Action and Transaction – In Life and Yoga
Friday night is Pranayama class with Prashant and for Saturday morning we switched to taking Prashant class earlier and then observing Sunita’s class after. This way, we get more class as Prashant is not one to have just “observers” in his class.
Last night was an interesting study of how Pranayama must be started with unconditioned, normal breath. We all want to start right away with “deeper breathing” or “longer breathing” before we even notice what our “normal breathing” is in various situations. And, it is the various asanas that open the window to understanding and experiencing how “normal breath” varies under numerous conditions. How the breath moves in Dandasana is different than how the breath moves in Sirsasana, how the breath moves when we are lying down is different than when we are moving in life, etc…This awareness of breath is where Pranayama begins.
As we progress, the profound exhalation is to be worked on along with Udiyana kriya, the strong and emptying suction of the abdomen back towards the spine (see Light on Yoga). Showing us the photos of Guruji on the wall, which Prashant does often, he pointed out a pose like Eka Pada Sirsasana (the foot behind the head posture). Even in this posture, the Udiyana kriya is present in order to make space and find fluidity to enter. Of course, we all may not be able to get to that final position, but Prashant urges us to just begin! Like with the “normal breathing” in each and every pose, even lifting the foot one percent in the right direction is a valid effort on the journey.
It is on profound exhalations that our life begins and ends. We know that our first exhalation is a cry into a life full of action! As the Bhagavad Gita says, we are always “in action” at every moment, so we must become aware of what actions we are doing. What is not culturally known to us in the West is that after our last breath in this life, there is immense action still going on. Karmic transactions of debts and boons are in process, and the movement toward our next incarnation takes a lot of forward momentum. So, we worked on Viloma exhalation, adding certain sound forms that target the opening of different areas of the body.
This morning within asana, it was exploring the ideas of getting, giving, and receiving. He makes the point that within any action and transaction, if it is to come to completion, there must be a giver, a taker, and/or a receiver. And, each of these roles have different meaning in different circumstances. You cannot enter a store and take things without paying. And, if you receive something, it might be given freely, or it might be a loan that holds some debt to it. In any asana, as he discusses at length, the body, mind, and breath (not to mention every aspect of our embodiment) play certain roles, and in order for any yog-asana to be completed, a full transaction must take place. We have to know that if we want to “get” something, we must also “give” something in order not to feel depleted. And, if we “give” from places in our postures, we also must seek reception to retain energetic balance. Different prop uses and varying approaches in Iyengar Yoga all give us exploratory opportunities to fulfill embodiment transactions through asanas. We don’t want to keep getting getting getting without ever giving back, or in Prashant’s usual terms, just “do do do and die”.
Sunita covered a lot of twistings, and again she used a more interactive method to explore different approaches with walls and without walls for standing. But, also gave an interesting approach to Ardha Matsyendrasana that I am eager to try in practice next time if my knee allows. Unfortunately, my knee did not respond well to the long travel of sitting, so have been having to nurse it a bit. The good news is that yesterday’s special topic meeting “for the visitors” was a knee therapeutics overview. Perfect timing.
The afternoon was spent in good company at lunch, and then just chatting in our flat with friends. As the United States seems to be falling into more and more chaos of finger pointing and blame, of violence and hate, it is soul-lifting to be in a place where so many human beings from all around the world come together to discover unity and not division within themselves. The transactions of student to teacher and teacher to student continue and become more and more complete. We give of ourselves to learn anew, but in opening to that newness get so much in return!!!
