Keep Calm and Carry OM

I have the wonderful opportunity to teach two yoga classes at work on Monday as a part of our Employee Health and Wellness Fair.  I think having a Wellness Fair is a great program for an employer to run.  There is a trend, at least according to the HR thought leaders that I follow, of employers focusing on wellness for their employees. 

Work is stressful.  Any work, any level.  If it were not stressful, it would be called “vacation.” Employers and employees alike know this. Work is a fact of life. We all need to find a method to deal with that relentless stress so we don’t go climbing clock towers or let other areas of our lives be ruined. 

For me, this method has been through cultivating a yogic practice.  Not just asana, although that helps incredibly because I sit behind a desk all day, but meditation, chanting, breath control, and the discipline of practice itself helps me to get through the day.

I don’t think anyone would accuse me of handling stress well.  But I think back to when I was in sales or working in kitchens for 12+ hrs. a day.  I handled stress by smoking a lot of cigarettes and drinking a lot of booze.  I ate like crap.  I did nothing to prevent or treat back, knee, elbow, and hand pain.  I was a physical and emotional wreck a lot of the time.

Over the last 8+ years, I have systematically worked to bring my body and mind back to some sort of human level baseline.  It is a work in progress.  This practice has not cured me of all my ailments (physical and mental) but it certainly has helped.  I am in better physical shape and have more sense of purpose than I did 8 years ago.  I have grown further in my career in these last 8 years than in the same time prior.  Of course this causes me to take on more stress, so I continue to practice.

My practice has changed over the years.  What I teach may not be completely appropriate for everyone, but my hope is that some part of it plants a seed.  The movement, the stories, sitting still, saying OM—hopefully something in there resonates with my students so that they can find a path that works for them.

This is all based on my direct experience.  Not something I read in a book, not something someone told me.  I have seen growth first-hand and think that I am in a much better place because of this practice.

There is a lot of work left.  But every OM gets me a little bit closer. I may not be all peacelovehappiness yet, but at least I can get out of bed in the morning.

My boss’ boss is a Churchill fan.  He frequently quotes “Keep calm and carry on.”  Saw this on Dharma Yoga’s page not so long ago and it seemed fitting.  Although I would personally alter it to “Keep Calm and Carry रमा .”

Be well.

The Lighter Side of Death Wobble

Picture this:  You are driving down a straight road.  Once you hit 50 MPH the front end starts shaking. By 52 MPH, it is shaking so bad you can barely hold the wheel.  You break and pull over to the side, and once you are back to 45 MPH the shaking mysteriously disappears.

That, friends, is called Death Wobble.  If you have driven a Wrangler for any amount of time you know what I am talking about.  Why does this happen only at specific speeds, at random times? I have yet to find an answer to that.  Suffice it to say that some times, under some circumstances, things vibrate just right, and the harmonic vibration becomes so powerful that it changes the normal pattern of the machine.

And here’s where the topic relates to a wider audience…

Scary as this can be—think about it—wouldn’t it be amazing if the power of harmonic vibration could be harnessed and used for good?  OK conspiracy theorists, I’m not talking about that thing know as HARP (I said “used for good!”), but I am talking about yoga.

By focusing on the body and the breath in Hatha yoga, we are changing the vibrations within the body.  Call it energy, prana, kundalini, the Force ( ™ Lucas films.  Please don’t sue) or what have you.  We consciously alter the vibrations in the physical body, then those vibrations effect the mind and soon (well, in yogic terms ‘soon’ means multiple thousands of lifetimes) the whole system is vibrating differently.   I have read this (cannot remember where) effect likened to having a bunch of grandfather clocks set against the same wall. Eventually all the pendulums will begin swinging at the same time, in harmony. 

Controlled death wobble used for good.

Hatha is not the only way to do this.  The main drawback with Hatha practice, and even meditation practice (keep in mind it is impossible to ‘practice’ meditation. Meditation is a state where there is no distinction between the observer and the observed.  We can practice placing ourselves in situations conducive to this state, but the state occurs on its own) is that we EXPECT something to happen.  Come on, I know you do. So do I. 

Unfortunately this is completely counterproductive.

I have found that by incorporating sound into my practice (I won’t say ‘singing’—more on that in a  post to come) by reciting mantra has a more immediate effect than practicing asana, pranayama, and meditation. 

