GSD in the face of Statistical Impossibility and Certain Doom

I have a healthy disrespect and distrust of statistical analysis when it is used to pre-determine a course of action and preclude any alternate course of action.  The fallacy of statistical analysis (and often policy) is the absence of one piece of information.  Information which cannot be metric-ed and reported on to death with Access or Excel:  The human animal’s ability and willingness to GSD in the face of impossibility and Certain Doom.

What the heck does that have to do with my yoga practice?

Let me answer that question with another topical departure.  I want to talk about Mariano Rivera.  Yes, the greatest closer in the history of baseball.  Mariano has one pitch, the Cutter.  As a batter, you know what is coming.  You know he will throw it in the strike zone.  You have seen and studied countless hours of video and volumes of statistical analysis.  You don’t have to watch for his hand position on the ball, the rotation of the seams, it is the same every time.  You know exactly what is coming and you will still not be able to do anything against that Cutter.  Maybe you get lucky.  Once.  Not repeatedly.  Not consistently.  To face The Sandman is, at least statistically, Certain Doom.

The Cut Fastball.  Certain Doom from the Greatest Closer in the history of Baseball

As great as Mariano is, batters still come up to the plate and try to get a hit.  All the hours of analysis mean squat if the batter doesn’t swing the bat.  If the batter thinks too long about swinging—you know, planning and organizing rather than leading—once he is in the box, the ball has gone right past him. At some point you just have to swing to get s*it done.

Here is the cross over.  We face certain doom every time we approach our practice.  Think about what is working against us.  There are more than 7 billion people in the world.  That means that there are 7 billion people who have not yet achieved the goal of existence (and the practice of yoga): ultimate unification which results in breaking of the cycle of birth and death.  By virtue of being born, all of us (with more added every second) have utterly failed. Struck out. Down swinging or looking, doesn’t matter.

Chew on that for a minute. 

But that is only true from a certain point of view.

Humans, the shastras tell us, are the only created beings with the capacity to work out our karma and actively move toward the ultimate goal.  We can get, and are GSD right now.  We may not know it.  We may have only a vague understanding of what we are doing.  We are most likely adding more S to GD as we are G our current SD—yes, that’s a problem.  But if we allow that understanding to scare us into inactivity, we are truly sunk.

It is useful, to an extent, to explore how we GSD.  The danger is spending too much time in analysis and too little time in execution.  Spending hours and hours examining pricing, mileage, traffic patterns, selecting an outfit, tying the perfect overhand knot on my sneakers does not matter if I need milk for dinner.  I cannot finish a project at work if I spend all day long analyzing my thought patterns, creating SWOT charts, and going to committee about the font on the document. I cannot progress in headstand through reading about the pose, watching videos, or relying on someone else’s description of perfection of the pose. 

The key to success in any of these is accepting risk of failure and going for it anyway.

Yes, analysis needs to happen, but not at the expense of GSD. 

How and why do you GSD, whether in the batter’s box against Mo, being pulled in countless directions at work, or trying to stand on your head?

You figure it out and do it. And you do it and figure it out.

There are those who have done it before, and that gives us hope.  Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Yogananda, all Self Realized beings who walked the Earth and left very extensive insights to help us along.  Sri Mahayogi, Self Realized at the age of 8 is with us today, dividing his time between Japan and NYC. Their teachings point the way and provide encouragement, but ultimately we get to our practice for one reason:

Because it needs to get done.  And we have faith that it will get done.

Swami Sivananda says “Brahmamuhurta [4 AM, the most auspicious time to begin practice] is NOW!”  Meaning get your tail in gear and do something this instant!

Explore action, means, and reasoning together.  There’s no need to wait or rely on anyone else's opinion of what the method, means, and outcome should be.  It doesn’t matter if you can explain to someone else how or why you got results, truthfully your method probably won’t work for them anyway.  It’s your practice that counts.  Your swing. Your results. 

Do it because it needs to be done. Do it because someone else did it.  Do it because no one else has done it.  Just GSD.

I Can Do This Job Standing on my Head

Ok, so this is handstand, not headstand.  I do know the difference—there is the occasional (read: often) right/left mix-up, but I’m pretty good with correctly identifying head- v. handstand.  We’ll call this one artistic license.

