Yoga Sutras compared to Anusara invocation. Classical yoga compared to Tantric philosophy

I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way an expert on this, AT ALL. I am merely a student, fascinated with what I am learning, and I am sharing it with you because you might enjoy these gems of knowledge, it is fun sharing, it helps me remember, and it helps me connect to the knowledge on a deeper level….

Over the past 5 years I focused mainly on prana vinyasa, and Iyengar yoga. I have read, studied and contemplated The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (a classical yoga text) many times. Recently I have been drawn to Anusara yoga, founded by John Friend. I have been studying the universal principles of alignment and the tantric philosophy that underlies Anusara. One of the many things I love about Anusara is the beautiful Invocation that we chant at the beginning of class. As I have been diving into the complex and wonderful meaning of the invocation, I was reminded of the thirty-sixth sutra from Patanjalis first book, “visoka va jyotismati” (Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1:36). This got me thinking about how this sutra and the Anusara invocation relate, especially the last verse in the invocation, “Niralambaya Tejase”.

So how does Classical Yoga and Tantric Yoga relate? Both of these lines have similar translations, let us looks at them one at a time:

“Visoka va jyotismati” Means there is a blissful luminous, sorrow less, effulgent light within that is ever present. (Translation is a combination from Sri Swami Satchidananda, B.K.S Iyengar and my interpretation).

“Niralambaya Tejase” Means there is a inner luminosity, a blissful radiance of the heart, that does not depend on any circumstance to exist, it just is, it always is. (Translation is a combination from John Friend, Christiana Sell, and my interpretation).

I love how both classical and tantric philosophies agree on this beautiful belief, that we have this inherent shining goodness within us, that this inner essence of bliss that is always present. This inner radiance never leaves us and is present no matter what external situation or emotions we may be experiencing. However, these philosophies disagree about how we go about experiencing this inner divine luminosity. The root reason for their disagreement is that classical yoga believes in dualism and Tantric believes in non-dualism.

(As I summarize these two vast philosophies, I may repeat myself quite a bit but it is only to reiterate what they believe. The beliefs are quite simple but in order to understand them you have to approach them from many different angles and to hear them again and again. If you have additional knowledge or you would like to add or make a correction, make please comment. I would love and enjoy your feedback).

Let us examine Patanjali’s classical yoga first:

Patanjali’s Yoga, Classical Yoga is dualistic and makes a sharp distinction between purusha (Self or Spirit) and prakriti (non-self or matter). Classical Yoga holds that these two radically distinct realities exist: there is one thing, Purusha the Self, and separate from that self, on the other hand there is Prakriti, the non-self. Patanjali believes there is no connection, linkage or interaction between purusha and prakriti, they are separate (dual). Although purusha and prakriti are not connected, they do depend on each other. Without purusha there could be no prakriti. Classical yoga believes the humans suffer because we are ignorant to dualism, to the fact that there is both purusha and prakriti, and instead of realizing this dualism we falsely identify purusha (self) with prakriti (non-self, matter, materialism). Classical yoga says in order to reach liberation (mukti) we must distinguish between the two, we must believe in dualism, we need to release that there is a self, and at the same time there is a non-self.

To summarize (and repeat) classical yoga believe there is duality, two-ness. That there is an inside and a outside, a prakriti and a purusha. Access to the heart is through stepping over a barrier of the body, over a barrier of the mind, and over a barrier of the experiential self. To get to the heart, is to step over the body and mind. This is what classical yoga believes! The body is at best a tool and at worse an obstacle. Patanjali (classical yoga) invites you into two-ness and says that dualism is the answer. The answer, is not mistaking prakriti for purusha, it’s not mistaking the outside for the inside, and it’s not mistaking the material for the spiritual. Sutra 1:36 “visoka va jyotismati” means that in order to experience this inner essence of goodness we must overcome this “otherness” that we need to realize the self is separate from the non-self and matter.

Let us look at Tantric philosophy, the philosophy of non-dualism.

