Chairs, Coach-Class Seats, and Related Instruments of Torture

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had the freedom to roam about at will?

Perhaps you have a job that confines you to sitting in one spot, for hours at a time. Desktop tasks: typing, entering data, grading student work, writing, practicing an instrument, and otherwise physically constricting jobs play havor with the lumbar region of your back. Few of us "sit up straight" like our moms told us. Even with the best of ergonomically-designed furniture, we fatigue, slump our shoulders, imprint the lower spine against the chair, and then wonder why, after hours of work, we feel so exhausted when we had been doing such minimally physical "work."

Our backs weren't designed to sit for hours at a time. When we slouch into chairs, our spines are no longer aligned; the vertebrae are no longer stacked one on top of the other. Our erector spinae muscles weaken over time (along with the abs encircline our midsections). Over the years, poor posture leads to more than fatigue; "back problems" become more frequent and pressure on our backs' discs takes it toll.

If you have to sit for more than a few hours at a time, and sitting is part of your job description, it's not practical to stash your yoga mat in a desk drawer and hold a mini-session. But, it's possible to do modified cat/cow stretches while on the job. This technique could save your back by giving strengthening the muscles in your lower back (and moving your shoulder muscles around a bit as well). 

This technique has served me well during several long flights in cramped coach-class airline seats (domestic economy class is about 3 inches shorter than international), when getting up and moving was out of the question. This technique is helpful for anyone. It can be done cross-legged (remember to switch legs to limber up both sides of your body), sitting on the floor, sitting on a coach, a chair, or even on a stability ball.

Here's how:
   
As you sit, inhale, roll to the front of your sit bones as you arch your spine and lift your chest (the seated equivalent of the cow portion of cat/cow). To put it bluntly, your rectum needs to lift off the seat.

Drop your shoulders down and back. Expand your chest and feel the extension in your lumbar (lower) spine as your back bends. You are doing the "cow" portion of cat/cow, just while sitting down.

As you exhale, suck in your stomach (try to get your bellybutton to touch your spine), curl forward, rounding through the chest. Tuck in your chin. Feel your torso's weight shift backward off your sit bones toward your butt. (This is the cat portion of the technique).

Think of this technique as a modified Cat/Cow stretch, but with minimal neck and head movement, so you won't look too freaky while in your cubicle (or scare the passenger sitting next to you on the plane).

This technique, done every hour or so for only a few minutes, can keep desk fatique and back problems to a minimum. Try it. Your back will be so appreciative, and you'll have more energy when you leave work (always a good thing), or finally arrive at your destination.

Until next week, namaste

Nancy  
 

If my mind wanders while I meditate, does the meditation "count"?

Meditation is a part of our practice. Usually, we begin with setting an intention for our practice, and an inspiration. While we ponder those things, we initiate our meditative process. While we practice the asanas, we do a "moving meditation." Using our bodies as the focus for our thoughts, centering our gaze on the drishtis, or focal point for each asana, our minds are occupied with not much else but the practice. Asanas are intented to shift our busy mind's attention from the distractions of everyday life, to the discipline of each pose. At the end of our practice, while we are in savasana, our minds return to our breath, to our intention, to our inspiration.

At least, that's the theory of how yoga provides opportunities for meditation. But the realities of life frequently intrude. Distractions shift our attention from our practice to other matters. Emotional concerns create turbulence and throw us off balance, mentally as well as physically. At times, it's difficult to keep our minds still during savasana, and we are itching to get off the mat and move on with the demands of the day.

Don't be so critical of yourself when these things happen. Meditation is next to impossible; no matter how hard you persevere, it's not an easy discipline. Ironically, the harder you try, the more difficult meditation may be. Relax. Breathe. Gently guide your busy brain back to the beginning of your inspiration, and begin again.

Much like balance poses, meditation requires your patience and focus. Accept that you will have days when your attention is distracted to follow visual interruptions, to seek the source of intruding sounds, and to be lead outside yourself by random thoughts. Complete quiet? Almost impossible! No distracting movements? Hardly attainable! A quiet mind? A goal that we are all seeking and rarely achieving.

