Students in Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana (High lunge) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I started practicing yoga nearly 8 years ago, I started with the asanas, the physical poses.  Practice meant spending at least an hour a day on the mat.  As I learned about pranayama, meditation, and the other 5 limbs of yoga, I tried to work them in, study them, and understand their role in my life.  I was single and without children, and working in a job that have very flexible hours, so I could take an hour here or there to attend a class, I could attend kirtan or retreats and fully embrace a wide-ranging practice.  I started reading the Yoga Sutra and many of the classic texts and great teachers, hungry to learn as much as I could.

In the last 8 years, I’ve gotten married, moved overseas, changed careers and had a son.  Each of these changes has improved various aspects of my life, but they have also constrained my ability to practice yoga as I once did, with a mat-centered practice.  It is also difficult to meditate on a schedule or go on retreats, or any of the other luxuries I had in that previous existence, especially with a small child and a job with regular hours.  At first I was frustrated – I felt I was losing touch with yoga, or somehow not as dedicated as I was.  And then I remembered the readings I had encountered about yoga in various life stages.  According to the texts, life ideally is spent in four stages.  The second stage, which ideally lasts between the ages of 25-50, is called grihastha, or life as a householder.  To be a grihastha means living in the world and practicing around daily life.  It is understood that this is the time of raising children, of working, of attending to the needs of the daily world, and not a time of retreat from the world.

For a while now I have been meditating on what it means to be a grihastha. What I think it means for me is that here is a balance challenge, more difficult than any asana – how does one balance spiritual practice and daily life?  It is so much easier to think about the yamas and niyamas on the mat, to practice finding equanimity in a quiet room where you know no one will disturb you for the prescribed time.  It is much more difficult to find a way to teach and demonstrate-through-living ahimsa, or non-violence, with a two-year-old stuck in mid-tantrum. It is challenging to practice santosa, or contentment when gridlocked in rush-hour traffic.  And yet at the end, the only way to journey through the week sanely, is to embrace the yamas and niyamas. More than anything, it is about practicing Isvara pranidhana, which means remembering there is something greater in the universe than one’s own self, and then most importantly, surrendering to it.

As I write this, it’s a weekend day, my family is out and I have a few precious minutes, which I chose to use writing this blog.  I view this piece as today’s meditation, which I offer up to you and say – here is where I am, here is my journey, come walk with me and know we are all in this together.  My intention for today is to get through this day in a way that honors myself and my practice of Isvara pranidhana.

taken from: http://joycet0514.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/yoginis-notebook-embracing-the-householder-practice/

A group of STOTT PILATES® Reformers at the Toronto Corporate Training Center. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Stott Pilates instructor-trainer Anjali Sareen converted her fascination for fitness into her job

“Fitness is my passion. It must have rubbed off on me from my elder brother. Even my husband, Sharat, is into sports,” starts Anjali Sareen, the only Stott Pilates Instructor Trainer in India. Anjali is also the co-founder of The Zone, Mind, Body Studio, which she runs with her husband in Kormangala.

She not only trains lay people but also conducts intensive training and education programmers for potential Pilates instructors.

“We lived abroad for quite some time. I was not working and that gave me a chance to follow up on my area of interest. I started looking critically at various gyms and health clubs there and realized that most gyms were intimidating. You walk in and you find sculpted bodies working out and that itself can turn off some one who is obese and be a negative influence on them,” says Anjali who looks really trim and fit.

“Another thing that I did not like was the ‘non refundable’ registrations. I did not approve of it. So when we returned to India, I decided to have my own place and run it the way I wanted to,” she explains. Her studio is designed in such a way that the work out area is not visible to the visitor but has a helpful front desk and an office where they can speak to the instructors.

Anjali trained in Pilates for 15 years and has been an instructor trainer for the last six years.

It has been a long journey. “I started off as a group instructor, did kick boxing, cardio boxing, yoga, Tai chi, karate and kalari, but did not teach them formally.”

Talking about the history of Stott Pilate, Anjali says: “It was started by Joseph Pilate, who created this style 100 years ago. He died in 1967. His students did not copyright the technique but started training people.

“The best thing about this style is that it allows you to refine the information of the past and incorporate it to the modern day research. The style is not stuck in a time zone. It is designed in such a way that it can be used as rehabilitation therapy, for athletes, geriatrics or anyone else.

“The exercises are designed for each individual’s need and strength. Stott Pilates is good for the elderly as they tend to lose focus with age and these exercises require them to concentrate. That’s one of the reasons for Pilates’ popularity.”

“The other advantage is that Pilates is dynamic, which has a flow of movements that teaches the body to work as a whole. It helps in body balance and control. The speed of the exercise can be modified as per the need.”

