Find Your Flow Friday: Yoga as a Science

One of my favorite "pundits" without politics, Pantanajali. I offer this accessment of Yoga as Science.

Yoga is not a religion-remember that. Yoga is not Hindu, it is not Islam or Christian or Judaism . Yoga is a pure science just like mathematics, physics or chemistry. Physics is not Christian physics is not Buddhist. If Christians have discovered the laws of physics, then too physics is not Christian. Yoga is a science -- it is "happenstance" that Hindus uncovered it. It is not Hindu. It is a pure mathematics of the inner being. So a Mohammedan can be a yogi, a Christian can be a yogi, a Jain, a Jew can be a yogi.

Yoga is pure science, and Patanjali is the greatest name as far as the world of yoga is concerned. This man is rare. There is no other name comparable to Patanjali. For the first time in the history of humanity, this man brought religion to the state of a science: he made religion a science, bare laws; no belief is needed.

  

Because so-called religions need beliefs. There is no other difference between one religion and another; the difference is only of beliefs. A Mohammedan has certain beliefs, a Hindu certain others, a Christian certain others. The difference is of beliefs. Yoga has nothing as far as belief is concerned; yoga doesn't say to believe in anything. Yoga says experience. Just like science saysexperiment, yoga says experience. Experiment and experience are both the same, yet their directions are different. Experiment means something you can do outside; experience means something you can do inside. Experience is an inside experiment.

Science says: Don't believe, doubt as much as you can. But also, don't disbelieve, because disbelief is again a sort of belief. You can believe in God, you can believe in the concept of no-God. You can say God is, with a fanatic 

attitude; you can say the quite reverse, that God is not with the same fanaticism. Atheists, theists, are all believers, and belief is not the realm for science. Science means experience something, that which is; no belief is needed. So the second thing to remember: 

Yoga is
 simultaneously existential, experiential, experimental.

No belief is required, no faith is needed -- only courage to experience. And that's what's lacking. You can believe easily because in belief you are not going to be transformed. Belief is something added to you, something superficial. Your being is not changed; you are not passing through some mutation. You may be a Hindu, you can become Christian the next day. Simply, you change: you change Gita for a Bible. You can change it for a Koran, but the man who was holding Gita and is now holding the Bible, remains the same. He has changed his beliefs.

Belief is easy because you are not required really to do anything -- just a superficial dressing, a decoration, something which you can put aside any moment you like. Yoga is not belief. That's why it is difficult, arduous, and sometimes it seems impossible. It is an existential approach. You will come to the truth, but not through belief, but through your own experience, through your own realization. That means you will have to be totally changed. Your viewpoints, your way of life, your mind, your psyche has to be shattered completely as it is. Something new has to be created. Only with that new will you come in contact with the reality.

(((INhale/Exhale))) absorb what is useful.... the discussion continues in our next edition. 

The Daily Om: Find your Flow Friday - Breakthroughs

Yoga is such a part of the fabric of my life, that sometimes I take it for granted. Sometimes dear yogi's, I even get bored. Postures like Vismavatrasana are humbling. The challenge of it combined with my longing for something not quite obtainable enliven what can sometimes become a dry practice. It's important to always reach toward what we want. Visvamitrasana is a posture that was beyond me for a long time, and even now, after years of working with it, I feel my limitations in this pose. My heart never really opens toward the sky here. But I reach for it.




Yoga illuminates. There are times when the physical body is capable of a pose but we still don't get it. There may an emotional breakthrough that needs to happen. When it happens, you can access to the pose. Vismavatrasana is still one of these poses for me. When I committed to Vismavatrasana it unlocked emotional pain in both the heart and hips. I found myself going home to cry, and needed a lot of alone time and stillness for a couple of weeks while I worked it out, which is awesome. There was a lot of release on all levels. Sometimes we need to shatter a little so we can be free from patterns of movement or thought that have stopped serving us.


When we can allow ourselves to break open, these ancient practices have the potential to be deeply healing and transformative. But we must catch ourselves when we project our shattering outward, so we can turn it back in. I find this aspect of the practice fascinating: The things that yoga pulls out of us, and how our minds play with these things. The teacher is irritating, the student next to you makes funny noises, the room is too hot, or too cold, your nose itches -- anything that takes you out of your experience, whatever it is, it is not coming at you, it is coming from you and you are projecting it outward.

When your yoga gets a little scary, and you feel yourself perhaps breaking apart a bit,  your practice is doing the deep work of transforming you. In Yoga-speak we call this "piercing the granthis." Granthis (pronounced "gruntys") are the opposite of chakras or energetic wheels. Granthis are energetic knots. It's beneficial to keep your channels open and your energy flowing. 

The essence of this post is: Make friends with the postures that challenge you, and remember you might experience "side-effects" as they work their yoga magic on you.  I still have a long way to go in Vismavatrasana before my heart will open enough to feel the lines of energy in my body here. I'm a little scared of what it may pull out of me.  It's exciting, and this is what keeps me coming back to the mat, day after day, year after year. The journey continues. 

*Quick Tip*: Start with the back leg on the ground. When you're ready to lift up into the full pose for the first time, anchor the outer edge of the back foot against a wall. You will be amazed at how much that connection supports you here.  The front leg pushes hard against the front arm. Pull IN to lift UP.

A bit about our Author, Camille Brown: Hi there and welcome to my segment, The Daily Om. I'm a twenty-something lover of health, fitness, yoga, personal style, reiki, nature, travelling, and capturing those special moments in life that matter the most. My daily goal is to be the best I can, give all I know about yoga, holistic living, and just living your most authentic natural life. I will offer challenging asanas that will push your personal limits in order to achieve success on the mat and offer insight mantras to get your day started your day on a positive note. Remember, "A day without laughing is a day wasted."
Read more from her at http://lotusflowerwellness.blogspot.com

The Daily Om: Find Your Flow Friday - Am I Getting Better at Yoga??