It is reassuring to know one of the reasons why it's difficult to keep our minds from chattering away, even if we would like to silence them. Our brain looks for patterns and tries to sort out random thoughts into a coherent structure. Turning our brains off is next-to-impossible, so when even the tiniest idea penetrates our awareness, we quickly attempt to link that idea with another, to create a narrative, so to speak. Actors and public speakers use this aspect of brain function to their advantage, particularly when memorizing long sections of dialogue or a speech. They utilize the narrative-formation aspect of the human brain, creating an imaginary scenario filled with the objects and/or ideas that they must memorize in the sequence of the "story."

So, when your meditation is interrupted, from external or internal intrusions, recognize that this is just part of being human. Return to the beginning, refocus, rebalance, begin again.

And rest assured that meditation DOES count, even if your mind has been empty for just a few nanoseconds.

Want specific, step-by-step instruction? Look at this site:

http://www.heartofmeditation.com/how-to-meditate-for-beginners.html

Until next week, namaste.

Want to know more about meditation? Explore LA Yoga's article in the February issue online; the link is to the right of this post.

Bare Root Season

Bare Root Bundles

It's January, and for me, that means "bare root" season. Every year, we scour local nurseries to purchase roses and fruit trees for the garden. In the past, we've bought plenty of varieties: apple, pear, almond, and roses. Stripped of their soil, various trees are sold with a single stem, with roots encased in plastic.

It's a leap of faith, to imagine that such a minimal plant could actually survive and bear fruit later in the year. (For the most part, that faith is rewarded; only one of our bare root attempts didn't take root and grow.)

Bare root planting is a process

This year, the bare root season disappointed us. Many of the trees were already planted in soil. The selection of bare root trees wasn't as varied as in years past. One prominent nursery, famous for its patented roses, had no bare root trees at all: they were all planted.

Fuji apple 

Which leads me to wonder: Have the retail nurseries found that "bare root" plants sell better when the plants are already potted? Do consumers lack confidence with the bare root planting process--soaking, trimming, then planting? We finally found some promising bare root trees and planted them, hoping that in a year or two, there will be Fuji apples from our own mini-orchard.

The entire bare root phenomenon is a metaphor for our yoga process. It's as minimal as possible--a flat surface, bare feet, and time. No fancy or expensive equipment is necessary (of course, you can bring all the equipment you think you need to the practice, and you can spend lots of money on equipment). Our practice is ideally done in bare feet, directly making contact with the earth. And our practice takes time and patience, much as is needed for a plant to take root, grow, and finally produce fruit. Some knowledge is necessary for the success, as is needed for taking a bare root to a productive plant.

Knowing the process ensures success.

Again, much like the "helpful" retailers who have already planted the bare root trees in soil, our practice might need some extra help from an instructor, or from supportive friends. It can be difficult to take that leap of faith and have confidence that all that we need to grow are contact with the earth, bare feet, and time. Nevertheless, that's what our practice is--slow, incremental growth.

Whether we are planting ourselves in an orchard among like-minded people, or we practice in isolation, we will grow.

Imagine yourself in the asana known as "tree pose" with your roots firmly grounded, your arms as main branches, and your fingers actively reaching toward the sun. Breathe. With time and patience, your practice will bear fruit.

Until next week, namaste,
Nancy

Here comes the Sun!

Strasbourg's rose window, oriented to catch light from the  sunrise

Whatever your mid-winter holiday tradition, it's time for celebration. Wednesday, December 21st, at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the Winter Solstice arrives. Longer daylight hours, shorter nights, and the returning warmth of sunlight . . . Maybe that doesn't mean too much to us who live in sunny southern California, but I've had enough personal experience to appreciate just how much the sun means to me.

When I was younger, I spent one long, cold winter in Ithaca, New York with a newborn and a preschooler. The children's father would leave for the local bus at 8:30 in the morning--and some winter days, the sky was still dark. He would arrive home from work about 4 in the afternoon--and the sky was dark once again. As a rule, Ithaca ties Seattle for the number of sunless days every year, but that year Ithaca won the title. The weather was cold. The snow was deep. One January afternoon, there was a blizzard that blew out the pilot light on the furnace and we had to spend the night at a local motel to keep warm. The winter's dark and cold seemed (to me, anyway) endless. Taking the babies outside was an involved process of dressing and then undressing, punctuated by starting the car and its heater before the kids were loaded in the vehicle.

