tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56337676116051539082024-03-08T01:25:48.015-06:00Bikram 60 Day ChallengeDuffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.comBlogger447125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-45928217974454427322010-02-25T19:09:00.002-06:002010-02-25T19:53:22.820-06:00Dog BiteFriday through Monday Off<div>Tuesday 6:30 pm with Libby</div><div>Wednesday off.</div><div><br /></div><div>Four days in a row off. Yikes. I don't have a real excuse, except for a persistent runny nose that has been interfering with my breathing. But, that's pretty much a phony excuse.</div><div><br /></div><div>Libby's class was interesting. She's changed something in her delivery recently, I think. Mostly, the pranayama seems to take forever, and with my breathing difficulty, it seemed like double forever. In the second set, I felt like I was going to pass out a couple of times. She has a thing she does now on some breaths where she counts one to six, and gives an instruction between each of the counted instructions. And this time, it felt like "One ... The Gettysburg Address ...Two.. The first chapter of War and Peace ... Three ... etc..."</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, the other thing that seems to have changed since her vacation is the timing in the standing series. The postures and sets come immediately after one another. I don't have any problem at all with this style. It's very demanding, and that's just fine. But it does feel different to me, and I haven't yet asked her whether there was a deliberate change. If not, is she aware of some change or am I just imagining things (always a strong possibility).</div><div><br /></div><div>Once pranayama was done, things actually went pretty well. I got a nice compliment in the first part of awkward, and then in final stretching of all things. I also got some good corrections: elbows again in first backbend, then chin to shoulder in Standing Bow. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I also got a "Duffy, what did you eat today?" during back strengthening. The reflux problems are not going away yet. And this class wasn't even that bad. I had to sit up twice in back strengthening, but briefly, and I only skipped one set of Locust. I've had much worse days, but it was bad enough to get that comment. And the answer was "A turkey sandwich" and nothing else, and that was over six hours before class. I think I may need to ask my doctor about whether the medication might be causing it, and if so, to try to explore some other alternative.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, the dog bite. I have two lovely and very active Samoyeds. I take them to a nearby dog park almost every day. Yesterday, within a minute of getting to the park my boy got into a squabble with a Pit Bull. I didn't see it start, but saw the dogs lunge after each other at least twice before I got there. By then, my dog had grabbed and locked onto the loose skin on the top of the Pit Bull's neck (the area where mother dogs pick up their puppies). I grabbed my dog by the chest under the shoulders, but he wouldn't let go of his grip. </div><div><br /></div><div>Almost everyone around is freaking out, especially the Pit Bull's owner, who keeps yelling "He's tearing up my dog." I reached around with my right hand to try to pry open Papa's mouth. The Pit Bull got my hand, hard. Then he bit my foot, almost through my sneaker. He bit my friend three times. He kept trying to bite my dogs throat, but Papa's grip on his neck made it impossible for him to grab Papa. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Pit's owner is now screaming "He's getting defensive." As if to explain the bites. But was doing nothing to help. Eventually, a smart woman poured water down Papa's nose, and Papa let go to breathe. And, as I expected, at this point there were no visible wounds on the Pit Bull's neck or on my dog.</div><div><br /></div><div>Two seconds later, for reasons I can't even begin to fathom, the Pit Bull owner let go of his dog. I was still on ground holding papa, and the dog tackled me. This time he bit through my leather jacket and into my forearm. (I could feel the sharp bite, but didn't know that he had punctured my arm until after I got home.) In this second, short squabble, my dog bit the pit bull on the top of the head and drew some blood. In return, my dog got bites on his mouth and one leg, but they were very minor.</div><div><br /></div><div>The police and animal control arrived. Most of the witnesses had left. The Pit Bull owner and his friends said that my dog started the fight, and this might be true. They also said that my dog was the one who bit both me and my friend. I asked the police how my dog could have bitten us when the problem was trying to get his jaws unlocked from the other dog. The officer went back to them and then came back and told us that it was my other dog who bit us, even though she wasn't at all involved. When we said we knew who bit us, the policeman said we were interested in the outcome and that we were lying.</div><div><br /></div><div>What does all of this have to do with yoga (or my yoga)? Well, two out of the three bites were no big deal. I've got some nice holes in my forearm, but they don't bother me that much. The problem is with my index finger. The bite there runs ragged for about a half inch, and it goes to the bone. The doctor won't stitch it because it increases the chance of infection. No bandage will last through a yoga class. And I can't interlock my fingers or do anything at all with my right index finger (typing seems to be an exception today, which is a big improvement over last night). That means I will be taking a break from yoga practice, probably until the wound closes up enough that I can do an approximation of the basic Bikram grips without re-opening it.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, I think I will try to focus on the Gate's meditations on a daily basis. I'm skipping the meditation that would ordinarily have gone with this post because I think this has gone on long enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>And if you are interested, the upshot of the squabble in the park is that my dog got put into quarantine today for nine days! His rabies tag had expired a little while back. And even though he didn't bite anyone, animal control decided and arguing with them can only make things worse. (One year rabies vaccines last for at least five years. The only point of a quarantine is because rabies can only be passed on through saliva for about 6 days before a dog dies, so if a dog stays healthy for 10 days after it bites a person, the person can't get rabies. But the incubation period for rabies can be as long as six months. So if the Papa were not immune to rabies, then the reasonable quarantine period is not 10 days, but six months -- and I wasn't about to make that argument to animal control for obvious reasons. So, no matter how you look at it, this quarantine is pointless and is basically being done to punish me, as if the pain from the bites I got are not punishment enough.) And if you are wondering, no action was taken at all against either the Pit Bull or its owner. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-49085300716780616762010-02-20T15:49:00.004-06:002010-02-20T22:23:51.057-06:00Boisterous SeasThursday Off<div>Friday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div>Saturday and Sunday Off</div><div>Monday 6:30 with Sherry</div><div>Tuesday 8:15 pm with Amy</div><div>Wednesday Off</div><div>Thursday 6:30 pm with Libby</div><div><br /></div><div>Each class was slightly better than the last. Twice, I managed to do both sets of Locust without throwing up. That shouldn't seem like that much of an achievement, but now it is. I'm pretty sure that most of my trouble with this reflux is a by-product of my blood pressure medicine. And gradually, I think I may be able to overcome it.</div><div><br /></div><div>My knees feel a little better one day, a little worse the next. But Awkward Pose seems to be coming together again, if slowly. And I can almost imagine again the day when I will get my butt down in Fixed Firm. So there's definite progress here.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the other poses. My backbends seem to be coming along, but I don't get comments on them. Instead, I get good comments now in Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow, Triangle, and Locust. When I can do Locust, my legs still go way up, and straight. I find it really funny that what others think of as my best pose is, subjectively at least, my worst.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the day 305 meditation, Gates talks about "the boisterous sea of liberty." It's boisterous, he says, because we are forever turning inward, from our smallest to our largest decisions. I'm trying to make this idea sit easily alongside the idea of stillness that pervades this work. Somehow, stillness doesn't seem to coincide with being "boisterous." But what if its not us that is the boisterous thing, but rather the world where each of these decisions is made. Then I can see how we could be like a still vessel, bobbing with the waves, and hardly even noticing the movement because of the still center that we keep. Maybe that's what he's getting at? But I'm not really sure on this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-69824922025615745112010-02-11T19:39:00.002-06:002010-02-11T20:05:40.234-06:00Leaps of FaithMonday 6:30 pm with Libby<div>Tuesday Off</div><div>Wednesday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>On Monday, everything went pretty smoothly. My knee felt better than it has in a long, long time. I almost got my butt to the floor in fixed firm. I skipped a set of triangle, half from nursing my knee, half from stamina concerns, and half from recently formed habit. And yes, I know that's three halves, but I've been watching American Idol recently, and if they can have someone be "a billion percent yes," then I can have as many halfs as I want.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also did much better in back strengthening series, and almost completely avoided any reflux problems. I had sushi for lunch, and I'm wondering if that's the difference. Maybe, I just need to simplify my meals? I'm going to try a simple sushi lunch again and see what difference it makes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wednesday was the polar opposite. Instead of sushi, I had Indian food for lunch. For some reason that I don't get, yoga and Indian food don't mix. At least for me. It's probably the spicyness. The meal was almost completely vegetarian and well cooked -- very savory. And it started playing havoc with me almost immediately in class. I started having some distress in Half Moon.</div><div><br /></div><div>On top of that, the room was humid, and the sweat was really flowing. I did a reasonable imitation of a yogi through standing series. But coming out of the first separate leg pose, I got really dizzy. Then again after the Separate Leg Head to Knee poses. Then I found myself needing a bathroom break before Cobra. And when I came back in, I just didn't have it anymore.