My birthday

It was my birthday on Thursday the 22nd. I turned 24 years old. This was one of my most connected birthday, I started the day with a long meditation. I got together and practiced yoga asana with some close friends. It was lovely. We did 24 urdhva drop backs, did pigeon droppings (camel drop backs), and urdhvas to ustanasana back and forth... my quads are still soar. I wanted to work into sirsasana tick tocks and manadalasana but it wasn't the right time. I finished making presents (organic bath scrub infused with essential oils). I got to spend time with my younger sister who is visiting from Colorado. Later a new friend of mine threw me a small birthday bash, with yummy food, and great people. One of my favorite highlights from the party was being serenaded by Julian Moons outstanding voice and guitar skills (check her out).

My mom and I were discussing my age yesterday and how I used to be quite shy and embarrassed about my years or lake there of. I have been teaching yoga since I was 18, I felt like my students would treat me differently when they found out this "secret". I remember if students found out it was my birthday and asked me how old I was I would say "I prefer not to say". This is the first year that I shared more about my birthday and didn't feel fear of being viewed differently because I am young. Isn't it funny how things like age (or weight, wealth, ethnicity, music preference, style...) can make us feel separate from others and unworthy. It can feel so real, but if I take a step back I can smile and realize my ______ doesn't make me less worthy.

My friend JD talked last week about yoga being an invitation to know our self more fully. I have boticed in my own practice that in getting to know myself more fully and I am more accepting of myself and more open to sharing about my life both the ups and the downs. He also read a portion of Marianne Williamsons poem saying "it is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us". I love this quote it sends a shiver down my body and tears to my eyes. Here is more from Williamsons book A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Inversions

I have been practicing inversions a lot lately and been teaching them regularly in my classes. This way of inverting your body I find helps me reposition my inner self, find clarity, and let stress and judgement fall away. Literally switching my mood to a more accepting one. Its amazing what an inversion will do. John Friend writes in The Anusara Teacher Training Manual "The agitations of the rational mind are dissolved and clarity of perception is enhanced". BJ Galvan has encouraged me to do handstands in the bathroom before a meeting or anything you might need a little boost for. FYI BJ is founder of Handstand Anonymous.

We also help out  our lypmpth system out when we invert ourselves. An inversion is any pose where your heart is above your head, and in some inversion your feet andy our heart are above your head. This is so beneficial to the lymphatic system because it is a closed system which means there is no pump, unlike the respiratory system which is pumped by your lungs or the cardiovascular system which pumped by your heart. The lymphatic system has one way valves that move lympth toward the heart. However for a moment think about how hard that would be. We spend all day right side up, so the lympth has to pump up stream of gravity. So when we invert we help the lympth travel more easily. The lymphatic system has lots of white blood cells that are responsible for fighting bacteria and other disease causing micro organisms. A regular inversion practice helps keep your immunity system strong.

Another benefit of inversions is back relief from being upright which causes gravity to upp on your spin. This compression causes loads of back pain. Inverting is a way of counteracting the pull of gravity. I was at my friends house and he has an inversion table and we had a great converstation about inversions as my feet were strapped into the board and I dangled upside down. Creating space in the spine benefits spinal disc problmes, strengthens ligaments, and relieves myscle spasms.

So my challenge to you and myself is to do 5 mins of inversions a day for 2 weeks.

First Principle

This morning Tyler and I were talking about doing chataranga out of alignment and how much it can hurt your body over time. I mentioned that just doing chataranga with good shoulder alignment can actually heal shoulder injuries because you are training the body and inner body how tho hold itself on and off the matt.

Tyler then mentioned that one of his favorite qualities he has gained through yoga is the ability to lengthen his spine and maintain that length through out the day. Tyler practices yoga once and a while and he rarely comments on the benefits he experiences so this made me smile. I said "oh, oh that's on aspect of first principle". He kind of shrugged. One aspect I love from the practice is how now through out the day I expand my torso brightly, this is also an aspect of first principle. I asked if he noticed an expansion with the length, "yes, its like a balloon coming up in my chest" oh my, this made me even more giddy. He looked slightly confused. "How does all this length and balloon in your chest make your feet feel?" Tyler said his feet feel so feet feel good and his knees are not hurting as much.

I stopped the conversation at this because it was early in the morning and as much as I would love to continue to talk about first principle spontaneously showing up in our life it was early in the morning and I don't think Tyler shared my excitement. I wish we could have taken the conversation a little deeper. Yes, Tyler confirmed that he experiences  physical aspects of first principle: good foundation, side bodies long, inner body bright.  But I wander if he also notices an outer body softer. And what really gets my wheels turning is wandering if he has been noticing that he is putting the highest first? and to talk to him about the other non-physical aspects of first principle that we learn through practicing yoga asana.

Off to work, this was just so good that I had to blog before I left.

in the flow of Shakti

I am so grateful for my continued ability to follow my passion, my interest in yoga and my spiritual union with god. Since I began my love affair with yoga six years ago I have faced personal, internal, external, and spiritual challenges as well as put a lot of time, money and dedication into this ancient practice. Standing where I am today, I think back to the person I was when I did my first downward facing dog pose I am shocked at how different my life is on so many aspects Now the relationship I have with myself is of compassion, acceptance and understanding. The relationships I have with others are more meaningful and genuine. The relationship I have with the world around me and the way I step into the current of life/grace is one hundred percent different. Because of my yoga and studentship I am continuing learn how to align and flow with the sweet flow of Shakti through life’s ups and downs.

Courageous

I just stumbled upon this flyer of a workshop I taught last year at Lifted Life Yoga Center in Alpine, Utah. I love finding something that reminds me of a past moment. Looking at this flyer, remembering the theme of the class reminds me where I was last year. I was so trying to life from the center of my heart, to cultivate qualities of strength, openness, joy and love while letting go of all the “stuff” that prevents me from being heart centered. It took me 5 years to get to that place last year where I could say intellectually understand the qualities I needed to cultivate and the qualities that got in my way. But now through hard work, pain and a lot of growth I now feel more deeply rooted in myself and in the flow of Shakti staying open, courageous and aware.

This flyer also reminded me of the studio owners of Lifted Life where I taught this courageous flow work. Linda is taking the immersion with me. How awesome! One of my favorite things about yoga trainings is that I always make the most wonderful bonds with my fellow students. I am very excited to get to know Linda more and the other wonderful yogi’s and yogini’s in the Anusara immersion.

Courageous Workshop
led by Kimberly Achelis Hoggan

Date: Saturday, March 6 2010
Price: 15$ in advance 20$ drop in
Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
Location: Lifted Life Yoga Center
60 W main street court Alpine, UT 84004
Register: in person, or call 801-492-3689
Level: all level welcome with modifications for the beginner or advanced practitioner

Courage comes from the French word that translates to: live in your heart. In this workshop we will cultivate qualities to help us better live from the center of our heart (strength, openness, joy, love..) as we let go of the qualities that prevent us from being heart centered (fear, anger, tension, stress..) We will explore opening our hips, shoulder, and heart as we flow dynamically while focusing on alignment, as if we were a child playing on a playground. This workshop will be lighthearted, and filled with smiles.

