The Living Practice Online

Yoga Articles, Yoga Essays, Yoga Stories, Yoga Wisdom

Check back often as we refresh and renew our online treasure-trove of inspirational articles in our Living Practice Online. Our writers are a devoted group of yoga practitioners from all lineages with the intention to illustrate ways to incorporate yoga in to everyone's daily practice ... everywhere!

Pinca Mayurasana Peacock Tailfeather

When you’ve perfected

this posture

throw it away –

a peacock cannot see

the beautiful feathers

behind it.

Reprinted from Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, Stone Bridge Press.

Leza is a published author, yoga instructor and co-owner of Sun and Moon Yoga Studio located in Meguro, Japan. 

Workshop Report

Body Landscapes

Dancing the Feminine

By Charlotte Holtzermann

With instructors Georgianne Cowan and Stephanie Franz on June 12, 2006.

"Summer is upon us and there is a blossoming into shape and space." Stephanie Franz welcomed a circle of seven women in a large, carpeted studio.

On the threshold of summer, I visit this class to renew my soul in movement, to feel space with closed eyes, to let impulse unfold.  It is a feminine way to move intuitively through uncharted ground.  I feel liquid, serpent-like and free in this context of exploring movement and ritual play.

The space is dressed with fabric and symbols; an altar on the floor hosts a bowl of water, small buddha figures, candles and broad green leaves.  Panels of violet, sage, saffron and red chiffon hang from high beams.  Piles of small, smooth stones suggest to my feet that it's time for summer walks at low tide.

We begin a warm up holding hands with our left palm up and right hand down. A current of air envelopes us.  We emit an audible "ah" on our exhale, letting our inhale grow into a full, suspended breath.  Georgianne suggests that we use our left hand to stroke the back of our neck and our right hand to circle the abdomen.

We shift on to our hands and knees and let our pelvis move in a figure eight; letting this movement be the source of opening the torso and legs.  After years of beginning class at the barre in ballet or standing on the mat in yoga, I feel animal like - grounded, as we begin to warm up from all fours.  Georgianne encourages us to sense the ember, the heat in our tail bone.

We continue to stretch into our feet, to make gestures touching our heart.  We move for the first hour to haunting chants and drums.  Each woman passing through her inner worlds.  I revel in exploring trance, dance and ritual.

After a short break, Stephanie introduces the second round by talking about recent evidence in science which shows the function of mirror neurons in our brain; how much we understand through empathic intake and imitation.  She mentioned a recent study of a monkey's brain wired to a monitor in a lab showing the monkey's neurons mirroring a lab technician licking an ice cream cone.

This idea is key to our next round:  To be in a state of mirroring and offering to each other.  "This is about meeting, blessing and exposing yourself," said Stephanie. Each of us took turns moving before and interacting with the group. I was moved watching some women reveal raw angst and rapture.  This rite of exposing internal terrain in movement brought us into more intimate space.

In the third round, each of us took time to dwell at various altars in the room, exploring self in stillness and with stones, bells, veils, corridors, cushions and the floor.  After years of training in various dance and movement disciplines, I am drawn into this domain of exploring space and gesture.  It feels like feminine yoga - joining psyche and soma.

Georgianne Cowan and Stephanie Franz embody and articulate womanly, earthy and ethereal dance.  They met while studying Continuum movement with Emile Conrad and Susan Harper. Their idiom is guided and mimetic movement incorporating myth, dream and prayer. They inspire women to tap into a feminine landscape of exploration and healing.

With Michael Tobias, Georgianne edited a book of collected essays on The Soul of Nature.  She is a photographer and performance artist in a video she produced entitled Earth Dreaming.  Stephanie Franz, M.A., is a movement therapist and professional Birth Assistant.  They blend and complement each other in a shared evening of guiding the group.

Georgianne and Stephanie will resume classes in Body Landscapes on Monday

evenings beginning September 11th.  For more information, contact GCowan2000@aol.com  

Charlotte Holtzermann teaches Beginning Hatha Yoga at LMU Extension and for children in STAR Education.  She works with individuals in Alexander Technique, Aquatic Exercise and Watsu.

mailto:Charlotteholtz@yahoo.com

Milk In The Age of Convenience

By Arun Deva

As with all great treasures, milk comes with certain caveats. As our society further distances itself from nature and turns gradually more synthetic, these caveats turn into dire warning signals. A look at milk’s qualities as expressed in the magnificent Ayurvedic text, the Caraka Samhita, shows the potentiality of both misuse and overuse.  Caraka lists milk’s qualities as sweet, cold, soft, lubricant, unctuous, smooth, slippery, heavy, slow and pleasant. In Ayurveda, milk is almost never drunk cold, as it is harder to digest and thus turns the milk from sattvic to tamasic in nature. Sattva is a state of lightness, equanimity, clarity, and, in this case, fortification, strength and vitality. Tamas, on the other hand, reflects dullness, confusion, sloth, and in this case, the process of compromising its quality, leading to ill health and the potentiality of allergies. But what exactly is “compromised” milk?

To answer this is to look first and foremost at its source: the Mother. When a nursing mother makes choices regarding her diet, she does so with the welfare of her infant in mind. She instinctively knows that what she eats will be passed on to her child through her milk, thus confirming milk as the essence of her diet, her emotional state and her health. It is not a far-fetched theory that makes a mother stay away from alcohol and cigarettes when she is nursing. It is, however, an act of “putting on the blinders” when she stops at that and does not extend the logic to her diet, her health and her emotional state. This begins the process of compromisation of the quality of her milk and the obvious implication is the shifting of her milk away from the desired sattvic state. As in life, there is not just black and white; there are various shades of grey in between.

The Caraka Samhita, at least 2000 years old, lists eight recommended sources of milk, including cow, sheep, mare, elephant and human. It lists the varying qualities of each. Of all, cow’s milk is considered the best for its ability to increase ojas, the essence of our immunity and vitality. Yet today, milk is a subject of great controversy regarding its benefits, especially as compared to its potential risks. These risks include high and unhealthful cholesterol levels, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, constipation, lactose intolerance and allergies, among others.

