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Thursday, 15 October 2020
Upcoming programs
Friday, 14 April 2017
Reflections from YogaVahini - April 14, 2017
Dear Sanga,
It is our New year today, in this part of the world. With this year, YogaVahini is stepping into a new phase, something that we have been preparing for so long! The YogaVahini Foundation as a Public Charitable Trust is going operational and we look forward to expanding our scope and potential to engage with the world in a more meaningful manner through yoga.
We welcome you to join us today with a short, silent practice, connecting with our intent, and blessing the endeavour.
What are we seeking?
Now that yoga has become extra popular and special, it will be good to revisit the question of why we are doing what we are doing with yoga. As a yoga teacher and practitioner, this is something I have to ask myself everyday so that I don't get swept off my feet with the frenzy of so called "yogic" activities we seem to be consumed with all the time!
What is our goal in yoga?
At the highest level yoga is about being established in our true nature: to understand that we are in essence the imperishable, pure Self. This appears to be a distant dream, even beyond our imagination. So we have to begin with realistic goals that are tangible at some level. It maybe that we want to improve our health and well-being, reduce stress, acquire peace of mind, clarity etc. And these actually come by quite effortlessly, if we practiced regularly. But we could get stuck and complacent with these apparent benefits leading to stagnation and regression. Our yoga journey begins with seeking happiness and wanting to avoid pain and continues or discontinues for a variety of reasons.
A more diligent practitioner is no better off!
In doing my asana practice with great zeal, I could get obsessed and indulgent with my body. In practising meditation, I could get attached to the identity of a "meditator" and build barriers around me, separating the very "special" me from the "ordinary" world! We could get so strongly identified with our "practices", "mantra", "tradition", "Guru", even with the accessories of yoga and what is meant to liberate us actually traps us!
So it is absolutely important for any serious seeker to know if one is on the right track…
Am I moving in the right direction? What are the signposts on the path of yoga?
Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutra expounds the fundamental principles of right action through the Yama & Niyama. Yamas are boundaries of right action & engagement with the world. Non-violence, honesty, non-stealing, seeking the highest truth, non-grasping are the five Yamas. Niyamas are personal observances that, when practised constantly and consistently, will facilitate the Yamas. Purity of body & mind, contentment, austerity, study & self-reflection and surrendering to the Higher intelligence are the five Niyamas.
Are my feelings, thoughts, actions and responses to the world in alignment to what I am seeking through yoga?
Do you know that when Patanjali has only allocated 3 sutras out of 195 for Asana, he has talked about the Yama, Niyama in 18 sutras! It is not that asana is less important but Yama Niyama are of paramount importance without which there is no yoga! But how conveniently we have magnified the physical aspect beyond proportion and allowed it to eclipse the Yama Niyama!
How do we practice Yama, Niyama? Is it really possible to be established in them? You may ask. Do you know of anybody who is fully established in them? You may want to know.
Yama Niyama are to be practised each day, not something we are expected to do perfectly each time. But this confused illusion of "perfection" and need to be seen as perfect, we suppress, deflect, manipulate and suffer! To make these precepts more palatable, we have conveniently converted them into didactic instructions, intellectual discussions and attractive slogans!
The soft target is always the other! We want to know how to change people who don't practice these precepts. Even before I understand what is ahimsa, I want to be treated with kindness. Even if I just decide to be truthful, I already expect others to be honest and trustworthy towards me. One of my teachers once wrote: "I fully believe in ahimsa, nobody should hurt me".
The desire for pleasure and aversion to pain keeps us stuck!
What is the way out?
Patanjali uses the word Svadhyaya – study of texts as a process of understanding oneself and living our life from that understanding. Without yoga practices coupled with svadhyaya, they can even spell danger not just to the practitioner but to others who have to tolerate and live with the self-obsessed "more evolved beings"!
Svadhyaya is not self-analysis or self-judgement! It is to learn to honestly look into oneself and maintain a non-judgmental awareness of everything that is happening in the moment. Becoming aware of our thoughts, intentions and feelings, listening to ourself when we think and speak, taking responsibility for our actions and inactions. And for this we require the support of a strong sanga – spiritual community.
And we also need to create contexts for this exploration – a laboratory for cultivating the Yama-Niyama. Take time off from our frenzied activity, regularly and periodically. Come home to a quiet space where we are not filling in with mindless activity and chatter. Make this space safe and nourishing for each other.
In this sacred space:
Can we bring to this circle our experiences and insights from practice, our gifts as well as our struggles? Where we practice equity and self-disclosure without the fear of judgment and rejection.