I have the great opportunity to use headstand in my position as a yoga teacher and in my big people job.  It is one of the most useful tools for self-analysis.  Better than personality tests (woo-hoo, I’m an INTJ.  How does that get me a raise?).  Better than “Tell me about a time when…”  Headstand allows us as students to safely observe how we approach radical shifts in our environment, how we react to being pushed out of our comfort zones, and how we approach change. 

I teach headstand very early in my classes.  Sun salutations first, headstand second. 

And always, ALWAYS we practice in the center of the room.

The reason for this is very simple.  It is not the wall’s practice—it is your practice. #1: If your feet are touching the wall, you are not safely supporting your weight in the pose. #2: We carry all the answers within ourselves; nothing external is needed.  The secret to practicing headstand in the center of the room is to create your own definition of headstand.  Not everyone is ready to (or should) work into the complete expression of the pose.  Crown of the head down, hips above head, hands/arms/elbows pressed into the ground to set the shoulders correctly and hold the majority of the body’s weight is headstand.  Sitting or standing, with head, neck and spine aligned, practicing mula and uddiyana bandhas is headstand.  Crashing against a wall, puffing like a red-faced Thomas the Tank Engine, grasping the back of your head for dear life is NOT headstand.

To enter this pose, you first must identify where you are with your practice. Secondly you need to follow the teacher’s instructions (whether you are in class or not.  Even at home, with no one looking, FOLLOW YOUR TEACHER’S INSTRUCTIONS.)  Thirdly, work to where you can.  Not to where others are.  Not to where you think you should be.  Not to where you worked yesterday.  Work to where you can now, this session.

Yes, as you learn in the center of the room you will fall.  It will be funny.  I know, I fell quite often when I was learning.  I still fall if I am not paying attention.  I have fallen when trying to demonstrate how to do it in a room full of students. The students laughed, I laughed. It’s ok to fall, it means you are trying.   

Falling down or not being able to go up are not the enemies.  Not trying and acquiescing to defeat before starting are the enemies.

My big people job is in Career Services.  I have the unique opportunity to meet with Seniors in their last semester as part of their History and Cultures of Asia class.  I put them all into headstand.  This gives me great insight as to how to work with the students on their career management plan.  Some go for it.  Others try meekly but not really.  Others resist loudly.  (Honestly, same as in a yoga class.) I let the students know that at the end of the semester their world will be changing, their responsibilities will increase, and they will not have “senior” status.  They need to approach and face these realizations.  Headstand provides a laboratory to experiment.

If you ever interview with me, I will put you in a headstand. Does not matter which side of the table I am on. (Yes, I realize who some of my anonyms readers are.  Or who they should be J)  Say you’re looking to effect change; you think out of the box? Let’s test that.  I will know in an instant how you take direction, confront the unknown, and operate on risk.

Are you ready to turn your world upside down?  Tomorrow (Saturday 15 October) explore headstand and Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras with me at Hudson River Yoga.  1:30-3:30.

See you on the mat!

Once is Coincidence, Twice is Conspiracy

The ancient teachings tell us that our true nature is  sat-chit-ananda: truth, eternal consciousness, and bliss.  There is no separation, no independent existence. This nature alone is permanent, everything else is illusion.  Furthermore, this true nature is already inside us; we have just forgotten it. 

Hard to understand.  Harder to internalize.  Even harder to achieve this Truth.

But if we shut up once in a while, we can see glimpses of this.

I have been thinking a lot about coincidences lately.  When coincidences keep happening,  something else is going on. Those of you who know me are probably singing Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” right about now. If the shoe fits, I’m happy to wear it.

When I was in my early teens, my aunt took me to see a psychic.  The psychic told me a bunch of expected generalities, then said “You need to learn how to stand on your head.”  20 some years later, I was the only student to show up to a yoga class, and the teacher said: “Do you want to learn how to stand on your head?”  I count that day as the day I truly started practicing yoga.

I used to listen to a lot of punk and NY Hardcore music.  The teacher who amplified my asana practice at the exact time I needed it to be amplified was the lead singer of one of these bands I listened to 15+ years ago. 

At a time when I didn’t know anything about kirtan other than recognizing it as background music in yoga classes, a line from Krishna Das’ “Sita Ram”—“Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram” suddenly roared in my head with as much clarity and volume as if I was standing next to a speaker.  I didn’t even know who Krishna Das was or what the words were—I had to hum it to a friend to get the name of the artist and song.  This mantra has stuck with me ever since.