The effect, of course, is shutting up the noise in my mind by replacing it with a different vibration: The Hanuman Chalisa, Sri Ram, Sitaram, Rama Bolo, The Mahamantra, The Gayatri Mantra, Mantra for Purification, etc.

As part of my regular practice, I set a timer and recite softly, under my breath, the mantra or song. This has largely replaced seated meditation. 

The main reason I know it works is because, more often than not, I am surprised when the timer goes off; meaning that I forgot I was sitting about on the floor muttering under my breath for a set period of time and I was so concentrated that I forgot my surroundings.

And, I discovered, I actually enjoy this recitation.  I feel better when doing it. Seated meditation, for me, can be a bit of a chore. Which would I rather do?  The choice is obvious.

Recitation is much easier to do throughout the day than other forms of practice. I’m not breaking into asana at work (never mind the picture from last post…).  I’m not pulling out my mala to do japa while waiting in line.  But I will hum mantra.  I will sing it out driving to and from work (and scream it when death wobble occurs).

Does not matter what the song is or what it means—I do know enough of the English translation of The Chalisa to narrate it in general terms, but feel no need to get the translation down.  I was given the Mantra for Purification and was told that I am not to know the meaning.  Doesn’t matter.  I like the sound of it.

Controlled harmonic vibration it truly the basis of everything.  The significance of Gen. 1.3 is not “Let there be light,” it is “God said.”

Life Lessons from Handstand: Forget You Can't Do It

Handstand is one of those poses which immediately causes people to thing “I can’t do that!” You are balancing your entire weight on your hands.  In my class, that means you are doing that in the center of the room.  Like all asana, it is comprised of 3 parts: entry, held expression of the pose, and exit.  To ‘do’ the pose means to do all 3 parts.  A war cry, flip and thud against a wall is not a handstand.  Crashing to the ground afterwards is not a handstand. Purposefully and mindfully approaching a preparatory step, even if neither foot leaves the ground, is a perfect handstand.

There are so many things working against you in this pose: Gravity, for one. Fear. Strength.  Gravity.

It took me countless attempts, with countless cartwheel escapes before I became, frankly, so annoyed with not hitting the pose that I no longer cared if I ever hit it. 

And once I gave up thinking about hitting the pose, I began to hit it.

The trick, I found, to learning handstand is very simple: you have to forget you can’t do it.

If we look at someone in a handstand and immediately begin to compare ourselves to that person, yes, never having done the pose you most likely cannot do it.  Just because something  is ‘impossible’ right now does not mean it is ‘impossible’ forever.

Handstand provides an opportunity to work on how we react to our limitations.  We first have to accept that our version of the pose will not match someone else’s expression of it.  So we begin by trying. Donkey kicking those legs up with all the brute force you can muster.  Or you meekly and half-heartedly lift one foot a centimeter off the ground.  But you keep trying. Experiencing frustration, questioning why you are doing this.  But you keep trying.

And something funny happens. With continued practice the fear and frustration begin to fall away.  You adapt and change.  You develop your expression of the pose—which may not ever be a complete balance on your hands. But it is your pose, the correct pose for you.

How many times during the day to we face adversity.  Do more with less.  Answer all these e-mails and phone calls. The job needs to be done yesterday.  Reassignment. Reorganization. Make dinner. Pick up kids. Flat tire in the rain. Splinter.

We can let fear paralyze us. We can get angry at the situation and fight against it. Or we can forget it—whatever ‘it’ may be—is impossible and start doing it. Maybe we will succeed or maybe we will not. Maybe we will have to re-define what success looks like.  When we try (paraphrasing MK Gandhi as I write this on his 143^rd birthday) with full effort, we achieve full victory.

And if you can do the impossible (ie-getting out of your own head enough to try handstand, not necessarily hitting the arm balance) in one area of your life, than you can do it in another.

Handstand is not just gymnastics, it is a laboratory for learning to deal with life.

Be Your Own Best Student

Success in teaching yoga has nothing to do with how many students you have, how many classes you teach, or how many private clients you have. 

