Artful Heart Yoga Blog

Often I talk about Grace being the revelatory nature of the Divine- those little messages and synchronicities that come in a guide us in our lives. When we begin to listen to them then life is much simpler because we feel supported. We know we are connected to something bigger and we can see our purpose and relax and enjoy. We come into a state of allowing- like I spoke about last week. The not doing being the doing. I referred to my state of healing and how trying to rush it actually created a set-back. This week I had another incident regarding the pin in my foot shifting and now the position it is in causing me great pain and making me go back to the boot. I wanted to blame myself for my willfulness, and compare it to other aspects where I push too hard.

I also talked about our co-participation and how we get to choose the messages grace offers and the direction we take. I sometimes joke from my own life experience about how if we get a message five times in one day we should listen to it, and how if we ignore it then no worries it will come back to us again. For me this can be reassuring but sometimes when I find myself challenged again and again with a similar circumstance that seems to be intended to teach me something in particular that I don’t seem to be learning, I can get into guessing and self-judgment about having to continue through that same cycle over and over.

Set-backs can even feel like punishment and pain from them feels deserved. But it is not, the Divine is benevolent and Grace is a gift. We don’t know all the answers, and sometimes we are completely innocent of failure but instead primed for deeper growth even at a price. We each receive the gifts we are offered in the moment and time we are most open to hear them. But the practice of forgiveness and not over analyzing these insights, being aware that sometimes stuff just happens regardless what we do, allows us to grow and come back to a place of gratitude where we can continue receiving and practicing loving kindness instead of over-efforting and hardness. The opportunity for that practice may be the biggest gift we were being offered to begin with, not a result of our actions to teach us a lesson but a sweet blessing reminder that we are perfect and ever expanding all at the same time.

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In our society we are rewarded for being busy and multi-tasking. Our worth is often based on how much we can accomplish in a short period of time and how focused we are on taking action- doing. I have been a major follower of this system and I still believe is can serve our higher good to take action. However, the three weeks in which I was required to have my leg elevated 22 hours of every 24 taught me a new lesson. When it comes to healing your body, rest and not doing is the best thing you can do. Sometimes the doing is in not doing. And believe me it can be a hard practice.

In Anusara the first principle is Open to Grace which by nature is the practice of allowing- just opening. But it also doesn’t mean we don’t take action. We act in a balanced way and let the breath and the Universal energy lead us. We co-participate to feel our connection to consciousness and allow the bliss to envelop us. In yoga asana class, we take the pose and align it in the first few breaths but then there is a point when we practice staying and allowing and not over-efforting but also not collapsing. We use balanced action between engaging the muscles and lengthening the bones, between expanding the inner body and allowing the skin to soften. We stay in the breath and open to something bigger and that is when the transformation takes place, physically, spiritually and mentally and we are empowered through our connection to the heart. This exact practice that helps us to create strong, flexible and supple bodies is what teaches us to focus and direct our energy clearly and with intention off the mat. We learn to pause and breathe and we begin to co-participate with life in a way that is sweet, easy and blissful.

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Part of the principles of nature is what is called the Mahabhutas or grand elements.   These elements are in everything including us and correspond with five Universal Principles of Alignment of Anusara, but not exactly in the same order.  The first principle is Open to Grace and that goes with the fifth element or highest element, Space.  When we Open to Grace we get very spacious both in our physical bodies, what we call “inner body bright” and in our emotional and spiritual approach to life.  We get Spacious by letting go of the restrictive thinking that lets us see ourselves as limited beings.  Then we go back to the base with the first element, Earth, which goes with second principle Muscle Energy.  When we hug the muscles in and up we feel steady, supported.  Earth element exists in the foundation and periphery.  The second element, water, goes with the third principle, inner spiral.  It is in the low belly and when we inner spiral the legs the low belly gets watery.  Then next is fire element which goes with outer spiral and resides in the solar plexus, the place of will as well as the digestive fire of the body.  When we root the tailbone we feel the fire in the torso and the pose.  Then the last principle Organic energy goes with the forth element air, which resides in the chest with the respiratory system.  Organic energy makes the pose lighter, airier. 

