Feb - Yoga, dogs, & motorcycles

We spent alot of our next session talking about yamas in the context of our lives.  The yamas are ethical disciplines that include:

• Ahimsa - non-violence, love for others and yourself
• Satya - truth
• Asteya - non-stealing
• Brahmacharya - continence, celibacy, avoiding over indulgence
• Aparigraha - hoarding/excess

I especially like the concept of ahimsa - even in the context of yoga where you shouldn't push your body and risk injury for the sake of getting into a pose,, as well as in the broader context of love and compassion for others.  I also like satya - approaching your life, your thoughts, and others with complete truth.  I think its a pretty difficult thing to do.

We had a really honest conversation (embracing satya!) about how these yamas apply to our lives, which in some cases got a bit emotional, and also discussed how we could follow them more closely.  This definitely led to us learning much more about each other.  

After practicing some poses and trying to go by just the Sanskrit names, we packed up and headed to a Kundalini Yoga workshop.  Pretzel explained that this is often called the "yoga of awareness" and is more focused on the sensory functions than on the body as with the Hatha Yoga we had been practicing.  Kundalini Yoga aims to release energy from the spine and heighten spiritual awareness.  Pretzel said they encourage you to let go of your pretense, so we should be prepared to step outside our comfort zones!

When we arrived at the workshop, it was an interesting sight!  Yoga mats among a bunch of motorcycles!  It was held in a motorcycle club.  The floor was pavement and very cold.  They showed a brief video with a Yogi who apparently was such a deep practitioner that he had developed psychic abilities.  I was definitely skeptical but he certainly had alot of followers and was very matter of fact in the way he talked about things.

The main yogi led us through some very fast paced pranayama and just a few mild poses.  This went on for awhile and then in order to help us "escape our own minds" he instructed us to make noises that land animals make (I picked dogs and cats), then make bird noises and then noises that water animals make.  I felt totally ridiculous cawing, barking like a dog, and then trying to make a whale noise!  But people were doing it!  And I can definitely see how this makes you you exit your normal state.  :)

He ended by playing a gong and having us silently meditate.  The gong was beautiful, but I was really preoccupied with how cold I was and had trouble focusing on much else.  Afterwards a couple of people from my class said they really were able to go into deep meditation with the gong.  Some people, like me, were less excited about Kundalini, but it was definitely good to get exposure to something so different.   I challenge you to close your eyes and make animal noises loudly and NOT escape your thinking mind!