Charleston Yogi

I had a really phenomenal experience this past Sunday morning teaching a yoga class to a dance group at the College of Charleston. About a dozen people showed up for the class, which took place in a beautiful dance room located inside the brand new Cato Arts Center on the CofC campus. In preparing for the class, I did a lot of thinking about what a yoga practice might offer people who are passionate about dance and creative movement.

One of the central aspects of yoga is cultivating a harmonious relationship between mind and body. Such harmony is of course essential to creating beautiful and graceful movement in dance. In many Eastern spiritual paths, the mind and the body are seen as equal halves of an integral whole. This is the philosophy of yin and yang: things that appear to be opposites – light and dark, tall and short, earth and sky, spirit and flesh – are in fact inseparably connected with one another.

In Western culture, however, there is a very rigid division between mind and body. In the last year, I’ve stumbled upon a number of brilliant Western thinkers who have addressed this division and the disharmony is creates in individuals.

The first is Sir Ken Robinson, an expert on human creativity, who gave a brilliant address at the 2006 TED Conference on creativity in children and whether or not educational systems around the world do an adequate job of fostering that creativity. (The whole talk is worth watching, but the part I’ll be focusing on begins around the 9:00 minute mark).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

During his talk, he spoke about the fact that almost all schools around the world tend to place a great emphasis on language and mathematics over the arts, particularly drama and dance. He says: “As children grow up, we start to educate them progressively from the waist-up. Then we focus on their heads – and slightly to one side.”

He goes on to describe what type of person this emphasis on head-only education creates, particularly in the form of the stereotypical academic professor: “They live in their heads. They live up there – and slightly to one side. They’re disembodied, in a kind of literal way. They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads. It’s a way of getting their heads to meetings.”

Another brilliant thinker I’ve come across in the past year is Alan Watts, who came to popular attention during the 1960’s as an interpreter of Eastern spiritual traditions (especially Zen Buddhism) for Western audiences. In one of his talks featured on YouTube, delightfully illustrated by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, he addresses this split between mind and body that exists in the West and how it shapes our sense of self.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAVM_Xk_o9E&feature=related

“I’ve always been tremendously interested in what people mean by the word “I” – because it comes out in curious lapses of speech. We don’t say: “I am a body.” We say: “I have a body.” Somehow we don’t seem to identify ourselves with all of ourselves. We say “my feet,” “my hands,” “my teeth,” as if they were something outside me. As far as I can make out, most people feel that they are something or other about halfway between the ears and a little ways behind the eyes, inside the head. That’s what you call the “ego.” That’s not what you are at all, because it gives you the idea that you are a chauffeur inside your own body – as if you your body were an automobile and you are the chauffeur principle inside it.”

The point that both Robinson and Watts are making is that when we identify primarily with our mind and our thoughts, we disconnect ourselves from our bodily existence. The results are usually disastrous, particularly in our modern culture. We stuff food into our mouths that are deeply gratifying to the mind (products high in fat and processed sugar) but which are nutritionally disastrous to the body. On the opposite extreme, we flock to gyms in order to sculpt our bodies into an idealized mental image of what we should like like – usually based on digitalized media images of the super skinny or ultra buff.

What is lacking is a deep listening to the wisdom of the body. Oftentimes, we only start to listen when we are forced to, usually as a result of an illness or life-threatening condition. Many people then realize that they must flip their entire life-style upside down and start living from a more holistic understanding of themselves.

Many of these people, of course, find their way to yoga classes and meditation retreats.

A great deal of the popularity of such practices as yoga, tai chi, and seated meditation are found in the fact that they help cultivate a holistic way of looking at ourselves and our place in the world. These practices are based on the realization that the mind and body form an inseparable wholeness – just as each individual human being, animal, or plant is an integral part of the interdependent environment in which they live. The process of yoga, in my mind, is a process of extending the feeling of identity outwards, away from the narrow confines of our egos, and connecting with our bodies, our communities, the planet, and the universe.

