intention

My intention over the next week is to delve into the essential elements of the Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga

practice

Practice daily. Use your daily practice this week to create fluency. Enjoy the Sacred Preparation Water playlist. We are working with the second chakra Svadhisthana. The practice theme for this month is feel. See Virtual Studio and Live Class Video Recordings on the main page of the platform.

mediation

Practice daily for 3-11 minutes. Use your meditation this week to awaken motivation, passion, and grace.

coursework (practice, practice, practice)

one: Define pratyahara in your own words. Practice pratyahara within your asana, pranayama, and yama/niyama ethical practices.
two: Define dharana in your own words. Practice dharana within your asana, pranayama, and yama/niyama ethical practices.
three: Define dhyana in your own words. Practice dhyana within your asana, pranayama, and yama/niyama ethical practices.
four: Define samadhi in your own words. Practice samadhi within your asana, pranayama, and yama/niyama ethical practices.

reading

articles: if you are not caught up, continue reading the articles
books: Paths to God* (a one page book report is due at the end of the program)

recommended reading:
Bhagavad Gita to supplement Paths to God
Light on Yoga, The Yogi’s Roadmap, The Secret of the Yoga Sutra, The Secret Power of Yoga - here you will find expanded information on the 8 limbs. Consider reading more than one book on the subject to cross reference and get a broader perspective. This is not required, but it will expand your understanding.

journal

Note insights from your practice of pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi within your practices of yama, niyama, asana, and pranayama. Free write in response. It is not required, but feel free to share ah-ha moments with the group on Geneva. Post in the Coursework room.

on geneva

My hope is that we can engage in an on-going conversation about the 8 Limbs this week. Please add your thoughts, ideas, and voice to the conversation. (Post in the Coursework room).

Please note that the above is the same as what is in the workbook.

Expanded contemplation

• Which of the yamas do you find the easiest to adhere to? Why?

• Which of the yamas do you find the most difficult to adhere to? Why?

• Consider each Yama. Imagine a personal situation where you might employ a yama - how might you respond?

• Which of the niyamas do you find the easiest to adhere to? Why?

• Which of the niyamas do you find the most difficult to adhere to? Why?

• Consider each niyama. Imagine a personal situation where you might employ a yama - how might you respond?

• What happened during asana practice? Describe in detail and note any insights.

• What happened when you practiced pranayama? Describe in detail and note any insights.

WATER - Week EIGHT: Session 1 - Pratyahara

Discussion

• Pratyahara means withdrawal or sensory transcendence. It is during the stage that we make the conscious effort to draw our awareness away from the external world and outside stimuli. Keenly aware of yet cultivating a detachment from our senses, we direct our attention internally. The practice of pratyahara provides us with the opportunity to step back and take a look at ourselves. This withdrawal allows us to objectively observe our cravings: habits that are perhaps detriments to our health and which likely interfere with our inner growth.

• Pratyahara means withdrawing the mind from the objects of sense experience

• Per the Yoga Sutra, when the mind is in contact with the external world, it is not aware of the deeper facets of consciousness. 

  • It is important to note that according to the Sutra, the consciousness, atman, soul, does not evolve. Our individual self becomes aware of this slowly, step by step.

  • When we turn our minds from the outer world to the inner world, we come to know that there is an infinite facet of existence in us which can only be experienced in samadhi - it is not approachable through the intellect. 

• There are many kinds of pratyahara:

  • Tratka: “gazing a single point (like a candle) until tears shed”

  • Nada: sound

  • Japa: mantra repetition

  • Music

  • Kitran: telling a story, usually via call and response singing

• If you can master pratyahara, then concentration becomes very easy.

 WATER - Week EIGHT: Session 2: Dharana

Discussion

• As each stage prepares us for the next, the practice of pratyahara creates the setting for dharana, or concentration. Having relieved ourselves of outside distractions, we can now deal with the distractions of the mind itself. No easy task! 

• In the practice of concentration, which proceeds meditation, we learn how to slow down the thinking process by concentrating on a single mental object: a specific energetic center in the body, an image of a deity, or the silent repetition of a sound. We, of course, have already begun to develop our powers of concentration in the previous stages of postures, breath-control, and withdrawal of the senses. In asana and pranayama, although we pay attention to our actions, our attention travels. Our focus constantly shifts as we fine-tune the many nuances of a particular posture or breathing technique. 

• In pratyahara we become self-observant; now in dharana, we focus our attention on a single point. Extended periods of concentration naturally lead to meditation.