Speaking of Rama, once I knew the line, I sought its meaning.  A little interweb searching, and I had the basic story.  Funny thing, there was a copy of The Ramayana sitting on our bookshelf.  My wife had read it for a class in college and it had been in our various living rooms staring at me for 12+ years.  I had, and still have, a profound, uncontrollable emotional response to this work.

My practice shifted toward Sivananda’s method of Hatha Yoga, and, through research, came across The Complete Illustrated Guide to Yoga which is the main text for the Sivananda Teacher Training program.  I never spoke of this to anyone.  Less than a week later, a student comes to class and offers me several books, saying “Something told me you could use these.”  Among them, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Yoga.  The first yoga book I ever bought was about the Sivananda method.  My practice had come right back to where it began.

And the inspiration for this whole tirade: Last weekend, my Mom and Aunts came to visit.  We were in my son’s room, and my Aunt (the one who took me to that psychic, now 25 years ago) asked about a sticker on my son’s crib.  I explained it was the name Rama.  She almost fell out of the chair.  She said that many, many years ago, when she began taking meditation classes, the teacher (who is now deceased) instructed her how to meditate on the word Rama.  My Aunt never knew what the significance of the word was, but she practiced what she was taught.

Everything keeps coming back to Rama and Sivananda.  So I keep reading the Ramayana and Sivananda.   

Part of the aim of our practice is to train ourselves to be aware of and receptive to these “coincidences.”  Don’t continue to ignore those big flashing arrows that point you in a certain direction! 

Once is coincidence, twice is conspiracy, three times, well that is just someone shouting WAKE UP!

Speaking of headstand and waking up: Training for Students Session 3 is coming to Hudson River Yoga on Saturday October 15^th!  Turn your world upside down with an introduction to Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras and an inversion primer.  No matter where you are in your practice, I will give you the tools to do headstand, shoulderstand, and just maybe handstand away from the wall!

"It's REALLY dark in here!"

My 2 ½ year old son will play this game.  He suddenly closes his eyes, really squeezing them shut, then says “It’s REALLY dark in here!”

According to the shastras, the ancient texts, we are doing the same thing.  Except all the time.  The shastras tell us that, as humans, we are blessed with the ability to stop fumbling around in the dark and awaken to our true nature.  But it ain’t easy. 

Lofty stuff, right?  No, I’m not going to be ultra cool and claim that I know the answers and have attained Self Realization.  But I know that doing nothing means a whole lot more time with eyes closed.

First we have to realize that we are closing our eyes ourselves.  Sounds easy.  But our minds have created such complex and very convincing delusions and circuitous back up systems to keep our eyes shut that it is tremendously difficult to make any progress.  Very easy to sit in one place and think “I’m not the body, I’m not the mind, I am Spirit.”  Try to keep that same thought when you get up and try to stand on a foot that is asleep.  Or when you get a paper cut.  Or at the DMV.  Or are stuck in traffic after finishing that Big Gulp. 

Swami Vivekananda says, in Raja Yoga (get The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol. 1 for free from Google Books [unpaid/unsolicited product endorsement]) that “Until you know what the mind is doing, you cannot control it.”  He says “The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run on…you will find that each day the mind’s vagaries are becoming less and less violent, that each day it is becoming a little calmer…but we must patiently practice every day.”

Sivananda and Vivekananda both compare the mind to a monkey (Vivekananda adds that the monkey is drunk on wine and has been stung by a scorpion):  if you try to forcefully control it, it will revolt, screaming, clawing, biting and kicking; but if you give it some space, it will eventually (eventually) settle down.

This is where we encounter problems. All too often, we try to force the mind to settle “I said OM now why aren’t you shutting up!!!!” And meditation seems easy.  Just sit.  Just breathe.  Not like asana where there is a more immediate warning (although, admit it, you ignore it sometimes.  So do I.).  If foot don’t go behind the head, foot’s not going behind the head. Force it all you want.  Pull one or more muscles.  But it’s not going there. I can easily identify current limitations and find out where I need to work.

 I took a course in formal zazen (zen meditation) at a Zen abbey.  Enjoyed the class, felt I learned a lot.  Showed up to an open zazen session.  Sure, I can sit still for an hour.  Bulls#$%  By the time they rang the bell to end the session I was about to scream.  Nice peaceful Zendo and I want to throw furniture through the window.  Just needed more practice, I thought.  Tried a good 5 times with the same result.  Left seated meditation all together for more than 10 years. 

