Second Series - Punishment in Paradise

  I'm not going to lie to you. My practice has been like a roller coaster. Since when I came back from Mysore this year it's being difficult to maintain the same energy and attitude towards my mat, which is very natural I guess. There I had my teacher, the support of the Shala and the point of attention only towards my practice. Also the weather was great...plus the coconuts in the end of the practice! I can't complain :)
 My practice since India got longer but even when I got exhausted there I had to keep going. Not because it was an obligation but because it was such a special moment and opportunity to practice at the Shala receiving adjustments and energy from my teacher. If you are in the same spot I am or if you have been through this (Please I need your advice :) we may understand each other. Practicing the Primary plus a chunk of the Second Series 6 days a week is so tiring! At least for me....
 Then I tried to come up with solutions like " I will do only primary and second if I still have energy " or I will do primary in the morning and second late afternoon" or " maybe second 3 times a week" and etc........ and what I noticed in y body is my nervous system being unbalanced reflecting through my body and my thoughts.
  The second series or Nadi Shodhana its a practice build to clean the nervous system and this series is to challenge the nervous system using asanas as a false, self-imposed stress so that you practice how to remain calm and clear in the midst of challenge life situations. (Inspired by Kino MacGregor book)

  That being said I think is important to keep on going to create mental strength and stamina.Sometimes I wish I had only about a hour long practice instead of almost 2 but at the same time I'm thankful for my teacher to put me in this type of situation or I would never feel doubt of myself. My ego is really punched every time I had to do it. It hurts and sometimes I just want to run away from my mat but I choose this discipline to be the studies of my own self for self discoveries. Its amazing how this practice uses us as a laboratory and let us experiences ourselves raw and how it is.

Yoga method by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

The words of Guruji. Very simple and yet profound.

The Process VS The Results

  Everyone wants results right? In our jobs, our bosses want to see results. As citizens we want to see and have results. Society want results. We expect results in our relationships. We want the things done in our time. Our mind is trained by generations to think and act like that. We are attached to results and we totally rush in the process.
  As yoga is my primary teacher I learned that the process is the most important phase to be lived. The results is just the consequence that we have to face without expectation. In the process we learn, we fail, our ego is little by little destroyed, because the process is a slow transformation that must be accept with patience and love.Our mind is direct to accomplish the results but not in the process. When we start to train our mind to live the present and in the process, we are living fully.
  In Ashtanga Yoga method is a very slow process of learning. There are different series of poses to learn in a formal sequence. We can not skip one to practice the other( even if we know the other ) because this method train the mind to accept the challenge of the process.  I have notice in myself and lots of students the necessity of perfecting an asana. Asana is just a vehicle to experience the inner self. While performing the asana the focus should be in the breath, gaze and Divine. Letting the ego go with the expectations for results. Experience the present moment even if brings pain, insecurity or fear. Being out of our comfort zone we start to see and feels things with equanimity. We start to train our mind to be in balance in the mat when we are felling good or not. Taking the lesson out of our mat into our everyday lives.
  One of the beauty of Ashtanga yoga methods is that you have no choice...It is what it is.... I can not choose what I like and practice. Every asana was knowledgeably put in a sequence by Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois.
  You go to a yoga studio and the boom of the class is the crow pose, headstands and handstands :)" Yes I feel in power"....and when you can not do it you feeI bad...and sad, because you see everyone doing, you see that awesome handstand picture on instagram. The asana don't make you became a big yogi or yogini...The process of learning and accepting where you are is the yoga in a pure essence.
  In the physical aspects when you focus in the process you build more awareness and strength. You are preparing you body and mind in a slow process for the result that may or may not happen...But who cares? Live the experience of the present moment.
 This lessons I take out of the mat to my personal life slowly also. We all have dreams,goals and plans to accomplish. Nothing happen in the time we want. We do our part, living fully with love, respect and devotion and God take care of the rest. Giving the fruits of our actions to God, detaching of the results is live in yoga.

Yoga physical aspects and beyond

   Yoga Asanas or poses(how we call in the west)is the third limb of the Ashtanga Yoga practice. I see the Ashtanga Yoga method as the pure essence of yoga. To experience the deep aspects of this practice we first start with the Yamas and Nyiamas. There the transformation starts. The third limb is the asana, what we generally aproach first in the west and most of the people think what yoga is all about. Yoga is a philosophy of life, which also has the potential to create a vibrantly healthy body and mind.

