Jason

The Yoga Bridge, Week 13, The Practice of Detachment

26 Jan 2014 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: Detachment, impermance, Iyengar Yoga, yoga home practice

The yoga class schedule changes month to month. Sometimes good change. Sometimes inconvenient. Teachers also change their schedules. Students come and go. I understand this and I am okay with people pursing their lives.

Last year, I had a hard time dealing with change, favoring teachers. Today, as a way of coping with change, I am using the class, teacher, and student relationships as a practice in detachment.

As a general rule, I don’t want to be dependent upon one teacher, place, or thing. The focus is on home, self practice. The world we live in is in constant change, a fact. Just as at the yoga studio and outside of the studio, I live the same way. I will survive the teacher change, change of times, and the new student moving back to Idaho. When at the studio and I am with the yoga instructor, I want to use the time as best as possible because change will occur. For now, I believe the development of the home yoga practice to be very important.

8 limbs

20 Jan 2014 Leave a comment

Image by Jason

The Yoga Bridge, Week 12, The Eight Steps of Yoga Applied to Swastikasana

20 Jan 2014 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: eight limbs of yoga, eight steps of yoga, swastkasana, yogarosa

On Monday, at noon, I attended a level one yoga class. This was my third time to a level one class. The year before, I could mostly attend multilevel classes because of the lack of courses offered and time conflicts.

This week I thought it was informative how the yoga teacher tried to apply the eight steps, limbs, of yoga to swastikasana, the basic sitting pose. The instructor coached us into the correct posture for swastikasana. Now close the eyes and go inward. Then she began to talk about the eight steps of yoga as applied to swastikasana. Printed on the south side and west side upper corner of the room near the ceiling are the eight limbs in Sanskrit. She told us about 1) Yama and 2) Niyama as something we need to work on. Lifestyle, Yama has five principles, non violence, freedom from greed, chastity, truthfulness, and freedom from desire. Lifestyle, Niyama was cleanliness, contentment, study of ego. Then, the 3) posture, swastkasana, 4) breathing, focusing on the inhalation and exhalation without stopping, and 5) detachment to the external world, try to ignore the senses. 6) Concentration, not moving in the posture and going inward. 7) advanced concentration, not our skill level and finally, Super advanced, 8) when you lose the sense of your separate existence. Nothing else remains except the core of one’s being, the soul.

The Yoga Bridge, Week 11, Sit bones? What? Excuse me, do I have sit bones?

12 Jan 2014 1 Comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: awareness, balance, Coconut Grove, consciousness, Florida, Miami Science Museum, Miami Science Museum and Planetarium, sit bones, swastkasana

When I was ten, in the fourth grade, we talked about stars and planets in science class. Everything was in the book. It wasn’t until I was a middle aged adult at the Miami Science Museum and Planetarium, Coconut Grove, Florida, where an employee showed everyone Jupiter through the roof top telescope. The Miami Science Museum and Planetarium had opened the observatory every first Friday of the month, probably still going on. Then, without the telescope, the naked eye, he showed us other planets that were visible in the night sky. All this time, they were right there and I had never noticed. Sad. But I have enjoyed them ever since. I guess what I find so fascinating is that when I look up to the stars and planets, I feel that I am part of the universe and the 9 am to 5 pm work routine, Monday thru Friday, human life plays, a very small place in the universe.

Swastkasana, basic sitting position, my first time. The instructor called out to me, ” Where are you sitting on your sit bones?” Up til that point, I have been sitting everyday of my life. This was kind of a revelation that I had sit bones and somehow position matters. “Sit bones, I have sit bones?”, I thought to myself. I couldn’t find them. I had never thought of them. I looked at other people in the class. I wanted to know if they knew anything about these sit bone things. At that time, everyone was turning inward and getting ready for the Invocation to Patanjali. Just like the stars and planets, and sit bones, I was very out of balance. A drone.

Today, I am very conscious of how I am sitting in Swastkasana. I am very conscious of how I stand in Tadasana. I know that I am not perfect but I still try my best; however, I am closer to being balanced. A declaration, I am no longer seeking profit. I have enough. I had my first delicious vegan meal on Friday in Hollywood, Florida, Hara. I ordered a book on vegan-ism.

The Yoga Bridge, Week 10, Is Amen really Om?

09 Jan 2014 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: Amen, om

Amen
exclamation
1.
uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn, meaning ‘so be it.’.

How do you know Amen means” so be it?” What root language is Amen?

Try this out. Say amen aloud, pronouncing it as (ah-men). Next, say Om aloud. Note, Om is pronounced Aum. Similar, isn’t? Not exact.

For the record, I am a Christian. Don’t worry! I’m not at all fanatical nor do I speak about it much. In my youth on Sunday mornings, I would hear this word, Amen, after a prayer and not anyone could give a good explanation of the meaning nor it’s origin.

The sound OM, is the sound and name of the creator discovered by ancient shaman priests of India. Please note, I’m not speaking with real knowledge but pop culture information I found on YouTube and the internet. Be free to write a comment to object or confirm.

