On Saturday, I took a break from all the screens, cursors, and endless tidbits of information that filter through to our various in-boxes. I was exhausted and worn out, and my creativity was taking a serious nose dive. I closed my Mac, turned off my phone, and collapsed in a heap on my yoga mat. My brain was so full that I couldn’t even think clearly. Everything around me seemed fuzzy.

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“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” ~ Joseph Campbell

At the suggestion of a friend, I’ve been reading a lot of Joseph Campbell lately. I recently watched his DVD interviews with Bill Moyers around the idea of myth and the hero’s journey. A piece of the interviews that really caught my attention is their discussion about the importance of having a sacred place in our lives.
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Every time I practice yoga, I set an intention before I begin the asanas. Sometimes it’s for a friend or family member who needs help. Sometimes it’s for a cause I believe in or an organization doing good work. For the past week I’ve been dedicating my practice to the people of Haiti.

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“For those just coming back from vacation, think carefully about what you are going to put your fresh, valuable mind to in your first few days. Value this resource highly. It may be your only chance to see the mountain you are on, to decide if you’re taking the right path up, or even if it’s the right mountain to be climbing at all.” ~ David Rock in Psychology Today

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on clearing my mind more often during the day. The natural tendency for a busy mind is to work ever-harder to crack a problem or find an innovative solution. The yogic belief is that a clear, unburdened, relaxed mind is actually a more creative, efficient problem solver. And now that belief has a boost from hardcore science.

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This felt great. For posterity:

Kundalini Warmup (seated, all with Breath of Fire)

• Low Back Flexes (hands on knees)
• Mid Back Flexes (hands on ankles)
• Spinal Twists (hands on shoulders)
• Upper Back Flexes (hands on shoulders)
• Shoulder Shrugs (hands on thighs)
• Shoulder Seesaws (hands clasped)
• Shoulder Stretch (hands clasped in front of heart and pull, above head and pull)
• Neck Circles
• Eye Circles

Vinyasa Warmup

• Down Dog
• Down Dog Split (twisted)
• Crescent Lunge
• Forward Angle
• Handstand
• Lunge
• Down Dog Split (straight)
• repeat other side

Hatha Holds

• Camel
• Forearm Stand (2x, lead w/each leg)
• Headstand

Then run take a shower! (That was all I had time for.) 30 minutes total.

Gosha I borrowed your photo

Crazy week last week, but I kept up a daily practice, a MORNING practice no less, for the length of it. Why? I got off on a good foot last weekend (a blissful hiking/yoga retreat with some Russian friends)… and my morning practice is 15 minutes short!

3-5 sun salutations, left and right sides

100 breaths of fire (in Plank)

2 handstands

That’s it. It’s delicious and fun, I’m so stiff that I don’t try to stretch, I just step back all sloppy and sleepy. And it wakes me up and sets the tone for the day.

And, five minutes of meditation after I get off my computer each night has cleared my insomnia! Yoga EXPRESS, love it.

[I'm just writing this so I remember that daily practice doesn't have to be a big ordeal.]

I was thinking the other day about what I wanted to be in the future. When I grow up. I want be someone who practices yoga and meditation every day.

Then I realized — I am that person, RIGHT NOW, if I practice yoga and meditate today. It’s not like “I want to be a world-famous photographer” where you have to build a portfolio and a reputation over years and years. All I have to do is practice yoga and meditate today. And tomorrow. And repeat. It’s an identity that’s defined by habits, not by goals. Verbs, not nouns.

I’m going to major in linguistics.

How do you keep your practice schedule organized? For me, pen and paper never gets old. And this week I made it into full color:

Mastery of Space and Time

That’s my newly-encircled calendar. It’s just an ugly wall calendar from the office supply store that I like because of the weird to-do forms at the top of each page. I was getting overwhelmed with the exercise/ice routine recommended by my PT, on top of my yoga practice, on top of trying to build a meditation practice. I am not a robot and it’s hard to remember to do six exercise routines a day. And floss my teeth.

So, my calendar sat there, and finally BEGGED for some doodling. Blue circles are for meditation. Yellow is for yoga. The black boxes are for icing and strengthening my knee (twice daily). Then I write everything else in red so it pops forward.

I figured I’d show this at the beginning of the month while it looks all perfect. Already the checking off of boxes is giving me great satisfaction and motivation. My inner six-year-old takes over scheduling from now on. Maybe I can get my sister the first grade teacher to give me some stickers…

Most Americans are introduced to yoga through the poses. (Sometimes I think that Krishnamacharya’s genius was to let us see it as a physical thing, instead of another religion to convert to or flee from. Later on, we can try on the spirituality.) Then we might find breathing or meditation practices. And eventually we get it hammered into our heads that it’s not just about physical health, or habits, but our whole psychology and worldview. And there’s more to practice than just Down Dog. As Patanjali put it:

“The eight limbs of yoga are: respect toward others, self-restraint, posture, breath control, detaching at will from the senses, concentration, meditation, and contemplation.”

[Bernard Bouanchaud's translation of Sutra II.29 in The Essence of Yoga]

That’s where you get the benefits beyond a gym workout. Postures are only step three. Do we want to be in third grade forever? Did we even DO first grade?

But still, once we study and (somewhat) understand these tips that Patanjali gives us, it’s really interesting to circle back around and apply each of these steps to our roots, for example our asana practice.

1. Are you respecting your teachers, fellow students, and studio staff?
2. Are you applying self-restraint in asana practice, or always going for the most advanced variation?
3. Do you understand the definition of a yoga pose — hard yet soft?
4. Are you breathing comfortably in your practice, or holding / controlling / ignoring the breath?
5. Are you able to detach from the sensations — or appearance — of your body?
6. Are you really concentrating on the present moment as you practice?
7. Are you able to prolong your focus and receive insight?
8. Are you able to leave “you” behind and become just insight?

I’ll be on retreat for the next 8 days, so think about these 8 limbs for now. We’ll have some special guest posts, too, so keep dropping in. Take a look at some of the archives. Or, you know, actually get off the computer and practice ;)

Last night at the park, after my run, a girl was practicing yoga next to me. (A cute assortment of yogis had gathered at one end of the track.) She did lots of stretchy poses, the ones I like to do: Standing Crescents, High Lunges, Wide-Legged Forward Bends. And after enough peeking, I noticed a certain drama, and emphasis, on the flexibility. A prevailing hardness, not so much softness. And I realized, “That’s me. That’s how I (used to?) practice.”

I hadn’t escaped the showmanship. I was very conscious of the shapes I could or wanted to make. The more flexible I got in my practice, the more I felt the temptation to show off how flexible I was. Yoga was still an achievement, a skill, a linear path. Challenging the body, pushing towards an idealized shape, gave me a goal on which to focus, and a feeling of actually DOING something. I only started breathing deeply in yoga a couple years ago.

I’m studying therapeutic yoga now, and anatomy, and it’s made me close my eyes to go for feeling instead of shape. “Ugly Yoga”, someone called it. Permission is granted to differ from the pictures on the posters. Deeper layers of muscles are being found. Practice feels like conversation with the body, not mastery. And old poses have acquired new energy.

But still, it’s hard to practice without performing. Our extroverted culture encourages beautiful entertainers, and we’re all social beings. (Shantitown has a good post about acknowledging the desire to be recognized.)

I try to remember that recognition, once received, is actually an obstacle, just like the Sutras say about siddhis. [III.37 — "These faculties are obstacles in contemplation, but powers in active life."] Recognition may serve me socially, but it’s one more thing I have to battle on my mat. Once I get it, I expect it again. If I don’t get it, I wonder “why not?” And there are much cooler things to focus on.