On the mat this might mean being aware of whether we’re gripping in a pose, and releasing areas of unnecessary effort. A good rule of thumb is not to reach out further or with more vigor than we are reaching in.

In relationships, everyday interactions and helping others, our practice on the mat is really practice for respecting our own life force and the energy of everyone we meet. That’s why, though yoga makes us more flexible, healthier, thinner and happier, we have so many more reasons to find our feet on the mat.

And now, if you feel so inclined, you can do an asana session themed on this yama, from Kelly at SamadhiRUSH!

One step at a time

I like maps. And guidebooks. And, you know, books of instructions.
They make me feel like the world is a safer place because it has been documented.

We have a ridiculous number of photos of me consulting maps - in Paris, in London, in Melbourne. In the Melbourne Aquarium. I mean, really. A map? To navigate the aquarium? Yes. I did. And I made my poor, long-suffering husband do it too.

Another thing I keep reminding myself of right now: how many migrants have come to these shores before me. And survived. And prospered. There is even a flashy monument with the numbers of people who have come from Eritrea, Macedonia, everywhere. And a museum. I have visited the monument, but not the museum yet. Soon.

It's like Mr Desikachar says in his translation of the Yoga Sutra (yes, the one I almost always consult):

When we are confronted with problems, the counsel of someone who has mastered similar problems can be a great help.

YS 1.37

Such counsel can come directly from a living person or from the study of someone alive or dead.

It's all yoga. Even the difficult stuff. Especially the difficult stuff, actually.

Fashion First Aid

Vogue Cover Dec 1965, originally uploaded by Rootje.

I have a confession: I have been reading Vogue. You should see the looks on people's faces when I tell them this - like I am a yoga teacher with a drug habit or something! Thing is, the pictures are pretty, and it distracts me from daily life. This is what I want. Daily life is hard at the moment; Vogue is fluffy and somewhat vacuous. I love it! Yes, I am aware of the problems with women's magazines. But Vogue is what I need right now. And you know what? I can vindicate my habit...

In the Yoga Sutra, it says:

Any inquiry of interest can calm the mind

YS 1.39, translated by TKV Desikachar

A wise yoga teacher I know once referred to this, and its neighboring sutras, as first aid measures. Basically, when nothing else is working, do what you need to do to get your mind off the negative track and back into a more neutral one.

I remember reading a while ago, in the magazine I am trying justify, about Norris Church Mailer, wife of the more notorious Norman. She had been very ill and had undergone several surgeries, leaving her health tenuous and her body very thin. So thin, in fact, that she could wear couture, bought vintage at auction from the wives of New York's wealthy. Now that, I say, is making lemonade out of lemons! Why not find some enjoyment in life despite ailing health?

So, any enquiry of interest can calm the mind. Why not Vogue, why not fashion, why not pinup art or motorbikes for that matter?

Just as long as we bear in mind what Desikachar goes on to say in The Heart of Yoga:

But such enquiries should not replace the main goal, which remains to change our state of mind gradually from distraction to direction.

Bring on the mind candy!

Today is OK

Change is scary. Big Change is Big Scary. I am very very tired right now, and I feel like a bad yogi. I am anything but calm and centered, and to add insult to...injury, I can't even really do asana since my back is in such a bad way. Sigh.

So I thought I would share words from those wiser than me today. This is from the lovely Stella at Shiny Yoga:

In my teacher training a few years back, my teacher shared with us a story about how another teacher she knew, who was a smoker. She told us about the struggle this teacher would have - espousing all healthiness and light and love to her students on the mat, but then she'd leave class and light up a cigarette and feel completely torn.

It brings up the question, how 'yogi' is 'yogi'? And truth be told, it's something I struggle with a lot - and I'm sure a lot of you do too. Case in point, I am currently on my first holiday in 2 years. Yes - 2 years! So of course I've got the flu as I'm run down, my depression has flared up as I've not been giving myself enough time and love, and I've had lots of injuries over the last 2 months. But I'm always sharing stories of rest and listening to your bodies when I'm leading a yoga class. So now - I'm a wee bit torn.

