Waking

This blog is to reflect on the memoir Waking by Matthew Sanford.  The book is a memoir of his life and how he moved on after suffering a terrible car accident at a young age.  Before going too in depth about the memoir itself, I do need to say that this was very hard for me to read for multiple reasons. First, it was incredibly hard for me to become attached to journey Matthew is telling in his memoir.  So many of the experiences he is describing and went through are foreign to me.  I have never had any accident that has caused serious mental or physical harm or damage to me.  Lord willing I never will.  I have also never had an out of body experience. I also have never had an out of body experience that is described so vividly during the time in the hospital after the crash.  It is an entirely unknown concept to me in how that would even take place.  I have read other accounts of similar events, but none in the detail as in this memoir. Comprehending some of those challenges that he faced are close to impossible for me just because of the life experiences I have had and how they are so vastly different than the ones Matthew had.  Especially in such a formative point in human life, the gap is still something I am thinking about.

            With all caveat out of the way, everything now should still be taken with a grain of salt just because the likelihood that I am off on these connections is very possible.

            While there is so much disconnect between myself and Matthew and the experiences he had, there are some that we both find as a middle ground.  That is the internal feeling and benefit of yoga. While being in the positions that we are in, the physical benefits are completely different.  But I feel that there is a connection between the mental benefits.  One of the things that Matthew stresses throughout the memoir is the separation of his body and his mind.  Due to paralysis, mentally he has not connected to that area of his body. If anything he has purposely put it aside and avoided it in order to continue living.  Yoga then, is what allows him to connect with his body as a whole again and to feel good about his body as a whole. It creates a peace. Including for the paralyzed parts. In an awkward connection, yoga personally does the same thing.  While I am now trying to bring peace to a vast chasm that has been placed in my mind, I am still trying to achieve peace.  The ability to focus on something so small in modern society, the self, is peaceful and has healing properties.  Knowing that I have the ability to slip the bonds of what society says, and come into what I say, is something that brings peace to me.  Honestly it is the reason for the physical benefits I feel with yoga I believe.  Coming to terms with myself, in a metaphysical sense, heals the scars and wounds inflicted by my physical body creates by attempting to conform to a mold it does not fit.

            Again, this is just the musing of a solitary individual who is still unsure if he fully comprehends what exactly the memoir is attempting to convey.   

Obstacles

Making our way back to the sutras, we begin again in the first chapter with verses 30-39.  They focus on the obstacles that get in the way of practice and truly allowing one to experience yoga and dwell in their own true splendor.  But where to begin with obstacles. I seem to find them all the time.  Mostly its the lack of time though.  With such a busy schedule, there arnt enough hours in the day for me to get everything done, let alone a good 15-30 min block where I can get some yoga in.  But everything that seems to be the problem for me, isnt what the sutras say are the problems. Granted some of my problems can be included within some of the obstacles mentioned in the sutras.  I just think its interesting that things like breathing, both inhaling and exhaling accompany the distractions. Since breathing is such a big part of yoga and the poses, it is just a little weird that it can also distract you. It then goes on about ways to steady the mind so these obstacles dont affect you. Basically it is the opposite of the distractions. Go figure.  Not much is said about how to have be free from desire (I.37) or something, but it makes sense that once your free from that then you will be able to practice yoga better.

This is one of the problems I am having with my own practice, is these distractions.  Most of the time I relate it to time and not having enough time to practice. But I know sometimes its because Im lazy or just dont feel like it, and that is something that I need to focus on and work on and just like every sport Ive every played or working out and staying in shape now, even if I dont want to, I need to buckle down and get it done.

Class time is so nice because it is already scheduled into my day and I cant then make that excuse anymore.  Also in class we do a lot more than I would do in my own practice, and do a lot of things that I forgot about.  I have liked how we have recently started incorporating a little bit of everything into one practice.  It makes me feel more accomplished because we dont have to work only on twists, or inversions or something but that we are capable of doing everything together now.

The BG pt 2

After the finished the Bhagavad Gita now, there are a couple things that I am taking away from it.  First, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, and it is going to be a book that I will keep with me and most likely read again in the future if not multiple times.  Mostly because reading it will bring me back to many of the core principles of yoga and remind me of the benefits that I can receive.  So when I get stress and have stopped doing a personal practice, this could be my little kick start to begin again.

