The Song Celestial

During a dharma talk in Yoga class you may have heard your teacher refer to the Bhagavad Gita and wondered, “what is that?”.  Well, the Bhagavad Gita, which is sometimes referred to as the Gita, and sometimes the Song Celestial, is considered to be the most beloved of all Hindu scriptures.  It is written in the form of an epic poem and is said to have been written around 200 BC.  Superficially the Bhagavad Gita appears to be a conversation between the Divine Messenger, Lord Krishna, and a warrior-prince named Arjuna, but it is much more than this.  The Gita is packed full of symbolism.  If you try reading a chapter and think of Krishna as a Guru or maybe our inner voice, Arjuna as a Yogic practitioner or us, the chariot as the physical body or vehicle, and the five horses that are pulling the chariot as the five senses, maybe you will start to see how multi-layered the Gita really is.  In his introduction to The Bhagavad Gita, Allen Jacobs says that it is “…magnificent poetry, inspirational wisdom, serious advice on spiritual practice, and the way to Realisation of the Self”.  Now, doesn’t that sound like something worth reading?

A daily dose of svadhyaya

The beginning of the new year seems to be the time when everyone is involved in contemplation on “the self”.  It seems to be the time when people contemplate what happened the previous year and determine that this is “the year” that they’re going to bring about those important changes in themselves.  In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , svadhyaya is listed as one of the five niyamas or rules that yogis and yoginis should follow in order to care for themselves.  Svadhyaya translates as self-study.  Patanjali is telling us that self-study or self-reflection is not something that should be undertaken once a year, but something that we should be doing on an ongoing basis in order to better understand ourselves and enable us to live a better life.  He says that we can make svadhyaya a part of our life by incorporating things such as meditation, journalling, the study of scriptures, and self-reflection into our lives.  During Yoga class we can practice svadhyaya by noticing our reaction to certain poses, pranayama or meditation techniques.  Do we find a certain pose to be scary, safe, comforting, or even boring?  Reflecting on our reaction can bring us to a greater undertstanding of ourselves, which is what a daily dose of svadhyaya is all about.

Cha Cha Chakras

Chakra is a Sanskrit word that translates as “wheel”.  A chakra is a wheel of energy that is part of the subtle, or spiritual, body.   There are seven chakras and they are located at various points along the spine.  The location of each chakra coincides with either an endocrine gland or a nerve bundle in our physical body.  Each chakra is represented by a color and sound.  If we are in perfect mental and physical health, all of our chakras are said to be balanced and unblocked.  This is, of course, unusual for most of us and so you may have been to a Yoga class which focused on balancing or opening a particular chakra.  Various asanas, pranayama and meditation will facilitate this.  In future posts we’ll discuss each of the seven chakras and talk about Yoga practices for balancing each one.  For an easy introduction to the chakras that includes how they relate to Yoga practice, I would recommend something like The Chakra Bible: The Definitive Guide to Chakra Energy.  And as a final tidbit before I go, you may find it interesting that some people claim that our eighth chakra is our aura…cha, cha, cha.

Strike a pose

As we discussed in the “Every pose tells a story” post, learning the Sanskrit name, and possibly the story behind an asana, can sometimes give us a stronger connection with a pose.  Another good example of this is Hanumanasana, or splits pose.  You may have been to a class where the teacher moves you through a series of poses with the aim of eventually getting you into Hanumanasana.  This is often a very challenging pose for people, but the story behind the pose is one of great physical strength and perseverance.  Hanuman is the monkey God whose story is narrated in the Ramayana (an ancient Hindu epic).   He is one of the most popular idols in the Hindu pantheon and his story in the Ramayana is known for its astounding ability to give the reader inspiration to face ordeals and conquer lifes obstructions.  In the Ramayana he was given the task of locating Rama’s wife Sita, who had been kidnapped by the demon king of Lanka.  The story goes that he took a giant leap across the ocean between India and the island of Lanka to rescue Sita, and Hanumanasana represents his super-human leap.  So if this pose is difficult for you or requires perseverance to achieve, relax because you are embodying the true feeling of the pose.

He Ma Durga

Since my post about Donna De Lory there seems to have been a lot of interest in the translation of her song titled “He Ma Durga”.  My best translation of the Sanskrit title of the song would be “Oh Mother Durga”.  In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga is considered to be the embodiment of creative feminine force.  She exists in a state of self-sufficiency and fierce compassion.  Durga is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Kali, and the mother of Ganesh, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kartikeya.  She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Lord Shiva’s wife, the Goddess Parvati.  She manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humour, even during battles of epic proportion.  She is normally pictured as having ten arms and within each hand she carries a different weapon.  She is also normally pictured riding a tiger or a lion.  On the CD cover of  The Lover & the Beloved Donna says, underneath the lyrics to “He Ma Durga”, that this mantra is “a call to the divine Mother, that we may embody her perfect example of unconditional love and compassion”.  That definitely gives us all something to work towards.

