Attend enough classes, and you’ll start to hear about the Sutras. The Yoga Sutras, 195 aphorisms authored by Patanjalis sometime between 5,000 B.C.E. and 300 A.D., were the first systematic description of the practice of yoga. Sutra means “thread” (it is the root of the word “suture”), and refers to each of the aphorisms or “threads” of the practice.

Within the Sutras, Patanjalis outlines the eight limbs of yoga, which are:

1. Yamas – the “don’ts” of action
2. Niyamas – the “DOs” of action
3. Asana – practice of the postures
4. Pranayama – mastery of the breath
5. Pratyahara – withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana – concentration
7. Dhyana – meditation
8. Samadhi – bliss

Notice that the postures – what we tend to think of as the entire practice – are just one part of a broader system of interacting with the world and one’s self! In the coming weeks, I’ll write more about the Yamas and the Niyamas, and more on specific sutras. There is far too much wisdom held by the sutras to contain it in this little website. If the sutras are of interest to you, I recommend the translation by Sri Swami Satchidananda.

One of the first questions many people have about yoga is “how often should I practice?” That depends on whom you ask. Bikram says that you should begin by practicing his ninety minute sequence every day for two months! Many others say that you will truly begin to see the benefits at three classes per week. Of course, one class per week will also bring benefits, as will one class per month. Ultimately, you must honor your body. Go to your edge, always remembering that practice is NOT punishment for an inflexible or weak body. Practice is the reward for your strong will and intention.

In class, too, we often talk about “going to the edge.” As in the rest of life, sometimes we must push ourselves beyond our limits to find out just how far we can go. Sometimes we get hurt, and sometimes we find reserves of strength, energy, and determination that we never would have found otherwise. As long as we honor our body and spirit, we can not fail.

I ran into a Charm City Yoga regular at a Bikram studio recently, and she asked me which practice I thought was more difficult: the hot vinyasa classes at Charm City Yoga, or the Bikram practice? We chatted for a few moments, and found that we came to completely different conclusions. She finds Bikram more difficult because of the intense heat (about 5-10 degrees hotter than a hot vinyasa class) and lack of breaks in the standing series. I find hot vinyasa classes more difficult because they are never the same, always working the parts of the body in a different way, and in a different order.

I was intrigued by the conversation both as a teacher and a student, because the real question is about what exactly makes yoga challenging. Is it the physical practice or the mental discipline? As a teacher, I often see people in my classes who have strong, flexible bodies, but still seem to struggle. I also see students whose bodies are tight and for whom the practice requires exceptional physical effort, yet they do not seem to struggle at all. Most people are somewhere in between, of course, but it is an interesting and timely reminder to me of the many, many reasons why a student may arrive in my class.

As a student, I find it most challenging to surrender to the practice. That is why Bikram is easier for me. I always know exactly where I am in the practice and what is coming next, so the only thing to which I must surrender is the heat. Like Astanga, Bikram draws “type A” personalities who take comfort in the repetition, at the same time competing with themselves to make their practice stronger.

While there are physical breaks in the hot vinyasa practice (and I use the term “break” somewhat loosely – it can take a long time for downward dog to feel like a break!) vinyasa classes are never the same twice. Even the teacher who teaches the same sequence in most classes may change the pace or change the dialogue at any time. I love the variety and creativity of vinyasa classes. Depending on the teacher and the day, some classes are athletic and fast-paced, some are slow and focused on alignment, and some are a little of both.

For me, hot vinyasa is my first yoga love and great challenge. For others it is a welcome break from an otherwise regimented practice. I look forward to hearing from other students who practice both: which is more challenging for you?

My birthday is this week, and that has me thinking about presents! It is so much fun to hang out with people who are enjoying their birthday. They seem to glow with the good wishes of those around them, and the sure knowledge that gifts await.

How might the world be different if we treated everyone as if it were their birthday every day? This is not to say that we should spend hours every day on facebook, telling people we haven’t seen in ten years to have a happy day, but rather that we might carry pure, unconditional good will for all those around us.

Likewise, how different might our own world be if we moved through every day sure in the knowledge that great gifts await us? Not just hoping or praying that good things might come our way, but spending our days in absolute certainty that no matter what, something good must be on the way. How might it change our behavior toward others, and how others perceive us?

This year I am giving myself the gift of openness to the good stuff in the world, the true gifts. Wide awake with an open heart I will be certain not to miss them.

Many of us are celebrating Easter and Passover this week. Passover celebrates liberation from slavery, and Easter celebrates Jesus’ ressurection, both ideas that tie in beautifully with the practice of yoga. Yoga is, after all, the process of liberation from suffering, a process by which we are born anew in each moment.