My error was forcing the practice.  2 minutes everyday is what I needed, not 1 hour once a week.  Just like asana.  Day 1 isn’t full Galavasana from handstand.  It takes time to get there.

I lost 10 years of meditation practice.  In the grand scheme, I probably wasn’t prepared for it 10 years ago.  But maybe I would have been if I started as slowly and methodically as I approached asana practice. 

Do not be afraid to start small.  Take 2 minutes EVERY DAY.  You can find 2 minutes. 

I know you can.

Of course, knowing we are walking around with our eyes shut is one thing, learning to open them is another.  Someday I hope to be able to write about that.  It is getting lighter all the time.

“Come up oh Lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep!” ~Swami Vivekananda  

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but it's cool none the less. Molly and I demonstrating that culinarians can do yoga too!

Cool Tricks! Cool Tricks!

My audition tape for Yo Gabba Gabba starts something like this:

My name is Ron, and this is my cool trick. 

I have spent a lot of time over the years learning cool tricks. Sometimes I even teach others how to do these tricks.

I can do Galavasana from handstand. 

I can do Padma Mayurasana.

I can even do Ashtavakrasana/ Eka Pada Kundinyasana B/Chin Balance/Chaturanga Dandasana in business clothes.

Those are cool tricks, but, frankly, so what?

“With salutations to Adinath (Shiva), Swami Svatmarama presents Hatha Yoga for the purpose of obtaining Raja Yoga.” (Liberal translation of Hatha Yoga Pradipika I.1)

So begins the The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, one of the oldest surviving texts on Hatha Yoga.  Right away, Svatmarama instructs that all of the techniques which follow: asanas (postures), shatkarmans (6 cleansing actions), pranayama (breath restraint), mudras (attitudes), bandhas (locks), and nada (meditation on the internal sound) are nothing more than PREPARATION for Raja (Patanjali) yoga.  By learning to control the body and breath, we prepare ourselves for what happens when the fluctuations of the mind cease.  Notice I did not say “control/stop the fluctuations of the mind.”  That would require a second mind to control our mind, and another to control that one, etc.; moving us further from the goal of unity.

Physical practice is a great thing.  It creates discipline.  It provides health.  It grants us the opportunity to challenge our preconceived notions about what is possible, in a controlled, laboratory environment.  But this is only one step.

“But Ron, how can I move on to higher levels of practice if I have not mastered the lower levels?”  I know this question is coming.  Listen, I get it.  I have asked it myself.  Many, many times.  Here is how I answered myself.

Think about it for a moment. Sri Dharma Mittra has his famous poster of 908 asanas.  Krishnamacharya knew 2000 asanas.  His teacher reportedly knew 7000 asanas.  It is written that there are 84 lakh (8,400,000—yes EIGHT MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND) asanas. Are you really going to master them all?  One can spend all day cutting the perfect ¼” dice of onion, but if dinner never gets made, what use is that beautiful onion?

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika lists 16 asanas, 4 of which (Siddhasana, Padmasana, Simhasana, and Badhrasana) are labeled as the most important.

Patanjali lists zero asanas. ZERO.  In fact, he only devotes 3 tiny verses toward asana. 

Krishna prescribes 1 asana and 1 pranayama:  sitting cross legged with the spine erect, gazing between the eyebrows or at the tip of the nose, and equalizing the incoming and outgoing breath within the nostrils.  (Bhagavad Gita V.27, VI.11-14).

Cool tricks help us to get started, but if we don’t move on to seated meditation, we are just doing gymnastics.  If we totally identify our practice with these cool tricks, what happens when we become injured or age?  The ability to do tricks will go away.  Then we are just as miserable, if not more so, as when we started to practice, because we can’t do what we think we should be able to do. 

The purpose of physical practice is to prepare for meditation.  Do not wait to put preparation into practice! 

I Don't Know My ASANA From My BANDHA

It’s back to school time again (wait, didn’t I use that in a post already?).  Time for Training for Students Session 2: Light on Hatha Yoga, or "I Don't Know My Asana From My Bandha." Saturday September 17^th from 1:30-3:30 at Hudson River Yoga!

This session we will focus on The Hatha Yoga Pradipika.  Written in +/- 1350 by Swami Swatmarama, this is the oldest surviving handbook for the practice of Hatha Yoga.  It is safe to assume that every class you have ever attended (or most likely, will attend) is based on this one small volume. Every class.

