THE ENERGY OF PARADOX BY ROBERT MOORING

Movement is inexorable, essential. There is no energy without movement. Form cannot differentiate without movement. Without movement we would be stuck in the formless void of the thermodynamic death of the Universe, pretty grim right? Thankfully there is energy and form available to be the contents of our consciousness.

This brings me to the topic at hand, what moves me? I find that I am a discrete and individual consciousness, ultimately free. The thing that moves me, is well, me. Then of course I also find that I am connected to every other particle in the universe, that I am contingent and constrained. The things that move me are also outside of me. This is the answer then, what moves me is paradox.

Paradox, the intractable knot that only laughs at you more the harder you try to untangle it. All I can reveal to you in this text, is that it is an essential component of a formed system with conscious entities. The dualities that abound physically and conceptually, like light and dark and separation and integration, they are the source of all potential. Potential energy and its transference back and forth between the extremes in the pulsating breath inured in every micro and macro structure in the cosmos, is the source of all movement.

There many places that I feel the potential to immerse myself in the paradox and thereby nourish myself with energy and movement, but none more so than being the mountains. I like to go to old places, where the effect dwells. I grew up as an academic more than athlete (can you tell?) and I also hurt myself a lot, including a broken spine. I was never a candidate to climb mountains. Sure enough of course, internal and external factors led me to the pursuit of technical rock climbing in the alpine. Other than my wife and child, nothing inspires, enlivens, or nourishes me more than time spent questing in the vertical world. Mistakes mean injury or death, and yet the very slow accumulation of physical capacity, mental capacity, and instinct, allowing one to conform to impossible geometries with the birds flying underneath.

Insight: what part does it play in the arc of your being? Ever get derailed by a penetrating observation? Sure, and up there it seems to happen more often. It’s like I think more fiercely, even though in the best moments I am not thinking at all. More dualities. Poles to pull us apart, poles to knit ourselves together. At least up there I’m forcibly reminded to contemplate these things as much with my feet as with my overstuffed brain. Stay nimble. Nimble is another way to stay humble. Get too puffed up and you won’t fit through that next keyhole of insight.

A walk in nature, a minute of quiet in meditation, a good yoga class can give you all of the same experience as dangling from fingertips in the mountains. Practicing those techniques to allow my mind to enter the same flow state that is forced upon me while climbing is a peak into the next stage of what I hope will move me, and move you too.

AN ANCHOR IN CHANGING WATERS BY SHILAH SARKISSIAN

This month You and The Mat invited me to create the blog post for the month of May. The topic to write on was to be “what moves and inspires you?” In this opportunity life seemed to be gifting me a question that needed exploration… What really inspires me, how do I embody my yoga? My life has been in a constant state of flux for the last 6 months and in the current of change, finding the answer to what moves me initially felt quite elusive. 

The place that has offered refuge in the constant shifting is my meditation altar. Day after day I’ve been sitting to practice the art of being while my life swirled with the inevitable energy of doing.  A few mornings back, sitting in my quiet space, the inspiration arrived. What moves me is water. One of my daily practices, gifted to me by a wise teacher, is to have a cup of water on my meditation altar and upon waking, offer to the water, as the object of my meditation, my heartfelt intentions, devotions, mantras and gratitude for the day. When the process feels complete, I drink the water in, receiving in my body through the water all the gratitude and love that I have offered outwards. In this act of self care, I am reminded of the connection between all things. This practice of sitting and giving gratitude to the water has been my biggest gift. It is in anchor in a world of movement.

My love for water runs deep.  As a little girl I would stand at the mouth of a river and marvel at the paradox of water – the way water can be both the most gentle andpowerful thing on Earth. When obstacles arise, water moves. When the path changes, water shifts course with grace knowing it will arrive in due time. It is the gentle all encompassing force that lives within each of us. No matter what shifts around me, water is there to remind me to be both steady and soft. The invitation seems to be to become the embodiment of my yoga practice and find santosha, (contentment) even when the waters of life swirl with a little more current than usual. Water moves me – inspires me – to get on my mat and move. To sit and be still; and in that stillness opening the door for me to the yogic devotional practice of Ishvara Pranidhana – surrendering deeply to the flow of life. Thank you water, thank you.

