AHIMSA - Why Are People Cruel?

A question about AHIMSA was posted by one of my students:

Thank you for the article, non harming.  I've been struggling with trying to understand why some people feel the need to be cruel and tell untruths about others. What do they get from this intentional hurt of others, it must feed a need they have or they wouldn't continue to do it, right? I keep going back to a saying I have "You can't control how others act, you can only control how you react!" But sometimes it's so hard not to react negatively.  (Question posted by Jan, a Senior's Class student)

One of the hardest things in life to really understand is why people are cruel.  It's a question I've spent a lot of time struggling with, too.  It's especially difficult if we are consciously trying to be kind and compassionate towards others. Compassion originates from an open heart.  If we have an open heart, we have chosen to become more God-like.  Yoga is a spiritual path.  Because of our ongoing spiritual work, our sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others will be pretty high.  Our feelings can be hurt deeply by cruelty in any form, but especially when cruelty is directed at ourselves.

Compassion towards others

The psycho-babble reason should be reviewed.  Cruelty is usually caused by a series of circumstances in early childhood.  It is well-documented that a child who doesn't receive the love and nurturing in infancy and early childhood becomes emotionally underdeveloped and unable to fully mature and realize his full potential as an adult.   

The child, who desperately needs love and attention from his parents, family, and significant others in his environment, was not given the love and emotional support he needed.  The result was he didn't thrive.  He got "stuck" in an emotionally underdeveloped stage.  He perceives the unfulfilled need for love as rejection.  This rejection results in a feeling of powerlessness.  This feeling of indadequacy leads to bitterness and a driving need to feel powerful.  He displaces his bitterness towards those who should have loved him to others by being cruel to them.  

Yes, he does "get something from being cruel".  His behavior makes him feel more powerful and in control.  But consider, this individual is suffering.  He is a product of many years of suffering. 

There is a spiritual way of looking at this dilemma.  Early on the circumstances and experiences he had as a child disconnected him from his very soul.  He shut down his loving-kindness because it wasn't returned.  This process of shutting out the soul results in mental density.  The mind and therefore the individual, is no longer open and fluid.  He becomes rigid, inflexible, bitter.

When the soul enters the body, it is very close to God.  The infant's soul has just left the presence of God.  If we stay connected to our souls, and are in an active and connected relationship with God, we understand that we are all one. 

Therefore, consider being compassionate towards those who cruel.  They are suffering.  If we can see it that way, it is easier to not take negative judgments towards ourselves personally.  We always have a choice.  We can choose not to own someone else's cruel behavior.  If the situation pushes us past our limits, stand up for yourself, just stand up for yourself with an attitude that comes from the heart.

 

AHIMSA - Non Harming in Thought, Word, & Action

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We all have so much to be thankful for.  

I thought we'd talk about AHIMSA today, one of several ethical disciplines which are the root teachings of yoga.   These disciplines are likened to the roots of a great tree.  The roots support a tree and provide it with nourishment, strength, and stability.  The first of the "eight limbs of yoga" are the ethical disciplines.  These precepts are called YAMA.   They are the great commandments which transcend creed, country, age, and time; the rules of morality for societies and individuals.  The basic truth teachings of all truly spiritual practices. 

The Angel Tree near Charleston, South Carolina

The word AHIMSA means non-harming, non-killing, or non-violence.  It has a wider meaning, requesting us to love.  It's helpful to understand that violence is a state of mind, not of diet.  Therefore, one can be a vegetarian (non-harming of animals), but still be a person with a violent temperament (harming in thoughts, words, or actions). 

First, ahimsa must be applied to our thoughts.  Our thoughts are the subtlest of forms. Thoughts can then manifest into speech and/or actions.  We can control our thoughts.  First, we need to be aware of what we are thinking.  Then we can change our thought patterns if we observe them becoming hurtful, viscious, or violent.  

