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Will Doran Yoga Newsletter ~
July, 2008 "The Yoga Coach" ~ Helping people find their place and direction in life. ________________ <<< ☼ >>> ________________
Dear friends, Hello to you all. I would love to thank all of you who sent me your well wishes, both directly and indirectly. I felt such an outpouring of love and support and it unquestionably helped me maintain my strength and equilibrium through hard times. It is very gratifying to know that my sharing touched so many lives and that my experiences are so relative to so many of us. The good news is that my health issues are improving (I now have partial vision back in my left eye and there is good reason to hope for further healing) and my son is getting good professional care. We have experienced the love and blessings of so many wonderful people and your wave of compassionate support has helped us to carry on through our challenges. Indeed, my personal journey through these challenges has taught me a lot about "spaciousness" and letting go of my attachments. This is the central theme of this newsletter. Thank you for your interest in hearing what I have to share.
In this issue: Yoga Philosophy: Sthira Sukham (Steadiness and Ease) Applied Yoga: Spaciousness Notices:
____________________________________ Yoga Philosophy: Sthira Sukham (Steadiness and Ease) One of the most simple and yet powerful guidelines to the art of practicing yoga, and by extension the art of life, comes from the ancient sage Patanjali. He wrote that the practice of yoga should be a delicate balance of steadiness and ease (sthira sukham asanam, in Sanskrit). These guiding words have also been translated as strength and grace, effort and relaxation. For my practice on the mat and off I take this teaching to mean that we should meet challenge with understanding, acceptance, resilience. In doing so we refine our ability to remain balanced while under pressure, and in the process we can foster the ever-growing presence of grace in our way of being. Life, especially recently, has gifted me many opportunities to apply this concept of balance in my application of effort and ease. I have been faced with a number of issues that have required both my effort and my surrender to what is. It is the surrender part that seems to hold the most growth for me. Effort comes easy because I have a "doer" type personality. I look at a situation and see what can be "done" to fix or alter it in a way that meets my fancy or preference. This only goes so far, for at times, things are out of my reach or control and I am faced with observing what is and simply have sit on my hands and see how the universe spins. I find that these situations are prime opportunities for refining the art of conscious response, as opposed to emotional reaction; with practice I am more able to remember that I get to express my highest image of who I choose to be with every response. I also get to lead with the same awareness that I am not just a leaf blown in the wind, I take an active role in expressing myself from a deep connection to my core essence. Life’s challenges have taught me a lot about acceptance of the complexity of the weave of life; it is not all about me, but rather, I am one thread amongst many in the warp and weft of things. My conscious response helps me to remain balanced and adds to the fulfillment of the highest good without me messing things up with my emotional chaos or need to impose my will. In short, my challenges in life are proving to be strong teachers of how steadiness and strength lead to optimal effort, grace and relaxation. They are teaching me about not judging what is bad or good and how to be more unattached to my preferences. Unattachment creates the spaciousness to let perceptions be put into perspective; it gives us the tool of letting our assumptions and judgments not get the best of us or back us into a limited-view corner. Life is too complex for us to comprehend all the facets of every situation and presume that we always know what is best. We may have preferences for what we would like to see or experience, but as we often see, we don’t always have the ways and the means to control reality as it unfolds before us. There are times when we simply have to accept a condition or action from another that is outside of our influence or ability to change. In such a case we are left with the choice of how to respond to what-is in a way that takes into consideration that we may or may not be able to "do" anything about it. As well, when we surrender the proverbial fruits of our labor we simply do our best and let go of our clinging to an outcome or preference; the focus then becomes how we are "being" with what we are experiencing. The passage below, taken from the third Chinese Zen patriarch Sengtsan, addresses this openness to what-is and how our perceptions, actions and attachments affect our inner peace: The Great Way is not difficult for those who are unattached to
preferences. My interpretation of the above is that we must constantly come back to the challenge of skillfully applying steadiness and ease throughout all aspects of our life activity so as to not cloud our awareness of oneness; this equanimity will ultimately bring us closer to unshakable peace. Our effort should reflect insight into the reality that we are acting, observing and reflecting all at the same time. This multi-layered dynamic is unfolding in an existence in which we are only partially in control as we simultaneously surrender to what is and actively create our reality. Below I will address ways to help make that effort more achievable. our life more grounded and stable. ___________________________________ Applied Yoga: Spaciousness Unattachment to preference is a tall order to fill. We spend a lifetime defining our tastes, goals and aspirations and, for the most