The other thing that I wanted to get off my chest before talking more about what I thought about the Bhagavad Gita.  I will warn yall this is a spoilers so skip to the next paragraph is you care about that. I didn’t like the ending.  Compared to the situation set at the beginning of the book, it is completely anticlimactic and a huge let down. I understand that the majority of the book with the discussion between Krishna and Arjuna, time has stopped and the fact that they are sitting in an open chariot in the middle of two armies about to fight isn’t a big deal.  But the reason they have this discussion so Arjuna can ask Krishna his advice on beginning the battle anyway because its against his own family.  I get that.  You’re telling me though that now after 15ish chapters of this discussion, they never tell you what Arjuna decides? Really?  It just ends with the storyteller saying that this is the discussion that they had.  Nothing after Arjuna saying he will follow Krishna’s will or what that will is.  I was hoping for at least a, “lets call off the battle” or maybe a, “we will win this because it is what’s right.” But no. Nothing. It just ends.  Really big letdown for me personally.

Enough of that rant, and moving on.  Like I said earlier, overall I really did enjoy the book and story told.  I think that it is a really useful and easy way to get into the meaning of the sutras without having to go through the sutras and dig into them individually. Especially when you don’t have the ability we did in class of having the time to discuss them with other very smart and in tune people.  I know I would have missed half of what the sutras said if I could ask questions and bounce ideas off of my classmates. I just hope they feel the same. 

Still with this idea that it is a good way to introduce it, there is a bit of difference between them. The first is who Krishna is a representation the most powerful and high god in Hindu and the Sutras done mention any specific god but more of the god that you personally connect with. Some of that is because there are multiple gods in the Hindu faith, but it also leaves a more open interpretation for those who are not of the Hindu faith to incorporate what the Sutras say into their own faith and I think that is harder to do through the Bhagavad Gita.

The 3 People

The last two chapters here in the BG focus a lot on the three states of people. If that is an accurate way to describe them. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.  Arjuna asks Krishna to describe the type of people who fall into each of the three categories of people.  While Krishna was going through these chapters doing this I got a bit confused.  It seems the Sattva is by far the best state of nature for someone to be in. In practically every way it was the preferred, holy or neutral.  Rajas wasnt the worst as it had some good qualities and some bad, while Tamas was typically the worst of the three every time.  What is strange, is that while reading and discussing the sutras in class, it never really seemed that one was better than another. More importantly, it always seemed that a balance of all was best. It dosnt seem that way with Krishna.  He is putting a lot more emphasis on Sattva than either Rajas or Tamas.  It will be interesting to discuss that in class.

I have started working on my hamstrings again for my personal practice, but havnt noticed much improvement again yet. Not that I was really expecting it after only another week when it took me about 4 weeks last time.  But I will keep going with it and see what happens.  I think I will start to incorporate a little more of a variety as well.  In class we went over the "classes" of poses in terms or twisting poses, inverted poses, standing poses, etc and trying to do at least one of each or focus on one or two groups would be more beneficial to my practice than random poses I remember or things I want to try.

I missed last Thursday in class again, and again I could tell a noticeable different in how I felt.  Its really weird because I never thought that I would get to the point where missing yoga has a noticeable impact on how I am feeling. Forget the fact that I never thought I was going to really do yoga in the first place.  However, as far as what I hope for future classes is to set a better base of knowledge of poses that once class is over I can still carry on a meaningful practice since I am still relying on class time a bit more than my personal practice.

The BG

For this required blog post, I think I will be talking about something that most everyone else will be as well.  This is mainly because we have spoken about it at length in class, but also just because it is something that is very apparent in the writing.

            The connection between the ideas of morality and how to live a good life expressed by Arjuna and the way in which Christ instructs Christians to live in the Bible.  I have already talked a little about his in some previous blog posts about specific readings, but this will be a bit more of a holistic view with some other commentary on the structure and overall feelings of the Bhagaavad Gita, or BG for short because I don’t want to have to look up how to type it every time since I’m lazy.

