Pranamayakosha & The Flow of Breath

What makes asana different than cardio? I would say there are two distinctions: attention to breath and attention to sensation. Omitting those two diminishes asana to just another form of fitness. There is nothing wrong with fitness, of course, but it serves an entirely different purpose. But once one practices focusing their attention on the breath and the sensations of the physical body long enough, athleticism in the body often naturally follows. Why is this? Well, it’s quite simple; your body is moving through the actions in all athletic sports or fitness exercises, but when you are capable of sensing your movement (proprioception), your mind-body coordination and communication increase. Your breathing affects the performance of your physical body, and it can either be reacting to what you are doing to it, or it can be the engine that drives your body through challenges.

This class takes the pranayama techniques you have been learning and implements them into your physical yoga practice. I look forward to hearing your reflections.

Theme: Dharana & Dhyana

Please open your Tantra of the Yoga Sutras book to page 54. We will skip ahead for a moment in order to see the Eight Limbs of Yoga. We are already very familiar with a number of these limbs: Asana, and Pranayama of course, and you can see that Samadhi, the goal of yoga, is the final limb. In this practice, I go over Limbs 6 and 7: Dharana (concentration), and Dhyana (Effortless Concentration).

The major difference between Dharana and Dhyana is that Dharana requires willful effort, harnessing the vritti’s (parts of the mind), whereas Dhyana is more the result of that effortful concentration. Dhyana is effortless concentration. Think of it like you are trying to pull a ship out of the harbor, at first you would require tremendous effort and force, but once the momentum sets in, the ship is hard to stop. The mind is the same way. At first, you must put in the effort to harness the scattered pieces of the mind, but then once you get in the zone you experience the effortless, easeful focus of Dhyana.

My teacher used to call this process: “Pulling the Ship Out of the Harbor.” Imagine manually tying ropes to a ship and pulling it out of the harbor – the initial effort would be immense. However, once the ship was moving it would be hard to stop the momentum. This is the perfect analogy of what happens when we first sit for meditation – we first need to put all the effort in to harness the vrittis, and they begin to quiet down as we dive below the surface and into the current of consciousness.

Abhyasa and Vairagya in Asana

Consider the reason you practice yoga or do anything in life. Much of our ambitions are motivated by pain or pleasure. We want to avoid pain and experience pleasure. There is nothing wrong with that but being aware of it can mean the difference between enjoying an experience or defining ourselves by the outcome. With regards to asana practice, most of us practice to feel better in mind, body, and soul. Often we get distracted by the postures and define ourselves as beginner or advanced based on whether or not we can achieve the shapes. Instead, we can use these postures as motivation to get onto our mat and inspire us to tap into our potential. If we keep the focus on self-inquiry as we move, the effort becomes understanding our body, so we aren’t disappointed or defined by the shapes we do or don’t do. Harness the vrittis in your asana practice and focus your mind on the development of body awareness.

If postures come, they come; if they don’t, they don’t.

Abhyasa and Vairagya 1.12 -1.16

Abhyasa and Vairagya are two of the most influential and important concepts in the yoga/life practice. Together they make up the balance of effort and surrender. It is imperative to understand where to place effort and when to surrender. Most of us waste our energy trying to control outcomes, and letting go of our ability to take action. In other words, we do everything backwards. Abhyasa is about placing or leveraging the right effort at the right time.

How do you know the right time?

When the ego and our samskaras tell us to pull back and our minds repeat things like It’s not worth it or I’m not good enough or No one will care or Nobody understands me or any other self-defeating statements, THIS is when effort is needed the most. The effort is in facing your own internal dialogue and taking action anyway, despite what others may think or your fears around the outcomes. When coming up against these insecurities, many respond by holding back and not moving forward. This is NOT the time to let go of your dreams and goals; this is the time to push forward through your limiting beliefs.

Vairagya, on the other hand, is the understanding that as long as you have put in your best effort, there is nothing more you can do but allow nature to take its course.

Most of us put all our effort into what we can’t control because it is outside of ourselves. Controlling what is inside challenges our identity and belief structures, and so we tend to stay away from it for fear of shaking up our false sense of emotional security. To do this work, you must be willing to shake up your inner world. Only then will you find contentment in your creations.

