Yoga for a Bright New Year

My practice lately has naturally been drawn to the heart chakra and it’s qualities of compassion and universal oneness. As I look back at this last year, I see myself with compassion and realize that I am woven into the greater fabric of my community, my planet, and the Universe. I take that compassion and allow the soothing and calming waters of the fourth chakra to open my heart to myself and others. “I love” is the mantra for the heart. I love the anticipation for what can happen next in the year to come.

All around me people are cramming in everything they can before the end of 2010. I stopped making lists full of goals I knew I wouldn’t accomplish years ago and so for me, the end of the year is a time to relax, reflect, and prepare for the imminent new beginning. If there is something I didn’t get a chance to do this year, I can add it to my vision for the New Year. And note, I say “vision” not “resolution”. To me, resolutions were lofty goals I made to somehow make up for the areas in which I thought I was lacking. Visioning gives me something tangible to look at everyday which gives me purpose to take action. When I want something to become real, I vision instead of resolve.

I use the tool of vision boards. I go through magazines and rip out pictures and words that express what I’m feeling inside. I paste them on a board and hang the board on my wall where I can see it everyday. I then get to stare at my vision and it makes me accountable for it. I am reminded of small steps I can take to make those visions a reality.

We’re at the doorway of a new season, a new year, and a new age. This can be a time for us to reflect on the recent past and create our visions for the future. The mantra that comes to mind is “om gum ganapatayei namaha” which is the mantra to remove all obstacles standing in the way of my progress. As I hear those words over and over I can see myself accomplishing things I never before thought possible. I see myself in a handstand without the wall. I see myself being accepted to graduate school and earning the degree which will allow me to work in the profession I feel will allow me to express my place in the universe as I help people get in touch with their bodies and with their health. I see myself growing old with the woman I love as we devote our lives to each other.

As I take my place on the mat on hands and knees, I place my hands squarely under my shoulders; my knees under my hips. My back is neutral and my breath is even. Inhaling, I engage mula bhanda (root lock) by lifting all the muscles of the pelvic floor and I draw my navel towards the earth beneath me. My heart reaches forward, out, and up and my gaze draws to the ceiling—reaching not with my chin but with my brow. Feeling myself full of new breath, new ideas, new life I exhale and start to point my tail to the ground as my spine waves, my back arches, and my gazes falls in to my navel. When the breath is complete, I begin the cycle again. Each end is a new beginning. When once breath empties from my body, I do not mourn the end of a powerful exhale; rather, I rejoice in the opportunity to sip in a new breath and to experience what is in store for me.

Breathing through cat and cow is a wonderful way for me to be reminded of the cycles we live each day. And of the fact that they are, indeed, cycles. Life is not a haphazard collection of parallel and intersecting lines that stop and start. Life is a pattern of continuing circles that overlap sometimes and go off in new directions other times. Even as my pattern spins off in a direction I did not anticipate, there are moments I do recognize or moments I did plan. There is a certain peace and acceptance in that for me.

As we cross the doorway into a new season, into a new year and into a new age, we can enter our own period of enlightenment and true living. What’s your vision?

Namasté and Happy Holidays.

Yoga for Computer Jobs

I work as a Financial Analyst. That means I sit at a desk all day and look at a computer screen. I work on spreadsheets and so often find myself leaning forward and leaning with my chin to see what I’m doing. I let go of my core and I crunch the back of my neck. My shoulders rise and chin juts out. My right arm is raised and lives on my mouse. I use a trackball which helps my shoulder but I do an awful lot of clicking and scrolling with my right forefinger. Then I lean back and slouch in my chair when I want to get a wide-shot of the amazingly complicated spreadsheet I’ve just created.

As you can likely imagine, my body gets pretty uncomfortable in a fairly short period of time. I feel the need to stretch and twist and yawn and refresh my brain on a pretty regular basis. Luckily, yoga doesn’t have to be practiced on a mat in a studio; luckily, I can practice yoga at my desk--and my co-workers might not even know I’m doing it!

Here are a few things I do during the day...

Desk Dandasana
Place your hands on the armrests of your chair and stick your legs out straight. I happen to have a shelf under my desk upon which I can rest my heels as I engage my feet and point my toes to the ceiling. If you don’t have one of those, you can always try to find a box to use as a footrest. And if you still can’t find anything, it’s OK, you only need your legs out for a few seconds. Tuck your chin and stretch the back of the neck long. Take a deep breath into the sides of your neck and drawn your navel into your spine. Hold the pose and breathe 3 full breaths...