There seems to be different theories on the origins of the word Amen. Could Amen and Om be the same. I do believe it is possible.

The Yoga Bridge, Week 9, Yoga Demo

29 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Jason in Uncategorized Tags: head stand, Iyengar Yoga, shirsana

This week, I was visiting family in Maryland for the holiday. Some of the children insisted we do a family talent show. Sure, why not? I decided to do a yoga demonstration. I did the demonstration as if I were teaching the pose, Sirsasana , head stand. I advised everyone to warmup with five push-ups and to loosen the ankle and wrist joints. Also, I advised that yoga was much more than poses, such as, it has meditation and rules for healthy living. My head stand, a work in progress, was not perfect, meaning the ankles, knees, and legs weren’t exactly in a straight line; however, the audience liked my first ever yoga demo. I went up slowly and came down slowly. My hope was to inspire the people to try Iyengar yoga.

The Yoga Bridge, Week 8, December 20, 2013 Yoga, The Emotional Cleanse

23 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: B.K.S. Iyengar, back bends, corpse pose, The Path To Holistic Health, utthita trikonasana, yogarosa

After a Friday morning yoga class of intense back bends during Savasana, corpse pose, I had a bad child hood memory surface, a memory almost 40 years old. I had thought, at least hoped, to leave it in the past. It was truly overwhelming. I fought back my emotions. When I got alone, in my car, I let it rip. What’s going on? I believe, in theory, that the body just like each cell has stored knowledge. I believe yoga to be emotionally cleansing. During corpse pose, the five minute cool down before the end of a class, I really try to mimic death, no movement except for the breath. Each time, I want my old self to die and try to create a new better me.

At the yoga anniversary party, it was interesting to see people outside of yoga and how they behave. A real yogi lives a yogi life both in the class and outside of it, Yama.

” Okay, everyone, jump or step your legs apart for UTTHITA TRIKONASANA, extended triangle posture.” This is a pose that is done often in class. Sometimes my mind goes blank as to what to do. I am at a point where I am taking time to read to improve this pose. During class, I have stopped asking questions because I view it as more as of an obstruction to the flow of the class; however, I will ask questions in the level one classes but not any of the advance unless I have pain or to avoid an injury. I think its better to observe and imitate.

A great aid for yoga is the book, Yoga: THE PATH TO HOLISTIC HEALTH
. This is where I am getting the information and pictures. I plan to read this section 108 times as in a mantra. I haven’t tried this before so I will let you know how it goes, the mantra method of learning.

The Yoga Bridge, Week 7, December 13, 2013. James Murphy Improves the Yoga of a Local South Florida Community

15 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: Iyengar Yoga, James Murphy, Prasarita Padottanasana, yogarosa

When a yoga instructor gets instruction from a Senior Level Iyengar Teacher, the yoga community usually will benefit.

Here were three tips from James Murphy, Senior Yoga Iyengar Teacher of New York, from a recent seminar at Yogarosa, Hallandale, Florida. Note, I didn’t attend the seminar.

Prasarita Padottanasana. Expanded leg intense stretch. The best tip was doing the head and leg stretch. I had never placed my head to the floor. In fact, his technique has changed my mind-set from dread to enthusiasm for the challenge of that pose. With his modified technique, I was able to reach my head to the floor which I was never able to do it before; however, this pose remains a definite work in progress.

Vira Tadasana, laying down mountain pose. Another tip from James via class instructor, was to relax the hamstrings on the floor. When doing a leg extension, the hip and Tadasana leg didn’t move. The back hamstring remained on the floor.

Analogy of the drain pipe. If the drain pipe wasn’t straight, the water would pool. This drain pipe analogy was playing in my mind when I did Adhomukha Svanasana, aka, down ward dog. When the arms were straight, they didn’t fatigue as easily and more stability. Hand stretched above the head pose was less fatiguing when the arms were straighter, like the drain pipe.

Happy 95th Birthday Guruji!!! December 14, 2013

14 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: B.K.S. Iyengar, birthday, yoga

Happy Birthday!

The Yoga Bridge, Week 6, December 6, 2013 Trapped Emotions?

08 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Jason in YOGA Tags: anger, Iyengar Yoga, trapped emotions

A few weeks ago, the morning class was focused on the sacrum. The sacrum is a large triangle bone at the base of the lower spine. I had pain in this area for many years. After class, I drove away angry, definitely not the normal state after yoga.

An hour after class, I was still having a hard time controlling my emotions so I thought of a way to distract my mind. Go shopping. I couldn’t remember experiencing anything like this before, so intense. I decided to browse Best Buy for a new Apple I phone which was something I wanted. I was at the Aventura Best Buy for a good hour talking with a representative, a woman that had a tattoo of a black widow spider on her top right hand which just added to the weirdness. My thoughts of angry disappeared. This rush of emotions occurred two times last year but not as intense as a few week ago.

The Yoga Bridge