Posts Tagged ‘sukhasana’
YOGA IS MY BUS (continued)
Day 2 of cramming for Faeq Biria’s worshop: The word to describe today’s class in UNEXPECTED.
To borrow the words of Forest Gump - “[Yoga] is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get.”
I was not expecting Rina to teach today but she did.
Before class started, Rina asked if anyone had asthma. I thought that Rina had asked this question to warn us that today’s class would be difficult. I was wrong. Rina asked the question because she wanted to light incense to scent the room. Also, I thought today’s lessons would be standing poses, which I dread. I was pleasantly surprised that today was all about forward bends and twists. Although forwards bends and twists are tough, I enjoy them because I am at peace when I execute those poses.
Classes usually begin when the teacher tells the students to sit in sukhasana (sitting with you legs crossed and your palms pressed together), and with eyes closed, say “Om”. Today, Rina began the class, with a short talk about the Puruksha (the Seer or soul) and the Prakrti (the Seen or everything else). From what I remember, Rina said that the soul or Puruksha is our true selves. Our true selves know no sadness, happiness, pain or joy. Rather, in our true selves, there is peace from finding ourselves. Often times, however, we do not recognize our true selves. For this reason, we feel sadness, pain, happiness and joy. Rina further explained that Prakrti is everything else that we sees. Prakrti is what gives us false impressions about our true selves. According to Rina, our Puruksha is like the sun, which is the true source of light. Whereas, our Prakrti is like the moon, which is capable of giving light but is not the true source of light. Like the moon, our Prakrti bears something of our true nature but is not quite us. The reason Rina spoke of Puruksha and Prakrti is because today’s lessons are intended to aid us look within ourselves to find our Puruksha and rid ourselves of the impression of ourselves that we get from the Prakrti. According to Rina (and by experience I confirm that what she says is true), today’s lessons allows us to fold into ourselves when we do forward bends and to open up our chest and hearts when we do twists.
Half way through the class, we were told to go into paryankasana (this is a pose where you start by kneeling on the floor and slowly bend backwards). In the variation of paryankasana that Rina asked us to do, I suddenly felt fear as I was bending backwards. For some unexpected reason, I felt that I was going to drown head first. It called to mind that time, when I was in college and would get nightmares that I would not be able to wake up because I was drowning head first. After reminding myself that my fear is baseless, I forced myself to get into the pose and I was able to sustain the pose for some time.
As a rule, I am a very realistic person. I believe that you cannot squeeze blood from the stone. During this class, Rina forced us to get into another pose when we were all tired and she said that she would try to squeeze blood from a stone and she did. Rina was able to get everyone to do several more poses. This was unexpected to say the least.
So, do I think that I would survive Srichan Faeq Biria’s class? Maybe. But, he will have to squeeze blood from a stone like me.
YOGA IS MY BUS (continued)
Lessons in humility
For a time, getting into many asanas was getting easier. More often than not, I even found quiet in the pose. Then I stopped doing Yoga for a time as I became busy with other things. When I finally had the time to go back to class, I was extremely disappointed that I could not find quite even in the simplest of asanas. To this day, I have not found quite even while sitting in sukhasana and simply saying “Om”.
I cannot describe in words this feeling of utter disappointment in not being able to find quiet in a pose. Perhaps I should just lift my arms up and scream my head out. Maybe then you will understand how I feel. Maybe…
When I tried to understand what was happening to me, I realized that I had been attending classes thinking that I had done an asana and there should be no problem in getting into it again. As soon as this thought hit me, I told myself that I had to disabuse my mind of this. This way, I would have no expectation and not be over-confindent in myself. I must learn humility. I must.
I thought that the best way to disabuse my mind was to attend the basic classes. I needed to re-learn the asanas.
I attended the basic class today, which is taught by Susan, one of my classmates in the General Class (the class for people who already have some background in Yoga). When Susan saw me, she looked surprised and immediately said that Rina was teaching during the week. I told Susan that I was probably not prepared for a class with Rina yet as I had the flu last week and had not been practicing since. I suppose that Susan was wondering why I was attending her class when were were classmates. At the end of the class, Susan asked me how I found her class. I told her that I thought her class was great and that her back was straight (for many asanas we need to keep our back straight).
Susan is actually one of my classmates who does very well during the class as she is focused. Most of the time, Susan stays in the back of the class and she hardly says anything. Susan is also a devoted practioner of Yoga. She once told me that, when we do not have classes, she practices at home. I am not surprised that she has been chosen to teach one of the classes. The thing about Susan is that, she is very humble. Unlike me, she probably does not dwell on how perfectly she could execute an asana.
In today’s class, I learned the lesson of humility, not so much from doing the asanas, but from being inspired by my classmate and now teacher, Susan.
YOGA IS MY BUS (continued)
Aummmmmmmmm
Alya, one of my Yoga teachers, said that if the universe had a sound, it would probably be Om.
At the beginning of each Yoga class, we sit in sukhasana (similar to lotus-style sitting) with palms pressed together and thumbs resting on our sternum. With eyes closed and our minds emptied of everything except the here and now, we take a deep breath and on an an exhalation say “Om.”
Out of curiosity, I Googled, “Om” and was surprised to learn that, like Yoga, this two letter word with a three letter sound (”a”, “u”, “m”) has many nuances across many religions, philosophies and life practices. Reading about it got me all confused and made me doubt my gutt feelings about this word. I later realized that, it is best not to over analyze this word. Like Yoga, I think the best way to understand “Om” is to say it rather than to read about it. (more…)