Yoga= invitation to unite Body Mind Heart

I have been looking at parts of myself that do not seem delightful and I have noticed that the areas I run into pain are conncted to my emotions/feelings coming from my heart as well as my habbits/behaviors that are and associated with my mind. There seems to be areas that do not line up and when my heart and mind are not moving toward harmony life does not feel as good as it could. That is the wonderful invitation of yoga which root word ‘yok’ means to join or unite. Through asana (yoga postures) we use the physical body as a way to access the mind and heart so we may better align and thus experience the pulse of Shakti more sweetly.  

Thank You

I have been reflecting on my experience in yoga. I have been practicing for 7ish years, I have been teaching for 6ish year (I started my teacher training so quickly after finding the practice and I always used to be embarrassed about that but I am learning to embrace my shame).

6 months ago I decided to take a break from all my teaching jobs because I felt like I wasn't in an appropriate space to serve my students. I had a "breakdown" and admitted the truth to my self and my loved ones that i had an eating disorder and started working with a treatment team. Since all that I have been really resistant to my blog. I wasn't ready to tell the truth about the situation thinking maybe I would tell "the world" in a few years down recover.

This disorder which I was so angry about and disappointed in myself actually has become a blessing. Fir the past 6 years I have been really studying yoga and trying to understand the teaching, but through this recovery process I have learned so much about myself, life, and God. Before I could just barely comprehend some of the teachings of yoga and through this weird invitation I am learning to feel the teaching of yoga through my body and heart.

In a few posts ago I was so scared to do my "quick summary" of some of these big events in my life and I haven't received much feedback, but all of the feedback has been supportive and I am so thankful to all of you.

I am learning we all have shame and things we arnt proud of but the more we are secretive about our shame the more it can grow and stop some of the wonderful invitations life has to offer.  I am thankful for me (few :)) readers and my loving and supirotive family and treatment team

Halloween masks

Wednesday night’s class at the yoga center 540-7…quick summary

Since Halloween is coming up I thought it would be fun to tie in Halloween to the theme. I talked about masks. How Halloween provides as a time to put on masks and costumes. We can pretend to be someone else. However after Halloween we take the masks and the costumes off. I talked about the invisible masks or armor that we wear in order to protect ourselves. These masks aren’t necessarily bad because they give us an identity, the protect us… But the probable is we tend to misidentify with mask. We think we are the mask. We don’t realize it is just something that we can use and that we can take off. I said imagine if you were Frankenstein for Halloween and then you never took off the mask and the costume and you began to think you were Frankenstein and after wearing the costume for one year, two years… you were positive you were Frankenstein, you thought you skin was green. Taking off these masks can be scary and puts us in a vulnerable position but I think one of the best places to show up for yourself and be volunteerable is on your yoga mat. I encouraged the students as they moved through the practice to notice if they were “wearing” certain masks in their poses and if they could soften removed the mask and move inside. Become sensitive to the bhavana. Bhavana is a Sanskrit word that means the feeling tone of the pose. Thoughts to help connect you to the bhavana of the pose…What is the pose communicating? If the pose had a color what would it be? What emotion word it be? It was a great class. We continued to work on rooting the femur bones back and I introduced some new poses that most students hadn’t seen.

Two critiques:

1. I said shit in class. I was explain how life can be hard or something and said shit. Oops. I am trying to eliminate swear words from my vocabulary in general because I don’t think they are nice, I think they negatively affect my energy just saying and hearing them, and it is disrespectful to some people (especially in Utah).
2. I could have done better at tying my theme in through the whole class. I continued to mention it but I could have done it more and more smoothly.

LIVE AND LEARN

yoga= skill + action. Dont just react choose how to respond!

One thing that was reaffirmed for me over the weekend with john friend was the power of yoga. That what we do on that mat can help us make huge shifts in our life. Our practice can help shift our perspective and gives us tools to not just react and fall into our habits/addictions but instead to choose how we will respond. Yoga helps us make these shifts by fostering awareness, intention, and skill.
We all have tendencies. We all are inclined to react to situations in certain ways. Just think how you react when a car cuts you off…Our reactions are our tendencies which become habits that can become addictions. For example, when you get sad your reaction is to have a cigarette. This reaction soon becomes a habit and the more you do this habit the more likely it is it will turn into an addition. If we cultivate awareness we can notice our tendencies. We can begin to observe that when we get sad our tendency is to have a cigarette. But instead of reacting and going with our tendency we can skillfully choose how we want to respond which can reinforce our intention. Maybe skillful intervention includes taking deep breathes, reciting mantra, going on a walk, journaling...
What is important is that we don’t just throw away the habit; instead we shift the energy so we can turn it into something productive that helps up lift us. That helps make us a better person. Our tendencies are based off a reaction that was triggered by an emotion, which was a reaction to some stimuli. Our tendencies are triggered from these reactions, smoking a cigarette was just one example other include alcohol, over eating, under eating, taking out your emotion out on someone else, self pity/hatred, gambling… The main negative emotions that trigger these tendencies include sadness (I am not good enough), anger (you are different then me) and fear (I want to control everything, and I am afraid of loss). The more we cultivate our awareness the more we will be able to notice when something triggers one of these emotions and then we can start to notice what tendesnisies we have based off these emotions. If we can witness these emotions and learn how to be with them we can shift them with our skill and our intention. Yoga gives us the skills to choose how we respond instead of reacting out of instinct, habit, or addition. When we choose how we respond we can shape our life and use our actions to make us a better person, more generous, more patient, more companionate, more stable, more uplifting, more calm, more grounded….

We can start building our ability to notice our inical reactions and tendencies in our yoga asana practice. What happens when you come into a pose that you are awesome at? What happens in a pose you can’t do the full expression of? What happens in warrior two? What happens in pigeon? What happens when you hold a forward fold for a longer time? If we start to notice the feelings that arise in a pose for example anger, fear, sadness. Then we can begin to follow that emotion and see what tendency it trigger, drifting off with thought so you don’t have to be with it, or facing fire with fire and trying to dominate the pose, telling yourself you suck. When we notice this we can instead of reacting out of our tendency we can choose a different way (love, patience acceptance and compassion). One that helps us shift our life for the better. Our yoga practice allows space for “rocking shits in our self and everyone around us” (JF)
Look at your tendencies:
• Where do you tend to physically place yourself in a yoga room?
• Where does your mind tend to go in each pose?
• How do you tend to react when someone cuts you off in traffic?
• How do you tend to feel when someone says something nice about you?
• What is you reaction when someone you love yells at you?

my notes and thoughts from saturday morning int/adv. with John Friend

Here are some of my notes and thoughts from the inter/adv. workshop with John Friend at The Shop in Park City (I am very greatful to Leslie S. who recommened me transcribing my notes so I dont end up with another notebook of messy handwritting)
John Started the class by asking for questions...
Someone asked the question:
“How would you teach abdominals without interrupting the apana vayu (downward moving energy)?"

