Coming to Your Senses in Yoga Poses

by Nina Zolotow, author of Yoga for Healthy Aging Asana works to steady the mind through a focus on physical sensation, breath, or drishti (gaze). If we can bring that same focus into our Accessible Yoga practice, we quickly realize that the outward appearance of a pose is not a sign of whether or not someone is practicing yoga. What’s important is the mental focus and engagement. —Jivana Heyman I think this is a very good summation of what practicing yoga poses mindfully means. But I thought today I’d take a closer look at what forms “mental focus and engagement” can take. Much of the time in our everyday lives, our minds are preoccupied with our thoughts, including worries about the future, ruminations about the past, and judgments about the present. And that happens even when we’re in a yoga pose. A more lighthearted example of this is when I used to take a noon yoga class in my office building; I often found my mind was wandering to thoughts of what I was going to eat for lunch. Practicing yoga poses mindfully means moving your mind away from your internal monologue and focusing on what you’re sensing in the yoga pose. The examples that Jivana uses are physical sensation, breath, and gaze. But I think there is actually more to it than that, because you can use any of your seven senses (yes, I mean seven) in this way. And now I have to warn you that I’m going to use some fancy terms (which you may or may not have encountered in yoga classes before) to explain this. I hope this is not too annoying! I’m doing this because even if you don’t remember the terms after you read this post, I think you’ll have a better understanding of how to practice yoga poses mindfully. Exteroception: This is a set of senses that provide our ability to interact with whatever environment we find ourselves in, whether indoors or outdoors, including what we think of as our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. When Jivana talks about using physical sensation, that includes our sense of touch, such as the way we use our feet or other body parts to balance by sensing what type of surface we’re balancing on—even or uneven, soft or hard, etc.—and the feeling of our breath moving in and out of our nostrils. And when Jivana talks about using drishti (gaze), that would be using our sense of sight. But we can also use our hearing when we’re practicing poses or meditating, by focusing on the sound of our breath. (We don’t typically use smell or taste in our asana practice—at least not intentionally.) To work with exteroception, you could practice your standing poses by focusing on whether or not your feet are evenly pressing against the ground, and try to adjust them when you sense unevenness. Or, in your balance poses, you could focus your gaze on a focal point that is at the same height as your eyes to help steady yourself. Interoception: Typically our sense of “touch” as a physical sensation refers to our skin sensing the environment outside our bodies, such feeling of our feet or hands on the mat, our back on a bolster, or even one body part touching another. Interoception refers to our ability to feel what’s happening inside our bodies. This includes sensing internally that your belly is rising and falling with each breath, your heart is racing or slowing, or a muscle is activating, stretching, or relaxing. You can also experience an internal sense of energy flowing through your body in a pose (or getting stuck). Focusing on your internal sensations is a very powerful practice. It helps keep you safe in a pose (as you can back away from pain in a joint or from overstretching), and for those with body image issues, it helps you learn to fully inhabit or “reclaim” the body you have. This can also provide a really good mental focus in a yoga pose. My long-time teacher Donald Moyer used to ask us to make an adjustment in a pose (haha, often by moving some obscure muscle or bone in some way no one had ever heard of or thought about before). He would then observe how that subtle realignment caused a ripple of changes throughout the body that brought you either deeper into the pose or freed up some stuck area. Donald even said, “Feeling an adjustment is concentration. Feeling the adjustment ripple through your body is meditation.” To work with interoception, you can lie in Relaxation pose, and guide yourself into complete physical relaxation by intentionally focusing different areas of your body, one by one. Relax and release each one until your whole body melts into the ground. Or, in a more active practice, you can focus on noticing what happens to your entire pose when you intentionally press the entire soles of your foot or feet in the ground to create a strong foundation for the pose. Does this give you more lift in Tree pose or more energy in Warrior 2 pose? Of course, you can always focus on feeling your breath in your body. Proprioception: This is an internal sense that allows you to feel where your body is in space. Proprioception is what allows you to walk in the dark (and what enables blind people to walk) and is an essential part of balancing. To observe this sense in action, try closing your eyes and bringing your finger to your nose. Proprioception is actually a term that certain yoga teacher’s use when they talk about practicing mindfully. And you use your proprioception to move in and out of your yoga poses, such as when you position your back arm in Warrior 2, step one foot back and turn the foot in Warrior 1, and to make minor adjustments while in other poses. Although we use proprioception naturally in almost every pose we do, you can use it specifically as a way to engage your mind by doing poses with your eyes closed or by intentionally focusing on the parts of your body you can’t see even with your eyes open. Try moving into Triangle pose with your eyes closed. Or, as you bring your arms overhead and move into Upward Bound Hands pose, focus on sensing your arms move through space, your fingers entwining with each other, and your palms turning up toward the ceiling. Our bodies are so beautiful in all the different ways they allow us to experience our internal and external environments and to move through the world! P.S. There actually may be more than seven senses, but right now I’m not aware of any other specific ones. Anyone know more about this? Related Books Nina Zolotow is editor-in-chief of the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog. She is a yoga writer, certified yoga teacher, and longtime yoga practitioner. Her special area of expertise is yoga for emotional well-being (including yoga for stress, insomnia, depression, and anxiety). She completed the three-year teacher training program at The Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA, has studied yoga therapy with Shari Ser and Bonnie Maeda, and is especially influenced by the teachings of Donald Moyer. She has studied extensively with Rodney Yee and is inspired by the teachings of Patricia Walden on yoga for emotional healing. She teaches workshops and series classes on yoga for emotional well-being, yoga for stress, yoga for better sleep, home practice, and cultivating equanimity. Nina is the coauthor, with Rodney Yee, of two books on yoga: Yoga: The Poetry of the Body and Moving toward Balance.

