Calm as a Hindu Cow
I’m two weeks into my month-long Yoga intensive in Rishikesh. I feel as if this incredible unfolding is happening right before my eyes. Actually, the unfolding is occurring behind my eyes. Yoga, combined with a beautifully enriching spiritual community, mixed with the current state of my own path, throw in a small group of friends committed to sharing their own process and exploring the beauty of existence together have all come together at this amazing time in my life.
A cosmic unrolling I will call it, that at moments seems to accelerate change in myself and solidify a connection with the Divine. I’ve shaken off the stagnation that I was feeling at home, processing what I now know was caused by a lack of preparation and lack of energetic defense against the onslaught that is one’s past. I am, to the best of my abilities and intentions, back in the here and now. I plan to write about my time at home eventually, but I am still sitting with various aspects of it. Plus the here and now is here and now. :)
Yoga practice has provided the underlying framework for this unrolling. But I’m not talking about the cartwheel Iron Yogi style of practice we have grown accustomed to in the West. Yoga this time refers to the ancient tradition of spiritual awakening first developed in India that morphed into Buddhism and continues to influence thought and culture in the East.
I was introduced to the Trika Yoga program from my friends Al and Nicole whom I met while traveling in Nepal. They participated in the introductory first month course in January and when I checked in with them to see how it was going, Nicole said “It makes me feel so much like a million bucks that if someone offered me a million bucks to quit I would say no." That, in addition reading this link on Trika’s website (answering yes to the 7 questions as the bottom), and I was SOLD! I still consider myself a Zen Buddhist, but I believe the physical aspects of certain Yogic practices (Zen developed from something called Yogacara (meaning one whose practice is Yoga)) are beautiful complements to my Zen practice.
A bit about the program – it (as many popular programs in India today) was developed by a Westerner who assimilated the teachings of many masters. Trika has a holistic approach that provides insight into several Yogic disciplines, primarily aligned with Hatha Yoga (Ha=Sun, Tha=moon), focusing on balancing cosmic and telluric energies in our energetic bodies through our emissive and receptive functions (Yin and Yang), respectively. The text from Trika’s website:
An introduction to Hatha Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Laya Yoga, and Tantra Yoga. It also includes theory and practice on techniques from Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Nidra Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga, thus constituting a genuine example of Integral Yoga.
Information and explanatory lectures are given on a variety of related topics such as: diet in Yoga, healing through natural methods, purification and cleansing techniques, Ayurveda, yin/yang balancing, relaxation, physiology and psychology in Yoga, mastery and transmutation of the sexual energy, Eastern philosophy, mental concentration, the use of music in Yoga, and meditation, to name but a few.
Yoga in general is not dogmatic and the ashram where I practice is dotted with photographs and quotes of masters from all disciplines – many Yogis and Hindu deities of course, but also Christ, Gandhi, Buddha, contemporary individuals who have gained realization in various forms.
One can become quite proficient in this Trika path – undergoing 5 years or so to become a certified teacher. The primary introduction lasts 3 months, with most instruction and practice coming in the first month, what I’ve committed to. The first month consists of a 28 day program, 6 days a week for 4 weeks. Each day is similar – the only difference being the new asana we learn in the morning and a unique lecture in the evening. The schedule is very intense and tiring. I’m in the ashram from 7:30-11:30 in the morning and then 4-9 in the evening. The morning begins with a 45 minute meditation, followed by short instructions on the new asana (posture) for the day. We then proceed to practice for approximately 2 hours. We repeat this in the afternoon, incorporating a series of sun salutations(Surya Namaskara) with devotional chanting to begin the practice in a symbolic act that is a complete surrender of oneself to God. We then proceed with the asana practice and once finished, we take a short break and move into a lecture on various yogic disciplines. Yogi Training 101 I like to call it.
I’ve found that the lectures are hit and miss – for example last nights was on the merits of vegetarianism of which I need no convincing. Some are also very high level morality issues that I’ve already spend a lot of time on in my Buddhist path. However – others, on various cleansing techniques, in-depth discussions on chakras, sublimation of energy, tantric sexuality and others are great. So I pick and choose which lectures to go to, tonight skipping a discussion on Non-Attachment in order to blog!
I pick gems out of the lectures to avoid intellectual overload (there is some contradiction in the teaching method as we are trying to get OUT of our heads and into our bodies and yet we are bombarded with 200 pages worth of techniques and philosophies…), working with these gems in my physical practice. This is where the gold nugget is. Spending 5-7 hours on a Yoga mat each day. Instead of running through 50 postures in 60 minutes like I do in Boulder, flexing muscles and treating Yoga like another competitive sport, we do a small series of Hatha Yoga postures generally holding them for 5-8 minutes each. We are taught about the flow of energy in each of these postures and which chakras are activated and how. For example, Padahastana, the first asana is the simple forward bend, touching your toes while keeping your legs straight. Peace of cake right? Try doing it for 8 minutes. It turns out to be one of my favorite postures as it activates your muladhara chakra (root) with telluric energy from the earth, providing a sense of grounding, security and stability. If my mind is full of chatter during the warming exercises, Padahastana usually drops me right into a place where I can practice.
I could go on forever about the postures but what I want to talk about is the subtle explorations that are going on in practice. The real goal here is to clear and activate all of your chakras, remove blockages, learn to sublimate energy from lower to higher (i.e. root to heart) chakras and ultimately to raise your level of consciousness to higher planes or vibrations. The truth is we all have access to this at any time and realized people don’t need to do a hundred asanas to get there… but for the rest of us it is a path to the destination. Once at the destination you realize you were always there and can drop all of the dissections of practice and chakras and all the rest.
One of the most incredible moments for me was an afternoon where I untied a sanskara, an impression derived from past experiences that form desires that influence future responses and behavior (karma). These are often stored in the physical body, far away from where the conscious mind can act or even be aware of them. While working on the emissive side (right/Yang) of Trikonasana (triangle) which activates aspects of the Manipura (navel) chakra such as inner balance, self confidence and inner harmony I began to be overwhelmed with emotion. We immediately moved into Bhujangasana (cobra pose) which arouses the anahata (heart chakra). At this point I started sobbing uncontrollably. I just let it go. There was no conscious thinking, emotional stimulus or anything at the level of the mind that could have caused this. I’ve really never experienced anything like this before. From experience I have a lot of blockage between my navel and heart chakras and this was just one step of many in the slow process of opening this channel. My mind wants to analyze it to death but I’ve just let it go, knowing that it is unexplainable. I’ve experienced other things that don’t make scientific sense and I’m afraid a little too personal and to share to the world.
I’m learning so much about my body, my impulses , my karma , my relationship to self, to others, to God.
Let the unrolling continue.