But I'm turning a new leaf and in the new year, my mantra is from the lovely and ever-inspiring Pema Chodron and it is to : Start Where You Are.

You can get bogged down in wishing your life was this way or another. You can look back at the end of the year and beat yourself up because your resolutions didn't occur. Or you can start where you are - take lessons from what you know, realise you did what you could, and dust off your battered heart, give it some love and begin again.

And now read this article from Be Three about swaha - so be it, or I offer it up. It's ok to be with the bad stuff, these wise people say - and the teachings do tell us that difficult feelings are not the cause of suffering, our aversion to them is. All the same, is it too much to ask that the difficult feelings go away for a while? Little trip to Hawai for them perhaps?

Yoga Anywhere

I know most of us associate yoga practice with asana, and I must admit I really like to do a daily asana practice, as long-time readers know. I have managed a full asana practice almost every day since we have been travelling, with the exception of heavy travel days, when it just wasn't possible.

I can now say for certain that it is possible to practice anywhere. Really, anywhere. These are some of the places I have practiced in the last six weeks:

• Yoga school in Chennai (duh)
• Grubby apartment floor in Chennai
• Hotel rooms, of generous proportions, in Pondicherry, Mamalapuram, Mumbai
• Tiny London hallway, belonging to the friends with whom we are staying. There is no space to put arms out to the sides, or indeed really overhead, but I have managed a full practice nonetheless - it is the only space available!
• Guesthouses and hotels in Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Killarney and Dunlaoghre. Some of these we of quite petite dimensions, especially in Cork where our room was in an attic with a dramatically sloping ceiling, no room to stand up properly...

So asana doesn't really present me with a challenge: I would have liked to attend more classes but that hasn't been possible.

As to the other yoga, the real reason we practice, well, that has been more of a challenge. You know how with continued practice you are meant to find a deeper connection to your inner self? I thought I was doing OK on that front, until I realised most of my internal connection is with my Inner Control Freak (we shall call her ICF.) ICF is not happy about the holiday weight gain, caused by too many restaurant meals, treats and the like. She thinks right now is a great time to start a Better Eating Plan. Despite the fact that we will be home in two weeks, and until then I don't have as much control over my life and food routines as I would at home... Sigh.

The only sign of progress on this front is that I am able to see the process as it unfolds. Some progess, c'est bien.

Phew!

I am into day three of Yoga for Women at KYM, and I am back to meltdown mode. The actual course work is not as new and overwhelming as it was last year, but I am now with a group of women who are like PHD students with me in my third year of university. In one way, this is great, because I get to learn so much, but it is, of course, intimidating, and I am, as I did last year, wondering what the hell I am doing teaching yoga. I think this is a good sign though: there is nothing worse than a teacher who thinks they know everything!

We are doing quite a lot of practical: one hour of asana to start the day at 7, we are working with shristi krama, which is the ' first stage' of asana practice, usually taught to kids and teenagers, and it is basically vinyasa style. Nice, I am even a bit stiff. We will move on to the other three stages (sikshana, rakshana, adhyatmika) as the course wears on, symbolizing the different practices appropriate through a woman's life. We then have two lecture sessions, and before lunch we chant for an hour.

After lunch, we have half an hour of pranayama, a lecture on yoga cikitsa (therapy) and then a meditative practices class (asana, pranayama, ending off with meditation). It's a lot of exercise- about two and a half hours a day, plus the hour and a half I have been spending walking to and from school and around the suburbs. The heat is getting the best of me, though, and I suspect I shall be using auto rickshaws for transport in the heat of the day!

Chennai is as it is: loud, overwhelming, green, friendly, intimidating, welcoming. All at the same time. Next weekend, my husband and I hope to head to the beach, and after that, to Pondicherry. I will keep you posted!