The Five Kinds of Vrittis (pg 23 sutras 1.5 -1.11)

1. undistorted knowledge
2. misconception
3. imagination
4. sleep
5. memory

The Three Ways the Mind Creates Undistorted Knowledge:

1. direct perception through our senses
2. partial information from direct experience
3. trustworthy testimonial from scripture, teacher, or parent

Misconception

Misconception comes when we perceive something through our senses but our mind distorts what it is perceiving and claims it as truth.

Imagination

When the mind creates images based on words.

Sleep

Also known as inertia. The mind resets and recharges by processing information it has received.

Memory

When ideas and objects from our past come back into our consciousness.

Please re-read pages 23-25 several times to get a stronger grasp of vrittis and Samadhi.

Samadhi Pada

Yoga is Being In the Now

Sutra 1.1 Atha yoganusasanam

Yoga is being in the now. Yoga can be practiced in anything we do so long as we are fully present in the moment. You can do postures on a “yoga mat” without ever practicing yoga. So what is yoga? Yoga is the practice of being in the now.

Sutra 1.2 Yoga Cita Vrtti Nirodaha 

Yoga is the experience that happens when the vrttis, the fluctuations of the mind, have become stilled. My personal perspective is that the first step is to go below the surface of the mind and go to the depth of stillness within. In time, you will have control over the mind but this is far more advanced and takes practice and discipline. But the stillness just below the fluctuations of the mind can be experienced right now for anyone.

The vrittis are the activities of the mind in the form of images, thoughts, emotions, reactions, and belief patterns.

Elements of Mastery Workshop: Earth

This workshop solidifies the foundation of this training and is the culmination of this section. This is a full 3 Hour workshop that will reiterate much of what you have learned, giving you the opportunity to fill in any gaps that you may or may not be aware of.

Panca Maha Buthas and The Chakras

The Elements of Mastery, Elements of Voice, and many other programs that I have developed are based on the Panca Maha Buthas, pronounced Pahn-cha, Mah-hah Boot-hahs: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind (or Air) and Space. Panca means five, Maha is the word for Great, or All encompassing, Buthas – elements. The Panca Mahabuthas help us to understand our existence in the physical world

We will get further into the Chakras later on in this training however it will suffice for you to know that I often use these two (chakras and Mahabuthas) as systems of self-reflection. Quite often I take liberties based on my personal practice and experience of self-study. As a disclaimer, I would ask you to disregard the Elements of Mastery and Elements of Voice as an academic study of philosophy as this allows me to share it in the way that I feel is most effective.

EARTH – Prthvi + ROOT CHAKRA – Muladhara 

Earth or Prthvi is the bottom Element and relates to the root Chakra which is also the bottom-most. This is not to say it is the least important but rather it is consciousness in its fully manifested form: that is our physical existence. In terms of the Root Chakra “Muladara Chakra” this root is related to the survival of our physical body, and therefore the demon of this Chakra is Fear, stemming from the instinct to survive. Fear becomes an issue when it manifests itself beyond our physical survival, and the ego adapts it as a way for it to survive. To work through fear we use the practice of Asana to get connected to our physical body, giving us the power to take care of ourselves. Through our practice, we will inevitably come up against our fears and should we use our sword of courage to begin to move through and see fear as our friend that is simply tapping us on the shoulder saying “hey, proceed with caution and courage.”

The physical practice of Asana helps us to appreciate what we have and get to know this body in a way that minimizes the mystery, inspiring us to connect to the more subtle energies within and all around us.

The Earth Practice

You have already developed a relationship to these muscle groups through the anatomy and posture breakdowns. NOW, try to use that knowledge to your advantage as you move through the practice. What I mean is, start focusing on the sensations you are experiencing rather than intellectualizing everything you do. A certain intellectualization will be necessary, but right after you “figure it out” ask yourself “what does this FEEL like?” This is the final process that allows you to “Master” the actions.

WARM-UP SEQUENCE

The Warm-Up Sequence consists of eight postures with transitional postures intertwined for movement. This is a basic template that we will use for all warm-ups created in this training. The warm-up can stay this simple but it can also grow to be complex and creative once you have the structure in your head. Once this is memorized, you will start to notice how I use the sequence and modify it for live stream classes.

