Monthly Archives: February 2014

Yoga Practice for Improved Lung Function

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A recent study has shown yoga practice to be beneficial for patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), an incurable, often progressive lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe normally. COPD can include Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema, or a combination of both.

The participants in this study showed improvement in lung function, reduced shortness of breath, and a decrease in inflammation after practicing yoga for 12 weeks; this according to the “GW Center for Integrative Medicine” and a press release from the “American College of Chest Physicians.”

Study presenter Prof. Randeep Guleria, M.D. said: “We found that yoga can be a simple, cost-effective method that can help improve quality of life in patients with COPD,”

For the study, 29 COPD patients practiced yoga twice a week for an hour. Their yoga routine included yoga asanas, pranayama, kriyas (cleansing techniques), and meditation.

COPD, affecting approximately 24 million Americans is most often caused by cigarette smoking, but controlling symptoms and slowing (or stopping) progression of the disease helps improve the quality of life for patients according to researchers.

Yoga practice is an excellent form of exercise for almost anyone with COPD. When done properly it is relatively low impact, and it helps to improve both emotional and physical health.

Yoga is described as a “mind-body practice,” by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and although yoga’s roots are found in Eastern philosophy, it’s not necessary to hold any particular spiritual or religious beliefs to take part in classes, so it is quite possible to find classes that just focus on yoga as a way to stay fit, flexible, and relaxed.

There are many classes, including those offered for people with diagnosed health conditions, that do not focus primarily on the spiritual aspects of yoga practice. However, for anyone who feels they would benefit from the spiritual elements of yoga, that’s also okay. The main thing is to find a class and/or instructor that works best for your particular needs.

Yoga practiced as a secular exercise is made up of two essential parts. Physical postures, known as asanas, and breathing techniques, known as pranayama.

Yoga asanas are performed to help improve your balance, flexibility, range of motion and general fitness levels. They also work well to raise your energy levels, reduce stress and clear the mind from worry.

Breathing techniques (pranayama) are a vital part of yoga practice. They help you to control your breath and teach you how to use your lungs more efficiently and effectively. Pranayama can be performed while holding the asanas and/or separately as stand-alone Practice.

According to The University of Maryland Medical Center’s web-site, “Yoga improves fitness, lowers blood pressure, promotes relaxation and self-confidence, and reduces stress and anxiety. People who practice yoga tend to have good coordination, posture, flexibility, range of motion, concentration, sleep habits, and digestion. Yoga is a complementary therapy that has been used with conventional medicine to help treat a wide range of health problems.”

Specific Benefits of Yoga Practice for People With COPD

Yoga classes designed specifically for people with COPD generally offer modified forms of yoga, so there’s no need for concern that you’ll be expected to contort your body into complicated poses. They can be tailored to meet the health needs of people with COPD and should provide a gentle, easy and effective way to manage both overall physical health and emotional well-being.

Yoga asana practice can provide a variety of gentle stretching and bending exercises help to improve fitness and flexibility, improve the range of motion in the shoulders and open the chest, thus increasing overall lung capacity, while familiarizing yourself with different breathing techniques (pranayama) will give you the tools to confidently manage any attacks of Dyspnea (breathlessness). These learned techniques should be taught in a way that they’re  easy enough so that they can also be practiced at home.

Of related interest, click on: Stories the Breath Can Tell

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.

How Well is Your Head and Heart Aligned?

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One of our greatest strengths as humans lies in our unique ability to operate from either our head or our heart. Both our brain (with the ability to think) and our heart (with the ability to feel) are powerful organs that not only sustain life, but they are tools that can help us experience the world in a most profound way. New research has conclusively shown that we can “think” both with our brains and with our hearts and if (and when) we do that, we increase our ability to make better decisions. Aligning our heads and our hearts also greatly helps us to gain clarity, feel more flexible and resilient, plus it works to guide us toward a more balanced and peaceful life.

We experience this whenever we create coherence. Coherence is the state when our heart (along with its feelings/emotions) and our mind (along with its thoughts/logic) are in dynamic alignment and in cooperation with each other. Heart and mind coherence can be defined as the synchronization of our emotional, mental and physical systems, creating a high-energy, optimal state that has the ability to encourage, stimulate and produce positive outcomes whenever its combined force is concentrated.

This heart/mind alignment results in us feeling good, and when we feel good we generally do good. We fully engage life, with less stress and more energy. We have greater power to make better decisions, and all this comes from developing the awesome potential of our heads and hearts working in synchronicity.

Three tips on accomplishing this alignment.

