This is the practice I shared at Yoga Outreach Columbus this weekend...

These sounds are related to the major organ systems of the body, and their associated energy channels.

Sound Acts on Emotions

1) Sssssss - Lungs, colon - Grief, sadness
2) Whoooo - Kidneys, bladder  -Fear (blowing out slowly through puckered lips)
3) Shhhhhh - Liver, gall bladder - Anger, jealousy
4)Haaa  - Heart, small intestine - Hatred, arrogance,  impatience
     (sounds like “haw”)
5) Whoooo  - Spleen, stomach  - Worry, anxiety
 (more gutteral, in back of throat....rhymes with “hoe”)
6)  Heeeee  - triple warmer (3 breathing spaces)  -Harmonizing overall energy
   flow of the body

Practice daily in the order given above.  Each sound should be done at least three times. 
If you have a specific problem with an organ or emotion you can spend more time with that sound, repeating it as many times as you like.  The practice is very simple and can be done in any posture you like.  With each organ, sense that you are inhaling energy directly into that organ.  As you exhale, using the associated sound, simultaneously sense any toxins or excess heat in the organ being carried out of your body with the exhalation.  You can also experiment with exhaling inaudibly, concentrating the vibration of the sound in each organ.

Adapted from “The Tao of Natural Breathing” by  Dennis Lewis

The recent Yoga competition and the push to get Yoga into the Olympics has many yogis up in arms, in a nonviolent way of course…
I was recently interviewed about it on a PBS radio show (http://media.scpr.org/audio/upload/2012/03/05/Competitive_yoga.mp3 ) with many callers expressing opinions. It is commonly the case that many yogis are upset and voice that the “purity” of Yoga is being compromised by competition—which they assert should never be part of Yoga. Or they assert that competition isn’t “spiritual”, isn’t in accord with the eight limbs, or that it strengthens ego. Whether or not the eight limbs is the definition of Yoga, or if competition, or ego, can or should be eliminated from the fabric of life could easily be debated. But instead of going there, I’m taking a different tact. Is a Yoga competition really serving our best interests and can proficiency in Yoga practice be measured by judges? It can be argued that national and international competitions will bring greater authenticity, relevance and acceptance to asana practice, but is this the right way to get it? Does Yoga even need it? Here are five reasons championships are probably not the right path:

1. How do you measure who is doing the best Yoga?
When you see someone doing a beautiful or graceful pose, especially if it’s pushing the limits of movement and flexibility, it’s easy to assert they are an advanced student, or they are “very good” at Yoga. But what cannot be measured, or cannot easily be measured, is whether the way they are doing that pose is really good for the long term well being of their body. Is, for example, standing on their hands and putting both feet on their head, or wrapping both legs behind their back (full disclosure: I did these and more for years, back in the day) really the measure of “good” Yoga, and is it serving the long term well being of that body? Are these extreme or performance poses what others should aspire to and emulate in their practice. Are extreme poses good for the lifetime health of the spine, disks, and joints? Much more often than not, the answer is no. Is the person doing the best pretzel poses really the winner? At White Lotus we assert that advancing in Yoga, developing proficiency in Yoga, is learning how to use the asanas, techniques, and practices to better serve the ones body for a lifetime. Learning to listen to internal feedback, to learn to make subtle energy flow, bone and nerve adjustments, to learn to discern the effects of the poses, and to become adept at self balancing and self healing is truly the essence of advancing in Yoga.

2. Yoga is for every body.
It is said there are hundreds of thousands of asanas. I suggest that is a metaphor showing that Yoga is for any and every body. I’ve seen bedridden and wheel chair confined practitioners doing, or should I say “using”, Yoga beautifully. Sure, certain body types can do many more poses, and super models, men and women, can look gorgeous in poses, but this can miss the essence. Any body, at any age or stage can get great benefit from practice. There is no need to compete.

3. Yoga is not a sport. Yoga is not a performance art.
Yoga isn’t really in the same category as sports, dance, or even gymnastics. There is a large performance component to sports. And of course, a large competitive component. Even dance is expressing a theme, form, or metaphor. Whereas the purpose of Yoga is health, well being, self healing, self transformation, awakening and re-awakening. The “winners” are all those who learn to use the tools of Yoga effectively for themselves.

If the winners in Yoga are the those who can do the most difficult positions and moves of flexibility and strength in a graceful and beautiful manner, then circus acrobats have already won. I’ve seen acrobats, in the Cirque du Soleil for example, do the most unbelievable Yoga-like poses with strength, grace and beauty.

4. There is no perfect pose.
There are endless adjustments, modifications and tunings of asanas. The essential reason for this is not “so someone can do the pose” but rather so the pose can do them. In other words the pose should be adjusted to serve the person instead of adjusting the person to fit into the pose.

5. Everybody wins.
The real beauty of Yoga is that everyone can win. There is competition in nearly every arena of life. We’re constantly conditioned to favor winners and shun losers. But in a class of twenty, or one hundred, Yoga students, who is the winner? Everyone! Everyone can be a winner at the same time in Yoga. This possibility is too rare in life to diminish. And, again, can you even say who is doing the best, most proficient practice? May be the stiff, injured, or elderly person in class is the one using the poses in the most subtle and refined manner.

These competitions may be here to stay, but will competitions and championships bring the right kind of attention and motivation to the art and science that is Yoga?

THURSDAY, APRIL 12th 11:00-2:00PM

Course: Physics of Natural Alignment 101: Where you THINK you are, Where you ACTUALLY are, and what to do about it. 