Upright Cat and Cow
Place your feet on the floor and your hands on your armrests. Scoot forward in your chair so that your shins are as close to 90 degrees to the floor as you can easily manage. Press down with your hands and take the gaze to the ceiling--but try not to jut the chin out. Inhale as your body opens--heart coming forward and hips rolling forward and down. As you exhale, move your hands to the front of your desk and push yourself back (you’re likely in a rolling-chair so you’ll scoot back) until your arms and legs are straight. Take the gaze to your navel and as you push your hips away from your hands, feel the breath filling the space between your ribs. Hold the pose while the inhalation works its way through your whole body. Repeat a few times (3 to 5 is ideal) and be sure to yoke your breath with your body. Remember: if you’re moving, you should be breathing.

Swivel-chair Twists
Sitting on the edge of your chair with your feet flat on the floor, place your right hand on the right armrest of your chair. Inhale and sit up straight and tall. As you exhale, slide your left hand down the outside edge of your right knee, palm facing in. Turn your head to the right and maybe even look back over your right shoulder a little. You can use your right hand for a bit of opposing pressure but this isn’t supposed to be a yanking and pulling twist; we’re unwinding the body here so go easy. With each inhale, fall out of the pose just a touch and exhale a bit deeper into it. Do this for 3-5 breaths. Bring everything back together and do it to the left.

Arms Overheard Stretch
Sit up straight and tall. Interlace your fingers and, as you inhale, take them overhead with you palms facing up. Take the gaze up if you like or you can look down. If you look down, try looking up to the right, coming up under your arm. That gives me a nice stretch in my neck and shoulder area. If you do it to the right, do it to the left. Inhale as you look up and exhale and you return to neutral or a downward-facing gaze.

Spreadsheet Neck Stretch
I heard about this in a class once... Create a page that has text running to the right, from top to bottom, from left to right, and from bottom to top. When your neck gets stiff from sitting and staring at your monitor, take a break and read it. As you move your head, be sure to ground both hips into your seat and try to keep your shoulders level. Not only will your head get a chance to pause, but your neck will get a nice stretch as well!

Here's the one I use:

Formula Calculation Meditation
While you’re waiting for your formulas to calculate or your Pivot Tables to refresh, why not close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Sometimes I like to say a few Om’s while I breathe but it’s certainly not required. Not only do you get to avoid having to watch and wait impatiently while your spreadsheet catches up with your fabulous calculations, but you’ll also get a small opportunity to recharge and then when you do open your eyes, voila! It’s ready to go...

Enjoy, Spreadsheet in good health, and Namasté

I'm not sure why I tried doing it that way...

I do this thing sometimes where I try to quit something or do it the hard way just for the sake of being contrary. I'll practice with a really thin mat to show that my knees and hips can take when I know full well my body appreciates a second mat for more cushioning. I'll go directly to a bind to prove that I can (to whom? To me? The others in the room? The instructor?) instead of easing into it by taking some time in the other stages of the posture. And just recently, I tried to quit the social networking side of the Internet when here I am, using it for my very own Yoga business.

Suffice it to say, my contrary nature doesn't usually last very long. After a week or so of bruised knees and hips, I double up my mat. Once I strain a muscle or need more adjustments I start at the beginning of a pose instead of what I think of as the end. And when I notice that I use those websites as much as I did before, I allow myself to use it as a way of getting in touch with my friends.

The question I have is why so contrary? Why say no right off the bat before thinking about how much better yes might feel or how much more natural it will be. There are aspects of my personality where this comes into play frequently but I am still amazed (or at least tickled) when it shows up...especially in Yoga. For some reason, I feel like my Yoga practice is exempt from these qualities of my character—or at least it should be. It's not, however. It's just as susceptible as the rest of the things I do to fall victim to me getting in my own dang way.

All is not lost. There is hope for me and those like me. Noticing what I do is the first step—well, being willing to notice it is really the first step but awareness is right up there. So I'm willing to see, I can see, and then, if I can just get to acceptance, I think I have a chance. Acceptance, for me, of these quirky little things I do is the only way I know how to get past them. Somehow when I accept that they are a part of me I get immediate permission to stop doing them. I am freed from my own contrary nature.