Tantra is non-dual. It does not believe in two, it believes in one. It believes there is this one divine, blissful auspicious energy. The way this divine energy creatively expresses itself is how we get such a variety of different forms. It is like one light shining on a crystal which results in many different lights and a variety of colors; however they are all part of the one light. Tanta teaches us that we don’t need to abstain, achieve, or acquire enlightenment; instead we need to participate in a process of our own recognition. Of recognizing that all there is, is grace and we are an expression of grace. And this grace, this divine consciousness expresses itself through a twisted ecstatic dance that brings beauty into the world. It invites us to realize that there is nothing but this divine dance, and we don’t need to overcome it, we just need to experience the dance for the sake of the dance. Not only do we need to experience the dance but we need to dance with it, to step into the flow of grace. We don’t dance to achieve, concur or prove anything we do it for the sheer delight of it. This is a wonderful teaching we learn from Krishna in The Bhagavad Gita, that when we act for the simple sake or doing it, without worrying about this or that, when you offer your beauty as its own art, this is how to offer something that is meaningful. This dance of consciousness is gift of grace. As Douglas Brooks says “Life is a gift yoga is a blessing. Make yourself a great offering.”

I love that tantra doesn’t say we need to overcome something to get to something. Instead it says there is this one divine creative energy and it is merely expressing itself through the variety of forms we experience. And as humans we have a conscious choice and can resist and label it separating it into two “good” and “bad”. Or we can become part of the dance, we can embrace the differences in life as a blissful expression of the divine, and through embracing this we can then make our self an expression of divine bliss as well. We can willingly become part of the dance and offer our heart to this.

In summary, the tantric view doesn’t see diversity as something you need to overcome. Instead the tantric view embraces diversity because it reflects the divine oneness of the universe. Referring to the Anusara invocation, the tantric view believes there is this blissful radiance, of the divine! That we are part of this one blissful radiance! That everything is a manifestation of this one blissful radiance!


Sources on classical yoga: Raghavan Iyer, Douglas Brooks
Sources on tantra: Douglas Brooks, John Friend, Christina Sells, John Friend

I got interviewed...here it is

I recently got interviewed by a student who is enrolling in a teacher training program and she needed to interview a teacher she admires. I felt so honored that she choose me. The questions she asked where wonderful and really allowed me to think about myself as a teacher and a student and the transformation that yoga has brought me over the past five years and continues to bring me. I thought I would share it with you, and I encourage you to contemplate on some of these questions as well.

What first got you interested in yoga? I used to be a competitive snowboarder and I broke my back (a fracture 3) and tore my MCL. I also wanted to get more in touch with something more. I didn’t know what it was but I thought yoga could help me. I was pretty sad, pretty disconnected to my body, and had family problems. I thought yoga couldn’t hurt ill give it a try.

How long did you practice before you began teacher training? I didn’t practice for very long before hearing about the teacher training at Flow. I had been using a Crunch yoga VHS for a few months before I discovered Flow yoga. It’s actually funny I was with my boyfriend (my new husband) and he found a flyer for flow and gave it. I practiced with some DVDs for a year, not regularly at all, just every once and a while, and probably at the studio for 6 months, practicing multiple time a week when I signed up for the teacher training program. I felt such a powerful pull toward yoga once I started at the studio. Not so much with the DVD. Since my first studio class with Lala Powers, I felt such a deep connection, that the practice was helping me connect to something bigger. Here I am 5 years later and I still experience the same awakening and connection to something bigger, it’s lovely.

Where did you do your teacher training? I did my first teacher training at Flow yoga (there first teacher training) in 2006 that was also co taught by Jonathon Fields and Lauren Hanna (co founders of Sonic Yoga NYC) and Jennifer Ellen Mueller. It was such a wonderful immersion into the study of yoga. I have since taken more teacher training courses. I took a course from SLCC which I did not find helpful. I took a module of Shiva Rea’s Prana Vinyasa teacher training called Fluid Power in 2008 which was great and has given me more fluidity in my teaching, and taught me how to be creative and dynamic in my sequence, like using mandalas. I took a yearlong teacher training from Nathan Hayes at his studio Living Spirit Yoga in Washington State. I think I got the most out of this teacher training. Since I had been focusing, practicing, teaching, and studying yoga for awhile. It was over a year, and demanded a 6x a week yoga and mediation practice. This teacher training was much more about developing us as yoga students. It taught me to articulate what we have learned in our own practice. This teacher training has been huge for me. I learned so much from Nathan, he was a great mentor, he helped me connect to myself, to learn from myself and then offer my own experience to teach it to others. I am now studying Anusara yoga. I am doing the upcoming immersion and teacher training through Kula. I am very excited about the teachings of Anusara yoga. I feel like over the past year and a half I have been coming up with my own style where I emphasis alignment and really work on keeping a heart theme throughout class. When I learned about Anusara yoga, this practice was what I was naturally migrating toward in my personal practice. But is even GREATER!! It teaches alignment and non- dual tantric philosophy. 