</div><div><br /></div><div>So for the day, I pretty much gave up. I came in early, and lay down before class. Next thing I knew, Sherry was telling me to wake up because class was starting. But asleep was really where I wanted to be. In the floor series, I gradually got back to that point. The back strengthening series was crippled by the Indian food. I skipped half of the first three poses. Then I was on track until Camel, but just going through the motions. But I skipped out on half of Camel, half of Rabbit, and then everything else until final breathing. Sleep, or near-sleep, was what I was craving, and that's what I got. I took a nice long Savasana afterwards, again on the edge of sleep though not quite there. </div><div><br /></div><div>All in all, it was one of my strangest classes. It wasn't a struggle, because I basically refused to struggle. And I can't quite say that I gave up either. Afterwards I felt good. So I'm not going to beat myself up over this kind of performance. But I don't want to make a habit of it either. Did I do the best I could? I don't really know the answer. I probably could have forced myself to do more, but I think I might have felt worse, or injured myself as a result.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 304 meditation talks about applying meditation to everyday life. Meditation starts out being nothing but a jumble of distractions. Over time, we learn to shed the distractions. Gates says that at that point we find some direction. In life, Gates says the same process turns us away from simply following the expectations of others, or heeding our own fears. In its place, we learn to listen to our hearts. This process involves a leap of faith: the faith that what our heart tells us will be the right thing -- that we won't get burned in the process. Gates also describes this as the faith that "the love that wished you into existence will never let you down." </div><div><br /></div><div>The only thing I have to add here is that what Gates says is a leap of faith actually strikes me as having two distinct leaps. First, there is the leap of faith involved in deciding or discerning that you have truly listened to your heart in the first place. Oftentimes, I will ask myself what I really want in a situation, and the answer comes up with a resounding "I don't have a clue." So the first part is simply learning to listen. The second leap comes with acting on what you hear, that's the part I think Gates seems to be addressing. For me, this part would be easy. Or maybe they aren't as disconnected as I suppose. If I really knew that it was my heart telling me something, I would probably be more willing to act on it.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-32350280115077879132010-02-07T19:42:00.003-06:002010-02-07T20:04:09.245-06:00InspirationTuesday off.<div>Wednesday 6:30 with Sherry</div><div>Thursday off. </div><div>Friday 6:30 with Libby</div><div>Saturday and Sunday Off</div><div>Monday 6:30 with Sherry</div><div>Tuesday 6:30 with Libby</div><div>Wednesday and Thursday Off</div><div>Friday 4:30 pm with Sherry</div><div>Saturday off</div><div>Sunday 9:30 am with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>How's that for a list? I'm not even going to try to list the details of each class. As a general trend, I'm having real reflux problems, which might be related to my new blood pressure medicine, or might not. Today's class was the only one where I didn't have to skip something to prevent myself from messing up the mat. And I'm having stamina problems, which comes from skipping so much. So typically I miss a pose in standing series, sometimes because of stamina problems, and sometimes because I feel some tightness/weakness in my left knee after the first Separate leg pose.</div><div><br /></div><div>The only odd thing I'm feeling recently is a sensation deep in my shoulders during opening pranayama. I've been concentrating on really keeping the elbows up from the start of each exhale, and its really hard. I haven't gotten any corrections on what I'm doing, at least not yet, so I doubt I'm overdoing it. </div><div><br /></div><div>The day 303 meditation has a contradiction that Gates has skirted with before. First he talkes about getting in touch with an "inner being" that allows us to be creative. He says that all religions recognize this inner being, as do many artists and other creative people. And he says that pratyahama is the moment in yoga when we let our answers come from this being. From this point he talks about inspiration and its role in yoga, and basically says its the same thing as what he just described.</div><div><br /></div><div>The intellectual problem I have with this is that inspiration does not come from the inside. The very word means "to breathe in." What we breathe in comes from outside of us, not from any inner self. Moreover, there certainly have been cultures who believe that creativity comes from outside. The muses are a pretty good example of this.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't, however, think this confusion or contradiction is a particularly big deal. In some ways, I think that Gates is making a distinction that yoga doesn't. Since yoga deals with union, eventually union of everything, I doubt it makes much difference in yoga whether you get in touch with your inner self, or whether your inspiration comes from outside. And to a certain extent, I think that Gates' confusing language on this point only reinforces my point. I tend to think he's being sloppy here because you can look at it from either side. In the end, I think it matters little where inspiration comes from, certainly not in comparison with the importance of simply being inspired.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-84136805025636859872010-01-27T15:09:00.002-06:002010-01-27T15:22:24.303-06:00Saturday Off.<div>Sunday Off.</div><div>Monday 6:30 pm with Sherry.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last week I got some new blood pressure medicine. The first medicine the doctor gave me brought my blood pressure down from emergency hospitalization levels to about 150/100 (+/- 10 on either side). The new medicine actually works, perhaps too well. I'm typically around dead normal now, which is alot better than dead. And I've had readings as low as 100/65.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reason I'm mentioning this is because the new medicine also seems to have a side effect. It does something strange to my constitution about 1-2 hours after I take it. And that's exactly when I took it on Monday. The upshot was that coming out of a forward bend made me dizzy. Toward the end of standing series, I started to get chills. Think of it, chills in a Bikram class! And I had some really bad reflux issues on top of it. By Half Tortoise, I was an utter mess. And I limped to the end, doing one set per pose. A couple of times, on the floor, I nearly fell asleep, and almost missed the instruction to get up for the second set.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm forgiving myself for this total disaster, because I think quite a bit of it was drug induced. And I hope over time I will be able to wean myself off these drugs. And now for the funny/remarkable thing: After class, my knee felt much, much better. And it has since, as well. That just goes to show that even an amazingly shitty Bikram class is way better than nothing at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 302 meditation focuses on two things -- keeping it simple, and taking risks. Keeping it simple, in this context, means showing up. And for Gates, showing up and being present end up being the same thing. The more present you are, the more you are in the moment, the more you have shown up. And, for him, its as simple as that. Everything else follows.</div><div><br /></div><div>The cool thing is that taking risks, for Gates, means exactly the same thing. Playing it safe is withdrawing from the moment. It's not showing up. And in the end, it is more harmful than taking a risk. Part of me wants to say, "But that's so simple." But that's exactly the point, isn't it?</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-85459348486444302972010-01-23T21:09:00.003-06:002010-01-23T21:32:30.486-06:00Willingness to no Longer be in PainTuesday off.<div>Wednesday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div>Thursday 10:30 am with Lenette</div><div>Friday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div><br /></div><div>Each of the classes was good in its own way. Wednesday was one of those days where the body was willing, but my mind was all over the place. I started with some worries about my ability to even get through the class. But everything settled out, and overall it was very good. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thursday's class was better. I thought the room was cool, but I was wrong. Instead, the humidity was down just a little bit, to maybe 35%. It's amazing how much of a difference a small humidity change makes for me. For the first time in what seems like ages, I didn't skip any of the poses. And Friday was pretty much the same, except that I missed the second set of Standing Separate Leg Head to Floor, to spare my left knee.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's something I've been wondering about. I tend to have really good classes with the same teachers. And, of course, these teachers also are the ones I like the best. The question is about cause and effect. Do I have good classes with the same teachers because they are really good teachers (at least for me)? Or do I have good classes with them simply because I like them so much? Or is it the other way around? Meaning that for some other reason, or perhaps coincidentally, I have these good classes, and then I tend to associate them with the teachers I seem to like best. I don't know the answer to this. (And don't get me wrong. I don't dislike any of the teachers at our studio. I actually like them all, but as with other things, I have minor preferences even among those that I like. It's kind of like my preference for Beethoven over Mozart, or Chopin over Liszt.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 301 begins with an interesting idea: that our practice centers on "a mature willingness to no longer be in pain." I think that Gates is probably right about this, but it sounds strange when thinking about Bikram's "torture chamber." I've heard some teachers quote Bikram as saying that we endure 90 minutes of pain in his class to avoid 90 years of pain outside. But I think dancingj summed it up better in a comment on an earlier post. That post was about pain masquerading as pleasure (like stuffing yourself at Thanksgiving), and she commented that Bikram yoga was the opposite: pleasure masquerading as pain.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gates goes on to say something I don't quite understand. He says that this willingness comes from an acknowledgment of two admittedly contradictory things. First, that we are powerless. And second, that we are absolutely responsible for all of our actions. Even if I knew how to wrap my mind around the contradiction (and I think it has to do with gaining access to abilities we hadn't thought we had by letting go), I still don't see quite what it has to do with a willingness to no longer be in pain. There's something about this idea that I simply do not understand.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-83836101346496824922010-01-19T12:19:00.003-06:002010-01-19T14:14:04.657-06:00Letting Go of JunkThursday 6:30 pm with Libby<div>Friday through Sunday off</div><div>Monday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>Libby's class was great. I drank no water, for the first time in months, and as usual, it helped my alertness throughout class. Instead of slogging through from Camel to the end, I had some energy and was able to stay with the dialogue. It was one of the most fun classes I've had in a while.</div><div><br /></div><div>I took Friday off because I planned to take it off. And then something hit me, and I woke up both Saturday and Sunday intending to go, but couldn't breath through my nose, and decided against. Yesterday was not much different, except that in addition to not being able to breathe, I had a bad headache. (Note: three days off of yoga = headache. Remember that next time, and maybe I can avoid it.)