It was a very strong class, and I feel like I'm on another upswing. For the last few classes, I've felt better and better. Today, for the first time in about a week (although it seems like ages) I didn't skip on anything. Even better, I didn't skimp on anything either.
The high points were probably Fixed Firm and Camel. In Fixed Firm, I've been really careful about keeping my form, and I did that again today. But in addition to having really good alignment with my feet, I also managed to get down into the full expression of the pose. Of course, I can easily get back all the way with a subtle cheat, but I always feel that in my knee later on. Today, there were no cheats and my knee feels just fine.
In Camel, I've been focusing on really pushing my hips forward. I realized yesterday that I had been compromising my grip a bit when doing this. (That's one of the small things I learned from Sherie.) Today, I got a proper grip on my heels and started pushing forward, and I just kept going forward with my hips throughout the pose. I got a really nice compliment from Lenette on this.
I also seem to be making some progress on my foundation in Standing Head to Knee. I still have a tendency to fall out to the outside, but not as frequently. And my weight is more to the center and/or front of the foot. I kicked out on both sides today and managed to keep there for most of the set. And on the right side, I pulled myself back to the foundation without falling out at all.
In today's meditation, Gates says that an advanced mystic knows that God inheres in all things. I doubt a mystic would say any such things. The difficulty with mysticism is the idea that what is important can't be said, or known for that matter. And when one tries to put the mystical experience into words, the best you are likely to get is something like the Zen koans. Nonsense, but perhaps telling or helpful nonsense.
Then he makes a much better point, which is that a wise person can act as though God inheres in all things. This point underscores the connectedness of all things. Adopt the conviction that all things are connected through the spirit of God, and I think the yamas will seem more natural. It's much easier to be generous, to care, etc..., with this attitude in mind. Because if the spirit connects all things, then they are all worth of respect, of caring, or generosity, of our honesty, and so on....
3 comments:
congrats on your progress. The diligence on those things related to form really pay off. great work duffy!
I didn't read the meditation, but was he speaking about mysticism in the strict definition, or was he saying something akin to "great spiritualists"? Because that's a notion I could get behind, that anyone advanced in spirituality can find the divine anywhere.
I can't say for sure whether he's following any strict definition. And it's certainly possible that I'm holding him to a meaning he doesn't intend.
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