  1. 1. Listen your heartbeat while breathing from your heart space. Begin by just slowing down and noticing the miracle that you are. Find a comfortable spot and sit quietly, taking slow, deep breaths and experience your own heartbeat. Be aware of its pulsing. Then try breathing from the heart center. Resist the temptation to force the breath, just breathe normally, but visualize each breath coming in and out of the heart center. This draws you from the head into the heart space and now the two can be engaged and aligned.
  2. 2. Always act with compassion. Compassion is a quality that manifests on a heart level and head level, it involved both thinking and feeling and when balanced it becomes a powerful force for good. You’ll notice it’s a deep feeling, precipitated by thought and understanding, it’s also an excellent way to create coherence. When you act compassionately, mentally visualize that emotion swelling out of your heart until your head and heart find their proper alignment.
  3. 3. Go beyond listening to just your heartbeat and try to hear what the heart has to say. It’s common to hear the inner voices coming from our head. They tend to be in the form of thoughts – analytical, critical and sometimes disparaging. Well, next time these inner voices arise, listen to what the heart has to say, likely these will be kind, compassionate, supportive words. Imagine your heart speaking directly to you and you may realize that in reality it’s sending us these signals continuously.

There are many ways of aligning your head and your heart to create the coherence mentioned above…Try this, next time you feel like you are too much “in-the-head” about something, pause, take a deep breath and merge those thoughts with the feelings arising from your heart center. Visualize these two aligning, creating a cooperative force designed to help ease your stress so that you can create a better thinking/feeling experience, subsequently enriching your life and all your activities.

Of related interest, click on: Meditation on the “Feeling” of Being

And: The Importance of Meditation to Yoga Practice

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.

Is Ashtanga Yoga a Religion?

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For those who have never practiced Ashtanga Yoga, you may be wondering about this practice since it was the basis of a recent (July 2013) trial about a school yoga program in Encinitas, CA. California Judge Joe Meyer ruled that a public school district can teach yoga, siding with administrators who argued the practice is a secular way to promote strength, flexibility and balance and rejecting pleas of parents who said the classes are inherently religious and violate the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.

Is Ashtanga Yoga religious? Should it be adapted to a public school curriculum? How is Ashtanga different from any other kind of yoga? For the answers to these questions we need to take a comprehensive look at the history, theory, and physical practice of Ashtanga’s Primary Yoga Series.

Some misconceptions about Ashtanga Yoga that need to be cleared up…

Many people are intimated by Ashtanga Yoga’s reputation as a rigorous, traditional practice, but the fact is that the basics of the practice can be broken down and tailored making it accessible to most anyone despite their age. Most people assume that you have to be athletic, or at least really strong and flexible in order to practice Ashtanga Yoga, but if you have a good certified teacher who can adjust for each individual’s fitness level, they will benefit by starting with as little as five practice minutes a day.

Even though Ashtanga Yoga is traditional, coming from a spiritual lineage that traces its roots throughout all of India’s historic path, it is not considered dogmatic. Instead this lineage lives in the hearts of students and their teachers and can be adjusted as needed so that the use of yoga as an effective tool is accessible for nearly everyone.

What can be learned from the practice of Ashtanga Yoga?

The practical essence of the spiritual practice of Ashtanga Yoga is that through the use of postures (asana), breathing (pranayama), and prescribed focus points one can gain a direct experience of the inner Self. The asanas are simply tools that help students tap into the limitless nature of their inner being. Ashtanga Yoga practice has the power to open the mind, heal the body, and transform one’s view of the whole world. With a qualified instructor, beginners will find an introduction into the very basics of the world of yoga which will include moral and ethical guidelines, postures, breath-work, sense withdrawal, concentration, and meditation. Well established students will discover additional tools and techniques to help them go deeper into their practice.

Can Ashtanga Yoga be considered religious?

Ashtanga Yoga is inherently spiritual, but not religious, nor can it be considered a religion. As a philosophy yoga is theistic by its very nature; it adheres to the belief that some type of universal (or Divine) force that is larger than the individual “ego-self” is the the underlying truth of all existence. But yoga never claims that this force has to be represented by any particular deity or religion. In fact, the reason yoga is so transformational is because we are led through a series of scientific methods to directly experience the limitless nature of our innermost selves. Once realized, this higher “Self” can never be limited by (or to) any religion, because its very essence is spiritual. Ashtanga Yoga practice illuminates the human spirit in a way that embodies our inherent greatness and limitlessness in a way that cannot be defined by (or confined to) any dogma.

Of related interest, click on: Yoga as Science

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.

Meditation on the “Feeling” of Being

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A quick Google search of the WWW will quickly reveal just how many types of meditation there are available to practice, each with its own disciplines and techniques. The ultimate goal of each one of them is to go beyond practice and make them “seamless,” then they become your natural state. Seamless meditation is when there is no differentiation or separation between the meditative state and day to day life.

