Anne is Sad

Anne is very sad because I got two comments on my blog today and she got none. So everyone, throw her a bone and leave a note..she says she will even take pity comments!

Seriously it is such a thrill to get comments and to get the emails that many of you are sending privately while we are here. It is nice to know that people are reading, reflecting and sharing the journey.(And nice to know that my flailing can be a source of teaching inspiration for your classes, Leanne! I can imagine the story that it made. Please give everyone up in White Rock especially Chris, Maddy and Holden) my love.

We had class with Prashant last night which is kind of like part philosophy lecture, part asana practice, part - well I am not sure what to call it exactly.

Basically, this is some of what I remember him talking about:

We are trained intially to have a very dogmatic approach to asana- do this, do not do this, press here, lift there and so forth. But eventually that must create within us the ability to advance to a pragmatic approach. The only way to make that leap is to -you guessed it - be a student of our practice, observe, learn and respond. We need to understand that every pose has a culture, a mood or a fabric and we need to understand how the culture of the pose cultures us and how the culture of poses affect the other poses we practice in a given session and so on.

Now this is my musings: This line of teaching really struck me as part of what we are getting at with the heart qualities and themes in Ansuara Yoga. While in Iynegar Yoga it seems to me that the idea is that the poses themselves are archetypeal/iconographic and each asana has a distinct, objective culture, the postures are also relational-the character of the pose can be influenced by the order that it is practiced and by cultivating its archetypal culture as you practice. Prashant even suggested that when you taste the tranquility of forward bends, for example, you might practice bringing that tranquility to your standing poses and so on.

Now, that sounds like Ansuara Yoga. (in a certain way) While in Asnuara Yoga we recognize archetypal domain as well, I think for us we begin to consider that the poses are more like empty vessels into which we might pour the prana of intention and so forth. So while perhaps there is an objective ideal for the posture, our emphasis is a bit different.

I thought about what John would say if posed the question, "Do we consider the poses to be archetypal with a distinct mood and culture inherent in them or are they empty vessels?" In my imagination, I saw him grin and say "Both".

Anyway, Prashant continued: Intially when we begin our practice, we have the state of being that could be characterized as "I want to do." Then we move to the state of " I am doing." Beyond that, we need to go to the state where "It is being done to me." We need to "objectify the subject" so that we no longer feel that we are the subject of the practice. Remaining the subject gives us two basic options, neither of which is ideal. The first option is "I want to do, I could not do, I am done(and upset or dissappointed)." The second option is "I want to do, I am doing, I can do, I am done (and proud)." What we want to move toward is the process of "I want to do, I am doing, it is being done to me."

So we need to allow the intial enthusiasm for doing to be transformed through practice, attention, intention so that the willful enthusiasam is sublimated and begins to direct us to a cultured state beyond being the subject of the yoga.

Okay- there is more to say and more to consider about that but it is time for practice and "I want to do".

Thanks again for reading.