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Salamba Prasarita Padottanasana | An Excerpt from Restore & Rebalance

We have excerpted the chapter “Salamba Prasarita Padottanasana: Supported Wide-Legged Forward Bend” from Restore and Rebalance by Judith Hanson Lasater. This chapter describes how to complete the Salamba Prasarita Padottanasana or Supported Wide-Legged Forward Bend pose. Click here to read  “Salamba Prasarita Padottanasana: Supported Wide-Legged Forward Bend” from Restore and Rebalance Related Books

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Busy Days | An Excerpt from Relax and Renew

We have excerpted the chapter “Busy Days” from Relax and Renew by Judith Hanson Lasater. This chapter describes three series that bring restorative yoga into your busy life. The first one you can practice at home or on vacation; the second is for the office; the third is for when you’re on the go. Click here to read “Busy Days” from Relax and Renew. Related Books

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Everyday Ayurveda: Maintaining Balance Through the Change of Seasons

The following article by Taylor Sumner draws from The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook by Kate O'Donnell The first days of autumn have come. With the help of Ayurvedic practice and recipes from Kate O‘Donnell‘s Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook, we explore valuable adjustments to our everyday routines that can help maintain balance through this transitional time.  As the mornings grow cooler and the heaviness of summer air begins to dissipate, it becomes time to lean into the change of seasons through adjustments to one’s lifestyle and diet. The beginning of the fall season is an ideal time to prepare ourselves for the winter months ahead by “clearing out accumulated summer heat and storing nourishment in the deep tissue layers to sustain energy through the winter.” These rituals can aid the physical and mental stress many of us experience as the days grow shorter. Ayurvedic practice approaches the year as three seasons that correspond with the three doshas which translates literally to “that which is at fault.” There is vata season, which begins in autumn and goes until winter has settled in; kapha season which holds the coldest months of winter and the early months of spring; and pitta season which embraces the longest, hottest days of the year. Ayurvedic practice keeps the qualities of each season in check by advising that we use opposites in our routines. For example, during the summer, or pitta season, many of us take cool showers and eat cooling foods to keep from feeling overheated. To maintain balance in the body, it is important that we are conscientious of the qualities of each season so that we can avoid both lack and excess. In this way, we can gracefully move through this transitional time from summer into fall, a movement from pitta (July–October) into vata (November–February). Because pitta describes qualities of warmth, we can think of it in traits similar to those that we assign to the summer heat, such as sharp, oily, and permeating. Vata, alternately, can be described as light, dry, and cool. During pitta season, we counter warm, oily qualities with cool, calm, dry ones, but as the weather begins to turn vata it is important that we introduce more oily and dense foods, as well as warming practices, to avoid an excess of dryness or chill. The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook recommends that during the fall season we: “Use a warm, medium-bodied oil, such as almond or sunflower, for morning massage.” Additionally, adding “woody, grounding” essential oils, such as sage or cedar, can be therapeutic. “Consume warm food and drinks [including water]. Avoid skipping meals, and do not fast.” Favor root vegetables and cooked cold-weather greens. Seek out sweet, heavy fruits in the early fall, including bananas, mangoes, apples, pears, and cranberries. This major shift in seasonal qualities often encourages us to adjust our routines subconsciously. As the weather begins to change, we naturally gravitate toward habits and food choices that help us to feel in sync with the season, but it is important to be mindful of symptoms of imbalance.  Imbalance in autumn can present itself as:  “Dry skin and scalp.” Anxious feelings. Upset stomach or signs of indigestion. Illness (cold and flu). Ayurvedic practice grants us the ability to incorporate natural rhythm into our daily lives. Embracing the change of seasons can be a wonderful way to tune into our bodies’ wants and needs, practice nourishment as a means of self-care, and bring mindful practice into our daily routines.  Related Books Red Pumpkin Dal  4 cups water or 3 cups water plus one 16-oz can coconut milk 1 cup red lentils 1 tsp Fall Spice Mix 1 tsp dehydrated sugarcane or maple syrup (optional) 1 small kabocha squash (about 2 cups, chopped) ½ tsp salt Tempering 1 tsp coconut oil 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ½ tsp cumin seeds ½ tsp mustard seeds 2 tbsp shredded coconut Boil the water and coconut milk, if using, in a large saucepan on high heat. Rinse the red lentils until the water runs clear. Add lentils to the boiling water along with the spice mix and sweetener. Allow to come to a boil again, uncovered. Then turn heat down to medium. Chop the squash, peel and all, into 1-inch cubes. Add to the saucepan. When it boils again, turn heat down to low and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Do not stir. Heat the oil in a small frying pan on medium heat and temper the ginger, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds until you smell them, just 2–3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir the shredded coconut into the hot pan. Continue to stir for a minute or two as the coconut browns. Add this tempering to the lentils and squash, along with the salt. Simmer the dal, uncovered, for 5 minutes more. Serve as a soup or ladle over rice. NOTE: Kabocha skin, unlike butternut or acorn squash, gets completely soft and adds a green color to the dish. I would much rather eat it than peel it, but it works both ways if you would like to cut the peel off before cubing. (p. 206) For more information on Ayurvedic history and practice, see The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook. More Books Related to Ayurveda

