Patience as we write/read/participate in the story of our life

One of my teachers, Dr. Douglas Brooks is always telling wonderful Rajanaka tantra stories. As he tells these stories that are full of teaching and full of different characters he always points out that as a yogi, we are all the characters AND the writer and the readier of the story. I remember when I was little and my parents would tell my stories I would always identify with one of the characters (normally the hero). But Douglas says that we are not just the hero but also the villain, the masculine, the feminine, that we are in fact every character. And we are the writer. Douglas also says the yogi needs to make sure not to get ahead of the story. Because we are all the characters and the writer we need to go through the story and allow it to unfold. If I am reading or writing a book and I am on page 16 but I am thinking about what happens in 3 chapters on page 113, or even what will happen at the end of the book I will miss the learning opportunity and I wont be mindful about what is currently being written which will change the way the story is being written and what will happen on page 113. So with the new year just starting, it is like we are starting another chapter. It is our job to stay present with what is happening word by word, page by page, lesson learned by lesson. So by the time we make it to page 365 the end on 2011 we will have been able to direct the story where we want it. Right now we are only on day 6, no need to get ahead of our self.

We often talk about samskaras in yoga, which are these cycles that keep appearing to us in our life over and over again and until we learn from them they will just keep on appearing. I normally use the example of dating: you can date someone who has the problem, and then the next person you date will have a similar problem maybe even amplified and this will keep happening over and over and over again until you learn your lesson. I think a lot of samskaras keep repeating themselves because we are not present as we write that part of our story, or maybe we are refusing to learn from one of the characters because we are too busy worrying or planning what will be happening three chapters from now.

I think this has a big connection to yoga asana, the poses we do on our mat because we don’t just come to our mat and can do all the advanced poses. No it is this steady disciple over time, page by page, practice by practice that one day allows us to express a more refined variation of a pose.

One of the words I have been thinking a lot about this year as I get busier is patience. Patience means “endurance through any situation”. It requires a great deal of patience to stay with the story page by page even when it seems boring or is full of hurt and suffering, it is endurance through anything. We can cultivate patience in our practice by having the endurance through any pose even if that means backing out of the pose and having the endurance to maintain a modified variation even when you really want to do a more advanced variation but know that it wouldn’t benefit you.

Patience: endurance through any situation

Endurance: the power to withstand hardship or stress

ability, capacity, continuing, courage, enduring, forbearance, fortitude, grit, guts, heart, holding up, patience, perseverance, persistence, stamina, strength, tolerance, vitality, will, withstanding

We don’t want to be: vulnerable, gutless, spineless, wishy-washy, flimsy, powerless, forceless, and unforceful

thanksgiving eve class

I taught a class at the yoga center on thanksgiving eve.

I like thanksgiving because it is a day where we are consciously grateful for the many blessing we having and the many teachers, friends, family and strangers who share compassion with us and support us. I think we should be grateful everyday for all that we have but thanksgiving is a nice day to come together and consciously acknowledge the beautiful souls and many blessings in our life.

The Anusara philosophy teaches us purna. Purna is one of the six attributes of the Absolute and means fullness or perfect completeness. Meaning that the universe is perfectly full it has everything it needs and each one of us is perfectly full. We have everything we need to be happy and content. We are full of beauty, blessing and supportive loving teacher, friends, and family.

When we acknowledge how full we are of blessing and have gratitude for all that we have we can express more generosity and love to each other and our self.

I handed out paper and pens to the students at the beginning of class and gave them all a moment to write a few things that they are grateful for and had them put it under their mats. I encouraged them to bring this purna, this fullness into their asanas by bringing to mind what they are thankful for maybe even imagine people’s faces or whatever it is that makes them feel full inside. This is what I love about asana. It isn’t just a pose we are holding with good alignment but it is the bhava, the heart quality or feeling that we cultivate.

The class had a wonderful energy to it. Some people even had a few tears.
I also started and ended the practice with a reiki inspired meditation that I saw Elena Brower do on yogaglo where you rub your hands together creating heat and then place the hands gently over closed eyes allowing the heat of the hands to help the eye balls and eye lids soften. I even used the quote she used from Dr. Douglas Brooks “We don’t live with the way the world is, we live with the way we see the world”. I encouraged students to choose a soft loving gaze this holiday season full of compassion and generosity instead of dry stressed out not blinking stare full of to do list and potential family drama.