The 8 Postures

1. Extended Child’s Pose
2. Cow
3. Cat
4. Downward Dog
5. Plank
6. Lunge Preparation
7. Modified Cobra
8. Uttanasana (Forward Fold) with Interlaced Hands

Memorizing the Sequence

First, memorize the eight postures in the order above. So long as you have the postures, you will be able to logically transition between them. However, since this is a movement you may not yet have internalized, I have provided an opportunity in the video above to repeat the sequence a couple of times. As you become more familiar with transitions between postures, you won’t need to memorize these, but since this is only the second sequence you are memorizing in this training, I suggest you know exactly where inhales and exhales happen in order to move between the poses.

Stick Figures: be sure to practice drawing stick figures of the sequence. I am bringing this in now while the sequence is relatively easy. Later in the training, stick figure sequences will be super helpful. When I started drawing them it was awful, and while it’s not much better now, I have the hang of it and you can see how cute they are. So have a little fun practicing and this will come in handy as sequences become complex.

SAMADHI

Samadhi is the experience we have when the mind realizes the totality of itself as one part of an infinite whole. You are using the mind to read this now, and from this level of consciousness there is no way for the mind to comprehend what samadhi is unless you have previously experienced this state of oneness before. I am using my lower levels of consciousness to write this explanation and for that, I am likely to fall short. I will do my best, using an analogy from one of my teachers, Alan Finger. He explains that consciousness is like the ocean. When the ocean swells and crashes upon the shore, droplets of water fly up in the air. These drops are still the ocean but are now separated by time and space. We are those drops, in relationship to the bigger, more expansive ocean of consciousness. For brief moments in time, we arise and take shape in the form of this body, collecting unique experiences in our minds and form beliefs and identities. Through meditation, the mind has the opportunity to experience this realization. In those moments when the mind returns to the understanding that it is but a drop temporarily separated from the vast ocean of consciousness, there is a feeling of indescribable awe that overwhelms our being.

Yogis call this Samadhi. 

HOW DO WE REACH SAMADHI?

Samadhi is the result of your Sadhana (yogic practices). Why are these practices necessary to experiencing Samadhi? Samadhi is the state of being that occurs when the intellect, or buddhi, lets go of duality and releases into the realization that it is one with all things. The intellect is incredible; it allows us to understand life on the physical plane. The intellect divides, defines, and systematically looks for like and unlike in everything in order to protect us and keep us safe. We have spent our entire lives training the intellect and therefore have become really good at separation.

Unity or Oneness requires that the intellect surrender. This means that our identity, or Ego, also surrenders to the fullness of reality that we are both unique and are a part of the collective power of nature, not separate but a thread woven into the fabric of something much grander. Ego doesn’t like the idea that it is not most important; meditation reminds Ego that it is actually far more than it thinks; it is a manifestation of the vast ocean of Awareness.

Maybe you want to experience this state of oneness with the universe and are ready to jump in but not sure where to start. The Yoga Sutras serve as a guide map, or a toolbox, offering the tools necessary to prepare the body and mind for this state. If you are going to practice one tool only, the most important is self-reflection or Swadyaya.

Practice self-reflection in your asana (physical practice) by observing the sensations of your body before, during, and after each posture. You can do this through Pranayama, observing the vital energy that pulses through your system. There are endless practices of self-awareness and rather than attempt all of them, it’s best to focus on a few and go deep. For our purposes, we will focus primarily on asana, pranayama, meditation, and self-reflection. This is why you are asked to write down your biggest takeaway. This solidifies the process of self-reflection and helps organize an otherwise disorganized experience. Through journaling, the intellect can start to make sense of the senseless, which is important because we need our intellect to be on board with the path rather than be threatened by it. 

Samadhi Dharma Talk From Instagram Live

This talk was a pivotal moment for me; it’s where I realized the power of yoga has nothing to do with the format it is delivered in but in the receptivity of those willing to take the teachings into their life. This talk helped me to remember that information can be transmitted in multiple ways, but wisdom can only be attained through personal integration. After this talk, I received messages for weeks about the impact it had, and it makes sense. It’s about connecting to the infinite, unbound energy inside all of us. So I am thrilled that I happened to record it with a second camera and can share it with you here.

