The Beginningless

Nisargadatta:
The Beginningless Begins Forever
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It all begins with the breath....

Most of the time, we barely notice we are breathing. It is so automatic it happens without us being aware of it, yet we couldn't live without it! To embrace the importance of breath, try breathing as a simple meditative practice. Lie down, or sit up so that you are relaxed and simply, BREATHE! Feel the breath as it travels in through the nostrils. Follow it down into the ribcage, lungs, belly. Feel the movement that it causes in your body. Exhale and feel how the air goes back out again. Bring all your awareness, all your focus to the breath. Don't control, just OBSERVE.

Next time you get on your yoga mat, bring this newly found awareness into your asana practice. An essential part of ashtanga is the vinyasa. The breath is in sync with the movement. In fact, the breath is the movement.

Pay attention to how you move in to and out of poses. Each movement should come with an inbreath or an outbreath. You can adjust your breathing according to each individual pose. Some poses require giving in, relaxing. To do this, slow down the breath. To increase your energy and intake of air in a difficult pose, breath more strongly and vigorously. In whatever way you breathe, make it suit how you feel in that particular moment in time. This will enhance your practice and ground you to the each moment as it happens. On or off the mat.

Chai - a nice cuppa cha

On Meri's arrival back to the UK from her trip to Goa with Rolf and Marci Naujokat I was duly handed a bag of genuine Indian Chai Masala spices! Its been a long time since I had a cup of chai (a term from which the colloquial term "cuppa cha" comes from) so I decided to crack open the Assam and Darjeeling and get a brew on.



Historically, this brew dates back from the early 1900s when the British-owned Indian Tea Association encouraged Indian factories, mines, and textile mills to provide tea breaks for their workers. It was originally the standard 'milk-with-one-sugar' brew, but the Indians knew better than that and decided to greatly increase the amount of milk and sugar and add a blend of spices, and voila!, we have the popular modern-day brew known as chai.

Recipes vary, differing mostly on ratio of water/milk and the types of spices used, although cardamom is always used (the essential flavour-giving spice). Interesting fact: I noticed on Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey (a TV show back in 2009) condensed milk was used as it helps to double the sweetness! Yes! However, I am yet to try this and tend to use whole milk and NO water, lots of sugar, and ghee. This is why I have called this ashtanga chai - for ashtanga practitioners only! It is quite a drink, sugary and filling, so it is ok to drink this every day but only if you have a regular ashtanga practice! ha!



INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon of Darjeeling Tea
1 teaspoon of Assam Tea
1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon Chai Masala
Ghee (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine the milk, tea leaves and sugar in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. As it slowly comes to a simmer, swirl often to incorporate the sugar and keep an eye on the heat to prevent the milk from burning. A thin film will form on the surface and the milk will turn golden.
When the milk comes to a low boil, reduce heat, and allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon of Chai Masala and simmer gently, swirling occasionally, for another 3 minutes.

Set a small strainer over a tea cup. To create foam, hold the saucepan a foot or more above the cup and pour in the chai, then let rest for a minute or two. Dust with a small pinch of spice mix.

To replenish even more ojas*, add 1/4 teaspoon of ghee at the base of the tea cup before pouring in the chai. Stir well!

Yields 1 cup



* Ojas, a subtle substance within the body that provides vitality, enthusiasm and strength

Technique Notes: Forward Bending

The primary series of ashtanga yoga, yoga chikitsa meaning yoga therapy, consists mainly of forward bending postures. It is not an unusual position to be in and most of us are much more familiar with folding forward, while tying our shoelaces or lifting fallen objects from the ground, than its reverse, bending backward. However, we often bend our knees on our way down to, say, pick something up, instead of allowing the backs of the legs to become fully stretched, leaving the movement unfulfilled, and thus many of us have tightness in the hamstrings and the hips.

During a forward bend, the upper body is flexed forward with the backs of the legs and the back muscles being stretched. Anatomically, most of the movement in a forward bend takes place in the hips and the lumbar region, that is the lower back area above the sacrum, as well as the sacral region of the spine. The traditional and originally taught method of forward-bending by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is to simply fold forward, relax the head, round the back, tuck the tail bone in and avoid flaring the sit-bones up and away. This makes engaging mula bandha and uddiyana bandha possible and is a perfect example of how ashtanga yoga is more about integrating the energy (into the mula/uddiyana region) rather than ‘spacing-out’ and dispersing the flow of energy. The straight-back (flat-back) approach makes engaging mula bandha and uddiyana bandha almost impossible and has a certain disconnective effect.



This division or separation is also very common in downward-facing dog when the feet are too far away from the hands. If the student is encouraged to step the feet further forward then not only is the pose more stable (the heels drop to the ground) but the bandhas become more easily connected and the flow of energy is working correctly. One other effect of a strong uddiyana bandha is to protect the lower back by stabilizing the entire region, and actually encourages the lower back to open more safely and deeply rather than strain the area by using the flat-back approach. Its not about what it looks like! Have a look at the 1950s pics of Pattabhi Jois to see how the master intended it!

Forward bending stretches not only the backs of the legs, but also the back, arms and shoulders. It is often encourages to engage the quadriceps muscles during a forward bend as this further relaxes the hamstrings, allowing a deeper pose. It also makes the legs strong and is beneficial for the knees. The form which the body takes in a forward bend resembles the position of a foetus in the uterus. The vertebrae become separated which stimulates the nerves that run along the spinal cord. Thus forward bending indirectly benefits the overall health of the practitioner.



If uddhiyana bandha, lower stomach lock, is held firmly, forward bending has a strong effect on the internal organs, especially the spleen, kidneys, liver, abdomen and reproductive organs, massaging them and providing alleviation for digestive organs. During the primary series, the body is repeatedly folded forward which encourages heat in the entire body and stimulates digestion. Combined with uddhiyana bandha, forward bending postures tone the abdominal muscles. Hatha Yoga Pradipika says about the seated forward bending posture:

“Paschimottanasana is the best among asanas. By this asana the pranic currents rise through sushumna, the digestive fire increases, the abdomen becomes flat, and the practitioner becomes free from disease.”
(p. 93)
Sources:
Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha bihar School of Yoga, 1996 edition.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Bihar School of Yoga, 1998 edition.
Coulter, D. H., 2001 Anatomy of Hatha Yoga USA: Body and Breath Inc.

....and between the two my life flows.....

Wisdom tells me I am nothing.
Love tells me I am everything.
And between the two my life flows.

—Nisargadatta Maharaj