Author name: VitalityYogaTherapy

Recite out loud and contemplate: Dew drops on a blade of grass, having so little time before the sun rises; Let not the autumn wind blow so quickly on the field ~Zen Master Dogen Even after all this time, The sun never says to the earth, “You owe me” Look what happens with a love like that It lights the whole sky. ~Hafiz of Persia 1.) Sit quietly, feel the foundation of the earth below you. Balance evenly on that support. Breathe softly and gently through the nose. Lift your spine tall on the inhale and open your heart center. Softly release any tensions away on the exhale, root yourself to the earth. As you sit, let your heart fill with gratitude for this moment. 2.) Feel the support of the earth underneath you. Inhale, open your chest and lift your hips. Gently lift the chin and bring a soft gaze to your eyes, relax your busy mind. Exhale, reach your hips back towards your heels, Pause movement and breath half way down, hear the silence there, and surrender to this moment. Then release back fully to the heels and rest your head. Inhale back up to all fours and lift your heart, be open to all possibilities……. Back and forth like a wave, open and receive on the inhale, release and let go on the exhale. 3.) Feel the ground solid under your feet supporting you, rest your hands over your heart center. Inhale into bridge as you open the arms out to the side in a gesture of acceptance. Lift your heart center and let it fill with appreciation for who you are. Exhale and slowly curl back down, arms gently returning back to your heart center, rest in the comfortable place that is you. 4.) Stay here breathing softly, supported by the bolster let your heart center open to the Divine Light flowing as prana within us and all around us. Breathe softer, dwelling in the pauses on each side of the breath, becoming more present with this awareness. Let go of expectations and worries. Feel your heart center to radiating like the sun, lighting up the whole sky, expecting nothing in return. Breathe into this….. 5.) Lay on your back, put a strap over your foot, extend the leg up on your inhale and open the bottom of your foot to the sky. Exhale and ground your pelvis to the earth. Hold the strap in one hand and on your next inhale open the leg out to the side, and find your edges of mobility while you keep your pelvis stable. Exhale again and bring your leg back to center. Repeat this movement exploring where you can maintain steadiness and centeredness in body, breath and mind. After a few times finally let your leg rest out to the side on blankets under the outer hip. Relax the shoulders and neck as you gently hold the strap. Stay here for a few breaths, explore the very root of your being. Give gratitude for your ancestors. 6.) Sit wide legged, lay your front spine down comfortably on the bolster. Have your entire front body open and supported by the bolster. Every exhalation feel your spine resting more deeply like a vine to a trellis. Breathe soft and subtle through the nose. Quiet the eyes and your entire face. Release your fears and doubts with every exhale. Nourish yourself with every inhale. Create a safe place to fill your heart with gratitude for your life. 7.) Now rest back for several rounds of breath on the bolster in bound angle pose. Bring the bottoms of the feet together and relax your hips and head support. Relax in service to yourself; to restore and renew your body and your mind. Touch into your heart center, let the rhythm of the breath inspire compassion and Love within you. Every moment is like a drop of dew on the blade of grass. Temporary. Ever changing. Ebb and flow with each moment. Just as your breath comes and goes. Appreciate this moment for whatever it is. 8.) Lie comfortably in savasana. Make sure you are warm and supported. Soften your body from your head to your toes, release away tension on your exhales. Drop back into a quiet space, become quieter and quieter with every breath. In corpse pose, embrace the truth of impermanence and the preciousness of every moment. With each breath bring in gratitude for your body, your mind, your breath, your heart, this moment……. See yourself filling with Divine Light. Let gratitude radiate within you for who you are, just as you are right now. Surrender to the support of the earth underneath you, to the sweet soft air moving in and out of you, and to the vibration of your heart center vibrating with the sun. Open your inner ears to that vibration, listen to the truth that speaks your inner wisdom. Over and over again as you breathe let waves of gratitude wash over you. In every fleeting moment. Rest in the unconditional Love that surrounds you. Namaste. Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates visions for tomorrow