What would you say is your biggest influence on planning a class? When I plan a class my theme and intention are most important to me. My theme and intention are always heart orientated. I want my students to leave the class smiling, feeling better about themselves and having deepened their connection to their heart. I then work on teaching a few alignment principles and integrating those principles through all the poses throughout the class. I work on connecting the alignment action to the heart oriented theme. You can move your body into weird shapes but without a theme, without connecting to the bigger picture, without having a intention, I don’t consider it yoga.

Is there any specific text you find yourself drawn to in the process of planning your classes? I love reading about philosophy, Indian myths, poetry and human anatomy. I think continuing to learn about these things help your become a better students and a better teacher. I regularly refer to, Moving into Stillness by Erich Shiffman. I love his philosophy of yoga and his wording. He really focuses on connecting to the present moment. I also refer to the, Anusara teacher training manual, by John Friend. It is really good at explaining the principles of alignment, and so much more. I also find the Yoga Sutras, The Bhagavad Gita, very inspirational. Over the years I have been teaching, I have created 3 huge binders from teacher trainings, workshops, journaling along with a notebook of my favorite quotes, and two art notebooks that hold my outlines of my past classes and themes. One thing I learned from Nathan was “always come with a plan (when teaching a class)…but plan on ditching the plan”. I refer to these regularly as well.

What do you think sets your classes apart for the students? I want to help plant a seed in the students heart and help them to awaken, help them to have an opening, help them to have a revolution, help them to feel good about who they are and where they are at in their life. I encourage people to have fun, to smile, to love where they are in their own journey no matter how it compares to others. I encourage people to let go of judgments and connect to where they are in the present moment. I share my love and enthusiasm for yoga as well as provide well cued alignment instructions, so they stay safe and honor their own bodies and limitations. I want to teach students that what they do on their mat will and can translate into their life outside the mat. I want students to know if they are having a problem in life, by coming to yoga, connecting to their body and the present moment they can cultivate qualities and teach themselves how to deal with their problems off the mat. My husband calls my classes spiritual. I hope others feel the way he does, and enjoy what I offer.

What is your favorite part about teaching? Are there any dislikes? Being able to teach is so wonderful. Yoga has transformed my life in every way and has improved it for the better. I love being able to help people find that same transformation in their own life. I love being able to help people in their journey to figure out the truth about who they are and help them connect to something bigger. Everyone has different transformations, I have recently experienced some big ones, with people crying and wanting to share with me their stories and how yoga has changed their life. As a teacher people come to you for help. To improve flexibility, to lose weight, to heal a injury, and it is so great to help and even if they come to you for one of these things you still have an opportunity to plant other seeds. My dislikes are that I get stressed and nervous before class that people won’t like what I have to offer. But I am getting better at just being myself and teaching what I believe in. The great thing about yoga is there are so many styles if they don’t like me, they will find someone they do connect to. As long as I am true to me self while I am teaching and genuinely want to help people through yoga, that all I ask for. Another great thing about teaching is that it helps me be a better student. I learn so much through teaching, I learn so much from my beautiful students.