Join Katy in an exploration of your own personal posture, how it compares to where your body parts should be, and how to start moving in a way that improves your joint health instead of degenerating it. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 12th 3:30-6:30PM (2 courses, same day!)


Course: The Psoas is NOT a Hip-Flexor!  
"THE PSOAS CAN SEEM CONFUSING, BUT IT IS REALLY A SIMPLE PULLEY SYSTEM REACTING TO A MUCH MORE COMPLEX "THOUGHT" SYSTEM WE CARRY BETWEEN OUR EARS."
- Katy Bowman 
Are you in control of your body or is your psoas controlling you?
 
This course will address biomechanical properties, anatomical
features, and structural influences of the psoas. Learn whole-body
evaluation points (i.e. you can't evaluate the psoas without fixing
the thigh bones, rib cage, and spinal column), as well as a complete anatomical, mechanical, and biochemical perspective on how the psoas really influences body degeneration.

Each course is $85.00 OR get a full day pass for $150.00 Equipment included! Course is hosted by www.villageyogapowell.com Register here (click).

To all that is chaotic
in you,
let there come silence.

Let there be
a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim
on you,
that have made their
home in you,

that go with you
even to the
holy places
but will not
let you rest,
will not let you
hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.

Let what distracts you
cease.
Let what divides you
cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you
in its cage.

Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath
the chaos,
where you find
the peace
you did not think
possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.

--John O’Donohue

from To Bless the Space Between Us

I've brought "Pushan Mudra" (the mudra for digestion) into class again recently.  This mudra supports the organs of digestion.  It's also a gesture that symbolizes receiving, transforming (metabolizing) and letting go which is the process of digesting whatever it is we take in...food, ideas, images, emotions.

In this mudra, the left hand has the thumb touching the middle and ring fingers and the right hand has thumb touching index and middle fingers.  According to Gertrud Hirschi, author of "Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands", this gesture influences energy currents responsible for absorbing and utilizing food and has a relaxing effect on the solar plexus.  It energizes the breath in the solar plexus.  You may find your breathing is stronger when using this mudra.

Use Pushan Muddra after a big meal if you are feeling too full.  It can be used for a digestive upset as it arises.  But if you have a chronic digestive issue, along with whatever other things you may be doing...try using this mudra for 5 mintues before meals.  If nothing else, it will send you to your meals feeling more relaxed and mindful.  That's not a bad way to begin.  

Enjoy!

At first, the idea for this post  was to get the "official" take on why one might chant Om in a yoga class. Fairly quickly I realized that it wasn't so important to explore "why" from that perspective. Instead I wanted to explore why I do it.


Over the years a ritual of sorts developed to surround my classes. The opening and the ending stay fairly steady, supporting the possibility of creativity and surprise to arise during the asana practice. I like to sit for 5 minutes in the beginning. My intention is to allow time for settling into a deeper awareness of what we've come to class with. What does the body feel like today? What is the flavor of the mind? We pause before stepping into movement.


At the end of class, after Savasana (deep relaxation), we sit again for a few minutes.


And then the sound of Om.


Most of the time we chant Om three times. I tell people that "Om" is the sound that resonates in all things. I sometimes ask people to pause and listen for that sound in all that surrounds us in the particular moment...natural sounds, mechanical sounds, inner sounds, outer sounds, nearby sounds, distant sounds. And then we allow the sound to arise, we join in.


Why chant "Om"? It feels to me like an offering of whatever benefits we've accrued from our practice out into the world at large. It brings a recognition that we're all in this together. It re-energizes us before we get up and leave...returning home, or to work, or whatever comes next. Sometimes in the evening, if the energy of the class seems particularly peaceful and it seems like it would be nice not to disturb the quiet too much, we'll whisper our Oms.

Over the years I've noticed who is in the room and what we've been doing during the posture portion of the practice has an effect on the sound in the room. Sometimes the sound is hesitant, sometimes full-throated. Sometimes each Om seems to go on forever, sometimes there is less space for that expansion, we are unsure about our voice.

The sound also feels like a last opportunity to offer up some energy to the body and mind. If we can really relax into the sound, it seems to resonate into every nook and cranny of the body. The image that comes to mind is the sound of the strings being played on a cello being colored by the shape and depth of the body of the instrument.

Last but not least, it feels like an honoring of the event that has just occurred. What can I say? Yoga is an amazing practice. People are transformed in large and small ways. Isn't it wonderful to honor a body that feels a little more at ease and a mind that sees even a little more clearly? Even if it's your very first yoga class, isn't it worth recognizing that you've been at home in your body, just as it is, for the first time in what may have been a long time? And who knows what will come of that!


Maybe yoga scholars can give you other reasons for chanting Om that are steeped in ancient tradition. This is why I do it.  

"I know that the real things in life, the things I remember, the things I turn over in my hands, are not houses, bank accounts, prizes or promotions. What I remember is love - all love - love of this dirt road, the sunrise, a day by the river, the stranger I met in a café."  -- Jeanette Winterson

This
moment
as smooth
as a board,
and fresh,
this hour,
this day
as clean
as an untouched glass
--not a single
spiderweb
from the past:
we touch the moment
with our fingers,
we cut it
to size,
we direct
its blooming.
.It's living,
it's alive:
it brings nothing from yesterday that can't be redeemed,
nothing from the lost past.
.
~  Pablo Neruda.