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Hidden Treasure - The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali

The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation with Commentary by Chip Hartranft The Yoga-Sutra is certainly one of the most frequently translated of all Eastern philosophical classics. There are so many different translations out there that the neophyte approaching it could be baffled about which to try. We respectfully suggest you try Chip's. It's informed by his deep knowledge of Sanskrit and also by his many years of living and practicing with the text. And the commentary is extensive, taking up the greater part of the book. It's a translation of the Yoga-Sutra, but it's also a short course in it.

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Translating the Maitreya Treatises: An Interview with Thomas Doctor

We recently interviewed Thomas Doctor, a translator on the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, about the importance of their recent translations of the Maitreya texts and commentaries. Shambhala Publications: The Dharmachakra Translation Committee has now published two of the five Maitreya texts, with a third on the way soon. Can you give a brief overview of why you chose to translate these? Thomas Doctor: There is a set of thirteen classic Indian texts that make up the core curriculum of sutra studies in many of the monastic colleges of Tibetan Buddhism. Among those thirteen classics, the five Maitreya texts provide an extremely rich account of Mahayana philosophy and practice. It is tempting to say that the scope of the five treatises is infinitely vast, because they deal with the ground, path and fruition as discovered and experienced by the bodhisattvas. With equal emphasis on view, meditation, and action they account for the full experience of limitless emptiness inseparable from universal love and compassion. It is for this reason that these texts are at the heart of the education of all scholar-practitioners in the Tibetan tradition. According to Tibetan tradition, the Buddha's regent, Maitreya, blessed the great Indian master, Asanga, and transported him to the divine realm of Tushita. In Tushita Maitreya taught Asanga these five treatises in person. Upon Asanga's return to this world of humans he passed the teachings on to his students. Maitreya SP: What are the main features of these two "Distinguishing " texts as compared to the others? TD: In Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes  [published as Middle Beyond Extremes],  Maitreya invites us to explore the way things appear and the way things truly are. He guides his students toward a realization that goes completely beyond the dualistic grasp of ordinary consciousness, and yet at the same time avoids the pitfall of denying experience - an extreme negation that might otherwise mistakenly be derived from the teaching of emptiness. Through careful description and analysis of the fabric of the world and that which lies beyond it, Maitreya leads his students toward a pivotal conclusion: emptiness and experience are not in conflict, but entail one another. Related Books This all-consuming conclusion can be seen as the point of departure for Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature. Whereas duality produces samsara and the delusional experience of the unreal, insight into nonduality leads to the encounter with reality and, thereby, the discovery of infinite wisdom qualities. In Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature, ­Maitreya explains the factors for and features of this fundamental transformation of the entire framework of consciousness. Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche SP:  Why did you include Mipham Rinpoche and Khenpo Shenga's commentaries? What are the defining characteristics of these? TD: The Maitreya texts are pithy, packed with meaning. Traditionally they have been taught and studied with the help of commentaries that open up the verses and let their meanings unfold. In this series we present Maitreya's verses along with the explanations of Khenpo Shenga and Jamgon Ju Mipham. Both of these masters participated in the nonsectarian Rimé movement, and so they both emphasize close study of the Indian classics. Yet the way they write their commentaries are quite different. Khenpo Shenga intersperses glosses and explanatory remarks between the words of the root text. This format lets the reader begin