Fear is the Mind Killer: Overcoming Overthinking and Embracing Asana

Meditation has been a theme for a couple of weeks now; and it will definitely continue next week when I reflect on our recent in-class meditation session that was instructed by Stockton University professor Marcello Spinella, who specializes in neuropsychology and the workings of the brain. This week, however, I will be talking about the impact of meditation as integrated into a physical practice.

 

Taught on Gaia by Colleen Saidman Yee and entitled “Step Forward with Confidence,” the 59 minute and 15 second practice I partook in this week focused on developing confidence in both mind and spirit through simple, straightforward techniques.

 

Primarily defining the practice as Hatha Yoga, Yee started out by advising her students to relax while sitting on their knees, buttocks placed firmly against their feet. Closing my eyes, I listened peacefully for a moment and began meditating, becoming calm and refocusing on the singular image appearing in my mind (a metallic ball the size of a penny). This was very effective, as I listened to Yee instruct me to not “judge your ability to ‘meditate’ or ‘not meditate’; just be — be who you are right now. Show up with what you have to offer right now.” Her words were focused on both pushing your comfort level and accepting who you are at this moment without crippling yourself with judgement, which as a perfectionist I oftentimes find myself doing.

 

It was a little too effective however, because at one point the screen froze and I did not notice as I was preoccupied with meditating with my eyes closed, having assumed that Yee was offering a few minutes of silence before launching into the asanas. This caused me to laugh and set the tone for the rest of the practice, which was subsequently very relaxing.

 

For the purpose of condensing, I am going to focus strictly on a few asanas that were particularly calming and conclude with my mental state both during these asanas and at the conclusion of the practice.

 

One of my favorite aspects of Yee’s style is that she incorporates straps and blocks into her routine. Personally, straps are one of my favorite accessories as they allow me to push the boundaries of my own flexibility and test out asanas that I normally would not feel capable of completing. Lying down on my mat, I lifted my left foot up into my strap and moved the strap itself into my right hand. Grasping it firmly, I guided it close to the floor, pushing my left leg towards the right. Simultaneously, I made a fist with my left hand and “lovingly,” as Yee puts it, tapped up and down my upper right thigh. The stretch of my pelvic and leg muscles was magical, as the asana relieved a great deal of tension that had built up from stress, and in some cases, sitting down for work and class too often.

 

Likewise, the asana that followed Happy Baby also allowed me to stretch my legs all the way down, into my foot. Placing my knees inward towards my armpits, I rocked from side to side and then, leaving my right knee cradled inside my chest, put my left arm back on the ground and my left leg down. My left leg hovered about 6 inches off the ground, and I focused on breathing in and out, enjoying the war between my right foot, which wanted to fly towards the sky, and my left foot which simply wanted to be grounded. I was in limbo physically, but mentally I was elated, on a similar rush as the one I get when I go on Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure. There is something unique about being so in tune with a singular moment that my mind becomes fixated on individual body parts, whether it be my finger as I fly down a 215 foot drop, or my toe as it hovers 6 inches off the ground.

 

That grounding and focus on what needs to be done versus what you think you should be doing is important in yoga in general, and was a concept that Yee reinforced throughout our practice.

“Nobody is going to judge you for falling out of Tree Pose,” Yee quipped while doing the asana, making a point to showcase her wobbly nature and show that it was a natural response from the body while balancing. Similarly, meditation holds the same weight in that one should not judge oneself for “meditating wrong.” Who is going to judge you for not keeping your mind completely clear, when the goal of meditation is ultimately to focus and be in the moment? Even if someone does judge, it should not be a major concern; and one definitely SHOULD NOT be judging oneself!

 

These reminders ran through my mind as I focused on my breathing, steadily inhaling and exhaling, being one with my thoughts.

 

From here, we move into Warrior III; turning my feet parallel, with my hands centered at my heart, I turned to face the front of my mat. Placing my right foot in front and my left foot in the rear, I hopped and became buoyant, moving freely back and forth with the air of a person without a care in the world. Then, I moved into plank and held there for fifteen or so seconds before guiding myself into Cat-Cow Pose. Inhaling into the back bend, I took a minute and appreciated the moment. Subsequently, I exhaled into the hunch. Doing these three times, I moved from the last exhale into Downward-Facing Dog.