I am thankful for my loving husband who makes me smile everyday! I am thankful for my many teachers whom I am inspired by and learn so much from. I am thankful for my students who laugh with me and help me grow as a teacher. I am thankful for my friends and family who give me so much love and support. I am thankful for the beauty of the world and the kindness of stranger. I am thankful for myself, for wanting to see how I can grow so I can show up the fullest (purna) in all my relationships.

Panchamukha Anjani 5 faces of Hanuman + mantra

Vishnu takes form as Panchamukha Anjani (Anjaneya means “son of Anjana”), the 5 faced hanuman.

Let’s look at each face, together these faces make up the story of Panchmukha Anjani.

1. VARAHA: The boar, the wild pig. Varaha represents our primal organic veracity. He is the plower, digging away looking deeply into the lower parts of our being. He is looking for the delight that is buried in our gut (muladhara chakra). Varaha is the consciousness digging out itself. He is the organic earth element belonging to the muladhara chakra and deals with the role in evacuative, procreative, and digestive energy.
a. Bija: HRIM (the earth bija) means the entire manifest world, all the essential Goddess energy that moves.

2. GARUDA: The soaring vulture, the Himalayan griffin. He resides below the solar plexus and above the diaphragm. He belongs to the water of the belly (svadhistasna chakra). He lives on the naga (snakes) of the ponds, he soars above the lake effortlessly and he comes down pulling the naga out of the lake. (That is what Himalayan griffins do; they steal snakes out of the water). Garuda is the soaring consciousness that reaches into the water of the belly and pulls the naga (snake)/kundalini up. Just like the downward symbol in the Anusara logo, Garuda inverts, heading down into being and becomes the water of the belly. Garuda is the eternal energy of life that must be transmuted in the water of the belly. Whatever enters your belly (food, air…) eventually comes back up into our consciousness (just like the griffin soaring down to pull and bring it back up).
a. Bjia: HAIM (Mixes AIM (water) with HA (earth))

3. NARASIMHA: The man-lion. Residing in the fiery solar plexus (the manipura chakra). He is the fire in the center above the belly and below the heart. There is a myth about a demon that was granted the ability (by tapas) not to be killed by human or animal, in the day or in the night, in land or in the sky. Vishnu then takes the form as Narasimha a man and a lion (neither human nor animal), he destroys the demon at twilight (not day or night) and emerges out of a pillar (not from land or sky). Narasimha represents ambiguity. The power to transmute and address the necessary, and this strength comes from our core (the manipura).
a. Bija: KLIM

4. HANUMAN: The loyal monkey. Located in the heart (the anahata chakra) all the way to the pallet of the mouth (vishudu chakra). He is the upward moving, ascending energy the heart that powerfully brings the energy of the heart and expresses it through the mouth.
a. Bija: SAUHA (the heart Bija is the most complex bija. It opens the heart and lets in the recognition that the divine has always dwelt in your heart. The heart emerges out of the pallet in the form of mantra.)

5. HAYAGRIVA: The horse. The horse represents the power of consciousness to wonder. It is very similar to the ancient Vedic sacrifice called “The Horse Sacrifice”. In this sacrifice the king releases a horse and wherever the horse wonders over a course of one year becomes the domain of the king… Wherever consciousness wonders is our domain. “Not all who wonder are lost” wondering becomes your sovereign territory. Hayagriva represents the wholeness of being. Hayagriva resides in the head (angii chakra) and is the descending energy of the mind. The wondering of consciousness traverses down and comes out as words.
a. Bija: OM

Panchamuka’s full mantra: OM HAIM HRIM PANCHAMUKA ANJANI KLIM NAMAH

I think it is interesting that the bijas aren’t in order from ascending to descending. This is because in Anjani traditions don’t believe that kundalini is a dormant energy waiting to be awaken to move in a singular direction drawing up from the bottom to the top. Instead they believe that kundalini is already awake and is moving in an ever woven circuitry. These traditions believe that we are NOT in a process of waking up kundalini instead we ARE in a process of participating in kundalini’s dance. Like hanumans tail the kundalini twists and turns however it needs to offer its self in the most optimal experience of the Self.
Resources:
Douglas Brooks (especially hanuman lecture)
http://www.hindujagruti.org/