John responded by saying that most people (especially in the west) consider the core to be the rectus abdominis “six pack”. But really the core is the vertical channel that runs through the core of our body. It is from this subtle vertical channel that our physical body is building upon. This subtle body can be thought of as an etheric double. The core of our body, this energetic channel isn’t just vertical and straight has spanda (pulsation of prana).

We talked about how we don’t have anything in our body that is perfectly straight. Everything has a curve like our spine. Our spine can hold tons of weight if you use good alignment which holds the natural curvature of the spine for example in sirsasana. But if you were to straighten out the spine and then make it weight bearing that would be very unsuccessful. So cool. When John was talking about this I was thinking about how straight is similar to perfect. If you have a curve and you want to make it straight, you want it to move in a way toward perfection. However, john was pointing out that perfection isn’t straight. I feel like in my life I strive for perfection but this reminded me that perfect is never straight we become not perfect but more fully our self when we align with our uniqueness, our curves and the curvature of our spine.

Back to the original question. Most people (especially in the west) think of the core as the rectus abdominis, so they really work that area which makes the front of the belly tight. This tightness will pull the tailbone under. But people also tuck there tailbone under so their booty doesn’t look as bad. When you tuck the tail bone under like this you make your back flat which hurts the ligaments between the discs which can make you more prone to disc problems. Fun Fact: L5 SI is the most commonly injured dist for this reason. This tucked action and flattening of the back causes prevents the energy to go down and ground toward the earth (apana vayu). This disturbs the downward flow of energy and causes energetic and physical constipation, agitates the nervous system, feeling unsure, unconnected, anxious, nervous, ungrounded…

(I was so immpressed that this question guided the whole asana practice. We worked strongly on open to grace and inner spiral and outer spiral so we could feel the grounding quality and the flow of apana vayu while created dimond strength of the core)

“when we line up with life the beauty happiness”

We then talked about where the soul is located body?
How some philosophers say it is in the head, but when you take that view the head becomes superior and everything bellow the head becomes inferior (reminds me of how a lot of people think and act)
John said the soul is located in our pelvic area and that in fact the word sacrum comes from the word sacred. John didn’t say this but I think it is very interesting that the sacrum (5 fused vertebra) resemble a downward facing triangle, a symbol that shows from the divine to the embodied.

We are:

Divinely manifested

Embodiment of the supreme

Breath Awareness:
Focus of the floor of the pelvis. As you inhale notice what happens do you feel an expansion or do you feel a contraction? As you exhale notice what happens, do you feel an expansion or do you feel a contraction?

If the energy is moving “correctly” the inhalation should case the pelvis to expand and the exhalation should cause the pelvis to contract.

Highlights from my diary

(recently moved into a new apartment with no internet yet, so blog posts might be less frequent till I get connected)

I just got back from The Uncle Uncanny’s Music Festival. It was a wonderful experience full of shri (beauty) and Lila (play). I danced to music, made new friends, played/ got stung by a bee, taught yoga, hula hooped, reiki, swam in a river, smelled the earth, smelled flowers, watched the sky….
Once I returned home to my new apartment I arranged my books on my bookshelf and came across my journal from a few months back, that I had temporarily packed. I looked through some of my entries and thought I would briefly share (these are just highlights from some of the topics I have been studying, if one interests you leave a comment and I would love to elaborate more fully.)

1. Yoga Sutras 2:3 discusses the 5 Kleshas (pains/blockages to spirit)
a. Avidya: ignorance (a =not, vidya=truth) associated with tamas
Asmita: “I-ness” “ego” a false sense of self. The person you think you are is not the person others think you to be. Makes it hard to learn from karma.
Raga: attachment. It’s not nessisarily your physical possession of something it is that things possession of you. Attachment of the mind (I find this kleshas fascinating, it is very interesting to observe)
Dvesa: repulsion, fear of the new/unusual/different (closed minded, judgmental)
Abhinivesah: fear of loss, clinging to one’s life

Thinking of maya reminds me of the freedom we have in our life. I heard Douglas Brooks say (roughly) its great we have freedom! The problem is everyone else has freedom too. This freedom allows us to fully enjoy life and choose our perspectives. We can choose to be negative; we can choose to pick at everything, point out and notice the bad. We can choose to see the darkest side of every situation. I think most people choose these perspectives because it is easy, it is easy to notice the bad. We also are free to choose another perspective. We can choose to be positive, we can choose to see the goodness in life we can even choose to see that everything in its essence is imbedded with goodness, everything is intrinsically good. We can choose to look at the brightest side of every situation.
Question: How can we use the kleshas to see the beauty and goodness in life?

2. The 3 A’s of Anusara yoga and Karma, Jnana, Bhakti...

a. I have been re reading the Bhagavad Gita and reading other translations (which is always fascinating to look at someone else’s perspectives). I think Krishna’s main teachings in The Gita are the Three Ways to “God”. Krishna tells Arjuna that you can connect with the heart and with God through Karma (action), Jnana (knowledge), and Bhakti (devotion). What I love to much about Anusara yoga is that it offers an invitation not to pick one of these ways to know and connect more fully with your heart, but Anusara yoga is an invitation to practice all three of these ways at once, we call these the 3 A’s of Anusara yoga. The three A’s and how they relate to the three forms of yoga:
• Attitude (the Will to be, know and to do)= Bhakti
Alignment (knowing the Will) = Jnana
Action (manifesting the Will) = Karma

3. The Highest purpse of Anusara Yoga
a. CHIT: Self-Knowledge to know oneself
b. SHIVA: Awakening, recognition, remembrance, self-realization, enlightenment
c. ANANDA: Creative expression, to enjoy the freedom of being
d. SHAKTI: Make beauty, serve the increased joy of the whole, exulting in the Goodness, celebration, flowing with the heart

4. Pranayama is formed by two Sanskrit words. Prana= Life force energy, Yama= The control of. Pranayama is really cool because when we use and control our breath we can conrol our life force energy.

a. These are five main movements of Prana:
• Prana: rising in-drawing energy, from foundation and extending up
• Apana: downward rooting energy, rooting into foundation
• Samana: contracts to the core, hugging into the midline
• Udana: Rises and moved outward, extending out from midlife, organic energy

b. These five movements of Prana underlie every movement we see around us. Everything is an extension of Prana…The way we move, a tree grows, a car moves, the planets swirl, our heart beats… Prana this vital life force energy is marvelous because it is the fabric of everything. It is like the oneness we can merge and experience our self with. Through the experience and control of our breath we can begin to experience our pranic body. This experience opens us up to something bigger. First principle.