• There is a good example of dharna, concentration in the Mahabharata:

“While teaching archery a guru asks the Pandavas, the five brothers, what object they could see. Arjuna said that he could see only the eye of the bird which was the target and nothing else.” -from Four Chapters on Freedom

• The mind does not move or leave the point of concentration.

• While there is an influx of blood to the brain, there will be vibration, and concentration will be difficult - so we use the optic system.

• Per the Yoga Sutra, through the optic system, the vibrations of the physical brain are reduced; we are working to keep the mind calm just as you would stop ripples and waves on the surface of water by becoming still.

• How: we fix the mind on a single point.

• In the beginning: it is not possible to fix the mind for long.

• No break in concentration is dhyana - dharana includes concentration with breaks.

  • Sometimes breaks are powerful and it becomes difficult to concentrate again.

  • Sometimes after a break you are not able to bring your mind back to the spot - this is because the physical body is not teady - with the slightest movement the heart starts beating faster, respiration increases - giving rise to disturbance.

  • When the body is still, concentration becomes firm - steadiness of posture is essential.

 WATER - Week EIGHT: Session 3: Dhyana

Discussion:

• Meditation or contemplation, the seventh state of ashtanga, is the uninterrupted flow of concentration. Although concentration and meditation may appear to be one and the same, a fine line of distinction exists between these two stages. Where dharana practices one-pointed attention, dhyana is ultimately a state of being altertly aware without focus. At this stage, the mind has been quieted, and in the stillness it produces few or no thoughts at all. The strength and stamina it takes to reach this state of stillness is quite impressive. While this may seem a difficult if not impossible task, remember that yoga is a process. Even though we may not attain a perfect pose or ideal state of consciousness, we benefit at every stage of our progress.

• Per the Yoga Sutra: in dhyana there is an uninterrupted flow of consciousness. 

• Two things:

  • an unbroken continuous flow of consciousness of a single object

  • awareness that you are experiencing an unbroken continuous flow of consciousness of a single object

 WATER - Week EIGHT: Session 4 -  Samadhi

Discussion

• Patanjali describes this either as the final state of ashtanga or as a state of ecstasy. At this stage, the meditator merges with their point of focus and transcends the self altogether. The meditator comes to realize a profound connection to the Divine, an interconnectedness with all living things. With this realization comes the “peace that passes all understanding”; the experience of bliss, and being at one with the Universe. On the surface, this may seem to be a rather lofty “holier than thou” kind of goal. However, if we pause to examine what we really want to get out of life, would not joy, fulfillment, and freedom find their way into our lists of hopes, wishes, dreams and desires? What Patanjali described as the completion of the yoga path is what, deep down, all human beings aspire to. We also might give some thought to the fact that this ultimate stage of yoga - enlightenment - can neither be bought nor possessed. It can only be experienced. The price of which is the continued devotion of the aspirant.

• Per the Yoga Sutra: in samadhi, consciousness is one with the object of concentration.

  • the object of concentration becomes all there is - the object of meditation becomes clearer and clearer, its appearance more vivid as you go deeper.

  • You do not remain aware of your own existence.

• Two characteristics:

  • The object alone shines.

  • There is no awareness of the process or of the self.

• Per the Yoga Sutra: 

  • in the first stage of samadhi there is suddenly a void 

  • you remember the object but there is no other awareness.

  • mind/conscious temporarily appears to be non-existent - you are not aware of yourself or the process of concentration.
    

• Samyama: the totality of the dharana, dhyana, and samadi

  • Sam perfect or thorough

  • Yama control

  • Complete mastery - giving rise to secret yogic powers

  • Can only be complete when there is a fusion between the three.

  • With mastery, higher consciousness dawns - suddenly it shines forth from inside with all its clarity and vividness - this is higher consciousness.

“It starts with subjective and objective awareness. This is dual awareness - dyanana. You are aware of your object of meditation within as well as in the outside world, but gradually the outer doors are closed and you see only the thing that is inside - this is dhyana. The thing seen inside becomes clearer and clearer and simultaneously you lose your personal consciousness - that is samadhi.”  - from Four Chapters on Freedom

LEVEL I - WATER - WEEK EIGHT
Nov 1 11:30 - 1:00pm
Final Call of Level I

Have you heard of the idea of American Exceptionalism? .. the best, best, I’m the best, be all you can be .. let’s not deny each other’s humanity. We can be both limitless and live with some very real limitations.  

I touched on this last week, but I want to reiterate that much of this program is formational

• It’s not just data, it's changing yourself.

• It’s not just, meet the requirements, It’s how the information is affecting you.

• It’s not as satisfying, because it’s hard work. 

So today we are talking about the subject of the 8 limbs.

Asana

• Seat of meditation.