Persistence equals serendipity

On Wednesday, we left home at 6.30 in the morning, and, after thirteen and a half hours of waiting for airplanes, flying, and waiting in airport queues, we arrived in Abu Dhabi at nine pm their time. We were tiiiired, and we had a 14 hour wait beforethe flight to Mumbai. It promised to be a very, very long night.

One of the Etihad ground staff suggested a hotel, but we have South African passports and no visas for Abu Dhabi, so we couldn't leave the airport. What to do? We began wandering the hallways, looking fora quiet nook to wait in. The idea of a hotel room had, however, lodged itself firmly in my brain, and that is what I was hoping for.

The concept of transit hotels is new to me - maybe because they are a newish idea, but far more likely because I have always traveled on such a tight budget that sitting on an airport bench for 14 hours would have been the only option. Not this time, though, and after a great deal of wandering and being turned away from various airline and first class lounges, we found a hotel.

Except that its signage announced it as a first and gold class transit hotel, leading us to believe that we would, once again, be turned away. By now it was almost eleven and we were ready to give up. But I couldn't, not when we were so close to a hot shower and a bed for the night. So I mustered the last of my courage, climbed the forbidding staircase, and asked the receptionist if we could stay...

"Of course, madam! You are welcome!"

I have never been so grateful for a bed and a shower, and the possibility of place to do some asana practice to relieve my flight-wearied muscles.

Moral of the story? How often do we give up, just as we are on the brink of achieving our goal? Far too often, methinks. And this is also yoga: persist, as Patanjali says in a number of different ways in the Sutra's, and you will make your own serendipity.

PS I will try to post some pics of the awesome Abu Dhabi airport from Chennai, where we are headed this afternoon.

PPS. We flew Etihad, and I have to say they have so far been one of the best airlines I have ever flown. Remember them next time you need to to do make some monster carbon emissions!

PPPS: Thanks for the suggestions about the carbon offests - trees it is!

Svadhyaya

Yup, turns out I have the energy for another post!

Svadhyaya (swad-hee-ya-ya) is one of the yoga niyamas, and is usually translated as self-study. Self-study is a way to know yourself better, and through knowing yourself (your Self, perhaps) it is a way to know God, in whatever form that takes for you.

Faith has been prominent in my mind and practice lately, and although mostly I say that belief in God in optional but useful, I am starting to think that, when times are tough, belief in God can make the difference between making it and sinking. But that is a topic for a whole other post!

How, you ask, can I go about studying myself? I am tired of self-analysis, therapy, whatever.
Well, any activity that teaches you more about how you operate is a form of self-study. Obviously asana and pranayama, meditation, the yoga tool kit, are very effective tools for this, but there are others.

For example, I am now a (sic) dyed-in-the-wool knitter. And I have learnt some interesting things about me in my short knitting career. S0me I knew, but needed reminding of. OK, most I knew, but needed reminding of. That is why self-study has to be an ongoing process.

For example, I have observed that:

• I am a knitter of bunnies, baby clothes, bags, hats and gloves. I don't like scarves (boring) or shrugs (boring) or large garments (tedious). I am fond of projects that are challenging enough to hold my interest, and that allow me to see results almost immediately. I like teaching yoga for the same reasons.
• I like knitting in the round because there is no finishing work afterwards. Wouldn't want the project to be too challenging or long-winded!
• I don't like poor-quality yarn, and would rather knit one item in pretty wool than seven in nasty acrylic. I suspect this means I am a princess.
• I feel guilty that I am producing more stuff the planet doesn't need, and I wish I could find recycled yarn. This I didn't need reminding about.
• I like clever, elegant patterns where the engineering of the item is effortlessly simple. Knitting that is almost like architecture. This reminds me that I like things to run smoothly and in an ordered way. And that I like understated beauty. It is good to know what manner of beast you are.
  

What do you hobbies teach you about yourself? Do you cook? Sew? Scrap? Walk? Play Scrabble? Sudoku? Notice how you react to the challenges, your chosen patterns of thought of behaviour when you are engaged in these activities.

