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.