Sweet Santosha

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras he gives us a list of guidelines for how we should treat ourselves, in order to explore our own self worth and to enable us to take care of the self.  These guidelines are called the niyamas and can be found in Yoga Sutra II:32.   Santosha is listed as one of Patanjali’s five niyamas and the English translation of Santosha is to feel gratitude or contentment with life.  This is not as easy as it sounds and is something that needs to be cultivated.  It’s very easy for us to concentrate so hard on the things that we feel we don’t have and desperately want, that we miss seeing all of the wonderful things that we do have.  Santosha reminds us to continually come back to a feeling of gratitude for what we do have in our life, to not dwell on what we feel is lacking, and to try and cultivate that sweet feeling of contentment.  Ahhh, sweet Santosha.  If you want a clear and concise translation of the Yoga Sutras, I would definitely recommend Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: With Great Respect and Love by Mukunda Stiles.  He somehow makes this classic easy to read and doesn’t interrupt the translation with continuous explanation – he allows it to be read like a beautiful poem.

Beautiful music

While looking for new music to play for some Yoga classes that I will soon be teaching, I came across the beautiful voice and music of Donna De Lory.  I just purchased one of her older albums called The Lover & the Beloved and I love every song.  The songs all revolve around a variety of mantras, including “Ganapati Om”, “Om Namah Shivaya” and “He Ma Durga”.  The CD actually gives some Sanskrit translation and incite into each of the mantras which is really interesting, and the beautifully chanted mantras are combined with her music to produce a very spiritual yet contemporary feeling album.  Donna used to be a backup singer for Madonna, which gives her some street-cred I guess!  She released a new album in March this year, called Sanctuary which seems to be getting great reviews, so I guess that will be my next purchase.

Every pose tells a story

Learning the Sanskrit name, and possibly the story behind an asana, can sometimes give us a stonger connection with a pose.  A good example is Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II) which is a pose that commonly appears in classes of all levels.   The story goes something like this.  Sati was the first consort of Lord Shiva and his second wife, Parvati, is the incarnation of Sati.  Sati grew up as a devoted follower of Lord Shiva and won his heart and eventually married him.  Her father disapproved of Shiva and as a result of their marriage cut Sati off from her family.  One day her father hosted a magnificent party and all the Gods were invited except for Shiva and Sati.  Sati desperately wanted to attend the party and see her family.  Shiva tried to dissuade her but she was determined to attend.  At the party a fight started with her father over all of the things that he disliked about Shiva.  Sati became so consumed with rage at her father that she used her Yogic powers to immolate herself and burned herself to death.  When Lord Shiva found out what had happened to his wife he became so angry and distressed that he began ripping out his dreadlocks.  Two of the dreadlocks that were thrown on the ground were transformed into the fierce warriors, Virabhadra and Bhadrakali.  As revenge for the death of his wife, Shiva released these creatures on the world to bring righteousness and justice.   So, the next time you’re standing in Virabhadrasana II, try to imagine that you are a warrior avenging the death of Sati and hopefully this will become one of your stongest poses.

The open hand of Aparigraha

We’ve already talked about Patanjali’s yamas, or rules of conduct, in a previous posting, but I want to expand on the concept of aparigraha (the fifth yama).  Aparigraha is defined as non-possessiveness, non-grasping, non-attachment and is sometimes referred to as having an “open hand”.  Aparigraha can be seen in the hoarding of possessions and even the obsessive collecting of friends, or an extreme attachment to a particular yoga teaching method.  As one of my teachers likes to say “if we are desperately holding onto all of our possessions with both hands, we won’t have one hand free to receive our blessings”, and hence the “open hand”.

Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire is a pranayama technique which involves quickly pulling air in and out of the lungs in a very rhythmic motion.  Most teachers suggest that you put your right hand on your belly and push your belly out on each of the quick exhales so that you can stay in the rhythm.  This pranayama is often used during Kundalini yoga classes and you can definitely feel the energy that is stirred up and moved around the body with this technique.  Breath of Fire is said to charge the nervous system and purify the blood.  If you want to try Breath of Fire, watch this YouTube video  which demonstrates the technique for beginners, intermediate and advanced students.