 These elements complement each other just like the principles do.  Too much water puts out the fire and too much fire evaporates the water- we need just enough inner and outer spirals to balance.  Earth grounds air and air lifts earth in proper balance they are so good together.  The elements are part of our make-up as human beings.  People with a lot of earth element are grounding, steady, reliable.  You know you can depend on them.  Water people go with the flow and blend well with everything.  Water has perseverance though to carve through stone.  Fiery people are driven and have intense intellects.  You know you can count on them to get the job done.  Whereas air based people are lighthearted fun and optimistic.  Earthy people can really appreciate how air people lift their moods while air based people feel more grounded around earthy friends.  Fiery people feel calmer around the water types, who get more motivated with their fiery, energetic friends around.   We all have the potential to cultivate all of these elements when needed so we can sooth a friend in need or jump into action, play and have fun but still be practical about life matters.  We all can cultivate spaciousness as we learn to remember the Universal in all things always.

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In the Tantric perspective, we try to savor all of life’s offerings as part of the Divine energy.  We see the patterns of light and shadow as a reflection of the artistic beauty within all things.  We taste the Rasas- the flavors of life.  Very literally, you could say the Rasas are the primary emotions.  Tantrikas learn to savor even the darker emotions as gifts that indicate to us we need to shift.  Some rasas provide a way of stepping deeper into a greater understanding of our own true natures and others are that experience embodied.

There are nine categories of rasas.  Last week we talked about Ayurveda and the doshas (please see the last blog if you missed class).  Each of the three doshas is connected to three sets of rasas.  So picture this like a table with three rows and three columns.  The rows are the doshas; vata, pitta and kapha.  The first column is concealment rasas, the way we may feel when we are cloaked from seeing the Divine within ourselves.  The column on the other side is revelation rasas, the way we may feel when we are fully connected to consciousness.  The middle column lists the gateway rasas, they help us step from concealment to revelation. 

When Kapha gets imbalanced emotionally it causes depression, the concealment rasa Vibhatsa, meaning disgust, repugnance, self-loathing, or depression.  When Kapha is balanced the revelation rasa is Shanta; peace, calmness, fulfillment, contentment and relaxation.  The gateway to get us from depression to peace (the middle column) is Karuna; compassion, pity, sadness, heaviness of loss.  Sadness is less dark then depression, a step towards the light.   The rasa for pitta concealment is Raudra; anger, fury, irritation, violence, hostility or rage.  The revelation rasa of pitta is Shringara; love, desire, devotion, Divine beauty or admiration.  To get from rage to love the gateway rasa for pitta is Vira; courage, heroism, confidence, pride, or fiery disappointment, which is less dark than rage.  When vata is in concealment the  rasa is called Bhayanka; fear, worry, anxiety, distress, or paranoia.  Balanced vata brings the revelation rasa, Hasya; joy, humor, comic happiness, satire or exuberance.  The gateway rasa to get from fear to joy is, Adbhuta; wonderment, curiosity, astonishment, or thrill of mystery.

The asana practice (doing yoga poses) is like a laboratory to experience the rasas and practice the gateways to the heart.  Learning handstand often creates fear in students, but curiosity and wonderment cause us to try.  When we move past the fear and kick up, we feel great joy.  Deep hip openers can invoke anger, if not at first try staying longer it will start to burn.  Courage to stay with the breath and in the pose, reveals the light of love.  Self loathing is often the biggest hindrance to success in asana.  We easily judge our performance in a pose but it is that judgment that keeps us in concealment.  When we use compassion as a gateway, we find deep peace and our practice grows with each breath.

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In a few weeks we will be holding an informational workshop on Ayurveda, the holistic method of maintaining radiant health used in India and throughout the world.  In this system, rather than waiting until you are sick to see a doctor and treat the symptoms or the malady, you maintain well-being by keeping your body in balance.  The symptoms of illness or stress often help to guide us to know where we might be out of balance and how to adapt our habits and behaviors to create more harmony in the body.

There are three doshas, or constitutions, we each have some of each but in different proportions.  Knowing your constitution helps you to direct your choices to stay more balanced.  Vata dosha is based on the element of air.  People who have a predominance of Vata are often light framed, agile, light hearted, optimistic and joyous.  However, when vata is out of balance then emotionally it can cause fear and anxiety, and inability to focus one’s thoughts.  Physically, vata imbalance causes drying and crackling joints, constipation and dry skin.  Pitta dosha is based on the fire element.  Pitta dominant people tend to be medium build and strong.  They are driven and accomplished and have sharp intellects.  However, when Pitta is imbalanced it emotionally leads to anger or rage.  Physically, Pitta imbalance leads to redness and outbreaks in the skin, fiery indigestion and diarrhea.  Kapha dosha is based on water and earth.  People with lots of Kapha tend to be larger framed, have long endurance and strong memories.  They are grounded, reliable, nurturing and calm.  However, when kapha is out of balance it emotionally causes depression and an inability to act.  Physically, kapha imbalance leads to mucous related issues like sinusitis and bronchitis; it also leads to weight gain. 