So, how did our perception of milk shift from “best among rasayanas (rejuvenative)” to a highly suspect source of many illnesses? The answer must lie in the changing quality of milk as precipitated by the manner in which we treat its source: the mother. Whether cow, human or other, it is still only a mother that naturally provides milk. When I advice my clients or students about milk, I often tell them to get a healthy cow, put it in a large pasture with lots of green grass, let its calf play with it as a child does, then let the calf drink its full from it and then when you look into its large, liquid, loving eyes and you put a pail under it, you may not even need to milk it, the milk will be given to you that readily! This milk drunk fresh, warm and raw will nourish you like no other food in this world! Realistically, this scenario is almost impossible for most but its essential message can and should exist symbolically for all of us. 

As is the case of the human mother, it helps to put things in perspective by remembering that the cow is, first and foremost, also a mother. The cow was always revered in India, her special status enshrined by the law. But now, as you walk the streets of India, in many alleys you will find a cow rummaging through the garbage for food. As a result one reads every few days about a dead cow, her stomach stuffed with discarded plastic bags.

In farm factories around the world, cows are forced into yearly pregnancies for their milk. After giving birth they are milked for 10 months, often they are artificially inseminated during the third month so that they can be milked even when pregnant. This stressful demand for production of milk is more than her body can take, so she starts breaking down body tissue to produce milk. The result is an illness called ketosis. Most of the day the cow is tied up in a narrow stall usually wallowing in her own excrement till she goes lame. She may get mastitis because the hands that milk her so often are rough and usually unclean, so imagine her fate when milked by machines. She gets rumen acidosis from unnatural feed. She is also subject to the use of an array of drugs, including bovine growth hormone (BGH); prostaglandin, which is used to bring a cow into heat whenever the farmer wants to have her inseminated; antibiotics; and even tranquilizers, in order to influence her productivity and behavior. In India, when Mahatma Gandhi heard about the inhumane manner in which cows were being treated, he gave up drinking milk, something he had cherished all his life.

Cows on today's dairy factory farms live only about four to five years (often slaughtered because of mastitis), as opposed to the life expectancy of 20-25 years enjoyed by cows who are treated humanely and are free to roam and free of violent drugs. No cow lives out her normal life cycle. She is milked, made sick and then killed. Perhaps the greatest pain suffered by cows in the dairy industry is the repeated loss of their young. Female calves may join the ranks of the milk producers, but the males are generally taken from their mothers within 24 hours of birth and sold at auction either to the veal industry or to beef producers.

And what of the milk itself? Each cow has its own qualities of health and emotion, yet the milk we drink is freely mixed from all the cows on the farm. Ayurvedically, this milk is already tamasic and indigestible, causing confusion, lethargy, fear and anger. Surely a cow that lives in constant dread, fear of its life and deprivation from its calf, will carry emotions such as anger, outrage, fear and hate. These then are the emotions we digest when we drink its milk. The milk is further pasteurized (in this age of sterile metal containers, an oxymoron) and the good bacteria as well as the bad are destroyed. Since we need the good bacteria to help in the formation of lactase within us, we turn lactose intolerant. Ultra pasteurization, where the milk is violently heated from cold refrigerated to boiling in a couple of minutes changes the chemical composition into a mutated form the horrors of which we can only imagine.

It is this milk that we are expected to equate with the sattvic milk of the Vedas, of the yogis and of Ayurveda. By all standards it will fail. It is in fact no longer the panacea promised by Surabhi, the celestial cow of the Vedas. In the epic myth of the churning of the ocean (manthanam), among the fourteen great treasures that arose was this “cow of plenty”. The ancient texts say that in Satyuga (age of perfection), dharma stands as a cow on four legs, in the Tretayuga (age of less than perfection), she stands on three, in Dwaparayuga (dwindling and disappearing perfection), just two and today, in what is widely believed to be Kaliyuga (age of decadence and destruction), she stands on but one leg.

If milk is the essence of a cow’s diet, then what is this milk that arises from a steady diet of soy meal, cottonseed meal or other commercial feeds, even bakery waste, chicken manure or citrus peel cake, all laced with pesticides. Vitamins A and D are greatly diminished when milk cows are fed commercial feed, needing to be added in artificially. Soy meal has the wrong protein profile for the dairy cow, resulting in a short burst of high milk production followed by premature death. Real feed for cows is rapidly growing green grass, green feed, silage, hay and root vegetables. From a yogin’s perspective, a cow is revered for the fortifying and complete meal offered by her milk. In the Mahabharata (Anusasana Parva), in a discussion between the Rishis Bhishma, Vasishta and Vyasa, is a sloka, a verse:

Cows constitute the stay of all creatures. Cows are the refuge of all creatures. Cows are the embodiment of merit. Cows are sacred and blessed and are sanctifiers of all.

One should never, in even one’s heart, do an injury to cows. One should, indeed, always confer happiness on them.

When treated humanely, as is the case with all mothers, there is a magical quality to the milk of a cow. In 1929, Dr. J.R. Crewe of the Mayo Foundation published an article called The "Milk Cure." The treatment was a combination of a detoxifying fast and nutrient-dense feeding. The milk used was, in all cases, the only kind of milk available in those days—raw milk from pasture-fed cows, rich in butterfat. The patients were all fed small quantities of milk all day coming up to 5-10 quarts total and nothing else. Striking results were seen in diseases of the heart and kidneys and high blood pressure as well as edema, which is even more surprising because it is unorthodox to treat dropsy (edema) with large quantities of liquids. In the old Ayurvedic texts, milk acts often as an “anupasana,” a carrier of medicinal herbs. In his wonderful Ayurvedic cookbook, Dr. Lad lists different medicated milks for different doshic disorders. Ayurveda strongly recommends a glass of warm milk with ginger and cinnamon at bedtime to help one sleep. Milk is considered both an aphrodisiac as well as replenishing after sexual activity. It is said that it takes up to 35 days for food’s nutritional value to reach the reproductive tissue but that milk goes straight to it.

