Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Transformation At The Edge Of Chaos: The Yoga Of Criticality.

In my last blog on the Manouso Manos workshop in Atlanta, I mentioned a story Manouso told about the three-hour headstand.  To recap: a student/journalist was determined to find out what a yogi thought about during a three-hour headstand. What the student discovers is that all you can think about in a three-hour headstand is how to stay in the pose. Being at "the knife's edge of awareness"  is something Iyengar students hear often in class. What does that mean exactly? In my limited experience, it means staying present and constantly adapting, moment by moment as you teeter between chaos and calm.

It is where with practice (abyhasa) which Iyengar calls a centrifucal force and renunciation or detachment (vairagya), which he calls a centripetal force you can avoid obstacles sited in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that could cause you to spiral out of control in any given instant. Your entire being is eager to embrace these two polarities that promise the "effortless effort" (Sutra 11:47) and "the end of duality" (Sutra 11:48), because you find out very quickly that attaching to just one of these obstacles could cause you to fall out of the pose. 

When attempting to sustain a difficult asana like Salamba Sirsasana (headstand), the companion obstacles to the nine main obstacles (Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1:31), are usually quite prominent.  These are as follows:

duhkha:  mental or physical pain
daurmanasya: frustration, anguish, depression, sadness, despair, dejection, 
angam-ejayatva: unsteadiness, shakiness,  movement, tremor of the limbs or body 
shvasa:  irregular inhalation 
prashvasah: irregular exhalation
vikshepa:  distractions 

The nine main obstacles (Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1:30) can also come into play: vyadhi: dis-ease (illness, sickness), styana: mental laziness, inefficiency, idleness, procrastination, dullness, samshaya: doubt, indecision., pramada: negligence, care-less-ness, alasya: languor, laziness, sloth, avirati: sensuality, non-abstention, craving, bhranti-darshana: false views or perception, confusion of philosophies (bhranti: false; darshana:  views, perception), alabdha-bhumikatva: failing to attain stages of practice (alabdha: not obtaining; bhumikatva: stage, state, firm ground) anavasthitatva: instability, slipping down, inability to maintain and chitta-vikshepa: distractions of the mind (chitta/ mind field; vikshepa/distractions, diversions).  

"It is axiomatic that the shape of the self (svarūpa) is identical to the shape of the body," Iyengar says in Astadala Yogamala, Volume 2When the dualities have been absorbed, reconciled, and resolved, "the shape of the asana is meditative.  Consequently the shape of the self cannot be otherwise."

In "The borders of order: Do all living things exist at the edge of chaos?" in the April 26-May 2, 2014 issue of New Scientist, reporter, Philip Ball explains: "There is increasing evidence that many systems we observe in living things are close to what's called a critical point - they sit on a knife-edge, precariously poised between order and disorder.  Odd as it may sound, this strategy could confer a variety of benefits, in particular the flexibility to deal with a complex and unpredictable environment."   

Funny thing is the Science of Yoga has been talking about this since its inception some 5,000 years ago. In Astadala Yogamala, Volume 2, BKS Iyengar gives a lesson in the confluence of Śarīra Śakti (body), Pranā Śakti (energy) and Prajñā Śakti (awareness).  The word Śakti means powers. The eight-limbs of yoga bring the three powers in alignment with the Ātma Śakti (loosely: Universal Self, Exhalted or Supreme Self) to reach "enlightenment" (Samadhi) -- (transformation, tranquility, evolution, freedom, et al.). In one paragraph he states, "The tussle begins..." hinting at an ever-present point of potential chaos where there is an imbalance in one or more of the three powers. If for example, the voltage of energy gets too high, we are forced to address any surrounding weakness, whether that be in our body or our awareness in order to avoid harm. 

In the New Scientist article, Ball sites how there have been clues in neuroscience that neurons in the brain sit near a critical point.  "On one side, they are stable and ready to respond to stimuli.  On the other, they fire in an uncontrolled cascade, triggering a seizure." However, he says scientists are appealing to the critical phase transition of iron as the oldest and most known example of this newer concept of "self-organized criticality". He describes how at a certain temperature the magnetic poles of the atoms are aligned; and then when heated to a certain degree, chaos ensues which is sufficient to "scramble the ordering".  
"Magnetic alignment below the phase transition occurs because each atom interacts with its neighbors, allowing them to come to a kind of collective decision about their orientation."
This "collective decision"  reminds me of Iyengar's words in Light On The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali  under his commentary on Sutra 11:36 Satyapratishthayam Kriyaphalasrayatvam about how when we are firmly established in truth, when every cell in our body agrees with that truth, our words become so potent whatever we say comes to realization.
"It is not our mind, but the inner voice of our cells which has the power to implement our intentions." 
Aligning those trillions of cells to have a single voice is what the eight limbs of yoga are sequentially designed to give us. Critical moments of utter fear in asana practice throwing our legs up in Urdhva Mukha Vrksasana (handstand) or utter exhaustion after our 10th Urdhva Dhanurasana (backbend) put us in a state of criticality that force an alignment of our body, mind, energy, with our supreme self --creating a "collective decision" to  transform.  The new "powers" we attain as a result are sustainable not only on the mat but in our daily lives as well.  

