Category Archives: yoga off the mat

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The Pose is Not the Point

The pose is not the point. In the west, yoga is often confused, diluted, and hybridized into something which is often quite accessible to all people and profitable for businesses, but lost it’s authenticity from the tradition of yoga from it’s roots in India.

          In the west, we’ve placed great emphasis on the physical postures of yoga. Asana, the physical yoga poses, are only one small limb of the 8 limbs of yoga which is aimed solely towards opening the body so one can sit comfortably in meditation for an extended period of time. In modern times, there is great importance placed on mastering the physical postures of yoga, as though that is the objective of the practice. Yoga has been advertised as a method to weight loss, relaxation, building strength, improving focus, or rehabilitating the body—while these may be outcomes and valuable benefits of developing a yoga practice, traditionally, these outcomes are not the objective.

Traditionally, yoga is a method that aims towards Samadhi— yoga is a path to liberation.

The pose is not the point. While yoga poses are valuable tools for opening, strengthening and balancing the body and mind, and many of us enjoy how yoga poses allow us to feel, and it is said that a certain level of bliss may be experienced through holding a pose in alignment for an extended period of time, mastering a yoga pose will not set you free. The pose is just a method, it alone cannot liberate you.

The realizations on the journey into the pose are far more valuable than the mastery of the posture alone.

What do you realize about yourself on your way into a yoga pose? What does the journey into the posture reveal to you about your True Self? What do you learn along the way on the pathway into the pose? What is laying underneath the surface of the posture that is waiting to bloom? What does the posture awaken in you?

If you yearn for the achievement of a pose, once you arrive into that posture, you’re still the same person— you’ve just touched your toes or balanced on your hands. But the journey into the pose gifts us with the opportunity to realize a deeper essence of your being. The Truth within you may be revealed. And you may realize that the pose was never the point.

The pose is not the point– when we think it is, we cheat ourselves of some of the greatest gifts yoga has to offer us. The pose itself becomes the least interesting— it’s the realizations, lessons, moments of surrender and strength on the journey into the pose that are the greatest gifts of yoga.

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The Yogi Code | The 8 Limbs of Yoga

The 8 Limbs of Yoga are outlined in detail in the roughly two thousand year old texts, the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. These ancient texts are much like a yogis’ handbook; an instruction manual on how to live a happy, fulfilling, spiritual and peaceful life.

There is so much more to yoga than the familiar physical practice of yoga poses. There is a whole system to it, a yogi’s code, full of observances, ethics, practices and restraints to inspire you to embrace yoga as a lifestyle and help you navigate through life with ease.

1. Yama: Ethical practices to interact with the outer world.

The Yamas and Niyamas are the foundation of the 8 limbs of yoga, and are valuable steps to living a conscious life. They are a sum of values and virtues available to us, so we may relate with and co-exist peacefully with all beings, ourselves and with the planet. They can be broken down into 5 specific areas each:

a. Ahimsa: non-violence, non-aggression, compassion, forgiveness, kindness— love.
b. Satya: truth, honesty, sincerity, living your truth; your sacred purpose or dharma.
c. Asteya: non-stealing, take only what is offered – use only what is needed.
d. Brahmacharya: preservation of vital life force energy.
e. Aparigraha: non-greed, non-hoarding, non-collection, non-gluttony.

2. Niyama: A moral code of observances to cultivate a positive relationship with ones self and inner world.

a. Saucha: purity, cleanliness
b. Santosha: contentment, the art of being happy for no particular reason
c. Tapas: austerity, self-discipline, passion
d. Svhadyaya: Self-study, awareness of the Self, study of texts.
e. Isvara Pranidhana: devotion to divinity, celebrating the divinity and oneness within all beings, surrender to faith, contemplation of a higher power.

3. Asana: Yoga Poses

This is what we tend to think of yoga as in the west; people twisting their body into unique shapes. The physical yoga postures are only one limb of the 8 limbs of yoga which is the entire system and practice of yoga. Yoga poses, asanas’, care for our physical bodies; the vessel that our spirit resides in throughout this lifetime. Yoga poses strengthen and open our bodies, so we can be comfortable and healthy in our bodies, and so we are able to sit for periods of time in meditation.

4. Pranayama: Breathing Practices

The breath is critical for sustaining life. In yoga, we perform breathing exercises and techniques to circulate and direct our prana, the life force energy within all living beings and to calm and balance the mind and body.

