Simply Being | Simple Being

Tag: introspection (page 1 of 10)

effortless practice

I realized recently that the Ashtanga Yoga format has brought home the real import of effortless action. In this yoga practice, you learn a sequence that you do each day. You hold every asana in the sequence for a specified count—you don’t spend extra time on a pose because you want to perfect/improve it. You do what you are able to, move on. If you aren’t satisfied with the day’s practice, no issues—there’s always tomorrow.

(I recall telling something similar to a student of meditation, as well. Don’t be disheartened if you miss a day of practice—you have tomorrow, and the day after, and so on.)

This is a perfect metaphor for many embodied practices, I feel. (Isn’t living an embodied art as well?)

There is no room, no time, no space for thinking. You are simply flowing in action, and while you may think before the practice (“Ohh, perhaps I can try this in Prasarita Paadottanasana…”) or after (“Ahh, I could have held Urdhva Dhanurasan a bit longer…”), it really doesn’t matter. Of course, you can spend time reflecting upon the practice but I often feel that that’s an exercise for its own sake—you can engage in it if you like!

Being aware OF… as you practise, is really what it takes, apart from “Sa tu dīrgha kāla nairantarya satkārā ‘sevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ,” or (translation: mine) “long-term, consistent and without a break, consuming (or partaking of) with utmost honor is what creates steady grounding,” and that is Maharshi Patanjali’s definition of Abhyaasa, or practice.

And the results are delivered in perfect timing, as they should be. As you go about the daily practice, you marvel at the smoothness of action, the effortless stability, the optimized movements, the lightness of breath. And you didn’t even think about achieving any of that—all of it manifested as a natural consequence of the daily, “unthinking” yet aware practice.

This, to me, is pure effortlessness. While there may be physical stress and effort involved, the mind remains free, flowing. There is no fixation on outcomes, no obsession with “how to,” and so on. At a certain juncture, you see that the point of the practice is the practice itself. It becomes a goal unto itself, and then you are truly home, free… as you are released from any and all ideas related to the perfect practice, or perfection in practice, or a perfect practitioner.

And this is what I presume Karma Yoga is actually about?

sVaastha

The mystery of “health” is yet unresolved.

In India, the term “svAstha” is used to denote health. Now, svAstha simply means “established in oneself,” and we can safely say that health (or good health) is an integral aspect of being established in oneself. (What does it mean to “be established in oneself?” I wish I had a good answer.)

Does (good) health imply absence of disease? Or does it mean an ability to live and breathe fully, regardless of disease condition? Can health be tracked on multiple parameters? Or is it a state that defies all measurable parameters? Is there a universal definition of good health? Is good health same as immunity?

No two humans are alike, and it seems that there is not a universal prescription for good health, or for warding off disease. There are a zillion recommendations around diet and lifestyle and exercise, and there are as many individuals who appear to lead healthy lives WITHOUT following a single one of those recommendations. I know people who have survived cancer, undergone multiple surgeries, and live with chronic pain… but you wouldn’t know any of that from speaking with them—such is their zest for life. There are people who talk endlessly about health and fitness but there is such a defeated air about them that one wonders, what is the point? I know healthy individuals in their 80s, and it may be that their longevity owes itself to their disciplined lifestyle but then I also know others in the same age group who appear healthy because they have an inexhaustible, fearless appetite for life. I know young people who consume mindfully but live fearfully. There are individuals who take all manner of supplements and there are those who have never swallowed a multivitamin in their life. Really, what gives?

What is one to do? What recommendation can one follow?

Maybe what is essential for good health is a kind of “system integrity,” and I don’t know if there is an actual term for this.

A kind of honesty in how we live life, a sense of truthfulness to our own selves about our wishes and fears and desires, a simple clarity in expression, a habit of looking fear in the eye, a habit of living comfortably and side by side with fear, or grief, or regret, a willingness to see our internal tendency to push or pull, grab or shove or hide, to rush or dawdle, an intention to breathe fully through all life experiences.

Perhaps what one needs is sufficient love and faith in Life’s essential dynamism and intention to guide us in every way, including food, exercise, lifestyle, relationships, career, etc.

Indeed, the healthy ones are those that appear to be imbued with this inner love… love for? God, World, Life, whatever. Perhaps this is a complex phenomenon but maybe it is also simpler than the simplest, and so simple that this mind cannot comprehend.

