Durga: Uniting the Power of the Divine

1. Myths are stories with underlying truth
2. The story of shiva we talked about last week is a prehistoric story, probably not describing a real person, but likely based on some real group of people or describing a spiritual archetype. When we interpret myths we imagine we are all the characters in the story (clarifying this for a student who asked last week when Shiva lived historically).
3. Tantric philosophy dates to around 8-12th century CE, though the myth of Shiva is much older (shiva is a prehistoric proto-typical diety).
4. In the story of Durga, Mahishasura was a powerful demon who conquered Indra's army of gods in heaven. Since he couldn't be defeated by any man, the only thing that could save them was a woman who would fight him. The gods asked Shakti to manifest in a powerful form using all of their weapons and arms to fight Mahishasura. So she united all of their powers
5. In a modern context this relates to the idea of Kula. When we come together as a community we share our experience and ideas and are stronger and more intelligent. Also we take all of the great philosophical ideas and teachings we come across and integrate what works for us to create a stronger durga in ourselves. We use this invincible power to clear away the dust on the mirror of the demons who obscure our highest and best intentions (heaven) from us.

6. Durga is also a great example for discussion because our modern yoga practice is alot like her. Ancient yogis just had stories of Shiva and rituals, then around 8-9th century someone got around to writing down the tantric nterpretation and documenting some of the breathing and meditation exercises that were being practiced (also the idea of women practicing and teaching was common among the Tantric Shaivists). In the last hundred years the spiritual traditions of Hatha Yoga merged with popular gymnastics and other forms of exercise propagated throughout the world by the YMCA and other similar movements. Today what we call Yoga is a sort of Durga, a playful
expression of the divine, more powerful than any of its previous forms.

7. Students asked for twists so we're doing twists focusing on the principles we learned all this month and integrating them with the final principle, organic extension. Rooting to rise. Lengthening the spine to twist deeper.

Tadasana through vinyasa focusing on organic extension Cat/Cow then
tiger twisting stretches holding back leg, lion's breath (Durga rides
a tiger or lion, the shakti is powerful don't fall off the tiger)

Also focus in centering exercise on softening the back body, return to this throughout the class.

Surya Namaskar - High Lunge, turn to front leg, twist to other side,back to center standing splits...low cobra
Surya Namaskar - Low Lunge, twist and come up to high lunge, open arms out to sky and floor...drunken cobra
Surya Namaskar - Pvakonasana, rise up to warrior II, reverse then bow and bind...wide armed cobra
Surya Namaskar - Warrior I, pvottanasana, parivrtta trikonasana, parivrtta ardha chandrasana...updog

Shiva Twists
Utkatasana chair twists
Bird of Paradise
Malasana, Bakasana, Ardha Bakasana (talk about diversity and shri as strength of the community and each person having an individual expression of the pose)
Revolved Downward facing dog

Threading the needle sucirandrasana
Ardha Matsyendrasana - half lord of the fishes
Jathara Parivartanasana bent legs/straight legs
Supta Matsyendrasana - knee down twists

Closing: Like Durga, we combine all of the best qualities in the people we admire. We bring together all the strengths we share as individuals in the community. When we come together with other like-minded beings there's nothing we can't accomplish.