5. Pratyahara: Withdrawal from senses.

After practicing yoga for a period of time, we naturally begin to withdraw from our sensory experience, meaning from the experiences of our 5 outward senses, and our attention is drawn inward, focusing on our inner experience.

6. Dharana: Concentration

When we concentrate, we free the mind of senseless chatter. We experience mental clarity. In yoga, we practice focus, observation and concentration. Our focus can be directed either inwardly (like in yoga nidra on various parts of the body, or outwardly, by finding our drishti, a single point of focus to gaze upon, to help us balance in yoga poses.

7. Dhyana: Meditation

Meditation is a state of being; it is an experience of nothingness and infinity simultaneously, without effort or thought. It is zen. It is absorption into pure silence and stillness. Everyone experiences meditation in many different ways. For some of us, it’s gazing into the heart of a setting sun, for others it is through dance, or through art. It is the experience of being so deeply absorbed into what is happening. It is thoughtless, and timeless.

8. Samadhi: Bliss | Enlightenment

Bliss, or enlightenment, is the ultimate goal of yoga. Bliss occurs through the transcendence of the ego. Upon the divine realization of the ultimate oneness of all. It is the purest state of being.

Your Yogi Challenge:

I invite you to practice the 8 limbs of yoga. Begin with the Yamas. Study them. Learn them. Memorize them. And practice them every day for a week, both on and off the mat. Master them. And the following week, move on to the Niyamas. Then asana. And so on, until you yourself, experience Divine Bliss.

These 8 Limbs of Yoga, from the Yamas to Samadhi, are like a pyramid or stepping stones to living a happy, fulfilling, peaceful and spiritual life. Allow the 8 Limbs of Yoga, this Yogi Code, to be your compass as you navigate through life.

“Do No Harm, But Take No Shit”

“Do no harm, but take no shit.”

Messages of compassion and loving-kindness unite most world religions today; the notion of non-violence or non-harming.

In yoga, we call this concept Ahisma.
Ahisma means to take responsibility for our own thoughts, words, actions and behaviors, to cause no harm to other beings.
It is about living in harmony with one another.
But we live in a world where the art of being human isn’t all rainbows and lollipops,
(though sometimes it is!)

There is also pain, suffering, harassment, trauma and plenty of ego.
This is half the beauty of our entire human experience.
But this is a breeding ground for causing both conscious and unconscious harm or violence to others
(of course as a projection of their own pain, but that’s a whole other blog post.)

Dealing with shit as yogis, empaths, conscious beings and generally good people of the world, we are constantly challenged to find the balance between the ‘ignorance is bliss’ path of keeping your head down to disregard the violence and abuse present in our world and resenting every human being that crosses our path.

We have made it our life mission; our practice, to be
neutral, resilient, unaffected
by the shit that comes our way.
This shit presents itself in the form of
abuse, manipulation, injustice, harassment.
And such an illusion this supposed dharma of always being cool as a cucumber really is.

Hurt people hurt people.

But someone’s own pain is no excuse to harm, or abuse, or harass others.
It is the highest dharma, (life mission,) of hurt people to transform the poison of abuse into a medicine to heal themselves so as not to perpetuate the cycle of destruction.

It is important to understand that the concept of Ahisma also means to the best of your ability, to prevent or attempt to stop the potential harmful behaviors by others to both others, and yourself.

Mistreatment to any beings on this earth creates a karmic imbalance, (which surely will be taken care of eventually in their souls adventures through the cosmos,) but need not the rest of the world suffer for someone’s cruel behavior in the meantime.

Standing up for others is both brave and kind.
But standing up for your self is the greatest act of heroism.

There is an old story about a yogi and a cobra.

“There was a big, mean cobra that lived in a village and he would bite anyone that would come too close. A Yogi came to stay at the village and one day, decided to practice right beside a tree near the cobra. The cobra slithered over to the yogi and lifted up as if to bite him until he realized that the yogi didn’t want to harm the snake so he didn’t bite him. The cobra said to the yogi that he wanted to learn all about yoga and the yogi told the cobra he would come back in a year to teach him if he could practice ahimsa (non-violence) for the entire year. 
So the cobra practiced ahimsa but the village people started to get closer to the snake and they began to throw rocks and him, but still the cobra did not bite them. 
A year went by and the cobra was near death. The yogi asked the cobra what had happened and the cobra told the yogi about the village people, but that he never bit anyone for the entire year. 
The yogi replied –
“I told you to practice non-violence, but I didn’t say you couldn’t hiss.””