• That doesn’t mean that other postures are unnecessary just because they aren’t mentioned in the yoga sutras.

• Loosening the effort - effortless effort, overcome tension and effort, not struggle or apply force. 

• It is effortful before it is effortless.

• Result of mastery: undisturbed body and mind, polarity causes disturbances, high level of resistance to disturbances.

• Moving from the rigors of Yama and Niyama to the steadiness and comfort of Asana.

• (Panditji The Practice of the Yoga Sutras) "Practice of postures increases our sensitivity to solar and lunar energies while unblocking, balancing, and further nourishing these energies." The dynamics of asana builds the foundation for the practices of pranayama and pratyahara, which prepares the ground of dharana, dhyana and samadhi 

• Purpose: "lasting fulfillment and ultimate freedom" 

• Subject of Sutra 2:46 sthira sukham asanam is "how to discover and reinvest the intrinsic wealth of (that is buried in) our body.” (Panditji)

• Wealth kaya sampat is:

• Rupa - beauty

• Lavanya - tastefulness, grace

• Bala - vigor, vitality

• Vajra samhananatva - healing power

• We are imbued with vast potential.

• Think of asana as a way “to restore your connection with your body, your inner balance and harmony return … Through asana we are restoring the natural connection with our bodies and re-establishing inner balance and harmony ...” (Panditji)

• So, we are working towards stability and comfort - “the pose that removes stress and enables us to experience the pleasure of having a comfortable body is considered to be a yoga posture.” (Panditji)

• Goal is samadhi - so if you are constantly disturbed you can’t reach samadhi

• So precision is more important and length and how vigorous. Awareness. Use asana as a way of cultivating awareness. 

• Effortless effort prayatna shaithilya - will and intelligence

Side note: I feel like this will apply when working in person with hands on assistance but I am leaving it here for now. 

“Effort causes resistance, resistance engenders tension, and tension constrics our cells and tissues. Constricted blood vessels cannot supply sufficient nutrients to your limbs and organs, nor can constricted cells absorb sufficient nutrients from the blood. Furthermore, constrictions stiffen our connective tissue, causing a reduction in the overall elasticity of our body. If we apply force, it will cause pain; pain further incentives tension.”

Panditji, in The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada tells how to apply effortless effort on pg. 232 - 233 

First, find the baseline of your comfort. To do this, lie on your back, relax, and breath gently and smoothly. First find the baseline of your comfort. To do this, lie on your back, relax, and breathe gently and smoothly. As you pay attention to the gentle, even flow of your breath, your heart, lungs, and other internal organs relax. Your nervous system and brain calm down, and your connective tissues soften and become smooth. After a few minutes, gently get up and do some simple stretching. This will bring your body to a place where you’ll be able to access your baseline comfort.

Now move into your desired posture. For example, if you are practicing the standing forward, fold bent forward until you approach your threshold of discomfort do not go beyond your current range of flexibility and strength, but stay just at the threshold of your discomfort. In other words, continue bending forward until you reach the point where your brain is just beginning to register a physical and mental response. If you have not reached the threshold of discomfort, your brain will not register a response.

Stay in the pose effortlessly, which is possible only when you are breathing diplomatically without holding tension in the lower back, pelvis, or abdominal area each time you inhale, and especially when you exhale, you will notice that you are bending further effortlessly. If you are not making a deliberate effort to move deeper into the stretch, and if your attention is on the smooth, gentle, even flow of your breath, you will know when you are just about to cross the threshold of your discomfort. That is the time to start slowing moving out of the pose. Returning to an erect posture will require some effort, but you can minimize it by coordinating your move with your inhalation. This is what Patanjali means by effortless effort.

Each time we repeat this practice, we cross our previous threshold of discomfort comfortably. In in other words, practicing a posture effortlessly pushes the threshold of discomfort further away, allowing the range of our comfort to expand. In this expanded comfort zone. We are able to experience the stability of our posture.

Stability and comfort go, hand-in-hand, allowing us to remain relaxed during the peak moments of the posture because we are relaxed, the tissues in the area directly engaged by the posture are not constricted but are free to receive assimilate the nutrients delivered by the increased blood flow. This accelerates the healing process. We become stronger and more flexible and energetic. Our stamina and endurance expand.

There is no end to this - through practice we reach a point of complete absorption. 

The result of practicing asana is that we become clear, strong, and intuitive.

Pranayama

• Sutra 2:49 “Complete mastery over the roaming tendencies of the inhalation and exhalation is pranayama; it is to practice only after mastering asana.”

• Less and longer breaths, and kumbhaka - breath retention

• Practices like we do in kundalini are to pump the endocrine system, clear it out, get the fire going, then .. we sit, in stillness.

