Whether you are a yoga student or teacher, the practice of yoga (in the spirit of Patanjali’s Astanga path) and in particular practice with others, inevitably starts to tease the edges of your heart. The spirit of working with the breath, creating space in which to move the joints and in the mind in which to absorb the finer details of instruction, is evocative of acceptance, allowance and inclusion: the qualities that underpin both friendship and wisdom.
Hakuin’s early extreme exertions affected his health, and at one point in his young life he fell ill for almost two years, experiencing what would now probably be classified as a nervous breakdown by Western medicine, though the symptoms were similar to Kundalini.
He called it Zen sickness, and sought the advice of a Taoist cave dwelling hermit named Hakuyu, who prescribed a chakra visualisation practice which eventually relieved his symptoms.
Yoga how to recognise it and what it is for
Yoga is a small word with a big meaning. It does not mean exercise or flexibility, it simply means ‘union’. It aims at integrating the disparate elements of one’s being on all levels.
Allow prana to flow by moving in as you let go (let the sun be guided by the moon). Note all release is natural; be with your experience but give it space. This is the root meaning of any yoga practice.
This is the festive season, whether or not you are celebrating one of the religious festivals held at this time of year. The days draw darker up to the solstice and this evokes all kinds of responses in all aspects of nature including us.
It would not be right at this time of year not to mention something of Love. The shops are full of things you should buy for someone you love and although the commercialism and promoted expectation that these corporate events promote can be a little distasteful in the true spirit of Vajrasati, we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Having had some sort of change to routine is common over the solstice/Christmas, winter festival period. A break of routine can mean a break of habits, too. Use this to shift perspective…
Although some feel that the thirteen-month lunar year (29.53 days a month, 384 a year) is a more logical point (although very hard to get right) at which to place the New Year and all that is associated with it, this time of year definitely lends itself to a feeling of new opportunity, and for starting with a clean slate.