So what does this look like for us?

When you can be empathetic, be empathetic.
When you can’t be, just be human.

In times of mistreatment or injustice, look into them; see their pain that is now being projected towards you. Step into their shoes and see the raw roots of their harm.
And send them love, in mind, or word or action.

But in situations that are more sensitive to you, when our own ego fires up and our blood begins to boil. When an old wound is broken open; just be human.
Standing up for your self is the human form of hissing.
And hissing doesn’t have to mean biting.
But this hiss creates boundaries that protect us all.

Accepting abuse from people clearly causes us harm, but it also causes the abuser harm.
They’ve abused you, and now you resent them,
or have harmful thoughts or words to say about them;
without them even knowing it.
And this perpetuates this cycle of karmic imbalance and further separates humanity.

Like the snake, don’t be afraid to hiss.
Transform poison into medicine.
Do no harm, but take no shit.

yogaoffthemat

How do live your yoga off the mat?

Practice yoga on the mat, live yoga off the mat.

We know the benefits of doing yoga.
We’ve felt them from our practice; we are stronger, more flexible, energized and relaxed.

The physical and mental benefits of asana practice are amazing, but let’s remember the deeper essence of yoga and its subtle teachings in everyday life; off the mat.

  1. Yoga teaches us our capacity to build strength to withstand life’s obstacles: The ‘aches’ that accompany life are merely growing pains on our journey–making us stronger. Do you remember your first Vinyasa class? All the warriors that made your legs ache for days later? They don’t sting that much anymore, right? Let’s take the strength built in yoga off the mat.

  2. Yoga teaches us to be flexible and resilient to smoothly bounce back from life’s chaos: When we quit resisting, and simply surrender our bodies into a posture, this is how we can increase our flexibility. Much like when we resist something in life, it persists; and the moment we surrender to life’s challenges, it opens up a new door of opportunities. Let’s take the flexibility and resiliency from yoga off the mat.

  3. It teaches us to inhale that which nourishes us, and exhale that which is our poison: breathe in love, and breathe out anger, inhale gratitude and exhale greed, draw in acceptance and release resistance. Let’s breathe through every interaction, event, and situation in life, bringing our yoga off the mat.

  4. It teaches us to exhale the fear of falling in life: Much like the first time we tried headstand on our own, and to trust that if we fall, we fall back and land on our feet, enabling us to try it all over again. Falling is not failing and bending is not breaking. We practice letting go, surrender, being, ease.

  5. It teaches us that every Savasana is a rebirth: Every practice is new and fresh; just like every morning we wake up is brand new and loaded with endless potential.

Next time you meet your mat, I invite you to notice the subtle and metaphorical teachings within yoga as you balance, breathe and invert and consider how you can take these lessons from your mat and apply them into your daily experiences.

How do you take your yoga off the mat? I want to hear about it below!

-Britney

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5 Points of Yoga

5 Points of Yoga
(As summarized by Swami Vishnu Devananda)

1) Proper Exercise: Asana (Yoga Poses)

+ The physical body is the house of the soul. Your body is your temple.
+ Asanas were invented to keep the physical body strong, open and well.
+ Open our subtle energy body, so our prana or chi can flow freely within us.
+ Yoga postures focus on the health of the spine, bringing the spine into flexion, extension, side flexion and rotation. A large part of our nervous system is contained in the spine. We are as young, as our spine is flexible.
+ Allows the body to sit for periods of time in meditation.

2) Proper Breathing: Pranayama

+ Control & regulation of prana, subtle energy
+ Practice our ability to use our breath more efficiently, to bring in more oxygen into the body, and remove more carbon dioxide.
+ Many of us don’t breath properly or efficiently, our tissues starve of oxygen and we wonder why we feel tired.

3) Proper Relaxation: Savasana

+ Physical & mental relaxation; resets nervous system, metabolism, flushes cellular waste, reduces stress hormones, balances blood pressure, reduces pain perception.
+ We all know the importance of relaxation.

4) Proper Diet: Typically vegetarian

+ We are what we eat!
+ Pure, simple, natural foods that are easily digested and nourish the body.
+ Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, herbs, herbal teas, and fresh water.
+ Processing, refining or chemically/genetically modifying our food lowers nutrient content
+ Listen to your bodies innate intuition.

 5) Positive Thinking & Meditation

+ Focus the mind, exceed the Ego, deepen our experience, reach the ultimate goal of yoga; Samadhi (enlightenment, bliss.)