Wheelin' Along our Path with the 6th Limb: DHARANA/CONCENTRATION

As we ADD THIS 6TH SPOKE TO OUR WHEEL, a SUPPORT for this JOURNEY in our lives, we consider this 6th Limb of Yoga~ Concentration...

"FIXING THE CONSCIOUSNESS AT ONE POINT OR REGION IS CONCENTRATION." ~ B.K.S. Iyengar

As Rolf Gates shares: "We learn to bring our attention to one point, and train our minds to stay there. The point of concentration can be external, as in asana, or it can be internal, as in meditation.

On the mat we experience DHARANA quite often, during those moments when we lose track of time, when our mids become so absorbed in the physical experience of a posture that we are no longer connected to everyday concerns. In dharana, the past and the future have dissolved and we are simply existing in the NOW...

When we are doing something we truly love, we connot help but give ourselves to it wholeheartedly. DHARANA, therefore, is a by-product of love. In the clarity of a focused mind, we find that timeless place where we connect with our soul...

In baseball, pitchers are told, 'Throw the ball, don't aim it.' This is a good example of the difference between knowledge and the knowing that is beyond knowledge. To aim the ball is to come from a place of knowledge, of trying to control events. To throw the ball is to let go into the flow of the moment, to trust events and your place in them. To aim the ball is to affirm your separateness; to throw the ball is to affirm your connectedness. In aiming there is much mental chatter; in throwing there is no sound; there does not need to be.

The regularity of asana and meditation practice provides us with the chance to see both forms of activity for what they are. We can think about a posture or we can embody it fully, without reservation. We can sit in meditation at war with ourselves, trying to stay with the breath, or we can surrender and soften into stillness...

DHARANA is throwing the ball. It is the quiet that occurs when we flow into a posture or let go into meditation. It is the mind pouring itself like water into a moment. It is the stillness that is beyond knowledge.

OM SHANTI, OM PEACE, OM DHARANA,
Lee Ann

Turning INWARD :: PRATYAHARA

With ALL THE RAIN we've received this April in Michigan, our WHEELING ALONG our paths has often revealed BUMPS & LUMPS in/on the roads, huge puddles, mud & muck...and, OH, THE BEAUTY OF SPRING buds, the sounds of new life & birds, the richness of the sun's rays through tree branches, the quiet after the thunderstorms...and we truly need the next SPOKE OF OUR WHEEL:

PRATYAHARA=TURNING INWARD...sometimes described as: "Withdrawal of the senses"~ Simply closing our eyes, is a beautiful beginning in the practice of PRATYAHARA...eliminating the external, visual stimuli of that person walking into yoga class, the red convertible driving by the window, the gray storm clouds gathering in the sky, the dog's sad face after her surgery...as we close our eyes, the myriad distractions=which lead to more thoughts= diminish...

And what happens if we turn off, or choose to walk away from our phones...allowing the sense of hearing to take in no TV, no repetitive news stories of the travesty of Boston's Marathon, no IPOD music, no conversation...just for 5 minutes~allowing the SOUNDS OF SILENCE, of NATURE to be ALL we embrace...WITHDRAWAL OF THE SENSES...

Pratyahara INVITES us to JUST BE...to sit & breathe, to close our eyes, and open our minds & hearts to THIS MOMENT, HERE, NOW...to let go of our external seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling...and go within...THIS JOURNEY INWARD can last moments...and reveal so much ... dare we explore this 5th LIMB OF YOGA?

Try this, right now...JUST SIT, STAND, LIE DOWN, AND CLOSE YOUR EYES...BREATHE IN, HOLD THIS BREATH, LET IT OUT...AGAIN, BREATHE IN, RETAIN THIS PEACEFUL PRANA, LET IT GO...EYES CLOSED, HEARTS OPEN, BREATHE...

om shanti, om peace, om love,
Lee Ann

This SACRED SAGA called LIFE

WHEELING ALONG this SACRED SAGA called LIFE.

The 3rd Limb/3rd SPOKE OF THE WHEEL is: ASANA (yoga poses,postures)

So many of us FIRST COME TO YOGA for more flexibility....and YOGA'S very subtle ways & means 'catches us' coming back FOR MORE THAN WORKING THE FLEXIBILITIES in our spinal vertebrae and discs....the ASANA are the GATEWAYS to the mind, the heart and the soul.....

We do a FORWARD FOLD/bend (i.e Paschimothanasana) and not only stretch the spine, low back, hamstrings, knee ligaments, calves, Achilles....WE ALSO MASSAGE THE ABDOMINAL VISCERA, as well as our 'emotional chakra'/Manipura....

So many times, students come up to me after class and say: "Why am I crying?" "What's going on with me? ~these tears running down my face are inexplicable!"...Yoga provides a very healthy release of MORE THAN MUSCLES, TENDONS, LIGAMENTS, FASCIA...emotions that have been 'stored' in our head, our heart, our gut are massaged, and released...just as tight muscles release tension and tiredness, as they relax into resistance, and melt away stress....

We often find that the ASANA get us on the mat, to stretch, to breathe, to open & awaken locked shoulders & hips...and subliminally we unlock the protective bindings of our hearts...we open to MORE LAUGHTER, forgiveness, loving kindness/compassion, as we stretch into our thoracic cavities; we stretch into more open-mindedness, and relinquish more judgment; we release muscle tension and awaken to healing our wounded hearts & souls...

I invite you to join me, RIGHT NOW, and do a SEATED FORWARD FOLD/BEND, sustaining the asana for 5-8 breaths....and follow it with a gentle backbend / heart opener (i.e. inverted table, cobra, bow or wheel), and SEAL THE DEAL with a spinal twist....

BREATHE SLOWLY, DEEPLY, GENTLY & COMPLETELY...

and now, let your HEART SING, your spine DANCE, your face SMILE 

Om Shanti, om peace, om love, om laughter

WHEELING ALONG ON THIS JOURNEY called 'LIFE'

As we continue on our journey, we have the opportunity to embrace the fourth NIYAMA: SVADHYAYA

The fourth Niyama, SVADHYAYA, is translated to mean: 'self-study', or 'education of the self'...

How exciting this is for each of us, on our individual journeys...TO LEARN, TO GROW, TO CHALLENGE OURSELVES, TO EMBRACE SOMETHING NEW, again & again....

We do this in a myriad of ways...as we take a new class, we RE-DISCOVER ourselves as a student again; when we pick up a new book, we explore more, and when we RE-READ an old book, we discover more...self-study is 'stepping into the river again & again, and finding new-ness, change, evolution'.

Rolf Gates, in his book MEDITATIONS FROM THE MAT, states that our yoga practice has many levels that must be understood before we can grasp its full beauty...Yoga is the practice of self-awareness. 

The traditional translations of the sutras describe two aspects of swadhyaya: the study of scriptures and the repeating of mantras as a means to commune with, and to draw closer to, your desired deity. 

Iyengar describes self-study as occurring during asana and pranayama practice as well, facilitating the dialogue between the body and the soul...even earlier in the sutras we are told that everything is a means for self-study, that we are here on earth to learn....

May your saga of self-growth continue, in all its beauty, challenges, growth, healing...

Until we meet again,
Om shanti, om self-study,
Lee Ann