the process of unpacking the condensed message of the verses without ever losing sight of them. It is a unique feature of Khenpo Shenga's approach that he almost never adds a word of his own. In the case of Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes and Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature, all his comments are extracted verbatim from Vasubandhu's classical commentary. With his careful focus on the wording of the verses, Khenpo Shenga leaves many issues wide open to further interpretation. Mipham, on other hand, generally goes much further, seeking to explain and provide clear solutions. Shenga's commentaries maintain a unique closeness to both the root verses and their very first commentaries - a feature that necessarily would be lost in any other format. Mipham invites us to follow him on a journey of exploration, taking up the issues set forth in the verses and offering his understanding of them. Mipham also writes with a natural elegance and wonderful clarity, always highlighting the points that are crucial for practical experience and direct insight. We hope that the synergy that we have felt between the root verses and the two commentaries can also be sensed in the translations. SP: There are so many dharma books, so little time. What is the importance of reading these from the point of view of a practitioner? Should they be read or studied in a particular order? TD: If we have a perfect teacher, receive perfect instruction, and put the instructions that we receive into perfect practice there is, strictly speaking, no need to read anything. That is the message that Milarepa has passed down. On the other hand, the teachings of Maitreya are true classics of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and they remain key curriculum in the education of the scholar-practitioners of the Tibetan tradition. These teachings are both the entrance point and the very heart of the scholarly learning that has continued to inform and inspire the confident practice of accomplished bodhisattvas across the centuries. Each of the five treatises has its own special emphasis, but there is no need to read them in any particular sequence. They are a seamless web of word and meaning. P: What's next? [Editors note: this book is now published and available] We look forward to the publication of The Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras in 2014. The masters understand the views and contexts of the Maitreya texts in many different ways, but perhaps we can say that the Ornament is the mother scripture and that Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes and Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature constitute specific analyses that zoom in on issues that are presented and discussed in the Ornament. The Ornament is a feast of profound and vast Dharma. It displays and explains the beauty, wisdom, and power of the bodhisattva way, letting the Dharma of fearless compassion manifest in the present moment. It is an inexhaustible source of guidance and inspiration. The Ornament will also be accompanied by commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham. Mipham's commentary is monumental, spanning 380 Tibetan folios and the entire second volume of his collected works. Drawing on the Indian masters Vasubandhu and, in particular, Sthiramati, Mipham explains the Ornamentwith eloquence and brilliant clarity. This commentary is among his most treasured works. It has been a joy and a blessing to work on these texts. So many accomplished scholars and practitioners across the centuries bear witness to their wonderful qualities. We hope that their beauty and wisdom will also shine through in the translations. About the Interviewee/Translator: Thomas Doctor has worked as a translator for Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche since 1993. He lives in Nepal. Further Learning Related Articles: The Five Maitreya Texts: The "Zip Files" of the Mahāyāna Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche: A Reader's Guide Related Videos: Mipham Rinpoche's Commentary on the Mahayana Sutralamkara Vasubandhu on Abhidharma Karl Brunnhölzl: The Kagyu, Nyingma, and Gelugpa commentaries on Prajnaparamita Karl Brunnhölzl on the Uttaratantra from When the Coulds Part Books by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee

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The Way of Judo: An Interview with John Stevens on Jigoro Kano