part, know what we want. To better understand this concept I believe that emphasis be placed on the operative word in Sengtsan’s quote: "entanglement." This implies that we can be our own biggest obstacle by letting our "outer things" enmesh us or our desire for escape pull us into too much emptiness. I see this as pointing out our need to continue to fully live out our in such a way that we create spaciousness in and around our perceptions and action. This makes room for the unknown to have a chance to reveal itself. This "unknown" can be interpreted in many ways and should be left to the reader to define; I personally see it as spirit, grace, the hand of God. However perceived, it is a lightness of being that counters the effects of the heaviness of our physical condition: literally, energetically and emotionally. Learning to cultivate spaciousness is the foremost tool that I have found and apply for creating a sense of equilibrium and grounding while living through the experiences of my life. At the core of my efforts is opening to the presence of my highest and fully integrated Self. It is a nebulous idea so by nature is spacious and open to interpretation and discovery. Indeed, loosening my mental grip on my sense of identity to incorporate the intangible has made me more aware of spaciousness in general. This is at the center of the yogic teaching of discovering your true Self nature. It is a nature that is not separate from the Absolute, and as such is not restricted and contained; it permeates all things because they are created by the very force of nature which is the heart of all existence. In the most grandest of interpretations this philosophy holds that I am God because I am a creation of God. This view may be a bit too much to wrap your brain around and may even cause you to scream out "heresy!" In this light, I propose that you do not try to comprehend the totality of "God-and-I-are-One," but rather, simply make space for it to stir in your mind, as well as your broader sense of being, and see what is revealed as you explore the concept. It may take you into some very interesting terrain. To begin the process I suggest looking for ways to practice the art of harmony and balanced action, both externally and internally. To facilitate creating the inner spaciousness for revelation we serve our efforts by cleaning up the clutter around and within us. By surrounding ourselves in an environment of harmony we diminish the chaotic impact and influence of discord from the outside world. Most of us have already found that some sense of order helps raise the energy around us. With practice we may find that setting the external stage helps us to maintain openness and a sense of receptivity to something new without having to constantly stumble over old material and obstacles, both figuratively and literally. A life that is appreciative of harmony yields itself to spaciousness and a heightened senses of our interconnectedness. This is to say that the very simple act of cleaning up our clutter, both physically and emotionally, makes it more apt for us to perceive the subtleties of our relationships. Another idea for fostering a sense of spaciousness is to take a look at how you manage the space, both physical and temporal, in which you function. I have found that the common act of driving my car to-and-from any destination is a great teacher in this light. First, doing the best I can to give myself enough time to get to where I am going, and then surrender to the journey once I am in movement, inevitably brings me to my designation with minimal stress and maximum energetic efficiency. Fretting over time and rushing to the red light doesn’t help you arrive any quicker. Flowing with traffic is just that; it moves at different speeds based on conditions we may have little influence over. Not being part of the problem by contributing your chaos to the equation helps the flow happen. I find that allowing for more physical space between me and the cars around me creates more inner space for quietude and lets the less patient have room to maneuver; because I’m not jamming and jostling I allow others to flow more smoothly, even if they are moving at a more chaotic pace. Equally, taking on a task and allowing for intervals of rest adds a spaciousness that gets the job done while minimizing stress. Nature is full of examples of pacing and spaciousness: The rhythms of the seasons and tides, the heating and cooling of the day, the life cycle from birth to death, movement and rest. I invite you to take some time to observe the natural rhythms and see how they can be internalized, and to what positive extent your effort produces a sense of inner spaciousness. This type of work has notable effects; among these is an increase in spontaneity and freedom. By training the mind to be still and spacious it is not so inclined to feel that it always needs to be calculating and in control. This fosters and openness and a sense of "presence" in the moment. And like a chain reaction freedom flows from this new expansiveness creating more of a sense of aliveness. The analogy of the trunk of a tree comes to mind: The inner core of the tree is the old wood, whereas the outer parameter is the live expansive growth; as the tree develops a strong and healthy base its foliage has the support to flourishes and expand. We too can strengthen our sense of being alive and expansiveness by rooting down into our core beliefs (sthira/steadiness) and cultivating a relaxed state of awareness that is spacious and non-restricting (sukham/ease). How many of the limitations and confining aspects of your life are self-imposed? How much of your suffering is caused by over-attachment to outcomes and preferences? These questions beg us to examine how much we, ourselves, get in the way of our own progress of achieving the spaciousness to rest at ease in our