Thursday 9.30a Asana I — Week 13 (May 28, 2009)

Focus: Restoratives, how to relieve eye pressure and swelling, and deep breathing. “How can I breathe without aggression?” cannot be answered intellectually, only experienced.

Discussion: Samskaras, malas, astanga yoga and the citta. See Saturday 10.30a Intro — Week 12 (May 23, 2009).

When there is an injury, recognize it to consciously work to improve the condition. To learn from an injury, don’t just dismiss it with “I’ll be OK,” meaning “You don’t have to worry about me” or “I don’t think there is anything I can do about it.” The goal is neither passive acceptance nor maintenance of the status quo. The goal, in this case, is to reduce pressure and swelling through yoga. That is ethical, non-violent practice, consistent with the yamas and niyamas. Astanga yoga replaces impure bhogic samskaras with pure yogic samskaras.

Invocation in Swastikasana
To make the eyes recede and reduce eye pressure, lower the vocal pitch and widen the back of the throat and the neck. Keep the back of the throat and the neck wide while inhaling.

1. Adho Mukha Swastikasana
a. Chin on chair seat to reduce eye pressure. (KJ) Forehead on chair seat will passively increase pressure due to gravity.

2. Adho Mukha Upavistha Konasana
a. Chin on chair seat. Legs wide further reduces eye pressure by widening eyes. (KJ)

3. Rope Wall Baddha Konasana
a. Facing the Rope Wall, sit on stacked blankets. Loop upper wall rope around back chest and through rope ring to pull open chest to keep chest up. Assistant widens ilia away from each other from behind. Block between the shins and the wall. It makes the eyeballs “float.” (KJ)

4. Viparita Karani (5 min straight legs)
a. On 3 blankets folded in half widthwise and staggered.

5. Deep breathing in Viparita Karani
(5 min Swastikasana legs - several cycles)
a. Swastikasana legs widens the back waist more than with straight legs.

b. Take the navel back towards the spine and move the breath to the back waist at the first blanket fold.
Patanjali Yoga Sutra II.49 urges gati-vicchedah, to control the erratic movements of the breath. The first stages of pranayama focus on cutting, dividing, and diverting the breath to guide the prana. [See Monday 6.30p Asana I — Week 9 (April 27, 2009)]

c. Slow, smooth inhalation. Slow, smooth exhalation. Only take half of your deep breath to learn how to not overdo.
Take control of labored breathing to stabilize the citta. Involution works backwards, retracing from effect to root cause. Normalize the breath, the effect, by imbuing it with a smooth rhythm to relieve duhkha daurmanasya, sorrow and ill-mindedness. [See PYS I.31: Tuesday 4.30p MS — Week 1 (Mar 3, 2009), and Thursday 6.30p Intro — Week 2 (Mar 12, 2009)]

d. Baddha Konasana Legs
Ankles belted together with figure-8 belt. Loop a belt between middle and bottom rope hooks to hold thighs into wall. Prop head higher. Then the eyes float without any heaviness. (KJ)

6. Deep breathing in Blanket Supported Savasana (5 min)
a. Blanket support of the back chest allows the breath to be more easily felt at the back chest in lieu of the back waist when the blanket supports the pelvis in Viparita Karani.

b. Swastikasana legs

7. Blanket Supported Savasana (5 min)
a. Straight legs. 35# weight on thighs lightens the head.