The Borrower

Before I post this (borrowed) piece, I need to tell you all that Anton (the hit and run victim) is on the road to recovery, no serious injuries, and will be back at work next week. Thank you all for your thoughts!

This lovely piece comes from the Moksha newsletter, written by one of their recently graduated teacher trainees:

The Oxford Dictionary defines 'faith' as a 'strong belief or trust'.

I believe that when we practise Yoga we begin to have that strong belief, we begin to have that trust: we begin to have faith in ourselves.

It's a bit like embarking on a train journey: the moment you step from the platform onto the train you take your first step of faith. You may stop along the way, but by just beginning, by just embarking on the journey, by allowing yourself the opportunity, you move your soul towards faith.

Asana is the movement, breath is the progression and in your back pack you have the codes of conduct, yamas, nyamas, and you have sense control, pratyhara. Your interpretation of these as well the diligence with which you practise them, will determine just how much that back pack weighs. Subsequently though, the more you pack in the more you have to draw upon during the ride.

You may break up the journey or take the express. You may change trains along the way or choose to take the non-stop train allowing nothing to detract from your journey. Either way you choose to progress, faith will climb aboard with you.

Of course if you stay on the train, instead of jumping on and off or changing trains all the time, the journey is smoother, the progress more steady and faith holds a lot stronger.

You may find the ride uncomfortable at times but if you sit by the window you will feel the sun warming your face. At times the scenery may be dull but if you stay on board you will see the bright field of sunflowers around the next hilltop. And when the noisy engine overwhelms you, you will sing louder than you ever have and no one on board will mind. So it is that you begin to know the ebb and flow of life and so it is with each experience that faith holds your hand a little tighter.

When we have faith in ourselves we are able to move through life with equanimity. We accept life's fluctuations and are able to make conscious choices within everything we choose to do and say and think and feel. We trust that everything is as it should be.

Yoga takes us to that faith in ourselves. Although the journey requires faith, it gives us the faith we need. As with yoga, discipline is required but yoga gives us that discipline, we need strength for yoga, but yoga gives us that strength.

And so, it is the practise of yoga that gives you the faith to moves towards and keep moving towards your true self and if we then embrace the challenge and surrender to the infinite possibilities that it offers, yoga is like a train ride that never has to stop and it takes you closer to your true self with each passing mile. 

Suffering and the Self

Yesterday, someone made a disparaging comment about my appearance. It really hurt my feelings. In fact, I am still thinking about it today - one little offhand comment has caused over a day of suffering for me.

Why? Well, in yoga terms, probably because I am afflicted with asmita, I-ness or ego, one of the obstacles to clear sight that the Yoga Sutra refers to as klesas. I am very concerned about how people see me, whether people approve of me, my physical appearance. It is the source of a great deal of my mental suffering. Things have, of course, improved with the advent of a yoga practice, but that is not to say my problems have disappeared. It's just that these days, when I have a 'fat day', I know that I really feel tired, or down, or drained. I still can't find anything to wear on those days, though. So I am a bit more aware; baby step number one?

The real problem is that I am not at all certain who 'I' am: my self-identity is wrapped up in feedback from others, in my job, in my mind, in all those outside things, and the sense of true clear Self comes through only occasionally and not always that comfortably. It is far more comfortable to stay in the established habits and patterns, even if, like worrying about my appearance, they mostly cause pain.

It's gonna be a long journey. I'll send postcards!

Waiting to inhale

I am struggling with internet access, it is sooooo slow, so I will try to get up to date with reading all my fave blogs and comments, but right now, it ain't really happening.

When Husband and I were on holiday last week, we were in a place with clean air, quiet roads and calm surroundings: all the things Johannesburg lacks. As we drove back into the city, a stinky cloud of smog descended on us, and I started to feel like I couldn't breathe in. It got worse when I walked through my front door to be assaulted by a mountain of urgent Things to Do.

