eight limbs

Yoga has helped me through a lot of difficult times.
I'm sure it was not by chance that I rediscovered it 6 months ago when life really started to go arse over tit - just when all else seemed without rhyme or reason, it offered some continuity and direction. Yoga is something I am good at that makes me feel good about myself but still offers endless scope for improvement. It brings a sense of control - that I can make things better and that the future is in my hands.
I suppose these in themselves are valid reasons for me to be grateful to have yoga in my life and indeed my current practice has returned my body to me after an extended period where I had lost touch. 
However I keep in mind that the word "ashtanga" means "8 limbs", a reference to the 8 limbs which make up the tree of yoga. "Asana" or the practice of postures is only one of these. As I continue on this journey I wish to concentrate more and more on the broader yogic aspects of the practice.


1. Yama - the five restraints or the "don'ts"
Ahimsa - Non-violence
Satya - Truthfulness
Brahmacharya - Control of the senses and celibacy
Asteya - Non-stealing
Aparigraha - Non-covetousness and non-acceptance of gifts
2. Niyama - the five observances or the "do's"
Saucha - Purity, cleanliness
Santosha - Contentment
Tapas - Austerity
Swadhyaya - Self-study, study of scriptures
Ishwara Pranidhana - Surrender to God's will
3. Asana - Steady posture
4. Pranayama - Control of prana or life force
5. Pratyahara - Withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana - Concentration
7. Dhyana - Meditation
8. Samadhi - Super-conscious state


Like today for example after a little supta kurmasana incident yesterday* I'll be having an asana-free day (driving me CRAZY!!). This is a perfect occasion for me to give some thought to other aspects of the practice. Those yamas and niyamas for a start.....
I like to think of this blog as a sort of Swadhyaya - self study.  As for "study of scriptures", I'm currently reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda and am looking forward to any insights it might offer.
The "me sore" me is the broken and imperfect one. I'm hoping this journey in "ashtanga"(in both senses of the word) will help me on the way to "Mysore" (in both senses of the word).


*supta kurmasana is destined for a post of its own very soon. I spent much time working on the mechanics of the pose and feel i have now grasped it if not mastered it. Yesterday in class I got the hand grip myself and was assisted successfully into the full leg position. In my haste, however I strained the lower back. Not a big deal, but I'm out of asana-action today. 
This incident reinforces my iyengar mantra from years of teaching - poses should be worked away from the back and into the limbs. Supta kurmasana requires a strong preparation on the shoulder and hip joints and through the muscles of the thighs. Just because you can get into a pose using the back, doesn't mean you should.

many paths up the mountain

I wasn’t always an ashtanga fan.


In my iyengar days I had a little affair with the ashtanga style, for maybe 6 months but found it lacked the intellectual rigour that I liked so much in my iyengar classes.
In hindsight I’d be more inclined to say that iyengar appealed to me at the time because I was still learning the poses and the person that I am needed the analysis and mechanics that are among the main features of the iyengar method.
It was this feature I think that ultimately characterised my teaching – the detail in the pose, the mediation on alignment and geometry. I still love that.
Then the love affair with teaching kind of waned and I just didn’t want to think about those poses any more. End of story.
or maybe end of chapter….
It makes sense that in this period of re-engagement, it has been an ashtanga practice that has drawn me in. I now love all the things of which I was so suspicious in my formative yoga years – the repetition, the not thinking... now I love just doing.
It totally makes sense for me at this point in my life and I’m allowing different aspects of the pose come alive. I am very much enjoying making the breath more central to the pose. I think before I worked the meditative aspect by using the mechanical detail as sort of an introspective drsti on which I focussed as I assumed the pose. Now it is more about getting into the pose as efficiently as possible and taking five breaths.
That said, it is completely thanks to years of iyengar training and hours spent thinking about the mechanics of each pose that an ashtanga practice to works for me. Now i can slip into a respectable pose quickly and with confidence. I imagine it must all seem like a bit of a blur for those without an iyengar background.


I feel excited by yoga again. It's like I'm on a long trek and just when the road seems long and thankless you turn a corner and suddenly in front of you is a beautiful view.

Golden Slumbers

Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles await you when you rise

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that you function better with a good night's sleep. I suspect that I'm a physiological traditionalist and really do need 8 hours. I have recently gotten into the habit of getting up at 5am at least on weekdays. I'm not sure this is particularly unusual as many people in my acquaintance seem to do this, especially those with a long commute. 

Although when you do the math, this would in a perfect world require me to go to bed at 9pm, which is clearly never going to happen. Even 10pm can be a big ask. The upshot is, then that I am running on a constant sleep deficit. It would be sensible if I pushed my wake up time back to 6am, but if I'm going to exercise pre work and still get to work by 8am it's not really feasible. 