            So, now to the good stuff.  I know I have already talked about how I found a strong connection with the different names that Arjuna gives himself as god and creator of everything and the different names that Christ and God have in the Christian tradition.  This was brought more into light the other day when my mother sent me my biweekly “T Time.”  To give a little background, T Time is an email that I get every week or so since I have come to college and it is what my mom has been praying over me for that week or upcoming month.  Each time she does this, she gives me a different name of God that she is praying over me because of the connotation that the name means and how it will help me for whatever I have going on that week.  This latest one, the 11^th for the year, was Jehovah-Raah or “The Lord is my Shepherd.”  Some previous ones from this year alone are; El Elyon, The God most high and El Rio, the God who sees.  Seeing a lot of these same aspects and names in the BG like how Arjuna is the wisdom of the wise and the goodness of the virtuous is really cool. Not to mention the fact that the chapter title in our version of the BG that we are reading is titled Divine Splendor.  Which if that dosnt also fit perfectly the names of God then I don’t know what does.  Thinking on the names that my mother has sent me of god brings out a new aspect of his greatness to me every time I think about it because it is a way in which I used to not think about him. 

            Moving on from the introspective, I have really enjoyed reading the BG. A lot more than I thought I would, even though I cant pronounce the title.  I don’t really know what I was expecting to start, maybe something more the yoga sutras and not so much a story. Which granted it is still very much like the sutras, but in more of a story context.  Except the story is kinda weak and nonexistent because  time is stopped so Arjuna and Krisna don’t get killed while sitting in their chariot in the middle of a battle, and never really gets into any of the battle stuff. Honestly a bit upsetting for me personally because I like that sort of thing, but it dosnt quite fit and flow well with the moral of the story.

            Anyways, enough rambling from me now, the like 3 people who read this will be plenty more of that as time goes on.

Knower of the Field

So this week, well for today more specifically, the Arjuna is talking to Krisna about the body and how to reach Brahman.  A lot of what is covered here we have already covered in class through the discussion of the sutras. The idea that there are vriti and things that hinder the ability for someone to reach Brahman, and three states of activity of sattva, rajas and tamas.  Then how to reach past these, among other aspects to reach Brahman.  It also makes a lot of sense that if Arjuna is the creator of all, that he would be the first seed of the field that is each person. The way he describes it in that each person is a field, and to know Arjuna they have to know their field is a really interesting way of saying that to reach Brahman, you must first dwell in your own true nature. I honestly like this way better because I think the analogy that it creates is better at explaining the overall goal than simply saying, "dwell in your own true nature."  I also liked how at the end of 14, Krisna asks Arjuna what someone in Brahman looks like and the image that Arjuna presents is not what I would first picture.  I personally would think that it is more of a place of joy and peace and that isnt exactly what is described.  Instead it is more of a equilibrium of all senses and emotions and states.  Which granted would probably bring peace, but it is more of being neutral to all and therefore able to find joy in everything.

As far as my own practice goes, I have some good and bad news.  The good news is I was able to touch my toes easily for the first time last week.  But when I tried yesterday and today I haven't been able to without stretching to the point of pain again for the last inch or 2, Im not sure of this is because Im not as loose in the morning so its a bad time to try, or that because I was able to do it I have focused more on other posed and not worked on stretching as much.  It think it may be a combo of the two so I think im going to go back to more of the stretching poses to work and maintain that. Its just kinda sad because I love the more restorative and relaxing poses with my busy life and I dont see how I have time to work both currently.

In class, I was upset that we didnt have class Thursday. Its kinda funny because I know even with my practice that times get moved around due to my other schedules and things, I can always count on having 45 mins to an hour of yoga in class and not having that was weird and I could tell a noticeable different in my attitude for the rest of the week.

Eternal Deity

In these two chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, there are so many connection to Christianity.  All of chapter eight is spent by Krishna explaining who he is and how he provides for all.  From being the father of the universe to the sum of all knowledge, the connection to the different names of God which explain how he is father and lord of all is incredible.  Krishna continues to explain how those who reside in him are provided for, in the same way that the Lord provides for those who follow him.

In a slightly less awe inspiring and immature moment I find both of these chapters together quite funny.  Chapter eight Krishna tells of his power and majesty, and then in chapter nine Arjuna basically says, "You sounds awesome and I believe you are who you say. Tell me everything you can." Krishna then goes off more about who he is and his names and it seems like Krishna is like, "yes I am awesome, thank you for noticing.  And well since you asked......here are all my other cool names and things I do."   Dont know why I find that funny, but it is.

For my personal practice this week was extremely stressful and busy so I didnt do much yoga outside of more breathing stuff.  I would just sit there for a bit every now and then and focus on controlling my breath and slowing it down.  Even just with that I did notice a lot of benefits. They were not quite to the same level  and doing some of the restorative poses and a savasana time, but its nice to see how even something as simple as breathing can help.