Shambhala: Why did you want to write about Jigoro Kano? JS: Since I have written books on three of the other most important martial artist masters of the 20th century-Tesshu Yamaoka (kendo), Awa Kenzo (kyudo), and Morihei Ueshiba (aikido)-I felt it imperative to write a book on Jigoro Kano, the founder of Kodokan judo, to round out the picture. Shambhala: How are the masters different? JS: While both Tesshu and Awa based their teachings on Zen, and Morihei was a practitioner of esoteric Shinto, Kano was a Confucian thinker through and through. The other three masters believed that enlightenment was the key to the understanding of their art. The Kokodan Judo of Kano, on the other hand, stressed educational theory, rational thought, scientific principles, and practical application. Shambhala: And what are the masters' similarities? JS: All four saw their art not as primarily a martial art but as system for personal development and social responsibility. They all had the same goal. Shambhala: What was Kano's martial art training like? JS: Kano trained in jujutsu like a demon from age seventeen to around age thirty. He trained under three of the best jujutsu teachers of the day, and after he founded the Kodokan at the age of twenty-two he practiced intensely with every student who showed up. After that, he did not personally train much because of his extremely busy schedule as a head of the Kodokan, a university president, a constant world traveler, a member of the Diet, and a member of the International Olympic Committee. However, Kano continued to demonstrate old-time jujutsu once in a while-escaping a five man pin, throwing an opponent in a flash, and pinning a senior student so tightly that the overconfident fellow broke a rib when he foolishly tried to wriggle free. Although Kano had almost no experience with weapons himself, he organized a research group at the Kodokan specifically to engage in the study of the classical weapons systems of Japan. Shambhala: In the chapter on "The Challenge of Creating Kodokan Judo " you discuss the many challenging issues that Kano had to deal with. What was the main problem? JS: The abuse of formal competition. Kano instituted formal matches so that his trainees would learn how to lose-with grace, self-reflection, and as an educational tool-and not how to win at any cost. Kano decried the "winning at any cost " approach to judo that the majority of his students practiced. Late in his career, the exasperated Kano exclaimed, "What you all are doing is not judo! " Shambhala: Much of your book is devoted to Kano's students. JS: Yes, it had to be. Highlighting Kano's interaction with his students is crucial in order to tell his story. As a Confucian gentlemen and president of the National Teacher Training College, Kano himself lead an up-right, exemplary life but his students were a much more colorful, even rowdy lot. As for Kodokan Judo, Kano was the guiding light, but the technical elements were developed in conjunction with his senior students. It was a joint effort. In the social realm, one of his students established the Black Dragon Society, two of his students were elected prime minister, two of them became the richest entrepreneurs in the country, and one of them taught judo to a United States president. Shambhala: You write quite a bit about Kano's Chinese students. JS: Yes, many of the Chinese students who were taught at Kano's academy were very influential on Chinese history, yet this is a detail that is virtually unknown. For example, Mao's father-in-law had been a student of Kano's in Japan, and he taught Mao some of Kano's educational theories. Mao wrote a paper on Kano's ideas. Shambhala: Was there a spiritual element to Kano's teaching? JS: As a Confucian educator, Kano was always concerned with the social ramifications of his teaching. One of his key theories was jita kyoei "mutual benefit and well being. " Based on that ideal, Kano stressed creation of an "enlightened society, " rather than emphasizing the purely individual quest. Since Kano presented much of his teaching through calligraphy, a number of his calligraphies are illustrated in the book. Many of these speak to his social idealism. Shambhala: What do you hope to convey in the The Way of Judo? JS: I want my readers to be as inspired as I was by Kano's life and teaching. The deeper I went into Kano's story, the more I came to respect him. His career is fascinating, and I want people to have access to his full story. NEW & FORTHCOMING TITLES

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Tias Little on the Subtle Body