RICHARD ROSEN’S ASANA BREAKDOWN NO. 8: VIRABHADRASANA 1

VĪRABHADRĀSANA I (veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna)

vīra = a brave or eminent person, hero, chief

bhadra = blessed, auspicious, fortunate, prosperous, happy; good, gracious, friendly, kind; excellent, fair, beautiful, lovely, pleasant, dear; skillful in; great

VIRABHADRA’S POSE, FIRST VARIATION aka Warrior Pose I

There are three related Virabhadrasana poses (VB hereafter), numbered 1, 2, and 3 (or I, II, and III if you like your numbers Romanized). VB 3 is easily the most challenging family member, in fact one of the more challenging standing poses. BKS Iyengar, in his Light on Yoga (LoY hereafter), which was first published in 1966, rates the difficulty of all its included poses on a scale from 1 to 60, one being the simplest, 60 the most challenging. There’s only one pose, by the way, among the 198 described and illustrated in the book, that’s rated 60, a back bend whose Sanskrit name translated to English is something like Principal Three-Limb Intense Stretch Pose (triang mukha uttanasana). Sort of dances off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Returning to our VB family, VB 3 is rated as a five, VB 1 as a three, and VB 2 as a one (all on the 60 scale). These numbers might be easier to appreciate on an equivalent 100-point scale, which gives us a five for VB 1, one for VB 2, and a little over eight for VB 3. I think it would be fair to say then that these numbers (and many others in the book) are pretty unrealistic for Western students, especially for VB 3, which is way too close to the low end of the scale.

I suspect the reason for these low-balled numbers was that Mr. Iyengar was still, in 1966,  relatively unfamiliar with the capacities of the average Western student. He’d been coming to the West by then for about 12 years, the US for 10, though I’m not sure how many trips he made overall, so I could be wrong. But one possible explanation is that he was fixing the asanas’ rating based on is own experience, which of course was far more extensive than any average Western student. Someone once told me–and I don’t remember who, and I can’t guarantee it’s truth–that when someone asked Mr. Iyengar if he could in retrospect change anything about LoY, what would it be, and he mentioned the number ratings. 

Vīrabhadrāsana is popularly known as the Warrior Pose, though it doesn’t seem to me that the character of Vīrabhadra is either a warrior or great hero. There are several different versions of his story, which mostly involve the deity Śiva, his spouse Satī (meaning virtuous, faithful), and Satī’s father Daksha (meaning able, intelligent), a son of Brahma and one of the fathers of the human race. 

As characters, Daksha and Śiva are at opposite ends of the behavioral spectrum. The former could be considered among the cultural elite, while the latter is a long-haired, pot-smoking counter-culture type, although of course he can be anything he wants to because he is, after all, god. Predictably they don’t get along, and in the various stories about them, one is always offending the other. 

So it happens that Daksha organizes a great sacrifice and invites all the sages and gods except one – guess who? Śiva couldn’t care less, but Satī feels insulted that her husband was left out and crashes the party to pick a bone with her father. Daksha though has his own bone to pick with his daughter about her husband, and publically humiliates Satī. She then decides to teach him an important lesson, and jumps into the sacrificial fire where she’s immediately burnt to a crisp. 

Now Śiva loves his wife dearly, and so goes crazy when he finds out what happened. Boiling with anger and craving revenge, he creates the monster Vīrabhadra, intending to sic him on Daksha and his sacrifice. Vīrabhadra is pictured in various ways, some fairly tame, others over-the-top extreme. In a latter description, he’s given a thousand heads and eyes, is armed to the teeth, smeared with ashes, and burns like hell fire. In the course of disrupting the sacrifice, he pulls out the Sun god’s teeth, cuts off the Fire god’s hands and tongue, crushes the Moon god with one of his toes, and chases off the king of the eagles. After all this there’s often a relatively happy ending. Satī is reborn as Parvati and is re-united with her husband, and Daksha relents and apologizes to Śiva, who then magnanimously forgives and forgets. 

I once was told–and again I’m blank about who it was–that the shape of the pose represents Virabhadra rising up from the earth at his creation. It’s always seemed to me that the numbering of VB 1 and VB 2 should be reversed, since I’ve been taught from day 1 that the pose under examination here flows naturally into VB 3. Be that as it may …

1. I like to brace my back heel in standing poses against a wall, and for VB 1 I might also elevate that back heel on a foam wedge or sandbag. This helps me get the needed rotation of the pelvis while at the same time protecting my lower back. So first bring the right foot forward, turned out 90 degrees, and the left foot back, turned in maybe 60 degrees. Depending on your height and flexibility, have anywhere from 3 to 4 feet between your feet.