With class, Im still loving it.  There isnt much I would change now or say that I didnt like.  I just want to keep going and seeing the improvement that I have so far.  Being selfish though, being able to get up into a headstand or other more complex poses like that would be kinda cool though.

Renouncing, Meditating, and Acting....because those all go together

So these two chapters of the Bhagavad Gita are interesting.  First it talks about the different between action and renunciation and which is better.  Krishna then goes on to say action is better.  It really reminded me of Machiavelli's The Prince and the discussion on if it is better to be feared or loved as a ruler with Machiavelli eventually saying that if you had to pick one, then it is better to be feared.  The reason that Krishna says why action is better almost seems against a lot of the philosophy we have talked about so far.  Action, so says Krishna, is better because the wise see knowledge and action as the same. He goes on to say how the person who is established in one path gets the rewards of both. But he could just as easily be talking about action and renunciation as he is about action and knowledge.  The weird part is renunciation is more in line with yoga philosophy than action, but it requires action to complete.  So my question is if something is harder to obtain, and you must do something else first to obtain it, then isnt it better than what you do to obtain it? It just seems a bit off to me.  Not only that, but in the next chapter Krishna goes on to talk about meditation and how you must be in balance with all things to properly meditate. So things like not sleeping to much or to little, eating to much or to little, etc.  However, wouldnt it be better to renounce sleep or food to make sure you dont have too much, as opposed to purposely committing an action too?  It all just seems like it should all go together as one big thing your supposed to do with no particular part better than the rest that can superseded it all to let you achieve Brahman.

For class, I really enjoyed the inversions we did and the restorative poses.  I like the idea of spending an entire asana time working on one or two poses to really learn them and what they are supposed to do for you.  Also learning about other forms of yoga that we can incorporate into our own practice is nice because sometimes I get tired of doing warrior poses or need something that is more restorative based on the week I have had and where I am mentally.

As far as my own practice, I did try to incorporate both inversions and restorative poses into it. However, it is kinda hard to do a headstand in my apartment due to space and things on the wall so I might need to rethink where I will be practicing those in the future.  The restorative poses were really nice as I have been really stressed lately with different things so having more time to focus on breathing and such really let me calm down and find a inner space to de-stress and focus my mind.  the inversions did help the little I was able to do them as I have started to feel my allergies come on and wow do those clear up your sinuses.

The bhagavad gita, or however your pronouce it

Wow, even after reading only the first two chapter so the Bhagavad Gita I can tell that it is going to be an intense book.  Never mind the fat that I cant pronounce the title of the book correctly, let alone any of the characters.  The story has a very epic tone to it, while bringing in philosophy to a point that I really havnt seen in many other epic tales. Im excited to get into the book and butcher all the names.  Moving on past those first few ramblings, the key issue that is brought up here is the dire contrast of courses of action for the protagonist, at least I think he is so far, Arjuna.  As a the leader of a “rebel” group within the kingdom he is trying to gain the throne as it is rightfully his.  The only issue is that those on the throne are his uncle and family.  So the moral dilemma begins.  Does Arjuna follow his quest to right the wrong done by his family and gain the throne, or does he not because in doing so would bring about the slaughter and destruction of his own relatives.  It really is a catch 22.  The funny thing is Ive been in a somewhat similar situation. Prior to earning my pilot slot for the Air Force I was looking heavily in going into special operations.  I had gone to an orientation course that is designed to give the selectors a first look at those interested and dedicated enough to try out, and those attending the ability to see first-hand what the job is and what those men do.  After this I applied for a selection and was invited to attend.  This is where my own moral dilemma begins.  I am in a very committed relationship and care deeply about my family and have a very strong idea of the type of husband and father I want to be. Learning about those jobs and careers and meeting men in them, I learned that it would not allow me uphold the way I wanted to treat my family.  Even though it was what I wanted to do, and I was dead set on doing it.  It took a lot of thinking, and guidance to make my decision and I am interested to see what type of guidance Arjuna gets considering the heavy yoga philosophical influence.

                Continuing on with the asana practices in class, I would like to see the time taken with those to increase. Part of that is because I am really enjoying them a lot, and the other part is because I don’t think the discussions over the Bhagavad Gita will take nearly as much time as those over the sutras and other philosophical aspects of yoga. However, I have a hunch that I am wrong based in that regard. The other thing that I would like to see in the asana is more of a flow time.  I think that would be really cool because it would let us see how far we have come since the first day, and then doing that occasionally would let us see our progress in a way, both in terms of flexibility and stuff but also in terms of the types of poses we have learned.