There is also a protocol to the drinking of this nutrient rich elixir.  Since milk is a fortifying food/beverage, it has a kapha increasing nature; basically this means that it should not be had in addition to your meal. The concept of a glass of milk with breakfast, lunch or dinner is alien to Ayurveda for common sense reasons. Milk, because of its nourishing properties, which include cold and heavy, usually needs to be drunk warm and, unless you have a very strong agni, (the digestive fire) some digestive herbs like ginger or cinnamon should be added. It can be drunk at night before bed or as a complete morning beverage. Milk also gives us some of our other favorite foods: butter, ghee, lassi, yogurt or curds and of course, cheeses. All of these should be used with care and not indulged in because of their richness. It is said that the poorer nations suffer the curse of malnutrition and that the richer ones, where overindulgence is the norm, suffer from the curse of malabsorption.

We live now in an age of convenience. Many of our children in the big cities associate apples with a supermarket shelf and not a tree in an orchard. We expect to find any and all foods at any and all times conveniently provided, forgetting that Nature gives us seasonal foods for a reason. Milk is associated with plastic and paper cartons with the picture of a grazing cow, and yet the reality is what is inside that carton, not in its outside advertisement.  It is understandable to want this convenience, after all it is the fruit of our social and cultural advancement, but we must at some point ask not just at what price but also how many of God’s fair creatures, of whom we are supposed to show the most promise, are actually paying this price and in the end, we have to ask ourselves, what does this say about us? In the war between cows and humans and there is no question that we have subjugated them much as prisoners of such a war, there can never be any winners. After all, we started out as the best of friends and how could a war between friends ever end in a victory for one? They have not only been our partners all through our rural growth, but in a mutual trust and respect, continued to act as our mothers after we had become adults, providing us with milk, cheese, butter, and even fuel for our fires as cow dung and buffalo chips.

A cow digests the essence of the earth through its grass, a very concentrated and hard food to assimilate, but because of their four stomachs, they are able to draw the earth’s energy out of it and, having fed their babies, they share this wonderful panacea with us. When we treat a cow as a commodity to increase our convenience, when we refuse to see it as a living being, we demean ourselves. And in the end, when we make a cow sick with the wrong foods and inhumane treatment, it, in turn, makes us sick with mutated and perverted milk that is no longer a panacea but is instead very much a poison.

When we respect Nature, she will respect us. When we divorce ourselves from her, she has no choice but to honor that by staying away from us. In this age of convenience we have created diseases that reflect our alienation from that which gave us life and from whose elemental structure arises our own elemental structure. In this age of irrefutable global warming we have forgotten that in the end we must return to Nature in the shape of dust and that when we go to war with her, we actually go to war with ourselves. In this age of Kaliyuga, when Surabhi, the celestial cow, stands on one foot, Milk, the complete food, turns into Milk, the complete destroyer. If we heed the cries of Nature, we will in fact, hear the cries of the Mother. Every mother wants her milk to nourish her child, not be its poison.

It is also imperative that in this age that we see the potentiality of the next age of perfection.  We can begin living it by honoring one of the symbols of that age, the cow standing on all four of her legs…if we begin to drink only milk that comes from cows that roam free, that eat good grass, that are able to nurture their calves, we may just find that indeed, milk is the perfect food of the yogis, both a cure and a rejuvenative.                                                                     

Arun Deva practices yoga and Ayurveda in Los Angeles. He has a Diploma in Ayurveda from the Ayurvedic Institute of America. He has twice completed the Ayur-yoga Teacher Training from the Ayurvedic Institute, New Mexico and has also done teacher trainings in both Vinyasa Krama and Anusara Yoga. Having started his studies as a child growing up India, Arun has made his home in Los Angeles for the past 30 years. He is the founder of Arunachala Yoga & Ayurveda, teaches Ayurvedic and Yogic lifestyle workshops, writes articles for different publications and does ayurvedic and yoga cikitsa treatment therapies called “Yoga Rasayana”. He can be reached at yogarasayana@yahoo.com .

Sanmukhi Mudra Six-Mouth Breaths

By Leza Lowitz 

Who owns the wind?

Who owns my breath?

These impossible riddles

haunt me.

Turning into the wind

The wind turns into me.

Those possible answers

Keep me breathing.

Reprinted from Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, Stone Bridge Press.
Leza is a published author, yoga instructor and co-owner of
Sun and Moon Yoga Studio located in Meguro, Japan.

For Beginners: Anjali Mudra

By Shiva Rea  

Anjali means "offering," and in India this mudra is often accompanied by the word "namaste." 

If you have attended even one yoga class, it is a familiar gesture: the drawing together of one's palms at the heart. Your teacher may bring his or her hands together while saying "Namaste" at the beginning or end of a class. You may find his gesture within certain asanas—in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), before you begin Sun Salutations, or in balance poses such as Vrksasana (Tree Pose).

This sacred hand position, called anjali mudra (AHN-jah-lee MOO-dra), is found throughout Asia and has become synonymous with our images of the East, from the smiling face of the Dalai Lama peering over his fingertips to images of devotees before a Hindu or Buddhist altar.

In the West, we translate this gesture as a posture of prayer. Because we have grown up with this gesture as part of our culture, each of us probably has our own personal connection to this mudra—positive or negative. Some of us may find a subconscious resistance to bringing our hands together as if it were a sign of submission. However, the beauty of this gesture, which positions us right at the core of our being, is timeless and universal.  

I know a 3-year-old who is delighted to greet people this way and an actor who prepares himself with this gesture before entering the stage. As we explore the significance and potential of this mudra, be open to your own experience and ways that this simple yet powerful hand position can be a practical tool in your practice and daily life. In Sanskrit, mudra means "seal" or "sign" and refers not only to sacred hand gestures but also whole body positions that elicit a certain inner state or symbolize a particular meaning.