Balancing the doshas has to do with the foods we eat and our daily routines as well as being aware of the pulsation of the doshas according to seasons, times of day and life periods.  For instance, late spring and summer are hot making Pitta more susceptible to imbalance.  Fall is dry which can really mess up Vata balance.  Winter and early spring are cold and wet causing Kapha dominant people to really want to lay around a hibernate.  Awareness of your constitutional make-up and knowledge and practice of how to stay in balance help us to lead more radiant healthful joyous lives.  (Please check the events page for more information about the Ayurveda workshop to learn more).

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Last week, I wrote about the Tantric path saying it was created for “householders” those of us who practice spiritual journeys while living daily lives, supporting our families.  Another characteristic that distinguishes Tantra from the earlier yoga philosophical systems is that it is “non-dual”.   This essentially means that because the Divine is completely omnipotent and out of its own pure freedom (svatantrya) it chooses to create diversity in the Universe.  Everything it creates contains the Divine within it.  Therefore spirit and the material world are not two separate entities but spirit exists in everything.  We don’t seek to separate ourselves from our bodies because our bodies are spirit too and therefore we co-create with the Divine through playfully celebrating life as infinitely expanding beings.

There are two aspects to the Divine, Shiva and Shakti.  Again they cannot be separated, they are intertwined.  Shiva is Absolute consciousness, like a steady grounding force.  Shakti is the creative energy that pulsates from the Absolute.  So if you were to say the sun is Shiva, then the light and the heat emanating from the sun are Shakti.  In the sacred geometry symbols, Shiva is represented by the triangle with the point facing upward, and Shakti the triangle with the point facing downward so the flat side is up.  As an artist, I first viewed these as representations of the masculine Shiva, with the point upward like the phallic.  Shakti the Divine feminine, the triangle appears as the vessel which represents, in art, the mother, the womb.  This interpretation can be thought as denoting the union of the masculine and the feminine in the Universal dance of consciousness (chit) and bliss (ananda).  As I studied more, I learned that the upward facing point of the Shiva triangle represents the One who out of its pure freedom chooses to expand itself into the multiplicity –the triangle getting wider at the base as it expands to the many, the manifest world.  The downward facing, Shakti triangle starts where we each are as the individual point at the base and in our journey toward the Absolute consciousness, we expand from limited states into our more infinite potential.  We practice yoga as a way to connect deeper to these two aspects; consciousness- a knowing of our own true natures, and bliss- the pure joy that comes from being embodied aspects of the Divine.  Yoga poses let us celebrate both aspects by using both a steady abiding awareness and a sweet, fluid, joyful expression

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Revisiting the Bhagavad Gita this week has brought me to another primary teaching; the gunas are the qualities found in nature.  The Gita describes many aspects of them and how they contribute to living a balanced life from everything to the way we practice devotion to the foods we eat.  There are three gunas.  In no particular order, one is called Tamas.  This is the quality of inertia, dullness, heaviness, or lethargy.  On the other end of the spectrum is Rajas, this is the quality of high frenetic activity, friction, heat or over-expanded energy.  Then there is Sattva which is the quality of purity, clarity, lightness or freshness.  Hearing these descriptions, we instantly see that sattva might be the state we want at all times.  But being on the tantric path we know that all aspects serve in different times in our lives.  Tantra was established with the intention that “householders” those of us who live in the world, work to support ourselves and our societies, raise families and don’t renounce worldly means for a spiritual journey, have a path.

So as tantrikas, we know that tamas has a place when we want to get heavy and dark for a deep restful sleep or to heal from illness. However, too much tamas for an extended time will lead us to depression and darkness.  Rajas is absolutely necessary in a short term emergency situation.  When someone veers into our lane on the highway nearly hitting us we need to react fast and move or brake to get out of the way.  We may think rajas is good for high-productivity but too much rajas will make us unable to focus our thoughts to get anything accomplished.  Sattva leads us into a state of clarity so that we can focus and make clear conscious decisions that are life-enhancing and benevolent.  It helps us to connect more deeply to the Divine that is supporting us and find more joy in life.  However even Sattva can go too far, there are times when we seek a constant state of bliss to the exclusion of all else and that could lead to inability to function in our daily lives. 