One of those winters was enough for me. I admired the fortitude, patience, and forbearance of my friends in Ithaca (many of whom grew up in harsh climates), but I was a sunshine girl. As soon as we had the opportunity to return to sunnier, more temperate climes, we left Ithaca.

Busking angel mime at Cologne's Dom

This past month, Bob and I spent almost three weeks in northern Europe. Although there was no snow (global warming is a reality), it was cold: not a mere uncomfortable cold, but a bone-chilling and numbing damp cold. For almost three weeks, the weather varied between types of rain and extreme winds. The buskers outside of Cologne's cathedral huddled against the howling winds. Umbrellas turned inside out. Mud puddles and rain made cobblestones slippery. In Brussels, the morning sky didn't lighten until about 8:15; the sky was dark again by 4 in the afternoon. Compared to Los Angeles county, we really were in upper latitudes. And life went on. I realized that this weather, which I thought was so miserable, was part of daily winter life in this part of the world. Locals rode bicycles in the rain and fashionable women wearing impossible high-heeled boots deftly sidestepped puddles.

The cold and dark winter climate caused me to appreciate just how important light can be. Every city, every little town, even tiny villages had beautiful evening light displays. Brussels' cathedral square featured a stunning sound and light show, beginning at 4 every evening. Colored lights in the shape of snowflakes drifted over the cathedral's facade, illuminating the statutes of saints. Families came to enjoy the show. Teenagers met up with friends. There was a respite from the cold and wind, as we all came together to enjoy warmth and light. The experience was that of a party, a mutual acknowledgement that this time of year was cause for celebration. We visited about twenty local Weinachtsmarkt, or Christmas markets, each one magical with lights, woolen goods, hot food stalls, sparkling ornaments, and, what else? candles of all sizes, glowing with flame against the dark night.

The Christmas Market draws crowds every evening

Savoring warmth and sunlight is part of enjoying life. As living beings, we delight in basking in the warmth of sunlight. During our practice the surya nasmaskar, or sun salutations, are an homage to the sun's warmth and healing power. When in savasana, or final relaxation, we are often cued to think of lying under the sunshine on top of a sandy beach. In a temperate climate, we can lose sight of the importance of sunshine, but it is essential to life itself.

At a service in Strasbourg's cathedral, young Boy and Girl Guides assembled with candle lanterns that were unlit. They and their families gathered at the main altar and had a short service that was, particularly meaningful whatever your faith tradition. A flame had been brought from Bethlehem, traveling to northeastern France. Each child's lantern was lit with that flame. At the conclusion of the service, the children were told to take their own flame into the dark and cold world, to bring light and warm to others. At nine in the morning, as the families left the cold, dark, stone cathedral on a damp and windy Sunday morning, the bright lanterns shone brilliantly.

Brussell's Cathedral's sound and light show is dramatic

In the Christian tradition, the Christ's incarnation is celebrated on December 25th. There is little historical reason for the date of Christmas, but there is a very human reason for the date: it makes sense to celebrate the coming of the Son at the time we celebrate the winter solstice. Many other faith traditions make light and warmth part of this time of year as well. The menorah of Hanukkah adds a flame every day for a full week and a day until the entire candelabrum is ablaze. Diwali, celebrates the Hindu new year, albeit a few weeks earlier (any later, it's monsoon season, and difficult to keep the fire lit). During Diwali, a  row of lamps are lit in every house, to signal the triumph of good over evil. As we do in the United States, Diwali is a time for celebration, new clothes, and special treats. For Persians, the winter solstice is the occasion for Yalda, "the turning point," that celebrates the victory of light and goodness over darkness and evil. In the Chinese tradition, Dongzhi, or "extreme of winter," is celebrated with a festival on the 22nd of December. The longer daylight hours marked by that date introduce  positive solar energy. Families reunite and eat traditional foods such as glutinous rice balls or dumplings; ancestors are remembered. For many Chinese, Dongzhi rather than the lunar new year, is the beginning of the year.

Diwali light displays are spectacular

For cultures in the northern hemisphere, there is clear evidence that the winter solstice's significance is more than astronomical. The influence of light, the presence of warmth, the gathering of friends and family, the celebration of life--all of these accumulate meaning. In our yoga practice, we honor and acknowledge the light and warmth that is part of our life together. Like those lantern-carrying children in Strasbourg, let us share our life, our light, and our warmth through this season and in the year to come.

