There is much talk of fire in most Yoga texts and teachings. Fire is one of the 5 elements, the others being Air, Water, Earth and Ether/Space. Fire is felt to transform matter from one state to another. Its sinuous flames remind us nearly of liquid, so despite its “hot” quality, it is also intimately associated with Water, Water being its equal and opposite.
The path of yoga is one of transformation. We learn new ways to move, think, breathe and be still, and thus we transform ourselves from one type of person into another. We are still ourselves, but we have changed, shed a skin or grown a new one. Thus, stoking the fire of transformation is of utmost importance.
In hatha yoga, we do this mainly through postures associated with the abdominal region. We also practise breathing techniques that emphasize the inhale and breath retention with lungs full. Other lineages may follow other methods, and these are all legitimate. You are always in control of your yoga practice, and are free to choose the branch of yoga that most satisfies your heart and soul.
This winter, I have learned to tend the hearth. I have never before lived in a house with a working fireplace, let alone relied upon it as my main heat source! But, I am open to change. I had call to be the sole firelighter for a period of nearly two weeks. I struggled mightily at first, sitting near it, blowing desperately on rapidly dwindling sticks and leaves and bits of paper. Once, I managed a roaring inferno on the first go, but most nights heard me cursing the whole rustic life and yearning to go back to the city and central heating.
But I persisted.
I discovered that the paper I use on my massage couch serves perfectly as a recycled firelighter. Light, and slightly oil-streaked, it takes immediately and burns hot. I learnt the value of the small bits of kindling that my partner lovingly chops, and how to tell if wood if green or dry. I am now a one-match woman. I can set and light a fire in about ten minutes, and tend it carefully for hours. I watch it and poke it and generally feel it to be a living presence in my home.
I think that our inner Fire is the same. It needs the right material to start it up, and the right material and rhythm to keep it burning brightly. We need to pay attention to it, feeding it more when it needs it, and leaving it to rest when it doesn´t. Cared for properly, our inner Fire helps us efficiently transform our food into healthy tissue and keeps us energetic and motivated.
Weak Fire leaves us sluggish, uninspired and waterlogged. We feel like we are walking in soaked through clothing. A Fire burning too brightly manifests in a flushed face, quick temper and impatience. Remember, a person may have imbalance of one Element in the physical body, while having a completely different Elemental layout in the realm of the Mind.
So, tend your Fire, dear souls.
The key that opens the door.
I never give up. I am absolutely dogged in my determination to find the clues to living this Life fully and happily. I became sad, unbearably sad, at about age 15, and have spent the intervening 25 years trying to figure out why and trying to figure out if there exists a permanent, drug-free way out of this sadness. I think I have found it. Could it be green juice?
For me, I think that this is the magic missing ingredient. But let’s be honest: this follows on from years of acupuncture, yoga, breathing, chanting, suffering and believing. This Spring I found magnesium chloride salts and added them into my daily regime. But something still wasn’t right. This Autumn I began drinking green juices and finally found the energy I had always been lacking.
I think that once we become able to overcome some of the tricks of the ego-mind, we begin to find peace and serenity. But all of you will have met at one time or another, a wonderfully serene yogi/meditator/teacher who, when class is over, is just as tormented as the rest of us. I think that this is simply to do with a lack of energy, a lack of cellular energy. Mitochondrial aging is the cause of many, many degenerative diseases. Care for your mitochondria, care for yourself. Mitochondria need magnesium, y punto. Iron deficiency causes anemia and robs us of energy. The blood needs iron, y punto. Give you body magnesium and iron and it can keep up with all those wonderful, caring, plans and initiatives that your restless mind cooks up. We experience deep frustration when we can’t do the things we want to do because we are tired. Our mind is sluggish, we become emotional, we find our creativity blocked. Give your body the nutrients it needs – in a living form – and you will get more out of life, be happier and more creative. Oh yes, and see if that gives you the pep to add yoga to your life!
Juice of the day – zumo del día
Spinach/espinacas
Radicchio (mix/mixta)
Apple/manzana
Pineapple/piña
Pomegranate/granada
Ginger/gengibre.
yumyum! 8/10
BTW: Clases at Prana, mondays, 14:00-15:00
Friday mornings, 9:30AM
If you want to practice yoga and you live around Altea, why not come down to my new morning class? In a light and airy 4th floor room, on the very very first line of the Cap Negret beach, the sound of the waves bathes your ears. You breath in the freshest salt air and cleanse your lungs from within. Hathayoga, pranayama, mantra. Nominal charge of €5.00 (one hour class). AUM.
Yoga: can we stick with it? podemos aguantar?
In my class this morning, I had three beginners and one lady who’s been practising for 6 years. You can imagine that there is a bit of a difference there. The longer we practise yoga, the longer our respiratory cycle becomes, meaning that movements co-ordinated with the breath begin to take longer. If our exhalation is short and choppy, we can quite happily let an arm drop back down with a flop. However, as we gain control of the diaphragm and the ujjayi breath, we learn to exhale slowly and with great control. This naturally leads us to lower said arm slowly and with control. Extend this to the whole practice and you notice not only a qualitative difference but a quantitative difference in the frequency and duration of dynamic and static postures.
Her comment at the end: in group classes people always come and go, perhaps staying 6 months, perhaps 3. She feels she can’t advance because she always ends up with beginners again. She wonders why we can’t stick with our yoga? Comments?