So I had a look at my actual breath: if I keep saying I feel like I can't breathe in, what is actually happening?

This, as it turns out:

Inhale, Exhale. Hold, hold, hold, hold, hold GASP for the next inhale.

What a good reminder that if you feel overwhelmed, go first to your breath, because breath and emotions are so closely linked. Since I have been deliberately inhaling, I feel, basically, like I can breathe in again!

Hope you all have a lovely week.
Breathe easy.

Flu

I have had flu, and have just spent the last few days careening wildly between raga (craving, unreasonable desire - as in I wish I was well, when will I be well, I wish I was well) and dvesa (aversion, unreasonable dislike - as in I hate being sick, why did I have to get sick, what a pain, I hate being sick).

If it wasn't so silly, it would be amusing. Well, actually it is quite amusing. I make a terrible patient - I don't get ill often enough to have developed any equanimity in this department. And so I fall prey to the usual obstacles to clear sight (klesas) as discussed by Patanjali in his Sutra's; in this case, craving to be well, and aversion to being sick. Objective situation: I was only really ill for three days. Length of suffering: extra 3 days before, dreading getting sick because my husband had flu, actual illness: 3 days, lingering listlessness: still counting.

The only plus about being ill is that I find it sometimes pulls me right into the present, since my mind isn't up to as much dallying as usual. In between the moments of craving and desire are a few sweet moments of pure presence. Almost worth it.

Plus ca change, plus c'est meme

I know, the French punctuation is missing from the title, but I am sure you get the drift! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I have recently undergone a giant metamorphosis in my practice, and am still in the throes of change, as many of you already know. The original impetus for this was the pain and exhaustion my practice was causing, and the change crystallised during my trip to India last September (I hope to return to KYM this August, woo hoo!) Funny thing is, although my practice feels very different, it looks much the same. In fact, it looks like I have copped out of half the 'difficult' and 'challenging' poses I used to do.

I have the zeal of the newly converted. Confession: until last September, I was really just working on the physical level in my yoga practice. Not so now, and it is more than a little scary. Now I catch myself thinking that everyone should come along on this ride with me, whether they want to or not. Probably because I will be less scared if I have company! I bet anything that once I start to feel a little more settled in the new patterns, my conversionary zeal will fade somewhat. I have just finished reading Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope.* It would have meant almost nothing to me a few years ago, but now I found myself nodding vigorously through almost the entire book - it is so comforting to find that someone else has mapped the territory I am only now discovering. A Western someone, who comes from the same cultural mores as me.

And yet, it is still just my yoga practice. Same ole me, basically.



* This was a gift from a student, to whom I say: Thank you! As always you are as much teacher as student. May you, like the Velveteen Rabbit, be loved well and truly, until you become real.

Breathing Feet

sleeping feet, originally uploaded by poppycatopetal.

As many of you know, I think feet are quite important, as do large numbers of yogis and yoga authors. My friend Geraldine passed this lovely poem on to me. It's from Breath - The Essence of Yoga by Sandra Sabatini:

Breathe wtih your feet
be in your feet
go and live inside your feet

and at the very end of the exhalation
dismiss the heels

it's very important that at the end of the exhalation
the feet receive the message of spreading
so that contact with the ground become more intelligent
then the roots grow stronger and thicker
into the ground
and the impulse that travels through the spine
up towards the base of the skull
encourages the opening and expansion
of the upper part of the body

I would love to hear how you all feel about your feet - on and off the mat!

In the meantime, enjoy this gorgeous pic from poppycatopetal at Flickr.

Enough is Enough

I was chatting to a student the other day, and she was bemoaning the dismal state of her credit card. It has been several years since I have even had a credit card, overdraft, or anything of the sort, and I have come to regards this type of ‘service’ as borderline evil. This conversation was a good reminder of why.