How has your practice been lately?  What does practice mean to you? Do you struggle to have a daily routine, or are you able to enthusiastically approach your regular time with yourself? Perhaps you haven’t been practicing these days. And what is practice anyway?  What does it mean to practice and why do we do it, or at least feel like we “should” be doing it?  These are some questions related to Patanjali’s sutras 1:12- 1:16 on practice and decolorizing the mind. According to Patanjali, the primary goal of abhyasa, ardent practice, is to steady and focus the mind by reducing the churning of the mind, or the vrittis, and dispel ignorance. Jaganath Carrera puts it simply; “Effort towards steadiness is practice.” The idea presented with this ardent effort is to routinely approach it with enthusiasm to explore the deeper layers of the self to identify the obstacles that occupy the vrittis. Carrera clarifies this point, “Daily life is the stage upon which vrittis perform their dance. Therefore our lives – every act – should reflect a clear and steady mind.” However, getting to the point that we are even clear enough to start our practice and maintain it can be tricky. There are so many distractions. All the external stimulation that pull us away from our inner awareness are never ending. And then, if we can get ourselves to settle down enough to begin a practice, we usually find that the internal chitter chatter or vrittis is compelling the mind to follow into a myriad of habitual patterns or samskaric rabbit holes. But if we can find an inkling of quiet, this can help lead us further into quiet and further into connecting with the deeper layers of ourselves, which is the point of abhyasa, or effort towards steadiness in practice. But how do I get there? Pandit Rajmani Tigunait encourages us to seek the relationship of the breath with the mind to find this quiet state to build upon. “When the mind is calm and clear, the breath flows smoothly. Conversely, when the breath flows smoothly, the mind calms and clears……By using yogic tools and means, we remind the mind and the breath of their loving and mutually supportive bond.” With this bond Rajmani explains that, “as time passes, this peaceful flow (between the breath and the mind) creates peaceful habits.” In this way we are able to be steady in our practice which allows us to bring that steadiness and peaceful flow of mind into all the experiences of our lives. Patanjali emphasizes that to maintain this steadiness towards a calm and peaceful mind, we must put effort into a practice that is “done for a long period of time, with no interruption, and with reverence. Our practice becomes firm only when we do it, and only a firm practice can guarantee that we will conquer the mind’s roaming tendencies. It demands that we offer ourselves in service of our practice. This includes creating an inspiring environment, cleansing the body, relaxing the nervous system, calming the mind, sitting in a comfortable posture, and renewing our intention to practice abhyasa (2).” Some days we may not feel as inspired to be with ourselves in intentional practice, but mindful repetition, even to notice and move through our resistance to practice, is encouraged to attain the benefits of progress over time. Becoming habitual about practice produces eventual results of clarity and steadiness which further encourages us to continue to practice. The process is not a straight line and demands unwavering devotion. Through the skill of pratyahara, softening the senses and svadhyaya, self-reflection, we can learn to adapt the practice each day to what we need and what works for our time and space. Yoga offers the many tools of asana, pranayama, mudra, mantra, meditation and ritual for us to help ourselves come into balance. Cultivating trust, perseverance, moderation and faith are all part of the process. Just like with anything we dedicate ourselves to the more we put into it, the more we get out of it. Patanjali’s sutra 1:21 reminds us of this in TKV Desikachar’s translation “the more intense the faith and effort, the closer the goal.” Kriya yoga provides the formula for approaching this practice. Through the continual process of applying effort (tapas), continually reevaluating the effects of the practice (svadhyaya), and connecting with a greater purpose than oneself (isvara pranidhana), the practitioner can gain viveka, discriminative discernment, along with a steady focused mind. Rajmani Tingunait encapsulates this process in a simple and beautiful way, “With ardent effort, it is possible to discover a moment when the mind is moving peacefully inward. Identifying that moment and extending its scope is the essence of abhyasa (ardent practice).” This is the juiciness of the process that keeps curiosity and enthusiasm for self-transformation alive in our practice. But focusing on practice alone has its pitfalls. We can become attached to the outcome of our practice or become too identified with our practice as defining our spiritual worth, or have an inflated ego that we are spiritually higher than others, or any other distorted perception of the truth. That is where vairagya comes in. Carrera defines it this way: “Vairagya literally means ‘without color.’ It is the ability to keep distortions of selfish motives and intents out of every relationship, action, and process of learning.” This brings us back to the study of our samskaras, or habitual conditioning. What impressions are ‘coloring’ our experiences? The deeper the groove that we have made from habit, the stronger that influence is on our experiences, and the more tainted view we have of our circumstances. Vairagya is the process of decolorizing the mind so that we can see more clearly without the tint of our conditioning that veils the truth. Without vairagya, our ardent practice can get distorted by the strong external and internal influences that pull us away from a steady, peaceful, and discerning mind. Tingunait further explains the power of cultivating awareness