Namaste,
Nancy

Bring the light of this season into your world

Social protocols are part of group practice

Unless we live an entirely solitary existence, through trial and error, through direct instruction, or through observation, we learn what are termed “social protocols.” For example, most of the time we know to stand back while waiting in line to use an ATM; we enter an elevator, turn to face the doors, and observe a measure of silence (unless we recognize someone already in the elevator); we express a final remark such as “goodbye” or “see you later” when ending a conversation. Who teaches us those behaviors? It’s not entirely clear, but we do learn them eventually.

When I tried my first yoga class years ago, I was clueless about what was expected. Beside my anxiety regarding the poses, the terminology, and (overestimated) level of difficulty, I was equally nervous because nothing was said about “the rules” of yoga.

Because a group practice is a social situation, there are a number of unspoken social protocols that exist. If you were to search yoga etiquette on the web, you would encounter a number of lists about what is and isn’t good form in yoga.

Many yoga studios, as well as Yoga Journal, give guidelines for new practitioners. The New York Times published an article with the subhead “Bad Etiquette from Beginners Sparks Yoga Rage.” [Want to read more? Look past my sign-off for “Invasion of the Serenity Saboteurs”]

Although most of us have already internalized these yoga-specific social protocols, it doesn’t hurt to mention them again, as they are principles that honor our fellow yogis as well as ourselves:

Intention

Yoga is more than exercise

To help you focus, you might find it helpful to dedicate your practice to a certain intention. This might be to become more aware and understanding, more loving and compassionate, or healthier, stronger, and more centered in your yoga and life. Or it might be for the benefit of a friend, a cause—or even yourself. By adding this dimension to your physical practice, yoga will become more meaningful.

Compassion

Become aware of the needs and feelings of others. Our fellow yogis and yoginis set aside time for their practice and time is a priceless commodity. Give yourself and everyone else the opportunity to make that time special. Unroll your mat or just sit breathe, and get centered. (Besides, early arrival ensures that you can find your favorite spot for your mat.)

If you have to use the restroom while class is in session, wait until there is a period of rest, such as child’s pose, or a transition from one section of the class to the next.

If you should enter late, please do so peacefully and quietly, without breaking the stillness of others' meditation.

Give the priceless gift of time to your practice

Whatever the reason, if you must enter or leave while class is in session, make yourself as inobtrusive as possible.

Savasana or the final relaxation is an important part of your yoga practice. Incorporate the time for savasana into your schedule. Please don't plan to leave class early; you only shortchange yourself from the benefits of your practice.

Mindfulness

The space you need? On your mat & between your ears

Be considerate of other students and refrain from strong perfumes. Because some people may have sensitivity to perfumes and strong scents; don't squirt before class. Just as well, your yoga towel should be washed in unscented laundry detergent and fabric softener. You may enjoy the smell of your fabric-softened towel; however, your fellow yogis around you may not.

When the weather is warm, or if you expect to have a vigorous practice, bring a small towel and water. Stay hydrated and keep the sweat cleaned up, especially if you are borrowing a community-use sticky mat for the class.

Communication 

Let your teacher know about injuries or conditions that might affect your practice. If you are injured or tired, skip poses you can't or shouldn't do, or try a modified version. Always keep your teacher informed of any changes and if you become pregnant. If you feel it is necessary, get your physician's approval before engaging in physical activity such as yoga. Let your teacher know if you feel painful discomfort in a pose—this is your responsibility. Refrain from any pose that causes discomfort; listen to your body as it communicates with you. You know what feels best for yourself.

Honor 

Again, listen to your body. It is better to allow the body to open slowly than to push yourself too far, too quickly. Practice with safety in mind and careful listening to instruction in class. Although a teacher will lead you through poses with verbal guidance and occasional hands-on adjustments, listening closely to your own body is REQUIRED for a safe yoga experience. Come out of a pose at anytime to rest. Instead of trying to go as deeply or completely into a pose as others might be able to do, do what you can without straining or injuring yourself. You'll go farther faster if you take a loving attitude toward yourself and work from where you are, not from where you think you should be.

Respect 

Strive to get to class before it begins, so that you can check in with the teacher (particularly if you are new, have questions, or need modifications). The beginning of class, pranayama, and ending, savasana, are times when each student deserves quiet, stillness, and time for mindful awareness.