I don't claim any great depth of understanding in neuroscience, physics, or biology, or yoga for that matter. I just enjoy learning about them. I like to connect dots, so when Ball invites in his words the profound question: "Is the presence of criticality in all these systems just a coincidence, or a sign of a unifying physical law for all life?" I can't help but wonder if the ancient science of yoga could offer some fresh insights into that answer.


Namaste










Monday, April 14, 2014

Once Upon A Time In Pune & Other Stories By Manouso Manos in Atlanta


Goldie Locks & The Three Bears
The Power Seekers
Springtime In Atlanta
Hip Stories
Palm Sunday
Thoughts During a Three-Hour Headstand
Third Floor Observations  
The Difference Between Medicine and Poison
The Big Hinge
The 29-Minute Setubandha
Who Touched My Robe?
How A Mother Taught Her Son To Blow His Nose
Stairway To The Top of The Empire State Building
The Paris Headstand 
The 20-Minute Hippy
The Mirror Meditation

Manouso shared his wit and his wisdom with us during another Atlanta workshop hosted by Stillwater Yoga. He weaved stories into almost every lesson, which made what he taught memorable and engaging. Just for fun those of you who were able to make the Atlanta workshop take a minute to go through my short sample of titles above and see if they trigger your smriti (memory) of the story behind them and relate it to what was being taught.

It is mind-boggling to me how much information Manouso is able to convey in just three short days. I feel a lot of it has to do with this uncanny ability to seamlessly link and connect us to the material through these entertaining stories. Did I retain all of them?  Absolutely not. However, I do believe, my body got more than I think it did.

Manouso alluded to the possibility of the body and the "mind stuff" collaborating more than we have been led to believe. Directives don't always just come from the brain telling the body to do something - the body works on the brain as well. I'm the type of learner who learns by doing (whether that means what I'd call "marking out" the directions with my body or hitting keys on a keyboard with my fingers to figure out what I thought I heard.) Therefore, the body having an affect on the mind stuff makes sense to me.

I can't figure it out in my brain all the time. Like Manouso, if ADD (or for me ADHD) was a big thing when I was a kid, I would have been diagnosed with it for sure. Luckily, my mom put me in ballet class at the age of 4 or 5 and I stayed with it pretty much daily until I was 23. When I left it my life went way off balance for a couple of years until I found yoga. The physical aspect helps me unclutter my brain. When I think back on the workshop, or get into the asanas we worked on with Manouso, I hear his voice correcting our attempts, I see his demonstrations, I hear his stories and I'm able to get myself into a place of learning again.

I may not relate all the stories correctly. So, I welcome corrections.  However, for kicks let's give this a try:  Goldie Locks & The Three Bears as I remember was about getting to a place where we feel "just right".  This was after our beginning svastikasana (this one [of three other versions] was about stretching our inner heels away from each other and lining feet under knees, keeping front shin parallel to front wall) and our chanting, where he said something like, 'whatever this chant means to you let it help you find your inner being'.

He connected Goldie Locks & The Three Bears to the 'Seeking Power' story. Manouso related the first story to our asana practice and transitioned, if memory serves to the second story with the idea that we may say we come to yoga for other reasons, but we are really 'Seeking Power'.  If you think about it he's exactly right.  We want power over our mind, our body, our emotions, or over our bosses, enemies, our competitors, the list could go on and on. Historically, it was this mystical power of yogis that was perceived as a threat by others.
Yoga: The Art of Transformation is an art exhibit of yoga-themed artwork in various mediums. This was the overarching plot throughout Manouso's workshop and one I was glad he integrated into our lessons. Those of you who have not heard the fascinating segment: "Journey of Self with Yoga Master Iyengar: A Talk By Manouso that took place during the opening in San Francisco of the art exhibit that is touring the country and has spawned a beautiful book, please click here and here. 
'Springtime in Atlanta':  A story about the warnings Manouso received about coming to Atlanta in April with the pollen count so high. He taught us how as aspiring yogis, we can learn to overcome the pollen through a series, which he took us through.  It was a series that took patience and the ability (which he encouraged throughout the workshop) to forget everything we think we should be doing in an asana and listen as if it was the first time you were doing the pose. I didn't feel I had problem with the pollen, until after the series. The pressure I had felt normal until the series helped clear it and I got hints of a nicer normal.

