Carol Webster Maya Yoga Teacher Training 2016 Personal Yoga Philosophy I recently had a conversation with a friend: “Heidi, I need volunteers to come to a yoga class I am teaching for my yoga teacher training. Can you come?” Her: “That sounds fun! I’ll come, but I have to warn you I’m not very flexible.” Me: “Well, that’s why you come to yoga,” Hahahaha. We both laugh and move on. But I am left wondering what I can teach my friends that will help them at least have a bigger picture of yoga and maybe inspire them to adopt it enough to gain lasting benefits. Where do I begin? Thinking about why I began a yoga practice and how it has evolved might give me some clues. I understood from an early age that yoga was something more than just physical exercise, but it was not at all clear to me what more there was beyond the physical poses. In my late 30’s I remember T. Harv Eker, a motivational speaker, talk about what it takes to be successful. He said “You need a spiritual practice. Mine is yoga.” He had a huge presence on a stage and I made a mental note that yoga was part of what gave him some kind of light or confidence or power or something that I could not put my finger on. It was around that same time that I began to work diligently on health issues. I was led over the next ten plus years to different healers. Each gave me piece by piece what I needed. In my late 40’s my main help was an energy healer named Kim Meissinger. She kept explaining that I needed to build my red energy. That refers to the root chakra, the energy center where our vital life force is collected. It can be grown through physical exercise. If we don’t have enough red energy the rest of our system struggles to run. She recommended a Kundalini exercise video that I used for some time. There was a mystical white-turbanned woman named Gurmukh who sat in front of the studio students and taught. That video is on youtube now a days http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1s1a4j_kundalini-yoga-gurmukh_school I felt pretty good about my progress with this yoga master spinning around on my home dvd player, but at some point, Kim started to go to a studio to do yoga and encouraged me to check it out. “Come to restorative. There is a workshop on Saturday. It’s cheap. Only $25!.” That didn’t seem so cheap to me and the thought of stepping into a yoga studio made butterflies flutter in my stomach. It took courage to sign up and show up. It was a good first exposure. Far from the physically strong Kundalini yoga, this was gentle and soothing. People filled every spot in the room with their yoga mat marking their spot. Sue Park was the name of the teacher who somehow got two dozen people feeling cared for in the space of two hours. As I left I introduced myself to Sue and told her I was pretty good at yoga by doing it at home with some dvds. She gave me an encouraging smile and without diminishing the progress I had made and said simply, “it’s not the same as in a yoga studio with a live yoga teacher.” I thanked her again. It would be more than 2 years before I would return to that studio. Her words rang in my ear for months. I had a lot of reasons why I could not start a yoga practice in a studio.

1. Not enough money. Duh. There’s never enough money for something that is not a priority. 2. I homeschool five kids. How could I leave them? 3. I’m too busy with other really important things besides my kids and husband. 4. I can do this at home.

5. The excuses grow more lame… An inner voice that was louder than my excuses kept me looking at the internet for a close studio. Nothing was close. The excuses continued. The inner voice grew louder. Me: “Hey Kim, there a place called Yoga Barn near my house with Debbie Borrell. I’m trying to decide if I should go there for some yoga.” Her: “Yes! I know Debbie. I’ve been to her place. It’s a great spot. You should go.” Debbie taught hatha yoga combined with qi gong. It was fascinating. I left my kids for an hour and a half on Tuesday mornings for a year learning from Debbie until I concluded that, to progress, I needed a practice that I could attend early in the morning many days a week. Each yoga transition has taken courage. I think the hardest one was stepping over the threshold of a newly opened yoga studio only fifteen minutes from my house. I was greeted by Tung Bui who became an inspirational yoga teacher for me. (Nancy Kaul was also a wonderful and welcoming teacher that taught me so many basics!) Tung introduced me to resources that began to open my eyes and remain a solid foundation for my personal yoga philosophy. One day during class he read from a book, “People always think things will stay the same, but they never do.” Something about that simple thought helped me to accept transition and change in my life with more patience and grace. The fascinating book, How Yoga Works by Michael Roach and Christie McNally was my introduction into the Yoga Sutras. (https://www.amazon.com/How-Yoga-Works-Michael-Roach/dp/0976546906) Another thing Tung introduced in class as we went into savasana was the audio of a youtube video by Simon Borg-Olivier called The Most Important Yoga. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0wfA3GYo58) In it he talks about the Yamas and Nyamas and shares his personal interpretation for application for these first two limbs of the eight limbs of yoga. Here they are as published in an article at YogaJournal.com http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/the-eight-limbs/

