Samskaras, Making Use of Suffering

Samskaras are ruts or behaviors, and they can be both pleasurable and painful. Samskaras are part of the armor that builds up when emotional and physical trauma gets trapped in our bodies.

In Hatha yoga we cultivate a heat and power to purify our body of this energy to achieve Moksha, or liberation to act and engage freely in the world around us (we'll talk more about Moksha later this month. So today we're focusing on cultivating enough power to climb out of our rut and form a new habit. To buff away the scratches in our armor.

Centering - breathing into kidneys with partner holding hands over them - explain that kidneys are power plant of the body

Cat/Cow
Lion's breath
Chaturanga - Vinyasa - kidney loop

Until I practiced yoga I never knew how miserable I was. You don't noticed dirt and scratches on a car that's already beaten up. As you start to buff out the dings in your armor that you've accumulated through life, you'll become more sensitive to the smaller imperfections. Cultivate an awareness of this so that it doesn't distress you and you can keep your perception of these in proper proportion. Don't sweat the small stuff, just keep working on transforming it.

Surya Namaskar - HL twist/center/LL thigh stretch, skip the cobra, move on to next...
Surya Namaskar - Iguana bow twist open & thigh stretch - shalambhasana x3
Surya Namaskar - HL/Warrior II/Trikon/Ardha- dhanurasana x3

Vasisthasana/WT/Childs pose actively inflating kidneys with the breath

Lotus or Agnistambasana - Pranayama Kidney breathing several minutes to cultivate a fire, burn up the samskaras in your body, use that dead energy as fertilizer for new growth. Power your body up with pranic energy, the vital lifeforce of existence. talk about how a lotus grows up from the mire, so now that the stuck energy is unstuck what do you do with it. How do you make the best use of that suffering? With yoga we transform energy into something more auspicious.

Hanumanasana - FB then curl back opening the heart
Pigeon - FB then come to upright and open the heart

Setubanda - leg lift/urdhva dhanurasana/uttanasana
Shoulderstand - Read John Friend excerpt about Tantric philosophy in Foreward from Douglas' book "poised for grace".

Happy Baby
Savasana

Meditational Reflection:

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, was a Swiss-born psychiatrist, a pioneer in Near-death studies and author. From Daily Love.

Closing - If you desire to master the art of living better, make the best use of your suffering. Create a fire in yourself to burn away the Samskaras, and transform that energy into fertilizer for new growth.

Concerns/Success!: One student had a question about jaw tension, but I'm not very familiar with that, so I offered to talk to my teacher about it. Gave several students alignment instructions to relieve discomfort before and after class. Good results on immediately relieving discomfort by applying the principles. A few students left class early. I had a chance to speak with all of them briefly and they all said they were feeling well and just had to leave early for their schedules. I'm been trying to make sure no one leaves class uncomfortable and thus far haven't had anyone indicate that they felt anything bad going on in their bodies, though I can't always catch everyone on their way out.

In the coming weeks we are going to continue exploring the Gita from a Tantric perspective. We'll be introducing some of the characters in the story like Krishna and Arjuna and talk about how the battlefield represents the landscape of our hearts and embodiment. I had a request for shoulder and heart opening asanas so I think next week we'll do heart opening and talk about Krishna.