AWAKENING SELF NEWSLETTER — July 2005

1) Announcements
2) Yoga of the Seasons: Lazy Days, "Lazy Yoga"
3) Class, Workshop, and Retreat Schedule
4) This month's article - "Judgement vs. Discernment" by Connie Habash
5) Spiritual Quotes

1) Announcements

SUBBING IN JULY AT DEVI!
I'm subbing several classes at Devi Yoga in Menlo Park during the month of July.
SATURDAYS: 7/9, 7/23, and 7/30 8:30-10am (Level 1-2)
WEDNESDAYS: 7/13, 7/21, and 7/28 11-12:15am (Level 1-2)
*** 7/9 is at their current location.... afterwards, make sure you go to their NEW LOCATION on El Camino Real! For directions, see their website: http://www.devi-yoga.com

CHAKRA SERIES CONTINUING The Summer Chakra series is currently on the 3rd chakra this week in classes at YIY in Mountain View. Explore the 7 energy centers in the body through your yoga practice, including reathwork, chanting, mudras, and visualizations for each one! This series will continue through the first week of August in the Tuesday and Friday morning classes.

INTRO TO SANSKRIT comes to Moksha Yoga Shala in Walnut Creek on Saturday, Sept 17th, 2-5pm. Curious about Sanskrit, the sacred language of yoga? Love chanting mantras or the Sanskrit names of poses? Want to learn correct pronunciation? Want a review from a previous Intro to Sanskrit course? This workshop is for you! You can print the registration form HERE $40 by 9/10, $45 thereafter.

FALL YOGA RETREAT: "Balancing Body and Mind: Ayurveda and Yoga"
will be at Mount Madonna Center again on Oct 14th-16th. Special yoga classes for each body-mind "dosha", plus evening programs exploring the basics of Ayurveda. I've already received some registrations for this retreat, so it's likely to sell out early.
Save $30 if you register by September 16th! Print the registration form HERE

2) Yoga of the Seasons: Lazy Days, "Lazy" Yoga

     The heat of summer can take the energy out of the most active person, sometimes so much so that we don't even feel like doing a yoga practice. We feel like being lazy dogs, hanging out on the back porch.

      There is some wisdom to this reduction in vitality: on those hot days, rigorous activity isn't wise. The body and mind need cooling and calming to attain balance. Yet we also know that our bodies are more flexible when it's warmer. How can we maximize that benefit without overdoing?

     A good summer practice, at least on those really hot days, can focus more on the passive poses that increase flexibility. Yin and Restorative practices are optimum, and can be done even in the afternoon when temperatures soar.

     Yin Yoga is a passive practice typically consisting of a few poses held "rag-doll" style for a few minutes each. As you focus on letting go into a pose for this period of time,
the connective tissues of the body receive maximum benifit. While more active styles of Yoga are working to stretch muscles, the more passive style of Yin Yoga opens up the
viscous tissues that connect muscle to bone, organs to each other - basically, it makes up the fascia that keeps each part of the body connected to the rest. These connective tissues
can become rigid, sticky, and fixed and may contribute to an overall feeling of tightness that isn't just muscular.

     Restorative practice is similar in that the poses are also held for long periods of time (usually 10-20 minutes, as compared to 5-10 minutes for Yin style) in a passive manner.
The main difference between Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga is support.

     Restorative poses are always supported, using blankets, bolsters, or other props, to allow a very gentle release. Their intent is to relax, open, and to renew depleted energy.

     Yin poses are generally unsupported and their sensations as a result can range from moderate to very intense, even though you're being passive. I don't recommend Yin Yoga for beginners or people who have injuries - better to start out with support and do gentle opening. It also takes a good amount of knowledge of your body to do Yin-style poses in order to avoid injury. Once you're fairly experienced in yoga practice, you'll know if an intense sensation is hurtful or helpful.