Suddenly, using a second or a thicker may does not make me any more or less than other people practicing Yoga. Amazingly, when I stretch before tying myself up in yogic knots, my body is open to such things. And lo and behold, when I admit that I am “on the grid” I can simply open myself back up to social networking without being afraid of “I told you so” and “Ha! You're back” even if I get those responses from people.

Willingness to see it. See it. Accept it. Let it go. It sounds so simple...why can't it always be so easy?

Good thing I can blog about it...

Namasté

Just because it's different doesn't mean it's not as good...

I noticed recently that when I have a different experience than others do, say, in a class, group, or yoga practice, I jump right to judging mine as "not as good" as theirs. As though I am somehow not as authentic as they are because I reacted differently. When I look at this as a yogi, I have to giggle at myself a little because if you have ever taken a class with me, you may recall that the one thing I remind the class over and over and over again is that every body and every practice is different. We are all at different places with our bodies, with our injuries, with out emotions, and in our practice. Of course we will all feel different feelings and experience something as an individual even in a group activity.


I think some of this comes from the notion that individual experience is equal to separateness. If I don't feel the same as my neighbor, I must feel different and if we feel different about Surya Namaskar A, we must be somehow removed from each other. This doesn't have to be true. I can have a completely different set of feelings and physicality going on on my mat than does the yogi next to me but throughout the practice and during our final closing meditation, we are but two petals on a bloom.


Maybe I have a tendency to judge my perceived separateness because I am afraid that I will be on the outside and never find my way into the group consciousness. The thing that "me" doesn't realize is that my individuality is already in the Universal Spirit and Consciousness. It is a part of who we all are and what we all feel. The fact that my yoga-mate is recovering from shoulder surgery makes me more mindful of shoulders in general. The class-mate who tries yoga for the very first time and loves it renews my love to share what yoga has given me over the years. My exhale sounds not only in my ears, but in the ears of the people in the asana room. We're all in this thing together...


What's more, if we are all a part of each others' experiences with the Universe, then we're also a part of our own experience with the Universe. The more I realize I am a part of everything (instead of apart from everything), the closer I am to what I understand as God. I cannot be connected to the Divine but disconnected from my fellows because they and I and we are all one. I think I'll try to practice that one-ness some more. My favorite mantra comes to mind:


Om namo bhagavate vasu devaya (ohm nam-o bhag-a-va-tay va-sue day-vai- ya) One translation I like of this is "Oh infinite Lord, indweller in the heart of all beings, unto you do I turn my consciousness. To see the God within everyone and everything"


Next time I feel separate from others I look forward to closing my eyes and taking a breath. I will hear their breath in mine and mine in theirs. When we practice together I will feel the postures on their bodies as well as my own. When we meditate as a group I will feel connected to each and every person around me and I will let myself connect to them. I will see the God within everyone and everything.


Namasté

It doesn't look how I want it to look today...

I used to practice asana more often than I do now. I used to be stronger and have more endurance. I used to be more flexible. My right hip and wrist didn't used to speak to me quite so loudly as they do today. I used to have a core like a tree-trunk.... The list can go on--if I let it.

The truth is, I'm human. Congratulations. My body and my practice have changed, are changing, and will continue to change as long as I'm alive...and that's a good thing. When I can peel myself away from the movie which tells me I should be this or I used to do that for just long enough to catch a breath, I am reminded that all that stuff in none of my business. If my heels do or don't touch the ground in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog) is really none. of. my. business. My business is to practice the asana with sincerity and the rest will be however it is.

Sometimes I try to fight that and I am inclined to push, pull, or yank my way into a posture but each time I am swiftly and lovingly reminded that is not where I am at that moment. It's a great experience when I remember to let go and just be in the pose--and I am grateful to hear reminders from teachers to do just that--but sometimes I don't listen and I try to live in the past or in the future. And, go figure, those are the times when I find my thoughts, breath, and practice in general to be disorganized and clunky.

On the occasions that I am able to take a step back and breathe into a posture, however, my body, breath, and mind fall into a beautifully choreographed ballet. I close my eyes and inhale. I can feel my heart lift and my sacrum point to the floor. My toes wiggle into the mat. As I exhale, my shoulders fall down away from my ears and my chin rests easy. Samasthithi (Equal Standing).

