Yesterday we had a day off and I opted for a restful day practicing on the terrace. A quiet sixty second balancing in AMVrksasana and Pinca Mayurasana and pretty much all the pent up-entangled-stressy-angst-energy I had been experiencing, dissolved into the ether (and a quiet Sirsasana and Sarvangasana saw the rest off).
There is not a lot of wall space in a room of 250 people, so of course there hasn't been much in the way of wall action. This week I am going to try a different strategy of getting up earlier to do an hour of my necessary personal practice before the formal class begins in the hope of getting the balance of self-care and avoiding the slight overwhelm I was feeling by the end of last week.
I woke early, courtesy of the mysterious indian music that floats into my room each morning (5.55am when I checked the time) and pleasant though this is, I think its fair to say the shine is wearing off a tad as my British sense of entitlement is a little outraged at having the choice of when I wake up dictated by an unknown neighbour!
Prashant spoke today about avoiding having that sense of loving yoga, as the correct, yogic attitude is one of neutrality. Yoga rather than bhoga. I found myself wondering how this sits alongside the profound sense of gratitude and relief I feel at having this life-changing tool at my fingertips. Most of my life has been affected by a multitude of autoimmune conditions that have severely hampered the way that energy moves into my cells and bodily systems, leaving me feeling, honestly, just utterly rubbish.
I understand that the flip side of 'loving' something - anything - is the suffering that is then created by its lack. And it's absolutely true, that any time I have to miss my practice there are both physical and mental consequences that create a reaction of sorrow. So objectively to cultivate an attitude of neutrality is the only way to avoid these vrittis / disturbances. But - Can a person dying of thirst in a hot desert realistically have a neutral response to a glass of ice cold water? I can absolutely bear suffering and discomfort with a reasonable degree of fortitude or neutrality (indeed all yoga practitioners can because it is inherent in the practice) but not to feel gratitude, relief and joy at the beauty of this practice is something of a tall order. More learning to come, no doubt! I have given my impressions of the class below, but it is much like pulling a few threads from a richly woven rug full of depth and colour.
Today was the Bhogi Festival which marks the first day of the Sakranti Festival celebrating renewal, the end of winter and the start of the harvest season. We were lucky enough to be invited to Dheeraj's family home where his mother had been cooking since 6am to prepare a festive meal, including vegetable curry using between 15 and 20 fresh, seasonal vegetables with her own homemade masala blend and a delicious sweet, beautifully spiced, creamy rice dish named Rajasthani Keeranand. Dheeraj's dad gave a master class on how this should be properly eaten - starting by washing our hands so that we could eat with our fingers for the full sensory experience.
We tore our chapati into small pieces (made with millet especially so that I could join in) and then poured the vegetables, and khadi (a tangy gravy made by simmering yoghurt with gram flour and spices) over it and mixed this up with our fingers. We were each then given some melted ghee spooned over the top and were encouraged to continue mixing until it was almost a liquid. Every part was truly delicious and just when we thought we had finished, a little more would be spooned into our dish alongside some rice and poppadum and a gulab jamen for those that could indulge. Dheeraj's dad explained that this would be the proper way for us to eat when we next visit Shabree if we wanted to show an appreciation of the local culture. Of course, completely oblivious, we have all been eating each dish separately and with a spoon. We rounded the meal off with some ground fennel seeds for digestion and then Dheeraj showed us the family shrine inside his yoga room. What an absolute treat (and learning experience) for us and hopefully an auspicious start to the festivities for all.
13th January 2025 – Day 8 – Session 1 – 50th Birthday Celebrations – Prashantji
Swastikasansa – Invocation and Guru Chant – Inhalation like a fountain and exhalation like a shower. What is the effect?
Dandasana and Parsva Dandasana – Exploring different means of deepening the rotation of the torso – with dorsal mudra, with chest mudra with post-exhalative breath retention (amongst others).
Yoga is ‘Dukha (Suffering) Mitigation’. We should never seek to ‘enjoy’ yoga asanas – this is not yoga it is bhoga. The yogi aims to be neutral. Sthira Sukham Asanam is often mis-translated where 'sukha is translated as joy.
‘You are some of yours’ it is a scam to say ’I am doing’ if all the other contributors were taken away, would you still be able to do?
Purvottonasana – Bent leg and straight leg, toes up and toes reaching down. A 15-year-old gymnast could do the ‘posture’ better than anyone here, what are the factors that qualify it as a yoga asana? It cannot be the ability to perform the posture – what is it? Body System, Mind System and Breath System (And each one of this has sub-categories of BMB (body system, mind system, breath system) too.
Eka Pada Urdhva Prasarita AMSvanasana – The name is more complicated than the asana! Guruji did not have a muscular body, he had a muscular mind!
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana – We each need to IN-struct (that is listen to internal cues rather than external cues from an external teacher).
2 belts one just above knees, the other just above ankles for Pavanmuktasana (here we did what we more commonly call Jathara Parivartanasana. Prashant said it is Pavanmuktasana because it is working on the Pavana System). We were not able to use the wall because of the limitations of the room, but those practicing at home should press the feet into the wall to further enhance the effects in the following poses. We took the legs to the floor and revolved the torso away from the legs. Normally breath travels from bottom (south) to top (north) for inhalation and top to bottom for exhalation. This pose is distinct because you are able to guide the breath to move from southeast to southwest or northeast to northwest – it brings attention to this breath system that cannot be carried forward into other asanas (you could not direct the breath is this direction in Tadasana). Perform ‘gastroeneterlogical surgery’ here with your post-exhalative scrapings (*Exhaling, drawing the abdomen back towards the spine and upwards towards the diaphragm for Uddiyhana Bandha in such a way that you ‘scrape’ the breath along the back wall of the abdomen close to the spine). *This is my explanation and not Prashant's and therefore potentially not at all how he would instruct, I just wanted to give some context for the uninitiated.
What does Kapotasana have in common with this pose? Here we silently uttered all the different sound forms contained within the word ka – po -ta -sa – na, along with various combinations of actions – heavy duty breath, normal duty breath, light duty breath, feather light breath, breathing in a ‘doodl-ley’ or ‘scrape-ily’ mode for internal purification, internal animation.
Then we compared the effect of making the sacrum extra-concave (huge difference), then little concave, then little convex (all completely different). Then different configurations with the dorsal concave, less concave, convex.
Next we crossed the legs Koudinya-Pavanmuktasana (a bit like Garudasana legs, but no instruction to hook the foot behind calf) and repeated these different configurations and observations with sacrum extra convex etc.
Sirsasana 1) For the Skeleto-Muscular System 2) For the brain, mind temple region 3) For the pulmonary system (lungs) 4) For the gastric system 5) For the pelvic abdominal organs – So many different purposes we can have in mind when we do our Sirsasana. And the purpose for which we do Sirsasana will affect the process and the consequence. He wanted to be sure that we all went away with an understanding of:
P – Purpose
P- Process
C- Consequence
So often practitioners and teachers are process driven. This is not a pragmatic approach! Approaching asana with the purpose in mind (first you have to check it is a right purpose, a suitable purpose, a yogic purpose) This is Embodiment Engineering.
Supine pose your choice of Supta Virasana, Matsyasana or Supta Baddha Konasana while he continued his discourse on this subject. There is NO set process for asana. We have to customise and devise and be creative, not dogmatic. Guruji taught with open-architecture so we need to foster that engineering intelligence.
Choice of AMVirasana or Adho Mukha Swastikasana
Janu Sirsasana – extending forwards over the bent leg knee as opposed to the extended leg.
Choice of Sarvangasana / Halasana or Setubandha
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