   One of my favorite poses can be done either Yin or Restorative style, with slightly different benefits. The first is Supta Baddha Konasana, or the reclining bound angle pose.
Sitting on the floor, bend both knees and take the bottoms of the feet together, pulling them in close to the groin. To practice this as a Restorative, have some folded blankets or pillows behind you to support the back and neck in a comfortable position, and some rolled up blankets or pillows under the outer thighs on each side. For Yin style, use little or no props. Then lie back on the floor and allow the inner thighs and groins to open. Yin style may create intense sensations of stretching in the inner thighs or elsewhere. Come out of the pose if it's not feeling appropriate for you, especially if the intensity is mainly close to
the pubic bone, where the tendons can be overstretched. Restorative style should be supportive enough that you feel a gentle release and an experience of relaxing into the bolsters beneath you. If it isn't, come out of the pose and readjust or add props to find the most comfortable and relaxing position possible.

     There are many poses that can be experienced in either of these two styles for a calming and cooling summer yoga practice, such as seated forward bend (Paschimottanasana), child's pose (Balasana), and pidgeon pose (Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana preparation). Mix them in at the end of your regular morning practice, or set aside special time during your most lazy time of the day to relax into them. And don't forget to end with a long, delicious Savasana - the ultimate resting pose.

Copyright © 2005 by Constance L. Habash

RETREATS:

FALL YOGA RETREAT
Balancing Body and Mind: Yoga & Ayurveda
October 14-16 at Mt. Madonna Center
Early Bird Registration (by 9/16) : $260-350 after 9/16: add $30
Print the registration form at http://www.awakeningself.com/FallYoga05.htm


WORKSHOPS:

INTRODUCTION TO SANSKRIT WORKSHOP
Moksha Yoga Shala, Walnut Creek
Saturday, September 17th, 2-5pm
$40 if paid by Sept. 10th; $45 thereafter

TUESDAYS
9:30-11AM Iyengar & Vinyasa, Beginning
YIY, Mountain View

FRIDAYS
9:30-11AM Iyengar & Vinyasa, All Levels
YIY, Mountain View

4) This month's article: "Judgement vs. Discernment" by Connie Habash

    Good or Bad. Right or Wrong. Fun or Boring. Easy or Difficult. Beautiful or Ugly. Every day, we're surrounded by judgements and they fill our minds constantly, too. Our culture is strongly attached to categorizing and comparing.

    Yet we're also told that it's not politically or even spiritually correct to judge. Accept difference, see similarity, no one is better or worse than anyone else. Some kid's baseball games no longer keep score for fear of being the "losers." We're no longer stiff, we're just "flexibility-challenged".

     There's good reason why society has shifted away from judgement. It's all too easy to fall into condemnation of things or people that are different than you, or to bad-mouth things that we dislike or disagree with. Judgement, labeling, stereotyping, and segregating can lead to polarization of societies, dividing and angering in large and small communities.

     At the same time, we can easily fall into the trap of swinging to the opposite extreme. Without some way to determine what's good and not so good, standards disintegrate. The truth is, some people do certain things better than others. Not everyone can be a great artist, although we can all enjoy creating our own art. Some swimmers are faster than others, but even if we don't win the Olympics we can still enjoy a dip in the pool. Hurting
another person intentionally is wrong, period (taking circumstances into consideration). We can't avoid altogether distinguishing things from each other.

     If we feel pressured to accept everyone as they are regardless of their behavior, children can go undisciplined, hurtful behavior ignored, and vandalism tolerated. Workers can become sloppy and unmotivated without some comparison of what's good work and what's just mediocre. We're already beginning to see signs of the kind of deterioration that comes from absence of making distinctions for fear of offending or leaving anyone out.

     So if we're not supposed to judge, but still need to tell right from wrong or good from bad, what are we to do? Yoga philosophy proposes the use of Viveka, or discernment.

     Discernment may seem like judgement, but the difference between these two approaches to life are significant. The dictionary definitions of the two terms shed some light.

     Judgement: "an opinion or estimate, criticism or censure, power of comparing or deciding". Judgement implies a power differential - I perceive myself to have power over you when I judge you (for example, "you're a loser!") Judgement feeds the ego's deception of being better (or worse) than someone or something else. Judgement assumes that the person judging has the power and right to determine what is good or bad in general, not just from their point of view. It usually comes from a reactive place inside of us, like a knee-jerk when the doctor strikes the mallet on that joint - it's unconscious. Judgement also has a sense of finality, like a sentance being passed. We know what it's like to feel judged by someone else: it sticks to you like duct tape, and at times you find yourself feeling the pain of that condemnation days or even years later.