There is nothing better than knowing that the item you just bought was paid for with money you actually have. I think our societal credit frenzy may in part come from losing sight of some of the basics. In yoga the basic principles of how to live in the world are called yamas. Yama is a Sanskrit word that can be translated as restraint, and they are:

• Ahimsa (non-harming)
• Satya (honesty)
• Asteya (non-stealing)
• Brahmacharya (responsible sexuality)
• Aparigraha (greedlessness)

The two that relate most to financial difficulties are asteya and aparigraha. We tend to think of steya (stealing) in its most obvious form: actual thievery. But there are many subtler forms of stealing – from ourselves, from the planet, from others. One way to steal from ourselves is to spend money we don’t have on stuff we don’t need. I did this in my early twenties: the day after I signed the contract for my very first job, I trotted out to buy a car on hire purchase (although I had a functional ‘student’ car) and open a clothing store account. I maxed the clothing store card on that very first day, and then spent the next few years trying to pay off the debt. Then I moved on to an actual credit card. Which I maxed. So I had clothing credit, bank credit and card credit to pay every month, and I always ran out of money before payday, so I had to spend more on my credit card. What a vicious circle. So I was basically stealing from my future prosperity in the interests of instant gratification. The other type of stealing inherent in this behaviour is the stealing from the planet by taking far, far more than you need. It was only once I realised this that I started I get my spending under control.

Taking only what you need is the practice of aparigraha – greedlessness. Basically, to practice aparigraha, you need to feel a sense of gratitude for what you have right now, and know that if you are in a position to be reading this, chances are you have as much as, if not more than, you need to survive comfortably. If you are like I used to be, and you think the perfect pair of shoes will actually make any difference, it may be interesting to examine why you really want the shoes, and whether you need them (really). Everything changes – we age, we gain and lose weight, we have prosperous years and not-so-prosperous years. If we try to base our sense of self-worth or contentment on these external things, we are doomed to failure.

It has been interesting for me, former shopping queen, to choose a simpler life in which clothes are what I wear, not who I am, and the illicit, sickening thrill of overspending no longer holds any appeal. I still like to shop, but these days I buy things I will get long use from, and I live a ‘Compact Lite’ life. The Compact are a group of people who have sworn off buying anything new for a year, except food, toiletries and underwear. I am not quite there yet, but I really admire what they are doing. Some of them are even on their second year – amazing!

If you find the idea of cutting down or changing your lifestyle intimidating, consider the areas that feel wrong – when you spend and you get that sick feeling, for example. Maybe just look at that one area and see if you can make small changes there. As with all things in yoga and life, you just need to become aware, and take baby steps, to start seeing a difference.

The Ethics of Teaching Yoga

I have just finished reading Donna Farhi's book, Teaching Yoga. It was a gift from a student, and came at a time when I was struggling with a number of difficult situations that needed to be resolved.

The book helped considerably with the ethical resolution of my issues, and it got me to thinking further. Farhi mentions that she has learnt both from her good teachers and from her very bad ones, and I tend to agree. I have had some excellent yoga teachers, one of whom is still my mentor, but I have unfortunately had more bad ones.

I have been in yoga classes where I was shouted at from across the room, slapped to 'correct my alignment', given vague intructions like 'open up those nadis', and even told that I could do better (very true to the spirit of yoga, that). But the worst of all was the enmeshed relationship I had with a teacher (whom I obviously admired a little too much). This incident has shaped my entire approach to teaching since: I am aware that there may be students who, like I did, think that yoga teachers are somehow special, and that they may lose sight of their boundaries in relation to me. From the teacher who allowed, and possibly even encouraged this with me, I have learnt to make as certain as possible that students understand they feel better because of yoga, not because of me. Also, that it is always, always the responsibility of the teacher to maintain professional distance and correct relations. Always. Just as it is always the responsibility of the therapist or doctor to keep propriety in their relations with clients or patients.

It's a great book for anyone who is already a teacher, or who is considering teaching.

A Tale of Three Kitties

Kitty One:
Street cat. Every-hungry, prone to undue hissing and spitting, often has rheumy eyes.