</div><div><br /></div><div>So I went into last night's class with a splitting headache, and wondering if I was even going to be able to breathe through Pranayama. In typical Bikram fashion, I got the opposite of what I was expecting. I thought the room was a little on the cool side, but when I checked, it was perfect Bikram weather -- 105 degrees, 37% humidity.</div><div><br /></div><div>My breath cleared up by Eagle. My headache was gone by Balancing Stick. My knee felt like it was improving throughout the class. I skipped the second set of Standing Separate Leg Head to Floor because I felt some strain in the knee. But otherwise, I felt good through everything. </div><div><br /></div><div>The only notable thing in any of the poses is that I sort of flew backwards out of the first backbend. Sherry said "Well, I guess you found your edge." Then, in the second set, I concentrated on holding it more, and through my arms I could start seeing several feet down the back wall. In the past, I've talked about being able to see down to the ballet bar, and I still can do that. But that was looking past my arms, not between them. This is different, and I think that it means my arms are coming back closer to where they should be.</div><div><br /></div><div>For a long time, I wondered why the dialogue for the first backbend says "Don't be scared." Yes, it felt odd, and I could get so I thought I was hallucinating in the bend. But it was never scary before -- I think because I was too inflexible to get to the tipping point. Now, I think I understand. I'm hitting a point where the pose just seems so unnatural that it really is a bit scary, because bending that far leaves you with no idea what is supporting your body. Add that to the general disorientation and I can now see where the fear enters in.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 300 meditation is about letting go. There are a bunch of rhetorical questions he asks, but I'm not so sure they actually are rhetorical. For example, "Can we really lose or own anything?" The answer he wants is "No." But my philosophical training rebels against this kind of question. The question is asking for absolutes, and thus ignores that words like "lose" and "own" are ordinary words that mean something in ordinary usage. The "really" in the question tempts people to jump outside of ordinary contexts. That temptation may be to a good purpose here. But typically its a mistake that leads to all sorts of philosophical conundrums. But enough of the brief foray into philosophy.</div><div><br /></div><div>I really like the last two lines of this meditation: "Letting go is the opposite of fearing death; it is trusting life. When we let go of something;our hand opens and we are able to receive." Both parts of this are both simple and profound. The first is that letting go is an act of trust, and that trust, by itself, is worthwhile. The second is a bit more involved. The idea is that we can only deal with a certain number of things at any one time, and that letting go of things enables us to bring new, possibly better things into the mix. Clear your closets of junk, and you can start to collect new, better things.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-49621161587113527202010-01-14T15:59:00.005-06:002010-01-14T21:47:40.979-06:00RestlessnessSaturday Off<div>Sunday 9:30 am with Rohit</div><div>Monday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div>Tuesday Off</div><div>Wednesday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>Sunday's class started cold. Houston was in a cold snap (well, for Houston anyways) with temperatures dipping into the high 20s. When I got to the studio, the heat had been on for almost an hour, and the temperature was still only 83 degrees. It got up to 87 by the start of class.</div><div><br /></div><div>To make up for it, Rohit tried introducing people to the "Breath of Fire" as a preliminary warm-up. This is basically the same as the final breathing exercise, but he wanted us to do it standing up, and you breathe through the nose, not the mouth. It was working for me, but basically noone was buying into it. I got the feeling that there was much resistance in the room to trying something new. Rohit went back to the standard Bikram series, and we warmed up as well as we could, which was not that well, even though the room hit 102 by the end of standing series.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite the lack of heat, class went pretty well. I adjusted decently to the lesser flexibility that comes with a cold room and a less than throrough warm-up. And did better than usual in the balancing and the strength poses. My knee, however, was not going to co-operate in the cold, and the kneeling poses were pretty much a total bust.</div><div><br /></div><div>Monday's class was much better for my knee. I had to skip a set of Triangle, because the forward bend just before it puts alot of pressure on the back of my right knee, and I started to feel a bit unstable coming out of it. Then, on the floor, I finally started to feel things opening up a bit. After class, my knee felt better than it has in months, and that lasted the rest of the night. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday was a repeat. My knee felt great after class, and now it hurts just a little, but it seems to be making real progress. The other big progress I've made in the last several classes is in the compression poses. I'm getting my hairline to my knee in Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee, and in Rabbit I can bring my forehead up on my thighs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 299 meditation talks about the last of the hinderances to meditation: restlessness. My first thought on this is that restlessness encompasses all the others. Craving and ill-will, for example, are just different ways that one loses one's rest. Gates runs through a familiar catalog of the restless ways we might have in class, from adjusting our clothes to wiping sweat to fidgeting from one foot to the other, etc... </div><div><br /></div><div>He then says we need to drop our autobiographies. I wouldn't have connected restlessness with an "autobiography" but I think he has a very profound point here. This little autobiography is our pre-occupation with our "selfs" (with a small "s") It's the focus on what's going to happen after class, or even in the next pose, or the focus on some little problem from the day that we brought into class. And this reminds me in turn of two Bikramisms:: "Kill your self." and "Don't let anyone steal your peace." Killing your self means killing your ego, which means letting go of your little "autobiography." And, when someone steals your peace it means that you have allowed them to make you restless.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-80646471534517515922010-01-09T21:29:00.002-06:002010-01-09T22:07:30.304-06:00Ill WillWednesday Off<div>Thursday 6:30 pm with Libby</div><div>Friday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>Classes are back to normal again. My stamina is back to where it was, making me think that I must have been fighting off some illness last weekend. I used to get sick. Now I have really bad yoga classes instead. It's a pretty good tradeoff. And normal also means that I'm in the middle of nursing one of a seemingly endless series of petty knee ailments.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the strange thing. I set up my towel on Friday and felt some drops on my head. And then some more. I looked up, and there was no leak anywhere. Rather, it was raining on my mat. Inside. That's how strange the heating system combined with our cold snap is. So, while the usual for cast for Bikram is hot and humid, now I'm going to have to factor in the probability of rain as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't have much else to report on the classes themselves. My balance is better the last few days, especially in Standing Head to Knee. So has my forward bending. I did really well in Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee, getting a nice tight compression and keeping both legs straight. I also had a killer Rabbit yesterday. My forehead was on my thigh (not the knee), I kept the heels together, and my hips went up. And for whatever reason, I could breath in the pose, too. What a difference from how the pose has been for what seems like months.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 298 meditation is about ill will. Gates says ill will stems from the conviction that something is wrong, and the problem resides in someone or something other than ourselves. The example he gives is one I've seen many times in the Bikram studio. An experienced yogi comes to his first class. He finds himself in some difficulty, and blames the difficulty on the heat, on the instructor, on the series. He refuses to follow the directions. And the first class completely beats him up. The reason for his difficulty is his ill will toward the new practice.</div><div><br /></div><div>This problem is one that arises very easily in Bikram. I've experienced it again and again. There are times when I blame the heat for my troubles, or the humidity, or the teacher's timing, or the person next to me doing things I find distracting. And even while laying blame, I know those things would go away if I could just stay within my breath, and let things be.</div><div><br /></div><div>Libby wrote on Facebook a while back after some class she taught something to the effect: "I don't care if you hate me, if you just do the pose." At the time, I replied that anyone who is doing the pose will not hate her. A bunch of other teachers chimed in, telling me that I must not be a teacher, and that one of the hardest things for a Bikram teacher has to deal with are the constant looks of hatred, fear and loathing they get from the students.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, they must be right about what they experience from students. But I also know that when I'm really doing the yoga, and am doing it right, there's no hatred at all -- no ill will to the teachers or to anyone else. And if I do find myself hating a pose, or the heat, or even the teacher, that means that I'm not really doing the pose. So my comment still stands -- anyone really doing the poses won't hate the teacher. Now I just have to acknowledge that, and let go of my ill will, the next time I find myself glaring at some poor teacher. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-74921221794727732682010-01-06T23:25:00.003-06:002010-01-06T23:52:11.401-06:00Optimism and PessimismSunday Off<div>Monday 10:30 am with Connease</div><div>Tuesday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div><br /></div><div>Every time I've had a bad class, I've consoled myself with the Scarlett O'Hara idea: After all, tomorrow is another day. And that's always true. But now I know that as bad as one class can be, its always possible for the next class to hit even harder. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm reminded of a joke my screenwriting teacher used to tell: The difference between an optimist and a pessimist. A pessimist goes around saying "Things are horrible, things are terrible, things can't get any worse than this." And the optimist says "Oh, yes they can."