Meeting disturbances with ease

Sometimes, I realise that students may be setting up unrealistic expectations about their personal yoga practice. They want their yoga movements to help in getting rid of painful sensations in their body, or they may approach the practice like completing a checklist of tasks, aiming to do a sequence within a designated 30 min time-slot, in order to get to something else after that. And then they wonder why they seldom experience the peace and calmness they had felt during the actual therapy sessions in the studio.


Our yoga practice, in its pure and simple state, is about allowing and accepting each moment as it is - not expecting your body or the situation to be different. Being gently focused on your experience and allowing it to arise, and notice that the experience also passes away, offers a way out of our suffering, if we simply allow ourselves just to be.


Instead of using avoidance as a coping strategy, can we develop our innate capacity to pay attention to our physical discomfort, and not attempt to get rid of sensations we don't like. To be non-judging of our experiences (whether positive or negative), and remain like a neutral observer to what we are going through. As you move through the asanas slowly, see if you can go deeper by slowing down, observing the changing bodily sensations. Asanas offer us a chance to pay attention to the present moment, not just about getting rid of tightness or tension (which may sometimes not happen, if the mind and breath remain tight). Breathe deeply as you practise, and send some loving thoughts and energy to those areas in your body which are 'suffering' and in discomfort. Then we see realise that sensations are constantly changing.


The body holds a lot of information, so when you feel pain, usually this means your body is trying to tell you something. It's vital that you start paying attention! Try the following steps during your yoga practice:

1. Pay attention to the painful / uncomfortable area, with a sense of curiosity, making no judgments as best you can.


2. Ask yourself : what is this sensation here right now? Exactly where is it? What qualities does it have? Is there a colour or feeling tone to it? Be as precise in your observations as possible.


3. Soften in your heart, and open to what is present, not rejecting or holding onto anything. Accept the moment.


4. Use the breath by imagining you are breathing into the area of intensity.


5. If you really need to adjust or move, allow yourself to take a few more moments of exploration, then move your body mindfully as a response rather than a habitual reaction.


6. Be open to outcome.


This approach of practice is really what Patanjali was explaining in his fifth limb of astanga yoga (the 8-limb path), i.e. Pratyahara. This concept means abstracting, leaving something, distancing or letting go. It has become a special yogic term describing the ancient method of withdrawing the mind. But it is not about retreating to a quiet place where there is no disturbances for you to meditate and practice yoga. You can still be in the midst of life's bustle, and be yourself, relaxed with whatever arise and appear, and practice your yoga. Give up fighting with what is. Try to experience in total all that happens around you. Learn to adopt an easeful relationship with disturbances: noises, smells, discomfort, pain, difficult people. Don't reject anything. Allow the mind to think and feel all that you usually avoid.


So in Pratyahara, you constantly observe the process of perceiving. You are the one who experiences. That is all. And in that way, that which the mind has experienced fully no longer interests the mind, and the mind can let it go.    

Being in Your Body - The Body Scan Meditation

On this journey of learning to get out of our head (i.e. the constant thinking mind) and develop greater intimacy with the body, a very useful technique is the body-scan meditation, as taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Massachusetts medical school. As a long-time practitioner of Buddhist meditation and hatha yoga, he pioneered the use of mindfulness meditation to treat chronic pain and illnesses. His best-selling book Full Catastrophe Living (published more than 20 years ago!) landed on my lap recently, thanks to my dear friend DL. 

I feel so blessed to encounter his teachings, and I now remember this was the technique that my yoga mentor shared with us many years ago to help us relax the mind and drift into peaceful sleep. Besides being a precursor to good sleep, it can be used at the end of a yoga practice in corpse pose to cultivate mindfulness and enter deep states of relaxation. We bring moment-to-moment awareness to every part of the body, starting from the toes of the left foot, progressively and systematically, to the top of the head. A very detailed guided process will take about 45 minutes! Although we are not supposed to fall asleep, I noticed that quite a few students (who usually fidget or open their eyes while lying as a corpse) did just that. They were very surprised too, and told me they liked the practice as it was the only time when the mind really went quiet and they could relax.

I am struck by how powerful mindfulness can be. Even in our daily life, off the yoga mat, we can make use of moments to tune in to our body, and simply observe whatever sensations that are there, and to be non-judging about it, no liking or aversion to what the body is manifesting. And, as Kabat-Zinn shared in the video below, learning to stop, and opening to the actuality of things, is a radical act of love and compassion for ourselves.     

Practising Yoga as Inner Work

It has really become more clearly to me over these months that our yoga practice should be a form of inner work. Rather than focusing on assuming an outward form of the postures, we should try to witness and observe the sensations within the body. This can be extremely difficult because our mind tends to wander away and we don't feel the body. One student admitted to me this afternoon that she sometimes forgot to breathe in certain asanas (until her breathlessness brought her back to her body). 