Please don’t bring pagers or cell phones to class. A ringing cell phone during asana really grates. Leave socializing and business outside, so the peace of the practice is not disturbed. Honor the stillness of your practice and explore your personal mind/body connection without distractions. If you are expecting an important telephone call, please set your cell phone to vibrate, and place the unit close by your mat. If the call comes through, leave quietly and continue the conversation outside of the practice space.

Blissful Play

Explore, learn and enjoy your time. Leave your ego at the door since your mat has no space for ego (competition, judgment, or pride). Live in the moment on your mat and carry that intention when you walk off your mat.

Don't confuse or intimidate others

Follow the teacher's instructions. If you’re an advanced student taking a beginners or intermediate class, stick to the basic versions of the postures so you don’t confuse other students. The instructor will give you the opportunity to take a more advanced variation when it’s appropriate. On the flip side, if you’re in an advanced class and you’re finding some of the poses difficult, then it’s okay to do a more basic variation–the teacher will provide you with modifications.

Take time afterwards to think about what you did in class, so you can retain what you learned. Review the poses you practiced, and note any instructions that particularly made sense. Even if you remember just one thing from each class, you'll soon have a lot of information that can deepen your own personal practice.

Gratitude

Seal your practice at the end of the class. The word  “namaste” traditionally ends practice. The word’s meaning is loosely translated to “I recognize the divine within you.” At the end of practice, the teacher will say namaste, and the class will respond with the same.

'Til the next blog, Auf Wiederseden und namaste,

Nancy's personal observation re: NYT article. Only a flippant, sarcastic New Yorker could get away with this article. Not for nothing does YogaDork want to be anonymous!

Invasion of the Serenity Saboteurs

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: June 5, 2010

“Yoga is about casting off petty annoyances and toxic judgments — a seemingly Sisyphean task for those hopped up on New York City living. But what if irritation trails you right onto your mat, in the guise of ring tones, exhibitionists or bliss-busting interruptions?

“Is there no compact of dos and don’ts inside a yoga studio? Not really. Common sense and fellowship usually dictate. Still, teachers and students, no matter how tolerant, harbor pet peeves.

“Here are a few, in no particular order, culled from interviews and online rants.

“BARGING OUT Hearing a fellow student leave class noisily, as you soak in those final minutes of well-earned relaxation, is akin to being awakened midsleep by an air horn (well, almost). It is too sudden, too soon.

“‘You are Zenned out,’ said the blogger YogaDork, who asked to remain incognito, describing the splendor of Savasana, resting pose. ‘And people are fumbling for bags and rolling up the mats.’

“BARGING IN The same goes for people who march into a class, whip open their mats and plunk down their belongings, sometimes while others are meditating.

‘The thwapping of the mat—that is very jarring,’ said Anya Porter, a teacher and teacher manager at Yoga Works in Midtown. ‘The class is quiet. Sometimes there is music playing. People can be really loud.’

“OVEREXPOSURE Some men take a minimalist approach to yoga wear, and not everyone is pleased about having a sweaty, stripped-down man within arm’s reach. ‘There are guys in European bathing suits,’ said an outraged Kendra Cunningham, a yoga lover and comedian who lives in Brooklyn. ‘We’re not in Capri here; it’s Cobble Hill.’

“Ralph De La Rosa, a manager at Go Yoga in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who describes himself as mostly tolerant, also draws the line at the half-naked male practitioner. ‘I like it when guys keep their shirts on,’ he said.

“Worse still are the men who wear loose-fitting shorts for comfort, with nothing underneath, prompting discomfort in the ladies around them. ‘It’s wrong,’ said an anonymous woman who posted on the Web site fitsugar.com, which recently riffed on what not to do in yoga class. During lunges, she said, ‘it was all hanging out.’

“GOING SOLO Ms. Cunningham strongly objects to people who defy the chanting of ‘Om,’ and instead belt out ‘Ah.’ Again, the culprit is usually a guy.

“‘It’s a syllable,’ Ms. Cunningham said, incredulously.

“Yogis and yoginis who conduct their own session within the class, choosing poses that diverge from the instructor’s calls, can be a challenge for teachers. ‘It is certainly distracting,’ Ms. Porter said. ‘It brings the attention and focus onto that person.’