At the Yoga Journal Conference last month in Estes Park, CO, our marketing coordinator Emma Sartwell caught Tias Little, a master teacher who synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhist studies, anatomy, massage, and trauma healing, on the lawn to discuss chaturanga, Zen, yoga butts, the sacrum, and more. Find  out more about Little's new book Yoga of the Subtle Body here: shmb.la/yoga-subtle-body     Emma: So I thought I'd start with a little context about you-how did you first find out about yoga and start this journey? Tias: Really I started through my mother, who did yoga when we lived in London back in the '70s. She's really my first influence and I've also always been an academic because my father taught at the university level-he taught comparative religion for thirty years. So I've always had an interest in the spiritual path. Then when I came into the yogic practice, it was this kind of magic alchemy of the wisdom teachings and the sadhana, the practice. I've always been a contemplative type, and so my interest has naturally been toward to meditative side of the practice. As an undergraduate, I studied with Bob Thurman, Robert Thurman. I studied Buddhist psychology, so I think that the dharma has always been part of my growth and my path. While I've done a lot of really physical yoga, more callisthenic-like yoga, I've always had the wisdom seeds planted along the route of my path. And so that's how I've really come into this path of yoga. E: We love Robert Thurman, too. T: Yes. So now my trajectory is to marry the wisdom teachings of the dharma with the practices of asana so that people can revive the contemplative side of yoga. It's kind of shocking that the contemplative side has basically dropped off, and yoga's what I sometimes call "spiritual calisthenics, " and it becomes very aerobic. That side of us that's really able to listen and to inquire is something I try to bring forward in all of my classes, and inspire and reinspire in that way. Yesterday I did a day-long intensive here, The Alchemy of Silence, to invite people in the midst of their overburdened lives to find that still, quiet place inside. E: Do you find that people are resistant to that? Or hungry for it? T: Well, I think it's about education. I think in many ways it's just unfamiliar and people have a lot of identifications around what yoga is-it's chaturanga, it's doing sun salutations, and listening to loud music. E: Getting the yoga butt. T: Getting yoga fit, yeah. So as it's said in Zen, that "turning of the lantern back inside " is unfamiliar to people. But I feel like it's really the dharma door, the gateway into the subtle body, which of course the book is about. Doing communion-inner communion-can be really unfamiliar for people, especially in the era of the screen. Easy for the mind to jump out. E: You're talking about Buddhist philosophy, Hindu philosophy and practice, religion in America, American culture . . . do you have a way that you identify or a way that you bring those together? T: I suppose so. You know, one of my teachers always said, "Dare to be simple. " And in some ways the practice is very simple because it just involves that slow practice-careful practice-of listening. I think whatever supports that practice, especially metta or loving-kindness practices, because I think a lot of yoga students are used to being in their body by pushing, sprinting, forcing, and propelling their body through space. So by what I call soaking practices of listening in and starting to move really slowly . . . E: "Soaking " you said? T: Soaking. E: Like soaking in yourself? T: Soaking inward, yeah. I think that's where a lot of the healing can occur. I bring in a lot of teachings from the osteopathic tradition, craniosacral work, where it's very, very supportive and internal toward the original matrix or the deep fluids in the body, the deep tides, the deep biorhythms. And for me, that's the subtle body. I'm teaching a whole course on the nadis tomorrow. It takes a while to really connect to the subtle vibratory pulses inside, but I think any kind of spirit practice is moving in the direction. But it takes a while to develop the ear-or I call it in the book, "the third ear, " the mystical ear-to even develop that listening capacity. So a lot of my guidance is around that. E: I've been loving the book. I want to read something Richard Freeman says in the forward: "The subtle body in yoga is not only the secret to the optimal functioning and alignment of the body; it is the key to delight, love, understanding, and good relationships. " So I was curious: what is the subtle body? How is it different from the physical body? And how did you decide to write this beautiful book? T: Well, I think the yoga tradition celebrates the subtle body as the chakras, nadis, bindus. The gross body, the coarse body, is really the exterior. There are lots of ways that we get caught up in the exterior, especially with all the identifications we make, and this is really endemic of the yoga practice. E: What do you mean "identification "? T: Like, "Oh, am I thin enough? Oh, I'm not good at yoga; I don't have a yoga body. I'm too fat. I'm too stiff. I can't bend, so thus I'm not good at yoga. " Those identifications are really real, I think especially in studios where there are mirrors-it amplifies that-like Orange County, Scottsdale, South Miami Beach. There's all of that outer preoccupation, and I think the models on the runway, some of whom are yoginis, don't necessarily help, especially for women. So that's kind of all this outer identifications that we make. And so the pathway into the subtle body is the yoga marga, it's the path inward toward the spirit-whisperer. E: Yoga marga? T: It means "yoga path. " Marga means path-it's really that pilgrimage inward. When I think about a communion, where there has been deep joy and there's bliss or the ananda or satchitananda