Nov
19
Nov
19
Breathing can be used as a focal point in well being on a daily and moment by moment basis. The state of breathing within an individual is a very good indicator of state of mind and body. So two aspects are important in using breathing in an ongoing way, to develop and maintain wellness. What are they? Awareness and control of the breath.
Breath Awareness, by maintaining some level awareness at all times, or as often as possible, you can know when to re-adjust yourself to correct mental and physical posture and wellness issues. This awareness is like hearing, you may be hearing things but you still get things done. So in the same way, you hear your breathing so to speak, and act accordingly. Like when some one says your name, you were listening and working, but still working, and your name being mentioned interrupts you and gets your attention.
Breath control, when you know your breathing is telling you something, you need to know how to re-adjust your breathing and state of being. The only real way to learn is from a teacher, but try breathing with awareness into your abdominal area until you are more relaxed and focused.
There are whole books written on the subject of breath control and pranayama, but not many I have read will explain the practical daily application of it in your life. It’s my intention to hold a workshop on this in the future, please let me know if your interested.
May
21
Today I would like to discuss a little about my experience of how the regular sustained practice of yoga (any yogic technique, mediation and posture work for example), benefits our daily lives. First we need to look at the effects of a yoga practice, which could be meditation or posture work (asana), and how that makes us feel. We can then continue on to how this effects our daily lives.
The practice is the seed of the fruit, the fruit lasts longer the more we foster the seed with regular sustained practice. It may help to bring a little yogic science/philosophy into this article, only a little mind. Lets introduce 3 qualities; laziness (inertia), very active, and, a balance or a transcending of the active and lazy qualities. These three states are tamas (lethargy), rajas (activity) and satwic (lightness and awareness, balance and harmony), and are known collectively as the gunas.
When practicing yoga techniques (or equivalent ones in other traditions) I find my state of being changes. I find that I’m more calm, relaxed and aware which is satwic (lightness). I’m more in tune with myself and things take less effort. Emotionally I’m more stable, not that I’m an emotional sort of person, I’m not, it’s all relative. I also have more energy. These effects do wear off over time, but less so the more regular and sustained I am with my practice. Over time the quality of the experience and state of being attained in the practice increases and remains longer, essentially the state of being cultivated over many practice sessions becomes easier to attain and maintain. Each practice session is like a pulse, which helps the satwic qualities permeate your being. Each day you generate more satwic qualities around the various aspects of your being. The practice sets up a rhythm that generates it’s own energy and vibe in your life, which sets the tone for you and how you are.
When regular practice is sustained over long enough time you will end up being established in your yoga practice. One way you will know this, is when you don’t practice, you notice your state of being becomes less than what you have become accustomed too, a degeneration of the rhythm and vibe. It is when you reach this level in practice that it is easier to practice than not to practice. Of course everything becomes easier the more we do it, and we will have found practicing becoming much easier while we are establishing our practice.
In my daily life I find my working day is easier, more productive and flows better. My relationships with people are enhanced and remaining calm in difficult situations becomes easier, more natural and spontaneous, therefore my actions become more appropriate to the situation and everybody wins. As the saying goes yoga is a win-win thing. Needless to say work isn’t the only aspect if my life that is positively enhanced
So it comes down to choosing how we want to live our lives, making choices. We can all say we don’t have time, or make up many excuses, or allow ourselves to become distracted. The bottom line is we modern western people have plenty of time, or at least the lucky majority seem too. How much TV, game playing or chatting on the phone do we do, not to mention other activities. Simply put most people do have time to incorporate regular practice. I think the real barrier in most cases is twofold; 1) not knowing a technique/teacher who can help us, and 2) the discipline to get on with it when we have a technique to use. Sure, I know there will be other reasons, but mostly I think they will be superficial reasons. I know there are exceptions, and this isn’t a blanket statement, but it has held true for most people I meet that are interested in developing a personal practice.
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
May
5
Yogic and Spiritual practice are not so much about the vehicle of practice, as it is about how you drive that vehicle. For example I have been practicing various yogic techniques for years now, and through it I have gained the understanding that each day, each moment is the real practice, when it is lived fully.
