According to ancient Indian philosophy Shiva - the god of destruction was a symbol of the universal intelligence and his wife Shakti the symbol of all forms of energy. They are interdependent (a bit like mum and dad) - without one the other cannot function effectively. Knowledge without the ability to utilise it is wasted, energy without the information needed to create something is useless.
At the start of the yoga teacher training I felt I had the physical energy required but little knowledge, by week 3 my RAM was full of information but the energy had almost burnt out. The last week of exams was a test of both our mental and physical endurance, taking part in each other's teaching assessments as well as practicing for our own, meditating for whole hours at a time plus revising for our theory exam - to confirm we had indeed gained some knowledge over the past 4 weeks.
Now after a few days rest post- beautiful beachside graduation ceremony and raucous dancing celebrations I feel the shiva and shakti within me are now balanced at an all time high. Despite the pre 5am starts, long journeys and 40degree heat of my current northern India tour I've still managed to practice some asanas and pranayamas every day.
In case the last few words in that sentence made no sense to you I thought I'd give you a quick run down of the 8 limbs of ashtanga yoga - the main structure to which my new understanding of yoga clings.
The first limb is made up of the 'yamas' - the basic principles we should try to live by (non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, non-possessiveness and with control over our desires). The non-violence includes animals hence the near-veganism of the yogic diet which I have mostly taken on board since choosing my own meals again, although the vegetarian friendly menus and fear of food poisoning from dodgy meat definitely help. The control over my desire for cheese and chocolate is not strong enough however for me to even consider becoming vegan - don't worry. Truthfulness is a fairly straight forward concept although it does come with the condition that the truth should only be spoken with good intentions and without causing harm.
The second limb is made up of 'niyamas' - principles to observe throughout daily life including cheerfulness, self-study, continually reaching outside your comfort zone (known as 'tapas' - no eating chorizo involved though, just giving up conversation for 24hours) list of cleansing techniques such as 'jala neti' - nasal cleansing. I had previously seen the concept of deliberately putting salt water up your nose as madness but after trying it, not drowning and no longer feeling the need to pick my nose I won't right it off as an element of the yogic lifestyle to adopt.
The easiest aspect of ashtanga yoga for me to practice is of course the physical postures or 'asanas' used as a moving meditation to quieten the mind and prepare the body for more subtle forms of meditation. The next two limbs of 'pratyahara' (withdrawal of the senses) and 'pranayama' (focused breathing techniques) are practiced alongside the asanas to aid the introversion. The last three limbs are progressive states from 'dharana' (concentration) to 'dhyana' (meditation) to 'samadhi' (absorption - a state of higher consciousness that allows mental modifications to be resolved). When all mental modifications have been resolved through various samadhi experiences you have reached 'enlightenment'.
This is definitely a long way off for me - still struggling with the withdrawal of senses and concentration aspects as my mind is drawn to sounds from the environment, the desire to follow my imagination or simply the discomfort in the body whilst sitting still. The instruction to 'bring your awareness back to your body' at the end of a meditation class has baffled me many times. I will, however, endeavour to use various meditative techniques to relax my mind and focus my energy as I dive back into the stresses of London and freelancing in a few weeks time.
No comments:
Post a Comment