ONENESS 

In a time when everyone is feeling separateness, moving inward to the state of oneness is more important than ever. Underneath the layers of intellect and ego that disconnect us from the whole exists One undivided consciousness that permeates all things. It is always there, omnipresent, and it pervades all aspects of our being. The only thing standing in our way of experiencing it is the need to hold up the illusion that we have created of truth, the need to know in order to feel safe. Instead, we can try to find comfort in the unknown vast potential at the core of our being. Thanks for tapping in with me. Enjoy your practice!

Shoulder Quick Release

While I highly recommend going through the shoulder stretches we did in Part 1 after chaturanga, I also wanted to embellish a little bit here for you to explore some other shoulder release options using strength. This can also be used as a warm-up before practice or just a a daily quick fix after being on the computer too long.

In short, this is about strengthening the back body and opening the front body. Much of our days are spent in the opposite position- arms down and in front. This routine focuses on up and back. We stretch the pectoral muscles primarily and strengthen the rhomboids, trapezius and posterior deltoids (rear fibers of your shoulder muscles).

Teaching Surya Namaskar A

Now that you are more familiar with Surya Namaskar A in your practice, let’s get you teaching it. At this point most trainees ask, “Matt, you don’t seem to teach Surya Namaskar in your classes. Why is your sun salutation different?” Surya Namaskar is the foundation, or framework, for the way I create sun salutations. It was the first thing I memorized and it has freed me up by giving me a structure so I can substitute postures in and out. For example, if you step a foot back from halfway lift (ardha uttanasana) then you now have an opportunity to add in any standing posture you’d like. This is how I elaborate, or change Sun A.

Making choices like that will be impossible without knowing the framework and having it solid in your mind. Memorize this now and get it solid! If you are already proficient at teaching Surya Namaskar A, pay close attention to the rhythm and timing of the breath as this is an area where many seasoned teachers falter, including me. The rhythm of Surya Namaskar is what turns it into a pranayama. Without the rhythm of the breath, it is literally just fitness, and you may as well do burpees and pray that somehow it will lead you to become a more conscious and kind human being.

I hope you can sense my underlying humor here.

Verbal Cues to Memorize  

Surya Namaskar A

1. Starting in tadasana, take a full breath in and exhale it out
2. Inhale reach your arms up
3. Exhale forward fold
4. Inhale half way lift
5. Exhale, step or hop back and lower
6. Inhale upward dog
7. Exhale press back, Downward Dog
8. Inhale______Exhale_______1
9. Inhale______Exhale_______2
10. Inhale______Exhale_______3
11. Inhale lift the heels up, look forward
12. Empty your breath; hop or step to the front of the mat
13. Inhale Half way Lift
14. Exhale forward fold
15. Inhale, rise to the sun
16. Exhale hands to heart

Misconceptions of Meditation

There are many misconceptions around the idea of meditation that could either turn you off or cause you to feel like a failure after practicing.

1. Meditation is calming
2. Meditation is the act of stopping my thoughts
3. The belief that you can be good or bad at meditating

Is meditation calming? The results of routine practice over time can lead to the results of feeling calm during or after. However, expecting it to be calming is like going to the gym and expecting that lifting up an extremely heavy weight would make you feel strong. Lifting a weight that is too heavy for you typically leaves you feeling weak because it shows you the contrast between your current strength and the long journey ahead of you that will build the strength required. Meditation is the same. When you sit down for the first time or for the first time in a while, the mind will feel weak. Your attention span will be minimal, and your thoughts will be more entertaining than your breath, or the ever-constant source of energy that is within you. It’s more exciting for the mind to see shiny new objects than it is for it to see the same room it sees every day – the mind ignores what is constant and pays attention to what’s changing. Meditation is harnessing your attention and funneling it inward toward the constant. The process of harnessing your attention and funneling it inward is not calming by any means; it is quite effortful. Effortful focus is called Dharana, the 6th limb of yoga. Placing the right effort over time will give way to effortless focus which is called Dhyana, the 7th limb of yoga. Over time, Dhyana will result in the blissful experience of Samadhi, the 8th and final limb of yoga. While it’s possible to touch this experience at any moment, you will not get there routinely without the heavy lifting that builds strength of the mind.