How do you make a start? Well you don’t have to go to yoga classes, or Tai Chi, or any other such class, although they will help you, and give you formal practices. They will also provide better understanding of the body and be very beneficial in many ways. However, all said and done, you can start right now, without a formal practice. Start where you are, be easy and understanding with your self, and never give up on your self or what your trying to do. Water given enough time reduces the nature of a rough pebble to a rounded and smooth one in nature, streamlined to fit into it’s role of being a pebble.
What is the practice? Anything you choose, pick say your job, make it your mission to become the master of the job you do. Or maybe pick one thing you do at work, or at home, and master that one small aspect. This will bring great benefits, you will make much progress, others will notice how well you do something, and negative feelings will drop away. Your state of being will become enhanced, just by taking care and attention of what and how you do it, and in the attempted perfection of what you do.
In terms of yoga this is seva (service) and karma (yoga of action). You will confront negative emotions and thoughts, you will be distracted and have to pull yourself back from these distractions. You will be practicing one of the 8 limbs of Patanjalis Yoga, or royal yoga. By continually bringing your self back to this one thing (a single task, the entire working day, whatever you chose) you will be practicing concentration, and in doing so you will be practicing several other limbs as well. The process you will go through in making this thing the focus of your attention, will be to make good progress and preparation for your future; you will become better at what you do, and better prepared yogic or other practices you may want to undertake. Becoming better at what you do, will make you more noticed by others, and more effective, now who wouldn’t want some one who shines out and causes less problems for others?
Over time, obstacles to your health, progress and state of being will fall away, and you will find success more naturally and easily flows with less and less effort. You will become more joyful and calm, and things will bother you less. Focus on the process and the working towards perfection and push other negative thoughts and emotions aside, recognise them, understand them, but don’t dwell on them to the point of being overlay distracted by them. The practice is in recognising, accepting, understanding and MOVING on from that disturbance (emotional, intellectual etc). The learning of your true nature is what we are talking here, you will dispel various non-truths that you hold about things including yourself, and you will flow and become harmonious in how you are as a person.
So, make it your mission to do your best at one thing, be gentle and understanding with yourself, never give up, although you may stumble and take a break. Do these two things (perfect, and never give up on that), and you will make much progress and be thankful for it.
Namaste
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
Apr
3
Imagine a small crystal clear sphere, this sphere is warm but not in a hot way, yet it keeps the cold out, keeps you warm and snug, and brings forth joy, love and contentment. Now imagine this sphere is covered with debris that insulates you from the many warming, joyful and contented states of being this sphere can manifest. Over time with yogic (or any spiritual) practice, we remove this debris bit by bit. The more we start to release the eternally ever present qualities of this sphere, and as we clear more and more debris, we feel the qualities of the sphere increasingly and with less effort. Naturally and spontaneously the qualities of the sphere become manifest, we start to realise we are that sphere, and as we clear more debris, the more we can manifest the qualities of the sphere. We always were and are the qualities of the sphere, but without the qualities emanating from our crystal clear sphere we are unable to know the qualities within.
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
Mar
5
For two weeks I have not practiced in the morning, and this week I started practicing again. The reason for the break was due to a house move. Of course when I say I haven’t practice for two weeks im only talking about my morning asana practice, not the day to day, moment to moment practice.
David Swenson says that our personal morning practice becomes a “benevolent friend”. This morning I am reminded that this statement is true for me. Developing a personal practice really does cultivate something special you don’t get in a class environment.
It feels good to be practicing again, already after 4 days my body is opening up again and my practice is renewed. I think the odd break in practice can be healthy, so long as it is occasional. You don’t always know what you have until you don’t have it.
Today I added some seated and inversion postures to my practice, as it now feels like a good time do so. This is part of developing my morning practice into the full ashtanga primary series.
Dec
17
The effects of practice are felt most over an increasing length of time spent attending to your practice. This is something I can now see for myself, for those of you who follow the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali you will know this is Sutra I.14.
So how then do I see this in my own life, proving for myself the path of yoga to be fruitful?
Firstly I have seen it emerging within me during the years of my yoga practice. Little bit by little bit, obstacles falling by the way side freeing me up. This is a lesson in non-attachment as much as it is about staying with your own yoga practice, see Sutras II.30, II.32 and II.37 (although probably others too).
