It’s time to rest & let the higher mind take over for a while. This body is tired.
Category: <span>Yoga</span>
When we remember we are all mad,
the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain
ps………………………I’ll be back on Monday.
Lately I have become fascinated, once again, with Mudras. Mudra’s are the hand postitions often used in Indian dance, Yoga asana’s, and during meditation practices. If you look at the
pictures of Buddah and the pantheon of other Eastern gods & goddesses you will always see them holding their hands in a particular way.
Swami Kripalu, the guru of Kripalu Yoga, was often photographed with his hands in a particular position. Many of those that had the opportunity to be with him when he was alive reported that his personal sadhana (spiritual practice) was sprinkled thruout with beautiful hand gestures and movements. It was clear to those that watched that he seemed fascinated by his hands. It seemed quite mysterious and entrancing to me when I watched a video of his practice.
As time marched on these mudras or hand positions took on a life of their own and are believed to be a ‘yoga of the hands’ with specialized healing properties. When used during asana, pranayama, or meditation
it is believed that a particular circuitry of neural pathways becomes established and something happens. (ie. heart rate slows, digestion eases, etc.) If you consider the meridian system as established by the Chinese Acupuncturist, this all makes sense.) After all, we too have all kinds of ‘meanings’ that are attached to various hand gestures in our culture as well.
Palmistry, divination thru the hands, can also trace it’s origins back to the earliest of spiritual seekers. They understood that our lives are reflected by our hands and it reads just like a book if you have the eyes to see.
Most recently I began to study mudras with one of my teachers, Joseph LaPage. We are using them in conjunction with yoga therapy. Many people are unable to perform the yoga asana’s due to physical limitations. However, just about everyone can do things with their hands. When used along with the breathing practices, affirmations, and meditation, mudras can be a powerful way to create focus, concentration, stillness and a deep sense of peace. Try it for yourself.
Today & tomorrow all of us will be experiencing the balsamic phase of the moon ending on Wednesday at 3;27 EDT when the New Moon cycle at 26Taurus begins. It’s time to dive in again and clean out the internal clutter.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to meet Wayne Muller who is an ordained minister, therapist and author of Sabbath, Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives. He definitly understood the symbolic meaning of the balsamic phase of the moon. He agrees that, without this time of introverted activity we are doomed to remain a stressed out, disease-ridden, self-centered culture showing little compassion or understanding for others. Whew. It stressed me out just writing that sentence!
The balsamic phase of the moon as I have previously written about here and here is the time to direct our attention to our inner world and our inner life. Many people don’t have a clue what that means which illustrates the need to educate and encourage this practice. Wayne Muller writes about Sabbath from both the Jewish & the Christian perspective. One celebrates this restful time on Saturday, the other on Sunday. I have personally discovered as an astrologer/yogini that using the balsamic time of the moon for my inward journeys to be extrodinarily auspicious.
We on this planet Earth are intimately connected to the cycle & phases of the Moon, our closest neighbor in the sky. We know that the moon affects the tides thru it’s gravitational pull on Earth. We know that we are more than 80% water. It’s not a gigantic leap to realize that we too are affected by that same gravitational pull. And, finally, we know that since the dawning of mankind we have watched and scheduled our lives by the consistent rhythms of the sun & moon. Afterall, isn’t that where our calendar came from? But, I digress.
It does make it somewhat challenging to withdraw from our daily lives if the balsamic phase falls on a Monday & Tuesday! Our contemporary worklife does not have a flexible enough schedule to accomodate the fluctuations of the lunar cycle. We are a solar based society, unlike some of the other cultures on our planet. (See this article on East vs. West astrology)
However, where there’s a will there’s a way. One of the ways I make sure that I acknowledge my balsamic tasks is to step up my yoga & meditation practice during these days. You might want to do the same and attend a class or two. Taking time out to be in nature is another way to celebrate this time. Journaling, napping, day-dreaming, are some other ways to honor yourself and build up your internal bank account. Practice ‘not doing’ as the yogi’s would say. Just Be. You will find that you are even more productive when the new moon comes back around if you take out some time for yourself now.