</div><div><br /></div><div>It started getting bad in about the third breath of pranayama. I actually skipped a set of Standing Bow. That's never happened before. I know I'm just supposed to go where my practice takes me, but this was really testing my patience and resolve. How many times are you supposed to get knocked down before you throw in the towel? I don't know the answer to that question yet, and I hope I don't end up learning it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I did learn one fairly useful thing about my practice. Even with things that bad, I didn't notice what was going on with others until Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee. At that point, when I hit the floor, I wondered if it was just me. I looked around and over half the class was down for the count. </div><div><br /></div><div>By contrast, yesterday's class was just hard. I only missed one set of Triangle, and then a set of Locust. I bailed on Locust because of reflux issues, not because of stamina. Otherwise, the class seemed fairly normal, at least to me. </div><div><br /></div><div>The difficulties came in the knee poses -- anything that involves fully bending the left knee is very hard for me. The wonder of the class, however, was that by the end it seemed like I had pretty much worked out whatever was wrong with the knee. And the rejuvenated knee lasted the rest of the night and even feels better today. </div><div><br /></div><div>The funny thing was that after class Rohit commented on how hard the class seemed to have been for me. I think he could see some grimacing in the kneeling series, and definitely in the third part of Awkward, when he asked whether I was OK. Add the bout of reflux when on my belly, and I can see how he might have thought I'd had a train wreck of a class. And there I was thinking that it was good to be back on track again. I guess that shows how genuinely bad (scary bad) the last two classes had been.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 297 meditation makes a couple of points about craving. The first is that cravings result from dissatisfaction with your life as it is. The second point is that the way to get over cravings is simply to start living your life. This makes perfect sense to me now. Craving is in some ways the opposite of contentment. And contentment is not something that you are, but something that you practice. I think that's pretty much what this meditation restates.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-58777521765508185782010-01-03T22:59:00.002-06:002010-01-03T23:33:06.351-06:00Resolution TimeFriday Off.<div>Saturday 9:30 am with Amy</div><div><br /></div><div>You could easily tell it was January 2nd. Typical classes in the last month have been in the 12-20 range. Thirty would be alot. Saturday morning we had closer to 50. </div><div><br /></div><div>Before class, I thought it might be a good idea to try to start the year as if I were a beginner. But I wasn't really expecting how that would manifest itself. I started feeling bad right away, and it never got much better. It was really humid and I simply was having trouble breathing. My worries over my blood pressure still being out of control doesn't help in that kind of situation. I skipped one set of: Standing Separate Leg Stretching, Triangle, Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee, Tree, and then Locust, Camel, Rabbit. And even skipping those, I still felt wiped. Who knows, maybe I was getting sick? It was kind of a repeat of my Thanksgiving class in New York, and much worse than anything I've done in this studio. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I still felt better after class. But it wasn't what I would call the greatest start to the new year. I'm sure there will be better times ahead.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not much for resolutions. I haven't looked back to what I said last year, if anything. Usually, I tell people that my resolution this year is not to make any resolutions. And, of course, since I make the same resolution every year, I end up not keeping it either.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are some things I would like to make some progress on this year, though I hate to make them rise to the level of resolutions. </div><div><br /></div><div>For health:</div><div><br /></div><div>1) Get my blood pressure back to reasonable levels.</div><div>2) Eat more fruit and veggies, less sugar. (On this note, I've started doing this, and nothing else, and have already lost 19 lbs.)</div><div>3) Add some bicycling in addition to yoga, to get resting pulse down some (its 68 in the mornings, which is way too high, I think.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In yoga practice:</div><div><br /></div><div>1) Get over my fear of Locust.</div><div>2) Make some progress on my leg wrap in Eagle.</div><div>3) Do fuller first sets in the balancing poses.</div><div>4) Stop anticipating the teacher when I get tired (this one will be tough).</div><div><br /></div><div>In general, be kinder and less quick to anger and frustration over stupid little things. Maybe spend a month at a time concentrating on one each of the yamas and niyamas?</div><div><br /></div><div>For those of you interested in yoga resolutions, I suggest you check out the Bikram 101 challenge. A group of the yogi bloggers has decided to start a 101 day challenge, starting Janurary first. It's not too late to join. And if you don't join, think about cheering them on. I'm putting the site on my blog roll, or you can see it <a href="http://bikram101.blogspot.com/">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 296 introduces us to the classic hinderances to meditation. These are: craving, ill will, sloth, restlessness, and doubt. Lord knows that I've seen each of these crop up, both while simply trying to meditate, and also during class. Take cravings in class: when I'm standing in my spot and the humidifier isn't blowing air on my, I find myself looking forward to it coming on, just for that brief respite. Sometimes its the water. Sometimes its wanting to do the pose better. Sometimes it's just wanting to hear that word of encouragement. And sometimes it can be nothing more than an itch, or the urge to wipe sweat from my eyes. To an outsider, these may not seem like much, but the more I practice, the more I see that they really are getting in the way of something better.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gates introduces a cool idea in this meditation. These hinderances are always there, he says. Too often, they are simply sitting in the background, behind the noise of our everyday lives. They are ingrained habits of mind. When we meditate, we strip away that noise, and become aware of the hinderances themselves. And then we erroneously jump to the conclusion that we have failed in the meditation. Quite the contrary, he says. When we start facing the hinderances themselves, that shows that the meditating is actually making progress, that we have succeeded in stripping away some of the noise.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-71772653269898210102009-12-31T15:29:00.005-06:002009-12-31T16:14:08.417-06:00231/365 - I'm BackSunday Off<div>Monday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div>Tuesday 6:30 pm with Libby</div><div>Wednesday the 23rd through Monday 28th Off (Merry Christmas!)</div><div>Tuesday 10:30 am with Lenette</div><div>Wednesday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div>Thursday 10:30 am with Rohit</div><div><br /></div><div>This is by far the longest I've taken without posting. My apologies to any of you who were anxiously awaiting what I might next say. The Wednesday through Monday break was also the longest I've taken off with no yoga at all. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't make it to a class while on Long Island. Maybe I didn't feel like it. Maybe its proof that I didn't really like the studio there.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not going to summarize each or the last five classes in any detail. I learned something fairly big in each of the first two. First, Rohit said I'm falling out of Standing Bow the way I am because I'm charging forward before I've gotten all I can out of the backward kick. He's getting to be more and more of a stickler on this point, and his advice really helps me. The idea is to kick back with your leg (creating the back arch) until you can't kick back anymore. Then you start to kick up, and its that kicking that drives your body forward. It's not simply a matter of bending at the waist. Rather, you should have no choice but to bend at the waist. This tip has since helped both with the stretching feeling in the pose, and in my ability to hold it. Of course, my new improved Standing Bow doesn't look as cool as the way I was doing, but it will get there.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the second class, Libby called me out a few times for not locking my elbows. I make a very big deal about keeping the elbows locked in Half Moon, and I can do it pretty well. But there are so many other poses that call for the locked elbow, and its so easy to relax the idea in these poses. First Backbend, Balancing Stick, Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee, Half Tortoise are the main ones, but I may be missing something. This is very similar to the same point that Janna has been making about Half Tortoise. It's obviously one of those things that I "know" yet forget with such ease.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the three most recent classes, I've had some real stamina problems, especially in the second class after the break. I dropped a set each of Triangle, Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee, Tree!!!, Camel and Rabbit. I wanted to drop even more. This morning I did better, but still lost a set of Triangle and Tree. I've never skipped tree pose before, and I think its related to my blood pressure. Coming out of the tuck in the earlier pose, I get a little dizzy, and I think that may be a sudden drop in blood pressure. And then I can barely balance on two feet, much less one.</div><div><br /></div><div>The only other thing is another, and different, pain in my left knee. This time it's on the inside at the back and I don't think it has anything to do with any of the earlier problems. My calf has some related tightness, so I think I must have just pulled something a bit carrying luggage and stuff up and down stairs. This time, I can't fully flex the knee at all. Japanese sitting position is impossible. Third part of Awkward is a major challenge, and I can't go all the way down. Fixed firm is a pipe dream, and Half Tortoise and Rabbit don't get the set-ups they deserve, and suffer pretty badly as a result.</div><div><br /></div><div>After class this morning, a tranplant from Los Angeles who is new to our studio said that I was "really intense." I'm taking that as a compliment. I do think it's a bit odd that other people see me that way. </div><div><br /></div><div>The day 295 meditation talks about doubts cropping up over meditation. It's so easy to doubt meditation. As soon as you ask yourself whether you are meditating properly, or even whether you are meditating at all, then you aren't. And at the start (where I am now), thoughts like that crop up all the time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once again, Gates assures us that it's not rocket science. There isn't any great body of knowledge needed to start meditation. Rather, like so much else in yoga, you just let go of the doubt and do it. The nice thing to hear is that asana and pranayama are already forms of meditation, but they are in some ways more difficult. With the meditation he's talking about, all you need to do is focus.</div><div><br /></div><div>On a personal note, I've found one very nice bonus to my recent blood pressure worries. I've got a wrist monitor that may or may not be accurate. The doctor told me to take readings in the morning and the evening. The monitor suggests resting for 10 to 15 minutes before taking the readings. Voila! This is an instant time set aside for meditation. And I've got to do it anyway for other reasons, so I've been trying to do it right.