Workshop On The Yoga Sutras

Mudakarattamodakam sada vidmutisadhakam

Kaladharavatamsakam vilasilokaraksakam

Anayakaikanayakam vinasitebhadaityakam

Natasubhasunasakam namami tam vinayakam

This is the first verse of the "Sri Mahaganesapancaratnastotram" that we chanted during the workshop "Chanting And Philosophy" with Dr. M.A. Jayashree and her brother Sri Narasimhan from Mysore, India. The workshop was hosted by Yoga Shala Göteborg. Thankyou Olle & Lisa for hosting the worksop, and thankyou Helen for hosting me!

At first it was really difficult to follow! The words are sooo long! But the Sri Narasimhan said that we Europeans are so used to reading the whole words before we pronounce it. That is an impossible task with sanskrit! So instead, I started reading syllable by syllable, and then it became so much easier to follow. Also, chanting is an oral tradition, srauta parampara, so the best hing would be to not try to read, but listen and follow.

We were taught that the sutras that come from the Vedas are to be chanted in a precise manner. There are three tones; one low, one middle and one high. The high and the low tones are marked by a horisontal line above or below the syllable. That made it easier. These mantras can alternatively be chanted with only one tone. Other mantras or sutras that do not come from the Vedas can be chanted in any way! That was an explnation to something I have been wondering about. The "Vande Gurunam" is chanted in so many different ways in different places, I´ve been wondering which is correct. So now I know; all are correct ways!

Dr Jayashree was teaching us the chanting (listen to her here) and Sri Narasimhan was teaching us the philosophy. Two very skilled scholars. Unfortunately I only remember a fraction of everything he said, but I do remember a few things: There is only one sutra in the Yoga Sutras that speaks about asanas (out of 196 sutras...): stira sukham asanam. Asanas should be comfortable and steady, alert and light. You should be able to stay in an asana for a long time with stability of posture, breath and mind. If mind breaks, breathing breaks, if breathing breaks, posture breaks. If posture breaks, breathing breaks, if breathing breaks, mind breaks! Interesting! He called it having a happy posture!

He talked about pranayama. 20 min of pranayama a day will shrpen the mind! Yeah! Worth trying! Pranayama actually means restraining the breath. Yama= restraint. In kumbaka you hold the breath, i.e.. you stop breathing. When you stop breathing, everything else stops, even the mind. He likend it to dying. A kind of practice to reduce the fear of death.

I am now somewhat brainwashed; I dream in sanskrit (if I´ve listed to the cd before bedtime) and I read all the Swedish signs in sanskit!

Hugaha from metihi to youtaha!

On Discipline

It´s easier to fall out than in....
My goal is to do my practice 5-6 times a week. But how many weeks per year do I really practice that many times? This winter I have had three colds, then I don´t practice. I don´t practice the first three days of ladies holidays. Some days I over sleep. This morning I was thinking of practicing, but then I convinced myself that on the 1st of May it´m my right to sleep in. Yesterday I wanted to be early to work, so I skipped practice. Sunday I will be out of town. So, I practiced Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think I will go tonight also. So that makes four times this week. I guess it´s not an unusual week. Maybe I don´t practice 5-6 times a week? Maybe it´s just my idea of my practice? Anyways, better to have that guideline and at least practice four times a week than to have a lesser goal and practice even less.

I think the problem is really in my head. I get a bad conciouss when I don´t do my practice, and what good does that do me? I´m thinking that I want to do this practice my whole life, and then I will need to have a softer and kinder approach to myself and the practice. Practice ahimsa:-) To keep up the passion and love of the practice, and not kill it with too many demands and discipline. But on the other hand, you need disciple to keep going. I remember Kimberly Flynn Williams saying that once you start skipping practice, the easier it gets to start skipping it. That´s why you need disciplne. But she also said that the more regular your practice gets, the easier it will be to sustain. Some hope!

Hmm, I think I´ve been writing about this before, which just shows that it is something that is occuping my mind a lot. It´s hard to have a full time job and getting up early in the morning every day to do your practice, and then rushing to get to work on time! Then you come home and after a few hours it´s time to go to bed. I should be asleep by 10pm, but usually I don´t get to sleep until 11pm, which makes it more of a struggle to get up in the morning. It was a lot easier to get up at 3:30 am in Mysore that it is to get up a 6 am here in Stockholm in my everyday life!