Body balloon apparition

Ours is a family of skinny people, and over the last many months, we have gotten skinnier.

This is a matter of concern to some of us, and as we strive to add pounds to our frames, the topic of intermittent fasting comes up for consideration. I, for one, don’t think that skipping dinner is necessarily contributing to reduced weight, just as I don’t think that eating many meals a day should necessarily result in extra pounds.

I wonder if sustainable weight gain (or loss) may have little to do with the food we consume or the meals we skip. Indeed, I won’t be surprised if the figure on my scale starts to inch upward even as dinners continue to be skipped. (That certainly has been the case with my husband.)

I spent a year in Cairo, ’02-’03, and when I returned to India, I thought I resembled a South Indian film heroine. My frame, that is… It was a year of bad sleep, fatty food, zero exercise, emotional drama, et al. Small surprise that the pounds piled on, maybe? Anyway, I came home, enrolled in a gym, and the weight came off easily. And it remained steady for years until it began to drop. I consulted my Ayurvedic physician who saw no reason to worry. “It’s probably all the ama (toxins) that are gone,” she surmised.

And now, once again, the weight has reduced.

You know the typical questions a doctor asks a parent that’s worried about their child’s health… Does he sleep well? Does she poop on time? Is he active, energetic, enthusiastic? Does she look happy? Perhaps these are the same questions one should review as an adult, too. And if you come up with “yes” on all counts, then there is little cause for worry, I think?

The human body is so remarkable… and I am not even talking about its internal mechanisms and functioning. I am hinting at its physical appearance. When I look at my husband’s face, it occurs to me that he looks a lot older than he did a few years ago BUT he looks a lot younger, also. And I feel similarly about myself as well. My hair is “a fountain of grey,” (the husband’s description) but my face looks younger. The frame is smaller but it feels more solid. The wrists are skinny but they are stronger.

And then I wonder, is this body a mere apparition? Is it a simple projection of “my mind” in space? Is it the shape and form of my wishes and desires? Is it a balloon? 😄

life reveals itself

Windows Blinds

Ever so often I fall into a pattern that makes me stop and wonder. (Ponder?)

A few years ago I was set in my yoga practice. I had found a teacher and class I really enjoyed, and I went regularly. I felt that my understanding of Hatha Yoga was expanding, and so was my level of body awareness. It was exhilarating in so many ways, just like yoga classes mostly are.

Then things began to change. Perhaps this was the beginning of my “hermit” phase when I weaned off many social and group activities. I stopped going to class—maybe the teacher was gone for a bit, too? I cannot recall exactly but I began to practise at home instead, and it was really enjoyable. The pace was my own, and so was the sequence of asanas. I could change things up as I went along; I could play music if I wished; I could rest as long as I wanted, and I could end with seated meditation. Of course, these solo practice sessions weren’t as energetic as an in-class one but I found that my experience of Hatha Yoga ran deeper, and it also felt that the asanas revealed their nuances to me over time.

I sometimes wondered if I was merely being my “lazy” self who preferred to hang out at home instead of going to class. But I also knew that that was not the truth—I simply preferred to “fly solo” sometimes.

Fast forward a couple of years… I found myself at a yoga class, and it was a fun experience. Perhaps the years of solo practice had prepped me nice and proper, and I was able to experience more depths (and heights, bends, curves, etc.) in the class. I became a regular, going thrice a week.

Then India trips happened (Nov-Dec, Apr-May), so I couldn’t go to class any more, and I was back to practising on my own… and once again, I experienced the joy of deep, introspective, solo Hatha yoga practice.

And then I found myself at the same spot again… so comfortable in my home practice, so reluctant to go to class.

It’s so funny, I know! A group class takes me “far” but solo practice takes me “deep.” I wondered if the India trips had thrown me off-routine, and that’s why it was a challenge getting back. Now I wonder if it’s something else.

Perhaps Life reveals itself to us as we are. Perhaps it is reflecting to us what we are. Perhaps it isn’t us that’s responding to Life but Life that is responding to us. Perhaps it was my own strong wish for solitude that manifested in a series of events that made it simply hard to go to a class. Previously I thought “Life is the way it is, hence I am the way I am.” Now I wonder if I have been thinking in reverse all this while.