1. Yama

The first limb, yama, deals with one’s ethical standards and sense of integrity, focusing on our

behavior and how we conduct ourselves in life. Yamas are universal practices that relate best to

what we know as the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The five yamas are:

Ahimsa: nonviolence

Satya: truthfulness

Asteya: nonstealing

Brahmacharya: continence

Aparigraha: noncovetousness

2. Niyama

Niyama, the second limb, has to do with self-discipline and spiritual observances. Regularly

attending temple or church services, saying grace before meals, developing your own

personal meditation practices, or making a habit of taking contemplative walks alone are all

examples of niyamas in practice.

The five niyamas are:

Saucha: cleanliness

Samtosa: contentment

Tapas: heat; spiritual austerities

Svadhyaya: study of the sacred scriptures and of one’s self

Isvara pranidhana: surrender to God

Tung sometimes led us through an hour long ashtanga practice. I didn’t really understand how it

was different from the average vinyasa flow class at that time, but he told me more after class and

I began to research it. I heard the name Pattabi Jois and watched a documentary and other things

on youtube and bit by bit began to piece things together.

The other huge influence was Kim Johnson showing up to substitute at the studio. I felt different

after her classes. I couldn’t understand why, but I began to seek out opportunities to learn from

her. I went at times she was teaching and she would say a little here and a little there. She talked

about Mysore (which sounded strange to me at first). She offered to do a Mysore style practice at

another yoga studio that was closer to my house along with a friend (Nikki) and a student that Kim

invited. I tried to invite others, but they only came a time or two.

I have fond memories of sitting with 3 or 4 of us learning from Kim. She only introduced part of

the whole practice at first and added a little bit each week. We worked hard and repeated a few

poses several times in a row to learn them. The way she began a brand new Mysore room with us

is the model I have in my head of helping new people learn the practice. No book could teach

what I learned from experience in the couple of months we practiced at that location. Kim taught

from her heart with true interest in us as people and friends, not just some clients to recruit.

She encouraged me several times to try out Maya Yoga. It seemed so hard to make a long trip

downtown, find a parking spot and walk into a space that was new to me. Add that to the fact that

the times were not very convenient and it is a miracle I ever went, but that same voice that gave

me courage each step along the way coaxed me to continue pushing the edge of my comfort

zone. Eventually I would make the next miraculous and brave step to include yoga teacher

training to my life.

Meeting my new teacher, Gwen, the first day of teacher training was like sitting in a beautiful

spring time garden with a refreshing, gentle breeze. She was so friendly it set me at ease. She

had taken time to study my application and already knew me. Her compassionate and fun-loving

way put an added beautiful spin on Ashtanga yoga. I felt like the least in the room of trainees and

have gratefully learned from them along the way.

8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga

Sometimes I doodle words to help me learn. Here is a doodle I did as I thought of the way the 8 Limbs are

numbered yet understanding that they all work together.

