WEEK 3 - Awakening Connection
“I rise. I set. I am the sun. I am the moon. Moving, I remember. Moving, I become.”
The following sadhana elements are options, recommended for you to explore and use when you are ready. Asana for physical movement, breath to train the mind, mantra to reset our frequency, meditation (just 5 minutes) to reestablish our power.
This isn’t homework. You do what serves you. You do what you want more of, what you want to learn, what you want to become. What you become will be what you teach.
A/ SADHANA practice for 10/27 - 11/14
Asana Rodney Yee chapter 2 : Read through the postures and daily sequences. Give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
Breath : practice our viloma breath, inhaling in thirds from top to bottom and one smooth exhale for 3 minutes. Then one smooth inhalation and exhale in thirds for three minutes. Then inhale in thirds and exhale in thirds three minutes to finish.
Mantra : Asatoma sad gamaya, Tamaso maa jyotir gamaya, Myritorma amrita gamaya. “Lead us from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.” Link is here.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the 5 minutes to Power meditation from the Empower section
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 4:
Heart of Yoga: Chapter 4 The Principles of Asana Practice
Chakra Yoga: Manipura (pg 53) and explore the poses if you choose
Andrew Huberman talking to Steven Pressfield on how to overcome inner resistance
Steven Pressfield books Turning Pro, The War of Art
WEEK 2 - Being present
“Connecting left and right, ida and pingala, sun and moon, to find balance between.”
A/ ASANA practice for 10/6 - 10/26:
Rodney Yee chapter 1. Read through the postures and give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
Chakra Yoga Svadhistana (Beetz did a recording of the svadhistana cues if you like)
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 3:
Heart of Yoga: Chapter 3 The Principles of Asana Practice. In weekend 3 we will consider Sun Salutations; fluidity, movement, momentum. Note on page 21 and 22 that Desikachar prescribes inhale into the chest, exhale navel to spine. Keep this in mind as you do asana and your poses will grow steadier and your mind quiet. Link the body and the breath.
C/ IN THE STUDIO: I’m teaching the Yee standing sequences and the Desakachar breath this week (10/12) in studio classes. Notice that standing poses invigorate and the 123 breath steadies. This makes for an ability to stay present even when we build to larger / harder / more demanding postures - ie. more demanding circumstances in our lives. (Talia and Yina I will make a video later this week if that would be useful.)
D/ If the left / right hemisphere conversation was interesting to you. Here is Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED talk. This is an essential aspect of yoga as a whole - the way we can use the left and right sides of the body to repair and respond to the left and right sides of the brain. Understanding this creates more kindness and compassion towards myself and the way my mind works.
Spirals of Connection Madison Murphy Stone
WEEK 1 - Becoming modern yogis
“Something in us wants to live fully and love fully and be with the Sacred.”
HOW TO START:
I am adding The Heart of Yoga to our reading list.
To be precise about the reading I would say:
8 Weeks to Balance: pages ix - page 29 (we will cover “Being Present” next weekend)
The Heart of Yoga xviii - xxi and chapter 1
Chakra Yoga page 19 - 35 - Check out the audio cues that Rachel Beetz made!
Daily Rx : 20 minutes reading - anything, anything at all. Why? This podcast: Your Brain on Deep Reading. This book: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
Pick a mantra. 108 times using your mala. Can you be consistent? How often is realistic?
Asana in class or use the video link here. (sequence from Chakra Yoga by Alan Finger)
Want to hear the podcast from Saturday again? Could be Generational
Read the handout: Four Pillars of Dharma from The Great Work of Your Life
Listen to podcast from Tara Brach : Embodied Presence part 1 - this is the wonder of asana.
Sit and listen and take notes. if you listen while driving, listen again when you can sit with it.
Write me a letter with your observations / reflections on her ideas. How do they relate to your life? What will you take forward?
Inside This Clay Jug
by KabirInside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons and pine mountains!
All seven oceans are inside, and hundreds of millions of stars.
The acid that tests gold is here, and the one who judges jewels.
And the music that comes from the strings that no one touches,
and the source of all water.
If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth:
Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside.
Kabir, adapted by Robert Bly in Kabir, Ecstatic Poems (Beacon Press, 2007)Where are you placing your attention, your prana, your vital life force? What we “ingest” shapes our perception of what is possible and what the future holds. The digital landscape affects us.
Here is a worthy conversation with Krista Tippett of OnBeing: Finding Faith in Our Future