We all know how it feels when someone has spoken unjustly or harshly to us.  It feels like arrows into our hearts.  Sometimes we don't think what we say is really going to hurt anyone, but this is so incorrect!  Hurtful speech rips our auras and unbalances our psyches.  Sometimes we react with anger and viciousness by verbally lashing back.  Let us think before we speak.  Let's speak kindly or not at all.

Our actions appear to be the most obvious form of violence.  Think about it, though.  If we didn't have a hurtful thoughts, harmful and violent speech or actions would never be a problem.  We have to start at the root of the action, which is our thoughts.

Violence arises when we succumb to fear, when we are weak or ignorant, or when we become restless.  To curb our violent tendencies we need to be free from fear.  We must change our outlook on life, change our attitude.  We need to re-orient our minds. There are several powerful yoga practices which will accomplish this change.  How do we make our fears subside?  I suggest two ways here.

For the first suggestion,  let's refer back to an earlier post on FEAR CAN CRIPPLE YOU Oct. 17, 2012.  In this discussion I recommended meditation.  Meditation is a practice that interrupts our current state of mind.  When we practice, we stop, sit, and consciously take time to be still.  The physical actions of stilling the body and slowing the breath immediately begin the process of stilling the mind.  Meditation is a powerful and immediate intervention which will help us on all levels.  Continued practice will give us clarity, focus, serenity, and freedom from fear.

 

The second practice I suggest is called ISVARA PRANIDHANA.  This is dedicating our actions and will to the Lord.  It doesn't matter what religion we are, as long as we are aware that there is a power greater than ourselves.  My very first yoga teacher taught me that this surrendering is vitally important.  We dedicate our life, (body, mind and spirit) and actions to the Lord.  After all other efforts and resources have been exhausted, if we still have not succeeded, we turn to the Lord.  "Let go and let God" - one of my pastors used to say this over and over.  When we do this, the mind, intellect, and will have surrendered to the highest power.  "The name of the Lord is like the Sun, dispelling all darkness". (Iyengar, Light on Yoga) 

Freedom from fear comes to those who live a pure life.  The body itself may be subject to age, decay, sickness, and death, but our spirit remains pure and unaffected.  When we have linked our entire being-ness to the Divine, what is there to fear?  How can we be harmful towards others when we are secure in the knowledge that our spirit is deathless?

As yogis, let's be an example to others.  Show compassion towards all living beings. Let's be happy for others' accomplishments.  Show gratitude for and appreciate all we have.  Everyone and all other life forms and creatures have a right to be alive.  When we practice ahimsa we begin to realise we are born to serve others.  What greater legacy can we leave?

If you have any questions related to this post or any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I'm happy to help answer your questions or reply to your comments.  Namaste!

  

  

Lengthen A Pose in Both Directions

Several times over the last few weeks I've had students ask me about an instruction I give frequently in class.  I often ask students to "lengthen in both directions"  This is an instruction that begins to draw our attention inwards towards pratyahara (sense withdrawal).  This is a state where the mind gains control over the senses.  The distractions from outside lessen, and the mind turns inwards.

Let's work with two specific poses and I'll explain in more depth.  The first pose we'll talk about is Tadasana, Mountain Pose. Here is an excellent example of a pose showing the power gained with the balance of upwards and downwards lengthening.  Note how she is in a straight line from the ears, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles.  If we placed a plum line at her ears it would line up perfectly vertical and run through the 5 points.

Tadasana Mountain Pose

In mountain pose, first pay attention to the feet.  They are the foundation of the pose.  Nothing but the feet are resting on the ground.  Draw the awareness to the feet.  How are you distributing your weight on the feet?  Is it mostly on the outside edges?  Is it more on the inside edges?  Note that there are 6 points on the feet, the inner and outer balls of the feet, and the heels.  Try to locate the 6 points.  Then try to press those 6 points into the floor with equal pressure, strongly.  This is called "grounding the feet" .  It helps to imagine your body is sending energetic roots deep into the earth through the soles of the feet.