Yesterday, Saturday I was so exhausted by the end of the day. Despite myself I had dozed off by 8pm and was physically in bed by 8:30pm. My god, what an exciting life I lead.... This morning, up at 6:30, I feel evidently well-rested, a feeling that cannot be over-estimated.

According to Ashtanga wisdom, on the new and full moon our energy is low. I have always found this aspect of a group practice difficult when the teacher arrives and says "it's the new moon today so we're going to take it easy." I find it presumptuous for the teacher to assume any idea of my energy levels. 

Yesterday in fact was a new moon and indeed the teacher pulled out the "it's a new moon today..." line. This time around my undeniable sense of fatigue got me interested in looking into why the phases of the moon could effect my energy and this below is what I found.

Like all things of a watery nature (human beings are about 70% water), we are affected by the phases of the moon. The phases of the moon are determined by the moon’s relative position to the sun.

Full moons occur when they are in opposition and new moons when they are in conjunction. Both sun and moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Their relative positions create different energetic experiences that can be compared to the breath cycle. 

The full moon energy corresponds to the end of inhalation when the force of prana is greatest. 

This is an expansive, upward moving force that makes us feel energetic and emotional, but not well grounded. The Upanishads state that the main prana lives in the head. During the full moon we tend to be more headstrong.

The new moon energy corresponds to the end of exhalation when the force of apana is greatest. Apana is a contracting, downward moving force that makes us feel calm and grounded, but dense and disinclined towards physical exertion.

I am still not sold on the whole idea, but I'm going to watch my ebbs and flows over the next couple of months to see if indeed any link exists for me. For the record, here are the phases of the moon for 2012.

NEW MOON						FULL MOON
Mon Jan 23						Mon Jan 9
Wed Feb 22						Wed Feb 8
Fri Mar 23						Thurs Mar 8
Sat April 21						Sat April 7
Mon May 21						Sun May 6
Wed June 20						Mon June 4
Thurs July 19						Wed July 4
Sat Aug 18						Thurs Aug 2
Sun Sept 16						Sat Sept 1
Tues Oct 16						Sun Sept 30
Wed Nov 14						Thurs Nov 29
Thurs Dec 13						Fri Dec 28

So, in theory today I should be full of energy and my practice should be really dynamic. Let's see how it goes. Of course even if it is great, It could be as a result of the 10 hours' sleep I allowed myself.

me sore.....

This body isn't what it used to be.


About four months ago, after maybe four years of neglect, I found myself drawn to yoga again. Suddenly the fit and healthy yoga-fiend of yesteryear was confronted with the cruel toll of those inert years.


All the years of Iyengar training and my body-memory of the poses fortunately meant that I didn’t have to recommence at zero, but physically there were just remnants of that former self.


By chance, I found myself in an ashtanga primary series class. I had dabbled many years prior in the world of ashtanga but had decided that as a method it didn’t suit me – all repetition and no intellect. Ironically it was just that that attracted me this time around. I had spent so much time thinking about the poses that now I just wanted to do and find time to breathe rather than engage in my inner monologue.


I had no choice but to approach the practice with humility – everything was difficult, everything hurt and none of the ease or fluidity that I once had remained. What’s more, I realised that the primary series was full of poses I had avoided over the years (could this be why I rejected it?) All my “lotus” muscles of the upper leg were just appalling.


But the humility felt good. Pulling back felt good. Just being back doing yoga felt good.
This body isn’t what it used to be but fortunately on this leg of the journey, different elements of the practice attracted me: the sense of rediscovery, the time with my breath, the time spent with other human beings on the same journey. And of course my nemeses – all those poses with variations of the lotus.


Four months on I still struggle – it still hurts and none of that ease has really returned. But I really feel that the journey has begun and that from me sore to Mysore it’s going to be a beautiful ride.

奥の細道

I had the idea to create a blog about yoga. 


Mysore is the home on the ashtanga method of yoga. As I re-emerge from a sort of psychic hibernation Mysore represents something of an Emerald City to me  -  a goal, a dream, a possibility.


As the days and weeks passed in procrastination and false starts, the scope of this blog grew and expanded as I remembered the first journey that fascinated me - that of Matsuo Basho the haiku master in the travel diary 奥の細道 (oku no hosomichi), translated variously as "Narrow Road to the Deep North" or "The Narrow Road to the Interior".


月日は百代の過客にして、行かふ年も又旅人也。舟の上に生涯をうかべ馬の口とらえて老をむかふる物は、日々旅にして、旅を栖とす


The months and days are the travellers of eternity. The years that come and go are also voyagers. Those who float away their lives on ships or who grow old leading horses are forever journeying, and their homes are wherever their travels take them. 


As I begin another journey, I wonder if the things that interest me and the seemingly disparate tangents that I have embarked upon are really as unrelated as I have believed. 


I devote this blog to making sense of all the threads and loose ends.