In the yoga class I taught to the dance group, I continually encouraged the participants to focus on their breath. The breath is an incredible tool for helping us cultivate mind/body harmony. Mindful breathing helps us turn down the volume on our mental noise so that the wisdom of the body may begin to be heard. A yogi or dancer can then begin to truly feel his or her body. They can begin to discover where they are tight or sore, where they hold anxiety or stress, in what movements they feel confident or terrified. This deep listening to the body can give us insight into the ways we live and in what ways we may need to change.

When the body and mind begin to move and function as one, we become more effective in what we do, we become more graceful and effortless in our actions, we become less worried and anxious in our inner lives. This is obviously helpful not just on the yoga mat or on the dance stage, but in all aspects of our lives.

So the question is… What might your body be trying to tell you? And if you start to really listen, what changes would begin to happen in your life?

~ Matthew Foley

There is a class at Jivamukti Yoga on Sundays at noon that is called Family Yoga.  It is intended to be for all people of all ages and can be shared by any and all family members.  The teachings are simple and useful, there is a sense of fun, and songs that help students easily learn the movements.

It is my favorite class that I have the honor of teaching.  I am often so touched by family togetherness that I am moved to tears.  There have been students who bring in their sisters who visit from out of town, there have been father-son moments, and grandparents and small children who delight us all.  But most regular has been one family, who, come almost every Sunday, because they make it THEIR Family time.  Their time to BE and grow together!  Their time to stretch, and breathe, and SEE each other.  Often they go on a picnic or to the beach or even to the grocery store together afterwards.  But for that one hour, every Sunday, they practice together.   I revel in their beauty every week. 

Last Sunday they were telling me how they invite other families to join them, how they spread the word because they have experienced such value from the practice together.  They inspire me and I am so grateful to their dedication and enthusiasm.  They humble me and are a living example of light.  So may this, my first blog, be a sincere offering to this family who has shown me so much love.  Thank you. 

And thank you for coming to practice yoga together in my presence so many times over.  We invite more Charleston yoga families to join us! And look forward to growing, being, and seeing you more often.

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).

We come to our mat over and over again with expectations, striving for poses, looking for a feeling of peace, swimming around in our thoughts, to find that those natural feelings are part of the practice.  That is why we continue to show up, observe the breath, and offer thanks for the present moment.  For me, my yoga practice is a physical expression of body prayer. Prayer is a practice, but it does not have to be separate from the body. The body, mind, heart, and soul are a unified whole.  When we bring our hands to heart center in prayer (Anjali Mudra) it’s a symbolic hand gesture that reflects reverence and union with the Divine.

With our fast pace culture during the holiday season,  our stress levels are on the rise with an increase of depression, anxiety, missing past loved ones, arguing with loved ones, who is not talking to who….we all can identify with the chaos that happens within our bodies and our surroundings. The paradox is we are celebrating Thankfulness and often times get swept away into the spirit of ungratefulness.

So like brushing your teeth is a daily practice, so can prayer!

Stand in mountain pose (Tadasana) with hands at heart center in prayer

Ground your feet steadfastly into the earth

Watch the breath fill your heart with thankfulness

Breathe in from your toes, shins, thighs, hips, belly, ribs expand, chest lifts, throat, nose, third eye to the crown of the head

Breathe out from the back of your crown, neck, shoulder blades, lower back, backs of thighs, knees, ankles, and heels

Continue to the cycle of the breath ebbing and flowing from the front side of the body and feeling the breath roll off the back of the body.  Whatever is causing stress in your life, allow that to roll off with the breath of Peace. And inhale whatever you are grateful for.

May your holiday season be filled with Love, and as you pass the salt at your Thanksgiving feast, may your conversations with loved ones be seasoned with salt and light.

I seal all my prayers through my Master Guru, Jesus Christ (Yeshua Sat Nam).

This morning I practiced janu sirsasana. This pose became an analogy for the art of surrender unto God.  Upon entering a pose, we have a tendency to resist in certain spots of the body.  In this particular one, I engaged my hips and lower back, which prevented full fold over my right leg.  Guided by my breath (my anchor), I began to relax into the fold and experienced that full release, the surrender.  I felt my chest and face graze my leg as my exhale and gravity carried me down.  I interlaced my fingers around my foot and pressed my heart toward my toes.  It was beautiful and peaceful.  I felt deeply loved.