Can we listen with compassion and learn to reflect for each other what we maybe blind to? Where our sharing helps to break illusions of being more or less evolved and gives hope and inspiration.
This of course, has to be actively supported by our daily practice. Right practice of asana is meant to reduce Rajas and improve our tolerance. Pranayama reduces the heaviness of Tamas, sensory and mental indulgence. Meditative practices help in sharpening the mind to stay with our enquiry. Such a mind can observe the inner and outer realities without much distortion. Such a mind is aware of feeling, intentions, thoughts, actions and reactions and assumes active responsibility. Only such a mind can practice Yama – Niyama and inspire others too!
Even if it is painful, it is important to stay with the Yama-Niyama practice. We slowly learn to re-calibrate our aspirations and expectations.
We see more and more that it is not about having the right answers but staying with important questions.
It is not so much about "doing the right thing" but enquiring into our compulsions for unwholesome actions.
We slowly begin to understand what the Yama-Niyamas mean and this very understanding helps us to refine our thoughts intentions and actions.
Together we can work towards a more wholesome life that is reflected in all our thoughts, actions and responses to life situations.
Such active, practising communities are the need of the hour.
As a collective, when we shift our focus from result to quality of actions, from purpose to meaning, yoga comes alive… and a better world is born.
love,
Saras.
Friday, 4 November 2016
Śraddhā: The Secret Ingredient - Part 3
Continued from Part 2 & Part 1..
[From a talk Saraswathi Vasudevan gave at Hyderabad. Part 3 of 3. Thanks to Suchitra Shenoy for transcribing it thoroughly.
Originally published in full on Suchitra Shenoy's page. ]
Q & A
What are the number of asanas?
…This whole idea of exploring many asanas…Yes, you need to take care of the body. But if we begin to identify with the body then that becomes an end by itself. You cannot get out of it. So when people come and ask, “How many asanas can you teach?” We say, “we will teach what is appropriate for you.” It is not a super-market where you pick and choose. We think if we can do so many asanas then that means I am fit and healthy. But doing too much of asanas can also cause problems.
On an average out of 50-60 postures, we pull about 10 or so to do per day…In our texts out of the 195 sutras only 3 pertain to asanas. So it is important to distinguish between yoga and asanas. Yoga is the large umbrella under which asanas reside.
How to cultivate shraddha?
Study, practice, reflect.
Studying the scriptures, the sutras.
My own practice will help me stay healthy so I can have a clear mind so that I can understand myself better. And that will show me the way.
Reflection, in a community. Because what I can’t see, you can show me. We can be mirrors for each other. That’s why community is such an important part of spiritual growth. Listening is a powerful medium of awakening the shraddha. We need to accept that we have our weak moments. A community is very important. One that is consciously coming together to move forward on this path (not just to have fun). Can we come together to do something meaningful?
Everyday we should do a bit of all three.
On yoga vs. running or walking
Yoga works all your muscles and systems. Other than swimming and wrestling all other forms exercise specific parts. So running is good for your heart and lower body. But what about your spine? Your neck? Your shoulders?
Yoga itself will show you the goal. Yoga will guide me and show me how to get there. 20 minutes to stay healthy and then work with a teacher. You need to do different kinds of asanas. Suryanamaskars alone is not a sarvangasaddhana (full body exercise).
If you are at the gym or running or playing a competitive sport, your blood is going to the extremities. Your sense organs have to on alert. You are in stress mode. So you can run or perform. In yoga asana practice there is circulation all through. Your internal organs are getting more blood. You can’t compare one with the other. That may give some benefits but you can’t substitute.
How did you create a community? What were the challenges?
Initially I really wanted to create a community and worked towards it. At some point I realized that I am not doing anything. If something is happening through grace then I just have to step out of the way, not get in the way. So can I deepen my practice and support the group, so that what will happen, will happen? I need to do it consciously -- to step back.
When we have a space for self-disclosure, and that space is held with compassion and a non-judgmental attitude, then the community can grow. We need to create such spaces. They don’t happen by default. We need to create a context to share. We should be able to listen and offer support. To be who we are. That gives us strength and purpose.
On individual practice
In the Krishnamacharya tradition it is not the same practice for everybody. We take into consideration who is this person, what is it that they need, what is it that they can do, what is their flexibility, what is their strength, what is their lifestyle, what is their health condition, what is their state of mind? We go into a thorough assessment of everything and we offer something that is appropriate for that individual which over a period of time is progressively changed.
It is changed to suit their changing needs. We are constantly changing – our minds, bodies, our life-context… So your practice should change.