I really appreciate the Iyengar yoga techniques, because they ground students in the intimacies of the body, mind, and breath. The awareness must be constant during our practice. We practise not to be leaner, fitter, or more flexible (although these are the natural effects of a dedicated practice), but we practise to achieve a deeper sensitivity to our inner landscape. Yoga provides us with a wonderful tool and roadmap to travel in this world of emotions and sensations. 

More about this in the next post. 
         

Indigo Flow Yoga Space Website

This website is really long overdue! I am happy that it's now ready, and it's certainly more reader-friendly for people who like to know more about the studio and the classes that are being offered there. 

http://www.indigoflowyogaspace.com.sg/

New Eight-Week Wellness Yoga Course - Discover Your Peaceful Center

Yoga can be a great tool for attaining emotional and mental health. The daily demands, pressures and challenges that we face are often accompanied by feelings of anxiety and fear. Poor quality sleep may also result. When this happens, it's healing to calm yourself and reclaim your sense of well-being and inner peace. A regular yoga practice can help to reduce stress, soothe anxious feelings, and develop mental clarity. Everyone can reconnect to their inner wisdom and peaceful center. 

It is with this aim in mind that I decide to offer this course which will span 8 weeks.

•  Mondays, 7.30pm - 9.00pm, start on 18 Oct. 
•  Fridays, 7.00pm - 8.30pm, start on 22 Oct. 

Each class with be kept to a maximum of 8 students to ensure personal attention and effective guidance. 


Course Fees: $160 (8 sessions), practice notes will be provided.


Content of the Course:

• Understanding the mind-and-breath connection: guided breath awareness practices to correct poor breathing
• Loosening exercises to release built-up tension and tightness in the body
• Gentle yoga poses that balance the nervous system, comfort the body, and calm your mind
• Relaxation techniques that facilitate a good sound sleep
• Mindfulness practices 
• Simple dietary and lifestyle tips to boost your mental and emotional health

Both beginners and experienced students of yoga are welcome. May this course be a doorway (for both the teacher and students) to living with a more open heart and resilient mind!     

Facing Our Fear of Loss

Just before class started yesterday, I chatted with a student who had been missing her lessons for several weeks. I recalled receiving her text message that her husband was not well lately. When I asked her about it, she revealed that he had a heart attack suddenly, without any warning. A scan showed several blocked arteries, which might need surgery if his medication fails to work. Tears welled up in her eyes as she shared her pain of seeing her loved one losing much weight and suffering. He was a rather successful businessman, and, I feel, a loving husband. I felt for her when she said, "What is the point of having money when your health fails?"

Facing the loss of those we love is the hardest thing in life, and the most painful. Another fellow yogi told me lately that he could not stand the thought of outliving his partner. I told him I could not bear seeing my own children suffer if I become a mother, so I'd rather not be one. I remember reading somewhere many years ago that this pain is the price we pay for love. How true. None of us are immune to it, unless we live as a hermit.

It is easy to watch the breath rise and fall when we practice pranayama and learn to meditate. The breath is life. Every breath is so precious, but we are seldom grateful to it. Can we really maintain equanimity in the midst of experiencing the rising and falling away of life, when the fear of losing people we love becomes very real?     

     

Feelings - The Key to Yoga Practice and Life

This long hiatus from the last posting has taught me a lot about feelings and the heart (rather than thinking and the head). Yoga and Life have to do with being in tune with our feelings and listening to our heart. Many of my students have a predominant right side, which is inevitable since we are conditioned from young to be such a left-brainer. The body and mind are not balanced. I was like this too. Yoga can re-condition us to tap into the intuitive and sensitive right brain, which opens up the potential on the left side of our body.

A weekend spent at an Iyengar Yoga workshop made me realise that we can bring our sensitivities to our yoga practice. Simply by paying attention to the sensations occurring in the body, and being mindful of taking full complete breaths. Our body has the innate wisdom to lead us to experience the energy flow and inner extensions that come from a safe and deep practice. Taking the practice slowly will bring us farther on this dynamic path. Thinking only results in trying to force the body into some ideal static posture.  


One of my therapy students tore a ligament on his right knee (by over-exerting his stronger right leg while playing soccer). I feel it is no coincidence that he is also plagued by anxiety attacks and insomnia. He told me that his mind is constantly racing with thoughts and he has never truly felt his body before. I got him to try a simple bed-time practice. Closing his eyes and lying down, he has to feel his body from the crown of the head to the tip of his toes, slowly and part by part. He was very amazed to feel the tingling sensations on his fingers, and down his back and legs. I felt so happy for him when he realised it's impossible to think while feeling the body. 

I also have my dearest best friend to thank for teaching me to listen to my feelings and opening my heart. He showed me a new dimension in Life, without which my yoga journey would be merely an intellectual rational pursuit, stripped of its sensuality, grace and joyfulness that also lie in the core of our being, if we look deeply enough. Thank you my sweetheart.