                Lastly, this past week was also rough on my personal practice. With midterms and papers to write I was very busy and stressed out and dint have time to do yoga.  Which is ironic because yoga is something that is really good at de-stressing me and allowing me to calm down and focus.  I just get caught in the moment of what is going on and the stress and pressure placed on me that I don’t think to stop and do yoga to calm down and center before moving on and dealing with the stress and other things I am trying to do.

Yoga From the Inside Out

After reading the memoir Yoga from the Inside Out by Christina Sell, I have very mixed feelings about a lot what is said.  Before I go in depth on my feelings about the book, I must preference this.  I have limited exposure to both yoga and more importantly, the deeper philosophy of yoga.  I also have a very unique perspective on both the so called “sleeping world”, which I will get into later as well, but also the relationship of God, spirituality and the divine as well because while I consider myself having a spiritual walk with God, I am again no means an expert or well learned in that aspect either.

            To begin, I did enjoy reading the memoir and the overall message I received from it.  The idea that people today are too involved in what Ms. Sell calls the “sleeping world.”  This sleeping world, at least to what I understood it as, is people buying into the society’s view of what is acceptable, right, good, beautiful, fill in the blank with any adjective and you have the idea.  I do think that people and society as a whole has adopted a unrealistic image of beauty. Not only has the image of beauty been set at a bar that is impossible to reach by many, the pressure to reach that goal also carries an unbearable weight sometimes.  I personally feel that weight, as I am sure many other men do.  Take a look in any men’s fitness magazine or blockbuster movie.  The guys all have extremely well defined muscles all over; abs, back, arms, pecs.  Not only is that what is paraded around what a man should look like, but it is also shown as what is needed to be successful in most aspects of life.  Those men typically are very wealthy, have wives or girlfriends who also are the epitome of the definition of beauty for the sleeping world.  Do I feel that is right to be set as the standard? No, but I also don’t think that it is entirely wrong.  The image of well defined muscles and being lean is more than just something that is purely aesthetic.  It also shows fitness and overall health.  To have that type of physique, you have to be in shape and be in good shape.  This means you are taking care of your body by working out, being careful about what you fuel your body with, etc. Even more with my profession, staying in a good, healthy state is imperative. Personally, wanting to subscribe to those standards of the sleeping world, is not bad because it simply means I am in better shape and more capable of performing my job.  Should it be taken to the extreme of eating disorders and such no because then it becomes something that is unhealthy and harmful, but wanting that goal and striving for it, I don’t see anything wrong with that at all.

               The other major problem I have is more philosophical and religious in nature.   Even after all the discussion in class over the sutras, and reading quite a bit about yoga and the philosophy, I am struggling to see how it is not a religion by itself. At least in the way it is practiced and discussed in a lot of contemporary literature.  All of the talk of the divine and spiritual and the way you need a guru to interact with it and to show you the path has a awkward juxtaposition with my personal faith background.  It seems like it has quite a few places that any religion, including Christianity, can fit in and work side by side with yoga.  Many of the core values are the same, but there is a disconnect still that is hard for me to explain, much less put into words.  The easiest way I can break it down is how the first yoga teacher, if you can call her that, explained it to me.  Mary Francis is a very good friend of my mothers, and our families are close.  Mary Francis has become a yoga instructor after starting yoga herself and teaches restorative yoga. For various reasons my mom began going to take yoga from Mary Francis and dragged me along one time I was home.  The way that Mary Francis told me, was to incorporate yoga into your faith, not your faith into yoga. It just seems that so much faith is worked into yoga. At least that is the way it is portrayed.  Something about that bugs me, and I don’t have a good explanation why.  If I ever figure it you, if anyone ever reads this blog, yall will be the first to know.

The 8 fold path

While reading the eight-fold path, I got a little confused to be honest.  So I get there are 8 limbs, and what those are.  Next there are the yamas.  And I understand what those are. Lastly, there are the observances, and I get what those are.  What I dont get is how they all work together. Im assuming it is like some of the earlier sutras where the different aspects are how you work towards the higher goal, and then there are what get in the way of that.  So are the 8 limbs the higher goal, with the yamas being how you achieve them and the nthe observances get in the way? I know we will go over it in class today but right now trying to get into them myself is a bit of a struggle.