Kitty Two:
You know those cats who are either so inert or so ailing that they look as if they have already had a visit to the taxidermist? These are those cats.

Kitty Three:
This kitty is very very comfortable in her own skin, probably because it is so glossy and healthy. She just knows that everyone she meets is going to improve her life in some way. Spends no time worrying about where her next meal is coming from.

If these cats were yogis, they would correspond roughly to the three states of nature (guna): rajas, tamas and sattva.

According to TKV Desikachar in The Heart of Yoga,

Rajas is active, fiery, the one that induces us to act. Sometimes it pushes our mind into a state of constant activity and we cannot be still: that state is characterized by restlessness and agitation. Tamas is the opposite of rajas; it is a fixed, immobile, heavy state of mind. Sattva is the quality of insight that is white, clear, and transparent. It is a state of mind in which neither of the other two guna predominate. According to the relationship between rajas and tamas, duhkha [suffering] will take different forms. Our goal is to reduce these two guna until our mind achieves a state of sattva.

Which kitty do you choose?

Yoga for Comfort

At KYM (the yoga school I went to in September), everything is very logically ordered, including the way asana practice is taught. There are three main krama (stages) that apply to most people:
Shristi Krama
This is basically Ashtanga yoga - postures are taught in a flowing sequence linked by sun salutations. The aim of this type of practice is to increase flexibility and strength and improve concentration. It is usually taught to children and teenagers.

Sikshana Krama
Once a student has mastered shristi krama, they move on to siksana krama, with the emphasis on perfecting the classical asana. This is taught in much the same way as Iyengar yoga and is usually taught to older teenagers and young adults.

Raksana Krama
This stage of yoga practice is for people who have many commitments - children, jobs, running a home and so on. It is designed to undo any damage caused by your day-to-day activities and to provide the necessary strength and energy to cope with life’s demands.

In The Viniyoga of Yoga, TKV Desikachar writes:

‘In planning an asana sequence, asanas are not placed one after another at random, but are arranged carefully. First the student should have a goal for the practice. In a classical situation, the goal is to achieve a specific asana, or to prepare for a precise pranayama practice.

Often, in actual situations, since many people are not ready to practice the classical postures and come to practice yoga for different reasons, this goal can be expressed in terms such as:

• practicing a difficult posture, or doing a daily routine to keep fit
• getting some specific physical benefits like becoming more flexible
• gaining strength or stamina
• improving some mental characteristics - patience, determination, achieving inner calm
• reducing some pain. recovering from an injury, working towards better health.
• preparing for a prayer, a meditation, a specific spiritual practice.’

People who start practicing yoga as adults are usually motivated by one of these reasons, and at KYM healthy adult beginners will usually be taught a raksana practice.

The central concept of raksana is that the practice should not aggravate any pre-existing conditions. Function is more important than form, so the way an asana looks is less important than its effect. This is interesting for me - coming from an Ashtanga background, where everyone has to fit the practice, rather than the other way around!

The asana practice during the first part of our course was very gentle, with a great deal of emphasis on breath. This turned out to be a great idea, since most of us Westerners are not accustomed to 38 degree heat with 80% humidity, and we would probably have passed out if the practice was vigourous. This is the essence of raksana - first do no harm.

As the weeks progressed, the practice got more strenuous, although still much calmer than what I am accustomed to.

Remarkably, instead of feeling tired after my practice, I felt rejuvenated and alert. My body and breath also started to change - my shoulders got more flexible, and my breath count doubled.

This raised an interesting question for me:
Is an extremely challenging practice either necessary or beneficial?

I haven’t come up with an absolute answer, as a challenging practice has its pluses - increased confidence, the endorphin rush, strength building ... Perhaps its just as they say at KYM - the practice should suit the individual, so for some of us challenging is great, and for some of us a quieter practice is better.

In the next few weeks, perhaps take time during your practice to reflect on what makes you feel energised, calm and alert, and what makes you feel edgy or unbalanced.

