MINDFUL MONDAYS: I sit firmly in who I AM and cultivate good space for myself and others.
Yoga is vast like the ocean, yet it really is about one thing—and that is relationship, that sense of union that we are meant to feel within ourselves, with each other, and with our environment. The word yoga means “to yoke or join together.” While this applies to the individual mind and body, the individual with nature, it can also apply to joining people together in relationship.
But we do not always feel that. We often feel separate from each other. We forget that our actions and our speech have consequences and we forget that, despite our differences, we are still all connected. In fact, our sadness, loneliness, and dukkha (bad space) come from this forgetting of the truth of our interdependence.
I often recite Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 2.46 in class: Sthira Sukham Asanam, which is usually translated as ‘a steady and comfortable seat’ referring to seated concentration and meditation or the balance between effort (sthira) and ease (sukha) in an asana (pose).
A more literal translation of Sthira Sukham Asanam is ‘to firmly sit/establish oneself/dwell in good space.’ Sukha means fresh, clear, sweet, easeful, ‘good’ space. To have sukha (good space) one must cultivate it. Eliminating physical, emotional, and psychological ‘bad’ space (duhkha) is necessary for this process of cultivation. The term duhkha means stale, stuck, stagnant, uneasy, “bad” space. T. Krishnamacharya explains, “Duhkha is the mental activity that brings impurities into the heart, thus disturbing it.”
Everything we eat and drink leaves waste that needs to be processed and excreted, and it is equally important to be aware that everything we say, feel, think and do also leaves a similar residue. This ‘waste product’ from all physical, emotional, and psychological chemical reactions needs to be eliminated by the excretory system. We want to rid ourselves of Duhkha (the bad/toxic) to create more space for Sukha (the good)!
Yoga teaches us that we can clear duhkha to make more space for the good. To start with, one should abstain from thoughts, vocal, and physical actions which contribute to one’s mental agitation (mind). Refrain from speaking lies, harsh words, slanderous talk, or idle gossip. Refrain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and intoxicants. Avoid any means of livelihood which causes harm to others.
With the base of morality, one makes proper efforts and begins to develop awareness of sensations, at least in one small area of the body, like the nostrils or upper lip while practicing breathwork. Yoga encourages deeper breaths which create greater gaseous exchange in the lungs – in with the fresh and new, out with the stale and old. Sit quietly with closed eyes, observing the flow of in-breath and out-breath at the entrance to the nostrils. Working with this awareness of respiration, one develops the ability to keep the mind fixed on a single object of attention: the area at the nostrils, above the upper lip. With this heightened concentration, one becomes capable of experiencing the natural, normal, physical sensations in this area.
In asana practice, we make room for the good throughout our body:
Twisting asanas are great for massaging our internal environment and aiding in the removal of waste products through the seven channels of elimination.
Backbends bring awareness and massage into the posterior body (great stimulation for the kidneys and adrenals) and forward bends bring awareness and massage into the anterior body (great stimulation for heart, lungs, liver, and colon).
Inversions encourage lymph and venous blood to return to the heart area with the help of gravity.
Balancing postures are beneficial for the lymphatic system – if you let yourself wobble, hop and rebound a little (remember, the lymphatic system does not have a pump like the heart of the cardiovascular system, so you need to move to stimulate it!)
Less Duhkha and more Sukha! Join us for a yoga practice and experience the freshness, sweetness, cleansing, and clarity that yoga brings to the mind, body, breath, and essence.