Anjali mudra is but one of thousands of types of mudras that are used in Hindu rituals, classical dance, and yoga. Anjali itself means "offering," and in India this mudra is often accompanied by the word "namaste" (or "namaskar," depending on one's dialect). As the consummate Indian greeting, like a sacred hello, namaste is often translated as "I bow to the divinity within you from the divinity within me." This salutation is at the essence of the yogic practice of seeing the Divine within all of creation. Hence, this gesture is offered equally to temple deities, teachers, family, friends, strangers, and before sacred rivers and trees. Anjali mudra is used as a posture of composure, of returning to one's heart, whether you are greeting someone or saying goodbye, initiating or completing an action.

As you bring your hands together at your center, you are literally connecting the right and left hemispheres of your brain. This is the yogic process of unification, the yoking of our active and receptive natures. In the yogic view of the body, the energetic or spiritual heart is visualized as a lotus at the center of the chest. Anjali mudra nourishes this lotus heart with awareness, gently encouraging it to open as water and light do a flower.

Begin by coming into a comfortable sitting position like Sukhasana (Easy Pose). Lengthen your spine out of your pelvis and extend the back of your neck by dropping your chin slightly in. Now, with open palms, slowly draw your hands together at the center of your chest as if to gather all of your resources into your heart. Repeat that movement several times, contemplating your own metaphors for bringing the right and left side of yourself—masculine and feminine, logic and intuition, strength and tenderness—into wholeness.  

Now, to reveal how potent the placement of your hands at your heart can be, try shifting your hands to one side or the other of your midline and pause there for a moment. Don't you feel slightly off kilter? Now shift back to center and notice how satisfying the center line is, like a magnet pulling you into your core. Gently touch your thumbs into your sternum (the bony plate at the center of the rib cage) as if you were ringing the bell to open the door to your heart. Broaden your shoulder blades to spread your chest open from the inside. Feel space under your armpits as you bring your elbows into alignment with your wrists. Stay here for some time and take in your experience. What initial shifts of consciousness do you experience? Is there a change in your mood?  

Now imagine that you are beginning your yoga practice—or any activity in which you want to be centered and conscious of how your inner state will affect the outcome of your experience. Take anjali mudra again, but this time slightly part your palms as if to make a cup, so that your hands resemble the bud of a lotus flower. Depending on your spiritual orientation, you can metaphorically plant a seed prayer, affirmation, or quality such as "peace," "clarity," or "vitality" within your anjali mudra. Drop your chin towards your chest and awaken a sense of humility and awe with which to begin your practice, as if waiting to receive a blessing of good things to come. It is important that this anjali or offering be true to your Self as that will be the most effective and uplifting for you. Traditionally, yogis might visualize their ishta devata or personal connection to God within the shrine of their hands. For some people this may be a sacred mountain, for others, Jesus, Krishna, or the Mother Goddess. Align your mind (awareness), feeling (heart), and actions (body) within this gesture. When you feel your invocation is complete, draw your fingertips to the center of your forehead, ajna chakra, and pause there feeling the calming effect of your touch. Bring your hands back to your center to ground your intention within your heart. 

From here you can begin your yoga asanas, meditation, or any activity from a place of connectedness. Notice how much easier it is to be present and joyous with whatever you are doing. Look for other times to integrate anjali mudra into your practice and life. Besides the beginning and end of your yoga sessions, anjali mudra can be used within the Sun Salutations and many other asanas as a way to come back to and maintain your center. When your hands come together overhead in Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I) or in Tree Pose, this is still anjali mudra. Consciously connecting this upward movement of your hands through an invisible line of energy to your heart will help your posture and your inner attitude.

In daily life, this prayerful gesture can be used as a way of bridging inner and outer experience, when saying grace before meals, communicating our truth within a relationship, or as a means of cooling the fires of stress when feeling rushed or reactionary. Anjali mudra is an age-old means of helping human beings to remember the gift of life and to use it wisely. 

Shiva Rea teaches flow (vinyasa) based yoga integrating alignment and intuition, strength and fluidity, meditation and wisdom in action at Sacred Movement in Santa Monica, California, and UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Program. She is the author of the home practice CD, Yoga Sanctuary (Sounds True), and leads workshops and adventure retreats worldwide. Visit Shiva at shivarea.com.

Workshop Report: Whole Yoga with Saul David Raye

By Charlotte Holtzermann

January 6-8, 2006 at Shakti's Elements

"The secret of energy is breath."  Saul's voice wraps around thirty strong bodies in morning practice of meditation, pranayama and asana in a recent workshop at Shakti's Elements in Santa Monica. Living Yoga in Balance and Peace is the name of this weekend, one in a deepen your practice series, which offers a yogic way of living in the world - our dharma. 

We reach into shafts of sunlight.  It's early Saturday morning in the first weekend of the New Year.  Everyone is lunging low in the deep rooting flow of sun salutes; each of us in the freedom of our own rhythm of breathing.  Diving down through dog and up into snake.  Then up into warrior.  Rooting our legs in the New Year. Drawing arms outward like a bow and arrow. I am setting my course for '06.  Feel buoyed up by others in class.  We let our breath settle out through our limbs.  

Members of this workshop acknowledge each other.  This is a group of yogis who know the way we are in the world with each other in any moment is yoga, is dharma. 

Saul writes in a booklet we each get: The word bhava means feeling or mood in a devotional sense.  The qualities of our heart that are expressed in the world through our words and actions.  Bhavana is associated with the practice of Bhakti - devotional yoga.  In a large sense, this quality is entwined with everything we do, who we are.  Devotion is the heart of yoga practice. As we open ourselves up, we allow reverence for life.  We experience sacred moments.  

The mood of bhavana is palpable in the room.  I am grateful to be here, home in the sunlight of southern California after twelve days of rain up north. These yogis are breathing independently.  No one is saying "okay, now everyone inhale."  It feels like free will in the room.  The pores in my skin open.  I'm glad to be in warm space with breath stirring the air.  Knowing this is my path, my dharma; moving with yogis.  It feels healing to be home after the distance of holidays away.  We gaze upward in cobra through an arched window to a dome ceiling into skylights.  