What advice would you give someone on the journey to become a yoga instructor? What do you feel is the most important part of being/becoming a yoga instructor? (I combined this question because my answers are similar) I think the most important part of being or becoming a yoga instructor is being a good student. In every great teacher there is a great student. I think it is important to first be a student. Be the best student you can be, learn as a student, and practice as a student. Then with compassion and humbleness share what you have learned firsthand in your own practice, with your students. Advice I would give would be: Be yourself, be proud of who you are, and trust that you have something valid and important to share. It is easy to get intimidated, second guess yourself and want to teach like other teachers. I know I went through a stage where in my teaching I tried to teach like a teacher I admired. Now I realize I admired those teachers because they taught from their heart. You need to go into your heart and teach from that.  I think the more a teacher is a student, the more they commit to their own reason for practice, the more it connects them to their heart, it then it becomes easier to teach from the heart. It then becomes easier to share your enthusiasm and love for yoga with your students.

Sit bones and tail bone can move independent of each other!!

In Utthita Trikonasana (triangle pose) and in Utthita Parsvakonasana (side angle pose) I sometimes feel a pinch in my side waist to which I am leaning. Even when I keep my side body long, lengthening the space between the top of my hip (iliac crest) and my low ribs, I still experience a discomfit and a feeling of collapse.

The other day I was taking a class from certified Anusara yoga instructor Wayne Belles at Kula Yoga Studio in SLC, UT. During class Wayne offered a pearl of wisdom for poses like Utthita Trikonasana and Utthita Parsvakonasana that I want to share with you. He pointed out that after you create internal rotation of the thighs, not only do you scoop your tailbone but you also scoop your front sit bone. Scooping the front sit bone helps the external rotation of the femur bone and pulls the outside of the front knee away from midline allowing you to go a little deeper in the pose.

I never knew you could move your sits bones independent of your tail bone. I thought it was one whole unit. But you can! When I did this…First scooping my tail bone and then scooping my front sit bone it helped me find externally rotation in my front femur bone while providing more space I need in my side body allowing the discomfort I sometimes experience to vanished…POOF!

**Step by step guide to Utthita Parsvakonasana applying the five universal principles of alignment, with the inclusion of moving sit bones and tailbones separately:

1.Starting in adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog). Step your Right foot between your hands right knee over the right ankle and ground you left heel so the back outer edge of the foot is parallel to the back of your mat. (If your hips are tighter, turn your left foot into a 45 degree angle, this will give you more freedom in the hips, having the foot parallel will give you more power in your pose).

2.Take your right forearm to the top of your right thigh and your left hand to your left hip.

3.First principle: pause, soften and open to grace, open to your potential in this pose and in this moment.

4.Second principle: Muscular Energy, isometrically draw the feet toward each other hugging the muscles to the bone and drawing into midline, feel a slight lift in the hips.

5.Third principle: internally Spiral the hips back and apart sticking out the booty and broadening the sit bones apart allowing pelvic floor and lower back to expand.

6.Fourth principle: the outward spiral moves this expanded energy back into the center of the body. Here is where the tail bone and sits bones come in:
a.Scoop the tail bone, while keeping the back thigh bone drawn back.
b.Scoop the right sit bone and feel the right thigh bone externally rotating taking the outside of the right knee more toward the right.
c.Bend your knee deeper. And experience the new space in the side body.

7.Fifth principle: Organic Energy. From the alignment and drawing the energy into the focal point in the pelvis, extend energy back out. Energy extends from the pelvis down the legs into the earth. Then the energy travels from the pelvis up the torso and out the arms, like a shooting star! Stretch the left arm over the head while keeping integrating of the shoulders. Full stretch. Experience yourself as pure radiance.

Even though scooping the front sit bones seems minor, to me it opened up my pose tremendously! Thanks Wayne.

Happy day to you. Now go move your booty, tailbone and sit bones independently of each other!

courageous flow workshop summary

I just got home from teaching a Courageous Yoga Workshop! At Lifted Life Yoga Center in Alpine, Utah.

Courage comes from the French word that translates to mean: live in your heart. This reminds me of the last line of the Anusara Invocation: Niralambaya Tejase. 'Tejase' means illumination, and radiance. Tejase doesn’t necessarily mean light but is the essence of the light. This shininess prevents us from being in darkness. 'Niralambaya' means not based on any external circumstance. It just is, it always is. So together Niralambaya Tejase means this inner radiance, this inner illumination of the heart is always present, no matter what is happening around us! I love this line; it is so reassuring isn’t that!? And it is just like courage, when you have courage, when you are in your heart, you are bright and in the inner radiance.