And it is always one-on-one. For each person -- what can I offer?
When can I start yoga for my child?
The ideal age, Krishnamacharya has said, is when a child can say, “I am hungry, give me food.” Is that 4? 5?
Don’t give children rigourous practice. Expose them to yoga. Let them be there when you are doing it. It does not matter if they crawl under or over you. They will imitate you. If you have not fed it at that young age, and then if you try and get a teenager into a yoga class… :)
The seed has to be sown early. Parents have to practice. [lots of laughter]. We find yoga works when the parents practice. Taking kids to yoga class once a week is not enough. There needs to be a home environment. And even if they stop doing, they will come back to it.
We have a group in Chennai for children with special needs. We insist that parents and siblings have to come to it [as well]. The whole family practises together. Whether the children are getting anything out of it, parents are getting a lot…
What is a good time to start yoga?
Today.
Every day is a new beginning. Abhyasa means ‘today I have to start’. Tomorrow, again I have to start.
What was it like to learn from Desikachar?
From the beginning to the end of class he would throw questions. We would have to find the answers.
He would say, “Ok, come and do paschimutanasana.” The person has to do it. He would ask us, “How would you do it? how would you prepare her to do it?” Each one of us has to answer. Sometimes he would say, “No” or just be quiet. If I think another posture will work, I need to teach that person. In one week we would learn so much. Because if you have to teach it, you have to go home and practise.
Everything was through questioning. For someone doing bhujangasana, he would say, “See can you see how he is tilting his head?” I couldn’t see it. So I would keep looking and looking and looking.
Questioning was mostly his style of teaching. If he is happy there will be a little smile. Otherwise go back, read, observe, ask someone to do a posture. There was a lot of compassion. Because we were so scared. Only the foreigners would ask questions :) So he treated us with a lot of compassion.
He always knew what you wanted in the moment. Like sometimes I would be very depressed and would just go sit in front of him and cry. He would say, “I will chant for you.” He’d choose a long passage and chant for 40 minutes. By then I would have calmed down. I’d say, “Thank you, sir” and come away. He would have said nothing J No discussion, no questioning, just unconditional love and offering.
(Of course there were also times of seeing the other side of the teacher :) )
He always motivated us to do the best we could be.
Do you only get unwell people or do healthy people come as well?
We get people who think they are healthy :)
The problem is not in the body. Most of the time the problem is in the mind. What the mind is thinking… everything will come in the way. So you come with a knee pain, but actually all the time you are angry and frustrated, not able to rest…
Yoga therapy is all about creating a harmony between the body and the mind. We really believe that the body has the potential to heal if the right conditions are created. We look at diet, lifestyle, appropriate asana practice with breathing. The breathing reduces the pain. Then the person feels more empowered that he can deal with it. The empowerment comes in the mind.
So what is health? It is not purely at the physical level, right? It is a balance, a harmony. Can I be in touch with reality at a level where I am not shaken by what is happening around me so quickly. That level of strength is what I think yoga can give. Yoga will never promise that you will never fall sick… If you stay long enough [with yoga], it helps strengthen the mind to deal with the realities of life better.
How do you work on listening?
We do a lot of work where we get into groups of three where one is sharing, one is listening, one is observing. So we build it consciously.
But listening is also something that comes naturally when your mind is quiet. So if I can do a good pranayama practice and I sit down to listen, I listen even better.
When you see the value of that listening, when I can listen without holding onto my thoughts or my judgments, just that act of listening, can be so healing to the person who is sharing and to me, who is listening. When you see that power, you want to do it better.
[From a talk Saraswathi Vasudevan gave at Hyderabad. Part 3 of 3. Thanks to Suchitra Shenoy for transcribing it thoroughly.
Originally published in full on Suchitra Shenoy's page. ]
Q & A
What are the number of asanas?
…This whole idea of exploring many asanas…Yes, you need to take care of the body. But if we begin to identify with the body then that becomes an end by itself. You cannot get out of it. So when people come and ask, “How many asanas can you teach?” We say, “we will teach what is appropriate for you.” It is not a super-market where you pick and choose. We think if we can do so many asanas then that means I am fit and healthy. But doing too much of asanas can also cause problems.
On an average out of 50-60 postures, we pull about 10 or so to do per day…In our texts out of the 195 sutras only 3 pertain to asanas. So it is important to distinguish between yoga and asanas. Yoga is the large umbrella under which asanas reside.
How to cultivate shraddha?
Study, practice, reflect.
Studying the scriptures, the sutras.
