Holiday in Cambodia

                                       Angkor Wat at sunrise, July, 2013

I am still reeling after coming back from our holiday in Cambodia. What a country! Hot, steamy, amazing heritage sites and friendly people, we had a rewarding and relaxing break. We stayed in hotels with swimming pools, the perfect way to unwind after trailing around and over the ruins of Angkor Wat and other temples within the temple complex.

Anyway, my text for holiday reading was the Bhagavad Gita and I enjoyed the book more this time round. Always good to re read classics as new themes pop up and you see things from a different perspective over time. I hope to write about it when I have time to organise my ideas on the insights offered. In the meantime, I will be continuing on with my exploration of Patanjali's words of wisdom as I get back into teaching and a more regular personal practice.

Om shanti,

Margot

Patanjali's eight limbs of Yoga: Niyamas

 Mandala by Margot Porter

An Introduction to the Niyamas

The niyamas are actions or attitudes you take towards your body and mind. They are sauca (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas (self-discipline), svadhyaya (self-study) and ishvara pranidhana (devotion).

Sauca means purity. There are many ways to bring purity to our lives. We can do this through eating clean and healthy food, having true and pure intentions behind our actions, cultivating neutral or positive thoughts and keeping our body supple and strong. Sauca: purity in thought, action and intention.

How does this work on our yoga mats? We work in our physical practice of asanas to reduce or eliminate areas in the body that are tight, tense or restricted in some way with the intention of unblocking and moving prana throughout the body unhindered.  When we move through a thoughtfully sequenced practice we are able to cleanse and replenish the body and mind on many levels. The body is unblocked allowing prana and citta to move freely and the organs are squeezed and then flushed with fresh blood. Any accumulated tension in the muscles and joints can be released as we work towards building strength and flexibility.  Our lymphatic system and meridians are both stimulated and massaged. Our physical practice gets us in touch with our body bringing mind and body together. With a happy body we are less inclined to gorge on chocolate and naturally gravitate towards healthy options.

Of course, I think it is  important to mention the most obvious form of cleanliness or purity that is keeping our bodies fresh and our yoga equipment in good order. I like to clean my mat with some warm water a little tea tree oil or lavender oil to make it smell sweet and be hygenic. As  a teacher I wash my blankets and mats regularly and eye pillow covers after each class....yes that means I have many covers. For me this form of purity is about respect for the practice and honouring myself.

On a mental level the asanas help to bring us into the present moment - the here and now. Once a yoga class or practice starts we engage with the breath and the body to move actively yet mindfully. The mind steadies as it is given a task. As the saying goes" make your mind your servant not your master". A great example is a balance pose: try standing on one leg in tree pose with a scattered or agitated mind and you will find this leads to a very wobbly tree rather than a strong stable tree with its roots in the earth and its branches in the sky. The phyiscal practice helps us to sit comfortably in meditation. And it is here in our formal meditation practice we work  to observe our habitual mind patterns and take this with us into our daily lifes with the hope of changing behaviour patterns and reactivity.

The mind connects with body bringing stillness. Mind, body and spirit together. In the second Yoga Sutra Pantajali states "Yogas Citta Vritti Nirodhah". This translates as when the waves of chatter in the mind cease, this is yoga. The mind is not in the past or the future it is simply being here in the present.

Sauca: purity in thought, action and intention.  

Om shanti,

Margot

The eight limbs: Yamas and Niyamas

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 Mandala by Margot

Our yoga mat is the perfect place to uncover the mind, body and spirit connection. The physical postures or asanas build strength, suppleness and balance in the body, however, they also provide a space to observe up close our habitual tendencies towards ourselves and others. Yoga is much more than just twisting, balancing and striking a pose, in fact, it could be said Yoga is the art of living. The eight limbs of yoga written by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras (threads) are practical steps to help the average person reach self-realisation or enlightenment (a continuous and sustained bliss state). The eight step ladder allows us to deepen our yoga practice with the goal of reducing or even eliminating suffering.