“SOUND EFFECTS Jennifer Ginsberg, a blogger who posts on angstmom.com, wrote recently about the day her teacher uncharacteristically played a pop song in class and the ‘unimaginable happened.’

‘‘The woman doing yoga next to me began to sing along to the song,’ she wrote.

‘’Loudly and off key.’

“Ms. Ginsberg refrained from yelling an obscenity-laden command for her neighbor to shut up. She thought about leaving the class. But her teacher came to the rescue and asked the woman to stop singing.

“Broadway-caliber grunts are more common than singalongs and only slightly less exasperating. Grunts are, of course, acceptable since they are a natural reaction to exertion. But, as the YogaDork pointed out, it gets awkward if they sound ‘orgasmic.’

“CELLPHONES It goes without saying: Cellphone chatter, unending ring tones and texting are roundly booed. One teacher whose list of grievances was posted on fitsugar.com remembered a woman who answered her cellphone and shouted, ‘I’m in (expletive) yoga. Why are you calling me?’

“HYGIENE No one smells like a rose in yoga class. And you shouldn’t, because some people are allergic to or just dislike inhaling perfume. But body odor shouldn’t make you gag, either. Foot odor can be even worse. ‘I can handle B.O.,’ the Dork said, ‘but there is nothing worse than stinky feet when you are mat-to-mat and you are upside down and close to people’s feet.’

“In theory, none of this should bother us—or at least some of us. ‘Not to sound pessimistic,’ Ms. Cunningham said, ‘I feel like the only people who have achieved that degree of serenity are the teachers who have been practicing in India in mud huts.’

So, for those who live in walk-ups, arise to the melody of garbage trucks and slumber to the lullaby of barking dogs: Keep your clothes tight, your cellphone off, your oms in line. And, for Shiva’s sake, wash your feet.

“‘Namaste.’”

Making Connections

Today was an unusual day for me. After ten days of houseguests and multiple events, plenty of relatives, miles and miles traveling through Southern California, I was looking forward to (introvert that I am) the comfort of a familiar routine. I was relishing with anticipation some time for myself and with my own thoughts. As I left the driveway, I sighed with a sense of relief. Ahh! Time alone! Bliss! Quiet! Relaxation. As it turned out, my drive time was my "alone time."

Because when I got to the gym this morning for my usual workout, I saw an dear friend in the parking lot, one I hadn't seen in months. All my grumpiness vanished with the joy of meeting her by chance. We chatted. Another friend joined us. Leaving that conversation and heading toward the entrance, I saw another friend that I hadn’t spoken to in over a year. We caught up on our news. Taking the stairs up to the weight room, I saw another old friend: one I hadn’t seen in over three years. As we spoke on the stairs, another friend came by. I floated up the rest of the stairs. It was wonderful to have seen those friends! I had completely forgotten my crabbiness and fatigue.

It’s not that I have SO many friends, that’s not the point (or necessarily true). The point is that, during that fifteen minutes, I re-connected with people who are important to me and we maintained our connections. After class was finished, another friend came upstairs and we brought ourselves up to date with her family’s news. Later in the day, leaving the dentist’s office, I saw an old friend from years back who, unbeknownst to me, also uses the same dentist. I was beginning to feel as if I were in a time warp or a movie from the multiplex: Connection Day 2011. The feeling persisted when I came back home and looked through the mail, filled with newsletters from not one, but three organizations, and read about doings and concerns from near and far--locally, in northern California, and in Pennsylvania.

Today's chance connections filled my tired spirit with joy. Even though felt physical fatigue, the positive energy of seeing dear faces lifted my heart. I enjoyed a surge of gratitude for all those people in my life who have supported, befriended, and encouraged me. I reflected back through the past ten days with a renewed spirit. I savored every human connection that kept me in touch with others. With that surge of gratitude, I wanted to give back the same. Who can resist the genuine love of family and friends and not want to share?

We are, every one of us, connected. Whether we know each other or not, we make an impact on one another. In fact, the word yoga implies connected-ness, as it is a joining or yoking together of many aspects of our lives: breath, spirit, body, and humanity. Yoga teaches us to pay more attention to cause and effect. We practice on our mats by noticing how a posture changes if we simply straighten our elbows or relax the muscles of our thighs. Time spent on our mats can also illustrate our interconnectedness with others. As we practice in a group class, we may notice that one person toppling out of a balancing posture can bring down the whole class. We may notice how two or three strong breathers in a room can inspire the entire group to deep, rhythmic breath. Yoga reveals the powerful effects our actions can have--negative or positive.