As far as class goes, I am still loving the yoga.  It is the main reason I took this class in the first place and we are starting to get into some of the more advanced poses, but also how the sutras and what we discuss at the beginning of class interact with those poses.  The discussions are still good and I think its really cool that we are able to spend so much time getting into what they mean that we are kinda forced to stop so we have time to do a small asana practice.  I still wish I was more flexible so I was able to do some of the poses better, Im pretty good with the shoulder stand and things that require more muscle than flexibility simply because that is what I have always focused on.

As far as my outside practice, Im starting to get a bit discouraged.  Just because with life and classes and everything else going on I have struggled to find time for it.  Not only am I struggling to find time, but the more we get into the sutras, the more I realize that my personal practice is kinda pathetic. Knowing it is something that takes persistent devotion to achieve, I see myself not doing that and being somewhat of a perfectionist and someone who takes pride in working hard to achieve a goal but not seeing many fruits, it is hard to want to keep trying to find time and do the little bit I can.

How Yoga Works

So today I finished the book How Yoga Works. I can honestly say that while I would love to go on and on about the ending, I fear at least one of the three people who have viewed my blog have not read the book.  For that reason I will spare all the details of how I feel on paper as to not ruin it for that one soul who has yet to experience it.  But my, what a book.  I was genuinely surprised and pleased  at the book.  And that was only for the story line.  When you actually get into the details and philosophy of how yoga works, and how yoga is intended to work in someone, it really brings a new dimension not only to the book, but also to the discussions over the sutras we are having in class.

The class discussions are actually starting to become more of my favorite time in class, even over the yoga which is surprising even to me.  Having the little background of yoga that I do, I know that I really enjoy the asana poses because they help limber me up and help me find a peace and calmness to my otherwise hectic days.  But going over the sutras, and How Yoga Works, and the discussion of how they are to apply to my life, in even the most minuscule way, is really cool.  It is another way to think about things and is another way that I can stop and take a step back and think about things which causes me to slow down and get more of the peace the same way the asana does.  More than that, it is quite deep and gives me something to think back on during the week more than any of my other classes.  I mean there is only so much deeper you can do with European history or American policy decisions.

Outside of class I really tried to focus on my personal practice, especially with missing almost all of last week and not really being diligent there.  While I have probably taken a few steps back in terms of my practice because of it, I am able to stretch myself further in the sense that I am doing more poses and incorporating it more than just good stretches and limbering up, however that is still a lovely benefit I am getting. In fact, just this morning I noticed how much closer I am to touching my toes while bending over while standing and that was a nice visual to show me how much I have improved in such a relatively short time.

Week 4

So I missed last week due to a lot of different reasons, and this week is going to be incredibly short as well.

Due to lots of different reasons of family coming in, tests starting this week and other factors, I have been way to stressed out and busy to keep up with my personal practice and has even affected me getting the reading done in time so I cant comment too much about that other than it is interesting how everyone now wants Friday to teach them yoga to heal physical ailments when the Captain and Friday have gone so far beyond the physical healing of yoga and moved onto the deep philosophy of why the yoga does heal physically. That contrast is something that I think is interesting and cant wait to read more so I can see how everyone else progresses in their yoga as well.

The Second Step

Week 2 of these reflection blogs and so far I can only see small progress.  To start with the readings we have done, we started with the actual yoga sutras which are pretty cool. However out book is a commentary and I was trying to read all the commentary and understanding none because of all the Sanskrit words used and the general assumption of baseline knowledge by the author.  However, looking at just the sutras themselves made things easier.  They are very simple and deep which is something that doesn’t really happen today anymore in readings or serious philosophy that I have read. What I didn’t like, but think it will change once we get through them all, was how I couldn’t understand some of them by themselves because they lead to the following sutras.  Once we talk about all of the sutras I think this will change because I will understand what the whole is talking about to look at the individual.  The book, How Yoga Works is also getting really interesting as they are getting into deeper aspects of yoga philosophy within it, it is explaining it all to me as well. Although some areas and concepts like the idea of making the inside the outside, I’m still needing some work or don’t quite understand it yet.

            The class asana times are still just as enjoyable as they have been. The slow pace is nice to have and not adding a lot allows us to focus on the poses we have started and to get better at them because we are doing them so much.  While I would still like to move on to more advanced and different stuff, I like the pace.  Some of the poses, like downward facing dog, have gotten to be a lot easier to do. Not less painful on my hamstrings and stuff, but I feel better in the poses and that the poses themselves are looking better.  Which I think counts for something.