My own practice will help me stay healthy so I can have a clear mind so that I can understand myself better. And that will show me the way.
Reflection, in a community. Because what I can’t see, you can show me. We can be mirrors for each other. That’s why community is such an important part of spiritual growth. Listening is a powerful medium of awakening the shraddha. We need to accept that we have our weak moments. A community is very important. One that is consciously coming together to move forward on this path (not just to have fun). Can we come together to do something meaningful?
Everyday we should do a bit of all three.
On yoga vs. running or walking
Yoga works all your muscles and systems. Other than swimming and wrestling all other forms exercise specific parts. So running is good for your heart and lower body. But what about your spine? Your neck? Your shoulders?
Yoga itself will show you the goal. Yoga will guide me and show me how to get there. 20 minutes to stay healthy and then work with a teacher. You need to do different kinds of asanas. Suryanamaskars alone is not a sarvangasaddhana (full body exercise).
If you are at the gym or running or playing a competitive sport, your blood is going to the extremities. Your sense organs have to on alert. You are in stress mode. So you can run or perform. In yoga asana practice there is circulation all through. Your internal organs are getting more blood. You can’t compare one with the other. That may give some benefits but you can’t substitute.
How did you create a community? What were the challenges?
Initially I really wanted to create a community and worked towards it. At some point I realized that I am not doing anything. If something is happening through grace then I just have to step out of the way, not get in the way. So can I deepen my practice and support the group, so that what will happen, will happen? I need to do it consciously -- to step back.
When we have a space for self-disclosure, and that space is held with compassion and a non-judgmental attitude, then the community can grow. We need to create such spaces. They don’t happen by default. We need to create a context to share. We should be able to listen and offer support. To be who we are. That gives us strength and purpose.
On individual practice
In the Krishnamacharya tradition it is not the same practice for everybody. We take into consideration who is this person, what is it that they need, what is it that they can do, what is their flexibility, what is their strength, what is their lifestyle, what is their health condition, what is their state of mind? We go into a thorough assessment of everything and we offer something that is appropriate for that individual which over a period of time is progressively changed.
It is changed to suit their changing needs. We are constantly changing – our minds, bodies, our life-context… So your practice should change.
And it is always one-on-one. For each person -- what can I offer?
When can I start yoga for my child?
The ideal age, Krishnamacharya has said, is when a child can say, “I am hungry, give me food.” Is that 4? 5?
Don’t give children rigourous practice. Expose them to yoga. Let them be there when you are doing it. It does not matter if they crawl under or over you. They will imitate you. If you have not fed it at that young age, and then if you try and get a teenager into a yoga class… :)
The seed has to be sown early. Parents have to practice. [lots of laughter]. We find yoga works when the parents practice. Taking kids to yoga class once a week is not enough. There needs to be a home environment. And even if they stop doing, they will come back to it.
We have a group in Chennai for children with special needs. We insist that parents and siblings have to come to it [as well]. The whole family practises together. Whether the children are getting anything out of it, parents are getting a lot…
What is a good time to start yoga?
Today.
Every day is a new beginning. Abhyasa means ‘today I have to start’. Tomorrow, again I have to start.
What was it like to learn from Desikachar?
From the beginning to the end of class he would throw questions. We would have to find the answers.
He would say, “Ok, come and do paschimutanasana.” The person has to do it. He would ask us, “How would you do it? how would you prepare her to do it?” Each one of us has to answer. Sometimes he would say, “No” or just be quiet. If I think another posture will work, I need to teach that person. In one week we would learn so much. Because if you have to teach it, you have to go home and practise.
Everything was through questioning. For someone doing bhujangasana, he would say, “See can you see how he is tilting his head?” I couldn’t see it. So I would keep looking and looking and looking.
Questioning was mostly his style of teaching. If he is happy there will be a little smile. Otherwise go back, read, observe, ask someone to do a posture. There was a lot of compassion. Because we were so scared. Only the foreigners would ask questions :) So he treated us with a lot of compassion.
He always knew what you wanted in the moment. Like sometimes I would be very depressed and would just go sit in front of him and cry. He would say, “I will chant for you.” He’d choose a long passage and chant for 40 minutes. By then I would have calmed down. I’d say, “Thank you, sir” and come away. He would have said nothing J No discussion, no questioning, just unconditional love and offering.
(Of course there were also times of seeing the other side of the teacher :) )
He always motivated us to do the best we could be.
Do you only get unwell people or do healthy people come as well?