If you want to teach, you only need one student: YOU.  You need to motivate that student to get to their mat.  Not go to a class and let someone else take control, but to actually roll out their own mat in their own house and get to it.  You have to motivate that student to push their learning.  Not just doing more fancy poses but reading scripture, doing japa, sitting still for meditation, singing the Name, serving others. You have to motivate that student to show up to practice whether they feel happy or sad, tired or awake, feel like doing it or not.

I have great respect for the guru-student relationship.  All true gurus teach you how to discover the truths that they have already experienced for yourself.  They give you tools--you have to do the work.  So we honor our guru by motivating ourselves to practice in the way we were taught.

A teacher can only take their students as far as they themselves have gone.  A teacher should encourage their students to surpass them.  A teacher’s goal is to make the student self-sufficient enough to not need the teacher anymore, because the true teacher is housed inside all of us. 

It takes a lot of practice to discover that truth.

If I am ever blessed to discover this truth, I mean really internalize that the teacher is within, I will have no need to practice.  Until then I am rolling out my mat, twirling the beads, singing the Name to the best of my ability. 

Be your own best student. Schedule a class for yourself.  Do not miss it.  Do not slack off during it.  Because the teacher will be watching.

Ganesh Chaturthi 2012

Wednesday September 19^th is the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of Ganesh, the Hindu God of Wisdom and Remover of Obstacles.

This is a very joyous occasion. Ganesh is a jovial fellow, loved by children.  Every action begins with prayers to him.  Why?  Because he is the representation of OM (his face and trunk make up the shape), without which nothing can begin.

Do I really believe that there is a dancing elephant out there clearing a path before me?  Well, I certainly believe that if the Absolute wanted to manifest Itself as a dancing elephant than dancing elephant we would see.

We are plagued with obstacles all the time:  That bus in front of us stopping at every house, hen house, dog house and out house when we are already late for work.  Our nemesis at work whose mission in life is to thwart our every move.  Some weakness, shortcoming, or aliment in our body which prevents us from being who we want to be. That broken shoelace.

Ganesh does not remove these obstacles, per se.  He serves as a reminder that every single obstacle we encounter is based within ourselves.  Once we let go of our own self-importance, the obstacles disappear.  This lies 100% within us—nothing external actually opposes us or frees us.  I write this as a reminder to myself, as much as I write to encourage you to remember, dear reader.  The problem is that we are so entrenched in our own stuff that we can’t even see we are both the cause and the solution to our problems.

That is where an external form comes in handy.  The form of Ganesh is a reflection, a reminder that obstacles can be overcome. 

Some stories:

Once upon a time, Parviti, the wife of Shiva, became lonely as Shiva liked to go off and meditate like an ascetic. She created a son to keep her company.  One day she instructed her son to guard the door of her bath house when she went in to bathe.  She told him not to let anyone enter.  The boy was dutifully blocking the door when Shiva came home.  He would not let Shiva enter.  Having been away, Shiva did not know who the boy was, and, being a bit temperamental, he immediately cut off the boy’s head rather than finding out.

Parviti was grief-stricken and explained to Shiva who the boy was. Shiva immediately set out to find a replacement head for the boy.  He found an elephant whose head was facing North (an auspicious sign), and the elephant gladly gave his head to the God.  Shiva placed it on the boy’s body, which brought him back to life.

It is through the grace of the sage Vyasa that humanity has the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita.  According to tradition, Vyasa chanted the 100,000 verses to Ganesh, who broke off a tusk and used it to transcribe the epic, recording it for the benefit of humanity.

My favorite Ganesh tale:

Once upon a time, Shiva and Parviti had some sweets.  Both Ganesh and his brother, Subramanya, wanted the candy (Ganesh loves sweets).  Shiva said that whomever traveled around the world first would win the candy.  Subramanya immediately jumped on his peacock and took off like greased lightning. Ganesh circled his parents once, folded his palms, and asked for his prize.

Shiva said “Dear Ganesh, the instruction was to travel around the world. How can you claim to have won?”

Ganesh replied “Father, a child’s parents represent the entire universe!”

May the form of Ganesh help you to realize that you are the only one who can set yourself free!

[Stories  and information here are my adaptations from several sources, primarily the chapter on “Ganesh Chaturthi” from Swami Sivananda’s Hindu Feasts and Festivals published for free electronic distribution by The Divine Life Society]