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-35623703350437074152009-12-19T22:54:00.002-06:002009-12-19T23:39:03.417-06:00226/352- Doing ItFriday 10:30 am with Janna<div>Saturday 9:30 am with Connease</div><div><br /></div><div>Janna really wants me to do Half Tortoise correctly. It's so easy to ease off in this pose -- to think that Fixed Firm and Half Tortoise are both well deserved resting poses after cramping my entire back for the last 10-15 minutes. (Is back strengthening series really that short?) In this class, Janna told me she was going to guide me through the corrections in first set, but I had to do it on my own for the second. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here were the corrections: Thumbs crossed, and use them to squeeze the hands together. Only pinkies on the floor. Straighten the neck even more. The last was something of a surprise. With my neck straight, both my forehead and my nose pressed flat on the ground. I didn't know I had that in me, and thought I was doing the pose fairly well because I was getting good contact with the forehead. The really cool thing about these corrections is that they seem to have stuck, at least through another class. And that's a start.</div><div><br /></div><div>In general, class was good. I've been reading up on blood pressure symptoms, so now I'm getting all of them. It's a good thing I didn't go to med school. I would have had every symptom known to man. Anyway, I felt a bit lightheaded after Standing Separate Leg Head to Floor, and skipped a set of Triangle. Otherwise, it was a nice solid class.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today's class was tougher. I think it might have been hotter, at least in the Standing Series. Or maybe I've just honed my psychosomatic skills. I started feeling a bit weak in Awkward. By Balancing Stick, I didn't know if I was going to make it. Then I skipped a set of Triangle, and then a set of Standing Separate Leg head to knee. </div><div><br /></div><div>The parts I did, I did pretty well. Standing Bow is getting better, both in terms of how high I'm kicking up, and in how long I can hold it. The real stretch right now is underneath the shoulder blade of the arm holding my leg. I feel like I could get much deeper into this pose if my shoulder blades would just open up some more. (Same goes for Floor Bow and Camel.) In fact, after class I'm feeling the most in that area right now. It's getting hit in just about every pose these days: Half Moon, Standing Bow, Balancing Stick, Locust, Floor Bow, Half Tortoise, and Camel.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another interesting note. I took my blood pressure after yoga both of these days. On the first day it dropped 20/15 points. Today, it dropped to normal -- 122/80. It's not permanent, but it does seem pretty miraculous. Maybe I should just do five classes a day, and I'll keep it down for most of my waking hours.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 294 meditation applies a lesson we learned about asana to meditation. It's pretty simple. Don't worry so much about doing it perfectly, and just do it. Sit still and be quiet for 15 minutes a day. Just try to focus and be still during that time, and don't worry too much if it's not going "right." The important thing is doing it. The rest you can let go.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-3261963065121848342009-12-17T20:10:00.004-06:002009-12-17T21:47:52.213-06:00224/340 - Pi/e (and Sloth)Tuesday 6:30 with Libby<div>Wednesday 8:15 with Rohit</div><div>Thursday off.</div><div><br /></div><div>First, some housekeeping. I need to look back over my post titles. My day count is at 340, and I think there are 14 days left in the year. Did someone change the calendar this year? Or (perhaps more likely) I goofed on the count somewhere? (Edit: Oops, strike that. I goofed with this post. I went from 347 to 340. Doh! I will keep the title of this post as it is, and get back on course with the next post, maybe...)</div><div><br /></div><div>This raises another interesting question: Why am I bothering with a day count at all? At one point, the days were going to match the meditations in Gates' book. Now, instead, they serve as a reminder of how far off the track I've gone. At this point, I think I'm doing it just to do it. And also, it gives me a convenient title for a post when I can't come up with anything cute. But random numbers would serve that purpose just as well. Hence the name of this post. (BTW, I have a nasty habit, when people try to get to think of a number between one and ten, of choosing either pi or e.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I had three really good days of classes in a row. Libby's class was inspiring. I found new things in several of the poses. Most notably, I discovered how to go even more deeply into my shoulders in Half Moon. Here's the strange, but typical, discovery I made. I can get a much deeper stretch in my shoulders in the pose by paying even more attention to locking my legs and making sure that the inside foot is bearing the weight it should. That's just another example of how totally connected different parts of the body are in these poses.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mostly, what I did in this class was pay even more attention to the set-ups. More and more, I'm impressed with the importance of the set-ups for every pose. The more attention that gets paid to following every detail, the better the pose. It's pretty much that simple. After the set-up, everything is a matter of breathing and determination.</div><div><br /></div><div>The class itself was great. There were eight of us, and Libby had us all move to the front row. This means that there was basically no-one in my field of vision. But still, the energy was really high, and several times Libby complemented us on how we were staying together. Part of the reason, I think, is because the studio is in the holiday doldrums. For the most part, the only people who are coming are the ones who are very committed. And it makes for small, but high energy classes.</div><div><br /></div><div>After two really good classes in a row, I thought about taking a day off, but decided to push my luck. At the last minute, I grabbed my stuff and headed for class. The only reason I had for not going was that I didn't really feel like it, and that's not going to be a good enough reason anymore. </div><div><br /></div><div>Class was really good. Again there were about eight of us, and the class was strong and together. During Triangle, Rohit commented that it was the first time where he had nothing to say about anyone's Triangle during a class. Then in Floor Bow, he mentioned how no-one in class dropped out of the pose early. It's been that kind of week in these classes, and its really cool.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 293 meditation visits an old friend of mine: sloth. As Gates talks about it, sloth is basically whatever gets you to say that you don't need to practice today, that you can do your meditation sometime later, that tomorrow will be as good as today for starting some project. I think there's some difference between procrastination and sloth, but it's probably not worth mentioning. </div><div><br /></div><div>As Gates notes, its pretty to overcome sloth with Asana practice. Once you get involved in your practice, its relatively easy to let yourself become completely involved. I think that's just the nature of the poses. Of course, in Bikram, the dialogue delivery has something to do with it as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>He also notes that sloth is a bigger obstacle in meditation. This seems kind of counterintuitive to me. In some ways, when you are meditating, you aren't really doing anything. So I would think that meditation and sloth would make fairly good bedfellows. But here's the rub. Meditation requires focus and concentration, and sloth doesn't particularly like to keep company with them. So it will constantly try to bring you away from your focus, to turn you away from the meditative state and bring you back to the "comfortable" area where thoughts just sort of flit about as they will.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-83937778344390138382009-12-14T22:52:00.002-06:002009-12-14T23:23:13.900-06:00222/347 Doctor, Yikes!Friday through Sunday off.<div>Monday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>I had a check-up today and I'm mostly fine. The blood work hasn't been done yet, so I may be jumping the gun. And he wants to x-ray my knee, but mostly because I complained about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>But... I've definitely slacked off about my weight. I haven't weighed myself in almost a year, I think. And my clothes still fit, but may be a bit more snug than the were after my big challenge last year. I knew that. According to the doctor's scale, I've regained 25 pounds of the forty plus that I lost. OK, I can deal with that, and I basically know the adjustments I need to make to get things back on track.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now here's the scary part. My blood pressure this morning came in at 175/116 !!! I thought I had it licked, and even went off my medications and had no problems a year ago. I had a headache this morning. And the doctor says its possible that the headache, or whatever caused it, also caused a spike in my blood pressure. But it's also possible, and more likely, that the high blood pressure is actually causing my headache. This little problem puts a bit more urgency into shedding a few pounds. My guess is that going back to the weight I should be will significantly lower, if not eliminate the blood pressure problem. And if it actually is as high as this morning's reading indicates, then its a VERY serious problem.</div><div><br /></div><div>The headache stayed with me, until about Triangle in tonight's yoga class. So there is one thing I'm wondering. I get these headaches pretty regularly when I skip a day or two of yoga. So, you might ask, why do I skip these days? Because even smart people can be really stupid about some things is the best answer I can come up with. I'm definitely going back to 5 or more days a week, and maybe to every day. I would join the 100 day challenge that's beginning on Jan. 1, all accross the country, but I know I'm going to miss a bunch of days in mid February from travel. Maybe I'll join anyway and try to make up those days as best I can.</div><div><br /></div><div>Class tonight was very pleasant. The temperature was perfect. I didn't skip a pose, but crash landed early out of Locust. I came in with the headache, and had it completely disappear. I kicked out and held it for a full set on both sides in Standing Head to Knee. But the best thing about the class is that I felt alert and with the dialogue the whole way through. It was one of the most satisfying classes I've had in a while.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 292 meditation recommends a 15 minute meditation in the morning. I really need to start trying this. First off, there's the benefits. And then, of course, its kind of silly for me to be writing anything about this stuff unless I've dived in. The meditation also has a beautiful quote from Shakespeare, which stands on its own:</div><div><br /></div><div>And this our life exempt from public haunt,</div><div>Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,</div><div>Sermons in stones, and good in everything.</div><div><br /></div><div>The quote is from As You Like It, which is one of my absolute favorites. It's never gotten a good film version, as far as I know, but the two stage productions I've seen of it were extraordinary and delightful. I had never considered the retreat to the forest as a kind of meditation, but here again, Shakespeare proves that he simply knew more than most people had ever imagined.