Honoring the Process

by Sandy Blaine

Typically physical exercise is a goal-oriented pursuit; whether the goal is to beat your opponent at tennis, better your time in running, or improve your heart health and increase your muscular strength, you are after results. With yoga, the process, rather than the results, is the point. You will likely improve your strength and flexibility and might even achieve advanced postures along the way, but it is the quality of the experience, and not the outcome, that makes it a yoga practice.

In fact, according to Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford professor and leading stress physiologist, stress reduction activities such as exercise and meditation only work if you enjoy them. So there is little point in forcing yourself through something you don’t enjoy just because it’s good for you; that actually causes more stress and defeats the purpose.

When James Fixx, author of The Complete Book of Running and a leading proponent of the fitness craze in the 1970s died suddenly of a heart attack at age 52, there were a lot of dark jokes, and a lot of second guessing went on. But I wonder, would he really have preferred to have spent his life sitting in a Barcalounger eating chips had he known his fate?

Perhaps that’s the ultimate test: would you regret the time spent if it doesn’t get you the results you’re hoping for? It’s a package deal, the process and the results. That’s another aspect of the yoking together implied by the term yoga. Western culture tends to be highly goal oriented, and it can be hard to wrap our minds around the concept of process. Practicing yoga can yield wonderful rewards, but like everything in life, those rewards are transitory. As blissful as you might feel following your yoga session, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be around to enjoy it again tomorrow. Surrendering the fruits of your labors and being in the moment are tenets of yoga philosophy. And each Savasana is meant to provide a little preparation for ultimately giving up the body altogether.

After the Rain by Joan Webster

We can’t know the answer for James Fixx, but when I ask myself that question, I know I wouldn’t regret a moment of my yoga practice. I might increase my ice cream intake if I was given a fatal diagnosis, but I’m positive I’d continue to practice. I might actually devote more time to my practice, in preparation for letting go of life. In the end, it’s not about achieving anything, not doing more advanced positions, nor accumulating more years. Ultimately I’ll die, and I know whenever that is, there will be plenty of feats in Light On Yoga, the bible of asanas, that I never came close to accomplishing. But when I’m practicing, I have moments of being completely present, and aware of being connected to something larger than myself. That’s how I want to live, for as long as I’m alive.

Sandy Blaine has been practicing yoga since 1986, and teaching since 1993. She has a joyful devotion to her daily yoga practice, and seeks to bring these qualities to her classes, which combine her experience and training in the Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa, and Kripalu methods. Her writing has been published in “Yoga Journal,” “Yoga International” and “Ascent” magazines, and she is the author of two books: Yoga for Healthy Knees and Yoga for Computer Users. Sandy is the director of the Alameda Yoga Station and the longtime resident yoga instructor for Pixar Animation Studios, and as a wellness consultant, she has spoken at Kaiser and Google. Previously, she taught yoga at UC Berkeley for many years, and she is a faculty member of the Berkeley Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program, from which she graduated in 1995. Find more information about Sandy’s work on her website www.sandyblaine.com. Sandy is at work on a new book about establishing a personal yoga practice, and she blogs about her own practice at www.theyogaguidetohappiness.com.

What is an advanced yoga practice?

by Nina

A number of years ago, I encouraged a close friend of mine, M, to join me in taking Rodney Yee’s advanced class. Even though she had a muscular, athletic, and stiff body that made doing super bendy poses difficult, if not impossible, I knew that she understood how to take care of herself in class, that she would adapt the poses for her particular body type and keep herself safe, so I wasn’t worried about the class being too hard for her. She was interested, however, she expressed some concerns about not being “advanced” enough for the class. I decided to discuss the matter with our teacher himself, feeling fairly sure of what he was going to say. But what he told me when I asked him if she was “advanced” not only took me by surprise but has stuck with me all these years, transforming my thinking about the asana practice in general. What he said was this:

“Of course she’s advanced enough. M does yoga more mindfully than any student I’ve ever seen.”

And here I’d been thinking that being advanced meant being capable of doing difficult poses, like 10 minute headstands or extreme backbends, at some level or another! But doing yoga “mindfully”—now, here was goal we could pursue for our lifetimes and no matter our level of physical capacity was, we would always have the the ability to go deeper and deeper into the practice.

Year-Old Snow and New Snow by Philip Amdal

I’m thinking about this today because I’m helping a new friend of mine adapt her practice to allow her to heal from an ongoing injury. It’s taken her a long time to even be ready to temporarily give up certain poses and ways of practicing, because she felt such regrets about excluding poses from her practice that she used to be able to do with such great enjoyment.

But as Baxter mentioned yesterday in his post on wrist care (see "Wristful Wrists: How to Keep Your Wrists Safe"), sometimes rest is the best way to heal from an injury. So being willing to adopt mindfulness as a goal in the practice rather than achievement is a necessary element in being able to heal from an injury.