So why haven’t you heard of it?  I have my theories, the one I’m working on is that it is hard to say “Pradipika” and “Swatmarama.”  Does not roll off the tongue as easily as “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.”  Some of the techniques, at first read, can be pretty demanding and obscure.  No, we will not be swallowing and regurgitating a meter of gauze, nor will we be slicing the membrane on the bottom of our tongue so that it can reach back and up into our sinuses.  But when we go beyond the foreign language and beyond the out of the ordinary practices, we are left with a very straightforward guide book for practice.

During the workshop we will have the opportunity to practice asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, and meditation as prescribed in the Pradipika.  We’ll put the practice of these techniques in perspective and discuss how they relate to the overall goal of the science of Yoga.  There will be handouts (and electronic hand outs—if you would like a copy of the Pradipika, I will send you a link to download a free pdf version of a pretty good translation).  And there will even be a fancy Prezi presentation. (Just say NO to Powerpoint!).

This workshop is for EVERYONE.  It is a good introduction for students new to Yoga, a way for current students to deepen their practices, and a great opportunity for current teachers to build on their knowledge.

Contact me directly for more details.

See you on the mat!

"Copy the Teacher"

Sri Dharma Mittra instructs “Copy the teacher.”  This is a very practical instruction for students.  If you want to learn something, yoga, cooking, medicine, business, etc., you look toward experts and follow their examples.  You have to have some measure of faith and ego-less-ness: the teacher knows more than you, so do what you are told.  Although asking “why” is good, but at some point we, as students, just need to shut up, pay attention, and repeat.

Sri Dharma’s instruction very much applies to teachers as well.  Teachers must be aware that students are looking to them and copying them.  The teacher serves as the example, the proof, and the reminder that the method works.  This is an underlying theme in both the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita.  In the Ramayana the characters are archetypes of perfection:  Rama is the perfect King, Husband, Son; Sita is the perfect wife; Hanuman is the perfect servant; even Ravana is the perfect villain.  How should a leader act?  Read what Rama does.  How should a devotee act? Look to Hanuman. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains that, as Supreme Lord, he does not need to do anything.  He chooses to act (ie incarnating in the world of Man) because if he did nothing, all of humanity would follow his lead and do nothing.  One of the responsibilities of leaders is to set the example for others to follow.

This is why it is so vital that teachers practice the methods they teach.  Teach asana, practice asana.  Teach meditation, sit on your cushion.  Quote the shastras, read/study/apply the teachings from the shastras.  If teachers are not actualizing the methods they teach, what choice will the students have but to follow their direction?

A little side trip, then we’ll come back around…

The celebration of the birthday of Ganesh, called Ganesh Chaturthi, was observed on September 1^st this year.  The date is based on the lunar calendar, it falls on the 4^th day of the bright fortnight (waxing moon) of the month of Bhadrapada (August/September)(Sivananda, Hindu Fasts and Festivals). 

And back for serious content…

In September of 2001, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois was in New York City to preside over a ceremony consecrating a statue of Ganesh at the Broom St. Temple as part of the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi.  He was in Manhattan on September 11^th.  Following September 11^th, he stayed in NYC and continued to teach.  Doing so set an example for his students.  “Do your practice, and all is coming,” means do your practice in good times and bad.  If he did not continue to teach, he would have demonstrated that yoga is only a fanciful exercise with no lasting value.  How do you get through bad times?  Do your practice.  How do you build and demonstrate strength and faith in the face of disaster?  Do your practice.  How do you help others overcome tragedy?  Do your practice.  How do you demonstrate good (Truth) triumphs over evil (Ignorance)?  Do your practice.  Be an example for others to follow. 

Our example is how our individual practice benefits the world.  Others see our practice, and the strength (not talking physical) and goodness which comes from it.  Have we all conquered ignorance, anger, stupidity, ego?  Not necessarily.  Our continued practice demonstrates that we are trying to move towards Truth.  In good times and bad, through disasters man-made or natural, our practice will provide the hope and inspiration for others who are hopeless and lost.  We are the teacher, we must teach something worth copying. 

MANGALA MANTRA

svasti prajabhyah paripalayantam

nyayena margena mahim mahisah

gobrahmanebhyah subhamstu nityam

lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu

Auspicious Mantra

May all be well with Mankind.

May the leaders of the earth protect in every way by keeping the right path

May there be goodness for all who know the earth to be sacred

May all the worlds be happy

[TR Sri K. Pattabhi Jois]