2. Bring your hands to your hips and rotate your pelvis to the right. As much as is possible for you, square the front of your pelvis with the front edge of the sticky mat. Typically when the pelvis turns in this way, the back knee buckles a bit, so as the left hip comes around, press firmly into the back heel. 

3. Draw the front of the pelvis up, bring the pubic bone and navel close together, and lengthen the tail bone toward the floor. Have the top rim of the pelvis as parallel to the floor as possible.

4. Inhale and raise your arms perpendicular to the floor. You can keep the hands apart or bring the palms together (base of the palms touch first, then the palms, finally the fingers). The little fingers lead the way to the ceiling. 

5. Quickly with an exhale, bend the front knee. Aim the inner knee to the little toe side of the foot. Position the right knee over the heel so the shin is perpendicular to the floor, and as much as is possible, bring the underside of the thigh parallel to the floor.

6. Lean back on the shoulder blades for an upper torso back bend. Be sure to lengthen the lower back, you don’t want a deep lumbar curve. To do this, lengthen the tail downward and lift the back ribs up faster than the front ribs.

7. As for your head, beginners should keep it neutral, looking straight ahead. More experienced students can look up at the thumbs, but only if they can extend the head back from the root of the neck. 

8. Stay for 30 seconds to a minute. To come up, inhale, press the back heel firmly into the floor or its lift and reach up through the arms, straightening the right knee. Turn the feet forward, parallel to each other, and walk the feet together (if you’re using a wall; otherwise just reverse the position of the feet). Be sure not to shift forward onto the front foot. Release the arms with an exhale, or keep them extended upward for more challenge. Take a few breaths, the repeat on the second side for the same length of time as the first. 

Benefits

• Stretches the chest and lungs, shoulders and neck, belly, and groins (psoas) 

• Strengthens the shoulders and arms, and the muscles of the back

• Strengthens and stretches the thighs, calves, and ankles

Contraindications

• High blood pressure

• Heart problems 

Students with shoulder problems should keep their raised arms parallel (or slightly wider than parallel) to each other. Students with neck problems should keep their head in a neutral position, and not extend the neck.

Variations:

This pose can be performed with the arms in various positions. For example, go through steps 1 to 4 as described above, except with your hands resting on your hips. Then, once the forward knee is bent, swing your arms around behind your torso and clasp your hands. Stretch your hands away from the back torso and lift your chest. It’s acceptable to squeeze your scapulas together at first, but be sure, once the chest is lifted, to pull them away from the spine. To leave the pose, reach back with your hands and, with an inhale, “pull” yourself up, straightening the front knee. 

Partnering:

Here’s a partnering exercise for this pose, but you need two partners and a thick pole (like a broomstick). As you perform the pose, have your partners stand, facing you, to either side of your torso. They should hold the ends of the pole and lift it above your head.  Grasp the pole with your raised hands, then you and your partners push the pole up until your arms are fully extended. Imagine then, as all three of you push, that your torso and legs are “hanging” from the pole. 

NATURE, MY LOVE BY LEILA SWENSON

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” ~John Muir 

Has this ever happened to you? …Maybe while you were walking on the beach… or through the Redwoods… or in the Marin headlands… that you felt a deep connection to yourself, and wanted to dwell in that for as long as possible? …Maybe you felt a deep sense of peace, contentment, or joy, in just being?

I really feel Nature is nourishment, for the soul. 

When I’m taking a walk, or hanging out on a park bench in the Botanical Gardens, it is sheer delight for me to take in the big blue sky through my eyes, to feel the sun kiss and warm my face, the wind play with my hair, the grass tickle my feet, and to hear the chirpy-chirp of birds, ( especially the slurpy-slurp of hummingbirds).

Instantaneously, I feel energized and more alive.

One of my favorite things is to smell the distinctive scent of eucalyptus trees, and even more sweet, to hear their leaves rustle lightly, whispering secrets on the breeze.