The 8 Limbs of yoga 1.Yama: moral restraints-how we relate to others

2.Niyama: observances-how we relate to ourselves

3.Asana: posture-how we relate to our body

4.Pranayama: breath extension-how we relate to our breath or spirit

5.Pratyahara: sensory withdraw-how we relate to our sense organs

6.Dharana: concentration-how we relate to our mind

7.Dhyana: meditation-moving beyond the mind

8.Samadhi: meditative absorption-deep realization and inner union

The 5 Yamas are:

-Ahimsa.non-harming

-Satya: truthfulness

-Asteya: non-strealing

-Bramacharya: focus energy toward the divine

-Aparigraha: greedlessness

The 5 Niyamas are:

-Saucha: purity

-Santosha: contentment

-Tapas: purifying practices

-Svadhyaya: self study and the study of sacred texts

-Ishvara Pranidhana: surrender to the divine

One of our early assignments for teacher training was to focus on a Sanskrit word or phrase from the Yoga

Sutras (the ancient writing that contains the 8 limbs of yoga) that we felt drawn to. Kim challenged us to

meditate and chant our chosen word consistently, daily for several weeks. What I was drawn to was the 5th

Yama: Aparigraha. This doodle represents some of the ways I understand and apply Aparigraha in my life.

Before I leave the Yamas and Niyamas, I have thought many times how these were first explained to me. I

heard, “they are like the 10 Commandments”. I decided I wanted to match the two sets and came up with this

chart.

Much could be analyzed and written about comparing these (and I’m sure it has been, though I have not done

the research), but for my purpose I will point out a couple of things that went through my mind as I was trying to

decide where to put what Sanskrit word next to commandments.

First, it is interesting that the yamas (highlighted in green) were straight forward and patterned together with

the last five commandments.

The Niyamas (highlighted in yellow) were not so straight forward. The hardest part was what to put next to

commandment 5, honor mother and father. Santosha (contentment) could go there… as in… “being content

with the circumstances that one is born into”, but after deeper contemplation I thought Svadhyaya (study) is a

more helpful idea.

If we honor our parents, we are also honoring ourselves. We are born in a family setting that almost dictates

who we think we are. If, however, we will study and absorb sacred texts, we will know that the eternal part of

us―our authen>c essence―is not what we “think” we are because of the society we were born into. What we

“think” we are turns out to be a persona that we build up to fit-in with what we perceive to be “normal”. Some

call this the “ego self”. It is a necessary part of our experience to develop a persona. It helps children to cope

with the challenges inherent to this mortal existence over which they have little control.

However, as we mature into adults, through self-study we can come to a place of honoring our parents (and the

bigger society that we were born into) by uncovering our true or higher self. We leave judgmental criticism of

self and others in this honoring process. By so doing we both honor and lift our parents, ancestors, culture and

the world. Living from our higher self gives everyone that knows us permission to seek their own higher self.

This state brings a peace and contentment that cannot be disturbed by outside circumstances. What could be

more honoring?

Asanas: When the average westerner hears "Yoga", what they tend to think of is asana— a series of physical poses. One

purpose of asana is to refine the physical body so that prana (life force) can circulate more efficiently.

Consistently doing the poses with vinyasa over time makes the body straight, strong, flexible and improves

balance. Vinyasa is linking the correct inhale or exhale with movements between poses. There is a quality of

breath, called ujjayi breath, that keeps the air and oxygen flowing with ease and attention.

Before starting a regular asana practice I didn’t know what straight posture felt like nor did I have muscles

conditioned to hold straight posture even if I could figure out what it was accurately. Energy gets blocked where

the body is kinked― like a water hose with a kink. Asana practice is key to the physical body, but asana without

the other the limbs is a fitness modality, not yoga.

I am fascinated that my brain can observe and control subtle movements, contractions and relaxations. With

repetition my body develops muscle memory. This process is part of all of our lives. We learned to talk, walk,

and get food on a spoon then keep it there until it gets to our mouth through concentration and repetition.

Later we learned to write, throw or kick a ball and drive a car. Those who learn to play a musical instrument

must learn in this same muscle-memory forming way.