Most people begin meditating by learning to still their mind and make it peaceful, and this is good. Once their mind is still, they can become aware of what they feel. Feelings will then be recognized to exist within a hierarchy. At the top of this hierarchy are the most profound feelings; those of joy, love, bliss and happiness. By meditating on your feelings, a deeper sense of well-being gradually develops and transforms the lower, superficial feelings, like fear, anger, boredom, loneliness etc. into the feelings of love, bliss and deep joy.

Once the whole array of human feelings are available, sit quietly and meditate, focusing on the feeling of being. It’s obvious that you most certainly do exist. You might question exactly who or what you are, but that you do indeed exist, there can be no doubt. So remain sitting and contemplate on this fact that you exist. You’ll soon see that you don’t need to think to exist, you don’t even need to be awake to exist. Neither do you need to be aware of anything to exist. Therefore, gradually let go of everything else so that all that’s left is this feeling of existing, the feeling of “being.” Assume an attitude of indifferent to everything; lose interest in everything during this meditation, apart from that most basic feeling of simply being or existing. Resist the temptation to see yourself as being “something” and just stay with simply being. If it helps, you can ask “do I need this (or that) to exist?” If the answer is no, then immediately let it go. Gradually, silently and even without thoughts, feel what it is to simply be.

When you can relax your attention, releasing everything and letting your attention return to its very source, you’ll notice that as soon as you stop giving your attention to anything, there is no longer an awareness of any “thing.” Then you can simply rest in your “beingness,” just as you are. This feeling of “being” is always, already there, way before it became modified and diminished into lesser feelings such as those we experience in everyday life; i.e.; excitement, disappointment, satisfaction, frustration, lust, revulsion, certainty, doubt, interest, boredom, energetic, lazy, fear, anticipation, joy, sorrow, tenderness, anger, etc. the list could go on forever, but you get the idea. That most basic feeling, before any other feeling can arise, is the feeling of being. Relax your attention so that all you are aware of is this feeling of being, make it seamless, at least for the time. You will then realize that you’re abiding in the very source of yourself, the point where your existence originated – the Self.

Another way of approach is the Vedantic practice of Vichara or Self-Enquiry, which is to ask, “Who am I?” In the beginning you might try to answer this intellectually, but eventually and with persistent practice, you can feel the answer, and it comes from the heart rather than the head. So initially think about the question, then move on to feeling the answer and finally become the answer. This question will lead you to discover the sense of  “I Am” that we all have. Not “I am this” or “I am that” but simply “I am” without distinction or qualification. If and when we can feel beyond this ego-self, we can let go of the feeling of “I” and feel the mere “Am-ness” behind the “I am”. Resting in that “Am-ness,” all sense of separate identity evaporates and you are present as the feeling of being.

This may lead to a swoon of bliss and light. This light is the light of higher awareness and is the light by which all objects (and all lesser lights) are seen and known. It is through this light that feelings, the mind and all thought is known.

During our normal waking hours it is mostly our verbal, thinking mind that we identify with, without any sense of our original, inherent, true, happy, blissful and loving identity, the one that lies within, beyond and behind it. Once we are able to engage meditation on the feeling if being, our perspective will have been changed forever.

Of related interest, click on:  The Importance of Meditation to Yoga Practice

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.

More About Vairagya (Non-Attachment)

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To continue where the last article (Abhyasa & Vairagya – the Two Pillars) left off…

*To review – Patanjali’s definition of non-attachment (vairagya) Sutra 1.15 – drista anushravika vishaya vitrishnasya vashikara sanjna vairagyam – “When the mind is free from the desire even for objects seen, heard or described in a tradition (or in scriptures), it acquires a state desirelessness which is called non-attachment (vairagya).”

This word “drishta” (seen) in Sutra 1.15 (above) is also meant to include the attraction that we feel through all of our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste). Whenever we have a pleasurable experience using these senses, we tend to develop a strong attachment for those objects, along with a strong desire to experience the same pleasure repeatedly. Then, when that pleasure isn’t available or for some reason or other we’re denied access, we become very unhappy, stressed out or even completely miserable and pain and suffering are the result.