Now imagine you are about to leap into the air.  This intention sends activating energy all the way from the belly to the feet, waking up the hips, buttox, legs, and feet.  You will actually stand taller.  Pressing downwards into the earth is "lengthening downwards".  

Now imagine you are lifting your arches, as if you had a tiny rock under the foot.  This activates the legs even more.  This is called "padha bandha" or "foot lock".  This action begins a lifting energy up through the vertical line of the body.  It lengthens the upper body from the belly up through the skull.

Imagine the skull is lifting up out of the shoulders.  Imagine the spine lifting upwards from the belly.  This is "lengthening upwards".  Open the chest and allow the shoulder blades to slide down the back.  Let the arms be alert yet relaxed.  The result is a strong, alert, and steady pose.  You are solid on the ground, yet growing out of the ground at the same time. These actions are allowing you to "lengthen in both directions".  This balance from down to up in tadasana is allowing the body to open from the inside outwards which yogi's often talk about.

Now let's discuss Parivrtta Sukhasana or Revolved Easy Pose.  Check out this video.

http://www.ehow.com/video_4943820_parivrtta-sukhasana-pose-yoga-twist.html 

If you watched this video, one of the instructions the teacher states is "root downwards through the tailbone".  This is another way to say "ground your sits bones (the area of the body connected to the floor), or lengthen pelvis downwards".

If I drew an up arrow at the top of the model's skull, and a down arrow at the bottom of the buttox, this would indicate the internal intention and muscular movements you're working towards.

If your question is "I'm sitting on the floor, so how can I drop my tailbone any further downwards?", the point has been missed.  It is the intentional awareness and activation of the internal muscles and bones in the lower torso and pelvis in the direction of the floor.  If you actually accomplish the subtle movements as instructed, it will actually lift the spine higher, and the upper body will twist deeper than usual.  This affects the core and lower back opening much more profoundly.  The balance of intention and action is the end effect in all poses, and also in life.

Hatha Yoga as a practice balances the body, the mind, and the spirit.  Pratyahara is the inward turning attention which experienced instructors help you access in your practice.  These subtle and powerful intentions and actions result in a higher state of awareness.  This light of awareness brings us towards Dharana (concentration) and Dhyana (meditation), the sixth and seventh of the eight limbs of yoga.

If you have any questions at all regarding this or any other postings of this blog, please don't hesitate to post them.  Although they won't be visible to the general audience, I read all posts and I will respond to your questions or comments.  If you have insights that will help me improve this blog, please offer your suggestions.  I welcome your comments!

 

Yoga Breathing - Nadi Sodhana

Last night after class a student confided in me that she recently been extremely scattered, couldn't focus, and was unable to shift from task to task efficiently during her busy day at work.  She'd made errors and had lapses of memory, simply forgetting things she normally wouldn't have.  The state of mind she was experiencing is a serious fracturing of the mental processes. She asked if there was something she could do to help correct this problem.

Frontal view using fingers to close nostrils alternately

There is a very powerful and effective yoga breathing practice which will immediately help.  Pranayama is a practice yogis refer to when performing yoga breathing techniques.  Prana means "life force energy"  Yama means "discipline" or "control of".  Thus pranayama means control of life force energy.  

There are thousands of specific yoga pranayama techniques.  B.K.S. Iyengar has written the classic reference book Light on Pranayama. If you're interested, check it out to learn more about the practices.

The specific pranayama I recommended to her is called Nadi Sodhana, or Alternate Nostril Breath. This practice is a powerful method to purify the nadis, or tubular psychic passageways which carry the body's energy, within the brain and throughout the body.  These nadis circulate everywhere in the body, and pass through all of the chakras. They are sustained by the central nadi, called susumna, residing in the vicinity of the spine.  