c. “All that exists in the three heavens rests in the control of Prana. As a mother her children, oh Prana, protect us and give us splendor and wisdom” Prashna Upanishad 2.13

how are you feeling? How can we move toward the sattvic spot

I took Matt Newman’s Anusara-Inspired class last night which was the first class he taught (I believe) since he got back from Wanderlust. He was on fire and the class was full of great presence, pulsation, clarity, passion and some laughter. One thing I especially loved was how he started the class. He had us come to our mats close our eyes and noticed how we feel. He even said (in my ruff translation) that this isn’t the same as when someone asks you how you are doing, and you respond automatically saying good or okay. He asked us to really notice how we are feeling with compassionate non-judgmental awareness. This was a great way to start class, giving us an opportunity to not only tap into the heart but to listen to the authenticity that is there. Thanks Matt, I will be borrowing this approach. Our awareness is so awesome because it is like a huge bowl and can hold whatever we put in it be it anger, jealousy, greed, self pity, love, excitement. When Matt or a teacher encourages us to put into our awareness whatever we may be feeling we can be comforted knowing that our awareness can hold it, and our attention can help shift it, expand it, and learn from it.


It is important to check in and notice how we feel, because if we don’t know how we feel/or where we are we can’t get to how we want to feel/where we want to be going. I like to use this metaphor of being in a canoe or a raft (I did just get back from a rafting trip). We are all in our little individual boats in the middle of this vast ocean called life and we are trying to get to this specific spot. I call this spot the sattvic spot. Sattva is one of the three gunas (qualities of nature) that is a state of harmony, beauty, vitality, ease, joy and intelligence…We are all trying to get our boats toward this place, toward this experience. In our boat we have some paddles. We have the freedom to choose to move our boat toward or away from this sattvic spot. Sometimes we get closer toward this spot passively; it’s the currents and the winds that with a sense of ease move us closer with little effort on our part. It just seems like good things keep happening. Sometimes it is really hard and requires a lot of effort, dedication and we have to row our ass off to move more toward sattvic. Same goes for moving away from this sattvic experience. We can move away passively and sometimes we even pick up our paddles and we put effort into rowing away from this harmonious experience/spot.

In this ocean there are also waves that rock our boat. Patanjali says in his second sutra of The Yoga Sutras "Yoga chitta vrtti nirodah" the traditional dual translates is "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind." I like to look at this sutra with the non-daul, life affirming point tantric point of view. No matter what we are doing in our boat, what direction we are going, we are going to experience some waves (vrtti). I purpose that instead of trying to stop them, can we instead lean how can we ride these waves? How can we use these waves as an opportunity to move closer toward the heart, toward this sattvic spot/experience? I think one of the ways to do this is by authentically listening to our heart and noticing where we are. This applies on and off your mat. On our mat, ask your self, is taking full expression of ardha chandrasana helping me experience more radiance or will having my hand on my hip allow me to access and express my inner beauty more fully?

How can we allow every breath, every adjustment as a way to align with our heart more fully so we may paddle ourself and ride the currents of grace toward this sattvic spot in the ocean we are floating on 

Theme: listen to your heart and your breath and use what comes up as a map to help you enjoy a more sattvic experience.

Sequence idea:
AMS, UTT, tadasana
Surya A 5x
High runner lunge
Parsvakonasana
Ardha chandrasana, vira 2, ostrich
Vasisthasana
Prasarita padottanasana
Scandasana

Virrasana (hands on head skull loop, organic extension)
Sirsasana
Childs
Pinca mayurasana

Anjaneyasana + quad stretch
Pigeon + quad stretch + mermaid
Matsyendrasana/ Setu Bandha
Double pigeon
Upavist konasana
Parvrta upavista konasana
Baddha konasana
Shavasana

Sacrum

I just got back from floating down The Cataract Canyon on a raft. This trip was great for many reasons. One reason was from sitting in a raft for multiple hours a day and noticing my posture, the posture of others, and the complaints about low back pain. This was a wonderful reminder of how important the sacrum. When the sacrum is balanced in rotation and is going in and up it is a beautiful thing.

The sacrum bone is located at the base of the spine and its job is to transfer the weight from the upper body to the lower body. The way we hold the sacrum in our daily life and in our asana practice is very important and can help us maintain optimum health or can act as a source of lower back pain and discomfort. The sacrum, located at the base of the spine, is formed from five fused vertebrae’s and looks like a downward-facing triangle which is interesting because the symbol of a downward facing triangle represents the unmanifested coming into manifestation. Because of where this symbol is located it is very fascinating and interesting. The flat part of the triangle that represents the direction of the unmanifested is facing upward. If you look at the subtle body energy and the chakras you see that the higher you get up the spine the more transcendental the energy gets. At the crown of our head is where we find the svadhistana, 7th chakra. This is the most mysterious and transcendental chakra and is where Shiva is said to reside. If we follow the downward point of the triangle down we find the muladhara chakra. This 1st chakra that rests at the base of the spine is the most gross, most earth, most manifested energy and is where the coiled serpent (kundalini shakti) lays waiting. (Just an interesting side note: We can see this symbol in the heart of the Anusara logo.) When the sacrum meets the pelvic bone it forms a joint called the sacro-iliac (SI) joint. Most people suffer from low back, SI joint pain, and this is normally caused and can be prevented by the positioning of the sacrum.

There are two main normally misalignments that many people habitually make in their everyday lives. There are also little ways to correct the misalignment:

1. It is very normal to collapse onto one leg while standing. For example, if you were talking to someone and you straightened and put most of your weight on your right leg and stuck your right hip out to the right with a little bend and barely any weight on your left leg. This will cause the right side of your sacrum to push back (because you are collapsing on that hip), this backward pressure and rotation on your right SI joint to go out and get stuck. When I say get stuck I mean your sacrum will be “stuck” is this rotation and will keep the sacrum turned at an awkward angle.

a. How to identify which way your pelvis is rotated: lie on your back, with your knees bent in and your feet on the floor. Gently flatten your lower back to the floor. Keep your feet on the floor and slowly bring your knee to the right, and then a few inches to the left. Feel for a knobby place (the PSIS, Posterior Superior Iliac Spine) around the back of your pelvis. The side where the knob feels the most dominant is the side to which your pelvis is rotated.

b. You can also identify this misalignment with the help of a friend. Turn around so your back is facing your friend and lift up the back of your shirt. Have your friend notice the two indents at the top of the sacrum (you might need to feel around for these). Have your friend put their finger on each one of these indents notice how they are positioned. Then lift up one knee hip level and then do the same with your other leg. Have your friend notice what finger moves the most as you left up your knees.

i. You can help correct this misalignment with the first universal principle of Anusara yoga which is open to grace. When we talk about the first principle we are also talking about the inner body. If your pelvis is rotated away from optimal blue print so if your inner body. To correct this turn your inner body away from the side that you pelvis is rotated, and this may feel very imbalance it is actual balanced and neutral. Having the misalignment in the sacrum has re programmed your body to what “neutral” is however the body is wrong and this new "neutral" is continuing to move the body farther and farther out of alignment. By turning your inner body way from collapse you can “re program” the body so the sacrum is facing straight ahead. Whenever we talk about principles it is important to remember that we are always practicing a combination of the 5 so even though I am emphasizing the open to grace in this situation you still want to do everything else as well. For example if you don’t work muscle energy, engaging the muscles then you can’t maintain the position of the inner body.