• Training takes time, dedication.

• Pranayama shouldn't be practiced in physical asana but only in "asana" siddhasana, padmasana, shiranasa, sukhasna

• Aim - to retain prana 

• Effect isn’t on the lungs, but on the nervous system, brain

• .. ex from Breathe book, slow breathing, nose breathing 6:8:6 to start 

• It is said when you practice pranayama, the veil covering the luminosity subtly is removed.

• per sanskrit grammar, it means “Expansion or stretching of prana, the life force.” 

• Sutra 1:2 “We attain mastery over the mind by arresting its roaming tendencies, or its chaotic functions.”

• Through pranayama we develop a capacity for concentration .. dharana.

Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi

Pratyahara

• Sense withdrawal, turn attention inward, to know the infinite soul.

• The main thing with pratyahara is that if you can master it, then concentration becomes very easy. It’s about becoming aware of the fluctuations that the sense experience produces, withdrawing your attention away from the external, the distractions produced by the senses, and then, directing your attention inward. 

• I think it starts with awareness - being aware of everything that you can. 

I’m not going to say too much more about these 4 limbs because they are more advanced teacher training - 300 hour teacher training stuff. 

Dharana

• Ok so now dharana,now we deepen our awareness of what's internal by focusing on a single-point of focus for as long as possible. 

• The breath is an effective point of focus, a mantra, a concept - so the mind can focus, so there is less distraction - longer and longer periods of this kind of concentration leads to meditation.

Dhyana

• Dyana is meditation. Where there is an unbroken, uninterrupted flow of concentration. 

• The 2nd Yoga Sutra, the very first thing I learned in my very first Teacher Training with Amy Sulva, an Ashtanga Teacher from New York was Sutra 1:2 is YOGA CHITTA VRITTI NIRODHAH which translates as (I’m going to share different translations, a technique I learned from my Teacher Training with Elena Brower.)

• Complete mastery over the roaming tendencies of the mind in Yoga (Panditji)

• Yoga is the intentional resolution of all self-limiting, self-defeating thoughts, patterns and tendencies within your personal energy field. (Bhavani) I love that!

• Yoga is the uniting of the consciousness in the heart. (Nischala Joy)
  

• There is another Sutura that describes the mind as a crystal …

• 1.41 A mind free from roaming tendencies is like a crystal. It takes the form of whatever object is perceived, the process of perceiving, or the object of perception. This is complete absorption - samapatti  - a state of deep concentration produced through the practice of meditation. (Secrets of the Yoga Sutra) 

• When the vritti (the fluctuations of the mind) are resolved, the mind becomes lucid like a transparent crystal, and reflects whatever it rests on with perfect clarity. (Yogi’s Roadmap)

• As a naturally pure crystal appears to take the color of everything around it yet remains unchanged, the yogi’s heart remains pure and unaffected by its surroundings while attaining a state of oneness with all that is. This is samadhi. (Nishala Joy, Women’s Guide the Yoga Sutras)

• Complete absorption, unification - the mind is clear

• 3 Signs your practice is working:

• More joy

• Less fear

• Shortening of time between having an intention and having that intention come to fruition - no doubt of mind, its all free flow

• So it's not just the experience of an unbroken flow of concentration, it's also the awareness of the experience of an unbroken flow of concentration.

Samadhi

• Ok so when you’ve learned, really through experience, through practice, to develop awareness, how to quiet the arousal of the senses, fluctuations, and distractions, how to focus and still the mind, how to concentrate, how to concentrate for an extended time so that you fall into a state of meditation, then you can begin to experience samadhi. 

• Samadhi is a profound connection to all that is. Poetry is more effective in describing this than other forms of communication. Shiva Rea is one of the most, if not, the most poetic teachers I have even known, and she opened the pathway from my own experiences of samadhi. Words really cannot explain the experience. Let me be clear that though I have experienced glimpses of samadhi, I don’t spend a lot of time in samadhi, in a state of ecstasy. Any experience of samadhi I’ve had has come spontaneously from Grace.

Wrap up Level 1

Over the last 8 weeks:

• You developed a personal and self-care practice, with an eye on the long-game. Practices that are sustainable - you found out what works and what you will continue to or want to sustain or are refining or will refine.

• You applied an understanding of chakras to your life for support and healing

• You dove full-on into Eastern Body Western Mind and Angelus!

• You became familiar with the long history of Yoga. 

• You determined your Ayurvedic constitution for broader self-understanding. 

• You continued to ritualize your daily routines + rhythms so that you can be your own best healer

• You dove into the infamous 8 limbs of Yoga and started reading Paths to God

Also, there was ALL the reading, reflecting, and sharing.

