Agni

Digestive Fire

Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce you to the concept of internal fire, agni. It is the digestive flame that resides at our navel. When I say it digests, I mean it breaks down so much more than just food. Because we take in so much more than food. It helps us to assimilate food, stimuli, experiences, and emotions.

When our agni aspect is weak, we have a harder time digesting everything. We may end up constipated, we may end up lingering in a negative emotional state, we may replay something that happened to us over and over again in an effort to understand it. When our agni aspect has been stoked properly, we have determination and drive. We will be better able to choose wisely for ourselves, as we will be less mired in the past. We will be physically lighter and feel better.

We must keep our fire burning brightly, and not just the flame, but the coals. Without a hotly smoldering bunch of coals, our flame will be weak and therefore less effective. Fire requires fuel, oxygen and a heat source to exist. We breathe oxygen, so that's convenient. We also consume our fuel. Our heat source is the movements we make with our bodies, so we have what we need for a healthy and bright fire. Lastly, but also important, we need to regularly clean our fireplaces. When you practice yoga with an agni concentration, it is important to continually clear out the ash so we don't get bogged down in the remnants what we're trying to eliminate.

This week think about what you would like to use your fire to transform. What no longer serves you? What do you cling to regardless of the cost? What baggage from the past are you carrying around with you? What do you eat, or drink, or smoke, that keeps you stuck? Are you avoiding physical activity? Are the choices you make reflective of the best version of you?

Choose something and offer it to the fire. Utilize the transformative nature of your internal flame to realize your potential.

Be The Best Version of Yourself

"Home is where my habits have a habitat"  - Fiona Apple

This weekend I had the immense pleasure and privilege to participate in a workshop led by my teacher, Lauren Toolin. She titled it Jivayate, which translates as bring back to life. It was a practice of self care. One of the many ideas that came up was that yoga helps you become the best version of yourself. 

Oh if only life were simple and you were already the best version of you. But we're mired in behavioral habits and emotional baggage. Being this best version is going to take some work. They say nothing is worth having that you didn't work for. Well, with the commitment to consistent effort, we can become this shining example of the pinnacle of us. 

The holidays are an interesting experiment in trying for joy in the face of significant stress. Now maybe that describes your typical day, but the holidays are particularly trying, if you let them be. Visiting with family, sometimes several families, can be a strain on one's good attitude. The people we grow up with influence strongly the adults we become, and sometimes interacting with them causes perfectly reasonable adults to revert to childhood conditioning. Have you ever had that moment with your family where it's as if you're standing outside yourself, watching your behavior and thinking "what are you doing?!"? 

There are many ways to ameliorate stress and not all of them are yoga. Staying mindful amid chaos and giving yourself what you need is the epitome of self care. It boils down to self reflection. Be brave enough to be honest with yourself. How much of your stress is self imposed? How important is your stress to your sense of self? Do you feel less worthy when you're more relaxed? Do you feel less purposeful when you aren't filling your time with things to do? Things to take care of? When you're not giving your energy away?

This week's intention is an exploration of energy containment. We will move repeatedly from our center of gravity and spine out to our extremities (but no further) and back again with breath and asana. Each tour to our extremities is a chance to eliminate blockages and release tension, thereby increasing ease of energy movement in the body. By containing this process to ourselves we keep more energy, becoming more radiant  As we return to center, we keep the radiance and gain groundedness, without which our radiance would make us flighty and we would be more apt to let that energy seep from us.

We all have a choice but I know there are circumstances. I know I am better able to let go of stress and nourish myself when I am surrounded by others trying to do the same. Which is why I go to yoga workshops. I not only learn principles to pass on to you, but I apply them to myself in a room full of others doing the same thing. Solidarity baby. There are studies that show you lose more weight if you workout with a friend. You will be more mindful if you surround yourself with mindful people. It is also much easier for me to practice nourishing myself if I don't have a full time job. It is truly remarkable the extent to which all of this goodness goes out the window when I am fatigued and stressed from having to leave the house every day. From having to be responsible for a job, my part in the house, the kids, etc. The list seems to go on and on. But those are the times when these ideas are the most important to experience. When you're at our lowest it is imperative to take care of yourself. 

Go with the Flow

Feelings are much like waves; we can't stop them from coming, but we can choose which ones to surf.
- Jonatan Marensson

Equanimity: mental calmness, composure and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.
(thank you google)


Emotions are a daily challenge that everyone deals with. By watching how we react to situations, we can gain a greater understanding of ourselves.