Is Meditation the Act of Stopping your thoughts? No, meditation is the act of observing your thoughts without attaching to or avoiding them…simple observation, like watching the clouds go by. Noticing which ones have the strongest pull, and which ones you turn away from. Noticing gives way to the subtle insight that is beyond beliefs and opinions or workings of the ego. Meditation is a practice just like Asana. While Asana is practicing postures to observe and become more aware of your physical body, Meditation is practicing the observation of the mind to become more aware of it. When you first begin meditation, the majority of your experience will likely be uncomfortable because the pull of the mind is strong. As the strength of your attention increases, you will be able to take the deep dive below the surface of your thoughts and into the constant, unchanging state of Stillness. As your attention rests in this place of Stillness, it will seem like thoughts are not happening, however, that is not the case, you are simply not resting your attention on the layer of the mind.

Can I be good at meditating or bad at it? The only way you can be bad at the meditation practice is by not practicing it. You are either choosing to sit down or you are not. If you are choosing to sit and meditate then you can reward yourself at first for motivational purposes. Eventually, like brushing your teeth, you simply do it to maintain cleanliness of the mind, and that becomes your reward. You likely no longer need anyone to say “well done cleaning your teeth,” you simply do it because it feels good. Meditation is the same.

Template For Verbal Cues

 BREATH, ACTION, POSE NAME

1. Cue the Breath
2. Cue the Action
3. Name the Posture

This template is a great way to refine your verbal cues. Yes, sometimes it will be beneficial to say them out of order, but most of the time this will serve you and your students well. It will also help your students to anticipate what you are going to say because your cues will become predictable – this is excellent because you want your students to focus on what they are doing and their experience, not what you are saying.

Surya Namaskar A With Sanskrit Names

Memorize these verbal cues and be able to teach them

1. Inhale, reach the arms up, Urdva Hastasana
2. Exhale bow forward, Uttanasana
3. Inhale halfway lift, Ardha Uttanasana
4. Exhale step or hop back, Chaturanga Dandasana
5. Inhale Lift Your Heart Urdva Mukha Svanasana
6. Exhale press back, Adho Mukha Svanasana
7. Inhale______Exhale_______1
8. Inhale______Exhale_______2
9. Inhale______Exhale_______3
10. Inhale Lift the heels up, look forward
11. Empty the breath, hop or step to the front of the mat
12. Inhale Halfway Lift Ardha Uttanasana
13. Exhale Bow forward Uttanasana
14. Inhale Rise to the Sun Urdva Hastasana
15. Exhale Hands to Heart Smasthiti  

Teach: The Warm-Up

Now that you’ve memorized the warm-up sequence, let’s go over simplified but structured verbal cues. In the video, I mention the importance of guiding your students’ attention toward something in particular, something that brings them into the moment. My suggestion is to use sensation of the body, which is always in the now, or the sensation that comes from breath. I have included some examples in the verbal cues that you can memorize and use for now until you become comfortable with your own. 

Below are a list of verbal cues, more or less in order, but without repetition and without simple inhales and exhales. For all verbal cues in order, be sure to memorize the end of the video.

Child’s Pose 

• Come to Child’s Pose
• Knees wide
• Arms out in front

• Take a full breath in through the nose
• And exhale it out

• As you breathe in, feel the sensations (sensation cue) of the breath

• Enjoy two more breaths here

• Inhale forward to all fours
• Arch the back and look up

• Cat and Cow
• Exhale
• Round the spine; look towards your navel (or you can just say, Cat pose)

• Inhale 
• Arch and look up
• Cow Pose

• Transition to Downward Dog
• Inhale 
• Arch and look up
• Tuck the toes

• Exhale 
• Press back
• Downward Dog

• Down Dog 
• Three Breaths 
• Pedal out the legs
• Wag your tail side to side

• Full breath in
• Feel the sensations (Sensation Cue) of your body

• One more full breath In
• Exhale the breath out

• Plank Pose

• Inhale 
• Shift forward 
• Plank pose

• Hold here, exhale 
• Grip your fingers into the ground

• Hold
• For one more inhale

• As you exhale
• Soften your knees & press back
• Down Dog  

• Inhale
• Shift forward
• Plank Pose

• Transition to Lunge:
• Inhale
• Right leg back and up
• 3 legged dog

• Exhale 
• Step forward
• Lunge preparation

• Lunge Prep Position:
• TECHNIQUE CUE: 
• Inhale, pull your feet toward each other 
• Lift your hips up
• Exhale 

