quote-of-the-day ::: "Accept the love of others with open arms, for the ability to receive love is every bit as noble as the ability to give." - Susan Miller

"Accept the love of others with open arms, for the ability to receive love is every bit as noble as the ability to give." 

- Susan Miller

Amida Buddha: Dhyana Mudra

Detail of Amida Buddha figure: hands in dhyana (meditation) mudra.
Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

(photo credit: Akuppa / flickr)

quote-of-the-day ::: If you have controlled your mind you are the conqueror of the whole world. -Swami Sivananda

If you have controlled your mind you are the conqueror of the whole world. 
~Swami Sivananda

2nd quote-of-the-day ::: be patient, for the world is broad and wide - friar lawrence

Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
-Friar Lawrence, Romeo & Juliet

pose-of-the-day ::: viparita karani {legs-up-the-wall}

from Brad's Iyengar Yoga Notebook:

Viparita Karani is a Sanskrit term that refers to the "action of inverting."   Thus it is more of a general action rather than an asana and hence the name does not end with "-asana."   In Iyengar Yoga, Viparita Karani is the name we tend to give specifically to the feet-up-the wall position, although any inverting action is technically Viparita Karani and some texts will use this term to refer to Sarvangasana, for instance.   It is often called the "fountain of youth pose" because of its profound restorative effects.   Viparita karani is an inversion in the shoulderstand family and confers benefits similar to Sarvangasana, but it is easier to hold for extended periods of time for maximum rejuvenating benefits.   Few asanas have both the soothing and energizing effect of Viparita Karani.

Some poses are for doing, this pose, like Savasana, is for UN-doing.   This pose is for just being and observing.   In the restorative poses, "you don't do, you just view."   You become as acutely aware as possible of the processes of your body, your breathing, your tensions and how to realease them, and your mental fluctuations.   This pose is extremely cooling for your nervous system.   The spirit of surrender that we learn in these restorative poses is something that we should carry into our active asana work as well.

It is good to devote one entire session each week to doing nothing but this one pose.   Any fatigue, anxiety, or depression will be alleviated with Viparita Karani.   When you're exhausted from your day, it's time to go upside-down.   Aim for about 20-30 minutes in the pose if you are doing it as an entire session, but do not exceed that length of time as a general rule.

You should use a bolster or about three folded blankets for this pose, and you should be very slightly backbending over the support, not using it just to support your hips.   Mr. Iyengar had originally designed a "Viparita Karani" wooden box for this pose, though we rarely use that prop for this pose anymore (although we still use it for other poses).   Have your support about 3-4 inches away from the wall so your buttocks hang downward just slightly off the support.   This slight backbending action should not be so much that it brings any tension into your abdomen.   You want your front lower ribs at about the same height as your front hip points (anterior iliac crests) or a little lower.   You want the sensation of a lifting in your front rib and floating rib area, while your abdomen should be relaxed and sinking.   Another support you can use is two blocks (on their flat sides, end to end), with one or two 1/2 folded blankets on top of them.   This is a slightly firmer support.

It is good to do this pose on a sticky mat to allow you to tuck your shoulders a little underneath as in Sarvangasana and keep them there in a relaxed way.   This action will help open your chest.   Also lengthen the back of your head (the occiput) away from your shoulders before you begin to relax into the pose.

If you choose not to use a sticky mat, one good idea is to place a block between your bolster or blanket support and the wall to keep your support from sliding toward the wall when you are coming into and out of the pose.

If you want more support for your shoulders, you can use a folded blanket just in front of the bolster for your shoulders to rest on and allow your head to be off the blanket onto the floor (just as with the blankets in Sarvangasana).   Make sure the blanket extends to support your cervical spine, just touching the tops of your shoulders.   Without this sensory contact (Skt. "sparsa") under the neck it is more difficult for the body as a whole to release.