It´s a balance between having discipline and being kind to yourself. Have I written this before or what:-)

Is Ashtanga For The Stiff?

Ever since I injured my hip, I have been having thoughts on whether or not Ashtanga is the right yoga form for me. I love Ashtanga, and I do want to beleive that anyone can practice it, perhaps making some variations and modifications.

Last week, I went to see an australian yoga teacher, chiropractor and yoga therapist spending half his time in Stockholm. I wanted him to have a look at my shoulders and hip, and show me what I could do in my practice to help me heal and open up. My right leg is slightly shorter because of a crocked pelvis, my left hip is extremely tight and I sometimes have pain when it pops, and my shoulders are tight and protuding forward, and my left shoulder blade is totally unflexible. Apart from that he said I have good muscle tone and a fairly symmetrical body! Thank you!

So, we talked about what I could do to help my body open up. He said it was very important for me to warm up before the practice! He said he knew many ashtangis who first did one practice to warm up, then did their ashtanga practice. Wow, then you can´t have a normal 9-6 job! Anyways, he gave me a series of asanas to help open up the shoulders and hips. I should do theses as a warm up before my practice. He thought that this would probably help me tremendously. I hope so too! I also hope that the teachers at my shala will think it´s ok for me to do them.

We also talked about the ashtanga practice. He said things I already knew, but sometimes it´s good to be reminded, and to hear them in another context. Patthabi Jois was a young boy when he got his vinyasa practice taught to him. For someone who is not young and not super flexible it might not be the ideal practice. Yeah, yeah, I know. But I have a teacher who starated her practice when she was 40, and now 10-15 years later she is one of the strongest and most flexible people I know! And she sais she was the stiffest person ever when she started! The most important thing in ashtanga is to practice with flow, and not force yourself into the postures. And I should not have any strong adjustments he said. Actually, when I was in Mysore, I hardly had any, and it felt really good. I know that some of the adjustments I have here in Stockholm are too hard. I know I should tell the teacher, but the ego sometimes comes in the way and thinks that maybe this time the adjusment will make me come further....recognize this? He also thought that I could stay for 10-20 breaths in the poses, just to be able to relax more into them. I have to be really concious about using my uddhyana badha to strenghthen and lenghten my lower back. So you see, I really have a lot to work with now! Lucky me I stop in Marichy C!

He recommended me to do some yinyoga like 1-2 times a week instead of my ashtanga. Since the ashtanga practice is very repetative, and you only stay 5 breaths in every posture, you might partly miss areas that really nead strechting, and partly overstretch and irritate areas that really need to relax. This is something I´ve been thinking about alot. I might sustitute one class per week for a hatha class. When you read what Krishnamacharyas son Deshikachar writes about how the yoga should be therapeutic, and be appropirate for your age and condition, thoughts arise whether or not this yoga is for everyone. For me? It´s a journey. I hope the answers will come as I continue the path.

What are your thoughts on this fellow yogi?

Easter Experience

I´ve now been back for a few days, I turned ill immediately on returning (again), so know I am home from work and have time to write. First day of work was so stressfull that I totally forgot that my course at the Buddhist center started that evening! Creepy. A total contrast to the Easter Holiday I just had.

I don´t really know what to write about my experience. I have mixed feelings. It really is an amazing place; the whole world comes there, and they attract world leading artists and teachers. There was an open atmosphere and a sense of freedom and acceptance. I went there for the yoga, and to see what the place was like. There were people there, who just like me and my friend, went there for the yoga. Then there were the people who lived there, or the ones who came there several times a year, year after year.

One of my goals was to try several different kinds of yoga. I´ve only tried Ashtanga, Satyananda and Hatha. So, I started out trying Hatha. I guess a Hatha class can be anything really. It´s up to the teacher. This teacher had no energy, so I was really bored. Also I am so used to getting warm and sweaty in my practice that it felt really painful stretching when the body wasn´t warm. So, next yoga form was Jivamukti. I think it has it´s roots in Ashtanga, but it doesn´t follow a certain sequence. The teacher was great and very knowledgable, so I was in total bliss afterwards! We worked on opening the hips and shoulders, which is where I have all my problems! She let us work with each other in bridge pose, helping the other press the elbows first inwards towards each other, then in towards the back to realease the shoulder blades before going up into the pose. Did you get that?? Anyways, it made it so much easier to come into the pose.