Do you have anything to share before we talk more about Level Two?

Level 2
Here we will get into: becoming a yoga teacher, different styles of yoga, how to each, class design in November and then MetaAnatomy in December. Kristin Leal the author of MetaAnatomy will be a guest teacher in Jan. Tomorrow we welcome Cass Ghiorse who will be teaching on the breath.
The big result, by the end, is to be able to teach a yoga class of substance. It's a tall order, but we’re going to go for it. Yes?!

Finally
Gratitude 
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for diving in with me on this journey. I am so proud of each of you. I have learned so much from you. I’m humbled but also filled with joy! I can’t wait to see you blossom into baby yoga teachers as you share profound gifts of wisdom and knowledge to our community and to your families and friends and the people who love you most. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your journey so far. I feel so lucky to be a part of this.

Send off Ceremony
Today give Level 1 a good send off. Affirm the good work you have put in, affirm what you are proud of. You did it! Put down the weight of anything that feels incomplete. And honor what you did complete. 

To close I would like to share a quote from Erica Jago.

What if the limitations of time help us discern what matters and what does not, motivates us to make necessary choices in our creative work and in our lives? What if what is complete is good but not perfect? What if good is enough?

Wrap up email
I will send you a Level 1 wrap up email and in it I ask the following questions: 
What did you see, uncover, notice? What were the best parts? What was the hardest part?
What surprised you? What would you do differently if you could do it all again? Please respond with your answers.

Breath is movement.

DIAPHRAGM
All organs connect to the diaphragm
7 nerve endings - you cant feel it but it is a muscle
In service of the lungs
Like a vacuum
Inhale: Diaphragm gets pulled open by the ribs and the center pushes down
Exhale: outer edges of ribs get pulled down
Jelly-fish
Everything for optimal breath below the lungs

RIBS
Basket woven together by connective tissue that expands and contracts as needed
2 sets of muscles: intercostals 
Inhale: external intercostal muscles 
exhale: inner intercostal muscles
They move in a tube: tubularity “tubular”
We breath circumferentially

MUSCLES
Core muscles are your breathing muscles and breathing muscles are your core muscles
Diaphragm - a core muscle
Transverse abdominis - horizontal

Zones of respiration:
Neck and shoulder are not designed for respiration
Am I using my primary breathing muscles?

1. sub-diaphragm - center point, abdominal spine, lowest ribs to pelvic floor, water balloon, circumferentially, 360, belly breathing is a result, baby (effortless) 

2. supra-diaphramatic, in thoracic spine

3. supra-thoracic, uses secondary breathing muscles

Breath wave goes from low to high - pelvis, belly, rib, chest (inhale)
We breath to breath out .. we have oxygen, over inhalation
We need to let the exhale finish … to stabilize you
Stability move to mobility (to capacity and capability) 

NERVOUS SYSTEM
Your mothership
Adaptive
Survival
Nervous system is like an electrical grid 
It always on
A healthy nervous system is an adaptable nervous system

Central Nervous Sytem (CNS)
Brain and spine

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
Nerves

Somatic - movement
Autonomic - automatic
Parasympathetic|
Sympathetic 
Under threat/in safety

Your breath is paying attention to you.

SYMPATHETIC 
Arousal activation productivity ambition
In safety: competition, healthy banter, speaking, sport, being in your life
Breath: inhale, mouth breathing
Pupils, dry mouth, get up and go, get after it
Rhythm, pace 
In threat: rage, fighting (or fleeing)
We can use the breath to bring the sympathetic from sympathetic under stress to under safety
Wind sprints, cold plunge, discharge the feeling of threat

PARASYMPATHETIC
In safety: rest and digest, loving, intimate, fall asleep, afterglow, slower heart rate, belonging, being yourself
Exhale: nasal breath, humming, singing, chanting, vagus nerve (governor of your nervous system) 80 speaking to the brain, 20 brain speaking to the vagus nerve - body is speaking to the brain more than that the brain is speaking to the body, trust, calming, soothing
Under threat: freeze (is hard to see in people) - disassociation, and fawn - people please, were abuse lives, coherent breath, nasal breathing, simple and slow 
Nasal breath: generates nitric oxide (vaso-dilator)
As a teacher - you have no idea, the most important is to take care of your own nervous system
Breath: low and slow (zone 1)

Closing Practices
nose-mouth
nose(belly)-nose(chest)-mouth
nose-mmmm-nose-vuuuuu

The breath is the way you cohabitate with the world.
Your breath is your most important ally - it only wants your aliveness. 

Shape change is state change. - Cass Ghiorse