Five Points Yoga

 

It’s tax season, and for some of us, this isn’t a big deal.  And for others, it’s a yearly purgatory. I’ve noticed some of my friends on Facebook posting in their status that they’re in “tax hell.”  Growing up in my family, tax time was full of tension as the business owners in my family struggled with accountants.  

 

This year, as I am personally working on my relationship with money management, tax time reminds me that we can use the valuable lessons we learn from yoga in this realm of our life as well.  Yoga Journal has this article about how the ethical principles of yoga, called the yamas and the niyamas, can help us create a healthy relationship with money.   Some of the yamas and niyamas mentioned include non-stealing, non-hoarding, truthfulness, moderation, and self-study.   

 

In the article, a financial advisor who uses yoga in his work says that money “can become a bell of awakening in your yoga practice just by watching how you react to it. Where am I holding tension in my body as I do this transaction, pay bills, watch my portfolio increasing or decreasing? All of these are just opportunities to be conscious.”

 

We all have our pitfalls.   We all have that yoga posture that makes us groan and protest when it comes up in class.   On the flip side, we all have parts of life (and parts of yoga) that are easy for us.  I find myself turning to yoga more and more to help me through those more difficult parts of my life.  

 

Thinking about this has inspired me to get one of the books mentioned in the Yoga Journal article out of the library. When I decided to work for myself and teach full-time 4 years ago, I read several books that really helped me gain perspective about creating a financially abundant practice.   

 

This year, I feel the fruits of that sustained yoga practice working in my financial life.   I am not in “tax hell,” though I have been in previous years.   I didn’t even complain too much about the project 🙂 

 

 

 

 

I read this interesting article a week or two ago, and it has me thinking. The author is a well-know Iyengar teacher named Aadil Palkhivala, and it’s about creating a yoga practice that works for you, not just one that seems good on paper.   He maintains that most of us are out of balance in some way, so the correct practice for us may “appear to be imbalanced to the untrained observer.”   But in reality, it’s perfect for what we need in that moment.   What we need to do is create a practice that balances *us.* 

How do you do that when you’re in a class being led by a teacher?  And for that matter, as a teacher, how does one teach so that each student can figure out for him/herself an individually balanced practice?

The rest of his article goes on to talk about ways to use the Ayurvedic doshas to help you figure out what you need in your yoga practice.   There are three doshas (types) in Ayurveda (the sister science to yoga).   The type is based on your physical characteristics as well as your personality.  In Ayurveda, it’s helpful to know what your dosha is, either Vata, Pitta, or Kapha, because that will help you learn how to keep yourself  in better balance.  I’ve been surprised over the years how accurate dosha balancing suggestions have been for me. 

To find out your dosha, take this quick quiz  There are several others online, but this one is short J

One thing to think about that this article did not mention is that we are a combination of all the doshas, and therefore we are out of balance in different ways at different times.   He mentions that each of us have a dominant constitution in Ayurveda.   That’s true, and that doesn’t really change over our lives, but often we’re a combination of 2 out of the 3 doshas when we’re given our “diagnosis” of our constitution.  For example, I’m Pitta-Vata.  I’m a pretty even mix of the two, and right now, Vata is more out of balance for me than Pitta (The quiz just told me that – and I concur!).  I know that I feel out of balance on all 3 at times, and have really different home practices throughout each month or season as a result. 

Now, if you’re thinking this is mumbo-jumbo, take a pause.  This is just a way to ascertain who you are and how you act in the world, and consequently, the ruts you sometimes get caught in.  And I guess this is why I love home practice so much.   The more you practice, the more you know yourself.  The more you know yourself, the more you know how to balance yourself out – and you’ll probably be surprised that it’s the same prescription over and over again as we fall into the same ruts :).  And the more you know all this, the more insight you can gain from any yoga you practice, whether in a class or on your own.

Enjoy your practice!

Barrett  

One thing I love to do in class is explain why postures are named the way they are, or what the story behind a posture is.  I’ve been reading other blogs as part of this foray into blogging, and I found a new and interesting yoga story in my reading.

Recently, the blog Grounding Through the Sit Bones talked about the 3 Warrior postures (Virabhadrasana).   It was an interesting post because we usually think about the legs in these postures, and she focused on the arm positioning.  She’s also writing very interesting posts on postures in general, which I find interesting as I explore what I want to write here.  Thus far, in this blog and in my online Yoga Odyssey program, I haven’t written a lot about techniques of asana, but it’s really good to see that someone else does!

In one of the comments on the Warrior post, someone referenced why the three warrior poses are linked together, and pointed everyone here.   A well-known yoga teacher from NYC, who I’ve studied with, wrote an article about the mythology around Virabhadra, the Warrior for whom the postures are named. Part of the article talks about the arm positioning, which brought it all back to what the yogi at Grounding Thru the Sit Bones was writing about.   It was a fascinating article to me and I practiced the postures yesterday thinking about it. 

Maybe you’ll practice Warriors today as well.   I hope so!

Namaste,

Barrett