Santosha: Contentment

We are on to the second Niyama this week, Samtosha (Contentment).

Life is a pulsation (spanda) of ups and downs. It is so easy for me to practice my yoga and this Niyama in particular when I am on an up swing. When life is good. However it is much harder when I meet resistance. That is when it is easier for me to let go of contentment and grasp on to anger, fear, sadness, and resentment. Some people think because I practice yoga and try to see the good I think all of life is good. I don't. There are horrible horrible things that happen in the world. I don't believe we have to think these  tragedies are good. However I do think we can find contentment and an acceptance that can keep our soul lighter during heavy times.

Yesterday I was struggling. Weeks of no sleep had caught up to me and I was at my edge. Full of resentment to my husband for getting to sleep while I am up all night nursing, rocking and singing to our baby. My head was full of frustration as I was planning my class with the theme santosha, I laughed. Here I was planning a class on contentment even during troubling times while I was experiencing a troubling time and not choosing contentment. I took a few breaths. I accepted the reality of the situation. Yes I am sleep deprived. Yes it sucks. But no I won't feed that by getting more mad and cultivating anger to the world. I will be okay with what is happening even though I don't like it. Funny thing is 30 minutes later my husband unexpectedly took Sage from me and took a 90 minute nap. How sweet!  

We can practice this Niyama in our asana practice by accepting where we are in our practice. Yes I would like to be able to do mandalasana again running out my stationary head  on the floor but after my c-section I haven't been able to practice this backbend. Although I don't like that I can no longer do that playful asana I can be content with it. Another way to practice contentment with asana is practicing poses you don't like. I used to get so frustrated when a teacher taught a pose I didn't like. As if they could read my mind, know I didn't want to do a certain pose so purposefully taught it. How rude! Now I love it. Because I can practice being okay, being steady, even smiling during a challenging experience. That is where growth happens.

I challenge you. Practice contentment. Santosha. On your mat off your mat. When life is good but more importantly when it's not.


Saturday Anusara
Props: blanket, 2 blocks, strap
P.o.e is, os. Oe

AMS:
Lunge
Lunge - short lunge- lunge
Lunge T arms twist- rev hand behind head- high runners lunge twist - l.l quad twist
L.l quad both hands- twist
Eprk active - Eprk quad  swivel hand
Danurasana
Eka padangustha dhanurasana strap
Crunches- crunches twist opst knee lifts
Ustrasana
Pec stretches at wall
Pinch wall
Eprk myriad
Triag mukhaikapada paschimottanasana
Root femur bones
Mantra missile strap
Symmetrical pose





Saturday fundamental
Poe: thigh loop

1/2 sun 3x
Lunge
Anjaneyasana
Tree
Pigeon
Camel
Bridge
Danurasana
Supta pigeon
Mod. Mod. Parsvak
Mod. Parsvak
Trikonasana
Seated twist
Root femur bones
Twist

Saucha: cleanliness

After focusing on the yamas, the first limb of Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga system which focus on our ethical conduct with others, now we are moving on to the second limb the Niyama (observance) which focus on our conduct with ourself.

 These practices involve the internal environment of body, mind and heart helping us maintain a positive environment to grow, and gives us the self-discipline necessary to progress along the path of yoga.

The first Niyama: Saucha often translated as cleanliness or purification. Many of the yogic techniques are aimed at removing impurities from the body, mind and heart, as well as strengthening their capacity to maintain a pure state of being. There are two main contributing factors to these impurities. Those that are external including friends, work, environment, drinks, food... And those that are internal including thoughts, organs, muscles, and systems of the body.

In anusara yoga we talk about optimal blue print. This is based off of the anatomical position and is the best posture for your body. The closer your body is held in optimal blue print the more healing that occurs and the further the body is from optimal blue print position the more dis-ease happens in the body, mind, and heart.

We can think of this in terms of purity or cleanliness by comparing our alignment to a lake. Let's say we have a body, and we will pretend its a lake, that has never been taken out of optimal alignment (which is never the case) then the lake would be crystal clear with no pollutants or dirt or anything clouding the waters. This creates a clarity connecting the body, mind and heart. Now let's say every time the body moves away from optimal alignment it causes impurities to enter the lake. The dirty the lake gets the harder it is to connect mind, body and heart. And let's face it a dirty lake in not such a joyful experience to visit. Now let's start moving back toward  optimal alignment that would be like adding a filtration pump to the lake to take out some of the filth that has been acquired from moving away from optimal alignment. This is just like the body. When it is heldmore toward optimal blue print injuries are healed, we experience more ease in the body, freedom in the mind and clarity in the heart. When we move out of this alignment depending on how long and far we are away from it depends of how dirty our body gets with injuries, how frustrated our mind gets and how clouded our heart feels.

Optimal alignment isn't ever attained it's not one specific position that is the same for each person. Instead it is a ruff posture that we are ether moving toward or moving away from. In asana we can begin to see what is out of alignment and we can use our breath and muscles to being out body more toward this clean alignment of not causing any injuries and healing old ones.

In every yoga pose we can practice alignment principles to bring us I wars optimal blue print. I remember my first teacher training 9 years ago we learned pose counter pose. The idea being that's how you kept yourself in balance. Practice a big backbend and follow it with a forward fold. However in anusara yoga when we are in a backbend we are still practicing the actions of a forward fold pulling the tailbone in and in a forward fold we are still practicing the actions of a backbend extending the spine backwards. In this way no matter what pose we are doing we can move toward alignment, toward clarity, toward purity.

Anusara
Principles of emphasis: outer spiral, organic energy. Optimal blue print
Theme: saucha: purification, cleanliness
Antidote: a lake

Tadasana
Uttanasana:
Lunge - parsvotonasana 2 blocks
Lunge- short lunge- fire glute- L
Eprk prep create curve with is/tl then fire glute with os
Active Eprk
Kneeling mod. Parsvak
Kneeling ardha chandrasana
Mod. Parsvak- ardha chandrasana
Parsvakonasana- vira 2 - ardha chandrasana
Low lunge quad- trikonasana- ardha chandra chapasana
Scandasana- ardha chandrasana - parvrita ardha Chandra chapasana- Standing pigeon
AMV up wall one leg lower, both legs
Wall-hanumanasana
Standing quad stretch
Eprk quad swivel hand
Eprk myrmaid
Partner Eprk strap
Blanket roll uttanasana 2 blocks
Supta fish crunches
Supta femur bone rooting
Supta twist





FUNdamental
Back leg straight. Front knee over ankle. Spine lifted.
Abaya mudra

1/2 sun 3x
Tad:
Lunge
Lunge
AMS:
Mod chat. 3x
Anjaneyasana
Tree wall
Standing pigeon wall
Wide leg forward fold
Vira 2
Vinyasa
Mod. Parsvak
Vinyasa
Vira 2
Vinyasa
Low lunge quad- trikonasana block &blanket
Lunge
Tadasana 1/2 moon stretch
Pigeon
Bridge 3x
Supta baddha konasana
Twist