About the challenges of being a Pilates instructor trainer, Anjali says: “I love teaching. Whether it a fussy client or an easy going one, I have the patience to deal with them and enjoy working with them as each one’s need is different and hence the exercise has to be designed for them to suit their body.”

An aspiring Pilates instructor, she says, needs to have a background in fitness and body movement in any form – dance or exercise and also have some knowledge of anatomy.

“After training, the person has to undergo a theory and practical examination and also design an on-the-spot program for a subject and run him through it. And Anjali evaluates the performance and gets you the certificate from the head office in Toronto.

Anjali can be contacted at The Zone, Mind and Body Studio, 621, NMH Complex, 1st Floor, 80 ft Road, 4th Block, Koramangala or call her on 41310507.

This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track.

taken from: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/leisure/article3422379.ece

Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, New Jersey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was in my car driving while I was thinking about how I would talk about Isvara-pranidhana. I was on my way to a place that I’ve driven to time and again, but in spite of that, I was using my GPS. Suddenly I took a turn & put myself on a different path… not the path the GPS had planned for me. But I immediately felt a comfort in knowing that I was able to relax about it because I knew wherever I was, I could still easily get back on track. That’s what the GPS voice calls “RECALCULATING”.

I love that- because that’s just how it is when I am able to surrender to the divine- I may be going along, with absolutely no idea where I am right now, and if I take a wrong turn, I can always “recalculate” and begin again. I have a choice to surrender to what is, letting go of the idea that I am in control. I can choose to proceed again in this moment with devotion to this moment – with a faith that I’m not separate from that Divine mind within and the act of bringing my mind back to this moment over and over again imbues life with the sacred. I learn that there is no such thing anymore as a “wrong” turn. I am able to be more attentive to the quality of the moments in my life, than the outcome of those moments.

This devotion to something bigger than our selves is a gateway to the spiritual side of our lives.

Yoga teacher Shiva Rea says this about using isvara pranidhana in practice: “I breathe and empty the residue of the day and find that I am soon filled with an intuitive sense of direction, inspiration, and clarity that I experience as an inner compass, a teacher whose presence deepens throughout the practice.” 

On the mat we are constantly given the opportunity to recalculate. From moment to moment we reset our physical body. In balance postures afferent and efferent nerve signals fire back and forth from brain to body and body to brain and they fire faster and faster. Through consistent use, the somatic side of the nervous system becomes more effective and balance improves.

 When we quiet the mind and bring our attention to the breath, we are able to become more calm and focused- one of the best ways to recalculate and connect to our inner self. Our breath alone can reverse the Fight or Flight response of our nervous system and keep unhealthy responses to stress from harming us. We use the breath to recalculate! 

Yoga Sutra 1.1: “Now is the Time for Yoga”

In this second examination of the first sutra (the first part can be found here), I’ll approach it from a deconstruction of the sutra. Next time, I’ll look at it from a parenting perspective.

This first sutra acts as an introduction for all that come after. It sets the stage for the listener to understand and incorporate the philosophy into daily life. Some schools of thought on the Yoga Sutras say that all of them can be summarized into this one sutra.

The sutras were originally shared orally in Sanskrit, and the words have multiple meanings that persist far deeper than in the English translation. There are multiple translations of even this seemingly straightforward sentence. But, this one is my favorite because of the many ways that the English words can be approached and used.

It is, for me, a mantra that I return to as a centering practice. Although I chant it in Sanskrit, it is the English translation that I spend the most time meditating on because it is my native language and is, therefore, alive for me.

Like the posts that will come after in this series, this post is another introduction to enter into the Sutras. Studying the Sutras is the work of a lifetime, and I don’t claim to do more than scratch the surface with my thoughts on them. My hope is to help make them accessible to you.

A common theme in Yoga is to be open to lessons presented to you, to take what speaks to you now and think deeply on it. Don’t disregard the rest. Rather, put them aside until they feel there is a feeling of curiosity about them. The Sutras, like all the forms of Yoga, can be brought into any philosophical, spiritual or religious belief system. They are tools to help you explore what is true in your life.

Most westerners think of physical poses when they think of Yoga. Those poses, called, Asanas, are one of the legs that are laid out in the Yoga Sutras as tools for exploration. Asana is a preparation for deeper work. Once you have moved and stretched the body, it is ready to be still. Meditation or thinking about things comes more easily without the complaints of a stiff body to distract.

Just as you can see asana as a part of the Sutras, you can see the Sutras within the practice of asana. They are tools to focus the mind to think about whatever it is that you want to think about without distractions.

Now is the Time for Yoga.