I had a yoga ayurvedic massage there, which was really good. The masseur, Shubhaa, a Brazilian girl now luckily living in Stockholm(!), used her feet to walk on my back. Sounds odd, but it gives another pressure which can get to the deeper lying tensions. She did a whole body massage, which I find is much better that having just your back done. It´s more balancing.

I also tried a Kundalini yoga jam, which I guess was more of a happening than a real yoga class, where the very talented, humble and gorgeous musician Marcus Berg played while we did yoga. It was awesome! But I don´t think Kundalini is my thing really. I like the really physical yoga forms more. I have my buddhist meditation on the side, and that´s a good combination for me.

I spent a lot of time in the beautiful weather sitting on the veranda, having a coffee(thank you for serving coffee), reading a book, and spending some time on my own. There were so many people and so many activities that I needed to have some time on my own. I´m not the kind of person who can be social all the time. So I skipped the sharing part, which is apparently one of Ängsbackas signums. That was one of the things I had some trouble with. But, everything was of free will, so it was fine. There was also a lot of long huggs and long looks and a lack of boundaries that I found disturbing, but then again, I didn´t participate in that, so it was ok. I guess that those things are a part of what the spirit of the place is, what makes it what it is, why people choose to go there year after year. So now I´ve experienced the place. I might go back, I might not. For the moment I´m just happy with having had a nice Easter.

Keeping Up the Inspiration

Apart from having my new raw food project, which I am very exited about, I have some other things going on to inspire my health/spiritual path.

On wednesday I am going to a chiropractor who is also a yogi. He used to practice ashtanga, but now I think he has developed his own style. Anyways, I am hoping he can help me with my hip problem and my tight shoulders. I wish to get tips on how to modify my practice so that my body can heal through yoga. The other chiropractor I went to a year ago gave me a training program that I did on top of my yoga practice. It was too much. First doing the yoga in the morning, then another program in the evening! We´ll see how it goes. Perhaps he can also help me understand why I got the hip problem in the first place.

In two weeks I am starting another course at "Stockholms Buddhistcenter". The theme for the course is "Living With Kindness". On cultivating metta in your daily life. I´m really looking forward to it!

Coming up for Easter is a four day yoga and dance festival at Ängsbacka! I´m gonna dance and laugh, have sauna and walk in the woods and try different forms of yoga and really enjoy myslef!!! Eat ayurvedic and raw food and meet lot´s of new people....

This weekend I went to another lecture with Janesh Vaidya. He made a very beautiful analogy between happiness and butterflies. If you try to chase them, they will fly away. Instead, cultivate your garden, plant positive seeds, water them with love, create the perfect environment and the butterflies will thrive in your garden. That´s what I am trying to do!

Raw Experience

About two weeks ago I was searching the internet for articles on food and yoga. What would be the best food to eat for a yogi? I know what guruji recommends: sattvic foods (see article for more info: http://www.yogachicago.com/jan05/diet.shtml). Food that is light, easy to digest and full of prana. Sugar, wheat and dairy are recommended, and I don´t agree with thoose foods. In Mysore, people weren´t eating dinner, and Sharath recommended to have a glass of warm milk with ghee in the evening.

Anyways, when searching the net I came across raw food, or living food as it is also called. Since I have a Vata/ Kapha constitution, I thought it might be good for my kapha. I´ve been listening to the raw food "guru" David Wolfe. He has a degree in nutrition, so he really seems to know what he is talking about. I have to say that I am very fascinated with what raw food seems to be able to do for you. It it said to purify the body, give more nutrition and prana, it is enzyme rich so the body doesn´t have to waste it´s own enzymes, it gives strength, vitality, glowing skin and sparkling eyes, cures diseases, stabalizes the weight and so on....

So, ofcourse I have to give it a shot! I´m not going 100% raw, but I´m going to try to incorporate a lot more raw food and superfoods than I usually eat. The last two weeks I´ve been doing just that, I´ve also been drinking 2 litres of water a day. I have to say, my skin has improved tremendously, and my practice feels easier. I don´t feel as stiff as I´ve been feeling lately! I have more energy and I feel quite happy and light!

I will continue with this and write to tell you how it goes. I´m also planning to do a detoxification. I´m quite exited to see the results. I will keep you posted!

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