We get people who think they are healthy :)
The problem is not in the body. Most of the time the problem is in the mind. What the mind is thinking… everything will come in the way. So you come with a knee pain, but actually all the time you are angry and frustrated, not able to rest…
Yoga therapy is all about creating a harmony between the body and the mind. We really believe that the body has the potential to heal if the right conditions are created. We look at diet, lifestyle, appropriate asana practice with breathing. The breathing reduces the pain. Then the person feels more empowered that he can deal with it. The empowerment comes in the mind.
So what is health? It is not purely at the physical level, right? It is a balance, a harmony. Can I be in touch with reality at a level where I am not shaken by what is happening around me so quickly. That level of strength is what I think yoga can give. Yoga will never promise that you will never fall sick… If you stay long enough [with yoga], it helps strengthen the mind to deal with the realities of life better.
How do you work on listening?
We do a lot of work where we get into groups of three where one is sharing, one is listening, one is observing. So we build it consciously.
But listening is also something that comes naturally when your mind is quiet. So if I can do a good pranayama practice and I sit down to listen, I listen even better.
When you see the value of that listening, when I can listen without holding onto my thoughts or my judgments, just that act of listening, can be so healing to the person who is sharing and to me, who is listening. When you see that power, you want to do it better.
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Śraddhā: The Secret Ingredient - Part 2
Continued from Part I..
[Part 2 of 3, based on a talk given by Saraswathi Vasudevan in Hyderabad]
It is easy to be caught up in the powers of yoga. The simple powers of being able to touch the floor, of people complimenting you on a glowing face, of at some level, being able to read somebody’s mind….We can get really caught up… but we need to focus on achieving the quiet mind. A mind that can completely show me who I am.
Krishnamacharya used to say about shraddha, “Aham graha upasana.” To be close to understanding, or enquiring into who I am. That which will take me to myself.
So can yoga take us deeper and deeper into self-enquiry and hold us there?
The tools of yoga are meant to take us there. It is easy to get lost in asanas or meditation without keeping track of why we are doing it. They cannot be ends to themselves. So “Aham graha upasana” will help us to hold on…
Mandela, Gandhi, Ramana Maharishi, all had strong shraddhas.
*
So what weakens our shraddha or inner conviction?
Illness can weaken or strengthen it. Pain can be debilitating. Doubt can weaken it. People are commitment-phobic these days, even to a yoga practice :)
Yet they want results quickly. Students come and say, “I’ve had this problem for 15 years but can your practice improve it in a week?!” Or they get better and get complacent. They should come back [to us] to strengthen [their muscles], but don’t. Only when the pain comes back, they come back. When they are ok, there is no news :)
*
So how can we strengthen shraddha?
We can teach and guide but the students have to tap their shraddha to practice. As a teacher we can give them a practice – that’s easy, breath is 50% of the work, then diet or nutrition, and listening to their life. But yoga therapy is not chat therapy. We can’t do the practice for them. So how can we awaken their shraddha?
*
If yoga has chosen me then there is something in it that I need to explore. Even in our teaching, we as teachers are constantly learning. Every student is such a wonderful teacher. Teaching reminds us of what we have forgotten.
How can we tap into this energy that is within us? Shraddha is not in the mind, it’s beyond, it is in the deeper mind. Shraddha is the key. It knows the direction, it knows the way.
If I can quieten the intellectual mind down and listen, then shraddha will guide me. It will guide each one of us. That is the promise of yoga.
I will stay with my abhyasa, my perseverance, my practice, without thinking, “What will I get out of it?” I need to stay with my enquiry, my study, my service….If I can do that, and hold onto that thread, then I will be shown the way.
(Q & A from this talk will follow in the next article)
[Part 2 of 3, based on a talk given by Saraswathi Vasudevan in Hyderabad]
It is easy to be caught up in the powers of yoga. The simple powers of being able to touch the floor, of people complimenting you on a glowing face, of at some level, being able to read somebody’s mind….We can get really caught up… but we need to focus on achieving the quiet mind. A mind that can completely show me who I am.
Krishnamacharya used to say about shraddha, “Aham graha upasana.” To be close to understanding, or enquiring into who I am. That which will take me to myself.
So can yoga take us deeper and deeper into self-enquiry and hold us there?
The tools of yoga are meant to take us there. It is easy to get lost in asanas or meditation without keeping track of why we are doing it. They cannot be ends to themselves. So “Aham graha upasana” will help us to hold on…
Mandela, Gandhi, Ramana Maharishi, all had strong shraddhas.
*
So what weakens our shraddha or inner conviction?
