We start each day with three or four beautiful chants. Sound pours out of the large open shala windows and doors. It is a heart-filling sound to hear in the morning, created through the combination of many voices with such different stories. Chanting for me has been a journey. In the states it freaked me out a bit, not sure who I was chanting to, what I was saying etc. But India brought beauty to it and Yoga Thailand has brought it light. Simply strong vibrations that clear the mind through touching a much more subtle realm of the mind and body. Clearing the mind and focusing on the vibrations of the sanskrit words that lyrically offer humility and grace by recognizing the divine and giving thanks! It also connects our practice to the lineage that we are learning from, bridging my practice with the people who devoted their whole lives to learn what I am trying to grasp today. I put my hands in prayer on my heart as we finished the chants with the sound of Om. I can feel it All, right between my thumbs and my heart.
Pranayama (breath work) is definitely a head trip. The breath seems to be the key to everything. It is the only function that fits in both classifications of the nervous system-
Somatic (under our control) and Autonomic (done unconsciously), making it the bridge between the conscious to the unconscious. And, here, we pay a lot of attention to it. At first, it was very difficult to stay on task with controlling it. Constantly finding my thoughts dancing around and running wild in its amazing ability to imagine and desire to play, flooding with memories and desires or plans for the future- the first few weeks I had to do some major work to stay engaged purely in the breath!
Week three... it is definitely getting easier :) We have been taught an hour long pranayama series to practice, combining over a dozen different ways to control your inhales and exhales... who knew that an hour would fly by when nothing enters your mind except the length and level of force of each breath. I feel this method of concentration strongly effecting my mind. I feel it cleansing my every cell (I know, Alexis, it probably doesn't really do that, but that is what I am going with!)
I feel an expanding and lifting with each inhale and the letting go and surrendering with each exhale. Fresh life-energy is squeezing through me and it is making me glow! The bowl sings its notes to conclude our pranayama practice and we wrap it up with a finial and powerful Om. The Om holds similar powerful vibrations representing the energy of life... softly pulsing the infinite and divine that rings in each of us.
5 minutes to enjoy some water and visit to the bathroom. Silence and smiles is how we respect each other morning experiences- not knowing where people's head-space has just been at, or where it is about to go...
The Ashtanga asana (physical postures) practice is a silent moving meditation, developing the relationship between mind (both ego and intellect) with the body with the breath. In India, I would watch entire movies in my head during a single morning practice- in between scenes I would plan my next traveling adventure and debate where and what I would eat for breakfast! Since coming here, it is much harder for me to become distracted from the present moment in this practice. My teachers have really honed in on this "sincerity" thing... doing everything you do with a devotional level of energy, awareness, and care. Hours spent on anatomy, alignment, breath, philosophy, etc have also taught me what I should think about in each pose. The best thing I have learned here regarding my practice was taught on the first day.
Let the ego go. Yoga is not a war between the mind and the body involved in a physical stretching exercise- it is a spiritual practice about stability, strength, and balance allowing a level of ease and freedom to encourage growth. (weird how that can be paralleled to a lifestyle huh? hmmmm)
I can feel the indescribable changes in all systems- physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I love all that I am learning about myself- and don't plan on slowing that practice down a bit : )
By the time I am in the closing poses, 2 hours and 15 minutes have passes since I began my first sun salutation. I am saturated with my own sweat. Everyday practice is a bit different-some days I practically fly weightless through the air and other days I am an exhausted drowning mess. I try to continue to smile throughout my whole practice regardless of what type of day it is- trick the nervous system a bit. It is just another day to be thankful for the things that I am continuing to learn about and for the breath I still have. For without this breath- love, passion, life, light, fear, death, desire, hope, freedom, and everything in between could not be felt...and that's what it's all about.
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