 

This is where things got really fun! From Downward-Facing Dog I lifted my right leg into the air, then stepped my right foot forward. Moving again, I repeated the process on the left side before thrusting my entire lower body into the air, getting both legs and feet off the ground. Unlike Yee, who went as far as to be moments away from a headstand position, I could only throw my legs off the ground simultaneously a foot or so into the air. Still, I enjoyed the process and it showed me that I am capable of more than I know, and that with practice, I too may one day get to where Yee is now.

 

The final asana I would like to comment on is Janu Sirsasana. Following a circuit, I sat on my mat and bent my right knee, attaching it firmly towards the right side of my buttocks. Then, lowering down and sticking out my left leg, I walked forward with the tips of my fingers and grasped my left foot with both hands. Breathing deeply, I lifted my elbows and allowed my shoulder blades to be flat as I rounded my back, keeping myself grounded but soft.

 

This practice encouraged me to be present mentally and physically; it was one of the first times throughout the semester that I felt truly present in both aspects. Certain asanas allowed time for introspective thought, which I appreciated — for in that thought I found an ability to re-center myself and focus, believing in my abilities without ignoring my limits. Meditation and the focus it embraces— the constant act of the mind wandering only to be brought back to its focal point— is helpful in many ways. It improves the overall nature of focus, yes; but also, the physicality of movement, the release of tension, and the ability to gain the most out of current action.

 

That said, as my practice for this class begins to wind to an end, I look forward to seeing how the last few sessions impact my views on yoga, and where this journey will ultimately lead me.

 

Until the Next Reflection,

Moujnir

Journey Through Space and Time: Meditation as a Practice

Meditation and its function in the world of yoga has been a hot topic in class discussions lately, as we are reading both The Bhagavad Gita and Yoga: Discipline of Freedom, aka The Yoga Sutra attributed to Patanjali, both of which deal with the topic in some form. The latter does not mention physical yoga as we know it in modern times at all; rather, it is focused on yoga as a means of realizing that we do not exist. Quite an existential and oftentimes impossible reality to accept, Patanjali’s text asks us to consider what the possibilities of an existence that was never real in the first place has in the mortal realm, and how it translates into dedication to The Lord of Yoga. 

According to Patanjali, this Lord is considered to be an omniscient being, one who is not impacted by corruptions of life as humans live it. What does this have to do with meditation? Well, a few of the key themes we see in elements of yoga now are found in these sutras; things like the eight limbs of yoga (where it originated from), self-control, and meditation. Pranayama being the most obvious one to pick out, the second part of this four part sutra expands on the fourth limb quite extensively before delving into some pretty interesting claims. In part three of the sutra, things get a bit more interesting; here, self-control is said to lead to the understanding of every language, invisibility and inaudibility, and eventually, the ability to travel through space and time!

 

These claims are intense, to say the least, and not something I am attempting to achieve here. Yet, the history behind these ideas and the fact that the term "asana" simply meant a firm seated posture back when this was conceived has brought me to desire a meditative experience, one that is in line with the concepts we have been learning in class. (Among the sources that have been used to introduce and expand on these topics is the very insightful and thought-provoking film “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana” about the impact of the meditative practice of Vipassana on prisoners and prison wards in India — but that’s a discussion for another blog post!)

Considering these topics and their relevancy this past week, I decided to do both a 31-minute meditation and a 30-minute physical practice, both via Gaia, to fulfill the requirements of my course while simultaneously connecting and strengthening semantic networks that concern meditation and yoga.  

 

Let us begin with the meditation practice. So far, every meditative practice I have had has instructed me to lie down flat on the earth, with my eyes closed. This one was no different. Instructed by Ashleigh Sergeant and labeled as a Level I meditation entitled “Yoga Nidra for Healthy Boundaries: Audio Meditation,” I brought a blanket and laid flat on my yoga mat, keeping myself warm and open to Sergeant’s instructions.

 

She instructed me to focus on pranayama, stating that the exhalation should give the sense that I was “relaxing more and more, completely.” Emphasizing self-pacing, she guided me to a state of counting backwards from 7 at a slow, even pace. Once I was at 0, I rested in a state of “total relaxation” which for me, was a state similar to how I feel right before I go to sleep. My thoughts faded into the background, and I listened to Sergeant say that I had “nothing to do, nowhere to go. Body sleeps, mind sleeps, yet a sense of awareness is alert and present. You’re aware that the body continues to breathe, yet you do not need to cause the body to breathe.”

 

That was an interesting point for her to make, because that kind of singular awareness on the breath is indeed vital to the meditative point of the mind. As Dr. Greene has mentioned, meditation is not clearing your mind, but rather the act of focusing on an extremely minute point and nothing else. In modern terms, it’s like throwing an excellent curve ball in Pokémon Go; it has to be precise, focused, and in line with that extremely small radius of perfection.