2. It is also very common to round you low back causing the sacrum to go out and down. When the sacrum is positioned like this you are causing too much compression on one side of the vertebrae and too much extension on the other. We want the sacrum to be going in and up because this puts a natural inward curve in your back which helps align the whole spine.

a. You can create the sacrum going in and up using the Anusara universal principles of alignment. Inner spiral the thighs, take the inner thighs toward the back of the room or if you are sitting down toward the back of your chair. This should cause a trench like curve in your low back and cause your sit bones to widen. This is great now we want to get the core working to help support the spine so create outer spiral by scooping the tail bone under so the curve inst quite as intense and so you can feel the low belly lift. And way-la! Sacrum in and up. You can reach your hand to your low back/sacrum and you should feel the downward facing triangler-ish bone going in and up to the base of the spine.

I like to imagine my pelvis as a bowl filled with water. And as we have talked about above the positioning of the sacrum has a huge impact on how that bowl is held. If your pelvis is rotated toward one side your bowl will be tilted and the water will spill out to that side. If your sacrum goes out and down, your bowl will be tilted backwards and the water will still out toward your heels. If your sacrum is not rotated and your sacrum is going in and up your bowl will be neutral and your water will be contained. In your daily life and in every asana pose we are working, using the universal principles of alignment, to make sure our bowl/pelvis/sacrum is neutral.

Some asanas categories to work with finding balance in the sacrum:

Asymmetrical Poses where one leg is forward and one is back (lunges, parsvakonasana, parsvottanasana, virabhadrasana, Trikonasana…): in all of these standing poses you want to create that neutral pelvic bowl. Do this by balancing out the outer spiral (scooping the sit bone) of the front leg and inner spiral on the back leg. It’s an asymmetrical pose, so the sacrum will need to tip in and up faster on the back leg side, while it will need to go down and in faster on the front leg side. You can take your hand to your low back and feel the sacrum to make sure it is going in and up, you should have an even lodorsail curve in your back. If the curve is really big lengthen your tailbone toward the earth so the low belly engages.

Sitting poses and forward bends (sukasana, uttanasana, janusirsasana, upavista konasana): for all forward bends, the top of the sacrum must draw in and up before moving past 90 degrees in the pelvis. This is a crucial alignment for the health of the lower back.

Symmetrical poses where the feet are in one line (Ustrasana, tadasana, utkatasana): as a symmetrical pose, this is a really great way to realign the sacrum/pelvis. Use your inner body to balance the rotation of the pelvis. Inner spiral the thighs and emphasize this on the side that the sacrum is rotated toward. Then apply outer spiral and emphasize this action a little more on the side that the sacrum is rotated away from. So to continue our example from above, you would inner and widen your right sit bone out a little more, and you would scoop your left sit bone under a little more.

Prep for shavasana: bend your knees and put your feet on the floor knees over ankles and isometrically draw your heels back toward your sit bones which will create a lodotic curve in your back. Keep the curve as you straighten one leg at a time toward shavasana

Resources:
Yoga nerds notes by Zhenja
Yoga as Therapy, By Doug Keller):
The Anatomy coloring book, by Wynn Kapit and Lawrence M. ELson
static.howstuffworks.com/.../sacrum-picture.jpg

The Practice

Last night I taught “The Practice” at the Yoga Center. The practice is normally 3 hours and is different than a class and a workshop in that it is not led; it is a practice where the student and the teacher all practice together. The teacher gives less ques and calls out the poses. I really enjoying going to the practice because I find it really effective, by the end of three hours I can get myself into some really incredible poses and I leave feeling great and feel like I learned so much about asana, philosophy, and about myself. I have always loved being a student of the practice and it is very exciting to have taught one. The practice at the yoga center was only 2 hours, but two hours of fullness and heart! There were 9 students, at the beginning of class one of the students an older man said he would have to leave an hour early. I said that was just fine (in my head I thought maybe he was disappointed that I was subbing and was trying to get out of it). The whole class the students were laughing, we even told some jokes. The end of the class came and the man never left after I said “I thought you needed to leave early” and he responded saying “he was having too much fun”. How awesome!


Theme: having courage to face our demons. I told a very quick summary of the Ramayana, about how Ram a human reincarnation of Vishnu was able to defeat Ravana a ten headed demon whom Brahma had granted immortality from everything except from human. In the end Ram kills Ravana by stabbing his navel. This story inspired us to fight on demons off our matt and our mat with all our human strength. I also read a wonderful quote by Abdi Assadi “You must have the courage to see into what is dark in your being in order to know what needs to be transformed.”

Main universal principle of alignment focus: inner/expanding spiral and outer/contracting spiral.

(I wanted to talk about how these principles can be applies to more than just our body, how our inner spiral is us looking into the dark, having the courage to look at our life and our habits and see what is not serving us. The inner spiral is Ram searching the earth for Ravana. It is the expanding spiral so it is looking at a lot of information, kind of like zooming out to look at a map so you can see a lot of land. And then the contracting spiral is like us “zooming in” to one point that needs to be transformed. The contracting spiral is Ram killing Ravana. I ended up not talking about this though because I didn’t think would uplift the students in the room)

The Practice:
High runner lunge
Half Hanumanasana
Vasisthasana
ardha chandrasana stretch
AMS-> jump butt to wall
Surya A 5x
Vira 2-> rev. vira
Mod parsvak-> vira 2-> rev. vira
Parsvak-> rev. vira
Ardha chandrasana-> vira 2->clasp->fold to inside of leg
Parsvak bound
anjaneyasana forearms down-> ½hanumanasana
titibasana prep
parsvotanasana w/ block (ankle loop**love this)
Variation of malasana + visvamitrasana
navasana
Mod. Eka Pada Koundiyanasana II 2x
Balance knee up isometric work-> figure 4
AMV at wall (working on pull one leg leg toward belly, and extending out through both heels)
AMV in middle of room (great success)
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
Hanumanasana
Compass pose-> astavakrasana
mod. Visvamitrasana
Visvamitrasana
eka pada koundiyanasana II-> astavakrasana-> eka pada kouniyanasana II
Fishy bridge
Janusirsasana
Sputa femur bone back
Shavasana

Ankle loop and Skull loop

Recently I have been playing with the loops. The “loops” are a series of specific, interconnected trajectories of energy in our bodies. Just like the universal principles of alignment, we want to be practicing all seven loops in every pose we do. By being aware of these interconnected loops in the body we can start to notice how we hold our body while practicing yoga asana or the way we habitually hold our body in life. With this awareness we can use the loops so we my create more health, stability, longevity and freedom in the body. Although it is important to focus on all seven loops, recently I have been focusing on the ankle loop (base of the shin bone back) and skull loop (pallet of the mouth back and up).