efforts; assumptions and tenacious holding on to expectations and desires can be stifling if left unchecked. They can surround all aspects of your being and compress it into restricted patterns of perception causing your creative effort to be squelched, holding you back from achieving your optimal potentiality. To break free from whatever patterns constrict your perceptions and potentiality requires consciously cultivating the perception of spaciousness inside. To help cultivate an attunement to this spaciousness you can start by finding a still moment to observe your breath. Breathing is a physiological action that comes hard-wired into your human condition; it is a basic life function that happens on its own as long as you are alive, the more you relax the more naturally it flows. However, paying attention to the aspects of the breath is an art that takes practice. The benefits of breath awareness are immense and go beyond what my words can convey; it is in the practice that the subtlety of quietly watching the movement and duration of your breath takes on its potency. To move into the breath first go external; pay attention to the sounds of your surroundings: the street noise, the birds in the trees, the airplane overhead, the clock on the wall. Sit with this without judgment or the need to change anything. Try not to react, simply sit and listen until the sounds move through you like wind through a screen door. Then, still observing the outer world, bring your awareness to the rhythm of your breath. Taking your mind outside your sense of self can actually broaden your sense of presence within the bigger picture. As you place your awareness into your surroundings the bigger sense of Self harmonizes with the interconnectedness of all things; you are less likely to hold your self as separate and constricted in your perceptions. Take your breathing practice deeper by watching the three biological steps of breathing within your physical form. As you inhale place your awareness at your belly, then expand your diaphragm at your low ribs and then bring the breath up to your upper chest. Slowly watch the process in reverse as you exhale. After you have settled into the rhythm of your watchful breathing pattern add a small retention of your breath at the top of your inhalation. You can lengthen your consecutive retentions up to the point that you can still cultivate spaciousness without inhibiting your sense of ease in being present with your breath. Be sure not to over-stress yourself trying to "achieve" something, but rather, practice for the simple joy of observation and self awareness. The practice will take on a life of its own and will bear delicious fruit over time. For me, I find that breath awareness exercises help me to ride the wave of expansion –both internally and externally– deepening my sensitivity to what the Tantric masters call spanda, the sacred tremoring that pulsates through all existence. Taking the time to cultivate spaciousness opens us to unseen possibilities. Our experiences can be set free to simply be, without the need to control them. As we open to openness we let the mind take a back seat, not concentrating or holding on, but simply being present to what is. I know for myself that when I practice this art of spaciousness I feel more part of the flow, more open to be in harmony with the action and movement around me. Working with the professional people that have helped me and my family recently is a perfect example of this. There have been serious things going on in my life that I felt were out of my control. Yet, my action has been to step back, let the ones with more experience and knowledge assess the situation and steer us into the direction we needed to go. With intense emotions and knee-jerk reaction under control I feel more present to the decisions that have to be made and open to explore the unforeseen as it unfolds. Additionally, as I strengthen my partnering with my wife and professional support staff I feel more present to being part of a unified team. Paradoxically, by surrendering my need to be in control I experience more openness to receive the optimal outcome as it unfolds. The art of cultivating spaciousness is kin to what the Buddhists call "beginners mind." When we don’t have our head full of assumptions and "knowledge" we can be open to what grace may come our way. As we open to the experiences that arise, neither ignoring or indulging them, we can more easily relax and let go. Stepping aside and letting "presence" happen creates spacious awareness and opens the doors of possibility. Give it a try and observe your effort, and your letting go of effort. Strive for a balance and enjoy your newfound sense of freedom and flow. ___________________________________ Notices:
Subbing: I will have subs teach my Sunday, August 10th and Monday, August 11th classes. Private Yoga Instruction: I also teach privately out of my home for students who want individualized instruction and guidance. Private classes are $35 for an hour when a commitment to ten classes is made, or $45 for a single session.
As a professionally trained Life Coach I work on a deep level with individuals to help them journey into the richness of their life and make the choices that bring peace, happiness and fulfillment. I can help you find your inner wisdom to do what needs to be done and take yourself into new realms of fulfillment and a sense of self-guided direction. If you would like my support in this process please give me a call to discuss your wishes. I can be reached at (206) 789-1058 or on my cell at (206) 861-2775. More information online at www.TheYogaCoach.com.
May your days be filled with peace, joy and light. Namaste, Will PS. Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to your friends. ____________________________________________
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