Benefits of Nadi Sodhana are: 

• Revitalizing the right and the left hemispheres of the brain, as well as the front and the back brain, achieving parity (balance) within the brain and out to the furthest extremities.  
• According to B.K.S. Iyengar, "The sadhaka (practitioner) gains the secret of even and balanced action in all the quarters of the brain, and thus experiences peace, poise and harmony".   
• Practice leads first to dhyana (concentration) and, over time, dharana (meditation).  The sixth and seventh limbs of the "eight limbs of yoga".
• Practice makes the mind and body dynamic, vibrant, energetic, and alert.  
• There is additional documentation of Nadi Sodhana improving hearing, reducing sinus problems, and improving eyesight.

Mrigi Mudra

Now for the practice instructions.

Sit in a comfortable seated asana and perform Mrigi Mudra with the right hand.  Place the left hand on your thigh in Gyan Mudra (first finger to thumb, palm up).  Beginning students may have some difficulty holding their raised arm in position for the length of the practice. Place a bolster or folded blankets across your legs and use this to support your elbow.

Gently close your right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through your left nostril, then close it with your ring-little fingers. Open and exhale slowly through the right nostril.

Keep the right nostril open, inhale, then close it, and open and exhale slowly through the left. This is one cycle. Repeat 5 to 8 times, then release the hand mudra and go back to normal breathing.  As you gain endurance, increase rounds.

Traditional Nadi Sodhana includes breath retention and fixed ratio breathing.  I suggest you begin with a slow count of 4 to inhale, count of 4 to retain breath in, count of 4 to exhale, count of 4 to retain breath out.  For beginning pranayama students, it's best to focus only on the inhales and exhales.

(excerpt from Yoga Journal)

Start with about 5-8 full repetitions.  If you get tired, stop and breathe normally for awhile.  Begin again.  Build up to about 21 reps total over a period of 2-3 weeks.  Remember anytime you feel fatigue, stop and breathe normally.  Do not strain!

Working with Alternate Nostril Breath will begin to clear the imbalance you are experiencing and enable your mind and your actions to be clear, concise, and focused.  Your lucidity and demeanor will be calm and composed.  You will begin to perform at optimum levels throughout your day and throughout your life.  This is a powerful, effective, and time-honored tool for the practicing yogi.

 

Bed Yoga II - Zap Back Pain!

Last post I promised you the rest of the "Bed Yoga Routine".  As a refresher, in Bed Yoga I we've done several lying down postures which gently stretch out and lengthen the lower back.  I'm including herein the last posture of the routine, plus bandha (lock) instructions to perform during this posture.  Lastly we'll give you instructions on how to get out of bed properly.  Getting out of bed correctly is most important of all, because we need to keep the spine quiet as we get up from a reclining position.  This prevents back strain - big time!

Supta Badha Konasana - Lying Down Bound Angle Pose

Bound angle pose is the last pose to do in bed before getting up.  It opens the groins, stretches the lower back, glutes, and adductor muscles.  Bring the feet to the buttox.  Let the knees fall out to the side.  Relax your arms next to the body.

As you lie in this pose, perform MOOLA BANDHA.  Moola bandha is also known as "root lock".  To perform moola bandha, concentrate on the groin area.  For men, we're contracting the ureter and perineum; for women, the ureter, cervix, and vaginal muscles will be contracted.  When performing the bandha (lock) all of the muscles in the area are contracted simultaneously, pulling the soft tissue upwards and inwards towards the base of the spine.  

Hold the contraction for a few seconds.  Do not hold the breath, simply breathe normally. Start gently, then as you increase reps, do the bandha with more force and strength.  I suggest you perform moolabandha a minimum of 15 reps.  The masters suggest that as you perform the lock, you repeat "mool", or "moola bandha" as you hold the contraction.  This intense focus along with the mantra increases the power and effects of the root lock practice.

There are many benefits to performing root lock daily.  " It is helpful in psychosomatic and degenerative illnesses.  It relieves depression and promotes good health.  It helps to realign the physical, mental, and psychic bodies in preparation for spiritual awakening.  Moola bandha is a means to attain sexual control.  It may be used to sublimate sexual energy for spiritual development (brahmacharya) or for enhancement of sexual relations".  (Swami Satyananda Saraswati).  