 

Focusing tends to be a difficult task in this day and age, and understandably so considering the fact that our brain is always wired to go go go! Nonetheless, I sincerely enjoy meditating, and find that I can do it uninterrupted for about 20 minutes before my focus breaks. When I place my hands behind my head, focusing only on the rise and fall of my chest, I enter the beginning state of my meditation, and in this case, Sergeant’s voice fell to the wayside. I was left in my headspace, and in meditating I always picture a single gray, metallic ball the size of a penny being balanced on my nose, the precarious nature of the image holding my attention. This image stays fixated for the entire duration of my practice, and the other ambient sounds in my vicinity wash away, replaced only by silence and that metallic glint of gray holding my captivation.

 

Needless to say, this happened once again about 7 minutes into the practice, and I was able to complete 21 minutes of meditation straight before feeling the stir of my thoughts distracting me, causing me to realign my focus. When I eventually heard Sergeant’s voice instructing me to gently get up and end my practice, I did so both peacefully and reluctantly, as I felt quite tranquil and wanted to sleep right there on my mat.

 

The physical yoga practice I engaged in also made me tired, but in a tenser way. Entitled “Dance of Opposing Energies” and instructed by Tiffany Bush, this half-hour Hatha Yoga practice repeated many of the same asanas that I was used to already; Downward Facing-Dog, Utkatasana, Cobra, Seated Cow Pose, and others. I felt bored! It’s strange but it was more interesting in its presentation than in its actual asanas. For that reason, I will only be going over two in detail — prior to this, I will briefly explore the theory behind the practice.

 

The “dance” referred to in the title is between the balance of masculine (sun) energy and feminine (moon) energy, and how both strong and soft features are needed to maintain said balance. The idea of the duality of these energies was strongly emphasized, a common, covert thread that I have noticed throughout many of these online practices that just happened to be overt during this one.

 

Goddess Pose leads into the next asana that demonstrates the above statement. Facing my toes out and bending my knees, I entered Goddess Pose by placing my palms forward as I bent my elbows and kept them at shoulder height. Subsequently, I moved my hands to the tops of my thighs and bent into my right knee, moving into what Bush describes as a “more masculine pose,” Skandasana aka Side Lunge Pose. Bending my knee slightly, I felt the stretch in my thighs as I made the asana “more feminine” by bending over further and reaching out with my arms as I essentially crawled towards my right knee, bending it in time with my arms’ arrival at the right side before repeating the process on the left.

All in all, this has been a strange week in terms of practices, and I can say for certain that the meditative one was much more my speed. I hope that next week’s practices will be more delightful and eye-opening, but one can never tell the future.

Until the Next Reflection,

Moujnir

Life in Animation: Backbends, Yoga, and The Five Toes

Yoga has no one definition, and by further comparison, the connections between yoga and what it offers beyond the physical benefits of its modern-day definition are varied too. In class, we are learning about Ayurveda and The Bhagavad Gita, two different interpretations on the practice of yoga and the importance of Dosha, or one’s purpose in life.

 

Physical practice online in the West has rarely emphasized these points in ways that are not medicinal. Most of the time, the practice claims to help cure heartburn, relieve back pressure, and help circulate blood flow, therefore improving overall health. These practices encourage the practitioner to engage with the material because it will help them live longer and better. Whether this is true actually has a lot more to do with the individual then the claims that they hear.

 

That said, this week was strange in terms of practice. I decided to do both a physical practice and a meditative one, as I was inspired by Jenn (last week’s in-class teacher!) to pursue Yoga Nidra and see what this meditative focal practice felt like firsthand.

 

I will start with the physical practice. Entitled “Backbend Exploration,” the 46-minute Gaia practice led by Ashley Hixon focused on the back-bending benefits of Ashtanga Yoga; the stretches, pelvic reaches, and overall back movements that form a complete, satisfying workout for one’s back. A majority of this practice focused on Surya Namaskar Sets A and B, which I covered thoroughly in my previous reflection on Ashtanga Yoga. Therefore, today I will focus on the new aspects that were introduced by Hixon, including ones that are meant to help students warm their way up into more complex practices.