• Press back
• Downward Dog

• Transition to Cobra
• Inhale
• Shift forward
• Plank Pose 

• Exhale
• Lower down
• Chaturanga  

• Cobra
• Three Baby Cobras
• Inhale
• Lift the heart

• Exhale
• Release

• Transition to Down Dog
• Inhale
• Press to all fours
• Exhale 

• Press Back
• Downward Dog
• (Left side lunge prep, and transitions – same cues)

• Modified Cobra
• Exhale
• Lower down
• Interlace hands behind back

• Inhale 
• Stretch your arms up
• Lift your heart

• Exhale
• Soften back down

• Final Down Dog
• Three breaths here
• Inhale

• Exhale
• Feel the sensations of your body (sensation cue)

• Uttanasana with interlaced hands
• Bend your knees
• Interlace hands behind back

• Squeeze shoulder blades toward each other
• Stretch your arms

• Exhale
• Hands to the hips

• Inhale
• Arch the back and rise up

PHYSICAL REVIEW

By focusing on the big toe and pinky toe in this practice, you are developing side-to-side proprioception of the foot and ankle. Essentially, what this does is help your nervous system understand if your body weight shifts to the right or left, and if it does a muscular engagement pattern will develop.

Muscles of Inversion and Eversion

If you fall towards the outer foot, your pinky toe side of the foot will press down, activating the muscles of Inversion which will push your body back to the center.

If your body falls toward the inner foot and you develop the pattern of pressing the big toe and toe mound down, you will fire up your fibularis muscles, the muscle of Eversion which will push you back to the center.

Muscles of Plantar and Dorsiflexion

The ability to press the heel down comes from the buttock muscles and is exaggerated by lifting the three middle toes up, which helps to activate the tibialis anterior. The three toes up and the activation of TA stabilizes the front of the ankle.

In contrast, pressing the ball mounds of the big toe and pinky toe down simultaneously will help to keep the gastrocnemius and soleus activated, stabilizing the back of the ankle.

LOST? HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Most people would feel lost at this point. All you really need to know is that the actions presented “big toe (& big toe mound), Pinky Toe (& pinky toe mound) and heel” will strengthen and stabilize all 4 sides of the ankle, and as a result, your balance will improve.

THE KOSHAS

The 5 layers or sheaths that encase our soul. 

The entire yoga practice is designed to take us through each of the five layers, to develop higher states of awareness and self-inquiry. The Yoga practice provides us tons of practice to become more awake to each layer. Asana, studying the physical body, helps us get in touch with Anamaya Kosha, the outermost layer. Pranayama helps us get in tune with our energetic layer, which is one step deeper than the physical. Manomaya Kosha – meditation supports our journey inward toward the layer of the mind and eventually beyond. Within each of these, (Asana, Meditation, and Pranayama) there is an abundance of practices to help us out. The way I think of it, the 3 overarching practices peel back the gross layers of our individual self, exposing the inner two layers, Vjanamaya Kosha, and Ananda Maya Kosha. Vjanamaya Kosha is often translated as Divine Knowledge, but I prefer the translation of Awareness. Anandamaya Kosha, the Bliss Layer is quite literally what we experience when we get to the core of ourselves.

To learn more about the Koshas, I have picked out this article that I love. Read this now before taking the quiz so you can be fully prepared.

ANATOMY

To support our students in the development of their body awareness, we use Anatomy as both the language to communicate and the inspiration to awaken our minds to new possibilities. The word itself either excites or repulses yoga teachers. Some see anatomy as a boring academic subject that really has nothing to do with yoga, while others see it as a world of opportunity sparking curiosity to go deeper into the magnificence of our true nature. If you have ever learned a new language, then you know communication in that language can only be surface-level at first, but as you become masterful in the language you can express the deeper parts of yourself and have more life-enriching conversations with other people. The same is true for the body, if you get to know its language, you can establish a more profound relationship with it and have the ability to help others to do the same.

Let’s start with the word “Asana,” which translates to “seat” or “posture.” The purpose of practicing Asana is to become more awake to the physical body. Do we need to know the Latin terms for muscles and bones in order to become awake to our own bodies? No. All you need is the willingness to explore the sensations of it. We don’t need an instruction manual to put together a new piece of furniture, but it is certainly helpful and likely a heck of a lot faster if you follow the directions. 