in the Sankrit. That joy is really in the deepest pulse. E: Satchitananda is like "truth-mind-bliss "? T: Yeah-sat means "being, " chit means like "awareness, " ananda is "joy. " So that joy of being, you know? E: So is that the communion you have been talking about? What is coming together in the communion? T: I think it's that original matrix or that deep pulse, our deep biorhythms, with our awareness, with our celebration, our appreciation, our gratitude for that-our deepest prana, our deepest life force. I think when we can turn our lantern of awareness inward, as it's said in Zen, we can really feel and sense and see, and that's really healing. The craniosacral work, for example, is very healing and allows for deep rest or that "soaking " I was mentioning earlier, which is kind of a translation of samadhi. E: It makes me think that the healing is coming through communion because the opposite of communion would be feeling fragmented or dissociated, separated, and that causes a lot of suffering. T: It does, and I think that lies at the heart of so much of the dharma-that the practice is about healing that suffering. I think about in the era of the screen, how I put little pieces of myself out there, little soundbites, little fourteen-word bits. We all do that, and so I think there's a way in which we get fragmented or we get split or splintered or disassociated. And the coalescing, the communion, is that really inward practice. Retreat time helps. To graduate from my advanced training course, my 500-hour, you have to do eight days of silent retreat, which I think is unusual in the yoga world. It's through that retreat time that people can come up against their identifications and their hopes and their fears. It's silence, what I was calling yesterday in the class here the "alchemy of silence, " where we can have that communing, where we could feel those connections. That in turn allows us to feel the kind of continuity of connection to the wind and the aspen trees . . . E: That's helpful for me to hear because a lot of my reality is screentime, and trying to keep my center and keep some silence amongst all the sensory input and output. T: Yeah, well, I think so much of time we're just downloading and uploading. We're sending and receiving and we can get caught in a pinwheel-what the tradition calls samsara, to go round and round. So to get caught in the pinwheel is to get caught in all of that, and not that it's a bad thing because that's the way we do it now. Not that we're wrong to do it that way, but it's very healing and powerful to be able to drop underneath all of that, all of that sending and receiving. Silence, space, and time are really the greatest healers and allow us to drop in. E: So how did your idea of Yoga of the Subtle Body come to you? T: Well, I've been teaching and researching and reflecting on these kinds of themes for many, many years-for twenty eight years in my own personal journey, and there was a lot of ripening that has happened over those years. So really it was just a matter of getting my ideas down on paper, and the subtle is really where the juice is for me, or the rasa. E: What's rasa? T: Rasa's like nectar or essence or the taste, the richness. For me, my own practice today is in the rasa, or that movement of the inner fluids, the subtle movement of the breath, the slight shift of the bone, and then what blocks me or what blocks anyone from being able to touch that? There are segments in the book on trauma and how we get so fragmented or away from that very thing. E: Away from . . .? T: That connection to our deep pulses. Some of those places of disassociation or fragmentation or disconnect that started in maybe third grade or younger. So when it comes to subtle body work, there are a lot of ways to heal the subtle body. It's not just a physical thing, but working with the emotions and our psychological state. Our state of mind is so important. E: It makes me wonder: for people with trauma, do you think yoga is a complete path or some people need psychotherapy or other modalities? T: I consider myself, for instance, really in the contemporary healing arts. And while I draw from a lot of the traditional language around yoga, a lot of it tends to be kind of cryptic and veiled in secretive language, and it's a little bit hard to decipher. So I think there are really good contemporary modalities in the healing arts, whether it's osteopathic medicine or counseling work or transpersonal counseling work or dreamwork. There are really great insights into working with the states of holding and fear-layers and layers or substrata of holding that may have been in our body for many, many years. So fortunately, I think there are really great tools available today, and I'm always knocking elbows with people who do dreamwork and counseling work, and I very much draw ideas, share information, with contemporary work that's happening. It's an exciting time to be in the field. It really is. E: There are many different paradigms coming together. T: I think there is. The mindfulness movement is obviously an expression of all of that, and so my mission is very much that way-I think generally because people identify yoga as fitness, in that there's a sense that yoga is aerobic. I definitely don't consider myself a fitness instructor, but that's I think often people's relationship, and that's I think how yoga's been able to boom. You know, the tsunami of yoga has ridden that wave, but you know after five, ten, or fifteen years of being on the mat, I think people are ready for more subtle practice, and those are typically the students I draw. E: What would you recommend if someone is just going to a yoga class at their gym, but they want to go a little deeper-where would you start? T: Well, I think there's a lot of important language around how to talk about getting connected, getting hooked up to the deeper strata of our being-what's