Other yoga masters have taught us that moola bandha controls and increases life force energy and lengthens one's life.  It controls cravings and strengthens and tones the muscles controlling continence ability, retaining continence into old age.  (I can't think of anything more humiliating than losing the ability to control your elimination processes.  Do you want to wear diapers again?  Not me! This is huge as we age)!  Start moola bandha now and remove the embarrassment later.

Contract and extend hands and feet 15 times.

Just before getting up we move hands and feet to get new blood and lymph to outer extremities!

The last thing we do before getting up is contract and extend hands and feet 15 times.  This gets new blood and lymph to the furthest extremities of the body.  It flushes out the toxins, and allows the body to function optimally after you get up.  Here Jan demonstrates the simple movements.

NOW, HOW DO WE GET OUT OF BED PROPERLY?

First, bring knees to chest.

Second, roll body towards the side of bed.

Then then turn your head/upper body towards bed, placing both arms under upper body. Now push yourself up using both arms (as you swing your legs off the bed).

This method of getting out of bed is optimum for keeping the back and spine quiet and in alignment.  This single change in your "getting up" routine will help immensely!  I have many students who swear by the Bed Yoga Routine.  Their back pain has disappeared.  The getting up routine is also the recommended way to come out of Savasana (corpse pose or final relaxation) at the end of your yoga class or practice.

Remember, do this routine (both I & II) every morning.  The entire routine takes only about 10 minutes of your time and prevents back pain all day!  Thanks to my seniors yoga class for helping with photos, Jan, Steve, Maria, & Terry!

Bed Yoga I - Zaps Back Problems!

Did you know that 76% of all back injuries happen in the first 30 minutes after we get out of bed?  I bet you do know that when we get up out of bed, many of us are as stiff as concrete. Believe it or not, we can actually do yoga in BED!   I have developed a sure-fire remedy to alleviate back problems, preventing those early morning back strains from ruining your day.  I have personally been doing this routine for five years now, every morning before I get out of bed.  This is the first part of the routine.  The second part will be posted in my next blog.  

The entire routine takes only about 10 minutes if you do it the number of counts/reps that I suggest.  These exercises are easy and help immensely.   I have many students who are faithfully doing this routine before they get up. They swear by them.  Now we can move about with ease in the morning, and face the day with a smile instead of wondering how long we have to shuffle and creep about until the body gets lubed up.

Next, let's do foot pushes.  First, I lie flat on my back.  Then I push one heel towards the end of the bed, and work the opposite hip up towards my waist.  Then I switch.  I do 15 reps (one on each side = 1 rep).

First move the right (near side) foot towards the foot of the "bed".

Next move the left (far side) foot towards the foot of the "bed".

This creates a very important movement in the lower back, a diagonal or transverse stretch in the lower lumbar area, a place where many of us have severe problems with cramping and seizing.  The foot pushes open the lower back up allowing for more mobility.

Next, I do pelvic tilts. The first movement is pushing the belly or small of the back towards the bed. Next I lift the belly or small of the back upwards, creating a small arch in the lower back.  Here are photos that demonstrate.  Do 15 reps of pelvic tilts.  At about 12 reps, start to really exaggerate the movement, go as deep as you can.  By 12 reps, you are pretty warmed up and can go deeper. This tilt relieves the tightness in the abs, and lower lumbar area, plus it warms up and works the core, keeping it toned and tight.

Here Jill is pushing her belly towards the floor.  The tailbone will lift (but not the buttox)

Here she lifts her belly/lower back up and creates a small arch in the lower back.