I realized that my fascination with studying voice was like my fascination with asana. I wrote the following few

paragraphs when that hit me several weeks ago:

How Yoga is Like Voice Lessons When I was a little girl I wanted to grow up and be a singer. In my early teen years, I began voice lessons. I love the internal process of training my brain to be aware of consciously relaxing some places and contracting in other places while allowing air to flow past the vocal chords to produce an external sound.

The smallest little adjustments change how the voice sounds. Habits and neuropathways develop through consistent practice. Things that take a lot of concentration at first become natural and automatic over time.

After three years of an active yoga practice it hit me that I am fascinated by yoga for the same reasons. At first I heard yoga teachers give cues that made no sense at the time.

For example, one day in a beginning yoga class while holding upward facing dog the teacher instructed, "Contract your legs but soften your gluts." My friend and I looked at each other and cracked up as we gave each other a quizzical look. The teacher asked what was so funny and I had to explain that I could not figure out how in the world to contract my legs without contracting my gluts. At that moment, I was sure it was impossible. She assured me it was not impossible and one day I would figure it out.

I'm grateful to Kim Johnson who substituted a few times in a class that I attended regularly. I felt different after her classes and started looking for opportunities to practice under her wise tutelage. I eventually learned that the kind of yoga she practiced was a system called ashtanga.

Kim patiently taught me step by step and eventually encouraged me to join the teacher training at Maya. Because I am a homeschool mom of five great kids I thought, for me, going to a teacher training was as impossible as doing my headstand without a wall! Kim assured me it was not impossible and she accommodated my particular scheduling needs to allow me access to the teacher training.

The focused time of teacher training has allowed me to learn from my amazing teachers Kim and Gwen, special guests, the other trainees in the class, but most of all I have learned from my internal guide. I have loved the fascinating process of training my brain to be aware of consciously relaxing some places but contracting in other places while allowing breath and prana to flow through my entire body to produce an external effect on the mat as well as in the unique melody of my life.

I'm so grateful for both singing and yoga that benefit my body, mind and spirit... and for my dear family, friends and God that are the true music of my life!

Pranayama: I used breathing techniques long before I heard the Sanskrit word “Pranayama”.

• I read Dr. Andrew Wiel’s work during some of my healing research. He traveled to study with healers of

various healing traditions including yoga and described breathing patterns that I adopted to help me

cope with anxiety and depression.

• I learned, from a Zen master and author named Cheri Huber, that meditation begins and ends with

counting your breath. It is key to an awareness practice.

• The Chinese practice of qi kung (also spelled chi) teaches the power of conscious breath. The qi kung

practitioner directs the breath with the mind and movement to gather qi (the Chinese word for prana) in

much the same way that yoga does.

The power of Pranayama, no matter what language or culture uses it, is well established. The root of the

word is “prana” meaning “life force”. It can be practiced easily by anyone, anywhere. It seems so simple

that people overlook its power. Those who consistently practice it will gain health and energy even if they

don’t choose to practice asana. It is a deceptively powerful tool.

Pratyhara: Withdrawal of the senses. This can be practiced at any time, but I find it especially helpful to make this part of

my Asana practice. Being a full-time homeschool mom I have ample opportunity in life to be surrounded by

noise and chaos. Without pratyahara I can feel out of control and then react by trying to control people around

me which only adds to the chaos and noise by yelling or blaming or feeling victimized and becoming

manipulative. Mindfully noticing where my energy ends and another’s begins and choosing to keep my energy

within my personal space is true control. With pratyhara I can respond with clarity and compassion if a response

is needed at all. I become unprovokable yet remain aware. My favorite example of pratyhara is in the Bible

when Jesus is standing before the chief priests and elders as they falsely and selfishly accuse him. He simply

says nothing (Matthew 27:12). He has to have been practicing pratyhara to do that!

Dharana: Words associated with Dharana include “concentration”, “holding still”, “holding” and “single focus”. Working

with children in educational settings a similar term is “attention span”. It is the ability to keep one’s mind on

something instead of being distracted or allowing the mind to wander. I have encouraged friends to “meditate”

and heard them say, “I can’t do it. My mind won’t stay focused.” I explain that the fact that they realize the

mind is wandering means they ARE doing it! They are training their mind to meditate.