Every single time I’m in the gardens I’ll notice I have a huge smile on my face… It’s pure bliss to feel so connected to something greater than myself, and at the same time, feel accepted as a unique part of what surrounds me.

One day, I was intently watching a bee draw nectar from a flower, and I saw how selflessly the flower gave, playing its role. I wondered, what can I learn from the flower? What is my nature? What is my role? How am I a part of this great web of life? What can I selflessly give, for the benefit of others? What are others, selflessly giving, for the benefit of me?

I thought of the words of Albert Einstein: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” 

Yes. 

It is important for us to get outside and enjoy, appreciate, and learn from this beautiful natural world of ours… To be moved by the oceans, lakes, mountains, streams, valleys, wind, stars, hills, sky, clouds, trees, meadows, flowers, and more, is an amazing gift. To be in Nature inspires care and action on behalf of our environment, and great love for our “home sweet home” on this planet Earth.

It also simply feels good.

When was the last time you went out into nature… and found yourself, going in? 

… Maybe I’ll see you, there.

by Leila Swenson

RICHARD ROSEN’S ASANA BREAKDOWN NO. 7: VIRABHADRASANA 2

VĪRABHADRĀSANA 2
(veera-bah-DRAS-anna)

vira = brave person, hero
bhadra = blessed, auspicious, prosperous, happy, etc.

Popularly known as Warrior Pose, 2nd variation (abbreviated below as V2)

Although he was certainly war-like, I’m not sure that “Warrior” describes Virabhadra accurately; rather, he was a monstrous emanation of the deity Shiva, the patron saint of Hatha Yoga, with a “thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, wielding a thousand clubs … shining with dreadful splendour … clothed in tiger’s skin, dripping with blood…” Virabhadra was cooked up specifically to settle a score with Shiva’s father-in-law, a powerful prajapati, or “lord of creatures,” named Daksha (“skillful, intelligent”). I won’t go into the rather gruesome details of this story, suffice it to say that Virabhadra crashed a great sacrifice Daksha was leading and set about teaching him a lesson he’d never forget. One version of the story has him wreaking violence among the sacrifice’s participants, crushing this and dismembering that, until he finally chopped  off Daksha’s head. When Shiva went to stick it back on it couldn’t be found, so he used a goat’s head instead. Lesson learned.

I don’t know this for sure, but V2 may be based on a pose called Pratyalidha-asana, which is a “particular attitude in shooting” a bow and arrow. I often wonder why this pose is counted as the second in the three-pose Virabhadra series. It seems to me that V2 should be numbered one, since it quite naturally flows into V1 (which then lifts up to V3).

In any case, it doesn’t appear that any of the Virabhadras are very old. The earliest attested description of V1 is found in Yoga Rahasya (“Secret of Yoga”). This book has an extremely interesting story. When it first appeared it was attributed to one Natha-muni, was once claimed that it was over a thousand years old, though it was finally determined that it was product of the 20th century

In my 38 years of practice, mostly in Iyengar Land, I’ve watched the words fly in some heated asana controversies. There was, for example, the great pelvis-in-a-twist fracas, one camp insisting the pelvis should stay neutral while the rest of the torso twists. An opposing camp countered, no, the pelvis should turn with the rest of the torso, keeping it neutral could lead to all  sorts of lower back issues. This led to a clash over the pelvis’ position in the two-sided standing poses, i.e., Triangle and Half Moon, Side Angle and its twisted variation, and V2.

One camp (I won’t name any names) asserted that the pelvis should be “flattened” as if performing the pose between two panes of glass. I call this camp the form-over-function camp. The opposition here unequivocally states that the pelvis needs to turn with the rest of the torso, else in neutrality there’s a tremendous strain put on the back hip and front knee. These folks (I’m revealing here who I adhere to) are function-over-form.

PRELIMINARY: I’ve learned a number of very useful exercises in my years as a yoga student, but none more useful than the one I’ll describe here. You’ll need a yoga block (although a rolled-up sticky mat will do in a pinch) and an open wall (a foam block is preferable, a cork block will probably be OK, a wooden block will provide you with a challenging experience).