 

Emphasizing the location and importance of the anterior superior iliac spine, or ASIS, Hixon opened the practice by encouraging students to locate their ASIS by pressing their fingers to the front of their pelvis. I did just this, locating the bony protrusions that face forward, and rested my fingers gently against them. Experimenting with location as instructed, I inhaled and titled downward in a slightly bent motion, allowing my ASIS to face downwards. Subsequently, I exhaled, tucking in my tailbone and externally rotating my legs upward, my ASIS following suit. The goal was to get the ASIS to face straight ahead, in the middle of these two extremes. To do this, I aligned my pubic bone and tailbone evenly, dropping down so that were in a healthy relation to one another, an important step to master on my way to practicing backbends.

 

Still in this asana, I raised all 10 toes and arched them as I drew my legs up and stretched through the center of my pelvis. Lifting my sternum up and lowering my tailbone simultaneously, I felt a soft force in my lower stomach, one that warmed up as I rolled my shoulders back. Drawing my elbows in, I hooked my fingers into my armpits, allowing my chest to expand “like a candy cane” as I uplifted myself, once again placing particular emphasis on keeping my sternum lifted and my tailbone down towards the earth, maintaining balance.

 

Following this, I entered into Prasarita Padottanasana A. While standing, I inhaled as I stepped my right foot out, keeping my toes in a midline as I moved my hands to hip, creating distance between my legs. I bent over my legs and placed my hands on the floor, shoulder distance away from each other. Inhaling, I lengthened my pubic bone and stretched back, moving my arms from the center of the floor to just beneath my hips. As I lowered, I dropped the crown of my head towards the mat, hovering mere inches above the ground.

 

Next, I rolled my mat so that it could act as a makeshift blanket and brought two blocks, both regular and makeshift, to the forefront of my body. Starting on my knees, I placed my right toes against the wall along with my right knee, while taking my left foot out and forward onto the ground. Using my blocks to move forward a bit, one block per hand guiding me forward, I positioned my left knee just over my left ankle, allowing my hips to go down towards the floor in a gentle, steady manner. I then resisted the urge to push my hands and right hip down, keeping them uplifted as I slowly walked the blocks back, stopping just shy of my right knee. While doing this, I made sure to keep my right inner thigh pulled away from the earth, my chin lowered slightly as I took both of my hands and placed them on my left knee.

 

I then moved my left thumb slightly into my left hip crease, allowing it to lower and add balance to the overall asana. Inhaling, I stretched my right arm up and kept my left hip down, circling my right wrist with my left hand and tipping my body to the left, feeling the crunch of my abdominal muscles as I bent slowly. Inhaling I came back to center, and then exhaling I came down, pushing my left heel back and my right heel and lower leg even further flush against the wall. Walking my hands up to my left knee, I once again found my ASIS, and allowed it to push away from the wall as my lower ribs simultaneously pushed against the wall. Stretching through my fingers, my shoulder blades moved forward “towards protraction,” as Hixon says, in a movement once again similar to essential backbend motions.

 

*One important side note: though Hixon was clear and thoughtful in her approach throughout the practice, she made several verbal errors that directly countered her physical cues, which made the practice a bit confusing at times. One of these times was when we were supposed to dip left, in the same direction as the leg that was not kneeling, and she instructed us to dip right. After repeating this asana on the other side and realizing I had moved right both times, I rewound the video, recognized the error on both her and my part, and did the entire asana again.

 

To complete Hixon’s portion of my yoga reflection this week, I did both my first full Ashtanga backbend, and the practice that led to me safely being able to do so. I will focus on the practice that led to it, as the step by step explanation is one that I have not experienced before. I placed a single block between my thighs, inhaling as I tipped my pelvis forward and allowed my back to arch slightly off my mat. Inhaling, I squeezed the block and allowed my pubic bone to drop down as, one vertebra at a time, I lifted my spine up and off my mat. Exhaling, I slowly lowered all the way back down — once again, one vertebra at a time— my kidneys hitting the floor just prior to my tailbone and sacrum. Countering my tailbone reach with rotation, I shifted my body from side to side and allowed my chest to open further, my hands interlaced beneath me as I kept my arms straight.

