Judith Hanson Lasater wrote this for Yoga Journal, and I think she did a great job of demystifying the last three limbs of Patanjali’s yoga.
I particularly like her contrast of the filter or grid that we ordinarily perceive reality through and the direct experience of reality — which no matter how it happens, through lovemaking or being alone in the woods or sitting on a zafu — always wakes us up to being more alive.
I just checked my view count. Since I started this blog way back in late December 2009, it has been viewed by 2,000 people besides me. When I started, I had no idea if it would get even 1,000 views over the year, so this is a real milestone.
Thank you so much for visiting. It means a lot to me.
I love comments and feedback and suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to comment and share your response to a post.
Now. I wonder if I can get 3,000 views by the end of 2010…
I just read this article in Yoga Journal and wanted to share it here, because the writer shows the kind of body awareness that one can develop from making yoga and meditation regular practices. He sensed an area in his body where his energy felt blocked and noticed other areas affected by that blockage. He followed his intuition that he needed to find a good bodyworker to open his energy up.
He notices what actually happens in a session, and this is true for me too: As much as I adore chitchatting with my bodyworkers, they actually work better (that is, my body heals and aligns more) when I am silent, deeply relaxed, open, and energetically supporting their work.
As with yoga itself, the real proof of bodywork is in the direct experience. And the more yoga you do—especially if you complement it with various forms of bodywork—the deeper your ability to sense your inner experience becomes. Yoga practitioners frequently discover that they develop finer and finer perception in areas of the body where they previously felt little. B.K.S. Iyengar calls this phenomenon awakening intelligence in the body.
Came across this yesterday and thought I’d share Suzuki Roshi’s response to the questions, “Can you put Buddhism in a nutshell? Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?”
The gift of poetry: Anticipate the unexpected. Imagine the unimaginable, and don’t make it so dire, if I know you at all. What if gravity didn’t exist? And what if you were much, much larger in spirit than you think you are? What if you contained universes?
I’m liking this Robert Bly poem, Things to Think, a lot. Here’s the link to it on Panhala: http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Things_to_Think.html.
Most of us think too small too much of the time. Be large for a day.
Minnows and water snake, cienaga at Balmorhea State Park, Texas.
On the road from Fort Davis to Balmorhea, Texas.
Hummer, McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas
Sign seen somewhere in the countryside west of Uvalde, Texas.
My intent while sitting is whole body awareness. Start with body scan of my whole head. Then upper torso and arms, then lower torso and legs. I sense each region as a whole.
Then I bring my awareness to my whole body. And when my attention falters, I bring it back. And bring it back. And bring it back.
I develop my anterior cingulate cortex by doing this, according to Buddha’s Brain.
May my awareness of my whole body be steady.
What’s interesting to note is how wholeness shows up elsewhere in my life.
The first months of meditation were like opening a door to a new space, entering and wandering around, exploring.
Now it’s a little more like holding my attention on one painting.
Grok. I like that word. Take in the whole and be transformed.
From Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein, 1961:
Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience.
The Well: bodymindheartspirit 