THE PERSON WITH THE MOST POSES DOESN’T WIN ANYTHING
April 11, 2011. Change is happening all around us. And it’s easy to convince ourselves to go faster and do more, collect more in order to feel like we can control the changes happening. But at the end of the day, end of class, end of our life: the person with the most poses doesn’t win anything more than anyone else. The same can be said of life. If we insist on speeding up and collecting more work hours like we collect poses or we focus on doing more and faster we won’t get anything in particular for our super human efforts. We need not push or shove or pull at change but learn how to get along with it keeping our hand on the tiller so to speak but without it letting it speed us up into hysteria or confusion.
Slowing down in sanskrit is SHANI.
And science tells us straight out that our brains function at a faster frequency than our bodies. It’s like being in the same car with two radio stations dialed. The noise of listening to two different types of music simultaneously can give anyone a headache. This is what is made more obvious the more stressed out we are. Our minds get faster and faster, our bodies more tired and slow.
Yoga is that practice of bringing things into balance and tuning our dials. Chapter 2.46 in the yoga sutras talks about this as sthira and sukha this balance between effort and letting go, doing and being, stability and freedom, steadiness and sweetness. If the mind is spinning wildly then we come to the mat to slow it down, shani dude. And if the body needs to energize we learn to move through poses. Yoga dials us into the same radio station and the breath is that link to slow down the mind and encourage the body away from inertia. Mindful moving helps us leave in a sweet state of SHANI.
Today we used balancing poses to help us focus the mind more quickly and get our bodies going straight from the start. And by the end you could feel the effect of the practice. Savasana was sweeter than ever. Ah yes! Mind and Heart and Body as one again. Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia
TODAY’S PLAYLIST
Chandra (The Moon), Michael Mandrell and Benjy Wertheimer
Child's Eyes (Jenny's Song), scott Cossu
The Hill, Markéta Irglová
Big Medicine, Mari Boine
Lumière [MAIN], Blue Scholars
Nungabunda, Ganga Giri
Grid Lok'd, Govindas
Diarabi, Issa Bagayogo
Pitchblack Darkness (feat. Reazun, Paradox), Kyteman
One Moment More, Mindy Smith
Wonderwall, Ryan Adams
Wash Away, Joe Purdy
Samba Sadashiva, Donna De Lory