This paragraph from yogaglo explains it well.

“the most important thing to remember is that the goal is in the practice. Bringing the mind back to the rose [object of focus]– as many times as it takes – is what dharana is all about. Satchidananda points out that the practice of dharana is not concentrating on the rose – it’s the act of redirecting the mind, again and again. He writes, “This very practice itself is called concentration: the mind running, your bringing it back; its running, your bringing it back. You are taming a monkey. Once it’s tamed, it will just listen to you. You will be able to say, ‘Okay, sit there quietly.’ And it will. At that point you are meditating. Until then you are training yourself to meditate. Training your mind to meditate is what is called dharana.”

(https://blog.yogaglo.com/2013/04/eight-limbs-of-yoga-dharana/)

It was many years ago, reading Cheri Huber’s books, that I began my practice of dharana. As a Zen master, she

taught a single and simple method of awareness: count your breath. Do not change your breath, simply observe

it and count inhale-exhale as “1”, inhale-exhale “2” and so on until “10” and then begin again. It seems like such

a simple thing to do until you actually try it and discover your mind has wandered and you can’t quite remember

what number breath you last counted. I remember so many mornings going for a walk alone, determined to

count my breathes and finding myself evaluating people’s yards instead. At that point in my life I would berate

myself for not being able to stay focused. Self-criticism is not useful, in fact, it can be quite a serious roadblock

and begets criticism of others. Over time I have learned to be more generous and gentle with myself which is

far more useful and more likely to take me to the Dhyana.

Dhyana: It is a tricky to draw a line between dharana and dhyana. The word Dhyana is consistently defined as

meditation, but defining meditation is slippery. Further, trying to draw a line between the this 7th limb and the

8th limb of Samadhi is even trickier. I doodled (above) the way I think of the 8 Limbs in a circle specifically to

indicate the way they all interact. The limbs are labeled and numbered as a way to organize and order them but,

as always, words are the clothing of ideas and not the ideas themselves.

This Deepak Chopra quote might be useful to making the distinction:

“Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It’s a way of entering into the quiet that’s already there– buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.”

~ Deepak Chopra

I read a good article posted at http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1979/dapr79/dhy479.shtml

by Swami Satyananda Saraswati. It was an archived talk from the World Yoga Convention held at Satyananda

Ashram, Mangrove Mountain, Australia in October 1978.

I could insert the whole article, but that would be too much for this short paper about my personal philosophy. I

will simply include this short story:

“Once upon a time a young girl was going to meet her boyfriend. She was deeply engrossed in remembering him. In the lane through which she was passing, a Muslim had spread his mat and was repeating his prayers. Muslims pray five times a day, anywhere and everywhere, even in the middle of the road. They are very strict about their prayer time. So he had spread his mat and was saying his prayers, 'Allah, Allah, Allah'. The girl was so much engrossed in thoughts of her lover that she walked right over his mat, and kept going. The man who was praying looked at her and said, 'Arrogant, shameless, uncivilised!' Then, unable to control himself, he got up from his mat and called after her. The girl continued walking and did not respond. He became furious and followed her, calling 'Hey', and again she did not respond. Then he ran ahead of her, blocked her way, and shouted, 'Why did you walk over my mat?' The girl was taken aback and asked, 'What mat'? What do you mean?' The man said, 'I was praying, and you walked over my mat, you unholy wretch!' The lady paused for a moment, and then gave a very revealing reply, 'I was so engrossed in thoughts of my lover that I did not see you or your mat. How could you have seen me walk over your mat if you were praying to God?”

Samadhi: The 8th Limb completes the circle. In the Bible, Matthew 22 records what Jesus responded when asked what

the greatest commandment is:

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with

all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Notice how the second commandments are really a support for the first. Also, notice that the second

commandments are the yamas and the niyamas. The first commandment is Samadhi. It describes working on a

love of God that is all absorbing much like the girl in the story is so absorbed in thoughts of her beloved.

