I do Surya Namaskar and the Tibetan Five Rites for mobility
and have always measured progress by how far I can stretch.
With a good dose of ego and vanity, over three years, I have
brought the palms to the ground and twisted the limbs to sit
lotus. Every morning, like brushing teeth, I finish the
drills as quickly as possible and move on. I am sure if I
keep it up, mobility shouldn't be a problem when I get old.
I have heard, however, that yoga is more than physical and a
big world out there has evolved from the concept.
Early March, I stumbled into the right book for me, "The
Heart of Yoga" by T. K. V. Desikachar (Andreas Kluth
recommended it in his blog).
I have learnt that in yoga breathing is used to maneuver the
diagphram to help the body in moving into a position. In
principle, one inhales when expanding and exhales when
contracting. This down-to-earth knowledge has opened my
eyes and immediately slowed me down. I have started to let
breathing lead movements instead of the other way around.
(I had been doing the correct inhaling and exhaling to match
the moves, but had let breathing be the follower and
after-thought instead of the leader and focus.) This
transition will take time to perfect and, for the moment,
the morning practice has ceased to be a task to get over
with and become something to enjoy.
I first heard of focusing on breathing as a way to meditate,
tried but it did not stick. Breathing was big in BJJ but I
was not far enough in the journey to appreciate. In running,
I have always used breathing to control pace with good
results. In yoga, it was a way of being present and so far
seemed to work for me. I am curious where my new findings
on breathing (pranayama as called) will lead me.
The second half of Desikachar's book consists of English
translations of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra and Krishnamacharya's
writings. More than the asanas and pranayama, it fascinates
me to see what the sages of the world, Indian, Chinese,
Greco-Roman, etc., agree and disagree.
I have also discovered Savasana, aka the corpse pose. It
looked similar to what I've been trying to do for years by
sleeping on hardwood floor. The initial goals were to get
rid of the pillow and to restore the spine from many years
of hunching over a desk. I can rarely sleep like that all
night because in that position I would snore just when I
drift into sleep and wake up. But it often relaxes me before
I can finally turn to the side to sleep. It really prepares
me for sleep.
What a blessing! Hallelujah!