Illness can weaken or strengthen it. Pain can be debilitating. Doubt can weaken it. People are commitment-phobic these days, even to a yoga practice :)
Yet they want results quickly. Students come and say, “I’ve had this problem for 15 years but can your practice improve it in a week?!” Or they get better and get complacent. They should come back [to us] to strengthen [their muscles], but don’t. Only when the pain comes back, they come back. When they are ok, there is no news :)
*
So how can we strengthen shraddha?
We can teach and guide but the students have to tap their shraddha to practice. As a teacher we can give them a practice – that’s easy, breath is 50% of the work, then diet or nutrition, and listening to their life. But yoga therapy is not chat therapy. We can’t do the practice for them. So how can we awaken their shraddha?
*
If yoga has chosen me then there is something in it that I need to explore. Even in our teaching, we as teachers are constantly learning. Every student is such a wonderful teacher. Teaching reminds us of what we have forgotten.
How can we tap into this energy that is within us? Shraddha is not in the mind, it’s beyond, it is in the deeper mind. Shraddha is the key. It knows the direction, it knows the way.
If I can quieten the intellectual mind down and listen, then shraddha will guide me. It will guide each one of us. That is the promise of yoga.
I will stay with my abhyasa, my perseverance, my practice, without thinking, “What will I get out of it?” I need to stay with my enquiry, my study, my service….If I can do that, and hold onto that thread, then I will be shown the way.
(Q & A from this talk will follow in the next article)
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Towards Real Freedom!
On August 8th at 2.45 am our teacher, Sri TKV Desikachar breathed his last. The person who taught so many of us – one on one – to breathe, to use our breath not only as a calming, healing tool but as the ultimate spiritual process.
He has found his freedom from the body and mind that had been wasting away. But letting go of somebody like him from our life is so painful. The last few days I have been con
sciously trying to breathe more deeply but there is so much heaviness in the heart, a sense of emptiness that the loss has left. This must be true for many of us who have had the good fortune of studying with this great master. He was, for many of us, a parent figure, a loving and caring father who saw to it that he got the best out of us, in all circumstances.
Our teacher was not out in the world, in the face of people proclaiming great knowledge or demonstrating extraordinary powers. What was most endearing about him was his quiet, unassuming nature, who was just there, available for all of us anytime we sought his help. He taught us by evoking the true powers of yoga, igniting them in our heart by building genuine relationships, by offering what is most appropriate in the most palatable manner! I remember days when I have felt so depressed and miserable and gone to him. He never asked why, he never counseled. All he did was, with great compassion and attention, chant for me, sometime for 20 minutes or even 40 minutes, till I settled down and began to breathe in a relaxed manner. He would sometimes make me a hot drink from the kitchen and see me off with a smile and I was also smiling! How this man could offer this kind of attention and loving care to all his students, has remained a mystery!
All that he taught, he said was what he learnt from his father, he would quote his “Appa” often. But we know that the very precise method of course planning in asana, or building ratios in pranayama or creating highly specific meditative practices for each individual that were creative and quite unconventional, were perhaps his own innovations. He taught us to keep this creative spark alive in us so that we can develop the most appropriate practice for a student, almost like performing an intricate surgery, like creating a piece of art! He brought in absolute precision with a rare kind of beauty and freshness in all the practices he offered that made our practice deeper and consistent; that helped students heal miraculously.
Our teacher could hold so many of us together, inspire us to continue to study, practice and offer only the best of our self to our students. Even when he was ailing and lost to the world, he was, and continues to be very much alive in our work each day. When I receive a student into my class each day, I remember how he would greet and make somebody meeting him for the first time feel so much at ease. When he walked with them to the gate after the session and said goodbye, he left people feeling they have already overcome most of the hurdles – he helped them to experience and calm, joyful and optimistic frame of mind that is the first step to healing. It is hard to live up to a teacher of that caliber and compassion. But we will try to, making a fresh start each day, with each conscious breath!
A Tribute:
How do we do this? How do we keep alive the spirit of this great teacher in each one of us, in our intentions, thoughts, words and actions? How can we work towards realizing what he started off, as a silent movement? To help people heal through the true experience of yoga – a quiet mind?
What I learnt from my own experience was this: you cannot practice /teach somebody yoga when the mind is agitated. He would say, it is like “yuddha kale shastraabhyaasam”: practising weaponry at the time of war. Instead, he used to offer interesting, unconventional practices that always worked for that individual!
If you are willing to experiment with me, join hands. Let this be a silent, secret revolution in our hearts.
Are you ready?