During twists, seeing the burnt orange, fuchsia and lime green walls of Shakti's Elements.  Owner’s Nisha Rodrigo and Zi Malonga chose these Indian/African colors from their native Sri Lanka and the Sudan, for their communal center for dance, martial arts and yoga. The shelves are lined with clothing, books, oils, herbs, incense and jewelry. 

Bathing my face in the steam of a cup of chai tea, watching the crowd at the coffee and tea bar engage after class.  The break is filled with body talk among the group, many of whom know each other from Saul's teacher training programs.  It's lively.  Nisha and Zi saw yoga class in India amidst the market place and wanted to have a studio like a house in a village, open to everyone, full of community life. 

Saul offers an embodied approach to Yoga.  He aims to integrate the teachings of Yoga, Ayurveda, Tantra and Universal Light which he considers the essence of all spiritual teachings.  Practicing yoga within a warm community is my experience of this crowd, this house, this weekend. 

In pranayama practice, Saul guides us through three part breaths; inhaling through the low, middle and upper chest and exhaling out through our upper, middle and low lung. We also practice long, slow nadi shodanum, alternate nostril breathing, through the right and left nostril. Listening to the smooth snake flow of my breath. 

Saul weaves strands of thought around us while offering precise, hands on corrections to individual students.  Yukiko Amaya and three other assistants offer guidance in poses to everyone in class.  There is a mood of careful support  with deep, relaxed working in the poses. 

Feeling aches in my joints, I'm inspired to hear Saul say: "About 300 billion cells are created in our body’s everyday.  The regenerative power of the universe is inside us." Ah......hearing a fact of science assures me.  These aches too shall pass.  

Saul teaches asana as a process of self healing.  He refers to the teachings of pancha kosha, the five sheaths, the layers of our outer and inner being.  I am reminded of the layers in life, to keep breathing through them, integrate them, recognize them and let them dissolve.  A transparent feeling of just breathing returns.  I am grateful to be in a morning class which begins with an hour of pranayama and meditation before asana.  

In our closing session on Sunday afternoon, we are sitting on mats taking notes on Saul's introduction to Auryvedic philosophy; an explanation of the three doshas, the three types of energy which are present in everyone and everything: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. 

Understanding these qualities can help us understand the wisdom of Auryvedic philosophy which is balance.  "In asana, he said, this means working with your unique constitution, learning to balance your doshas with appropriate asana." Questions from the group reveal self exploring thought. 

Our weekend in Holistic Yoga touched on a wealth of ideas to incorporate into our practice.  Our 60 page booklet contains diagrams, poems, mantras and articles by Saul and other authors on the yamas and niyamas, tantra, principles of alignment, laws of healing and the art of balanced action.  There is much material to take home and absorb.

A revered teacher of Thai Yoga Massage, Vinyasa flow and teacher training programs, Saul David Raye offers his students a plate of deeper practice with a rich menu of reference.  In his presence, he offers bhavana, more bowing to the whole tradition of yoga, to dharma - our way of being in the world. 

Charlotte Holtzermann teaches Beginning Hatha Yoga at LMU Extension and for children in STAR Education.  She works with individuals in Alexander Technique, Aquatic Exercise and Watsu.

mailto:Charlotteholtz@yahoo.com

What Is Ayurveda?

Part II: The Vision By Arun Deva 

Vata, Pitta, Kapha

While in Albuquerque, attending an Ayurvedic workshop, a group of us went to a restaurant to have some lunch. When the waiter overheard us talking “shop” he became quite excited. “I know all about Vata, Pitta and Kapha!” he said, “I just know I am a Pitta!”

There are many aspects to this story. The first is that I believe he was right. The second is how heartening it is to see the knowledge of Ayurveda spreading into the general consciousness of our society. I even know people who do not know the word “Ayurveda” but know Vata, Pitta and Kapha! The third has more serious consequences for those of us who teach about it. As the awareness of the doshas spreads, it becomes our responsibility to make sure that the truth of what they are does not get distorted.

Vata, Pitta and Kapha collectively are known as the tri-dosha. The word Dosha is difficult to translate as it has so many layers. Literally, it means “fault” or “blame.” It also has been translated as “humor.” If we think of humor as an “ill wind” then we can see how this connects to the first translation. However, taking responsibility for our actions does not necessarily mean taking “blame” for them. Therefore, the best way to look at the doshas is as “that which is responsible.”

To understand the doshas we have to first understand their composition. Ayurveda believes that all creation arises from five basic elements. The first of these is Ether and it is the container for all the others. It symbolizes all space within which structure can exist, from the space in the heavens to the space in your mouth. When ether begins to stir it takes the form of Air, which is as much the movement of wind as it is the force that moves our hands and our thoughts. As this wind moves through you (and the universe) it creates friction leading to heat and is symbolized by Fire which is not only the visible fire we are familiar with but also the fire of our digestion. As this fire heats, it liquefies, leading to the Water element and in this manner, water is water as we know it but it is also the blood, plasma and other fluids within us. Eventually it will cool and cohere and we are left with the last and most stable element, Earth. Earth includes the structure of our bodies: the skeleton as well as the muscles and flesh.

Not only are these five elements the basic fabric of the Universe, they are also what make up the tri-dosha. Vata is composed primarily of the elements of air and ether; pitta of fire and water; and kapha is water and earth. These three together are the governing principles of our existence. As such, each lends its qualities towards creating our personalities and that is where we begin to learn about our individual natures. What makes us unique is the proportion and combination of these forces within us.

Because these principles are in reality nothing more than a collection of their qualities, even if you and I have the same dominant dosha, we may have quite different personalities. We will however have more in common with each other than with someone of a different doshic constitution.

Vata dosha will have certain qualities inherent from its elemental roots of air and space. People of this dosha may tend to feel cold and have dry skin. While either tall or short, they are invariably light framed: if they do put on weight, it will be mostly around the hips. They may be easily excited, and tend towards poor or light sleep. Under stress, they tend towards nervousness, anxiety, or fear. Although they grasp concepts rather easily, they have poor retention. In balance, vata types are creative and expansive, and can be very sensitive and intuitive individuals.


