Beyond the Outside

I try to focus my practice on one thing every month - whether that be a particular pose, working toward a pose, or connecting my practice with writings from the Yoga Sutras or other piece of writing. This month I have been inspired by two things, a passage from the Upanishads and a video I stumbled on while surfing YouTube.

There is a Yoga Sutra study group every Thursday night before a class that I take. I rarely make it on time because of work, but still try to participate in any way I can. While it is a Yoga Sutra study group, the focus has been on the Upanishads for the past month or so. One passage from the Mundaka Upanishad stuck out to me:

Not through discourse, not through the intellect,
Not even through study of the scriptures
Can the Self be realized. The self reveals
Himself to the one who longs for the Self. 
     - Eknath Easwaran
    
I have always considered myself to be an extroverted person, so turning inside can be very difficult. I prefer to live outside of myself. I think out loud and I focus on external sensations like sights, sounds, and smells. Working inside is not always easy, as I have preferred the opposite all my life.

I gave this some thought and had been trying to find a way to bridge the gap between my preferences and going inside. So I did what someone in my generation does when they hit a road block - search YouTube. I stumbled on a video of an amazing Iyengar Teacher who is no longer with us - Mary Dunn.

Her dedication to her practice inspired me. What curiosity! How relatable. One area where I have been able to bridge that gap is my asana practice. I have noticed that I can easily focus on the inside, or at least my physical structure and its mechanics easily while working with asana. Sometimes I feel that it transcends just mechanics. Asana practice has an ability to bring the practitioner to focus on something so individual, so personal. This video helped me to realize that.

Hanuman Coming To A Close?

This month "with" Hanuman has been very special. I learned so much about that monkey and saw how I can apply his life and lessons to my daily routine.

This month has also helped me tremendously with my physical practice. Not only has practicing such a difficult pose given me courage, but it has also taught me a certain level of patience and understanding of my body and mind.

So is it over? No. There is so much I learned that I will keep with me moving forward in this life and apply to my every day practice. In addition, a great friend gave me something that will help me keep Hanuman close by.

More and More Hanuman

We tend to think of July as a Time for relaxation and basking in the sun. July, however, can end up being like any other month if we allow it to be. This month I realized that our time is what we make it.

I somehow packed this month with meetings and agreed to sub others' classes, not realizing the type of schedule I had built for myself. So I have been going non stop. Once I realized what I had done, I decided that I needed a source of courage. Lucky enough, this month I have been dedicating to the learning of Hanuman and the practice of Hanumanasana.

Just like Hanuman, I received advice from others, the belief in me that helped me realize that I can get through it and do well. In times of doubt, Aum Sri Hanumathe Namaha!

Daily Hanuman

I do realize that I cannot do Hanumanasana every day. So, I have decided to do other feats that are Hanuman worthy. On off days I have decided to work on arm balances and sit in padmasana for 10 minutes (5minutes on each side). While I can get into padmasana fairly easily, holding it takes immense concentration - something that Hanuman does very well.

I have been reading more about him and I have been enjoying the stories. I can see why so many are devoted to him, he is courageous, humble, and focused. In learning about the Bhakti tradition, I understand you can have a relationship with your Ishta Devita as a mother-child relationship, a friendship, or a lover's relationship. I can understand having a relationship with Hanuman as a friend, everyone wants someone like that in their corner.

Approaching Hanumanasana

This month I am making Hanumasana my focus. This challenging pose, I have found thus far, is just as challenging for the mind as it is for the body. The amount of stretch and opening that occurs in the legs and groin is very intense. I have found, however, that the longer I stay in it, the more the pose unfolds itself. When first entering the pose, my mind jumps right to the stretch and the intense feeling in the hamstrings and groins. It can be daunting to let the first reaction pass - the feeling is rather intense. After holding the pose in a supported position a few times, I can now approach it as a learner - realizing that I need to pull a hip forward or rotate the upper thigh to the floor, using the same lessons that I apply to other poses.

To prepare my body for the pose, I have been using a sequence that I am adapting from an old copy of Yoga Journal and different approaches from classes and workshops that I have taken.

• The sequence starts with a forward bend. I have been experimenting with this - lifting the toes onto a rolled up mat or block to get a deeper stretch of the hamstrings, holding the pose for a few minutes, or approaching the pose in a restorative way - propping up the head, etc.
  
  
• Next, I move onto rajakapotasana (pigeon). I have been using different variations of this pose. I do this pose twice on each side. The first time, doing the pose my traditional way - front leg bent, back leg straight. Then I do the pose a second time, trying to get my front leg closer to parallel to the front of the mat - which means that I have to prop myself up a bit, but the opening it creates in the hip is wonderful. Sometimes I will bend the back leg into the body as well.
  
  
• I then move onto a lunge sequence - runner's lunge variations, added quad stretches.
  
  
• Then I approach Hanumanasana - utilizing bricks to support where I am currently with the pose. I utilize different brick heights to elevate or lower the groins closer to the floor

The experience thus far has been amazing.

Aum Sri Hanumathe Namaha

I decided that after a month of head standing, I would give myself a new challenge. So this month I will be working on Hanumanasana, a yoga pose we in the west would call "the splits." The pose is named after the Hindu god Hanuman (the monkey god). The pose is a imitation of his jump across the ocean - legs split, arms up, mouth wide open.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Hanuman. I often chant the invocation to him (Aum Sri Hanumathe Namaha) in times where I need to summon up energy or when I need to do something that feels impossible. I have also made the promise to myself that I would learn more about him this month. So, here is what I learned so far:

• Hanuman is known for great feats of austerity
  
• He is credited as the creator of sun salutations, as the sun was his teacher (he actually met the sun when he jumped into the air to eat it - he thought the sun was a mango)
  
• Hanuman, as son of the wind god (Vayu) was a faithful pranayama practitioner
  
• While Hanuman was amazing at everything he did, music, breath, physical feats, etc. he stayed humble and was faithful to his practice. I think I will need that inspiration this month, working on his pose.

Every Day Inversions - Tips From Others

I was blessed to take four wonderful classes in the last two days - the first from my amazing teacher, Eileen, the other three I took today at the Iyengar Yoga Studio in NYC (I am writing this on the train home).

So here are some tips from the experts:

HEADSTAND:
- reach the legs off of the hips - think of lifting the legs up to the ceiling to take some of the weight off of the arms and head

- when first learning to kick up into headstand, do not let your buttocks hit the wall - that impact could cause you to damage your neck. Practice first with Eka Pasa Sirsasana (plant the head and forearms on the floor and raise one leg then plant it on the floor. Repeat. Practice this for some time before learning to kick up.)

- extend the index fingers to access and lift the upper arms up to the ceiling

- if your arms often roll out on headstand, tighten the forearm skin prior to kicking up. Here is how: drop the elbows to the mat and extend the forearms forward while contacting the mat with the elbows only, extending the skin of the forearm.

SHOULDER STAND:

- after you have been working with shoulder stand for some time, try to do the pose with the hands on the shoulder blades - bringing the thoracic spine in to broaden the chest