The Rich Vegetarian

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July 18, 2024 / 0 Comments

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?

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August 23, 2022 / 0 Comments

Sticky Fear

Perhaps you have encountered this in Hatha Yoga practice, or martial arts practice, or any other kind of art/sport practice, maybe. There is a particular pose or sequence that doesn’t appear to favor you much, and you, in turn decide that you don’t care for it either. But there is no avoiding it, and if you encounter fear (or suffering) while doing said pose/sequence, it becomes a bit of a sticky affair… because that negative experience sticks to you, hard. Actually, it isn’t the one sticking to you—you are the one holding on to it because it has now become part of your story.

A skilled teacher may allow you to carry that story for a while but one day, they will come up to you and tell you, DROP THE DAMN THING. Now, you may get terribly peeved at them. They don’t understand you, obviously. They don’t know how awful that experience was, how real and concrete that sensation of fear. How you could feel your legs trembling, breath quivering… and there they are telling you to drop it. As if it were that easy… BAH.

It takes a brave teacher to come say this to their student because it takes only a millisecond for that person to go from a beloved instructor to one “who just doesn’t understand me.” Or, one who is “pushing me.”

Hmmm, I was (maybe) that student but I am now seeing the teacher in a new light.

DROP THE DAMN THING is a concession, really. One day you are able to see that there is no “thing” to be dropped, and in reality, there is “nothing” carried over from your earlier experience of Shoulder Stand to the present one. Such a relief, no?

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July 28, 2022 / 0 Comments

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.

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