In this sutra, “vishaya” represents the material objects which produce attraction and the attachment that follows. Desires and cravings may basically be classified in two ways. The first type result from our direct perception through the five senses. “Drishta’ (seen) refers to this kind. The second type are those that many orthodox Hindus expect to gain after being reincarnated, including the desire to go to heaven after death. But, according to most Hindu scriptures, this heaven is only a temporary abode and it is necessary to return to a human birth after spending karmically pre-determined time in heaven. In order to achieve Moksha (final liberation), even these desires must be transcended. Vairagya doesn’t mean the dropping of desires because of sickness or old age or some other dysfunction. Old men often lose their sex drive (for the time-being), but this is not vairagya. Vairagya implies a conscious, deliberate elimination of all desires which would lead to attachment. Contrary to popular beliefs, true vairagya cannot be attained by cutting yourself off from object (of the material world) and living in a cave. Real, true vairagya occurs as a direct result of conscious, spiritual evolution, which leads to the dawning of “viveka” (discrimination). Therefore, the consciousness of someone who has attained this degree of mastery over their senses has been termed as “vashikara samjna.”

It is extremely helpful to keep the concept of vairagya in your mind even while doing your own asana practice. For example, perhaps you are not quite able to touch your toes in Uttanasana (the standing forward-bending pose). But you don’t give up and one of the objectives of your asana practice may be to touch your toes in the near future so you set a goal of doing just that in one month’s time. When you are attached to the outcome, you will likely be severely disappointed and/or disheartened if you still aren’t able to touch your toes in the allotted time. Alternatively, if you are not attached to any specific outcome, you will continue to practice, free of any sort of judgment that would give rise to these negative feelings and you’ll then stand a much better chance of achieving your goal in a timely manner.

This concept of non-attachment has been dealt with in great depth in most of the Eastern religions. In one of the most often quoted shlokas from the Bhagavad Gita (2.47), Lord Krishna tells Ajuna: “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.” All too often our actions (or non-actions) are motivated by some desired (or expected) outcome. Non-attachment doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t set any goals in our life, it simply means that we are not attached to the desired (expected) result of our actions. We only have full control over the actions that we engage, not over the outcome of these actions. Realizing this is where the value of non-attachment becomes apparent, we now can accept the results of our actions without any emotional turmoil. This attitude of non-attachment will help us greatly in our efforts to remain calm and peaceful in even when presented with life’s most difficult situations.

Of related interest, click on: The Wisdom of Patanjali

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.

Abhyasa & Vairagya – the Two Pillars

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Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, gives us this definition of Yoga:

Yoga Sutra 1.2 – Yogash-chitta-vritti-nirodhah – “Yoga is the mastery (or control) of the modifications (fluctuations) of the mind-field.” For practical purposes, this sutra can be translated as; “yoga is the ability to remain calm in all situations in life”. When considering “all situations in life”, it implies that no matter how critical or desperate any situation may appear, yoga teaches us to learn how to stay calm and peaceful in spite of the disturbances (thoughts – both gross and subtle) occurring in the mind. A calm mind is a prerequisite to handling even the most difficult situations in life, effectively and efficiently. The opposite is also true; if we allow the mind to get unsettled, then any decision we make (or action that we take) will likely be ineffective, in fact, it may even be self-defeating and bring about negative results. In (sutras 1.12-1.16), Patanjali talks about the “two pillars of yoga practice” that will help us achieve that state of mental calmness that we are seeking; abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (non-attachment).

Sutra 1.12 – abhyasa vairagyabhyam tat nirodhah – “These mental modifications (fluctuations of thought patterns) are restrained (stilled, quieted) through practice and non-attachment.”

Patanjali’s definition of practice (abhyasa) Sutra 1.14 – sah tu dirgha kala nairantaira satkara asevitah dridha bhumih – “Practice becomes firmly grounded when done for a long time, without a break (or interruption), and with sincere devotion.”

Note the three qualifications for “practice”:

  1. 1. Long time – long time could imply this entire life-time, but in a more practical sense, and because the purpose of yoga practice is to control the modifications of the mind, regularity is the key.
  2. 2. Without interruption: For example, if you plan to practice 2-3 hours per day when your current lifestyle may not permit that on a consistent basis you will probably have an intermittent practice and the regularity will be broken. It would be much better to pick an amount of time (and time of day) when you can maintain your regular practice religiously and without interruption. A shorter practice done on a regular basis is much more beneficial than to wait for a day or so when you can dedicate hours to continuous practice.
  3. 3. With sincere devotion: You need to be fully committed to the practice in order to fully appreciate the benefits that it will bring. Swamiji says: “As you choose your proper level of practice, and decide to do that daily, the attitude will come more easily. It is like having a little flame of desire in the heart for the fruits of meditation, and then slowly starting to experience those benefits. That little flame starts to grow slowly and consistently into a burning desire to guide your life in the direction of spiritual realization.”