Ankle loop is very important because if you don’t have the base of your shin bones anchored back toward your heel, you will be ungrounded and you will mess up the foundation thereby throwing all other loops out of balance. Here is a brief summary of how not having a good ankle loop you will throw off the six other loops above it.

If the base of your shin bone is not back (ankle loop) you will set off a dominoes effect of imbalance all the way up toward you head…The top of your shin bones will probably be pushed back (opposite of shin loop=hyperextension at knee)..The top of the femur bone will be pushed forward (opposite of thigh loop = hurting hip muscles, psoas, iliofemoral ligament and causes low back pain and Sacroiliac joint pain)….The pelvis will rotate forward sticking the belly out (opposite of pelvis loop= removes the low dorsal curve in the back pushing sacrum down and out causing compression in low back)….The bottom ribs will push forward (opposite of kidney loop= compressing the kidneys)…the shoulders round forward as if you were protecting the heart in battle (opposite of shoulder loop= causing lots of shoulder and neck problems)…lastly the pallet of the mouth will move forward (opposite of skull loop= compresses the neck + shoulders forward and chin forward is just plan painful). You can see by just rooting the base of the shin bones back toward the heel you can help create a lovely dominoes effect up the loops.

I have enjoyed focusing on ankle loop and skull loop at the same time because the skull loop is like the cherry on top. Skull loop starts in the upper palate and flows back to the base of the occiput, where it then lifts up the back of the skull, creating lengthen in the neck. Whenever I add a good skull loop to a pose I feel confident and radiant. Adding skull loop also helps maintain shoulder loop, keeping the shoulders integrated behind the heart.

Try this for a moment. Sit up or stand up and look forward as you draw the tips of the shoulders toward the back of the heart, really “plug in”. Notice how this feels in the shoulders and in the heart (shoulders probably feel integrated, heart probably feels open). Now drop you chin toward your chest, this is the opposite of skull loop (I like to do the completely wrong action sometimes so I know what the results feel like). After dropping your chin toward your chest, did you feel the shoulders slightly lose the integration and the heart slightly sinks? Even if you use really good muscular energy when you take your chin toward your chest you will lessen your shoulder loop. Try this now, plug in and then pull the pallet slightly back and up and lift the ears up. Do you feel how the shoulders stay rooted, the heart stays lifted, and maybe you can experience more inner body bright?

I really like focusing on ankle and skull loop together because it reminds me to stay grounded and reminds me to create space confidently. I said this earlier but it is important to practice all seven loops all the time. Even when I am focusing on ankle loop and skull loop doesn’t mean I stop doing shin loop, pelvis loop, kidney loop, and shoulder loop. Here are some fun poses I have been working with: handstand, headstand, forearm balance, side crow, titibasana, trikonanasan, urdhva danurasana, chaturanga, half moon, parvrita Parsvakonasana, Parsvakonasana, arm balances, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, side plank with extended leg….

Hope you have a nice day

PAUSE

I have been focusing on Day 1 of Elena Brower’s Yoga of living course. This first day is called PAUSE and Elena encourages us to notice the difference between expansion and contraction in the physical body. She says that contractions are almost always caused by two negative states caused by rushing or doubting. She then says when you notice yourself contracting “take one breath to shift from contraction to attentive expansion”.

The homework:
1.Write down at least 3 occasions when you noticed a contraction, what preceded it? Where it was in your body?
2.Were you were able to transform it into an expansion using the breathing? What did that feel like?

I really am enjoying today’s assignment. Using my attention to notice when I am expanding and when I am contracting. When I am expanding I feel open, spacious and full of love. When I expand I feel big and powerful, but at ease and full of acceptance. When I am contracting I feel closed, sad or anger. When I am contacted I feel so small, weak, unsure and so wrapped up in myself.

As I work up this morning I stated my intention. I took a few deep breaths and I noticed how this act of breathing with awareness helps me expand. As I started my morning I started by experiencing this wonderfully open state of expansion.

As I moved about my morning I keep my attention of this expansion and contraction. There were many times as I would be doing something that I could feel this contraction. I could feel myself getting small. Being a yogi I am very aware of my body, when I felt myself contract I felt my back slightly round, and my shoulders roll forward. I could feel my brain hurt. As I started the day I knew I would have many contractions but I was surprised how many I noticed and how such little things would set them off.

I did notice that every contraction was caused by me judging/doubting myself/others or from me rushing.

DOUBTING:
•I was thinking about how I already love this course from Elena Brower and how excited I am for working with the next assignments. Then I thought about sharing it with others…on my blog and my friends and fellow teachers. It was in this moment I contracted. I doubted how much knowledge I already have, and I wanted to hoard this wisdom and keep it to myself so I could be the best. I felt myself contracting and tightening from my brain, my heart, and into my core. I was driving my car and I felt my back slightly round like a scary Halloween cat as my shoulders rolled in as if I was protecting my heart. I paused as I noticed this, and I turned to my breath. I wasn’t even trying to figure out if I would share this knowledge or not. As I shifted my awareness to my breath I naturally sat up straighter (inner body bight) and corrected my shoulders (shoulder loop, who knew you could practice Anusara in the car). I felt myself starting to expand from my pelvis, up my ribs and out my heart. I felt open and full of gratitude, and my head felt more spacious. In this new state of expansion the choice went away, of course, I would share this knowledge.
ohttp://www.artofattention.com/ sign up for the email list sign up and you will get emailed a password, then you can access the course from that same webpage.

RUSHING:
•Tyler (my husband)and I have been looking for apartments. I wanted to turn in my application by 9am and we didn’t even leave the house until 10:30am. After we left the house we had to stop and pick up pay stubs and we had to go to the Social Security Building to get a recipt that says our SS# on it, since I couldn’t find our cards and the apartment wouldn’t accept our passports. This caused many contractions caused by rushing.
oWhen we first got in the car after being an hour and a half late I could feel my heart beating and I was quickly calling the apartment office to see if anyone had turned in their application (we were told that 3 other couples picked up applications and it was all about who turned the application first). I asked if I could bring my passport instead of my social security card and she said no. After hanging up I noticed that I missed the start of this contraction and I was fully in it. I was rushing and not enjoying this moment. I thought just turn to your breath and expand. Unfortunately, this time it was not that easy. As I breathed I was also repeating the mantra “slow down…open” in my head. This did lesson my contraction but I was not experiencing expansion. My day continued like this. As I felt a contraction brought on from rushing I would pause and breath, this did lesson the contraction and allow me to open to the experience but I didn’t feel completely spacious and peaceful. However it was really awesome to be aware of this (noticing the contraction, bringing space to it and noticing what happens,,, a little less contracted) instead of just going through the day with each little thing continuing to close me off more and more and more.