The first three yoga sutras teach us that the practice of yoga begins now, in this moment; that suffering is caused by the turnings and chatter of the mind; that bliss is achieved when we are liberated from the turnings and chatter of the mind. On the mat, we learn to notice our thought patterns. We learn where the mind goes when a posture is uncomfortable, when we don’t do the posture the way we would like, when we are in a posture we love, and so on.

Every situation our mind could encounter, we encounter on the mat. Which thoughts enslave us? In the story of Passover we learn not only of the Israelites enslavement, but we learn that the Pharaoh, too, is enslaved by his desire to control others. When he decides to release others, he is freed from plagues, but as he wavers on his decision, each time he decides that the Israelites should be enslaved, he is once again plagued.

When we free ourselves from the thoughts that enslave us -and our desire to control that which can not be controlled- we are reborn in each moment. Liberated from our ideas about success or failure and how things should be, we are free to act in union with our source of higher wisdom, whether that is God, Jesus, the universe, or simply our own wisest self.

Yoga is serious business. It asks so much of us: to let our lives go on without us for ninety minutes while we focus on the body, to do challenging physical work, and if we are practicing in a studio, to hand over some of our money. But, just because we are asked to take the practice seriously, we don’t have to BE serious. Yoga may be serious business, but it is also very, very funny. We twist ourselves up into silly shapes and fall over, our bodies make all sorts of weird noises, there is farting and grunting, and after a while, we don’t even think twice when the instructor reminds us to “move the flesh out from under the sits bones.” Can you imagine what would happen if we did that every time we sat down at the office? Surely we would get a nickname. “Hey, look, it’s Assy!” our co-workers would say.

Laughter is marvelous pranayama (breath work). Think of the feeling of laughing so hard that you have difficulty breathing. You’ve expelled every bit of air from the lungs, and just when you think you can take no more, the muscles in the throat and chest release, and fresh air rushes down into the lungs. If you have done breath work in class that includes kumbhaka (holding) this will sound very familiar! When we do breath work in class, often the goal is to completely empty and fill the lungs. Laughter is a wonderful, spontaneous way to achieve the same results.

So, how to let go? Yoga is such hard physical work, how do we find lightheartedness in the practice? I believe the answer is to examine the difference between effort and struggle. I invite you to scan the body in a posture, noticing the muscles that must be engaged to hold the position safely. Then notice which muscles are engaged needlessly. The muscles that must be engaged – e.g. triceps in warrior 2 – are part of our effort. The muscles that are needlessly engaged -a pained expression the face, for example – are struggle. They are working against the posture by using energy that could otherwise be engaged in our effort. It is difficult to be lighthearted when we struggle; our achievements will never match the amount of energy we have expended, and we will be left feeling depleted. Yet, in our effort we can find lightheartedness, for all is well and our difficult work is well done.

As we move along a spiritual path, there comes a point when we’ve heard it so many times: We are not our bodies! The divine rests in the soul! The consciousness of Krishna, Christ, and Buddha reside in theplace of spirit, independent of our physical selves, but part of the greater whole! All is one!

So, knowing that, why should we care about the body?

Our physical bodies allow us to experience all that the world offers, and as individuated selves, we can perceive the divine in others. But most importantly, our bodies are constantly feeding our spirits information about ourselves. Have you ever known some one who seemed perfectly nice, yet every time you saw him, you became tense, felt your blood pressure rise, or got a stomachache? Likewise, have you ever met some one with whom it seemed you had nothing in common, yet you always felt at ease and relaxed in her presence? The body tells us about our world, from the job that seems great on paper but gives us indigestion, to the unlikely partner who makes our adrenaline soar. When we are in tune with the messages of the body, we move through the world with ease; we can really trust our gut!

Through the practice of yoga, which literally translates to “union,” we tune into the body. The breath carries us through a practice and quiets the busy mind… usually! We all have days when the mind carries on a mile a minute through the practice, but with diligence, the mind learns to quiet itself a bit at a time. In the stillness of a posture, we notice the body holding on in places that are not necessary, we notice what balance really feels like, and we come to recognize the thought patterns that arise as we face challenging or uncomfortable postures. Out in the rest of the world, off the mat, we start to recognize what we learn on the mat: the rising of tension in the body, the situations that throw us off balance, and the parade of thoughts that consume our attention when we encounter the discomforts of life. Little by little, we come to understand the wisdom of the body, and move through our lives in union with our selves. When we move through our lives in union with ourselves, we move with ease and grace, and we are freed to do the higher work of the spirit.

So why have a body? To do yoga, of course!