On the flip side, you can’t learn the human body just from a textbook. Those that are willing to learn from all those that came before them while simultaneously staying awake to their own personal experience set themselves up for mastery in any subject. To master asana, or the study of the physical body, we learn from the centuries of studies that have come before us, AND from the sensations of our body and the experiences we have in it.

Anatomy is first a language that helps us to communicate with other people that are studying the body. Taking a little time now to memorize terms for parts of the body that you are already familiar with will have a massive impact on the future of your yoga teaching career.

It will serve you to realize that you already know anatomy really well but in a different language. For example, you certainly know you have a shin, but you likely don’t know that it’s also called the Tibia. Now you have one new term, but no information has been transmitted, just the name of the big bone on your lower leg. Another example is that you know that you have a “front” of your body, however, you may not know the term “anterior” means front.

To begin your journey of anatomy, you will be assigned reading in your anatomy book: The Key Muscles of Yoga by Dr. Ray Long. You will also be assigned videos to watch to learn how the body moves.

Find Your Seat

For much of this training, you will likely be sitting on your mat with your laptop or device. Please have it up high so you are not looking down the whole time. Sitting or standing at a computer desk is great too, so long as you are in an attentive seated position like I have in option 3 below. For the meditation practice, I suggest option 3 from below and as you become more open in your hips, you may want to try one of the seated postures on the ground with the use of blocks and or blankets.

A common side effect of teacher trainings is increased body ache from sitting. The beauty of the online platform is you can pause the video at any time, get up, walk around, and stretch. Please monitor and act accordingly to maintain the most optimal mindset for learning.

I have also included a 25 minute Yoga practice that you may practice at any time before taking a seat in this training or for anything else in life. Please try the practice below to feel how these particular stretches better prepare you for sitting upright on the ground or in a chair.

The Yoga Sutras

For many years, I have taught teacher trainings using various translations of the Yoga Sutras that never seemed to fit quite right. Without going too deep into detail, the translations of the sutras tend to be uninviting for western culture and often they turn people off rather than inspire them.

The philosophy I resonate with is non-dual Tantra, specifically from the Kashmir area – Kashmir Shaivism. While this is not so important, I bring it up in case you want to go deeper into your study after this training.

Tantra of The Yoga Sutras is quite unique in that it is very practical and both inspirational and motivational. It gives you the desire to take on the challenges presented by the Sutras, because it comes from a compassionate perspective, meets you were you are, and understands that the part of you reading is your intellect, which tends to reject anything it does not yet understand. Like a sore muscle, we need to massage the intellect a bit for it to soften and be receptive to the teachings.

The Yoga Sutras were allegedly compiled by a guy named Patanjali. Not much is known of him, and some believe Patanjali was more than one person, but we are grateful this ancient collection of guided experiences toward Samadhi exist. Samadhi is the ultimate goal of yoga – dissolving into the omnipresent oneness of all there is. That sentence can be hard enough for English-speaking individuals, but even harder if English isn’t your native language.

Samadhi is not simple to explain as it’s the experience of going beyond the walls of our intellect. So how do we explain this state of oneness intellectually? Samadhi is an experience that can be touched by you right here, right now, just by becoming fully present, fully aware, and fully in the now. When you are in it, there is an overwhelming sense of bliss that washes over you and a feeling of connectedness deep inside your heart.

One Source

When light hits the atmosphere, moisture causes it to fractal, and that produces a multi-colored rainbow. Light shining through glass will do the same thing. Just like the many colors that come from one source, we are all fractals of the one universal consciousness that pulses through all things. Samadhi is the experience that happens when this realization takes over our mind and body. It can only happen when we are fully present in the moment. At first, the grandness of feeling completely connected to all things is scary and intense, but if we stay there long enough, we start to feel an overwhelming sense of bliss.

The layer of our being that encases the soul is called the Bliss Layer, or Anandamaya Kosha. It is the innermost layer, underneath the layers of body, energy, mind, and awareness. Touching that place of bliss is our right; it just takes some guidance, practice, and patience. Thanks for tuning in.