'Hip Stories':  Began with a story about how tales about his hip issues have gone through the Iyengar Network like the game "Telephone" where the story begins with he has a congenital hip defect that BKS has helped keep him from surgery and ends with something crazy like he has an elephant-sized spur shaped like an orangutang. This began our three-day hip work lesson that was brilliantly designed layer by layer to wake up our hips like they've never been woken up before.

'Palm Sunday':  was told on the Saturday before the religious holiday, Palm Sunday and began our lesson on the inner shoulder. Not to be confused with an earlier lesson on lifting the inner shoulder blade. Palm Sunday was what ad people would call a witty mnemonic device more than a story to help us remember to slightly bend our thumbs to better push our palms flat in Prasarita Padottanasana, which enables us work the triceps inward and back, widen our elbows, and engage our armpit chest to create a specific action in the inner most shoulder area.  (Remember, feel free to correct me here)

'Thoughts During A 3-Hour Headstand': The inner shoulder lesson progressed into Salamba Sirsasana with the story about a man who was determined to find out what went through yogis' minds during 3-hours handstands.  If you've done a five minute headstand and tried to double that time what goes through your mind?  Now do the math and…well, the only thing you can think about is how to stay in headstand.

'Third-Floor Observations':  On Iyengars 95th birthday Geeta Iyengar, his daughter, held a workshop to teach Indian yoga teachers how to instruct on pranayama.  Manouso tried to get into the workshop, but was relegated to the third floor where he observed the workshop from a perspective that turned out to be better than he would have gotten in a crowded room on the first level. This story was the segue into a progressive lesson in supta pranayama. It also taught us to be happy with what presents itself it may turn out to serve you better than you think.

'The Difference Between Medicine & Poison':  This was a story about how much is too much.  The difference between something being a medicine or a poison is "amount".  Learning to be discriminating about what is being taught and how much to apply the action to your body comes with practice (abhyasa) and self-study (svadyaya).  The story came into play somewhere around our 20 something super-wide Utthita Trikonasanas to help understand our hips and knees.

'The Big Hinge':  Is a story about hearing BKS Iyengar refer to the ankle as a "hinge" for years until  around the time of Iyengar's 80th birthday celebration; and not just 20 Utthita Trikonasanas that we did, but more like an entire day of Utthita Trikonasana & Utthita Parsvakonasana, the idea of "filling the voids" in the arc of the ankle and the ankle being a hinge began to sink in deeper.  The story was coupled with a lot of walking to a studio door hinge and making sure we understood what a hinge was; along with many Utthita Trikonasana, Utthita Parsvakonasana, Utkatasana, and Malasana variations.

'The 29-minute Setubandha':  Taught us to be wary of trying to practice with BKS Iyengar.  Manouso gives us a laugh as he describes a time when he decided he was going to practice exactly what BKS Iyengar was practicing. He placed his mat perpendicular to the wall and set up for a Setubandha from Sarvangasana where the tips of his toes (like Iyengar's) would be touching the wall. After a successful Setubandha, Manouso waited and waited and waited….wondering when Iyengar was going to come out of it.  You guessed it:  29 minutes later.   This helped to curb the discomfort of getting into various versions of Setubandha Sarvangasana that Manouso demonstrated for us afterwards.  Yes, I still feel it.   

'Who Touched My Robe': Involved a religious reference to Jesus's robe (Can you make Jesus possessive? Seems like he wouldn't approve.) and the woman who touched his robe in blind faith that Jesus could heal her and he did. Manouso's story referred to the ever growing sensitivity and subtlety of parts of our body.  Manouso furthered this by comparing how we touch fabric with our hands - because our fingertips are the most sensitive part. "What if through yoga we could make other parts of our body as sensitive as our fingertips?" He asked us. It is this involution, this intense focus that gets us closer to having that happen.  So imagine, he continues what BKS Iyengar can access.

The final half of the workshop was a Q&A portion and an eye-opening lesson on everything from Autism to Lymes Disease. The 'Mother who taught her son to blow his nose' was a segue to answer a Kapalabhati and Bhastrika Pranayama question.  The 'Stairway to the top of the Empire State Building' and the 'Paris Headstand' referred to stories about how frighteningly brilliant Iyengar is -- at one time figuring out how he could (though he didn't) navigate the stairs to the Empire State Building by utilizing a single body part per 5 flights of stairs thus dissipating the load on the body, while at another directing Manouso in Pune to put a therapeutic student into a headstand that he put Manouso in 17 years before in Paris.  Manouso confirms that Iyengar remembers this AND what he had for breakfast today- at 95.

