lördag 31 januari 2009

Morning Practice and Rushing to Work

Yesterday I was told off at work by my boss that I have to be at work 9 o´clock sharp. Since I practice every morning before work, I sometimes come in around 10 past nine. He said that I set a bad example for the others, that I take too much freedom.

On the one hand I can understand his point of view. There are a set of rules to be followed, so that there is a form of discipline, to avoid total chaos. The rules are the same for everyone. I am not the only one that has been told off.

But on the other hand I feel like a prisoner. If my life becomes better by being able to practice in the mornings, I become more focused at work, my health is improved, and having the freedom to be able to be a little late in the mornings to avoid stressing to work, isn´t it worth it? Even for the company I work for?

When I was in India this fall, I could have, as a westerner, gotten irritated on the Indian way of seeing time. Nine o´clock could meen half past nine (not in the shala though...). But I thought it was liberating. If the whole society works that way, then it can work (especially when on holiday!). When I think about it, on the bigger issues of life, my god, what is the difference of coming nine or ten past nine to work? As long as I do my job well?

We have so many rules in Sweden, rules that are often so restricting. Keeps us in place. Hinders us from thinking freely. Also we have this A-type society. The society is made for the early birds. It is considered "better" to come early to work than staying there later in the evenings (although if you do both you are gold, but in the end you get nothing for it except for bad health). When I come to think of it, I think there is this kind of view in the yoga society as well. The earlier you practice, the more "yogic" you are. This is of course not true. I beleive in that you have to try to fit in your practice so that it fits your life.

So, I have to try to get up earlier in the mornings to do my practice, to please my boss;-) I am actually a B-type person, I am tired in the mornings. But I want to do my practice in the morning, because I can see the benefits in it. Discipline, discipline. From discipline comes freedom, right?

Be a good yogi and a good employee!

tisdag 20 januari 2009

When Doing The Dishes, Do The Dishes

Sometimes when things around you change, it can feel like there is an unbearable storm going on inside you. Whether the change is positive or negative, it can disrupt your inner calm. When change occurs, it is common to think a lot about what will come. Will this change disrupt my routines? Will I loose something? Will I loose myself? My dreams? My security?
All these thoughts are related to the future. To cope with change, I beleive it is important to try to be present in what is(It always comes back to this, doesn't it?). Come what may come, but now is always ok. Fear is in the future. Acceptance and peace of mind is in the now.

Sounds so simple doesn't it? But oh so difficult!

As Thich Nhat Hahn says: "When doing the dishes, do the dishes."

onsdag 14 januari 2009

Pure Energy, Pure Mass

You know how sometimes your body feels like it is made of pure energy. You just fly through the postures. And other days it feels like a heavy mass, dense, like lead, or concrete.

This morning my body felt really heavy. I was wondering if I should practice at all! To start with it felt really horrible. The sun salutations were pure pain. I had no energy. But I told myself to think that the practice today is for increasing the energy in my body. So, I took it easy and concentrated on my breath, and spreading the prana in my body. Actually, what started out as a painful practice ended in feeling really great!

What can I learn from this? Well, for one thing, intention is important. The other thing is that even when you feel horrible, it is worth getting on the mat and doing your practice. The practice can change the way you feel.

torsdag 8 januari 2009

Simplify

Ashtanga yoga is a lot about purifying. Purifying your body. Purifying your mind. This leads to health and happiness. When purifying the mind, it leads to a quieter mind, a free mind.

As you all know, the economy is going down. This means many people will have less money to spend. Some people will loose their jobs, and others will be cautious with their economy in case they loose their job. In any case, we have to think twice about how we spend our money. Although it might be bad for our economical system that we spend less, I think it is a good thing on many other levels.

So, is it possible to have a good life, and spend less money? I think so. It's possible if you simplify your life. And simplifying is a form of purification. The less you have to keep your mind busy, the quieter it will become. I have already simplified my life a lot the past few years, and I'm feeling great. I'm doing fewer things, but the things I am doing I do with more awareness and presence. So, I feel that my life now is richer than it was before. There seems to be a hype in our society to be busy. Busy=intersting. According to my own experiences, busy= unawareness. When you are always busy, there is no time to really BE in the present moment.

Last year I was saving money to be able to go to Mysore. It made me aware of all the little unnecessary things I spent money on. Things I bought without thinking twice. It's not about not consuming, but about making better and more concious choices. Maybe you want a new, bigger flat tv. Everyone at work is talking about their new flatscreens, and you want to have that too! Your tv is perfectly fine, but it would be nice with a bigger tv with sharper images. But you also want that new computer, and a new camera since you are going to travel soon. Suddenly you realize that you have to put in a few more hours every week a work to be able to save up the money. Since you work more, you're feeling stressed and you start sleeping less. You worry that you won't make it. You have a lot of thoughts spinning in your mind. By simplifying your life you make a choice to keep things simple. That could meen that you're ok with your old tv, it's more important to be able to sleep and work less to have more spare time, perhaps just to do nothing! Time to be present in life.

måndag 5 januari 2009

Samskaras

I'm reading this fantastic book called "Light On Life" by BKS Iyengar. I have read lot´s of books on yoga, and I have to say that this is one of the most comprehensive and interesting books I´ve read on the subject.

Right now I am reading a chapter on samakaras. Iyengar gives the example of the conciousness being like a lake. If you are for example dissapointed by something, this creates a ripple on the surface. Since the ripple is on the surface, you can handle it. But if you are repeatedly dissapointed, the ripples create waves that go down to the bottom of the lake, and create little sand banks, or mounds. These mounds will in turn send out new waves of dissapointment to the top of the lake. It becomes a conditioned reflex. Whenever you are triggered by a certain situation, the mound automatically sends off little waves of dissapointment, or whatever kind of samskaras you have. The respons is not a direct and adequate reaction to a situation. You have not seen the situation as it really is, but you respond with a conditioned pattern, coming from the bottom of the lake, and not from the surface.

Yoga is about reducing these mounds, and setting us free from these negative habits, or waves in our conciousness. These have been built up over time, and take time to reduce. So, how to reduce them? Well, through yoga you become more aware of your thought patterns, and so you are able to observe your negative thinking patterns. When you have become aware of them, you can start replacing them with positive thoughts. When these positive thoughts are repeated, they in turn create positive mounds, and since the negative mounds don´t get any feed back, they start to diminish. Eventually, the goal is to have no mounds at all. To be able to respond unconditioned to a situation. Total freedom.

This is hard work, especially if you have a lot of negative samskaras! But it is another good reason for getting up early in the morning to do your yoga (hmm, this morning I was trying to find a reason why not to get out of bed...when I suddenly remembered my samskaras! I jumped out of bed:-)