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-12979469874020440792009-12-11T23:17:00.003-06:002009-12-11T23:51:20.995-06:00221/343 - Ferdinand the Bull, and DevoMonday off.<div>Tuesday 10:30 am with Sherry</div><div>Wednesday off.</div><div>Thursday 6:30 with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>Tuesday's class was going great. I felt good and flexible, and my knee felt as good as it has in a long time. I even thought about doing Toe Stand, but refrained. I did, however, go back on my elbows in both sets of Fixed Firm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, after the first set of Rabbit, I spun around, and something popped in my right knee. I really wish I knew what was doing it. It seems that getting comfortable with a healthy knee is an almost surefire recipe for reinjury.</div><div><br /></div><div>I took Wednesday off to give it a rest, used some herbal patches, and after last night's class, its basically back to where it was. So it ended up being more of a scare and a reminder, than anything serious. (And now that I've said that, I'm probably going to tweak it again.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Last night's class was one where the room seemed hotter than it was. I skipped a set of Triangle, but not for lack of stamina. I went into the first lunge and my knee felt like it might give out. So I took a breather, and took more care in the set-up of the second set.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also had a realization about one of the songs that repeatedly pops into my head during yoga classes. The song is "Praying Hands" by Devo, of all things. There are several lines of this song that haunt parts of the yoga class, but the realization came over the following "Roll over, play dead. Get spiritual minded." Take away the Sanskrit, and that's Savasana in a nutshell. (And the Devo song is most decidedly not about yoga, or at least, I wouldn't have thought so before. But somehow I had made the connection without realizing it.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 291 meditation gives a practical exercise as the first step in meditation. The idea is simply to take the first step toward eliminating distractions and into concentration. It's not much different from pranayama. All Gates requires is to sit up, on a chair or cushion, and count your breath or simply focus on it, for 10 minutes. That's it. The cool thing about this is that it makes meditation seems so simple. And the instruction is pretty clear as well: focus on something and let the distractions slide away.</div><div><br /></div><div>The rest of this meditation reminds me of Ferdinand the Bull. Gates says that part of turning inward stems from the truth that we already have everything we need, that we are already in heaven if we would just let go of our fears and allow it to be so. And that's pretty much the message of taking time to smell the flowers. The idea, at least as I am drawing the connection, is that meditation can help open the gateway to appreciation and gratitude.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-48938357541387135782009-12-06T18:37:00.002-06:002009-12-06T19:32:17.054-06:00219/339Friday 6:30 pm with Rohit<div>Saturday off.</div><div>Sunday 9:30 am with Rohit</div><div><br /></div><div>Rohit took a drink during Eagle and I started laughing. He asked why. "No drinking before party time, " I squeaked out, managing not to fall out of the pose. The between poses, I said I was laughing because he had managed a three-fer. No drinking before party time. No drinking during a pose. And no drinking while people are balancing. After that it became a running joke for a little while. For me, that kind of humor lightens up the class, but I also suspect that some others might not appreciate it. I did notice that I was the only one laughing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Class was good. I skipped nothing, and managed to avoid getting stuck at any of my sticking points. Instead, I got the hiccups again, this time during the end of Full Locust and the start of Floor Bow. And I went back on my elbows in Fixed Firm again.</div><div><br /></div><div>A half hour before class today, the room had heated up to 72 degrees. By the time class started, it had zoomed up to 76. And by the end of class, it had climbed gradually to 90, with the humidity holding steady at around 60%. </div><div><br /></div><div>The condensation in the room was pretty incredible. We're told to focus on our eyes in the mirror, then on our knee, etc... In this class, there was no focusing in the mirror at all. I would have expected my balance to suffer, but it didn't. Rather, not having the mirror interfered most with half moon. It seems that I've got a pretty good internal compass about how to balance and where everything should be in the other poses. But in half moon, I rely very much on the mirror to gauge hip and shoulder alignment.</div><div><br /></div><div>As expected, the strength poses were much easier today -- Awkward, Triangle, and Back Strengthening always benefit from a cold room. If they could somehow turn the temperature down 10 degrees before Locust, I might be able to overcome my reflux problems and my mental block for the pose. Today's Locusts were the best I've done in recent memory.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've heard lots about the benefits of the heat. No doubt it improves flexibility and depth in stretching poses. It also makes strength poses more challenging. And it often presents a mental challenge all on its own. But I still have some doubts about the long term physical benefits from a very hot room. If the room is 90 degrees and you push a stretch to its edge, is that stretch really less effective for you than a somewhat deeper stretch that you do to your edge at 103 degrees? I don't really know the answer to this, and I have my doubts about whether anyone else knows the answer either. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ultimately yogis in all disciplines tend to get really flexible. They also improve their strength. I don't question that there are other benefits to the heat. It speeds up the warm up. Sweating tends to be a good thing. It can add a challenge on its own, simply by providing another distraction. But I really don't know about any lasting physical benefit.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 290 meditation talks about three stages in practice. First, there is the decision to improve yourself or to try again. According to this meditation, that is the part where "turning inward" comes into play. Then there is the honeymoon period, where dramatic changes happen. And then there is maintenance.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sure his description applies to a great many situations. For example, it surely takes a certain amount of courage for an addict to give up an addiction. And it takes courage for a person to try again after some significant failure.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I also think that it's possible for the turning inward to come later. How many people come to their first Bikram class with almost no idea of what to expect? Or come because they've heard that it's a good work-out. And then the changes start happening. And for lots of people, I think, that's all that ever happens. The turning inward never happens, and they get lots of benefits from the Bikram class, but it remains an exercise program, a hard work-out.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then other people go through the same thing, and a light goes off. They start to learn how to forgive themselves. They start to focus and approach class with discipline. Their breathing cleans up. They start noticing that they are nicer to people generally, that they have adopted better eating habits for no particular reason. And that awareness, at some point, starts the turning inward. I think that that probably more closely describes the process in my case.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-89268496640500823782009-12-04T15:26:00.002-06:002009-12-04T15:49:26.571-06:00217/336 - Snow! and a Recipe for HappinessWednesday 6:30 with Sherry<div>Thursday off.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's snowing and has been since early this morning. In some places, the ground has accumulated as much as 1/4". Here in Houston, that's incredibly rare and enough to make people wonder whether they should brave the traffic. The radio stations are all reporting many minor accidents. It makes me wonder whether there really are more accidents today because people are freaked over the snow, or if they are just reporting accidents that they ordinarily would ignore so they can make the snow out to be a big hazard. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway I can't wait to take my dogs out for a romp. They are snow dogs (Samoyeds) and they have never seen what they were born for. And then I might just dare the treacherous roads for another Bikram class.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wednesday's class was good. My stamina improved and I made it through standing series without even wanting to sit out a set. And then I got stuck with the hiccups of all things between the Camel sets. I made it through Rabbit without coming out early, and Sherry tends towards long rabbits. With her timing, she manages to give long holds in most of the poses, full Savasanas, and still finishes a few minutes early. I don't know how she does it -- maybe the laws of physics are different in her classes. (Maybe at home she can make magic grits -- and bonus points to anyone who gets the reference).</div><div><br /></div><div>The other first in Wednesday's class was a hamstring cramp in the right leg when trying to pick up my foot in Standing Bow. The foot would go up, I would grab it, and then CRAAAMP. So I extended it, and tried again. Fortunately, the stretch you get in the leg when its actually the standing leg worked things back to normal, and I was fine from there on out. I don't know what caused the cramp, but I'm taking it as a sign that something is happening in my hamstring, and that's probably a good thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 285 meditation focuses on an incredibly powerful and challenging thought: "To become happy, we simply have to stop making ourselves unhappy." My first reaction was that it can't really be that simple, and the next thing Gates says is that most people don't think that it can be that simple. So I guess, at least at first blush, I was in the majority.</div><div><br /></div><div>Studies (and I don't have any cites off the top of my head) show pretty consistently that happiness has very little to do with wealth. These studies exclude the truly destitute. But for people who have the basics, meaning food and shelter, the rich don't tend to be any happier than the poor or the middle income groups.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next thing that seems to be true is that happiness depends much more on a person's attitude than on circumstances. And perhaps that means that happiness is more of a disposition than it is a result. In yoga, contentment is one of the things that we should practice. Once again, being content is an activity, its not something that happens to us.</div><div><br /></div><div>Give all the above, I think there's probably a world of truth to the idea that the way to become happy is to stop making ourselves unhappy. In class, I've certainly learned that I can turn the class around with a smile. I can make a bad class better by refusing to dwell on how much things hurt, and in its stead, start telling myself how grateful I am for the opportunity to be there. And if I can do it in class, then why not elsewhere. I think I will try it out this afternoon by tolerating the drivers who simply can't deal with the idea of a little snow in Houston.