What I learned from today’s experiment was that I was able to use my attention to see when I tightened in on myself and then used my breath to open myself back up I was aware that if I didn’t choose to pause and breath and allow myself an opportunity to expand out of the contraction I would have stayed tightly contracted. I feel very fortunate that I often take time to breath, sit quietly, and practice yoga. All of these activities give me opportunities to expand. When I do them they help assist me to expand out of any contractions that occurred earlier. But what is difficult about this is I don’t know what the contractions came from so I can’t deal with them as appropriately and use them for growth. What I liked about this assignment is it has given me a tool to help me learn how to notice when I contract, what it feels like, and what causes the contraction. This knowledge teaches me more about myself, so I may be aware when I contract and when I expand, and hopefully through discipline and attention I can start to shift some of my habits and thinking processes so I can reside in this open, peaceful, accepting nature of expansion.

(As I re read this last paragraph it reminds me of why we practice yoga, why we even care to look at our self…to know more and be happy CHIT ANANDA)

about the two classes I taught today, and the bilboard add I saw on the way home

I taught two classes today:
My first class at flow EMC 9:15-10:30 we worked on cultivating qualities of perseverance, acceptance, and patience. We did lots of forward folds (remember forward folds are any pose in which the hip is flexed forward, so we did lots of deep standing poses), and some fun arm balances including playing with linking different bakasana poses.

My afternoon class at Kula 12-1 we talked about how the studio is going through some shifts, and how this shift provides an opportunity for us to look for the good. I used a pretty funny metaphor about a TV antenna and how we can use our asana practice as a way to adjust our antenna so the goodness/bliss “channel” comes in really clear. Haha we did some hip opening and back bends. I kept encouraging the students to soften their eyes and become sensitive to the way they feel inside. Becoming so sensitive that they can be aware of the inner goodness that is within them.

As I was driving home I saw a billboard Coke add, that read “open happiness” (I couldnt find the same billboard add I saw but here are two that provide the same message):


The society we live in which is based off of corporations and consumerism tells us over and over, that we are missing something. We are lacking something (their product)., and until we get it (their product) we cant be happy. This leaves us to think that we always need to be seeking something external from our self in order to feel full, and feel happy.

Here are just some of the things society is trying to sell us with the promise that it will make us happy:
•Beer
•Weigh loss
•Make up
•Cigarettes
•Soda
•Candy
•Plastic surgery
•Tampons
•clothes
•…….
Those anti-smoking commercials are correct when they say “You are a target for Big Tobacco”. But it isn’t just big tobacco, we are a target everywhere because we are surrounded by signs, commercials, magazines….that are telling us that we are not ENOUGH.
This is one thing I love about yoga. When we practice yoga asana, when we step onto our mat it is us saying that instead of seeking happiness from outside, I am going to go within and REMEMBER that inside of me is all the happiness, bliss, and peace I could ever want. Our society and the way many people live their lives has caused us to forget. And yoga is a process of remembering our goodness, and our worth.
So the next time you see an add, that is in some way saying buy my product and you will be happy, laugh and know that you already have everything you need to make you happy inside your own heart.

this morning class I taught, and a students comment after :)

This morning’s open level class I taught at flow yoga SLC EMC was lots of fun. People have been telling me my classes have been steadily getting more challenging. I am not trying to make them harder but I am teaching the universal principles of alignment more and that does require that you are totally present and totally working the pose. (last week some called me and thanked me for teaching them to engage their muscles, and that they feel stronger and more confident now. How awesome!) This morning my husband was coming to class and he asked that is not be hard and requested some twists because his back hurts (I think it is his SI). I thought what a great opportunity to offer the universal principles in a more gentle and therapeutic way.

Theme: the muladhara chakra and the svadhistana chakra. The muladhara chakra has to do with the earth and grounding and the svadhistana has to do with fluidity, sexuality and sensitivity. We used the muladhara chakra to help us get grounded and connected to the earth, and we used the svadhistana to become sensitive to what is happening with in us. Can we be sensitive to the breath, the alignment, the prana, the quality of the mind….
Sequence included: standing poses, squats, twists, hip opening, and forward folds.
Main teaching focus: keeping the femur bones back, inner spiral and outer spiral of the legs.
Meditation/ cnetering: we started and ended the practice with pranayama and a seated mediation where we visualized the chakras.

After class a student asked “Does Anusara Yoga only draw happy people do the practice? Or is it something you cultivate..Because ever Anusara teacher I have had has been genuinely happy?”

I think the answer is: it is a combination of both. I think people who are happy enjoy the practice of Anusara yoga because the practice is a celebration of the heart and is a way of fully being present with yourself, your Shri, and your happiness.

We all have bliss in us (annamaya kosha), we all have this inner light that is real, conscious, and bliss (sat- chit- ananda) however we forget. The practice of Anusara yoga is a practice of remembering our greatness.

In Anusara yoga we learn how to move through many different kinds of poses (twists, forward bends, backbends) with different levels of challenge (easy, intermediate, advance) and as students we learn no matter what the pose, or how difficult or easy it is can we stay connected to our heart. Even if it is a pose we don’t practically like. I think this is happiness training. If we can learn to stay in the pose, stay with our self, with our breath, with an awareness of our intrinsic goodness, and with our heart. Then when we step off our mat and we go into the world whatever situations come at us (personal, work, family, global) we know how to stay with our heart. And no matter what situation we face on the mat or off the mat what matters is we recognize that life is a gift, and we are so lucky to be just where we are.

The Gunas

This week in my classes we have been talking about the three gunas (rajas, sattva, and tamas). The gunas are qualities of material things and activities. Everything in this physical world is a combination of the three gunas, and we experience them in what we see and what we experience. To summarize it you can look at any situation and ask is there to much (rajas), is there to little (tamas) or is there a harmonious balance (sattva).

Rajas: activating, stimulating, passion, accelerating, heating, and upward moving energy. Related to fire and air, corresponding with energy.

Tamas: stillness, quite, inertia, dark, cooling, and downward moving energy. Related to earth and water, corresponding with matter.

Sattva: balancing, optimizing, light, luminosity, corresponding with light (Consciousness).

We want to balance out these gunas. When I say balance I don’t mean you need X amount of rajas and X amount of tamas and X = X is Sattva. When I say balance I mean dynamic, it is ever changing. When you got up this morning you wanted more rajas then tamas. You want more energy than inertia and that will be more Sattva. When you go to bed you will have a more Sattva experience if you have more tamas then rajas. The other night I couldn’t sleep at all. I laid in bed for hours in the dark with my eyes closed and my brain was just spinning. I kept thinking…TAMAS I need more TAMAS. You see how it is a dynamic balance depending on the situation.

I really like thinking about these gunas when I practice yoga asana. Because in every pose we come into we can think: am I doing too much (rajas)? Am I not doing enough (tamas)? Or am I experiencing this harmony, this divine marriage of contrary complements (Sattva)? And depending on what you answer is you can make refinements to the pose so you can have a more Sattva experience.