And so it is with the surrender unto God.  We resist initially because he is the mystery, the unknown, the unfathomable.  But there are some things that I do know – that he is steadfast in his love for me and wants to encapsulate me in that love.

After some time, the body begins to resist the pose again.  There are a number of reasons for this.  The exertion could be tiring or the position uncomfortable.  More often it could be a slack in concentration.  We grow accustomed to that ecstasy we experience in theasana and then begin to shift out of it inherently.

Despite my desire to bask in the glory of God, I become distracted in my heart and my focus.  My attention diverts to something else and I drift out of the sacred space we cultivated together.  But then I remember.  I realize that something has changed.  I am conscious of the absence of that deep seated love.

When we regain our drishti both with our eyes and our minds, we sink back into physical release.  Concentration returns to the full manifestation of the posture and we enter back into its benefit, this time with greater intention and maybe even more deeply.  Somehow, it is even better than before.  There is less resistance after shaking off the initial resistance.  There is simply being.  Instead of a glimpse of ecstasy, we bathe in it and saturate.

Remembering the Lord, I bring myself back to his feet.  I enter into surrender with more trust and experience.  My diversion actually provides evidence for the goodness of being one with God.  My lack of concentration actually reminds me that nothing is greater than tying my heart to his, being completely his.  I release all tension and engagement.  I sink into his presence.  Instead of momentary vision and light, I bend beneath the weight of his glory and soak in the substance of his love.

I recently read an amazing article in Yoga Journal on “Your Brain on Meditation,” by Kelly McGonigal (www.yogajournal.com/health/2601). She teaches yoga, meditation, and psychology at Stanford University and is the author of Yoga for Pain Relief. It is so inspiring that there is now scientific evidence that your brain on meditation actually changes its structure in different regions of the brain depending on the meditation. For instance, “over the past decade, researchers have found that if you practice focusing attention on your breath or a mantra, the brain will restructure itself to make concentration easier. If you practice calm acceptance during meditation, you will develop a brain that is more resilient to stress. And if you meditate while cultivating feelings of love and compassion, your brain will develop in such a way that you spontaneously feel more connected to others.”

Meditation in the Christian faith is often read and talked about, but not often taught. Meditation is compared to learning a skill like playing an instrument or a sport. In the Message version of Matthew 6, by Eugene Peterson, Jesus say’s “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.”

Prayer and meditation are two integral practices that join or unite us to our Creator. Prayer is talking to God and meditation is listening to Him. However, they both are forms of communication and require practice, patience and time. Our brains are so complex, yet we are designed in such a way that when we take the time to meditate a physical manifestation of gray matter in the brain is produced in different regions. According to “Eileen Luders, a re-searcher in the Department of Neurology at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine found that increased gray matter typically makes an area of the brain more efficient or powerful at processing information.”

How do we put meditation into practice and deepen our faith? Meditation is an ancient old practice and is used in many religions to connect with God and non-religious meditation techniques link the breath or repeat positive phrases (mantras) to calm the nervous system.  When Jesus visited Martha “her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.’ But the Lord said to her, ‘My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). Learning to be still and quiet in our inundated culture and living up to the expectations that we place on ourselves and others requires discipline.  By practicing just 10 to 90 minutes a day you can experience immediate results of calm and peaceful feelings.

This meditation was taught to me at Yogaville, an Ashram in Virginia.

Connect to God in Meditation

1. Go to a quiet secluded place
2. Close your eyes
3. Draw your shoulder blades on the backside of your heart as you melt your shoulders away from your ears
4. Expand from your heart center and smile with your collar bones
5. Ground in through your sitting bones by pulling back any access flesh
6. Inhale and Exhale:”Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
7. Inhale and Exhale: “Be still and know that I am.”
8. Inhale and Exhale: “Be still and know that.”
9. Inhale and Exhale: “Be still and know.”
10. Inhale and Exhale: “Be still.”
11. Inhale and Exhale: “Be.”