Yoga for Strength

Random thoughts on gaining strength...

18 years ago now, when I was 16, I bought a VHS video from a discount bin called 'Yoga for Strength'...I should have known then that I'd end up an Ashtangi...

It's what I came to yoga for, what brought me to the mat for the first time: I wanted to be stronger.

Today, is my first practice back on the mat on my own after a week of practice with my teacher. The theme of last week's practices, yes, strength. I've gotten to an interesting part of the particular sequence that I'm practicing. Just when I'm starting to feel a bit tired and distracted, I'm met by strength pose, after strength pose, after strength pose....be careful what you wish for...

Something I've heard Beryl Bender Birch say at a few workshops that I've done with her is this: "Don't envy flexibility!" She goes on to talk about this a bit more and the subtext is always this: if you think you want someone's physical flexibility, then you have to be prepared to accept the rest of their life too.
It seems a very broad way of thinking about both flexibility and envy.

It's interesting to me because my default is bendy, but not just physically. The physical is also an expression of my default in life...flexible...the one who accommodates, agrees or easily slips out of the way.

When I came to yoga looking for strength, it seems that, although I didn't see it at the time, I was looking for strength in the broader sense as well as the physical. The two are not separate.

After years of Ashtanga practice, I can say that I found what I was looking for.

I have work to do yet balancing my agreeableness with standing up for myself. That work is found daily, in balancing in a steady handstand and then bending it into a deep backbend. It's found in controlling the transition from a strong neutral standing position into a deep backbend and smoothly returning to standing. It's found in the daily striving for a balance between effort and ease in breath regardless of what sort of pretzel is being asked of the body.

A week with my teacher always leaves me sore, tired and awash in gratitude. I remain in awe of what changes this practice can initiate and ever grateful for my teacher who continues to believe that I can be strong even in the moments when I don't yet have the strength to believe it myself.

Wise Words from Beryl Bender Birch

Ah, the whirlwind continues, but I'm going to squeeze in a blog post anyway.
After a year and a half of part-time work, then a lay-off, then more part-time work, I'm back to full time work...a mixed blessing. It's exciting work with great people, but does inevitably soak up much energy and time. I expect blog posting to be a bit erratic as the new schedule sorts itself out.

I spent the past weekend having some recharging time. I was fortunate several years ago to be able to complete a 200 hr teacher training with Beryl Bender Birch. I completed the 200 hrs in bits of a week here and a weekend there over the course of about a year and a half. I try to make it to at least one weekend with Beryl every year. There is nothing like having actually done the practice for something nearing 40 years to give you perspective on things! I always leave the weekend with Beryl feeling clear-headed and heart-warmed. This past weekend was no exception.

I usually don't take notes, but this time I did feel like there were a few things that I wanted to write down and thought I'd share here.
So here are a few of Beryl's thoughts from our afternoon discussion session:

"A single thought has a physical expression."

"Yoga is so much like scientific inquiry. Verify things with your own experience."

"Pranayama is energy management. If you can learn to manage your energy on the mat, then you can learn to manage it "out there"...but before you try to manage the energy layer, spend some time learning to manage the physical body."

"Don't squander your life. Do what you can with what you have to ease the suffering of others when the opportunities arise."
---I have always admired Beryl for the way she ends each session of each workshop by reminding us to take the focus off of ourselves and start looking around.

Beryl Bender Birch...learning to teach is all about learning to practice!

I wanted to share this great video clip from one of my teachers that is posted by Omega (retreat center in New York).

Wise words from Beryl Bender Birch on the importance of practice!

http://www.eomega.org/omega/faculty/viewProfile/fd7b690bb7203a41a00d65b8dd84d7a6/?source=ENEWS