 

Now, for the Yoga Nidra practice. I started with a simple 15 minute, 37 second video called “Dreamtime Nidra” and instructed by Mara Branscombe. Inhaling and exhaling deeply 3 times, I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth. For the rest of the practice, Branscombe said to inhale and exhale exclusively through the nose. The goal of this meditation is “welcoming in an inner landscape of peace… of calm, of ease, and of letting go,” as Branscombe stated at the beginning,

 

Branscombe’s way of doing this was to start and stay in Savasana, lying flat and keeping palms open and wide, feet spread out hip distance. She narrated every body part with an emphasis on focus, stating that I should feel my “right big toe, second toe, third toe, fourth toe, fifth toe, and right sole of foot.” I am not sure why, but when listening to her guidance and visualizing my body with my eyes closed, I began to imagine all of the things she was saying, but in an animated form. I saw my body as an animated vessel, the toes alive and zoomed in as if they were the star of their own film, and so on and so forth for every other body part she described. Perhaps it is because of my recent intake of classic stop-motion pictures that I play in the background as I am studying, or maybe another unconscious source. Either way, Yoga Nidra proved to be quite a relaxing and rather odd experience, but I enjoyed the visualization and the accompanying physical rest it enabled.

 

I can’t wait to see what new things next week’s practice(s) teach me.

Until the Next Reflection,

Moujnir

Sivanananda and the Five Point Heart Exploring Technique

This week, our class had the pleasure of being introduced to Sivananda Yoga by instructor Jenn Kretzer. Jenn (as she prefers to be called), made it a point to call out instructions rather than practice with us, demonstrating only when need be before observing through Zoom. It was a strange experience, because a lot of the asanas and movements called for closed eyes or a focused gaze, both difficult things to produce when one feels that they are being watched ever so closely. Nonetheless, Jenn did not make it weird; instead, she accommodated all the students, and made sure each of us had something to do at all times, even when the asanas were a bit advanced.

And advanced, they were. Writing this only a day after the practice, I can attest to the soreness that is woven throughout my body right now. Sivananda Yoga has proven to be the most intense physical practice I have engaged in thus far. It is not due to the pace, but rather the intensity of muscle usage paired with controlled, thoughtful breathing. My knees, lower back, abdomen and arms feel the most impact, as they are stretched and utilized in a capacity that even weekly yoga practice has not accustomed them to.

 

Before discussing the most impactful asanas and moments of practice, I would like to acknowledge the history of Sivananda Yoga as Jenn described it, as well as Jenn’s experiences as an instructor.

 

Sivananda Yoga is named after Vishnudevananda, a man from India who was a Doctor, and came up with this style/form of yoga. It is the same practice every time; though level, length, and variations may differ, every element stays pretty much the same, no matter what country one is practicing in. Sivananda had many disciples, one who notably was a woman from Germany known as Sivananda Radha Saraswati, whose life was memorable, heartbreaking, and inspiring. Her story deserves an entire blog post to itself, which I will certainly provide in a couple of weeks. It is also important to note that in Sivananda Yoga, asana practice is not the main focus. Rather, it is 1 of the 5 points of yoga, which are:

 

·  Asana (Proper Exercise)

·  Pranayama (Proper Breathing)

·  Savasana (Proper Relaxation in the Corpse Pose)

·  Vegetarian Diet (Proper Diet)

·  Vedanta & Dhyana (Positive Thinking & Meditation)

 

These five points are essential to a healthy, positive life. In order to increase Vedanta, or Positive Thinking, one must consume positive food, movies, books, and other material, as well as surround oneself with positive people. It is all part of the process that creates a yoga-centric, healthy lifestyle. Pranayama is extremely important to Sivananda Yoga as well, in practice and theory.

As for Jenn herself, she has been teaching yoga for 18 years and was in fact taught by our very own Dr. Greene who, as Jenn says, “is a master of alignment.” Jenn is a wonderful instructor herself and her kind words and praise went a long way in making us beginners feel at home. Besides Sivananda, Jenn practices Mantra-based Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga and Yoga Nidra. In terms of teaching, Jenn says that the most challenging aspect of the job is verbal; making sure that she says the right words and cues because there are “different ways to teach different learners.”

 

Despite this challenge, Jenn does an excellent job of meeting everyone at their level. No matter where we were in the class, Jenn made sure we all had something to do, whether it was a visualization or variation of a more difficult asana (looking at you, Bakasana) or a different asana altogether. For the purpose of this blog, I am going to focus on the two pranayama asanas we did at the beginning of the practice, Salamba Sarvangasana (the same asana done in Ashtanga Yoga but with more context), Halasana, Dolphin Dive, Seated Spinal Twist, and Raja Bhujangasana

 (also known as King Cobra).