The word yoga means “yoked” or “bind together” or maybe “sealed to”. It is a transitive verb which means the

verb requires both a subject and an object. If a person is yoked he/she has to be yoked to something. The

stated purpose of all the sages of yoga is to yoke oneself to God. THIS is why yoga (in terms of an exercise

program) has been something I have felt so motivated to consistently practice. I have been a seeker of God

from my earliest memories. I came to yoga because I needed a physical practice. I stay with yoga because the

practice contains teachings that match what I have learned in order to love God with all my heart, soul and

mind. It adds more tools to help me along that journey.

Samadhi, communion with God, is a sacred and personal experience. Some powerful moments have occurred

for me during Savasana at the end of a handful of practices. My habit has been to attend early morning yoga

(asana) classes.

For more than a year I was privileged to have Tung Bui lead early morning practice. I so appreciated the way he

did savasana in those early mornings. Instead of ending class together he would have practitioners wake up at

their own pace and leave the room quietly respecting the energy of the room. He would say “my internal

Namaste to you” and then leave the room. There was not another class scheduled in the studio for a couple of

hours and I would stay alone in savasana for long periods learning directly through Samadhi.

It is not appropriate for me to write details of those and other sacred experiences, but if someone asks me in the

right time and place to verbally share more I would be honored to do so as a way to help other true seekers

along their own path.

Yoga and Religion Some worry that the practice of yoga is in conflict with one’s religious beliefs; that perhaps it will require leaving

their religious practices. I can only speak for my own experience (which I will), but it is clearly taught that yoga is

not a religion.

A BBC Magazine article explains,

“Yoga stems from the Vedas - the Indian holy texts that were composed from around 1900BC.

Besides yoga, three major religions came from those texts - Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.

Around 200-400AD, a sage called Patanjali composed the Yoga Sutras. His "eight limbs" of yoga still

inform practice today and discuss posture, breathing, meditation and correct living.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25006926)

People from many religions find that practicing yogic principles enhance their spiritual life. If one’s religion is in

line with their deep spiritual beliefs, then there is no conflict. Yoga does not ask me to worship Shiva, but it does

ask me to be more devoted to my God (I call him heavenly Father) and it gives me tools to have a closer union

with my God. I have experienced clear connection to spiritual guidance in my life in general and many times

specifically after practicing asana during meditation and savasana. It’s hard to explain how I feel more mentally

and spiritually clean when I practice, but that is my experience.

I am unapologetically a Christian and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some call me

Mormon or LDS. I came to yoga with a well-established spiritual practice. I have studied theology for decades. I

believe truth can be found in many places. I think true principles overlap and repeat regularly across cultures

and people but are given in language and ideas that are within the social norms and language of people.

Because of the way the human brain works, learning happens symbolically through words. Words are the

clothing of ideas but they are not in and of themselves ideas. Some ideas or internal thoughts are based in

truth, others in error or perception or misperception. To my delight, these ideas are expressed in the Yoga

Sutra.

Each time I study yogic text I find overlap of ideas I already believe and have studied in my own sacred texts like

the Bible and The Book of Mormon. It has been (and will continue to be) an interesting challenge to find those

parallel teachings. In my mind, I plan to get more organized and document the parallels over time.

I thought I would find teachings that would clash with my theology, and there are some, but when I look at yogic

teachings from a symbolic perspective I have been able to bridge the gap in several instances. In the end, yoga

has made me a better Christian and I feel deeply that not only does God approve, I feel like God led me to this

practice to help me hone my spiritual gifts that I might be able to serve and follow Him by increasing my ability

to be loving and compassionate and aware of His guidance.