called kosha in Sanskrit, different layers or sheathings. There's a whole language around that and it requires a little skill to be able to actually put some of this into language. I'm an English major, very much a language guy. I use a lot of metaphor when I teach, and so a lot of my training work is about how to do just that. I think it's a process to be able to learn how to impart that to an incoming student, like, "Hm, how do I make these connections? How do I begin this process of listening? " It begins really with self-practice, being able to listen in far enough so that one is able to contact, to do that communion internally-that becomes the resource for us teachers for how we share with others. So it takes time; it really takes time. E: I am wondering specifically about chakras and nadis. Do you think there are misconceptions about those concepts, or how would you give an accessible framework for them? T: Yeah, I think there probably are misconceptions. Some of the interpretations around the chakras becomes quite trite and sort of the Special K cereal box version, the teabag version, of what it might be. But you know, as an anatomist, I certainly think along these lines of like dendrites and neurotransmitters . . . E: I don't know what dendrites are. T: Nerve endings-you know, glandular secretions, pulsations through the fascia, the movement of the craniosacral rhythm, the parasympathetic nervous system, the brainstem, the brain itself. There are a lot of exciting discoveries being made in research about the brain now-more and more every day. I think yogis were basically taking EKG scans in dharana, in dhyana, in samadhi. Through meditative states, they're basically scanning and then they describe what they saw as birds and fish and wind and rivers and trees. It's an exciting time to work off of some of the cryptic language of the tradition and be exposed to a lot of exciting discoveries made in neuroscience today. I think subtle body chakras and nadis are related to the neurological system, the immune system, the cardiovascular system-really exciting. E: The other thing that was helpful to me reading this was particularly about savasana and the feet and moving downward. I think so often in yoga classes you hear about moving upward, getting tall-there was something so nice and grounding to hear it's important to move downward too and start there. T: It's a very Taoist notion, which I also follow closely-that settling, soaking, dropping. In our time today of the rush and the high-speed connectivity, I think that gets trapped in the body. All that rush gets trapped in the tissues, leading to a kind of upward, upper winds, or a lot of excitation, a lot of stimulation. The grounding practices are so important, and a lot of the Taoist masters knew this-settling into the lower belly, settling into the tan t'ien. E: Would upward winds be worry, anxiety, and distraction? T: Yeah-worry, anxiety, restlessness, intolerance, impatience, speed, all of that, sleeplessness. So as we soak, as we settle, particularly toward the base of the spine, it's very healing, and really savasana is integral to that. I did a dharma talk recently at the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe on why savasana's the most important pose. E: That's appropriate because Upaya's so much about death and dying. T: Exactly. You know, there's a notion these days . . . beginners sometimes are like, "Oh, class is over, savsana's here-I'm gonna hit the road. " Developing an appreciation for stillness and deep calm takes a long time. So I do a lot of savasana training, which is very similar to yoga nidra, the yogic sleep, and that's where a lot of the subtle body training comes in. Right now, I'm developing a course called Yoga Nidra, Savasana, and the Dream Body. We do a lot of dreamwork. E: Is that one of the koshas-the dream body? T: It could be-it's kind of related to some of the inner koshas. There's a lot in the Upanishad, the original yogic teachings, on dreamstates. That's definitely a way to connect to the subtle body. E: One more detailed question: What do you think about the base of the spine? T: Well, it's really the root, it's the source, it's the origin for, we could really say, for the deep life force. So kundalini has a lot to do with that, but you know the base of the spine is really paired with the occipital region in the brainstem. The craniosacral system maps this out very carefully: the motion of the occiput and the sacrum are paired. So you can't really talk about the sacrum without talking about the base of the skull. And so then we're tying right into the limbic system, we're tying into the deep life force, we're tying right into the reptilian brain. There's so much power celebrated in the yoga tradition of that connection-especially in hatha yoga, it's really celebrated. E: I can tell how infinite this path is. You can start with one point in the body and it just can spread and spread and spread . . . T: It's true. It's a really, really rich practice and study. I consider myself kind of a beginner, just learning, always new learning, new pathways in, and learning new connections. That's the beauty of being on the mat is to just keep discovering. E: Is there anything else you want people to know about your book? T: I think that really it can be picked up and one can start in and read at any place. It's kind of designed that way, so people can read or just do some of the guided meditations or some of the guided practices or read the sidebars, which are inspirational visions that I've had. I hope it will be an inspiration for people at any point in the path. E: It seems like it would be useful to people who are just starting and people who have practiced for years, because we all have a body. And a subtle body. T: So true. E: Thank you so much. This was such a fun conversation. T: Oh good!

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