People who are aging may find themselves in a similar position, not necessarily due to injury but simply due to the physical changes that come along with aging. To be honest, I used to have what I sometimes call a “semi-fancy” yoga practice. But in the last few years, I developed arthritis in my right hip that makes it impossible to do seated poses that involve a lot of external rotation. Lotus and half lotus are now impossible for me, and seated forward bends and twists that require certain leg positions are painful and difficult. And I now need props in many of the standing poses now. Still there is no question I consider my practice more advanced these days than it was in the years when I regularly took the East Bay’s most “advanced” yoga class.

ACCEPTANCE, ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT, AND "THE BHAGAVAD GITA"

by Nina

Since Brad started off by mentioning the combination of acceptance and active engagement as the best approach to healthy aging, and Baxter followed with his take on the subject, I thought I’d tell those of you who don’t already know a little something about the yoga philosophy to which they were both referring.

When I teach beginning yoga philosophy I often like to start by mentioning that most people don’t realize that the most famous yogi of the 20^th century was Mohandas K. Gandhi. And what made him a great yogi wasn’t the number of sun salutations he did (not very many, if any at all), but his practice of yoga in action, as inspired by the seminal yoga scripture, The Bhagavad Gita, which he referred to as his “mother.”

The Bhagavad Gita is one section of a much longer work, The Mahabharata, written approximately in 500 to 400 BCE. It tells the story of Arjuna, the most distinguished warrior in the Pandava army, as he stops and surveys his adversaries in the Kavara army. The Kavaras are power-hungry corrupt rulers, who had usurped the throne. The peace-leaving Pandavas, on the other hand, have the welfare to the people at heart. So this is considered a moral war.

But Arjuna sees among the opposing forces many with whom the Pandavas have no quarrel, including highly esteemed teachers and elders. He tells Krishna, his charioteer and great friend, he is determined not to fight. His scruples center on the imagined personal consequences of his fighting: his guilt for the decimation of his people. Krishna speaks with him about yoga—the Gita is their dialogue—until he is once more resolved to fight.

Paris in Motion by Brad Gibson

The main message of the Gita, which is repeated throughout the text, concerns the benefits of acceptance along with the need for action. Here is how Krishna puts it:

 Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.

Work not for a reward; but never cease to do thy work.

Do thy work in the peace of Yoga and, free from selfish desires, be not moved in success or failure.

Yoga is evenness of mind—a peace that is ever the same. — trans. by Juan Mascaro

Krishna tells Arjuna that work is a necessary part of human existence, so the only way to attain equanimity is to do your work without any thoughts of results, remaining open to success or failure. And that this approach—this letting of all results, whether good or bad, and focusing on the action alone—is the essence of yoga. For Gandhi work meant fighting for the independence of India and the rights of the oppressed through non-violent action. And he describes the importance of doing work without focusing on the results this way:

“He who is always brooding over results often loses nerve in the performance of his duty. He becomes impatient and then gives vent to anger and begins to do unworthy thing; he jumps from action to action, never remaining faithful to any. He who broods over results is like a man given to objects of the senses: he is always distracted, he says good-bye to all scruples, everything is right in his estimation, and therefore he resorts to means fair and foul to attain his end.“ —M.K. Gandhi

But how does this yogic attitude help us ordinary mortals? This week both Baxter and Richard Rosen recommended regular, steady practice as the best approach for both osteoporosis and Parkinson’s disease. But daily yoga practice is no quick fix, and results are never guaranteed, because this is real life, people. So for your peace of mind, at the same time that you work toward staying healthy you can let go of all thoughts of success or failure and simply focus on your practice. Then no matter what happens, you’ll be prepared to handle it. And outside the yoga room, this yogic approach allows you to cultivate equanimity in your daily lives. For no matter what work we have to do, whether it is raising children, going to a 9 to 5 job, being politically active, or helping a dying family member, practicing acceptance along with active engagement allows us to do what we need to do and be at peace with the results:

 In this wisdom, a man goes beyond what is well done and what is not well done.

Go thou therefore to wisdom:
Yoga is wisdom in work. —trans. by Juan Mascaro

(It took me a long time to learn this particular lesson, and a lot of practice to learn not to fall back into my old patterns of stressing out about the future, but personally I’ve found this yogic attitude to be as helpful as any of the other anti-stress yoga practices, such as inverted poses and yogic breathing, that I practice on a regular basis. Maybe even more so.)

ACCEPTING RECLINED LEG STRETCH

by Nina

An excellent time to combine acceptance with active engagement (as Baxter discussed in his post yesterday) is when you are doing yoga poses. By far, the healthiest and most effective way to do yoga poses is to cultivate an awareness of your body’s current state while at the same time actively working toward making changes to it, such as stretching or strengthening. This is one of the best ways to protect yourself from injury. And it also helps you reap the most benefits from your poses.