The next pose I do is revolved wind relieving pose variation.  I bring one knee up towards the chest, then I roll it to the opposite side and place my opposite hand on the outside of the knee.  I hold this for 30 breaths.  Next I straighten out the top leg and shoot it out towards the side of the bed.  I grab my toes, but if you can't grab them, just place your opposite hand on the lower leg or have that intention.  I do this also to a count of 30 slow breaths.

Janey and Elizabeth perform revolved wind relieving pose to the right.

Next the ladies straighten out their legs and open them out to the side.

Now that the back is warmed up, we can do a deeper stretch.  This is supine revolved hand to foot pose. These two poses open up the entire back.  Starting out with the easier one, little by little the whole back opens and we create spaciousness in the core. The two poses are awesome for opening the hips and glutes as well, stretching the outer thigh muscles and hamstrings.  While you are in the poses, breathe deeply into the areas where you feel the most stretch.  

Next time we will finish up the series, but you can get started feeling better now!  I'll also instruct you on how to get out of bed properly, so that you keep the spine quiet and not injure the back getting up.  Many thanks to my student models, Steve, Jill, Elizabeth, and Janey!

Fear Can Cripple You

One of my students is a wonderful, committed, massage therapist and body worker.  She helps many clients by helping them feel better and more whole.  She practices all of the appropriate methods to ground herself, clearing out her personal stuff before the bodywork so she can be a clean channel for Universal Healing Energy. She purifies the bodywork area with time-tested clearing techniques which eliminate any released negative energy after the therapy session.  In a word, she does everything that she should to keep the client's negative astral energy away from her and the environment allowing the cosmos to absorb it.

The Scream by Edvard Munch - a very famous painting depicting pure, raw anxiety and fear

The problem is, she has come to yoga classes because she can hardly move.  Her muscles seize up a the slightest wrong movement.  She is so tight in the shoulders, neck, and hips, that even the most gentle yoga movements and poses can be excruciating for her. She was a private student recently, and because of the one-on-one class I was able to dig a little deeper into her body issues.  

I told her I felt something was very wrong, because if she was doing all of the clearing practices she mentioned with her clients, there was no way she should have the near paralysis in her body.  It appeared to me that her problem was a case of "holding", or absorbing into her own body astral garbage (negative energy resulting from trauma and grief) that was crippling her.   

She agreed, stating that she holds onto the negative emotions from past experiences.  She told me she was a "control freak" and that this tendency would not allow her to let go and move on from these past issues.  I asked her what she thought was wrong.  She said "I'm afraid, I'm really, really, afraid".  Bingo!  She had simply constructed a separation between her healing work and her personal work.  You've heard the saying, "healer, heal thyself!"  Now how do we do that?

I asked her if I taught her a simple, free technique that she could do to eliminate her fear, would she be interested in learning it and practicing it.  She said "Of course".  Then I told her to meditate every day.  Her eyes got big, round as saucers, she said she used to meditate years ago, but had stopped practicing.  

I explained to her that meditation is the quickest, most effective way to eliminate fear and negative emotions, empowering us and allowing us to let go and move on with courage and acceptance.  Meditation taps us into the stillness and peace of the Divine.  This peace and stillness we experience in meditation permeates us, returning our own personal power to us. Meditation allows us to face the present moment with serenity, without the hindrance of negative mind states.

 

Meditation is much different than prayer. Prayer is a wonderful practice, but it's based on the teaching that God is separate from us and has all the power while the supplicant has none. We pray to request a little power now and then when we need it.  The thought of God as a Cosmic Bellhop comes to mind. 

 

Meditation taps us into Divinity or the Universal Power Source.   It is available to each and every one of us.  Meditation "plugs us in" to our own personal empowerment, because we are inherently powerful.  We have simply forgotton that we are.  We operate on the assumption that we are separate from the Divine.  This is not true.  The empowerment we gain through meditation eliminates the fear, anxiety, guilt - all the negative emotions that are so crippling. Meditation is like a power chord or conduit.  Plug it in!   Pay attention to God, and God will pay attention to us!  Meditation lights us up, enabling us to be free of negativity.