            That same idea of feeling better in poses even if I’m not really doing much better has carried over to my own personal practice.  At least for my hamstrings, they feel better even when I’m stretching but I can’t tell if I’m actually starching farther yet. While I know that part will come, it would be nice if it happened sooner than later.  The other nice part of my personal practice is how I feel after.  Just like after class, feeling relaxed and calm is something that is really nice to have with how busy I am this semester and with everything I am involved in. If I get nothing else from this semester and the class, the ability to take some time and unwind and calm myself is something that I will always use.

Every Journey Begins with a Single Step, or Yoga Pose

So each week for this yoga and philosophy class we are supposed to reflect in different blog posts about different things from class and the reading for the week. Since I always like to be productive with my time and what I do, I’m going to add all them together into one massive entry once a week. Sorry for all yall who were hoping for daily insights into my life.

            Like every class we have assigned readings. Most of the readings have been from the book How Yoga Works which I still cant tell if its fiction or not, but so far the story has kept my interest more than I thought a book about yoga could.  The protagonist is a young girl traveling from her home in Tibet to study under a new yoga teacher in India and because of the quasi-corrupt nature of their police force is arrested and has spent the past months teaching the local captain yoga in hopes of it allowing her to go free.  The interactions between the girl and the captain are the most interesting because that is where the book is teaching the reader what yoga is through their relationship. The rest of the story I have not paid too much attention too so far because it is not as interesting to me as the yoga part. Ya her little dog is cool and the sergeant is a drunken perv, but that part of the story didn’t really get developed until the reading we had for today.  Even with that new development I still am more interested in the yoga philosophy because I would like to see how it affects me with the yoga we do in class and my feeble attempts to do yoga on my own. However, I have really enjoyed it because while I have done some yoga in the past when I am home with my mom, I never got too into the philosophy and history of it.  This makes me appreciate some things more, and embrace the suck of some of the poses because I am about as flexible as a concrete pillar.

             Speaking of my lack of flexibility, the class asana is a lot of fun.  Not as hard as I was expecting due to what I have done in the past, but still really helpful and it is awesome to have time in the day that I don’t have to worry about setting aside to calm down and relax and focus.  Some of the moves, like downward dog, I have done because I mean, who hasn’t done downward dog in yoga.  I have even had the pleasure, if you call it that, of knowing the warrior pose we did from “power yoga” this old Russian lady who grew up in the USSR learning how to be an Olympic gymnast would force my club swim team to do. Most of the other poses I have never done so its cool to learn other ones from what I have already experienced.  Most of the poses are also pretty easy, compared to what I had to do in my mom’s class I attended. Which makes sense because most of us in the class have little to no experience so we need to create a foundation and my mom has been doing yoga for around a year now so she can do more advanced things.  Some of my favorite, and least favorite, things we have done in class is down dog and walking the dog, along with some of the other leg poses because I have always had a problem with my hamstrings being really tight. So while I am trying to suffer my agony in silence during class, I can see and feel them slowly loosening up which is awesome and something I hope to continue all semester with.

            This slow work on my hamstrings, along with the chest and shoulder opening poses we did the first day are hard for me to do on my own so I have been a little slow in getting a set routine established outside of class. Mostly I use poses we have done in class to target different areas for a better stretch and to loosen up after PT or working out. Which while it isn’t a good practice or anything, it does feel awesome and a good start for me to slowly get into a more steady time of going through more poses and things.

The Big Introduction

Hello all,

This first post is simply to let yall who are interested to get to know a little about me and why I started this blog.

My name is Trent and I am currently enrolled in a yoga/philosophy course that requires self-introspection and a blog to keep track of all the wonderful thoughts that come from it.

Part of why I took this class is because I have done some yoga before, and by that I mean gone a total of 5 times with my mom when I was home from school.  I really enjoyed the classes so when I saw this class I thought it would be really interesting to take and try. It also counts for my last course requirement for my honors program so that works out pretty nicely.

The other reason I took this class is I noticed a lot of benefits even after those 5 random times going to yoga, both physically in my flexibility and mentally in being able to calm down and relax and focus more, so I'm hoping after an entire semester of yoga I will really be able to see those same benefits but on a much larger scale.  I also think the introspective aspect of looking back at my entire college career will be cool and make me appreciate a lot more than I do right now because I glance over parts or done really see where they all tie in.