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-69125388925890415432009-12-02T11:33:00.002-06:002009-12-02T12:21:10.366-06:00216/334Sunday off.<div>Monday off.</div><div>Tuesday 4:30 pm with Rohit.</div><div><br /></div><div>I planned to go on Monday, but our plane from New York arrived late. Before boarding, they told us that we had to make a stop in Birmingham to refuel because of bad weather. I'm not sure I like the idea that my plane can't hold enough fuel to handle a little circling. We got home at 3 instead of 12:30, and that meant I would have to go to yoga without eating anything at all. And then there was my cold.</div><div><br /></div><div>I went into Tuesday's class wondering how long my cold was going to drag on, and how badly it would effect my practice. The answers: It hung around until about Cobra, and after class it was like I never had a cold at all. And it had a big enough impact that Rohit left the room during the long Savasana to find some tissues for me. The amazing thing, and its happened before, is coming into class with symptoms of some illness and leaving with them gone. The only difference today is in how dramatic the contrast was. From coughing, runny nose, and some sneezing to nothing at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the class: I skipped Triangle only. I still stuck at some of my sticking points. I crash landed out of Locust, dragged myself into Camel set-up behind the rest of the class, and came out of a set of Rabbit way too early. On the plus side, my butt hit the floor in Fixed Firm for the first time in a while. Standing Head to Knee was also better than its been in a while. I came out just a bit early once, but otherwise held the pose for the duration and kicked out for most of the time -- at least on the right side, the left side side not so much.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 288 meditation opens with an Indian fable. When the star Svati rises and it rains, the oysters come to the surface of the water and open their shells. They know that if they can catch a raindrop, it will become a pearl. Once they catch some of the rain, they close their shells and hurry back to the bottom to develop the raindrops into pearls. The one telling this fable then says we should be like the oyster, first opening ourselves to experience and understanding, then closing ourselves off and diving deep inside to develop the truth.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've been trying to come up with some sort of Western comparison to this fable, but I'm getting nothing at all. If anyone can think of something, please let me know. In the meanwhile, I think this fable is a pretty good illustration of the difference in cultures or ways of thinking.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gates says that when he started his book he also thought he would continue teaching, but that became more difficult than he thought. He took some time off, wandered around in the woods, watching fish in the river, and as he did this the book began to take shape for him.</div><div><br /></div><div>I really like his description here, partially because it describes the way I worked when I was a student. Before writing a paper, I would first read everything I needed for it. Then would come the time when everyone else thought I was either procrastinating or goofing off. I would wander around campus, chat with people, listen to music, while everyone else was busy writing and re-writing their papers. And then, I would write. Using this "method", I once wrote a 10 page paper in less than an hour. At the end of my senior year, I wrote three 25 page papers in a day and a half. I would tell people that I was composing the papers in my head while wandering around, but that wasn't really true, at least not on the level of sentences. I can't really describe what I was doing, but I think this fable gets it about right, I was taking what I needed it and turning it into a "pearl", even if in my case they were sometimes more paste than pearl.</div><div><br /></div><div>This process was fine until I started working at a law firm and had to bill by the hour. It's one thing to tell your friends that everything is alright while you seem to be procrastinating. But how do you bill the ruminating process? So I gave it up, and its too bad, because the work I did with it, I think, was much better than anything I did with the drafting and re-drafting process that makes bosses so comfortable. </div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-2970437830677225712009-11-29T15:12:00.003-06:002009-11-29T15:54:14.802-06:00215/331 - Pain masked as pleasureFriday off<div>Saturday 8am with Lara</div><div><br /></div><div>I went to a non-affiliated Bikram class on Long Island. The owner is one of the early teacher trainees. As I understand it, their certification gives them considerably more latitude than the current teacher trainees get. There were a number of fairly startling differences.</div><div><br /></div><div>First, the studio was not carpeted. I've been in non-carpeted studios before, and it generally is not a big deal. The only difference it makes in the series is in the separate leg portion. Except, the wood floor gets slippery. I discovered that in Standing Bow when I fell forward off the front of my mat, and nearly slid onto my butt. It was a precarious, but funny moment, and there was no harm done.</div><div><br /></div><div>The teacher used music during class. I noticed it a little at the beginning, but quickly shut it out. Then I noticed again during the long savasana. I've been in Yoga classes with music before, but never a Bikram class. Since I didn't hear it at all during the poses, I have a hard time saying whether it made a difference or not, but probably not. </div><div><br /></div><div>The big difference was in the noise. There were 22 people in a room that could hold maybe 23. And there was no carpeting, no fans, and a passive heating system. That all meant that breathing became very audible. Pranayama was great, very loud and very energizing. The rest of the class varied somewhere between being entertaining and annoying. There were six other guys in the class, and they grunted alot. They held their breath, and then gasped for air. Some did something like uji breathing, making an audible throaty sound with each inhale. I've never heard anything like it before, and was a bit surprised that the teacher didn't say anything about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there were the differences in the poses. Hands behind the back was an option in the first backbend. Bridge was offered as an optional substitute to Fixed Firm. In Standing Head to Knee, many people stopped with their leg lifted and thigh parallel, without bending over to grab either the knee or foot. I don't really understand the point of any of these modifications. It seems to me that they are unlikely to lead to significant progress.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the class itself, I discovered that I'm on the verge of being sick. I had a hard time staying with the breathing in Pranayama. I started off OK after that, but lost my stamina very quickly. I sat out a set of Triangle, then a set of Standing Seperate Leg Head to Knee. That's happened before, but then in Tree I got dizzy and had to come out early.</div><div><br /></div><div>The floor series was about the same. Lara was running behind, and either she was cutting savasana short, or they don't do twenty second savasanas on the floor at this studio. By Camel, I decided to take my savasanas whether the class did or not. That meant missing a set of Camel and a set of Rabbit. They only did one set of Fixed Firm, and then one set of the Final Stretching. Overall, I'm happy I went to this class, but it was definitely not one of my best classes.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 287 meditation talks about our being "embedded in pain masked as pleasure." I can think of perhaps no better description of the ridiculous holiday eating that has gone on here for the past few days. Wednesday night: a wonderful, huge meal at a very fine French restaurant. Thursday; turkey feast. Friday: turkey feast redux. Does anyone actually feel good an hour after Thanksgiving dinner. Then, another great but enormous meal out, this time at a seafood house. Of course, I volunteered for it all. And nothing compelled me to continue to eat and eat and eat. But it surely is pain masked as pleasure, and the pleasure really does not last all that long.</div><div><br /></div><div>According to Gates, pratyahara (turning inward) is the decision to stop hurting ourselves with this kind of pain. Maybe so, but I have to say that this is not the first time I've had this realization about Thanksgiving, but the realization and the decision not to do it again hasn't worked before. So I can't say with any confidence that I won't be back at the trough next year too. What that means, I guess, is that there are decisions and decisions. </div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-57254264845866860372009-11-27T19:22:00.003-06:002009-11-28T10:35:18.598-06:00214/329Tuesday 6:30 pm with Libby<div>Wednesday off</div><div>Thursday (Thanksgiving) off</div><div><br /></div><div>Tuesday's class went well. I was a bit worried beforehand because I had pizza with lunch. (This is one of those lessons that I seem to refuse to learn.) It caused some havoc in one set of Locust, but otherwise I was just fine. I felt especially good in the backbends. In the first backbend, I think there is some point of relaxation that I simply don't get, and that if I could just figure out what it was and let go of it, I would get much deeper.</div><div><br /></div><div>My knees are gradually improving. I'm still slightly hampered in the second and third parts of awkward. No bouncing like a motorcycle ride for me yet. I am almost to the point again where my hips touch the floor in Fixed Firm, which is some real progress. And I don't really feel any other big limitation from them anymore. I'm thinking maybe a month or two before I try Toe Stand again.</div><div><br /></div><div>I thought about going to a studio on Long Island on Thanksgiving morning, but I only got two hours of sleep the night before, so I opted to sleep instead. I hope to get one or two classes in while here on Long Island. But there is also something to be said for simply vacationing once in a while.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 286 meditation discusses turning inward in a bit more detail. According to Gates, pranayama gives the experience of having one foot planted in the external and another in the internal world. Part of the attention is on sensation and physical technique, but because this attention is on the breath, we can't help but at least partially focus inwardly. The next step is to turn completely inward.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gates says we should first try this in asana practice (for me this means tomorrow morning). The interesting thing is that he asks a series of questions, and one of them is "What resistance do you have to letting go of the past and the future?" To me, this seems to show that either turning inward, and being present, are the same thing. Or, maybe its that being present is in some way a prerequisite. I'm not even sure if there is a real distinction there. </div><div><br /></div><div>The other point Gates makes is that this is not supposed to be hard work. That's nice to know. Maybe its sort of like those magic eye posters, the ones that look like nothing but a mess when you first look at them. But if you learn to look at one the right way, a three dimensional object emerges from the mess, and sometimes the image is quite extraordinary. Maybe there is a similar "trick" to turning inward -- so that its not hard to do once you learn how, but learning how might be a matter of either getting the knack or finding it to be impossible, with no middle ground.