The word “now” reminds us that this is really all there is. Right now. We remember the past and we imagine the future, but those are abstract feelings of time. All that really can be grounded into is what is being experienced right now (I won’t go into the projections of the self in this experience here, of course. That’s for later posts.)

If we can stay fully present in now, we can also be fully engaged in what we’re doing. We aren’t caught up in what might have been or what could be. We are paying attention.

That’s not to say that you don’t live without thinking about consequences. Rather, the consequences of actions are a part of what you are doing in that moment. It is an authentic way to live with truth and compassion.

Now also presupposes some degree of preparation. Now is the time to settle in because all that has come before has led you to this time and place. There is no more judgment of what has happened, because you are here.

And this moves us into time. If we think of now as a place on a time-line, with the past being to our left and the future to our right, we can stand here in the middle and breathe deeply from the balance of each point in time. Time is always moving and we move along with it, from one now into another now. This gives us the ability to act with mindfulness while we flow through it.

Breathe more. React less.

There’s more time now to really think about what we want since we’re here, now. We’re prepared and present. Without worrying about what will happen or what has happened, there’s room for connection with ourselves and others.

Which is one meaning of Yoga: union. A bringing together. A connection. A willingness to be open to what is. To radically accept what is real and to find the compassion to face it. With this union of time in reality, comes a responsibility for compassion. Another meaning of the word Yoga: is “to yoke.” Whether we like to admit it or not, we are tied to what is around us. While we have no control about what others do, remembering that we have this push-pull connection helps us again, to take action from a place of empathy.

***

The word Sutra means thread. Threads can be traced. They can have a beginning and an end. They can be stitched into the fabric that we have already woven. They can tie things together or mend broken places.

Threads can be so thin that we don’t notice them at first, like walking through a spider web. But, once we have noticed the threads, we walk with greater presence of mind as we look for more of them. And, if you have ever walked through a spider web, you’ll know what it means to be fully in the now.

***

Namaste

For more resources, I have gathered my most dog-eared books on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali here and here.

Other entries in this series can be found in the Mama Sutras.

How often do you stay in the now? Is it a practice for you to stay fully present or do you find yourself flitting from the past to the future? Do you have other interpretations of the first Sutra that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you.

taken from: http://touchstonez.com/2012/05/15/how-soon-is-now/

See: www.falundafa.org/eng/exercises.html (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m not exactly your typical yogi. When I’m stressed out and need to blow off steam, I grab a bottle of wine and a pack of cigarettes. I’ve tried a few yoga classes over the years—any exercise involving a ten minute nap at the end is my idea of a good workout session. But I’m the one in the class who likely ate a cold piece of pizza for breakfast. It’s probably fair to say that I’m an unlikely yogi. Basically I’m the Bridget Jones of the yoga world, and this is my diary.

I’ve always been a thinker, and I often get more caught up with what’s happening in my head than with what’s in front of me. I, like many other people who do this, realized I had been living in a world of fear, control, anxiety, and even delusion. I often felt I was being held captive in my mind with my captor as my ego. For years I’ve been digging at the foundation looking for a way to escape. So I have challenged myself to get my ‘Om‘ on this summer. After an intense year of journalism school, which included hours upon hours of sitting and lots of stress, I discovered it was becoming more difficult to keep my cool, think clearly, and stay in the moment, and the lady at the liquor store was getting to know me by name. I started doing some research about easing stress and keeping a healthy mind and body. Lo and behold, guess what kept popping up? Yoga and meditation. I decided that it was time for me to stop doing yoga and start to actually practice it and incorporate the philosophy into my life.

I’m going to commit myself to studying the Yoga Sutras, attend regular classes, and yes, even try meditation. I use the world try because in the past I have proven to be terrible at this. Turning off my mind is a daunting task that I just can’t seem to do. My meditation usually consists of fantasizing about myself as someone who can meditate and how great I’ve become at staying cool when people cut me off on the highway. I’ve been reading a lot about meditation and mindfulness, and the idea of it makes so much sense. Doing it makes me want to scream. I can handle studying the sutras and going to classes, but meditation is going to be a bitch. If I truly want to make my escape though, it’s time for me to do the work. As Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”

Luckily, I’m not in this alone; you’re all going to be a part of it too. I’ll be writing about my experiences over the next couple of months. Those of you who are new to yoga too, we’ll start our journey down this path together. For those of you who are seasoned yogis, we hope you’ll be our guides, share with us your words of wisdom, and shine a light when we take a wrong turn and end up in the dark.

For all you yogis out there, what drew you to your practice? And what advice do you have for someone who is just starting out?

taken from:

http://www.yogabasics.com/connect/the-unlikely-yogi.html