“May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the Christians give strength to you to carry out your noble idea”

Swami Vivekananda

Yoga and Healing I have had a long healing journey. I have documented that journey in my book The Holding Space Practice

which encourages the reader to implement tools that I have learned over the past two decades. It no longer

surprises me to find that what I unknowingly learned on my healing journey are the same principles that I keep

rediscovering as I study yoga. My yoga practice, all 8 limbs but especially my consistent asana practice, has

become my health maintenance program. I am healthier, physically stronger and straighter than I have ever

been. Through the mind-body connections that are developed by continually refining yoga poses I understand

my body on a level I didn’t know existed. I have never been athletic and consistent exercise has been an on-

going challenge, but now I am motivated to take care of my body and work at physical fitness without the self-

cajoling I used to have to resort to.

Kim Johnson sent the follow quote to me after compassionately listening to my thinly veiled complaints about

my latest healing crisis that she stepped me through. Reading this quote changed the way I understand pain or

discomfort and gave me an appreciation that my life is not gray and mediocre but instead I am gratefully capable

of feeling both pain AND exhilaration, comfort AND discomfort, turmoil AND peace.

People have been put on my path that I might be a comfort, support and guide to them as they pass through

difficult parts of their healing path. I have gathered additional healing modalities through yoga teacher training

that I have added to my healing tool kit which will benefit me and others in my circle.

With so many Yoga Options, Why Choose Ashtanga? I like what David Swenson said at the workshop he taught in Kansas City this Fall. He said he wished people

would not go into all the divisions of yoga like Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Power Yoga, Bikram Yoga etc. Yoga is

yoga. For him, he said he just liked Ashtanga so he stuck with it. I want to be happy with all kinds of yoga. I

want to be non-judgmental, but there are something unique things about Ashtanga that draw me to it.

• Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga has the reputation of being demanding, but any yoga done mindfully is

demanding.

• Ashtanga is a system of poses in a specific order which is meant to heal the body. The Primary series is

called Yoga Chikitsa which means Yoga Therapy. I need therapy. My body still has a lot of healing to go.

• Ashtanga is a memorized practice. Students can learn bit by bit from a teacher, but a student can and

should be able to practice what they know at home on days they can’t get to a teacher. Eventually the

practice is memorized and the practitioner can focus more deeply on breath, form and a moving

meditation instead of relying on a teacher to tell them what the next pose is.

• The practice is the teacher more than any person. The people who lead and teach Ashtanga humbly and

gratefully acknowledge and respect the people that taught them but they trust the system to heal and

help individuals as passed down through a lineage system.

• I love the personal responsibility and autonomy that Ashtanga requires. It makes me stronger.

• As Kim Johnson puts it, the series of poses is like a combination lock. Once you put the combination

together the body, mind and spirit work as one, prana flows and there is a freedom and peace that

cannot be described. It has to be experienced. I have had tastes of that and it is delicious.

This quote from K. Patabi Jois Ashtanga Institute of Mysore, India describes the method in a way that is very

informative to me.

“The format of the practice always remains the same; one always begins practice with Surya Namaskar, concludes with Padmasana and rest, and the various asanas gradually fill the space between these two poles. Learning yoga in this traditional manner benefits the student on many levels. It is possible for one to gain independence and confidence in their sadhana (spiritual practice), as well, something truly becomes one’s own when they learn it by heart. It is through the daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga that we draw it into ourselves, understand it, and become proficient in its methods, thereby reaping its wide range of benefits. For this to be accomplished, a slow, dedicated and patient approach is best.

“Vinyasa means careful linking of breath and movement. The Surya Namaskar and each of the successive asanas are comprised of a particular number of vinyasas. Vinyasa creates heat in the body, which warms the blood. The warmed blood passes through the muscles, nerves, internal organs and glands, removes toxins from them, and carries them out through the sweat. This is how the process of purification begins. It is important that the student does not rush ahead doing too many asanas, and allows the body to be gradually purified. If one rushes ahead quickly, it is possible for sickness to occur, rather than purification. It is important that the teacher checks to ensure that the position of the body and the movement of breath are correct in each asana before moving the student forward so that one may reap the proper benefit of Ashtanga Yoga.”

http://kpjayi.org/the-practice/traditional-method/

H.O.M.E. Practice As I write this paper it is possible that the final proof of a book I have been writing for a couple of years will be in

my mailbox today. It is titled The Holding Space Practice. In the last chapter I write about focusing on H.O.M.E.