Patanjali’s definition of non-attachment (vairagya) Sutra 1.15 – drista anushravika vishaya vitrishnasya vashikara sanjna vairagyam – “When the mind is free from the desire even for objects seen, heard or described in a tradition (or in scriptures), it acquires a state desirelessness which is called non-attachment (vairagya).”

The Sanskrit word Vairagya is derived from the word Raga which is defined as the attraction (or desire) which arises due to pleasure associated with any object. Therefore Vairagya would mean the absence of any attraction towards (or desire for) objects which give pleasure. Vairagya also may include repulsion or dislike (dvesha) which arises as a result of distaste (or loathing) for any object. Both raga and dvesha are powerful disturbing forces which create the modifications in the mind-field, so it is extremely important for the practicing student or yogi to understand the significance of non-attachment as it is nearly impossible to achieve chitta-vritti-nirodha unless one can eliminate (or at least remain unaffected by) raga and dvesha. So, even to achieve a state of vairagya, continuous practice (abhyasa) is needed.

There is much more to be said about non-attachment (vairagya), but that will be discussed further in a future blog article.

Of related interest, click on: The Wisdom of Patanjali

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.

Yoga as Science

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The ancient view of where yoga and science meet has been considered “yoga as science,” what does this mean to you? It is common for people when they talk about yoga to speak of it as something to do with the physical body only. But yoga is much more, it’s a science that serves the body, breath, mind, soul, and ultimately, the entire universe itself. Yoga is simultaneously both practical and theoretical.

Patanjali codified, systematized, and/or arranged the already existing traditional yoga practices into the 196 concise statements called the Yoga Sutras. In doing so he was not trying to teach any particular religion. Yoga isn’t, and never has been, a new religion, and it does not support or condemn any religion. Yoga doesn’t insist that you become Hindu, or a Buddhist because it sees all the great religions as having come from one source.

Religions tell their followers what to do and what not to do, usually providing a set of rules (or commandments) that can never be fully satisfying. Yoga as science doesn’t tell you what to do or what not to do, but provides you with tools to learn how to be. Yoga as science helps you to realize both the known and unknown aspects of life, and that helps you to liberate yourself from pains and suffering by prompting you to attain that state which transcends pains and suffering.

Is it possible for someone living in this modern world to practice Yoga as science? Yes, once the fundamental principles of Yoga as science are understood and why Yoga as science should be practiced, the practice itself becomes easier. But first the decision must be made to enquire into yourself. You need to feel some necessity of finding who you really are without turning to anything external to you. There are millions of people, throughout the world, that are searching for Truth and Self-realization (religionists call it God).

So you begin to question life. When the mind begins to question, it’s an indication that there’s dissatisfaction. Life then becomes a question which continuously rises to the forefront. You feel the need to know something more, but you only have this tiny mind, which you try to use like a yardstick, to measure the vast universe and its multitude of mysteries.

No religion can be fully understood until you understand yourself, and once you understand yourself all the doors to higher knowledge begin to open for you. Patanjali offers something to dedicated seekers of truth and he insists the source of knowledge lies within you. The world and all its external knowledge can only inform and inspire you, perhaps giving some indication that there’s so much more to life. To spiritually evolve does not mean going toward any external world, instead it means going back to the very source. This source can be considered like a bright light, but it has many covers over it? The light remains as it is, but it will appear dim or invisible. As you remove the covers, you will begin to see it more clearly. That source of knowledge within can be compared to this light and yoga as science is a method and a guide to help you go through many obstacles to that source.

When practicing yoga as science all the different levels or layers of yourself are exposed, including your physical body’s well-being, your actions, thought processes, emotions, and desires. Your relationship with the world starts to take on a new meaning, and you learn how to manage your life in the world. Yoga as science establishes a bridge between the internal and external conditions of human life, it’s a way of improving yourself by understanding your mind’s processes and how they affect your internal states. Each and every one of us has the potentials within to discover who we are. Patanjali encourages the awareness of our potentials and provides us with the means to learn how to use them.

In Sanskrit, he word yoga means “union, or to unite with,” meaning you need to unite yourself with the whole. Currently you are probably a separate individual and as a result you are experiencing pain and suffering. Patanjali teaches that the cause of this misery is ignorance and ignorance is self-created and his yoga sutras teach that you can be free from this misery because it has been created by you.

You have to become a light unto yourself. No one else (or any religion) will give you liberation (or salvation). Every individual has the ability within (and the responsibility) to enlighten themselves. Do not think you cannot do it. You have that spark. You are fully equipped. You simply need to discipline yourself. Discipline is not a prison. It simply means practice.

Of related interest, click on: The Wisdom of Patanjali

*Rae Indigo is ERYT500.