People of a predominantly Pitta nature have the qualities of fire and water, reflecting courage and intensity. They have a strong metabolism and their physique will be better formed than that of a vata. With their radiant eyes and sharp features, they are very focused and dedicated and are blessed with intelligence and a good memory. They generally eat well and often. Due to their fiery nature they are subject to inflammatory diseases and often their skin will reflect this by breaking out. Emotionally they may foster anger, hatred and jealousy. When in balance, they are focused, decisive and passionate, thus having good leadership qualities.

Kapha being primarily water and earth, people of this constitution are well built, even stocky. They have excellent bone structure and are very strong. Unfortunately they tend to put on weight easily and can end up becoming heavy. They have well-rounded faces with large eyes, a pleasant nose and full lips. Slow to comprehend things, once grasped they rarely forget them. Although they have tremendous stores of energy, they tend to be lazy and need motivation. Their systems are very strong but they are susceptible to colds and coughs when weakened. Naturally easy to get along with, they can become quite attached to things and even people and this can make them greedy and possessive. Given a goal, they will be meticulous in their performance, without one, they would rather just relax! In balance they are just, objective and easy to rely on.

Since none of us is entirely composed of just one dosha, we all have traits that we can identify with in each of these characterizations. However, we will also identify more with one of the dosha than the others and that gives us a clue to our nature. It also gives a trained Ayurvedic practitioner the keys to helping us heal. In the end, better health is based on being in harmony with our own inherent nature. When we are in balance, the different facets of our constitution reflect each other as one. This leads to a state in which we are well established and content in ourselves: swastha.

Namaste!
Arun Deva

Arun Deva practices yoga and Ayurveda in Los Angeles. He has a Diploma in Ayurveda from the Ayurvedic Institute of America. He has twice completed the Ayur-yoga Teacher Training from the Ayurvedic Institute, New Mexico and has also done teacher trainings in both Vinyasa Krama and Anusara Yoga. Having started his studies as a child growing up India, Arun has made his home in Los Angeles for the past 30 years. His commitment is to the “trimurti” of studying, practicing and teaching, in order to further his travels along the Yogic path. He is the founder of Arunachala Yoga & Ayurveda, teaches Ayurvedic and Yogic lifestyle workshops, writes articles for different publications and does ayurvedic and yoga cikitsa treatment therapies called “Yoga Rasayana”. He can be reached at yogarasayana@yahoo.com .

Tadasana Mountain

By Leza Lowitz

This is the place
The journey begins.
Half rooted in the earth,

half floating in the endless sky.
What would it be like
To be the mountain?
The air is perhaps thinner,
Thought the sky is not always clear.
The view is sometimes shrouded in fog
Sometimes in plain and glorious sight,
But the ascent or descent can kill.
The earth is stable
Or sometimes not.
So it is
At base or summit,
Yet the mountain never asks
Why or for what purpose
It exists.
This is the one difference between the climber
and the climbed.

Reprinted from Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, Stone Bridge Press.
Leza is a published author, yoga instructor and co-owner of
Sun and Moon Yoga Studio located in Meguro, Japan.
 

Consciousness in Motion By Shiva Rea
Vinyasa yoga teaches us to cultivate an awareness that links each action to the next—on the mat and in our lives.

Sit back and relax. Take in these images and see if you can sense the underlying pattern: the flow of the seasons, the rise and fall of the tides in response to the moon, a baby fern unfurling, a Ravi Shankar sitar raga or Ravel's "Bolero," the creation and the dissolution of a Tibetan sand mandala, the flow of Suryanamaskar (Sun Salutation).

What do these diverse phenomena have in common? They are all vinyasas, progressive sequences that unfold with an inherent harmony and intelligence. "Vinyasa" is derived from the Sanskrit term nyasa, which means "to place," and the prefix vi, "in a special way"—as in the arrangement of notes in a raga, the steps along a path to the top of a mountain, or the linking of one asana to the next. In the yoga world the most common understanding of vinyasa is as a flowing sequence of specific asanas coordinated with the movements of the breath. The six series of Pattabhi Jois's Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga are by far the best known and most influential.

Jois's own teacher, the great South Indian master Krishnamacharya, championed the vinyasa approach as central to the transformative process of yoga. But Krishnamacharya had a broader vision of the meaning of vinyasa than most Western students realize. He not only taught specific asana sequences like those of Jois's system, but he also saw vinyasa as a method that could be applied to all the aspects of yoga. In Krishnamacharya's teachings, the vinyasa method included assessing the needs of the individual student (or group) and then building a complementary, step-by-step practice to meet those needs. Beyond this, Krishnamacharya also emphasized vinyasa as an artful approach to living, a way of applying the skill and awareness of yoga to all the rhythms and sequences of life, including self-care, relationships, work, and personal evolution.

Desikachar, Krishnamacharya's son, an author and renowned teacher in his own right, has written, "Vinyasa is, I believe, one of the richest concepts to emerge from yoga for the successful conduct of our actions and relationships." In his book Health, Healing, and Beyond (Aperture, 1998), he gives a subtle yet powerful example of how his father attended to the vinyasa of teaching yoga. Krishnamacharya, to the amazement of his private students, would always greet them at the gate of his center, guide them through their practice, and then honor the completion of their time together by escorting them back to the gate.

The way he honored every phase of their session—initiating the work, sustaining it and then building to a peak, and completing and integrating it—illustrates two of the primary teachings of the vinyasa method: Each of these phases has its own lessons to impart, and each relies on the work of the previous phase. Just as we can't frame a house without a proper foundation, we can't build a good yoga practice unless we pay attention to how we begin. And just as a house is flawed if the workmen don't finish the roof properly, we have to bring our actions to completion in order to receive yoga's full benefits. Vinyasa yoga requires that we cultivate an awareness that links each action to the next—one breath at a time.