When we are courageous, when we live in our heart, it is like we are living from this place of inner brightness. However there are some qualities that we cultivate in our life that shield and block out this inner light. The illumination doesn’t go away; remember Niralambaya means it is always present. These qualities just make it harder for us to connect to. It like a light switch with a dimming feature, if you dim the light all the way the light is still on its just not as bright. These qualities that can dim our inner light include fear, tension, stress, negativity, anger, and judgment.(Everyone has specific qualities for themselves, these are ones I work with). As we surrender these qualities our inner radiance becomes more apparent, to both ourselves and others.

We can then start to cultivate qualities that will enhance our inner illumination, inner brilliance. Some of these qualities include strength, openness, joy, love, compassion, patience, confidence, and trust.(Again everyone has their own specific qualities that they resonate with, these are ones I like to work with). These qualities allow our inner light to be more shinny, more radiant, and more beautiful.
So this was the theme of the workshop. We paused and contemplate what qualities we need to surrender and cultivate in our life to help us live more in the heart, in our radiance. I love working with this theme in a asana class, because the poses offer a great template for life outside of the mat. For example we held some lunges for awhile at the end of class, everyone was tired and it was hard, it was a challenge. What a great opportunity to surrender fear, tension, anger and work at cultivating openness, energy and joy within the challenge.

It was fun fun fun, light hearted and full of smiles! Thank your beautiful students.

xox Kim

Adhikara (studentship)...The 5 elements of student ship. Questions to contemplate on. How to cultivate in asana practice.

Adhikara (studentship)
Adhikara, is a Sanskrit word that translates to mean studentship. Adhikara can be applied to any aspect and any skill in your life…Yoga, piano, parenting…But I will be focusing on how to apply adhikara to your yoga practice. It is such a wonderful qualities to cultivate. The more you apply adhikara in your practice, the more you will see it spreading into every aspect of your life.

Adhikara is made up of 5 qualities/elements includeing:
1. Sky: unbounded, beginners mind, soft, humble, “just try it” attitude.
2. Earth: solid, unwavering, grounded.
3. Water: fluid, receptive, accommodating.
4. Fire: burning, transformative energy, aspiring for greatness, reaching for excellence.
5. Air: dexterity of mind, flexible thinking, breath, not getting stuck.

How to embody the five elements:
1.Be open like the sky. Be humble. Instead of being stubborn, cultivate a “just try it” attitude. The sun is always shining somewhere in the sky so connect to your inner brightness!
2.Be steady like the earth. Find strength, dig deep. Total power. Have unwavering disciple on your path.
3.Be like the water. Be fluid. Be humble. Any obstacle that comes in your way you can deal with, your accommodating. Be accommodating with what the body needs when you are on your mat. Every vinyasa? Childs pose?
4.Be like the fire. Have passion. Reach for excellence. What drives you? What inspires you? What fuels your action? Aspire for greatness. Feel the transformative energy of the heart.
5.Be like the air. Always moving. Not get stuck in past assumptions. Feel the air in your breath. Be flexible in your mind. Apply the yoga teaching to your life!

Putting the 5 elements/qualities into practice:

•Surya Namaskar A:
Tadasana: open, soften (sky). Hug muscular energy in, strength (earth). Inner thighs back, truck tail bone (water). As the tail bone scoops under feel the lift in belly, aspire for greatness, reach up from the heart, fingers spread (fire). Breathe (air).
Uttanasana (forward fold) to Ardha Uttanasana(half way up forward fold): fold forward. Open to new possibilities (sky). Engage your thighs draw your shins toward each other (earth). Pelvis rotates forward over the thigh bones, like a waterfall as the spine lengthens toward the ground (water). Create length up the spine, like a candle flame (fire). Breath, keep moving and expanding (air).
Plank (top of a push up): soften and open. This is a new pose, open to something new (sky). Finger pads push down firmly the chest lifts up. The balls of the feet press down and forward the thighs draw back. Strength and stability (earth). Tuck tail bone under, find fluidity in pelvis (water). Allow your passion to keep you in the pose. Want to do good (fire). Feel the breath ripple through the body (air).
Chaturanga (four limbed staff): Soften your face and smile (sky). Bend your elbows to a 90 degree angle, don’t let your shoulders drop bellow your elbows. Belly stays strong, thighs stay back, press into the hands and toes (earth). Tuck tailbone, feel the gentle movement as you hover above the ground, accommodate this gentle pulsation (water). Find the passion and drive that keeps you holding chaturanga. You could hold chaturanga for so long because you have aspiration to do great. Be great (fire). Breathe, flexible mind (air).
Bhujangasana (Cobra): let go of you knowing what this pose will be like, and open to something bigger (sky). Head and chest lift. Muscle energy, shoulders on the back body while maintaining length in the side body. Lift and open your heart. Press the tops of the feet down (earth). Tuck the tail bone get out of the low back and curl into the upper back (water) lift more with the heart, scope the tail bone more, press into the feet more, dig into yourself and find what inspires you in this pose (fire). Allow the breath to take you deeper (air).
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog): Open to new possibilities open to Grace. We do this pose frequently, can you let go of your past experiences and experience something new (sky). Press into finger pads, claw the ground. Arms bone draw onto back body, shines pull together (earth). Groins back and apart, melt heart (water). Find your inner flame, your passion and allow that passion to fuel this pose (fire). Feel the breath move through you (air).
Uttanasana (forward fold) to Ardha Uttanasana(half way up forward fold): fold forward. Open to new possibilities (sky). Engage your thighs draw your shins toward each other (earth). Pelvis rotates forward over the thigh bones, like a waterfall as the spine lengthens toward the ground (water). Create length up the spine, like a candle flame (fire). Breath, keep moving and expanding (air).
Tadasana: open, soften (sky). Hug muscular energy in, strength (earth). Inner thighs back, truck tail bone (water). As the tail bone scoops under feel the lift in belly, aspire for greatness, reach up from the heart, fingers spread (fire). Breathe (air).

Specific Poses:
•Anjaneyasana (lunge): soften as you open to something new, something unbounded (sky). Start by bringing your hands to your thighs, draw your feet toward each other fire up the thighs. Strength, steadfast and unwavering (earth). Sit bones widen then, tuck the tail bone under creating freedom in pelvis (water). From the tucking of the tailbone feel the side bodies rise, from that lift extend. Reach from your kidneys, from your heart up to the finger tips. Reach to do great! Be great (fire). Breath softly with a gently smile that tickles your brain (air).
•Parsvakonasana (side angle pose): Open, don’t think you know everything. What would happen if you have a totally new revolution in this pose (sky). Same arm on thigh other hand to other hip, full power hug in. Draw your feet together, thigh bones engaged. Shoulders drawn away from the ears keeping the side body bight and long (earth). Widen the sit bones apart, and then inner spiral back leg. Externally rotate the front leg, tuck tail bone forward and toward the front heel. More space in the pelvis (water). Maintaining the length in side body reach hand on hip over head palm face down. Inner body bright. Allow your inner sweetness to shine out through the pours in your skin. This shinning out is your passion (fire). Breath (air).

The first quality that we looked at is “sky.” Questions to ask yourself:
• Do you have a beginner's mind?
• Are you present?
• Do you observe?
• Are you opened to grace?
• Are you stubborn or are you open to new possibilities?

The second quality that we look at is “earth.” Questions to ask yourself:
• Do you have a steady yoga practice with devotion?
• Have you dedicated yourself to yoga, meditation, and pranayama?
• Do you practice regularly?

The third quality we look at is “water.” Questions to ask yourself:
• Do you ride the waves of life?
• Do you go with the flow?
• Are you accommodating?

The fourth quality we look at is “fire”. Questions to ask yourself:
• Do you have aspiration in life?
• Do you have fire and desire?
• Do you want to exceed?
• Do you want to aspire to your greatness?

The fifth quality we look at is “air”. Questions to ask yourself:
• Are you able to flow with the winds of change?
• Do you have flexibility of mind?
• Can you apply the teaching from one pose to another?

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali II:46 STHIRA-SUKHAM ASANAM

The Yoga Sutras, written by Patanjali was the first book to outline the art and science of yoga, explaining how to reach enlightenment (Samadhi). These sutras serve as a map for the inner journey, helping to develop every level of our being and enhancing every aspect of our life.