The other way I see it is when I see how others take their happiness from things external to themselves, and how that all goes horribly wrong for them when their expectations are not met. I am reminded of how more and more I am going within to that which is unchanging, to that which is not dependent on the external world. The longer I practice the bigger the chasm between my reactions (or lack of reaction) to external events in comparison to others. The difference in how external things affect me in comparison to how they effect others becomes a more obvious indicator of progress on the path.
Along the way I have found as Gregor Maehle discusses in his book “Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy“, that studying the Yoga Sutras, Upanishads and other yogic/spiritual texts are in balancing a daily asana practice. The two help each other, in fact Gregor says that these are “two sides of the same coin”.
Copyright © 2008 Russell Smithers
Dec
13
Just sharing a link about the physcial Ashtanga asana practice; ashtanganews.com/2008/08/03/lessons-from-lino-miele
It’s very informative for those of us who have a personal daily practice. Enjoy.
Dec
12
The moon exerts a powerful enough force on the earth thereby creating the tides. The human body is around 60% water (varying with individual). It’s easy to see the moon must have an influence on the human body, if you search the internet you will find much written, and even research papers on the subject.
There are many sources on the internet, and various books that say ashtanga is not practiced on new or full moon days, as it’s full moon day today I decided to observe this tradition and spend my time finding an Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois related reference to this. Why? because Pattabhi Jois is Ashtanga yoga, no one else can authorise people to teach. The Yoga Mala doesn’t seem to say anything about it, the official website www.kpjayi.org doesn’t appear to mention moon phases either. Matthew Sweeney in his book “Astanga Yoga As It Is”, has a section on it, but he does not appear to be listed as an authorised teacher.
I have emailed my ashtanga teacher, who is listed on the offical list of teachers. When I have more information, I shall write another post on the subject, if it’s true I shall provide more information about this topic.
Of course, if you know anything, please do let me know your thoughts.
Dec
6
It’s been nearly 5 years since I started Ashtanga yoga, and for most of that time I have had a personal practice at home. It’s been interesting seeing the progress one makes in yoga over the years, and during that time it has become increasingly obvious that both a personal practice and yoga classes are essential. Lets not confuse personal practice with one on one coaching. For the purpose of this article I will treat one on one coaching and the class room as the same, clearly in reality you will gain more in a shorter period of time with one on one coaching. What have I found to be some of the differences?
The teacher will introduce you to the basics, help you progress and show you where your doing something inappropriate, and as you progress they will show you new aspects to practice. Also, a teacher is some one you can discuss yoga related topics with, physically performing Asana is one thing, but there is allot going on, and so discussion can be a big help. This helps the practice stay fresh and you moving along the path.
The personal practice is where you teach yourself and progress on the path. You need more regular Asana sessions than once a week, and even if you had a class everyday, you would be missing allot if you didn’t do a practice solo a few times a week. The personal practice you do at home helps you to be better in class, and as you do better in class you are helped in your personal practice. The two combine to form a positive feedback loop that nurture each other.
When practicing at home on your own, you are afforded a unique opportunity to be the teacher and the student at the same time. In class you are led through, guided, and advised at various times, whereas, at home you have only your self. You need to be motivated enough to get to your mat. You have to direct your practice and understand it for your self, this may sound tricky, but, at home you have no distractions like that of the teacher and other students. When you practice solo you can become more absorbed into your practice, and thats good because it is in the absorption and self guidance that real yoga is experienced. In class you can never get to the essence of yoga, at home, bit by bit, you increase the depth and realism of the yoga experience. Class and teachers are like school, personal practice is like the real world. It is good to learn from people, but, it’s ones personal experience through self directed action that allows you to grow and heal through the practice of yoga.
Going to class and not practicing on your own, well you will make some progress and benfit a little maybe. Practicing at home on your own is like being an adventurer. Would you rather go to a history class, without ever having explored it for yourself? Personally, I wouldn’t. The history class is good, go and learn, but don’t miss out on the adventure, experience, healing and growth that self practice bestows on the ardent adventurer.
Copyright © Russell Smithers 2008