Each of the gunas has a place and time even in different parts of our day.  We do primarily seek a clear balanced state but also accept that the heaviness and the frenetic energy are gifts in the proper situations.  One more note about these states.  When we find ourselves in the blackness of tamas, we cannot go directly to sattva.  We have to get active.  It is rajas that brings us to a place where we can find balance again, from rajas to sattva.  This is why the asana practice leads us back to the path of the heart again and again.

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During this seasonal period of pulsation, my mind naturally goes to the concept of concealment and revelation.  For some the cold weather and snow feels like concealment and we want spring to come for revelation.  Others of us delight in the cold weather activities and the opportunity to stop the clock on our daily lives to stay home and play in the snow like a little revelatory gift has been bestowed on us. 

This concept of concealment (nigraha) and revelation (anugraha) is part of the flow of Grace that provides us contrast and insight.  In yoga, we hear the phrase “be present” or “be in the moment”.  The term vinyasa means moment to moment awareness.  However, in the tantric view although we do practice following the breath with moment to moment awareness, we also know that looking back provides us revelation and empowers our future progress on this path.  Sometimes when we are in the middle of something that cloaks us in concealment, like illness or loss, we don’t see the reason for this happening in our lives.  We feel like we are in darkness and may even begin to forget that we are always supported by a Divine benevolent energy.  It is only after moving through the challenge that we are able to look back see what Grace had in mind for us, what we learned from the experience.  We see how we were actually stronger or more resourceful than we knew ourselves to be.  We are reminded that people love us and are there for us.  We acknowledge that we learned new skills and fortitude that took us through the struggle we faced safely back into the light.  This way, when concealment comes again, we can step in knowing that is it part of the Universal pulse and that we can move through it and expand again.  We willingly step in to life fully and take our paths to the highest conceivable place for us, savoring even the challenging moments because we know that is where the greatest gifts are found.

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With Valentine’s Day approaching, our minds turn to love and affection.  There are four levels of relationship and as we practice opening to these levels we open our hearts more deeply and have a greater connection to everything.  The first level is Mitri which means friendship.  This is what we experience with people we care about including love relationships.  This is fairly natural we simply love, honor and respect them, although there are times we forget and take them for granted so we do still need to practice.  The next is mudita which is a practice of sharing the joy of another’s success.  Sometimes this is difficult because we may feel envy, especially if we were hoping for a similar success which was not received.  However, in doing this practice we open our energy to receive joy and feel joyful.  We line ourselves up with that energy and it will find us and spread to others as well.  The third is karuna, compassion.  In this practice, we feel compassion for someone who is suffering in some way.  We take the time to think about them with tenderness and hope.  We might even visit or contact them to give our support.  In this way, we cultivate consideration for others and appreciation for our own fortunate life.  The last level of relationship is called Upeksha which means equanimity or taking a broad perspective.  This would be a situation in which someone challenges us in some way, they know how to push our buttons or tend to offend us.  The practice here is not to accept their behavior or even to keep them in our lives, but to let go of judgment about them for it.  To realize we don’t have the full picture of their experience and why they behave as they do.  To accept they are human and therefore on a journey which like ours may mean making mistakes and learning. 

As we look at these four levels, we may see that these don’t necessarily apply to four different people but one relationship could at times carry all four levels.  In fact, we even need to practice these levels with ourselves.  We practice loving and honoring ourselves, celebrating our own joyous events, having compassion when we are not doing or feeling well, and most of all accepting that we are human and make mistakes.  We don’t have to beat ourselves up, but we can learn from them and grow.  When we do this, not only do we feel happier but we model this to the people we love and everyone lives more intimate loving full lives.

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The Universe is filled with a great vibratory pulsation with is called “Spanda” in Sanskrit.  Physiologically our bodies are pulsating at many different rates, our breathing, heart beating, blood pumping, cells regenerating.  Here in North Carolina we see dramatic pulsations in the seasons.  Last week, it felt like an early spring.  A few days later, we were covered with a beautiful blanket of snow.  Today the brilliant sunlight is working to melt the glistening whiteness back into the earth.  Soon all the trees will blossom radiantly with a palate of pastels.  There is a pulsing rhythm to all of life, and we a connected to it.  When we align ourselves to the Universal heartbeat we learn to go with life’s patterns, to flow gracefully through the busy hours and to relax deeply in the still moments.  We learn to savor the good experiences because we know they don’t last indefinitely.  We also learn to stay steady in the challenging times because they too shall pass.  It is the contrast that actually makes us taste the full spectrum of life.  If we were never sad then we would not know what it is to feel happy.  It is the challenges that serve to inform our lives and help us to reach deeper into our hearts to create more beauty, richness and joy as we dance with the pulse of Grace’s sweet song.

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