   Ashtanga Yoga, practiced in its correct sequential order, gradually leads the practitioner to rediscover his or her fullest potential on all levels of human consciousness - physical, psychological, and spiritual. ` In Ashtanga yoga method we practice an asana at a time until we are ready to practice the next one. It takes time, devotion and a daily practice. The goal is not to be able to do the next asana or posture.

  The goal is through the asana prepare our minds for the other limbs of yoga : pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (contemplation). These branches support each other. Asana practice must be established for proper practice of pranayama, and is a key to the development of the yamas and niyamas. Once these four externally oriented limbs are firmly rooted, the last four internally oriented limbs will spontaneously evolve over time.

  Sri K. Pattabhi Jois said to practice one asana 1000 times to make it perfect and at least 100.000 times to start to understand ourselves from that asana. From that point of view we realize how the practice its the main role of the asana limb. How important is to repeat again and again, be humble and learn from whatever feeling comes out of the practice. Everyday people create different styles of yoga, different names for the yoga asana practice.Giving to the student what he/she wants. The Ashtanga series are made to carefully study with dedication and devotion. We all get tempted and curious about doing advanced asanas,but if we just practice what we want or what looks cool, we are just getting attached to the asana itself and not focusing in the main goal of yoga.

  The evolution of asanas comes from Surya namaskara A and B ( The Sun Salutations A and B). It is how in the Ashtanga method we start. We also find called as Mysore style (Self practice). From the Sun Salutations on your own pace you open an space in your body and mind for the following asanas and psych and subtle levels. It is recommended to study under a guidence of a Guru or a authorized/Certified teacher. If is not possible, continue your exploration through practice and study and when the opportunity comes to have a directed teacher from the lineage embrace it! Studying from a directed teacher we call parampara.

What is Parampara?

Traditional Ashtanga Yoga is founded on the concept of parampara, a term meaning direct, experiential knowledge passed in succession from teacher to student. Our teachers have committed themselves to the instruction of Ashtanga Yoga as it was taught to them from the source in Mysore, India by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, R. Sharath Jois, and R. Saraswathi. Ashtanga Yoga and Parampara ‘Parampara’ literally means an uninterrupted succession and denotes the direct and unbroken transmission of knowledge from teacher to student. Traditional Ashtanga Yoga is founded on parampara and a commitment to its established instruction. Shri K. Pattabhi Jois took this method from Mysore, India and disseminated it all over the world. Guruji’s teachings are now continued by his family: R. Sharath Jois, R. Saraswathi, Manju Jois, and Sharmila Mahesh. Surrendering to the lineage of Astanga Yoga is to enter a river of teachings that has been flowing for thousands of years, a river that masters, past and present, have followed into an ocean of knowledge and wisdom.

Your practice is your gift

What brings to you inner peace? 

 I believe that any peaceful feeling is related with the Self presence in us and around us. You can call the Self as God,The Great Consciousness,Love,The Unborn,Eternal or the way you feel in your heart. Each everyone of us find a way to connect with God through something.Usually something very simple,with no price, label or form. We just need to look with another perception what really matters to our happiness and inner peace.
  First we analyze what it is by self study. Many of us sometimes have this empty feeling that we don't know how to fulfill our lives. Giving time to think and discover simple things we can do to ourselves that will make us experience life.

What is your practice?
  You may experience God through your art,in silent or in prayer,in the nature or in the church, reading sacred texts and during your yoga practice. I believe there are many ways to approach God and no one is better than you to know what is the best path to live on. There is no way to love one another and live in harmony with the universe if you do not live in love and harmony with yourself. The point is, we must to live and practice whatever takes us to this path toward something greater than us! Practice is not easy. You have to make time, effort, renunciation, detachment and so on... Our mind trick us all the time: I'm too busy,tired,angry,hungry..It is hard to make our mind still and listen the voice of the Self in our hearts. Every time we make an excuse, we stop taking care of ourselves. As soon we realize what bring us inner peace we evolve from that point,we awake and do not regress to the past or to habits and feelings that will take us further from our main goal that is be ONE with the SELF and be fulfill by His love.
  Its is very important to be honest to yourself to know the difference of having the pure feeling coming from the Self and the momentary pleasure happiness coming from the ego. When we act from the ego, our lower self, we have expectations in everything we do that lead us to have painful experiences.

 "Be focused on action and not on the fruits of action. Do not become confused in attachment to the fruit of your actions and do not become confused in the desire for inaction" (2,47). ********************************************************************************
"Perform all thy actions with mind concentrated on the Divine, renouncing attachment and looking upon success and failure with an equal eye. Spirituality implies equanimity."
Bhagavad Gita