Patanjali divided the 196 sutras into different four chapters (pada) that comprise what is often called Classical Yoga.
Book 1: Concentration (Samadhi Pada)
Book 2: Practice (Sadhana Pada)
Book 3: Progressing (Vibhuti Pada)
Book 4: Liberation (Kaivalya Pada)

In chapter 2, sutra 46 Patanjali states:
STHIRA-SUKHAM ASANAM

Asanam: The qualities of a yoga posture
Sthira: steadfast, stable, effort, strength
Sukham: ease, delight, joy, pleasant

In this sutra, Patanjali explains that every yoga posture needs to be balanced with qualities of Sthira (steady, stable, effort, steadfast) and qualities of Sukham(ease, delight, and joy).

It is by practicing both of these extremes, between effort and ease that we find balance in the middle. It is like a singing crystal bowl. As you make the bowl sing, the sound expands out more and more, between sound and silence, and high and low, but within these extremes the physical bowl is vibrating in the center. By performing our yoga postures with qualities of Sthira and Sukham, we find ourselves ‘vibrating’ in the center, in our heart!

We find a balance between firmness and softness, tension and relaxation, effort and ease, muscle and flexibility, which offers a delicious luxurious challenge. Patanjali says that the combination of Sthira and Sukham creates a state of equilibrium (satva) that is without agitation (rajas) or inertia (tamas).
Depending on our personality type will determine which aspect of Sthira and Sukham we need to work on more. If we naturally find our self full of effort, strength and steadfastness we need to work on softening and experiencing the delight in our poses. If we are more lethargic we need to push ourselves harder.

So the next time you are practicing and your body is trembling with effort (or jumping with joy) can you soften slightly and connect to a place within you that is at ease, and find the delight within the effort? The next time you are practicing and you feel too at ease with no sense of strength in your pose can you dig a little deeper and look the tiger in the eye a little bit more finding the quality of steadfastness that Patanjali refers to?

I think Sthira and Sukham is also great to practice off the mat. When life seems hard, or a situation comes up that feels full of effort, can we look into the situation and find the joy? When we are lazy can we find the strength and effort to get off the couch?

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a fabulous book and a great tool for deepening your yoga practice. My two favorite translations are:
•Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, By Sri Swami Satchidananda (more in depth, helps you understand sutras more fully)
•Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, By Mukunda Stiles (shorter more poetic)

JALANDHARA BANDHA

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali states that "Jalandara bandha catches the flow of nectar in the throat". This is a very fun, sweet practice that opens the chest, softens the throat, and allows the pallet of the mouth to be luminous.

Start: by rolling the shoulders onto the back body away from the ears so the heart becomes open and radiant. Create length up the side bodies, collar bones lifting so it feels like the core of the heart is floating. Then slightly tilt the chin down, as if you were to rest the chin on the heart. As the chin moves down toward the heart continue to keep a little curve in the upper neck (cervical spine). Option: you can take a wash cloth and roll it up into a ball placing it under the chin so the chin rests on the wash cloth, which is resting on the sternum. As if you were a swan sleeping on its feathery chest. (If the chin creates a jab at the Adams apple it destroys the effectiveness of this bandha.)

While practicing Jalandara bhanda keep the pallet of the mouth open, stay soft in the throat, and experience the heart radiant. On the inhale the lower back slides up the spine towards the head. And as you exhale feel the low back gently soften down toward the tailbone.

Benefits: Practicing Jalandara bhanda opens both the front and the back halves of the diaphragm, balancences the pelvic floor, balances the activities of the brain.It opens the physical and energetic channels of the back and neck, while compressing the channels in the front of the throat. It causes prana (life force energy) to collect in the throat, and when the bandha is released the energy flows into the skull. Jalandhara bandha also controls the body's metabolism, by applying pressure to the thyroid, which secretes the hormone thyroxin. This hormone is responsible for the rate of tissue metabolism; it also activates enzymes and oxidation in cells. "Massaging" the thyroid by using Jalandhara bandha helps regulate this organ and keeps it in good health.