The breath can be a great indicator on this. Once you come into your alignment (alignment is important because if you aren’t in good alignment and you are in pain because of your misalignment you won’t be able to focus on the quality of your breath or you gunas) turn your awareness to your breath. If you are breathing so slow you could just take a nap, then that is too much tamas, you aren’t doing enough. Make an adjustment to add more rajas to your experience. If the experience of your breath is you panting for air, that is too much rajas. Make an adjustment to bring some more tamas into your experience. If the experience of your breath is full and you feel a sense of ease and peace but at the same time alert and vital then you are experiencing a state of Sattva.

What is balance? What is optimal?
Whatever enhances and affirms life in any particular circumstance of time and place. It brings the opposites together in a dynamic way to create a dive marriage of contrary complements.




Resources: The Anusara Yoga Master Immersion Packet, By John Friend

3 A’s of Anusara Yoga.

“A pose can have exquisite alignment and be balanced in its Action, but without a pure spiritual expression from the heart, it loses its power of deep inner transformation. A pure spiritual expression in a posture is an unfolding of the deepest qualities of the heart, such as love and joy, into the body and surrounding environment. These pure heart qualities make a posture sing with a beautiful inner music, which harmoniously joins into the grand symphony of life. This heart energy (attitude) is the key element that makes the practice of hatha yoga into a profoundly transformational art. A pure attitude during the performance of an asana purifies the body and mind, and lets the light of the heart freely shine out.” John Friend

I think karma yoga and the first six chapter of the Bhagavad Gita (see earlier post) is very similar to the 3 A’s of Anusara yoga. Both focus on the ways in which we act, the reasons we act, and the outcome of our actions. The Three A’s are attitude, alignment and action.

Attitude (divine will (Iccha/heart)): The power of the heart is the force behind every action we take. It is our intention. I think everyone’s attitude is to be happy, the aspiration to reawaken to our divine nature, and the celebration of life. In Anusara they use a metaphor to explain the three A’s. The attitude is the desire to unlock the door and be free. If attitude had a voice it would say “I want” or “my heart wants”.

Alignment (divine knowledge (Jnana/mind)): Alignment has to do with how various parts of ourselves are integrated and interconnected. Through self study, and self observation we can learn how to align ourselves physically, energetically, emotionally, and mentally. It is the knowledge of technique. How do we want to align our self with this situation? With life? With the divine? The alignment is the knowledge of how to align the key in the lock, and how to turn the key to open the door to freedom. If alignment had a voice it would say “I think” or “my mind thinks this is the plan”.

Action (freedom of Action (Kriya/body)): It is taking the action of the alignment. It is the manifestation. Action is actually turning the key in the lock, and involves knowing the amount of force needed to turn the key. If action had a voice I think it would say “let’s do this” or “my body is going to do this”.

Example: Your attitude in life is to be happy. Then you get hungry, you think I am hungry? What shall I eat? This is where the alignment comes in, when your mind (Jnana) comes up with a plan or a technique to align your actions with your attitude of being happy. You have many choices in this situation: pizza, steak, veggies, sandwich, salad, ice cream….Depending on what your mind chooses (alignment), then the body makes the action, which is eating the food your mind decided on. Depending on what you choose your alignment will determine if you are happy in the long run.

Everyone has the same attitude. Everyone at their core wants to be happy. The problems start to arise when the ego gets involved with the mind and the alignment. When the ego comes into the 3 A’s, we start to think we will be happy (attitude) by seeking things that bring us pleasure and avoiding things that bring us pain (alignment) so we act accordingly (action). Because of the influence of the ego, our alignment is thrown off and the actions we take will never result in bringing us delight (at least not in the long run). The Gita reminds us of this when Krishna says, what appears pleasant at first is “bitter as poison in the end” (18:38).

Krishna explains what happens when we choose to align with our ego and act out of attachment, and what happens when we choose to align with the divine and act free from attachment. Krishna says acting out of attachment “breeds desire, the lust of possession that burns into anger. Anger clouds the judgment; you can no longer learn from past mistakes. Lost in the power to choose between what is wise and what is unwise, your life is utter waste. But when you move amidst the word of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike, there comes the peace in which all sorrows end and you live in the wisdom of the Self” (2:62-2:65).

To me the first 6 chapters of the Gita sound like Krishna explaining to Arjuna how to choose good alignment in his life, so his actions will be selfless. Encouraging him to let go of the ego and the attachment to the outcome based on the self. And instead align with Krishna, with the divine essence that manifests everything, with this essence, with the divine, with nature, and with God.

Practicing the 3 A’s is hard. It is so much easier for me at out of the ego and seek gratification quickly. It is easy to see what will quickly bring me pleasure and what will quickly cause me pain and align and act off of that. However when I align with my ego my actions never bring me lasting happiness and delight. I work hard at trying to not align with my ego and instead align with nature/divine and act for the higher Self. However, I often make mistakes. Sometime these mistakes happen because I simply forgot. Sometimes I think I am choosing my alignment correctly and then I realize the ego tricked me into thinking I was acting without the ego. It can get frustrating. It is reassuring when Krishna reminds us that “On this path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure. Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear. Those who follow this path, resolving deep within themselves to seek me alone, attain singleness of purpose”(2:39-2:41)

I am reading Christine Sells book Yoga from the Inside Out, and she talks about sadhana, “the work”, this really reminds me of alignment. She says “The work involves enlarging our focus beyond our ego’s limited viewpoint into the larger context of spiritual life”. She continues to say later in the book that when “we offer ourselves to the Divine to be used for service…We create fertile ground in which the seeds of the Divine can grow and bloom.”

How can I use my mat and my asana practice to remember the 3 A’s? How can I use my practice on my mat to help inspire me to choose better alignment in my life so that my actions lead me to my attitude (to be happy)? When I physically practice poses on my mat that is my action. As I do this I make an offering with my body to this moment, to nature, to the Divine. This offering reminds me to choose an alignment, mentally and physically, that will better serve the Self. This means if I am doing a pose and I feel pain instead of pushing into and being driven by the ego, I acknowledge that this physical alignment that I am in is no longer honoring my Self. Practicing like this encourages and motivates me to align with the divine on and off my mat, instead of the lower self which is fuelled by the ego. When I practice like this I am happy, because I know that the actions I take are helping me align and serve the higher Self verses the self.

One thing I really love about Anusara yoga, and the tantra philosophy is you don’t use the 3 A’s to avoid any situation. Instead you align with every situation in a way that allows for the most progress. We align so that we can karmically move forward better and faster and as a result get happier and smarter. Since I have been studying Anusara yoga, doing immersions, practices, reading the Gita and studying the 3 A’s, I feel more and more like my yoga asana practice has been shifting in a wonderful and powerful way. The experiences with the 3 A’s on my mat have been really fueling me to practice the 3 A’s off the mat.