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| Awakening and Yoga | ||||||||
a
center for Yoga Teaching and the integration of the nervous system
Yoga of Emotions and the maturing of the new consciousness Yoga of the Mind an exploration of the evolution of forms and the Collective Awakening |
1st Yoga Practice Session: Breath Practice Session 1: expanding and condensing in the physical body All organisms are embedded in the wholeness of the universe. At the emergence of the current phase of the universe, the Great Flaring Forth 15 odd billion years ago, creation emerged as two fundamental, mutually intertwined qualities, oscillating back and forth in a complex dance, giving birth to, sustaining, and ultimately dissolving all of the emergent forms of the universe. The Chinese Taoists called these tendencies yin and yang, and in their simplest expession, appear as condensing and expanding. Our individual expression of expanding and condensing is our breathing, the basic energy of aliveness. Known as prana, ki chi, or spiritus, this primary cosmic rhythm is the key component in our explorations in this course. Our breath is the source for both actions and perceptions and we will examine the breath from the perspective of the three levels of embodiment articulated in the yoga tradition. Namely, the gross of physical body (sthula sharira), the subtle or energy body (suksma sharira), and the causal body (karana shirira). Our physical body has mass and weight and on this level, we feel the breath as the air moving in and out of the lungs. I inhalation the diaphragm descends and the ribs expand and ascend to draw the outer air into the chest and fill the lungs. On the exhalation, the abdominal muscles squeeze the diaphragm back up as the ribs release back in and down to empty the lungs. As the ribs are attached to the shoulders, arms and spine, and the diaphragm is attached to the ribs and spine and the spine is connected to the head, pelvis and legs, the whole structure participates in the breathing process, although not always consciously, and often in an inhibitory manner. Our beginning practice will use both restorative and dynamic poses as well as meditative observation to begin to learn about our breathing patterns and discover ways to make the breathing effortless, expansive and powerful On the subtle level, breath is the delivery of oxygen to the cells by the blood current, all of the energetic actions that arise as the cellular processes utilize the oxygen, including respiration, circulation, digestion, the growth and development of new structures and the dissolving of unwanted structures, and the removal of cellular waste products from the body. Here we begin to feel the more subtle sensations of the various organs and organ systems. Yogis recognize 5 organizing energies or vayus (meaning wind, from the element air) and these include: prana, governing what comes in, apana, what goes out; samana, what is absorbed: vyana, what is circulated, and udana governs to building up and dissolving of molecules, cells and tissues.
The causal breath is the cosmic life force itself, the animating presence of aliveness and is felt in deep meditative surrender.
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