Progress. This is just how we’re wired these days. Things need to be achieved. Boxes checked off. No, not just the big stuff - school, studies, degree, first job (and a good one, please!), success at work, the ‘perfect’ partner… It’s true for the small things in life as well. By the way, what’s on your to-do list for today? Who replied “nothing”, back there, in the last row? Please stand up!

So no wonder that this infiltrates our approach to hobbies and everything we do outside of our to-do list; that time when we’re not busy crossing off accomplishments - IF there’s time left, that is. For most of us, there’s no time left, which is why something like yoga needs to be added to that list. If it’s not on there but just something we enjoy doing in our “FREE” time, well – then it just never happens.

Manage your free time wisely – and never forget to PLAY! 

While this is a good thing to do and shows we’re valuing our yoga-time (it’s like an appointment with ourselves, isn’t it?), we’re just getting even more stuck in this whole progress / achievement way of thinking. How you can tell? Well, have you asked yourself any of these questions lately?...

• Am I getting better at yoga?

• When will I be finally able to master this posture?

• Why can’t I reach my toes?

• How many calories did I burn in this lesson?

• When will I be given a new posture by my teacher?

It’s like quicksand. By the time you realise you’re stuck, it’s a little late. And once you’re in there, “to remove a foot from quicksand at a speed of .01 m/s would require the same amount of force as that needed to lift a medium-sized car“.

No, you don’t wanna get stuck in this way of thinking.  It’s not FUN. It means you’re entering into a competition with yourself. You’re demanding that your body please deliver measurable success. You want to check boxes. You want to achieve things. There’s almost nothing I hear more often after a couple of beginner’s classes than the question: “Do you think I am making progress?”

The honest answer would be: How the hell do I know? Sure, I can tell you if your hamstrings are less tight, if your back bends are deeper, I can check my watch to see if you’re holding your headstand longer. But I cannot tell you if you’ve made real progress.

Only one person can tell if you’re making progress: YOU.

Do you feel certain that your power of discrimination and light of thought have been steadily growing? [...] Has there come into the conscious activities of your everyday life, the active function of a new delightful angle of vision, a new perspective, a strong sense of self-possession, a steadily growing conviction of your dependence upon and intimate relation with the all-pervading Divinity? [...]

I’m a little addicted to Swami Sivananda’s easy-peasy replies to some of mankind’s most difficult questions. So here’s another piece I’ve come across – let’s chew on it together.

It’s about how to tell if you’re making progress in your practice:

Peace, cheerfulness, contentment, dispassion, fearlessness and an unperturbed state of mind under all conditions indicate that you are advancing on the spiritual path.  [...] Has your personal awareness come to a possession of a sense of peace and strength which men who are not aspirants do not find in their everyday lives?

Granted, he talks about spiritual progress. But how about we try this: Seeing the physical and spiritual as one and the same thing?

I know. How radical. It might require a change in the way we think. The way we see ourselves. Our mind AND body. Because let’s face it: Do we want to be great yogis – or great gymnasts?

Oh and by the way, do you know how they say you’ll manage to get out of quicksand? Wiggle the legs as slowly as possible in order to reduce viscosity, try spreading your arms and legs far apart and lying prone to increase your surface area, which should allow you to float.

Let’s FLOAT instead of lifting medium-sized cars!

~Om Shanti 

A bit about our Author, Camille Brown: Hi there and welcome to my segment, The Daily Om. I'm a twenty-something lover of health, fitness, yoga, personal style, reiki, nature, travelling, and capturing those special moments in life that matter the most. My daily goal is to be the best I can, give all I know about yoga, holistic living, and just living your most authentic natural life. I will offer challenging asanas that will push your personal limits in order to achieve success on the mat and offer insight mantras to get your day started your day on a positive note. Remember, "A day without laughing is a day wasted."
Read more from her at http://lotusflowerwellness.blogspot.com

The Daily Om: Find your Flow Friday - Inversions

One of the funnest things to learn in yoga are inversions. I never thought I’d be able to do some of the things i’m able to do know. When I first started, the biggest part was getting over fear of being upside down. The first time you try, you’re like whoa! Crazy! It feels completely foreign. And kinda scary!

When I first tried out inversions like, headstand, forearm stand and headstand, I tried without wall support. I only had to crash down a couple times to move to a wall for support and security. This is a great way to build confidence, but the fear of falling kept the wall close by. What helps you move away from the wall is to LEARN HOW TO FALL PROPERLY WITH CONFIDENCE.


If you’ve slammed on your back falling out of headstand (me), learning how to fall correctly will give you so much freedom to eventually move away from a wall.


This is a GREAT video that explains how to fall out of headstand, tripod headstand, and handstand. Practice falling just as much as you practice the inversion itself. It will give you much more confidence to pop up in an inversion anytime, anywhere!





*HINT: I started to practice falling by also placing all the pillows I had in a pile on the floor, so If I spazzed, I’d have a little cushion for the fall until I did it right.


HAVE FUN!!!

A bit about our Author, Camille Brown: Hi there and welcome to my segment, The Daily Om. I'm a twenty-something lover of health, fitness, yoga, personal style, reiki, nature, travelling, and capturing those special moments in life that matter the most. My daily goal is to be the best I can, give all I know about yoga, holistic living, and just living your most authentic natural life. I will offer challenging asanas that will push your personal limits in order to achieve success on the mat and offer insight mantras to get your day started your day on a positive note. Remember, "A day without laughing is a day wasted."
Read more from her at http://lotusflowerwellness.blogspot.com