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
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