I inhale and lift my arms out to the side and up over my head and just as my fingertips touch, my gaze meets my thumbs and I can float inside my inhale. Exhaling, my arms open to the side and down to the ground as my body folds in half, chin to my chest and fingers to my toes. Feeling myself empty, I enjoy the stretch of Uttanasana (Forward Bend).

As I inhale my heart reaches forward as my gaze lifts to the sky, fingers grazing the ground in Adrha Uttanasana (Half Forward Bend) and I exhale back into the fold and jump back and down into Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-limbed Staff Pose), letting go of the stale breath and thought that interferes with my conscious contact to my practice and the universe.

I inhale from my toes and roll forward and through into Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog) where I receive new breath and new ideas. As I exhale and lift from my root, I press back and crawl into Adho Mukha Svanasana and I let my body find the pose on its own. Breathing five full breaths in this posture is one of the most direct ways I have ever experienced to dial-in to what is going on in my body and with my thoughts at that very moment. It reminds me to be present and to be grateful and to be patient.

I inhale and fill my body with new breath which I use to jump my feet back up to meet my hands on an exhale. As I inhale, my chin stays in and my arms reach out to the side and rotate up together to meet in Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Hand Pose). I exhale back to Tadasana (Mountain Pose) and feel myself connected still and once again.

When I put it that way, that looks exactly how I want it to look today...

On this day...
In this moment...
With this breath....

Namasté

That just doesn't serve me anymore...

I overheard something funny at work today. Without boring you to tears with the technical details, a co-worker was upset about a thing that was set to install on his computer at a time he deems inconvenient. We received notices and were asked not to postpone the installation; he tried to postponed the installation and it installed anyway. He wasn't ready for it and it changed his productivity for about an hour. I then overheard him irritatedly recount the story to several of his co-workers and I noticed something: each time he told the story he sounded more and more irritated.

I noticed how that simply doesn't work for me anymore. There are many people in my life who try and help me remember to find the positive and to stay in the solution rather than the problem and that, ultimately, the way the world works isn't up to me. The more I am able to remember that, the easier it is for me to be OK with losing an hour of my morning to some installation for which I am due.

I am truly grateful for these people in my life--both sets remind me how powerful it is to simply choose to let go of the baggage that brings me down. The former does this by live and active example; I would rather not spend my morning being irritated and drafting an angry email if I can possibly avoid it. The latter does it in a more gentle and constant reminding way by not allowing me to sit in "poor me" when the solution is sometimes just to stop letting it get to me.

I look back at when the slightest upset in my plan wound me into a tizzy (sometimes I only have to look back about 5 minutes!) and I wonder how I was able to change my perspective. Practice, I suppose, is the best answer. That and a belief in the knowledge and realization that most things in life aren't up to me. Sometimes I really want them to be but my own experience has proven to me time and time again that they just aren't. And since they aren't up to me, my tizzy-ing has no effect on their outcomes but are rather just for my benefit. From there, I (slowly) learned that being in a tizzy isn't actually beneficial to my emotional and spiritual well-being and so if I just stop and go with the flow, things can get a lot easier.

This works for a lot of things, by the way. People treating me a certain way doesn't work for me anymore and so I create boundaries where I can and remove people from my life when that's the answer. Gossip doesn't feel as good as it used to and so I don't have to participate in a conversation if it turns down that road or I can even walk away from it altogether. Not paying my bills on time leaves me feeling unsettled these days and so I pay them when they are due. The same can be said for anything I do--or used to do--that doesn't work anymore. No matter what behavior it is, I can usually find a way to behave differently so I don't feel out of sorts.

Sounds easy enough that I didn't believe it could be true at first. They'd tell me to "choose to be happy" or some baloney like that and I shook my head because they just didn't understand. But after awhile I tried it. It works. I can choose to let things continue to upset me or I can choose to accept the outcomes I face in daily life. Try it. Next time something over which you have no control doesn't go the way you want it to, let yourself get irritated for a minute and then see what happens when you remind yourself that it's not up to you; that you have the choice to let it go and be at peace. The first time will be clunky...the second time maybe less so but after awhile, you'll find that quiet and slightly knowing smile resting on your face most of the time.

Life is just so much more comfortable for me when I'm not trying to force my way through it. It's relaxing to be relaxed even when things around me aren't what I think of as my ideal. "Freedom is not shelter from the storm but serenity within it," my guru used to remind us. For me, the freedom comes from letting go of behaviors and attitudes when I realize they just don't serve me anymore. Serenity is the result...and it's priceless.