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En mi clases de ésta mañana, habían tres principiantes y una señora que ya lleva 6 años practicando. Existe una diferencia importante entre ella y las nuevas. Más tiempo practicamos, más se alarga nuestro ciclo respiratorio. Eso significa que cualquier movimiento coordinado con la respiración se alarga. Si nuestra exhalación es corta y brusca, nos va bien dejar caer un brazo con poco control ú atención. No obstante, en cuanto que tomamos control de la diafragma y entramos en contacto con la respiración ujjayi, aprendemos exhalar lentamente y con mucho control. Así comenzamos a controlar los movimientos del cuerpo, permitiéndonos bajar tal brazo suavemente y con mucho control. Al extender el principio a toda la práctica, destacan diferencias cualitativas y cuantitativas relacionadas con la duración de las posturas dinámicas y estáticas.
Su comento? En clases grupales siempre hay mucho va-y-viene. La gente permanezca 3 meses, 6 meses, y luego dejan las clases. Siente que no puede avanzar porque está siempre con principiantes. Se pregunta porque no aguantamos con nuestro yoga? Comentarios?
Eco Altea
Hey! Eco Altea was fine, although I was nursing a head cold. I offered two yoga classes on Sunday afternoon, both well-attended.
Hola! Eco Altea fue un éxito no obstante el resfriado que me agarró por la nariz! Dirigí dos clases de yoga el domingo por la tarde, ambas bien llenitas.
Eres divino!
Una parte fundamental de la filósofia del yoga que yo conozco es la existencia de Isvara, ó sea, La Conciencia Universal Pura. Cuando limpiamos la mente, limpiamos el aparato con lo que nuestra conciencia personal pura, purusha, percibe el mundo . Central a nuestra teoría es la idea que cada ser humano lleva dentro de si una chispa de la Conciencia Universal Pura. Por lo cual, cada persona es divino.
No lo olvidaís! Sois divinos!
A few days away
Namasté. I went this weekend with my yoga group to the Sierra de Mariola, near Alcoy. A lovely break, it was. We stayed at a lovely casa rural called “Casa Bons Aires.” If you should chance to visit the Font Roja region of Alicante, I highly recommend a visit.
The theme of our studies was pranayama, but the unintentional theme was sound. We chanted the Gayatri mantra in the vedic form as a group. We sang some bhakti mantras together, with yours truly on guitar. We laughed our asses off over supper. The rooster crowed us awake in the morning. Claudia the donkey brayed. Water flowed and gushed. Gases erupted unexpectedly in down dog (adho mukha svanasana). We practiced bhramhari pranayama. We had fun…ananda! Santosha!
There really is nothing like a few days away to recharge your batteries. “Cambiar el aire” as the Spanish say. Although I arrived home tired, I feel like I’ve had a month of holidays!
Meanwhile. have a listen to Wade Imre Morrissette sing the Tara Mantra. I went to High School with this fellow. I must admit that I would not have imagined him ending up chanting sanskrit mantras! Wahey Guru!!
Breathing
Namasté. You are probably aware that yoga pays very special attention to the breath. It is considered that the breath is the link between body and mind. The first three angas (limbs) of yoga are concerned with the outer world. Then comes pranayama, acting as a link from the outer to the inner realms.
Of course, we are all breathing, right now. But some of us are breathing more efficiently than others. Efficient breathing is slow and deep. Slow and deep breathing is very relaxing to mind and body. When we are well hydrated and have a good supply of oxygen in our blood, our muscles relax. When our bellies are relaxed and the diaphragm can descend into the abdomen, we feel relaxed. Deep breathing is one of the easiest and most effective health remedies that I have ever come across. And best of all, it’s free! (Of course, you may decide to part with your cash in order to learn pranayama from a qualified teacher, but the basic principles are gratis.) Why not surf over to breathing.com and take their breathing tests? The results may prove interesting.
There are three basic forms of breathing: chest, belly and paradoxical. In chest breathing, the lungs and chest expand due to the action of the intercostal muscles, not the diaphragm. This is an inefficient, and very common form of breathing and results in the higher rate of breathing (more breaths are needed to bring in oxygen). Belly breathing is the correct form of breathing – the diaphragm pulls down, the lungs expand both their lower and upper lobes and a full, deep breath is taken. Paradoxical breathing is interesting because it seems to be associated with states of nervous anxiety. The abdominal muscles are rigid, preventing the diaphragm from descending. Therefore, although the lungs are inflating, the chest muscles are needed to expand the thorax because the diaphragm is pulling up. It is called paradoxical because the normal movements of breathing (inflate abdomen on inhale, deflate on exhale) are reversed. Odd, eh?
What can I do?
Compassion arises spontaneously when sadhana (practice) clears and calms the cit (mind). By embracing the reality of impermanence, we perceive the true fragility of everything. Impermanence is beauty – a plastic flower may be attractive and last forever, but a real flower is glorious precisely because it is short lived.
Spring is all around right now. Awakening, renewal, growth. The meadows and hillsides are full of blossom – acacia, mimosa, poppy, lilac… Humans resonate with this sense of renewal, no matter how far removed we are from Nature. We are fortunate, here in Altea, to be surrounded by stunning natural beauty. There is a strong seasonal rhythm here, like a slow drum beat, as the fruit trees successively bear their crops, the sea warms and cools, the rains come and go.
I too find myself with a sense of the new, the undiscovered. I find myself asking “what can I do? how can I take yoga out into the world?” The normal route would be to find a place to give classes, print up posters, and then hope for the best. But somehow this isn’t what I feel called to do. My special gift is my voice, and my special way of practicing yoga is through chant. I love playing kirtan, singing mantra in the devotional (bhakti) style. I want to organise fun kirtan and yoga themed evening events for people not into bars or alcohol. I want to sing to and with people. I want to celebrate life, live, be happy, be free.
So I am putting this energy out into the world. World, please send me the place to do my kirtan celebration!
Om.