Yesterday, 5/10/2007, the NY Times published an article on yoga therapy. You can read it for yourself at this site: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/fashion/10Fitness.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Wow. Much of what is written there is what I have been teaching (or preaching?) for years. It’s nice to be validated by the media.
Establishing a working relationship with main-stream medicine is easier said than done though. For one thing, few doctors have had any personal experience with yoga or yoga therapy. Many are mis-informed about yoga is, believing it to be a form of ‘exercise’ that helps people relax. I suppose that is true on some level, however it’s so much more than that.
Regardless, it’s nice to be on the cutting edge of something and helping to establish the standards. What frightens me though is the idea that at some point we, yoga teachers & therapists alike, will be regulated by some anonymous body of ‘professionals’ who will try to standardize our practices. Although I do recognize the need for some sort of credential that lets the public know that we have learned something, standardization will also seriously diminish the creative and intuitive spark that fuels our abilities. Yoga, as we know, is a body/mind/spiritual approach to health. How do you measure Spirit?
Time to meditate……………………………..
If you look over to the sidebar on the right you’ll see a post on the Inner Quest Intensive at Kripalu Center coming up next week. If you are a seeker I highly recommend that you sign up for this amazing program.
I participated in it in 1999 and my life hasn’t been the same since. Before that I hardly understood what it meant to ‘transform’ ones life. I only knew that I wasn’t happy, that I was the one holding myself back, and that I had to do something to help myself. I accomplished in one long weekend what might have taken decades on a therapist’s couch to do.
The most important thing that I learned (and this applies to everyone) is that “our issues are in our tissues”. (That’s a quote from Swami Kripalu) What he means is that we can change our minds and change our dialogues but our lives won’t change until we include 
body-centered therapies to address our issues. So, whether you are dealing with trauma, abuse, addiction or you’re just plain unhappy, you must include the entire body/mind in your wellness program. This is why yoga is so perfect. It’s the original body/mind practice including emotions and spirit in its methodology. If you are simply doing postures on a sweaty rubber mat, excluding practices that address mind/breath/emotions/spirit than you are not doing Yoga.
The Inner Quest Intensive is an opportunity to experience all of the aspects of yoga. It’s a program geared towards eliminating the obstacles and limitations that have held you back from feeling fully alive. I can’t say that it’s exactly ‘fun’, but it is transforming and quite enlightening.
Since participating in the program in ’99, I have returned to Kripalu three times a year to be a facilitator in the program. I can actually say that I have been a witness to miracles, something I never would have said prior to ’99. So, check it out and see if you’re a candidate for the IQI……..guaranteed to change your life for the better.
Saturn is currently squaring my natal Sun. Ugh. It feels like being trapped within concrete walls with only a small little penknife to chip my way out. I suppose there is a postive side to this transit, there always is a good side. However, today I just feel stuck.
Just before the transit came to exactitude I spent a week at Kripalu Center attending the Symposium on Yoga Therapy. It was wonderful to be with a community of yoga professionals who are focused on using these ancient practices towards health & wellness. There are some really good things happening out there! I learned a lot. And, I also realized how much I already know…………..it’s always good to be validated!
Yoga Therapy is definitely an up and coming modality that is beginning to receive recognition from the medical establishment. In my own practice a few of my clients are getting reimbursed by their insurance companies for their sessions with me. And, their doctors are writing prescriptions for Yoga Therapy!
What sets my practice apart from most of the other yoga therapists is the use of astrology in my analysis. Looking at a clients natal chart along with current transits & progressions can provide a lot of information that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. As soon as this concrete wall crumbles I hope to complete some of the articles on this and post them here or on my website. But until then……….I’ll continue to practice procrastination!
May I be peaceful.
May you be peaceful.
May we be peaceful together.
May all beings live in peace together.
They’d have a lot more fun if they’d take their shoes off and lighten up!
………24 days until danskinetics!