It's not always a possibility to stand back and see an emotional reaction objectively. Sometimes we want to wallow. Sometimes it's fun to wallow. To wrap yourself in that anger or sadness, joy or anxiety and spend all day feeling that way. To be completely self indulgent. This could have the potential to be beneficial if we discover the cause of our emotional turmoil in the process, but it's not the healthiest way to go about it.

Hopefully more often we are interested in riding the emotions, surfing them to gain some perspective. Equanimity is the balance required to surf successfully. When we practice mindfulness in the face of strong emotions, we learn how to balance those emotions in the rest of our lives. We can then have an evenness to our lives, which means reduced stress, less pain and being able to make healthy choices for ourselves.

Chemical intervention in dealing with emotional issues is not only common in our society, it's encouraged. From the medical industrial complex that has allowed the growth of pharmaceutical companies into billion dollar organizations, to the marketing budgets of tobacco, alcohol, or even coffee and candy companies, the push to look outside yourself for chemical numbness is everywhere. That's not to mention the money spent on illegal drugs. Or the illegal use of legal drugs. We as a society are looking to feel better. Quickly. While this myriad choices relieves pain or enhances pleasure, it is a temporary situation. It is one that reduces your ability to be equanimous. Yoga and exercise both result in chemical changes in the body. This is the same reaction that allows for seemingly non-addictive pursuits can become a problem for people (sex, shopping and gambling). While the chemical changes that occur as a result of exercise could be considered by some, and is for some, an unhealthy addiction, it is more often a healthy choice. When done in moderation (and therefore balanced) and with mindfulness, you can achieve insight and equanimity.

This week's techniques in class will build on the strength and flexibility of foundation that we cultivated last week. Surfing requires very strong muscles, but without the flexibility you will fall. The ability to let go is important when riding what is coming at you. If you get caught watching the wave you missed, you'll get clobbered by the next one to come along. We will utilize ujjayi, ocean breath. It is a pranayama technique that refines your breath. It creates heat, essential to the process of refinement, and with it your body learns to to more with less. As you watch the breath, it focuses your mind and helps to keep you present.

Foundation

Consider these few basic yogic ideas:

OM - Hindus believe the sound of OM is the vibration which holds the entire universe together. In yoga, we OM in class to experience that cohesion. We join our individual vibrations so that they may be synchronized. OM is also a reminder of our influence. As we use our voice we vibrate air molecules. The nature of sound transmission is the vibration of atoms. Each atom vibrates the one next to it until it vibrates the inner ear of your neighbor. Imagine you can see this movement in the air molecules after your OM. See the sphere of your influence. We quite literally move the world, and the people in it, with our voices. It is important to understand the responsibility inherent with that kind of power. Not only do we have an impact on others because they have an emotional reaction to the words we choose to use, we literally move them internally. We must be aware of this responsibility. The foundation of our relationships with other beings is our communication with them. We are constantly transmitting our thoughts energetically, physically and vocally. We must be discerning of what we emit. As yogis we strive to understand our own emotional reactions to others, but not everyone is seeking such awareness. Those people will react and blame you for your callousness. Strive to eliminate the damage you do with your vibrations. (This is one way to practice ahimsa (non violence), the first of the niyamas in Patangali's Yoga Sutra.) 

Sama Vrtti - A pranayama technique that translates as same fluctuation. Pranayama is breathing practice. Prana is the sanskrit word for life force, similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine's chi. Yogis believe prana rides the breath. Therefore every inhalation results in the acquisition of prana. Yogis also believe illness is the result of prana being unable to flow freely through the body. So we practice breathing techniques in order to manipulate prana (energy) with the intention of freeing it to flow unhindered throughout the body. 

The breath is also a useful diagnostic tool. It gives you insight into your current state of mind. The breath is never breathed yesterday or tomorrow. As such it is used in yoga practice (and can be used anytime) to keep the mind present. Sama vrtti specifically can be useful in keeping the mind present and thoughts or emotions on an even keel.

Foundation - Your foundation is always in the seat of your asana (physical pose), whether that be your feet, hands or actually your seat. In some cases the word asana is translated as seat. This week's asana will focus on strengthening the legs while increasing flexibility in the hips. Strength without flexibility creates a brittle situation. In this case, your muscles work on your bones to create lasting detrimental changes. You may look good for a while, but you will eventually be in pain on a regular basis. Which is also true of unused muscle, so a balance of strength and flexibility is important  As the body and mind are inexorably linked, what one does to the body, one also does to the mind. As you increase your flexibility physically, so too the mind becomes flexible. As physical strength increases, so too your strength of character. Such is true of the extremes as well. An overly developed body means an inflexible mind, one stuck in habits it is unable to detect. A weak physique means a weak will. You will surely be at the mercy of every desire to overtake you.