 

The first pranayama exercise required me to sit on my mat, legs crossed and arms at my sides. Once in this position, I took my left hand and formed a symbol akin to “okay,” then set my hand aside on my left knee. Subsequently, I took my right hand and made a peace sign before lowering the two fingers that stay up before lifting the rest of them, bringing my hand up to my nose. Once there, my right thumb rested against the right side of my nose while my right ring finger rested against the left. Breathing into my right nostril, I covered it with my thumb and then, after a few counts, exhaled through my left one. I then inhaled through my left nostril, and covering it with right ring finger, exhaled through my right one. This process repeated several times as I concentrated on the rhythm, listening to the counts and feeling the difference in my breathing as my inhalation and exhalation switched back and forth. The sensation felt surreal, my nose becoming a battleground that was at once separate and whole.

 

The second pranayama exercise took on a form that almost reminded me of Kundalini Yoga, but slower — a feeling that was verified by Jenn when I inquired about it. Taking a deep inhale, I waited for Jenn’s count and then exhaled five times. She would say “ex, ex, ex, ex, ex” at a moderate, steady pace, and each time I would release a deep exhale straight from my abdomen, the crunch of my stomach matching the intensity of every breath. Once this was done, I was instructed to inhale and fill my lungs about three quarters of the way, holding in my breath for about 30 seconds. While holding my breath, I felt the contraction of my body against the stillness of my being, both fighting with my conscious mind while waiting for the moment air could enter my nostrils once more. When it was over, my exhale was long and relieved, a calm wind after a storm.

 

Now, we move to the asanas that, while still heavily involving pranayama, are more varied in their nature. Salamba Sarvangasana, which I have done previously, was the kickoff for this. Though typically Salamba Sirsasana is the starting point, it is recommended that beginners do not do headstands, specifically because of the placement of one’s neck and knowing how to place it in such a way that no injury occurs. With this in mind, I chose to do Salamba Sarvangasana, and starting flat on my back, placed my hands on my lower back, beneath my clothing so as to secure a tight grip. I then lifted up and kept my legs as straight as possible, my elbows on the floor and my arms supporting my back as my neck lay securely on the ground, no pressure reaching it.

From this asana, I entered Halasana, pushing my legs over my head as I kept my back straight, the tips of my toes hovering just above the ground as I could not get them all the way down. My arms lay straight out by my sides, and I soaked in the moment, enjoying the deep stretch in my back and the release of tension from my upper body.

Though not the next asana in the sequence, Dolphin Dive left a lasting impression on me. It was a replacement for a tougher asana, the name of which escapes me, but it allowed us to build a bit on the muscle and discipline that would be necessary for future challenges. Laying down, I moved so that I was in a low plank, using my arms to grasp each other in a tight hug. Then, I laid them down flat, and on an exhale moved back, my tailbone going up as my head went down and my shoulders and hips squared back towards my feet. Inhaling, I then moved forward so that I was almost in my starting position, my shoulders in line with my wrists as I exhaled, my chin just grazing the floor. I did this for 10 breaths, focusing on the inhale drawing me in, the exhale pushing me out. I then rested for a minute in Savasana — a frequent occurrence in Sivananda Yoga, as Relaxation is one of the five key points — and then repeated the asana again for an additional 10 breaths.

 

Seated Spinal Twist gave me the flexibility and movement in both my spine and stomach to release the tension that was being held there after previous asanas. Sitting straight with my legs in front of me, I bent my left knee and crossed my left leg over my right leg, placing my foot beside my right thigh. Then, bending my right knee inwards, I kept my right ankle by my side, my right foot planted firmly on the floor. Squaring my hips, I reached my left arm behind me and placed my fingertips on the floor, twisting my body to the left. I raised my right arm upward, and then wrapped it around my left knee, which was still bent, keeping the right hand stationed in an upright position. Inhaling, I soaked in the moment before exhaling and twisting even further to the left, continuing the process until I went as far as I could go. Gently releasing myself, I switched sides and focused on the pranayama and its movement in time with each twist, feeling the rise and fall of my chest with every significant postural change.

 

Finally, we came to an asana I had not yet done or heard of before this practice: Raja Bhujangasana. Laying down, I stretched up and extended my arms straight out in front of me, pushing back as I bent my knees and lifted my feet towards my head, which was leaning back to meet them in turn. I also lifted my thighs off the ground, feeling the strain of my muscles as they fought not to give into gravity, feeling both grateful for the release and resentful for the challenge. Though simple, Raja Bhujangasana is surprisingly difficult to sustain, and truly worked out my abdominal muscles, as well as my upper and lower back ones. I had to do it slowly in order to keep my breath even, which allowed the stretches to be longer and more powerful — a huge pro for me!

 

That said, this has been my favorite in-class practice so far, and I am looking forward to the challenges the next one is sure to bring!

Until the Next Reflection,

Moujnir