When I was trying to think of a pose that epitomized this need for both acceptance and active engagement, Reclined Leg Stretch pose (Supta Padangusthasana) sprang to mind. To be honest, that’s because every time I've taught the pose, I’ve seen people “cheat” (yes, I’m talking about you with the bent leg over there), a sure sign that the “acceptance” side of the equation is lacking.

Reclined Leg Stretch (Supta Padangusthasana) is a very beneficial pose because it revitalizes your legs while it eases tension in your lower back. It stretches your hamstring muscles and your hip joints, which is important for maintaining physical health if you sit at a desk or walk a lot. It is also helpful for lower back pain and maintaining a healthy back. And it’s a great way to begin a yoga practice or even to do as a “single pose practice.” Plus, you get to do it lying down!

  

Baxter prescribes it for:

• leg fatigue or weakness
• lower back conditions
• arthritis
• knee pain
• swelling of feet and ankles
• maintaining flexibility of the legs and hip joints as you age

However, most people are too tight in their hamstrings to do the pose like their teachers or the pictures they’ve seen, so some (not naming any names here) cheat by bending the knee of their top leg or by lifting their pelvis off the floor in order to bring their toe closer to their head.

,Can you do it like this? (From "Moving Toward Balance," Rodney Yee with Nina Zolotow)

But while cheating may make you feel more flexible, bending your top knee means that you won’t be getting the full hamstring stretch that’s so beneficial. So the next time you do this pose (and it’s a great one to practice at home), use a strap or belt around the arch your foot and hold the right side of the strap in your right hand, the left in your left hand. Now be honest with yourself. Is your upper leg truly straight? And is your pelvis resting evenly on the ground? If not, let your leg go until your knee is straight, your pelvis is even, and your leg reaches its natural angle (90 degrees or less, even much less). 

Using a strap. (From "Moving Toward Balance," Rodney Yee with Nina Zolotow)

That’s the acceptance part. The active engagement part is to stay in the pose for 45 to 90 seconds and to practice regularly. Although we can’t promise it, there’s a very good chance that over time this pose will increase your flexibility, making many other poses more comfortable and enhancing your physical health.

Some helpful variations:

1. If your head and shoulders aren’t resting comfortably on the floor, use a folded blanket under your head.
2. If you are so tight that it’s hard to hold your leg with a strap, do the pose with the bottom leg extending through a doorway and your top foot resting on the wall next to the doorway.
3. If you want to strengthen your bottom leg as your stretch the top one, you can practice with your bottom foot pressing against a wall.

Cautions: If you have lower back issues, you may need to keep your bottom leg bent. If you have wrist issues, you may need to change the way you hold the strap.

WHAT WE NEED TO PRACTICE

by Baxter

As I was enjoying Brad’s post from last week (he really cracks me up—smart and funny!), one statement jumped off the computer screen as I read it. Regarding confronting the inevitable course of aging, Brad stated, “We probably need to practice both acceptance and active engagement as we confront our own aging....”

Cathedral in Process by Brad Gibson

As I thought about the acceptance part of that equation, it reminded me of an experience a friend of mine had while living for a while at an ashram in Northern California. In addition to the center’s own spiritual leader, there were often visiting teachers and gurus, and one visiting guru had a seemingly straightforward message that went something like this: “Everything is already okay!” Well, this message really seemed to resonate with the staff at the center, especially with the kitchen staff, who took it to heart, so much so that the dirty dishes started to pile up. After all, everything is already okay! Finally, the ashram’s main teacher had to remind everyone that, even though this idea was certainly true, especially as a concept found in many yoga lineages, we also have work to do in this lifetime.

Men Working on La Sagrada Familia by Brad Gibson

Yoga posits an intriguing paradox that we each have a perfect, eternal quality already within us, sometimes referred to as the purusha or atman, and at the same time, we have a personal dharma or path to follow that requires active engagement in this lifetime. As a way of supporting the notion of healthy aging, I am able to “actively engage” in my life’s work as well as beneficial practices, such as yoga asana (poses) and pranayama (yogic breathing), that support the overall health and well being of my mind and body. And at the same time, I can access other yoga practices, such as mindful meditation and yoga nidra, where I am more involved in accessing the state of “being” as opposed to the state of “doing.” In these practices, I am able to tap into the acceptance part of the challenge of aging, and also this alluring concept that everything is already okay. We have come to discover through observation and research that this second set of practices (the acceptance practices), has very tangible benefits as well, including, to name a few, quieting the nervous system, lowering blood pressure, and supporting healthy digestion and immune function. For those of you not familiar with these practices, I would recommend the following books as an introduction:

Full Catastrophe Living, by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., for information about mindful meditation.

Yoga Nidra, by Richard Miller, Ph.D., for information about yoga nidra (an audio CD with practice for you is included)

More on active engagement next time!