It helps to strap a belt around your thighs just above your knees before you go into the pose to bind your legs together so you can relax more completely in the pose without your legs falling apart.   Try to fasten the belt so the buckle is not directly on your skin.   You never want the belt buckle on your skin in a restorative pose if you can help it since that can be a distraction that inhibits deep relaxation.   In fact, when doing any restorative work, make every effort not to have your body touching anything unnecessary or uncomfortable in any way (even if it's not really painful), because that contact will generate mental fluctuations (Skt, "cittavrtti") and disturb your mind, even if only subtly.   That contact will act like a bridge to lead your focus outside your body whereas what we are aiming for in the restorative poses is to move inward.

The standard way of entering this pose is to sit on the bolster or support, lie down on your side and take both your sitting bones to the wall, and then roll onto your back, taking your legs up the wall.   Just as in Halasana, you can also roll forward into this pose from Adho Mukha Svanasana by keeping your chin well tucked and setting yourself down onto your shoulders, then rolling forward to take your legs gently to the wall.   Take care not to set yourself down on your head or neck.   To come out of the pose, you can reverse this process back out into Halasna, then back into Adho Mukha Svanasana and then relax in child's pose.   You should be quite comfortable and grounded in Halasna before attempting these variations.   Also, the main focus of this pose is relaxation, so these variations are more for just occasional practice or, for instance, for entering the pose in a crowded class where you are shoulder-to-shoulder with other students.

There are several variations for positioning your arms in this pose.   Experiment with them and find how they affect you differently and if one allows you to relax more deeply. (1) along your sides as in Savasana (2) straight out to your sides at shoulder level (3) in the "stick 'em up position" with your hands overhead.   If you choose this position, keep your upper arms at about the same level as your shoulders, not much higher over your head because that position can cause some tension in your throat and neck area. (4) resting on your abdomen.   Sometimes in a class situation, this may be your only option if there are others close around you due to a lack of wall space.

If your arms are overhead, from your feet to your hands, all the way should be downhill.   This is an inversion.

When doing any restorative pose, focus on softening your sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin) -- the "organs of perception."   Your mouth should be almost open, your lips touching very slightly.   Have the sensation of unhinging your jaw so that your teeth do not touch.   Your tongue should relax onto your lower palate, not press on your upper palate, and descend back and downward.   This tongue position is key in all the restorative poses and in pranayama.   Though it may feel awkward at first, practice it until it feels natural.   Soften your throat.

One particularly restorative way to end this pose is to slide your legs down the wall and cross them in Sukhasana on the wall for a while, changing the cross of your legs mid-way through, and then to slide your tailbone back onto the floor and allow your legs to rest on the bolster crossed in Sukhasana for a while, again changing the cross of your legs.   This position is especially useful for allowing your abdomen to recede and relax.

quote-of-the-day ::: Everything is fun if you know the secret. -Sri Swami Satchidananda

"Everything is fun if you know the secret"  
-Sri Swami Satchidananda

2nd quote-of-the-day ::: A bird does not sing...

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
~ Chinese Proverb

quote-of-the-day ::: One person with a belief...

One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.
~ John Stuart Mill

quote-of-the-day ::: "Impermanence does not hesitate . . .

“Encouraging Words” by Zen Master Guishan

Home » Blog » “Encouraging Words” by Zen Master Guishan

It’s important to be present to why you do what you do, what makes you make the choices you do and ultimately how you measure your life. There are numerous quotes and passages that can inspire, but there are some that can rock your foundation and make you feel uneasy, yet leave a taste of what is possible should you heed their call. It is the uneasiness of truth that can be the biggest learning curve and drive you on to further your experience of your own truth. It’s what we ask of our practice every day, isn’t it? For our yoga practice to be a mirror…?
Below is one such passage, which I read daily as a way to gauge, and hold on to, my path. I hope it rocks you as much as it continues to rock me.