If you have people in your life that you would like to support healing, help them calm their mind, start doing something constructive and wholesome towards their own health and healing, try this practice for yourself holding them in your heart. By doing this practice, we can divert the energy we wastefully invest in worrying about them into something constructive, towards real freedom!
You can start with a short prayer to reinforce the intention for the practice.
30-40 breaths of pranayama (any technique of your choice) each in-breath drawing from your very Source – visualizing the breath coming from deep inside your heart – holding briefly (3-4 seconds or longer if possible) with the bhavana of strength and clarity and exhaling slowly and deeply, visualizing them releasing all the pain, clearing all the blocks from body and mind. Suspend your breath a while longer with the complete attitude of surrendering this breath for the health and wellbeing of this person.
After the initial heaviness and pain in the beginning – depending on our emotional investment in that person - you will begin to sense the ease of flow – may take even a few days, so persist!
When you feel ready, drop the regulation and continue to hold the visualization with your natural flow of breath, taking your awareness deeper into the heart space feeling its expansion and relaxation with each breath. Each time pause a while longer after each exhalation with the bhavana of dissolving the self into the stillness.
As you progress with the practice, embrace all living beings on this planet, the very earth we are seated on, as your partner in practice… It will sound a bit haughty to say, “I am clearing away the pain of the whole world” – therefore let that thought also dissolve in the pure awareness of your heart…
Stay there in stillness …
Then inhale drawing all your strength from within to offer this world.
Let it create a new pathway for the mind and prana, towards real freedom!
This will be a fitting tribute to all our great masters who have lived and taught what is most important and left their breath here for us to draw from…
Let all living beings be peaceful!
love,
Saras
Wednesday, 20 July 2016
Śraddhā: The Secret Ingredient - Part 1
[From a talk Saraswathi Vasudevan gave at Hyderabad. Part 1 of 3. Thanks to Suchitra Shenoy for transcribing it thoroughly.]
What fuels people? There is a secret ingredient; what is it?
What takes us deeper and deeper? Takes us forward? The secret ingredient [that does so], is really important for me as a yoga teacher and researcher. It is like a thread that can be held on to.
I’m reminded of someone who was, for me, the epitome of this secret ingredient. I call her a close friend because she is very close to my heart, though we only met three or four times.
The first time we met, she came for therapy. She couldn’t use her arm, she had lost all strength, all musculature. It was an autoimmune condition that created immense pain. She had a morphine pump to control the pain. That’s how she came to yoga.
In spite of this she was cheerful. And she started practicing yoga. Six months later she shook hands with me; with the same arm that she couldn’t lift earlier. And she said, “You know what? I can now do downward dog and upward dog… All because of yoga.” “I will get there,” she said, talking about what else she had to do. “I will get there.”
A year later she had cancer and it was quite bad. I was in Australia and we met in a park. She was wheeled in with an oxygen cylinder by her husband. We had a good time. We ate, laughed, talked and meditated together. I asked her what keeps her going. She said, “The cancer has spread everywhere. It is in my liver, my spleen, my spine. It is all over me. But you know what, Saras? My brain and my heart are intact.” And she laughed.
What makes you persevere I asked her? “I don’t give up. As long as I live I want to be happy, and I continue,” she said. All of us were moved to tears by her passion for life, the celebration of life. So for me, the secret ingredient that she carried was her love for life; she infused in everyone around her.
The secret ingredient is called shraddha in Sanskrit, the desire or inner conviction. There can be no yoga without shraddha.
*
The problem is when we take something out of context, like asanas, and focus on it. Asanasis a good beginning. But yoga is an umbrella under which only a small part is asanas. We know the body is impermanent (it will age, get disease, perish), so can we go beyond that? Can we connect with something deeper than the body? Yoga is the quiet mind that helps discriminate between the right path and the distracting path.
And shraddha therefore, is the deep inner conviction to follow my yoga. It is the internal energy or strength. It is not about external success. Can I develop a qualitative shift of mind? Can I move away from frustration and confusion towards clarity and reflection?
(to be continued..)
What fuels people? There is a secret ingredient; what is it?
What takes us deeper and deeper? Takes us forward? The secret ingredient [that does so], is really important for me as a yoga teacher and researcher. It is like a thread that can be held on to.
I’m reminded of someone who was, for me, the epitome of this secret ingredient. I call her a close friend because she is very close to my heart, though we only met three or four times.
The first time we met, she came for therapy. She couldn’t use her arm, she had lost all strength, all musculature. It was an autoimmune condition that created immense pain. She had a morphine pump to control the pain. That’s how she came to yoga.