For those whose childhood home life was less than ideal (and we can ALL think of ways that our childhood was less than ideal!), the word "home" might trigger painful thoughts, feelings or words. The point of exploring your roots is to build a place within you where you belong and can return to whenever you discover you have fallen into a stuck, dark story and feel like a fish yanked out of water or a swimmer stuck in a riptide being pulled out to sea.

This HOME practice stands for:

Honest

Open

Mindful

Energy

If you don't consciously have a place to calm-out when things get tough, the tendency is to run away and/or numb-out which leads us to feel isolated, desperate, ill, and varying degrees of unhappiness or misery.

Once you have begun to establish a HOME practice that you can return to within yourself, then you will be empowered to be the hero your own unfolding story.

All yoga practice helps establish H.O.M.E. Ashtanga Yoga, particularly my asana practice, has become, literally,

my home practice. During the course of my yoga teacher training year I created a special place in our home to

do my asana practice. I repurposed a bookshelf and made it into a personal alter (everyone else would see it as

a type of mantle) where I place items that remind me of why I practice yoga and how all of the things I do are

meant to yoke me to God.

I have a primary belief that God means for us to be part of a family. They are our “lab partners” in life as we

continually learn and grow. A functioning family is a support when we are down and a place to celebrate as we

learn. A dysfunctional family interrupts every aspect of our life. Our home life (whatever that looks like

whether married, single, being a child living with parents, parents living with children or whatever) helps us

know how to prioritize our time. The quality of home life determines the quality of life.

Anytime one person rises up to their higher self and reaches toward Samadhi it effects their family. Transition

can be difficult, but the peace that eventually settles makes the change and growth worth the effort. There is

never a place of “done” when it comes to learning, but there is a place of awareness that helps you glide

gracefully over the bumps in life for people who are committed to a path toward union (yoga) with or without a

very active asana limb.

Yes. It is true. If you are not flexible or strong or have poor balance in your body (or any part of life), then yoga

is even more for you than our “flexible friends”! I love the story about the parents who wanted to help their

paraplegic son so they took him every day to Pattabi Jois to learn yoga. I am sure that he and his family grew

more flexible, strong and balanced in such a dedicated practice as he honored his parents and they honored

him.

For me, the truths taught in yoga have been given from the beginning of time by a similar dedicated Parent and

Son. As a Christian, through my study of my sacred text, Jesus of the New Testament is the pre-mortal Jehovah

of the Old and stood on the right hand of God the Father since before the creation of this world. He is the

greatest Guru “the Way, the Truth and the Light”. (John 14:6). In His mortal life He was THE example of the 8

Limbs of Yoga. He yoked himself perfectly with the Father and God of all. At the end of His mortal ministry, it

appeared that His life was for naught when he was entombed. The world was asked to hold space for a few days

until He showed that he had “overcome the [physical] world”. (John 16:33) He beckons all to follow Him and

“make straight the Way of the Lord” (John 1:23). When we are straight, when kinks and blocks are cleared we

become pure light with Him. For me, the yoga I have learned has taught me what it feels like to be more and

more straight and remove blocks to move me toward being “one” with God. (John 17:21-23, Corinthians 1:10,

Moses 7:18, Doctrine and Covenants 38:27). I hope my life and the yoga I have learned to do and will continue

to do will be one more light in the world; that the day will come that we may all be “one”… bound together in

goodness and truth. Maybe we will have a collective “om” and breathe in unison. I look forward to that future!

(Isaiah 11:6-9)