After questions on a hip issue from someone who was unable to make the whole workshop and someone who has no certified teachers in her area, came encouragement for svadyaya (self study) and abhyasa (practice) on our own. He added his '20-Minute Hippy' story about how he gets up and for 20 minutes works on his hips then proceeds to other yoga. It's worth it to him.  It's only 20 minutes out of his morning.  Besides, he says, "what else do I have to do?"  Meaning it's not so much time out of your day, out of your life to take care of yourself and study your body - your yoga.  He adds that it can transform you and your practice considerably.

He ended the workshop much like he began with a call to action to find our inner being. He explained how historically staring into a candle flame or into a mirror was part of the yoga practice.  A 'Mirror Meditation' done for a designated time over a long period of time removes the chatter and the masks and gets you closer to your true essence of who you really are - it's what the eight-limbs of Astanga Yoga are all about. It's 'Yoga: The Art of Transformation'.  He explains that the first three Sutras of Pananjali say it all.  It's very simple really but it takes a lifetime of dedication and practice  --and like Manouso says, "What else do we have to do?"

I would like to express my deep gratitude for Kathleen Pringle and Stillwater Yoga for hosting; and a sincere thank you, Manouso, for sharing your story and encouraging us to use yoga's transformational power to help us discover the true essence of our own.

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Training The Restless Mind With Abhyāsa and Vairāgya

abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyam tannirodhah - Pantanjali Yoga Sutra 1.12

Vrtti comes from the Sanskrit root vrt which means to turn, revolve, rollover.  Iyengar students are well-versed in Patanjali's description of Yoga in the second Sutra of the Samadhi Pada: Yogah cittavrtti nirodah. BKS Iyengar translates this as "Yoga is the cessation of the movements or fluctuations of the consciousness."

In Light on Yoga, Iyengar explains that Yoga is an eight-limbed method to calm the mind and direct the energy into contructive pathways.
As a mighty river which when properly harnessed by dams and canals, creates a vast reservoir of water, prevents famine and provides abundant power for industry; so also the mind, when controlled, provides a reservoir of peace and generates abundant energy for human uplift.
In Gem For Women, Geeta Iyengar sites the opening sutra 1.12 that states that study or practice (abhyāsa) and absence of worldly desires (vairāgya) is the remedy Patanjali offers to control the fluctuations of the mind. She sites another Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.14 sa tu dīrghakāla nairantarya satkārāsevito srdha bhūmih with the interpretation that "this rigourous practice has to be long-lasting, uninterrupted, and performed with dedication and respect; then alone the foundation or the ground is prepared."

It's important to note that Geeta also adds a bit from the poet Vyāsa: sukhārtinah kuto vidyā kuto vidyārthinasukham, which means "knowledge cannot be attained by those who are given to pleasures and pleasures are denied to those who study."  It made me laugh because it's so true.

However, without constant practice or abhyāsa we will not gain the power and peace that is promised. It's not an easy task.  Vrittis of the mind are incessant and unyielding even in their most positive state. When the vrittis empower our fears, our pains, or our desire for a specific outcome instead of our well-being then we can get really overwhelmed and out of control.

From conception to three years of age (click link) our brain develops and even though our synapses expand and then go through a "pruning" process they are still highly vulnerable to outside stimulus. Early programming sets up the filter through which we interpret our world. I don't know about you but that was along time ago for me. Using a childhood filter that we had no real control over developing can wreak havoc on our adult life.

All of which is good reason no matter if you are an aspiring yogi or an aspiring conscious human being to heed Patanjali's advice. He even offers us a simple exercise to abhyāsa by switching our negative thoughts or emotions into positive ones as stated in Patanjali's Sutra 2.33 Vitarka badhane pratipaksabhavanam.  Krishna also talks about the two imperatives to controlling the mind in the Bhagavad Gita. "Undoubtedly, the mind is restless and hard to control.  But it can be trained by constant practice (abhyāsa) and by freedom from desire (vairāgya)."

Vairāgya means absence of worldly desires --that means we can't get attached to an outcome. So, like one of my teachers, Kquvien DeWeese has been teaching in class, we want to practice with discipline (tapas) and self-study (svadyaya). If we practice with an expectation like about say getting up into Urdhva Mukha Vrksasana, it can put us into an overly energized (rajasic) state of vrittis that can get us overwhelmed or worse injured.

In Light on Yoga, Iyengar mentions that yoga is also "wisdom in work or skillful living amongst activities, harmony and moderation." Geeta in Gem for Woman explains "The key to success is in effort. Vairāgya  or absence of worldly desires can be achieved by controlling the senses, by carrying out one's duties without thought of reward and by acting with goodness and purity."  I will end this blog with her beautiful summation:

Constant practice and absence of worldly pursuits are interdependent on each other --they are like the wings of an eagle.  But successful flight can be achieved only with the coordination between both wings.
 Namaste.