Really Learning Yoga

February 26, 2009
I read a bunch more of my new yoga book and I found it so helpful! I’d like to know if he wrote others and if so, buy them. He explains things in such detail, gives both Hindu and Western biomedical reasons for doing things. He gives explicit, motion by motion instructions for each asana, provides alternate instructions for beginner and adept, even down to where our concentration should be. For example, beginners generally need to focus on carrying out the movement correctly. As one gets better, one’s focus shifts to carrying the movements out correctly, slowly, without jerking, and being sure all uninvolved muscles are relaxed. During the static stage, beginners should focus on breathing, then on immobility. Experts should focus on the specific part of the body the asana targets: the organ, muscle, etc.

He provides lists of incorrect movements, common mistakes, and then some pictures. So for each asana, there are like 3-7 pages of text and 2-4 of pictures. No wonder he only covers a handful of them (10). Plus a quick run through of one version of the Sun Salutation. He has chosen one of the series developed and taught by Shivananda at Rishikesh – the place I want to go. The home of Integral Yoga, which has spawned Yogaville here in the US, and a couple of others. The full Rishikesh Series in this book is Breathing, Self Awareness, Salutation to the Sun, then:
Sarvangasana (Candle – Shoulderstand)
Halasana (Plough)
Matsyasana (Fish)
Pashchimattanasana (Forward Bend)
Bhujangasana (Cobra)
Shalabhasana (Locust)
Dhanurasana (Bow)
Ardha-Matsyendrasana (Spinal Twist)
Shirsasana (Headstand)
Uddiyana or Nauli, Shavasana (Relaxation)
He provides a chart suggesting when to integrate which postures; not in weeks, but in stages. When you feel you’ve made good progress on stage one, integrate the things from stage 2. So yesterday I did breathing, self-awareness, sarvangasana and matsyasana, both twice. They felt great. I was jerky and shaky, had little control, but it felt wonderful to be doing them. Felt right. Also in the category of what I should be able to do are cobra and spinal twist. I’m thinking of reading about and doing them today. Then on days when I have time I’ll do the whole set; when short, I’ll alternate or be able to pick from 4 which I want to work on, instead of just the 2.
Later: So today I ended up doing all four asanas. I had a much smoother rise and descent in the shoulder stand, but I need to check on the Fish, to see if I was doing it correctly, because it kind of hurt my head, and yoga shouldn’t hurt. Case in point – that other book I had, which in fact was published by Yoga Journal but tried to strip out virtually all spirituality, had photos and instructions for each asana including the Cobra. But it was an entirely different thing. Entirely! In the other book, it was basically a push-up. I couldn’t really figure out what was different.
In this one, he shows how the arms should be positioned, adds a step that was lacking, and then explains how the upward motion should be driven by the head and the neck. The arms should be as relaxed as possible. So it is not at all a push up; it has nothing to do with strengthening the arms! I did feel – still – that I was rushing everything. But the ones I had done before I was able to be more mindful in/about. So I’m hopeful that as the newness wears off, the urge to rush and the distraction level will, too.

Since I’m really practicing now, I’ve returned to reading Meditations from the Mat. Today the reading was about how we commit to a practice, a lifestyle, a priority, and if we really are comitted, our lives rearrange themselves around that almost without effort. From that commitment, then, when renunciation is necessary, when it comes time to give something up, we will actually be ready, so that it will not feel like a death, but like a new birth. I know that feeling – there have been times in my life when I changed so much that some old habit just didn’t fit anymore. And when I realized it and gave it up or had it taken away, I thought it would be hard and it wasn’t. It just felt right, and life got even better and fresher. A gift from the commitment you made to the new practice.
Is that how it will be with smoking? That’s what I’m hopingand praying for. Guess the practice and commitment has to come first though. The other gift is that the practice sustains us through all times/seasons/moods/etc. You don’t know, when you make that commitment, if the next year is bringing you trips abroad, promotions, status – or illness, loss, death. You know there will be days when you will excel at your practice – yoga, meditation or whatever – and days when nothing will go right, and lots of days in the middle. But the point is that you just keep doing it, every day, and in that way it will always be there for you. If good times come, it will keep you grounded. If disaster comes, it will be your life line, keeping you sane.
In exchange, all you really have to give is the effort of overcoming the initial inertia. That “Oh, I’m so comfy on the couch and I don’t feel that well and I don’t have that much time today” feeling. Because once I get over that feeling and just do it, I love it. It isn’t like exercise, like aerobics, which is just torture all the way for me. Not at all. It feels good. It isn’t torture, or painful, or like giving up anything. It is pure gain.