Initiating a Course of Action

Applying vinyasa in your yoga practice and daily life has many parallels not just to building a house but also sailing a boat. Like sailing, moving through life demands a synchronization with natural forces that requires skill and intuition, the ability to set a course yet change with the wind and currents. If you want to sail, you have to know how to assess the conditions of the weather—blustery, calm, choppy—which constantly fluctuate, as do our physical, emotional, and spiritual states.

The teachings of yoga include a view called parinamavada, the idea that constant change is an inherent part of life. Therefore, to proceed skillfully with any action, we must first assess where we are starting from today; we cannot assume we are quite the same person we were yesterday. We are all prone to ignoring the changing conditions of our body-mind; we often distort the reality of who we are based on who we think that we should be. This can show up on the yoga mat in any number of inappropriate choices: engaging in a heating, rigorous practice when we're agitated or fatigued; doing a restorative practice when we're stagnant; going to an advanced yoga class when a beginning class better suits our experience and skills. In order to avoid such unbeneficial actions, we need to start out with an accurate assessment of our current state.

So what are the observations a good yogic sailor should make before initiating a vinyasa? Like checking out the boat, wind, and waves before you sail, an initial survey of your being can become an instinctive ritual. Ask yourself: What is my energy level? Am I raring to go? Holding any tension? Am I experiencing any little physical twinges or injury flare-ups? Do I feel balanced and ready to sail into my practice? How is my internal state? Am I calm, agitated, focused, scattered, emotionally vulnerable, mentally overloaded, clear and open?

These questions are relevant to how we begin any action, not just our asana practice. In choosing what foods we eat, when we sleep, our conversations and our actions with others—everything that we do—we must understand where we are coming from and choose actions that address any imbalances.

In teaching my students about vinyasa, I offer them ways of checking in with their current state at the start of their session. I also will suggest specific strategies for addressing impediments that may break up the flow of their practice. For example, on the bodily level students can choose a more calming practice or one that provides them with a more invigorating opening. If they have a twinge in the lower back, they might want to modify certain postures, perhaps substituting Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) for Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog Pose). If they're suffering from typical urban tensions in the neck and shoulders, they can use a small series of stretches—a mini-vinyasa, you might say—to encourage softening and release. On a more internal level, agitated students can focus on releasing tension by relaxing the face and breath; if their energy is more lethargic and diffused, they can focus on their drishti, or gaze, to increase their concentration.

The same insight that we use on the yoga mat can be applied to the way that we initiate actions elsewhere in our lives. Are you feeling anxious on your way to a big appointment? Drive more slowly and listen to some calming music to ensure that this imbalance doesn't carry over into your meeting. Such adjustments do not show an unwillingness to accept what is or a compulsive attempt to fix everything until it is just right. Rather, they are evidence of a deep awareness of and appropriate response to reality. A yogic sailor embraces the changing winds and current and the challenge of setting course in harmony with the ebb and flow of nature.

Sustaining Power

Once you've properly assessed conditions and initiated action, you can focus on the next phase of vinyasa: building up your power, your capacity for a given action. Power is the sailor's ability to tack with the wind, a musician's ability to sustain the rise and fall of a melody, a yogi's deepening capability for absorption in meditation.

The vinyasa method has many teachings to offer about how to build and sustain our capacity for action, both on and off the mat. One of the primary teachings is to align and initiate action from our breath—our life force—as a way of opening to the natural flow and power of prana, the energy that sustains us all on a cellular level. Thus in a vinyasa yoga practice, expansive actions are initiated with the inhalation, contractive actions with the exhalation.

Take a few minutes to explore how this feels: As you inhale, lift your arms up over your head (expansion); as you exhale, lower your arms (contraction). Now try this: Start lifting your arms as you exhale, and inhale as you lower your arms. Chances are that the first method felt intuitively right and natural, while the second felt counterintuitive and subtly "off."

This intuitive feeling of being "off" is an inborn signal that helps us learn how to sustain an action by harmonizing with the flow of nature. Just as a sagging sail tells a sailor to tack and realign with the energy of the wind, a drop in our mental or physical energy within an action is a sign we need to realign our course. In an asana, when the muscular effort of a pose is creating tension, it's often a signal that we are not relying on the support of our breath. When we learn how to sustain the power and momentum of the breath, the result is like the feeling of sailing in the wind—effortless effort.

To build real change in a student's capacity for action, Krishnamacharya utilized a method which he entitled vinyasa krama ("krama" means "stages"). This step-by-step process involves the knowledge of how one builds, in gradual stages, toward a "peak" within a practice session. This progression can include elements like using asanas of ever-increasing complexity and challenge or gradually building one's breath capacity.

Vinyasa krama is also the art of knowing when you have integrated the work of a certain stage of practice and are ready to move on. I frequently see students ignore the importance of this step-by-step integration. On the one hand, some students will tend to jump ahead to more challenging poses like Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance) before developing the necessary strength and flexibility in less-demanding postures like Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog), Sirsasana (Headstand), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), and other, easier arm balances. The result: They strug-gle to hold themselves up, becoming frustrated and possibly injured. These Type-A students should remember that strain is always a sign that integration of the previous krama has not yet occurred.

On the other hand, some students may congeal around the comfort of a beginning stage and become stagnant; they often become totally energized when given encouragement to open to a new stage which they had written off as beyond their abilities.

The Art of Completion

All of us are better at some part of the vinyasa cycle than others. I love to initiate action and catalyze change but have to consciously cultivate the completion phase. As Desikachar explains it, "It is not enough to climb a tree; we must be able to get down too. In asana practice and elsewhere in life, this often requires that we know how to follow and balance one action with another. In the vinyasa method this is known as pratikriyasana, "compensation," or literally counterpose-the art of complementing and completing an action to create integration. Can you imagine doing asanas without a Savasana (Corpse Pose) to end your practice? In vinyasa, how we complete an action and then make the transition into the next is very important in determining whether we will receive the action's entire benefit. These days I invite my students to complete classes by invoking the quality of yoga into the very next movements of their lives—how they walk, drive, and speak to people once they leave the studio.

