Minimum Effort

I wish you all a deep and healthy yoga practice. Yoga, the ancient art of India has been practiced for thousands of years giving its practitioners a long life, a beautiful body, and a serene mind. 

One of the principles of yoga that I would like to emphasize is the principle of Minimum Effort. I know that it seems like a contradiction to talk about a yoga practice and effortlessness in the same sentence. However that is precisely how the Ancients who conceived of the art and science of yoga describe the ideal yoga session. 

All actions, movements, and holds must be undertaken with the very minimum effort required. But how is such an effortlessness to be achieved? Through a continuous focus upon the breath! Breathe deeply using Ujjayi breaths. Concentrate all your attention on rhythmically breathing in and out and soon you will be doing yoga using the principle of Minimum Effort. 

My recommended yoga book is Vanda Scaravelli's Awakening The Spine. This is a beautiful book that could easily have been titled Zen in the art of yoga. Read it or simply enjoy the beautiful images of waves, trees, and yogis suspended in the air with a minimum of effort. 

Peace and Love, slowly,

Abhay

Circles vs Straight Lines

As slow yogis (anyone who does yoga is a yogi) we often find ourselves reaching for our toes in Uttanasana or reaching our heels towards the floor in Down Dog. 

Whenever you find yourself reaching for something in an asana, posture, try moving in a circle rather than a straight line. 

Now that may be counter-intuitive at first. In western culture we are taught to "think straight," and guard against "circular reasoning." I call this the engineering approach. Applying the engineering approach works well when your goal is to build something inorganic and inanimate, a modern skyscraper for instance. It does not work very well when you are dealing with something organic and animate like your body. 

When you want to reach body part A towards point B on your body or on the floor or the ceiling, start making little circles with A. Continue making circles describing a spiral that moves you towards point B. 

The Ancients believed that a slow yoga practice moves energy along the 7 energy centers in the body that we call chakras. 

Chakra, in Sanskrit, also means circle. 

Peace and Love,

Slowly,

Abhay

Relaxing into the postures

I recently received an email from an old student of mine that made me think about the difference between yoga and Western modes of exercise. Here is an excerpt from the email:

Hey Abhay! How's it going? I have been thinking about you a lot lately. Since I'm working in SF now I joined a gym nearby and have been taking yoga there every Monday and Wednesday morning - at 6:30am no doubt! It's a moderate hatha-based power yoga class and is quite challenging, but I'm doing well with it and feel fantastic. I also work out there twice a week and am really happy with the improvements I'm seeing.

You're on my mind at every class because of the core things you taught me about yoga - breath and alignment. This class doesn't go into as much detail on those topics as yours did, and if I had not studied with you I would not be doing nearly as well...I'm afraid I'd be fighting the asanas instead of relaxing into them solidly.......

I was happy to know that this student really understood what yoga was all about. Because it is different from what we in the West call exercise. For yoga to have its almost magical effects you have to let go, relax into the postures, and flow with the rhythm of the 4 yogic cycles.

Peace and love

Abhay