In spite of this she was cheerful. And she started practicing yoga. Six months later she shook hands with me; with the same arm that she couldn’t lift earlier. And she said, “You know what? I can now do downward dog and upward dog… All because of yoga.” “I will get there,” she said, talking about what else she had to do. “I will get there.”
A year later she had cancer and it was quite bad. I was in Australia and we met in a park. She was wheeled in with an oxygen cylinder by her husband. We had a good time. We ate, laughed, talked and meditated together. I asked her what keeps her going. She said, “The cancer has spread everywhere. It is in my liver, my spleen, my spine. It is all over me. But you know what, Saras? My brain and my heart are intact.” And she laughed.
What makes you persevere I asked her? “I don’t give up. As long as I live I want to be happy, and I continue,” she said. All of us were moved to tears by her passion for life, the celebration of life. So for me, the secret ingredient that she carried was her love for life; she infused in everyone around her.
The secret ingredient is called shraddha in Sanskrit, the desire or inner conviction. There can be no yoga without shraddha.
*
The problem is when we take something out of context, like asanas, and focus on it. Asanasis a good beginning. But yoga is an umbrella under which only a small part is asanas. We know the body is impermanent (it will age, get disease, perish), so can we go beyond that? Can we connect with something deeper than the body? Yoga is the quiet mind that helps discriminate between the right path and the distracting path.
And shraddha therefore, is the deep inner conviction to follow my yoga. It is the internal energy or strength. It is not about external success. Can I develop a qualitative shift of mind? Can I move away from frustration and confusion towards clarity and reflection?
(to be continued..)
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Yoga in Crisis Management
“I managed to practice today... I was able to do some breathing, simple movements and some chanting as well”, she said.
I listened in awe, deeply moved by what she was saying. You might be wondering why? She had just lost her husband 2 days ago just days before his 40th birthday! And she was able to do her yoga practice? Of course with some help and encouragement from her friends who rallied around.
It is not going to be so easy, we know, but I am confident that she has the strength and resilience to handle everything, now that she has really discovered the strength of her personal practice.
So what are the reasons for dropping our daily yoga practice? We can give so many… and we always find some excuse or the other. But can we start finding excuses to practice every day? Even if we are travelling, even if the house is full of guests, even if we have gone to bed late the previous night, list all the usual excuses…
This is what I have started doing lately. With so much work to do and at any given moment something to be done urgently, it won't work without giving myself a valid excuse to do my practice. It is about creating an inner space that
is free from the daily clutter of work and responsibilities, where I can breathe deeply, stretch slowly and freely, smile within and enjoy every moment of being with myself… or my Self?
Can we start looking forward to our daily practice – whatever it maybe, 30 min or 1 hour, can we find some excuse to get into that space? When practice becomes strong, we can recruit our breath, we can use our inner resources to cope with whatever life throws upon us.
Another friend who lost her 23 year old son sometime ago was narrating to me what had happened on the 10th day after the fatal incident: “It was as if I was slipping down a deep abyss, it was such a powerful current of pain sucking me down into darkness… and something inside of me said “breathe, breathe” I started breathing, held on to it… Just my breath, breathing in and out, only my breath… all that I could do was that and that was the only thing that has really helped me all these months to deal with the intensity of the pain.”
How simple yet powerful, but this is impossible in a crisis situation if our practice is not regular and strong. We cannot use the tools that we have not practised using before. In Sanskrit they say,“Yuddha Kale Shastra Abhyasam” - Practising weapons at the time of war - does not help!
A crisis can be anything. Sometimes we are surprised how the smallest of happenings disturb and destabilize the mind. We hate to admit it, but we easily point the finger out and externalize the cause. Then we begin to search for solutions outside. When we are able to take responsibility for ourself and are able to do something NOW, not yesterday, not tomorrow, and able to do it consistently, then we will know that our practice is reasonably stable.
Be excited about your practice. Create a special space at home, clean and uncluttered. Begin to look forward to the time of practice, enjoy every moment of being with yourself, with whatever the focus of your practice – be it the body, breath or any object of inquiry.
Let every breath remind us of the Permanent and the impermanent that nothing except the breath can touch…
“Where is conflict when the Truth is known
Where is disease when the mind is clear
Where is death when the breath is controlled?
Therefore Surrender to Yoga”
- from Yoganjali Saram,
a composition by Sri T Krishnamacharya
Where is disease when the mind is clear
Where is death when the breath is controlled?
Therefore Surrender to Yoga”
- from Yoganjali Saram,
a composition by Sri T Krishnamacharya
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