Pathways of Transformation

It is important to remember a vinyasa is not just any sequence of actions: It is one that awakens and sustains consciousness. In this way vinyasa connects with the meditative practice of nyasa within the Tantric Yoga traditions. In nyasa practice, which is designed to awaken our inherent divine energy, practitioners bring awareness to different parts of the body and then, through mantra and visualization, awaken the inner pathways for shakti (divine force) to flow through the entire field of their being. As we bring the techniques of vinyasa to bear throughout our lives, we open similar pathways of transformation, inner and outer-step by step and breath by breath.

Visit Shiva at shivarea.com. This article can be found online at yogajournal.com/wisdom/909_1.c .

What Is Ayurveda?

Part I: The Vision By Arun Deva 

As with all things whose origins are shrouded in the mists of time, the beginnings of Ayurveda are rooted in a mythological past. A myth is not necessarily a lie. Very much like a parable, it usually expresses a higher truth.

It is believed that the Ashwini twins gave the secrets of “the science of self-healing” to Indra and he, in turn, passed it on to Bharadwaja, one of the seven seers of the Rgveda. As Indra, the king of the Devas, represents Prana, and the Ashwini twins represent the duality of all cosmic creation, this myth can be seen symbolically as the natural progression of the eternal life force into the two sustaining forces of the Universe: inhalation and exhalation: the cosmic “spanda” or pulsation of all life. Bharadwaja represents the ability of man to access deep truths when in a state of full awareness or “samadhi.”

Similar to this are other myths with other persona, some divine, some mystical and some human. What is easier for us to comprehend is the belief that the great Rishis (seers) of India, moved by compassion for the welfare of all living beings, went into a deep state of samadhi (absorption) from which they extracted and made available the “science of life.”

The root words for Ayurveda are “Ayus” and “Veda”. Since Ayus refers to all life and Veda is pure knowledge, Ayurveda is much more than a medical codification; it is actually the knowledge of all life. As all healing arises from a “knowing” of health and what constitutes ill health, Ayurveda is thus best suited to address our well being and the lack of such.

It is said that perfect health is equated with happiness. It follows thus that perfect health means not thinking about your health. This is not as simple as it sounds. Every day we think about our aches and pains, about whether we have a headache, are stressed, are tired and worn out and even about whether we are constipated or worse! Imagine living in a state of such harmony that none of these factors are an issue. We are not talking about cancer, heart disease or immune system deficiency. We are talking about states that we consider normal! If we accept headaches and/or constipation as our “normal” state, worrying instead about the arising of any of the major diseases that afflict modern man, imagine what our lives would be like if even our “normal” state of discomfort did not exist! That we had no aches and pains, no stress related exhaustion, always fresh and alert, able to rest exactly when we need to, eat correctly and wisely and function with clear, content minds, what would our lives be like?

This is the goal of Ayurveda and to achieve this goal, this wonderful science has mapped the human terrain: physical, mental and spiritual. It has mapped the terrain of the world that we live in. It has mapped the interaction between the two and found that the microcosm and the macrocosm do not exist independently, that when the two do not support each other harmoniously, we suffer ill health. That the further we get away from nature, the unhappier our lives become.

Ayurveda believes that each one of us has an original “blueprint”, not unlike that of RNA/DNA. As long as we stay true to this “blueprint” which we call Prakruti, we will be healthy. Prakruti refers to our unique constitution or our “first nature”. Over our lives we deviate from this Prakruti for a variety of reasons, of which Ayurveda lists eleven. We move away from harmony, which is nothing less than the correct balance of the forces and elements within us, not unlike the perfect “idle” of a car. Just as a car, over a period of time, needs to be serviced and the idle brought back to normal, similarly, to counteract the forces that shift us away from our Prakruti, we need to “be serviced” and then we need to “maintain”.

Ayurveda is a living science in that it is based upon universal truths and not upon external circumstances that may and do change constantly. This allows it to be as valid to our lives today as it was to the lives of the people of the Indus/Saraswati Valley Civilization from where it arose, thousands of years ago. It has stood the test of time; it has survived countless invasions, the burning and other losses of its texts, the suppression of its practice and the lack of faith in its own homeland after the advent of western medicine.

Today, it is recognized once again as a valid, holistic science whose theories and texts are responsible for the discovery of many modern medicines and techniques. Many of our medicines today have arisen from research into the qualities and effects of herbs that were listed in the Charaka Samhita at least 1500 years ago. There is a society of surgeons in the United States named after Sushruta, who wrote surgical texts just as long ago. The two German scientists responsible for plastic surgery and rhinoplasty credit and acknowledge this same text as their primary source and inspiration.

Ayurveda has stood the test of time because it is a living science. It has and continues to evolve to meet the needs of all people at all times. Many great physicians have come along and using the theories of Ayurveda, created new healing modalities to address new illnesses. From the original texts of Charaka and Sushruta, through Vagbhatta and Madhava to present day scholars and teachers such as Drs. Lad, Robert Svoboda and David Frawley. What remain true and unchanging are the original principles. Principles that explain the very fabric of our existence and what that is woven from.

Arun Deva practices yoga and Ayurveda in Los Angeles and a very good friend of Yogaeverywhere.com. He has a Diploma in Ayurveda from the Ayurvedic Institute of America. He has twice completed the Ayur-yoga Teacher Training from the Ayurvedic Institute, New Mexico and has also done teacher trainings in both Vinyasa Krama and Anusara Yoga. Having started his studies as a child growing up India, Arun has made his home in Los Angeles for the past 30 years. His commitment is to the “trimurti” of studying, practicing and teaching, in order to further his travels along the Yogic path. He is the founder of Arunachala Yoga & Ayurveda, teaches Ayurvedic and Yogic lifestyle workshops, writes articles for different publications and does ayurvedic and yoga cikitsa treatment therapies called “Yoga Rasayana”. He can be reached at yogarasayana@yahoo.com .