Position one side of the block against the very top back thighs, just under the creases of the buttocks, then brace the block against the wall. Step your heels out from the wall about the length of the block, say 9 or 10 inches. In an upright position push back with the topmost thighs against the block, you may feel yourself getting slightly taller. Take an exhale and, without losing any of the height you may have created, tip the torso about halfway, roughly parallel, to the floor. If you’re just learning this exercise you may find that the block slips down a bit and is no longer directly against your topmost back thighs. Should this happen, re-adjust the block, then come down into the forward bend about three-quarters of the way.

Now look to see if, in trying to press your thighs back against the block, you’re simply locking your knees. One very clear giveaway in that your knee caps are slightly turned inward. If this is the case, bend your knees until the caps face forward and press your hands against the calves to resist the knees. Spend a few minutes in the forward bend, getting a feel for what it’s like to “ground” the thigh bones (specifically the femur heads). Don’t be discouraged if at first you can’t figure out how to do this, keep trying regularly and eventually the “grounding” will come.

PRACTICE: Now for the pose. I like to do my standing poses with my back heel pressed to a wall, and I recommend you do this at least occasionally.

1. Separate your feet about 3½ to 4 feet, generally farther apart the taller you are. Brace your left heel against a wall and turn your foot slightly forward, your little toe should be off the wall. Turn your right foot out a full 90 degrees, so the big toe points straight at the front end of your mat.

2. Turn your pelvis slightly to the right, so the left hip is slightly closer to the long edge of the mat. Look at your right knee. Rotate the thigh outwardly (laterally) until the center of the knee cap is aligned with the point midway between the inner and outer ankle bones. Let the left hip come as far forward and it needs to in order to align the knee with the center of the ankle. Remember: in order to “ground” the back leg, press back on the top left thigh and allow the pelvis to turn right as much as it needs to.

3. When bending the front knee into V2, there’s a tendency to let the weight shift onto the ball of the front foot. To counter this destabilizing shift, bring half your attention to the back heel, the one against the wall. When you bend your front knee, be sure to PUSH BACK at the same time on the head of the left femur, which will drive the left heel into the wall. Think of the back leg moving toward the wall as the bending knee moves toward the front of the mat.

4. Now as for bending the front knee. It’s common, when bending, for the knee to “circle” down, that is, it rounds slightly to the inside of the foot before coming to rest directly over the heel. This isn’t a good idea over the long term. To protect the knee then, aim the INNER KNEE toward the LITTLE TOE side of the foot. Align the knee right over the heel (so the shin is perpendicular to the floor) and keep it there for the duration of the pose. If you have the flexibility bring the underside of the thigh parallel to the floor, so the knee is more or less at a right angle. Bend with an exhale.

5. After bending the front knee, it’s not uncommon for the torso to lean forward a bit. Ideally though you’d like the shoulders to be aligned over the pelvis. So allow the head of the right femur to drop toward the floor (you’re still “grounding” it) and lift the right hip point up and away. Imagine too that your tail bone is lengthening down into and through floor.

6. Now lift and outstretch the arms with an inhale. We often see the arms held too high or too low, so bring the arms parallel with the top line of the shoulders. Anatomically of course the arms are rooted in the shoulder sockets, but imagine instead they’re rooted in the mid back, between the scapulas. Reach out from this area actively through the fingertips.

7. Finally the head. Most students will naturally turn the head to look out over the front arm. This is acceptable as long as the chin dips down toward the top of the right shoulder. If your head tends to be tilted backward (or if you have any neck injuries), it would be best to avoid turning it for awhile; instead, just look straight forward. Stay in the pose for 1 to 2 minutes, breathing easily, then come up with a inhale, and reverse feet for the second side. NOTE: when moving away from the wall after performing the first side, be sure not to lunge forward onto the front leg; instead, turn the right foot forward parallel to the left, and when your weight is evenly balanced on both feet, walk your feet together.

Beginner’s tip: If you have difficulty supporting yourself in this pose, position a metal folding chair outside your forward leg, with the front edge of the chair seat facing you. As you bend the forward knee into the pose, slide the front edge of the chair seat under your thigh (taller students may need to build up the height of the chair seat with a thickly folded blanket). Then simply sit on the chair with front leg thigh.

Intermediate’s tip: To intensify the strength/lengthening of the arms, try this. Reach your arms out to the sides and the turn the palms up. Do this by sliding the shoulder blades down your back. Then without letting the blades lift, turn the palms down by rotating from the wrists.

Contraindications: Serious knee and/or back injury.