“Encouraging Words” by Zen Master Guishan
Some day you will die.
Lying on your sick bed about to breathe your last, you will be assailed by every kind of pain,
Your mind will be filled with fears and anxieties and you will not know where to go or what to do,
Only then you will realize you have not practiced well.
The skandhas/aggregates (matter, sensations, conceptions, impulses and consciousness)
and the four elements in you will quickly disintegrate, and your consciousness will be pulled wherever your ancient, twisted karma leads it.
Impermanence does not hesitate.
Death will not wait.
You will not be able to extend you life by even a second.
How many thousands times more will you have to pass through the gates of birth and death.
If these words are challenging, even insulting, let them be an encouragement for you to change
Practice heroically
Do not accumulate unnecessary possessions.
Don’t give up.
Still your mind, end wrong perceptions, concentrate and do not run after the objects of your senses.
Practice diligently.
Be determined not to let your days and months pass by wastefully.


from ashtangalife.com

quote-of-the-day ::: Time is not a line . . .

				"Time is not a line, but a series of now-points"  -Taisen Deshimaru

undoing your story-of-the-day

A Story That Could Be True

If you were exchanged in the cradle and
your real mother died
without ever telling the story
then no one knows your name,
and somewhere in the world
your father is lost and needs you
but you are far away.

He can never find
how true you are, how ready.
When the great wind comes
and the robberies of the rain
you stand on the corner shivering.
The people who go by--
you wonder at their calm.

They miss the whisper that runs
any day in your mind,
"Who are you really, wanderer?"--
and the answer you have to give
no matter how dark and cold
the world around you is:
"Maybe I'm a king."

William Stafford, Going Over to Your Place: Poems for Each Other (Selected by Paul B. Janeczko, Bradbury Press, New York)

2nd quote-of-the-day ::: if you don't have any shadows you are not standing in the light - lady gaga

"if you don't have any shadows you are not standing in the light" - lady gaga

quote-of-the-day ::: "we are what we repeatedly do...

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” 

-Aristotle

varun/a mudra

Varuna Mudra (Mudra of Water):

Method: Tip of little finger touches the tip of thumb, with the other three fingers stretched out.
Specialty: It balances the water content and prevents all diseases which come due to lack of water.

Time Duration: It has no specific time duration and one can practice it according to their time.

Benefits:
- It retains clarity in blood by balancing water content in the body
- Prevents the pains of Gastroenteritis and Muscle Shrinkage

(from http://www.cosmo411.com/blog/2010/10/22/varuna-mudra-aakash-mudra/)

word-of-the-day ::: supple

supple

2 ENTRIES FOUND:

1. 1) supple (adjective)
2. 2) supple (verb)

¹sup·ple

adj \ˈsə-pəl also ˈsü-\

sup·pler \-p(ə-)lər\sup·plest \-p(ə-)ləst\

Definition of SUPPLE

1

a : compliant often to the point of obsequiousness b : readily adaptable or responsive to new situations

2

a : capable of being bent or folded without creases, cracks, or breaks : pliant <supple leather> b : able to perform bending or twisting movements with ease : limber <supple legs of a dancer> c : easy and fluent without stiffness or awkwardness <sang with a lively, supple voice — Douglas Watt>

— sup·ple·ly  \-pə(l)-lē\ or sup·ply  \-p(ə-)lē\ adverb

— sup·ple·ness \-pəl-nəs\ noun

See supple defined for English-language learners »

Examples of SUPPLE

1. <a dome tent outfitted with supple fiberglass tent poles>
2. <shoes made from supple leather>

Origin of SUPPLE

Middle English souple, from Anglo-French suple, from Latin supplic-, supplex entreating for mercy, supplicant, perhaps from sub- + -plic- (akin to plicare to fold) — more at ply

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to SUPPLE

Synonyms: bendy [chiefly British], flexible, limber, lissome (also lissom), lithe, lithesome, pliable, pliant, willowy

Antonyms: inflexible, rigid, stiff, stiffened

Related Words: adaptable, ductile, elastic, fluid, kneadable, malleable, modifiable, plastic, variable, yielding; droopy, flaccid, floppy, limp; semiflexible

Near Antonyms: inelastic, nonmalleable, unyielding; breakable, brittle, fragile

see all synonyms and antonyms

[+]more[-]hide

See Synonym Discussion at elastic

welcome - home is near and far...

...far away in the heavenly abode of the great god indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out indefinitely in all directions. in accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel at the net's every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. there hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. . .


if we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite...
--the avatamsaka sutra