</div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-29661389065296065292009-11-25T15:54:00.003-06:002009-11-27T19:22:30.808-06:00213/326 - UnwindingSunday Off<div>Monday 6:30 with Sherry</div><div><br /></div><div>I remember Thursday's class as being one without high points, and without any real difficulties. I didn't skip anything. I remember being somewhat distracted by other people lying down. I don't mean someone sitting out a set of Triangle. But sometimes I simply don't understand when I see someone out for the count in second set of Fixed Firm, or in Half Tortoise. I think this must show how vastly different peoples' experience of the series must be. It's hard for me to imagine being so wiped out at those points that I would need to sit out. But obviously it happens, and to people who seem to have a pretty strong commitment to their practices.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 285 meditation ends the "external" limbs of yoga. It's time to turn inward, which it turns out is the translation of <i>pratyahara. </i>Gates compares the process of turning inward to the first couple of days of vacation -- the time where you have already arrived at your destination, but your mind and your rhythms are still back at home. Often, over the first couple of days of a vacation, there is a process of easing into the vacation itself, of unwinding. So it is with turning inward, but instead of getting used to the rhythms of a new place, you become attuned to your own internal rhythms. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is a point where the navel gazing stereotype of the yogi might seem preferable to a Bikram practice. But even here I'm not so sure. In Bikram, the dialogue might be seen as a distraction. So too the heat. But there's no music. The poses don't change. The room doesn't change. And what you are left with is you and your reflection in the mirror. When class is going well, that's pretty much all there is. How much you get out of the class often depends solely on how much you can focus on yourself, how deeply you can turn inward. </div><div><br /></div><div>And in some ways, it may even be easier to turn inward during this practice. For example, in Standing Head to Knee, I think it might be impossible to do the pose while having your attention elsewhere. It almost demands this kind of shift of attention. The same goes for some of the longer strength holds. Here, its possible simply to tough it out. But, if you can focus on your breath and learn simply to enjoy the sensation, then you can find ease in these poses.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-52168301584353089082009-11-22T20:31:00.002-06:002009-11-22T21:06:53.740-06:00212/324 - Putting your eyes outFriday Off<div>Saturday 9:30 am with Lenette</div><div><br /></div><div>The cool thing about Lenette's classes is that, while basically every other teacher says how good I'm doing Awkward, Lenette almost always finds something to correct. This time I was down too far in the first part, and she had me come up just a half inch or so. It didn't make much difference for my thighs, but it did allow me to actually get more of a backbend feeling than I usually do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back strengthening was as good as its been for a long time. I felt composed in control in Locust, which is pretty much a rarity. Otherwise it was just a nice solid practice. I had to skip out a set at the end of standing series again, but otherwise I felt strong and good. And following my moaning about the third part of Wind Relieving, I just pulled in tighter and held on, and I made it through without losing the grip. But I still need to be a bit more mindful about food...</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 284 meditation is the last on pranayama, but it doesn't have much to do with pranayama. Instead, Gates talks about advice from his mother. No matter what he wanted to do, his mother would likely object that someone had died from doing that. After a long, long time and seemingly endless hours on the mat, he finally realized that he might be better off not asking his mother for advice. But, of course, the voice still lived inside him.</div><div><br /></div><div>This story reminded me of an uncle/caretaker who played a big part in raising us up. We called him Unk, but he wasn't a relative. Instead, he met my grandfather the day he arrived in the U.S. in a bar in downtown Manhattan. They got drunk together. Eventually my grandfather asked him where he was staying, but he didn't know anywhere, so my grandfather said it would be OK to stay the night, and he ended up staying for the next 60 plus years. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's all beside the point. The point is that whenever I had a new small toy that I was playing with, Unk would assure me that "You could put your eye out with that." For the most part, what he was saying was preposterous. I mean, I suppose a really determined kid could put his eye out with silly putty, but I doubt it's actually happened more than a handful of times. Yet, even to this day, I have a kind of irrational fear about putting anything near or in my eye. Watching people put their contacts in makes me shudder. And this meditation made me remember and realize that that fear almost certainly came from Unk.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now that I know where that irrational fear comes from, does that mean that mean it will somehow vanish? I doubt it. But since this fear has never been all that troubling, especially since I still don't need glasses, much less contacts, it is amusing to realize where it came from. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-74747746325062726592009-11-20T23:10:00.002-06:002009-11-20T23:44:04.933-06:00211/322 - Breathing and Non-ViolenceWednesday Off<div>Thursday 6:30 pm with Rohit</div><div><br /></div><div>I pushed really hard in the standing series, and then had to skip a set in Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee. I've thought for a long time that, no matter how conditioned you are, you should be just on the edge of your stamina limit by the time that pose rolls around. If not, then you probably have left something on the table. And if you push too hard, like I did this time, you have to sit out. </div><div><br /></div><div>Getting it just right can be elusive. Some teachers can convince me to go on when I'm certain I need a break. I'm not always the best judge of my own limits, though I think I'm gradually getting better. </div><div><br /></div><div>Recently, one of my hardest poses has been the third part of Wind Relieving. For a while this seemed pretty easy. Now, when I grab my elbows my legs start to slip out of the grip. I try to hold on, but then I start tensing up in my upper back. I'm not sure what's causing this, but I think its a pretty clear sign that I my belly has gotten bigger and I need to be a bit more mindful about food. That's a nice thought with Thanksgiving just around the corner...</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 284 meditation is about the infectious nature of nonviolence. Gates says that people and nations continually respond to violence with violence in return, and then wonder why peace is so elusive. I don't know if non-violence as a response to violence would always work. At the extreme, I have doubts about whether any non-violent approach would have stopped the holocaust. So, on one level, its hard for me generally to accept the idea.</div><div><br /></div><div>Having said that, in many, many more cases it seems to me that non-violence is the much better approach. And I think that that's true almost universally in my personal life. I've also noticed that its been much easier to refuse confrontations since I started yoga.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gates also talks about non-violence in the yoga practice itself. This is a point that I'm still developing. If I push myself to the point where I lose my breath, as I did in this class, then I've slightly crossed the line . And that, I think, is one of the central points to this meditation: learning to breath comfortably is learning non-violence. And from learning to breath, all the rest can follow naturally.</div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633767611605153908.post-32121628552632270812009-11-18T11:52:00.002-06:002009-11-18T12:19:41.767-06:00210/321 - Oz RevisitedSaturday Off<div>Sunday Off</div><div>Monday 6:30 pm with Sherry</div><div>Tuesday 6:30 pm with Libby</div><div><br /></div><div>I skipped two days again. Sometimes I feel like I'm really slacking off. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sherry's class was good, but I can now remember almost nothing from it. I was next to a noobie and trying pretty hard to set a good example. I don't know if I actually did or not, but I didn't skip anything and I was paying pretty good attention to both form and dialogue. I still couldn't find my breath in Rabbit, but otherwise everything went pretty well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Libby's class was great. There was lots of energy, and it was just good fun. Plus, I got lots of nice compliments and good corrections. Here's a short rundown on the compliments. First, in the set-up to half moon. I've worked really hard on getting my elbows to lock, hands together, and arms back behind the ears. This was the first class where a teacher commented on it and it was surprisingly gratifying to hear the compliment, even when I know that I'm doing it pretty well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then the great compliment came in Standing Bow. She said I was doing perfect form and that I was definitely competing next year. I laughed and she said "What are you laughing about?" I was laughing because the main goal for me right now is fixing my knee, and if my form is any good its because of my bad knees. After class, I told her and she said "Aren't the injuries like a gift?"</div><div><br /></div><div>There were some other compliments along the way, but those were the real high points. On corrections, she told me to keep my chest up in Standing Head to Knee. I was at the second step, just kicking out, and apparently I'm arching/rounding too early. This was a good tip, and the posture was easier to hold after the correction. (It was one of those few corrections that did not make the pose harder.) </div><div><br /></div><div>And then in Rabbit, she said to get my heels together. Concentrating on doing that actually allowed me to get through the pose, even though I still had no breath. Maybe all I need to do in this pose is focus on something other than not getting any air.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day 282 meditation reminded me again of The Wizard of Oz. At the end of the meditation Gates says that pranayama "confirms the central message of yoga -- that we have already arrived, that we are already home, that we must simply wake up from the dream that this is not so." And that could be straight from the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy had the power to go home from the start, all she had to do was believe it, and that would wake her up from her dream. And as Dorothy says "But it all seemed so real." And I guess the same could be said for all the baggage we get rid of, a layer at a time, through yoga practice.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Duffy Pratthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05160837024667969180noreply@blogger.com3