SAMSKARAS

Awareness, Anchor, and Action

Samskaras are the grooves or patterns of the mind that cloud our perception and hold us back from seeing life clearly as it is. They are formed through life’s experiences: the mind is designed to look for similar situations that it takes in through the senses. It is quite efficient because of this. When someone raises their hand in a classroom, there is a patterned response that instantly allows us to assume that this person has a question. Any school teacher knows that sometimes this isn’t always the case, as sometimes someone is just adjusting their shirt or stretching. This is how we can easily misperceive a situation and then be so sure that we have it right and they have it wrong. No? How about let’s reverse it: ever get into an argument with someone and they are so sure they are correct and you are wrong? Who is seeing it clearly? We are always quick to believe ourselves to be correct because our thought patterns are a collection of rights and wrongs based on what we have experienced. The problem? Our experience is limited to the past, our patterns are based on what happened, not what IS happening, or what might happen. Our thoughts, emotions, and actions are all wrapped up in something that no longer exists.

Do we need to abolish all patterns of our minds? Absolutely not. Burning samskaras is about releasing the thought, emotional, and behavioral patterns that no longer serve our sense of well-being. That means yes, it is your choice, and only you know what is serving you and what is not, but it requires radical honesty with yourself which requires the courage to be vulnerable. Most Samskaras are formed out of emotional self-defense, which means they will be our blind spots. They will be uncomfortable to see, and even more uncomfortable to confront when deciding to make the change.

How to burn samskaras? The process is ironically very simple given how challenging it is to execute. Here it is:

• AWARENESS: First you need to develop awareness, the willingness to self-reflect. Start with asana to open up your receptivity to and balance your state of mind, and then move to meditation practice and more contemplative exercises: focus on observing thought and emotional patterns that arise throughout your day. At first, this will be hard but like a muscle, you will get stronger every time you practice.
• ANCHOR: In Chromatic Yoga, we have something called an Anchor – an intention that we tie our self to when the waters get rough. This is created by asking yourself these primary questions. How do I want to feel? How do I want to think? How do I want to act? While you can’t choose the thought or emotion or urge of action that arises, you can choose what you do when you observe them. These answers need to be contemplated, then engrained inside you so that when a Samskara is triggered, your go-to response is to ask yourself those questions and then respond with the answers immediately
• ACTION: The final step is to act on your intention – choose to focus your attention on what will serve you. Choose to focus on a different thought, emotion or take another action. What if the samskara is too strong and the mind is spinning out of control? – PRACTICE. You need to get in your body to disrupt the pattern. THIS already is a NEW pattern that burns the old one. “When I am triggered, I disrupt the pattern by getting into my body and harnessing the power of my mind to feel my body and remember that I am alive and that this life is a gift.”

ORIENT YOURSELF

Theme: Spanda & Tapas

Spanda:

Spanda is the natural pulsation of the universe and it exists all around us. It is obvious when observing nature that all things that contract will eventually expand again – and this cycle continues. In the class, I used the example of the flower that grows to its maximum potential toward the end of its growing season– and at that time the flower drops seeds onto the earth. The seed is in the most contracted state AND it is simultaneously in the state of its greatest potential. The flower is in its most expansive state just before it drops the seed, and it radiates with beauty. The teaching of Spanda is not about appreciating only the potential or the fullest expression, it’s about honoring the entire cycle as a whole.

Tapas:

With this teaching, I brought in a second topic, Tapas. Tapas is the intensity, friction, or heat that builds when we rub up against our old patterns of thought and behavior. When we come up against our patterns we tend to fall back into them, returning back to the state of contraction. Of the many seeds that drop on the earth from the flower, few are able to endure the intensity of the fall and winter conditions. Few hold out when the going gets tough, but those that do reach the manifested state of potential and expansion.  

Applying Tapas to the 200 Hour:

As we embark on this journey of the 200-hour training, remember the seed and the teaching of tapas. In our case, Tapas will be enduring the rigor of Sadhana, the “yogic practices for self-awareness.” 

You will inevitably find moments of challenge where you will want to blame outside forces, other people, or yourself. When the process of blame sets in you know you are on the verge of expansion. The mind and body resist this place because change is unknown; There is no certainty of safety and so everything inside you will be triggered. Knowing this ahead of time, you can recognize this as a part of the natural process, and you can remember that this is the tapas – you are on the verge of your own expansion. Stay with it.