Being Clingy

Being Clingy

As we journey deeper and deeper into the Yoga Sutras, I do not know if I am getting more questions or more answers to my questions. It seems as if each time a question is answered, two more pop up, creating this sort of yoga hydra waiting for Hercules, or Patanjali, in this case, to come slay it. One of the most interesting parts of the Kleshas is the sutra 2.03. There are three that intrigue me the most. 

First, we have the problem of ignorance. However, this problem cannot fully be combatted if we do not even know what we are ignorant of in the first place. One could say that we are destined for an everlasting journey of the acquisition of knowledge. Through this, one will gain a higher understanding of the world and come one step closer to calming the oscillations of the mind. 

Next, ego holds us back. This is a very important one that most people, including myself struggle with. I find myself in my own classes thinking, "Oh, wow, that girl has a better pose than me. Let me just avoid doing it so that I will not get shown up." I have noticed that during classes that I do not compare myself with others, I am much happier and get a lot more out of it. 

Finally, the most interesting idea is that we must not cling to life. I feel like this has a two-fold meaning. First, I think it has a lot to do with self-preservation. This, to me, means that we must give up our selfish thoughts that lead us to ignoring the suffering of the world and those around us. Because of our self-centered thoughts, we are driven to only doing things that have a direct benefit to ourselves. Next, comes the direct clinging to life. Most of the things in our life are directed at a fear of dying. However, once one loses this fear, they become free. Think about all the times that you said no to something because it was dangerous, but you felt like it was something you wanted to do or could grow from doing. Once we stop fearing death, we can begin to fully live.

Throughout this last week in class, I have not learned any new poses. However, I have learned how to take many of the poses I already know to a new level and work on perfecting them. I have felt my flexibility come back to the level that it was previous to my shoulder surgery. In certain poses, I have felt my flexibility and technique surpass where I once was. This is something that I thought would never happen. This gives me hope and excitement for me to gain new skills that I did not have before. 

In class, the more that Dr. Schultz talks about moving to head stands, hand stands, and forearm stands, the more excited I get. I cannot wait until we work on these more advanced poses and techniques. These are things that I do not have the opportunity to practice elsewhere with an instructor. I am also incredibly excited to begin to work on putting my feet behind my head (eka pada sirsasana?). This is something that I have always wanted to be able to do but never had anyone to teach me. In most classes that I have gone to, the instructors usually stay away from inversions and arm balance poses so that everyone in the class can do all of the poses. However, I have always wanted an advanced yoga class that will allow for students to explore more difficult poses that most other yogis and yoginis cannot do. 

Throughout my practice of this week, I have been able to practice and further my scorpion forearm stand. I was able to figure out how to get that last inch between my foot and my head by collapsing my middle back, which I would have never thought to do. Furthermore, I was also able to give this advice to others in my yoga class that I teach. If I had not been taught this in my Yoga and Philosophy class, I would not have been able to help my own students.

Also, I have been experiencing a decent amount of foot pain, which I do not know the cause of. However, I have noticed that after doing a yoga session, in which I work the tendons, my pain is relieved. This is something that has greatly helped in waiting for a doctor's appointment, which takes an inappropriately long time. I am very excited to be able to work towards harder poses that I thought would be impossible to do. I cannot wait until we get to much more difficult poses in class so that I can bring this knowledge outside of class and into my own class.

Until next time my fellow yogis and yoginis,

Namasté,

Upward-facing Bear