Moving deeper into the philosophical aspects of interconnectedness, I discovered that “connected” is a mathematical concept as well. In the world of mathematics (a place that I visit very rarely), connected can be “not decomposable into two disjoint nonempty open sets” or “having a continuous path between any two points” (used of a curve, set, or surface). So, what does that mean? Some illustrations of connected-ness (math style) are helpful:

 

.

Looking at the illustrations above, it’s clear that connected-ness doesn’t have to be in a straight line. The shaded spaces, the shared boundaries can be interpreted not only as places where sets connect, but how we connect during our daily lives. Even the tiniest point creates a connection, as in the bottom right example.

Positive and affirming connections, filled with compassion and respect, initiate a chain reaction throughout the day, and even beyond. One aspect of our practice is to strengthen our connectedness--on the mat, in community, and in the greater world.

Until next week, namaste,

Which comes first? The Chicken or the Egg? An Action or Emotion? Choices and how they affect our lives.

While yoga won't resolve the chicken or egg dilemma, an exploration into the origin of emotions or feelings is helpful for not only our practice, but our larger perspective.

About six years ago, Dr. David Burns published Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, his insights into motivation and emotion. One of the most recommended books for helping those who suffer from depression, Dr. Burns findings prove useful for everyone, whether diagnosed with a mood disorder or not. Here’s how:
Dr. Burns asserts that our emotions and moods are influenced by doing, not by feeling. Waiting for the urge to act could take a long, long time. When we perform the action, the emotion or feeling arrives during the action. Here's a quick example to illustrate this transaction:

If you've ever stood in a grocery check-out line with an unknown baby in the cart in front of you, it's a sure bet that, if you smile at the baby, the baby will smile back. In that moment, your frustration with waiting in line is forgotten. The pleasurable interaction with another person, without words, with pure positive emotion has been triggered by your action of smiling.

In other words, first the doing, then the feeling.

We know this, to some extent, to be true. We always feel accomplishment crossing an item off the to-do list, our mood is much lighter when we leave the gym than when we walk in, our hearts are lifted after a vigorous practice on the mat. This could be the effect of exercise producing those mood-altering endorphins; it could be our actions and emotions are congruent (in other words, our physical actions match our emotions); it could be we are pleased with ourselves; or it could be any combination of these, perhaps more. Whatever the cause (or causes), we know we feel good.On the other hand, when confronted with the choice of blowing off a disagreeable chore or unpleasant task, we can justify our inaction by telling ourselves that we’re just not “in the mood” to do the job. We rationalize that we “don’t feel like it” and will wait until a better time. Let’s be honest with ourselves: another name for this psychological tug-of-war between doing what needs to be done now and opting for a later time is procrastination. The effects of procrastination are niggling guilt, a sense of dissatisfaction, and the sure knowledge that the job still needs to be done. Keep in mind that while I am typing this blog, I am aware that I have a long personal list of procrastination items: financial matters to be addressed, floors to be cleaned, a sink of dirty dishes, a dryer of wet laundry, unanswered e-mails, a half-finished sweater on knitting needles, and piles of uncut yardage waiting for projects. Life is complicated and filled with choices, we prioritize our tasks and work them out accordingly. More jobs than time--that is part of the condition of living

Finding motivation in action, setting priorities, and avoiding the spiral of procrastination--all of these are part of our yoga practice. Sometimes the toughest part of our practice is getting onto the mat. 

Once we complete our pranayam, we settle into the here and now. For that hour, we experience the focus and discipline that is yoga. And after savasana, the positive emotion and bliss carries us farther through our daily routine to that we can achieve more, do more, and enjoy the emotions that achievement and doing bring.Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Not sure about that. But I do know that doing almost always precedes feeling. Acting gracious often comes before feeling gratitude. A gentle touch or word can ignite kindness.

Within NPC’s Yoga Community, we see that positive actions ripen into positive emotions. The warmth, regard, and support that we share with newcomers and regulars alike is proof that in our practice, in our doing, we create a positive place. Applying this principle--doing preceding feeling--can enrich our lives and those who surround us. And now, better tackle those dishes, floors, and some laundry!