Self Consciousness

Most of us associate self-consciousness with discovering you have the World's Biggest Pimple on the eve of your Matric Dance, or with being caught in your slippers at the garage shop by an ex-boyfriend. But there is another kind - the consciousness of your Self - of who you are, without the soundtrack of your mother's voice, without your possessions, without your physical or mental abilities. It is this self-consciousness that yoga aims to achieve, through the practice of asana and mediation.

This has huge benefits. I can credit the beginning of a serious daily meditation practice with having the confidence to quit my job, begin teaching yoga full-time, and make a living. It just never seemed like an option before. According to Dr Tracey Gaudet, in her book Consciously Female, women who make time to become more in tune with themselves report a significant decrease in PMS symptoms, and a recent study in the US on a group of 5th grade females tracked the influence of a 10-week intervention based on yoga, guided relaxation, and journaling. The experiment was aimed at possible prevention of eating disorders and found that the participants reported reduced feelings of body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness at the end of the study. Although not an exhaustive study, this gives us proof that yoga and other mind-body interventions offer a way to counteract the constant sensation overload we face every day - email, phones, TV, radio, magazines, bombarding us with ideas of how we 'should' be. Much has been said about the detrimental effect of mass media on women's self images, but the effect is spreading to men as well, with increased numbers of males presenting with eating disorders and depression in both genders on the rise.

Why do we feel that we aren't good enough as we are? We complete degrees, hold down jobs, look after our families, and still it is not enough. Yoga teaches the concept of samtosha - contentment. Being happy with who you are right now. Admittedly this concept has its roots in the strict Caste system of ancient India, where if you were unlucky enough to be born as an Untouchable, or for that matter a woman, all you could do was hope for was to be born higher up the ladder next time. But it has huge merit in our society. We have complete freedom to invent ourselves - we can choose any career, and the possibility of wealth and fame is open to all. We (at least those of us who are middle class) have more than we need, in fact more than we want a lot of the time. Yet we are still not happy. If the stuff isn't going to make us happy, what is? Indeed, what. This is what we need to work out for ourselves.

One of the best ways to do this is to start listening to your innermost thoughts and desires. Meditating, which can be as simple as sitting every morning, and observing your breath as it enters and leaves your lungs, is the ideal way to make space for your inner voice to be heard.

Even if you don't meditate, there are ways to become still and present in your daily life:

Watch your breath
As you sit in the traffic, notice whether your breath has become fast and shallow, or whether you are holding your breath. You don't have to change it, just become more aware.

Practice Silence
This is something I find particularly difficult. When it is not necessary to speak, don't. It's amazing how little we actually need to say. And here ladies, we can learn from men!

Try to do every task 100%
When you are chopping carrots, think about chopping carrots. Don't think about how you are going to do everything you need to do tomorrow, or whether you should have ice-cream for dessert. Just the carrots.

Observe you inner tape-recorder
Most of the time, there is chatter going on in our heads - and often it mimics a stuck tape recorder. Common themes include 'I'm too fat', 'I could never do that', 'I'm a bad parent' and so on. These little gems are often so ingrained, we don't even notice we are thinking them. In yoga we refer to these as samskaras, which are much like the grooves in an LP record. If you notice what they are, you can choose to replace the negative groove with something more constructive.

Be compassionate
It is an unfortunate fact of life in South Africa that we all experience some degree of compassion burnout it is impossible to survive otherwise, in the face of so much need. But if you are willing to think about why that driver expressed hi road rage at you has road rage, or that beggar is leaning on your car, you may find your response to their actions begins to change. And you may begin to understand why you react the way you do.

You may already have noticed a spontaneous deepening of your self-awareness as a result of yoga practice. For many people, yoga is a moving meditation, and I have had a number of students tell me they have noticed things about how they use their bodies that they never noticed BY (Before Yoga). The techniques above are just a way to extend your yoga practice off your mat and into the rest of your life.