To recap, the eight steps are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. In classes we have explored the yamas or restraints. These are codes of behaviour to assist in building or strengthening moral and ethical conduct towards others and the environment. The yamas: ahimsa, satya, asteya, bramhacharya and aparigrapha. See blogs below on my understanding or interpretation of the yamas, in particular, how they play out on the yoga mat. It is through observing, without judgement, our behaviour toward ourselves that we can begin to explore how that is reflected in our treatment of others and the environment. For example, if we treat ourselves harshly always looking for perfectionism and viewing ourselves without compassion then we will cast a similar eye over others behaviour and not be able to see them through kind eyes as a reflection of ourselves.

The act of integrating and practising the yamas into our daily lifes creates positive change and this can be strengthen further by looking at the five actions that make up the second limb of yoga, niyama. The five niyamas are tools by which we can refine ourselves and help us to lead a happier and more content life. The five niyamas are saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya and ishvara pranidhana. 

Om shanti,

Margot

 

Thoughts on my daily practice

Thoughts on my daily practice.

As winter settles in and the juices between the joints, tissues, muscles and organs becomes a little less runny perhaps even sticky my body enjoys more gentle flow working up to some longer held poses. Some days when my energy is low and my body mind and spirit need a recharge I gravitate towards a restorative practice. 

What is restorative yoga?

Restorative Yoga is a practice dedicated to deeply nourishing the body through mindfully resting the body and mind. The practice focuses on 'being' rather than doing. An extensive range of yoga props (blocks, bolsters, blankets, straps, the wall, floor, eye pillows) are used to create a fully supported practice allowing the body to unwind passively and the mind to move toward stillness. The props help the practitioner to rest deeply without unnecessary strain or stress physical or mental. This makes the practice ideal for those with injury, low energy, pre and post natal or those simply wishing to nourish and heal the body. For example, legs up the wall (Viparti Karani) is a classic restorative pose using the wall as a prop to support the legs. 

 Restorative yoga: photo from 2012 Spring to life Yoga Retreat

 

My favourite book is Donna Farhi's Yoga for Women: Therapeutic practice sequences. You can go to her website to order the book Donna Farhi's website I have participated in several Donna Farhi workshops/intensives (and they are intense) and really enjoy her approach to yoga as an inquiry into your awareness of your body, organs, muscles, breath as well as witnessing habits and mind patterns that may be holding you back. With this information you learn to move towards your potential while respecting your limitations. Be happy with who you are and what you have done.

Meditation: A practice to move within

As the days get shorter,  winter offers itself up for reflective practices like seated meditation.  

Yoga means to 'yoke' or 'unite'. This implies that we are seeking to become whole making yoga a lifestyle or a way of being in the world. The main method to becoming whole is meditation: meditation is how you join with the universal consciousness and be one.  Meditation or another way to put this to is simply being, here, now, in the present moment. This being here can be practised anywhere anytime - on the mat (asana practice), on your cushion and in daily life (possibly the most challenging). It is possible to meditate anytime, anywhere. Check out the meditation page for some suggestions as there are many ways to meditate: Find a method that works for you and when it stops working find a new one.

Namaste, 

I honour and respect the good qualities in you.

Margot

Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga: Yamas - Aparigrapha

                                                                              Photo by Marc Perri
Aparigrapha
This yama or restraint means adopting an attitude of non-greed to simplify life by cultivating an attitude of generosity and non-hoarding. This suggests living a simple life without excess which naturally leads to appreciating the bounty the earth offers us and only taking what we absolutely need to live. An extension of this could be if we take too much then we are effectively stealing from another sentient being be that a butterfly, a person or the ocean and all that lives in it. It could be said that excess is a corrupting force in that it leads us towards desire of sensual and physical possessions and ultimately bondage to the ego: mine, my, me.
How does this play out on the mat, I think one way of looking at it is about not being attached or indeed having an aversion to the content or execution of our practice. We can easily convince ourselves that we need to achieve a more advanced pose, however, it is attitude towards the body and mind when in the pose that can turn a simple posture into a deeply meaningful one. Move in the stream of energy not against it.  Energy flows through a heart felt practice not one driven by achieving or comparing, thus, another way of moving towards non-coveting is the practice of dedicating your yoga/mediation practice to something or someone.

In gratitude for all that is, Om shanti,

Margot