     Discernment, however, is a more personal and conscious approach. It's the cognitive ability of a person to distinguish what is appropriate or inappropriate. With discernment we make good choices for ourselves, and for the good of others. Webster's dictionary says that to discern is to "separate (a thing) mentally from another or others; recognize as separate or different" and "to perceive or recognize; make out clearly". Discernment is described as "keen perception; insight; acumen". Viveka, the Sanskrit word for discernment, is about seeing things as they are. Insight is seeing into something, from our inner self, not from outer rigid standards, opinions, or social pressures. When we use
Viveka, we are tapping into something much deeper than our egos passing judgement. We are using the ability to perceive clearly.

     Viveka is not an easy practice. We're much more used to our reactive, judging minds. "What a jerk!" "This sucks!" "Stupid people!" "He's always incompetent" "That (fill in the blank) is so wrong/bad/etc.". Case closed, mind made up, and that person, thing, religion, culture - whatever - has been condemned. This is often a reaction from insecurity, fear, jealousy, or ignorance. If we felt confident in our ability to speak, we probably wouldn't
spend too much time criticizing the way others say things. If we understood the essence of the other religions of the world and saw that, despite their differences, they all have a similar bottom line - be good to each other and a good human being - there would be
little to fear from that understanding.

     Therefore Viveka comes from understanding both ourselves and others, compassion for those who suffer themselves or cause us pain, and a balance of confidence in our own abilities and humbleness in the face of the greatness of the vast universe. We know there are others out there that are more skilled or gifted than each of us are, yet we also acknowledge our own strengths. We can recognize a master's exquisite painting while still feeling the joy in our simple drawing of a flower. A person who is negative, puts people down, and carries around anger all the time has bad energy - we choose not to spend time with them because it's simply not healthy for us. We don't have to tell other people "that's a bad person". We know they aren't good for us and it will become self-evident for others who use their discernment. Viveka gives us clear perception and the ability to make good choices without having to be better or worse than anyone else.

     This is the more pratical aspect of Viveka - what helps us in day to day life to determine good choices and right actions. Yet there is a more esoteric, deeper aspect of Viveka that Patanjali speaks of in the Yoga Sutra. In Chapter II, verse 26, he states: "The means of attaining cessation [of the fluctuations of the mind] is the unceasing vision of discernment". Ultimately, in order to quiet the mind we need to discern between what is real and unreal. The outer distinctions - right and wrong, pleasant and unpleasant - are what we attribute to things, but they aren't their true nature. The inner essence of all things, according to many spiritual traditions of the world, is spirit itself. Divine energy constitutes the true nature of existence.

      For deepening our spiritual awareness, especially for practices of meditation, this more esoteric aspect of Viveka becomes vital. If we are to go beyond the mind's tendency to make comentary, analyze, and judge, then we need to have some way of seeing beyond all those inner chatterings. Judgement doesn't serve us in meditation, but discernment can.

     For both practical living in the world as well as more inner spiritual practices, Viveka, or discernment, brings clarity and true perception, whereas judgement merely serves the illusions of our minds. We believe ourselves as better or worse than others when we judge, and therefore can never experience true peace of mind. We perceive appropriate actions and attitudes when we discern, and develop the ability to look beyond even those at the unchanging essence of the universe.

  Copyright ©2005 by Constance L. Habash

5) Spiritual Quotes

"For want of discernment, the most precious jewels lie in the dust at the feet of men while bits of glass are worn on their heads. But we should not imagine that the gems have sunk in value and the bits of glass have risen in importance."
~ Chanakya (Indian politician, strategist, and writer, 350-275 BCE)

"A rich man may be wise in his eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him"
~ Proverbs 28:11

"In the original substance of the mind there is no distinction of good and evil. When the will becomes active, however, such distinction exists. The faculty of innate knowledge is to know good and evil. The investigation of things is to do good and to remove evil."
~ Wang Yangming (philosopher, Confucianism, 1472-1529)

Blessings,
Connie

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