The Best of Yoga
Like many, I stumbled on yoga because I was a very physical person who needed an outlet that was active and physical to allow my body to feel satisfied. That’s what I thought then. Then was 33 years ago.
But before that, was meditation. I was initiated into Transcendental Meditation in 1990 quite by accident. But it helped. It helped me to harness my mind. It helped me to begin the journey of integrating mind, body, and spirit. Do you think I knew this? I did not.
My yoga began at a gym that I was working at while doing graduate work in Exercise Science. This was my escape route from Corporate America where I was absolutely miserable and fearing for my health and sanity. It changed when the friend who was teaching the class that I loved and was obsessed with asked me to sub for her.
After I began subbing and expressed my desire for “more Yoga,” she sent me to my first (and main) teacher, Jyoti Crystal, with whom I entered the path to becoming what is now commonly understood to be a Yoga Therapist. Using Yoga and its many aspects to resolve issues of body, mind, or spirit, is the job of a Yoga Therapist.
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Along the way, my studies were intense, dedicated, expansive, exploratory. I was honing my craft and deeply involved in the worlds of Yoga, quantum science, meditation, Shamanism, Energy, touch and healing. And it was well-known to me that THE ONLY REASON the ancients did asana (the physical postures) was to work out the kinks in the body that interfere with one’s ability to commune with the Divine.
In addition, Gary Kraftsow, student of TKV Desikachar who I had the privilege of studying with on an occasion or two, laid out a chart of progression. How much of your practice should be asana? What percentage should be pranayama? And what amount should be meditation - all by our ages. I’d be lying if I told you I remember exactly, but it may have gone something like this:
Twenties and Thirties — 70% Asana; 20% Pranayama; 10% Meditation
Fourties — 60% A ; 25% P ; 15% M
Fifties — 55% A ; 25% P ; 20% M
Sixties — 30% A ; 30% P ; 35% M
Seventies + — 10% A ; 40% P ; 50% M
Fascinatingly, while I rejected this in my thirties as ever being possible for me to abandon the physical practice that I loved so much, in fact this map offered by Kraftsow seemed to unfold quite organically as the years passed. And since my practice began (unbeknownst to me) with meditation, it was something that I craved innately in my body and my mind. Yet my younger self continued to look for it through the physical body.
Now, in my 60’s, I can say that I have gravitated to approximately exactly what Gary suggested. And, in my opinion and experience, these are the best parts of Yoga.
Pranayama (breath work and mastery of the breath) along with Meditation provide the means by which I can access states of being that I crave. Pranayama feels like it cleans me out. It purges stagnant energy. It exhilarates my mind and integrates my body and mind together to a place that is more clarified. And Pranayama prepares me to enter the state of Meditation that unifies my mind and body with the essence I call Spirit — Spirit, as I describe or define it for myself, not in any biblical kind of way. Together, this dynamic duo comprise what I feel are “the best of Yoga”.
This is why I’ve decided to return to offering these teachings. I’ve been asked for some years by some beloved students to teach again. My circumstances don’t allow for offering asana, but for sure I can provide the best of the practice to small groups of interested students. So, if you are craving that same kind of inner silence and Divine connection that I do, please consider joining me for the 2-Part offering of Breath & Meditation.
Take Part 1 first. Repeat it, if you would like. Take Part 2 after Part 1. Take all 3 offerings of both parts. Or, mix and match. Classes may not be exactly the same and will be intuitively offered based on who is in attendance.