Author: Leith OLeary

Santosa- Contentment

2:42  Santosad anuttamah sukha labhah

When contentment is actively cultivated, it is an unparalleled sweetness of being.

During the Holidays it can be easy to get wrapped up in the emotion of the season.  For some this can be a happy fun season and for others a sad time.  As we reflect on the past year and anticipate the changes of the coming year, I think it is important to pause and take notice of the current moment.  Not whats missing but instead look at all we have.

It is said that the left brain controls the analytical side of us.  Everything we analyze is either in our past or our future.  The right brain is the creative (dancing, drawing, creating, storytelling), this side exists in the present.   This said,  we are not just our brain.   Perhaps when we find the balance between the two (right and left hemispheres) we can truly exist in our physical body and move into a more intuitive space that exists between the heart and the gut.  This space that has no relationship to time at all.

This holiday season I am choosing to allow myself to spend time to experience it all.  Left brain dominant as I organize festivities and gifts for friends and family.   Right brain dominant cooking, decorating and creating crafts and art.  Body dominant as I let it all go and perhaps laugh or dance with friends and family or during the more quiet times during yoga and mediation practice.   Through all these various activities I will to my best to cultivate an attitude of Santosa.  Of course all of this is Practice and that is what it is to be human.

tran·si·tion

tranˈziSH(ə)n,tranˈsiSH(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.
   the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another."students in transition from one program to another"

This month in class we explored transitions.  For me the greatest discovery was that every moment is transition.  There are transitions connected with breath and movement.  Transition connected to our daily consciousness.   

The word transition can be daunting.  Many relate transition to death.  Others to huge change.  Our exploration though was looking at the small transitions we take for granted.  For example: How we get from one place to another,  from one posture to the next or even the pause between the inhale to the exhale. 

As we progressed through the month we played with more challenging unfamiliar transitions within our Asana Practice.   My hope is that adjusting to awkward transitions on the mat will translate to observations of how we handle challenging transitions off the mat.

Can you keep your cool in the light of Change?  What does it take to shake you?  Are you sensitive to transitions or not?  Sometimes knowing your tolerance for change can be the greatest gift you can give yourself.  If you can predict that things shifting will throw you off you can honor yourself and give yourself the additional self care (maybe just a breath) in order to keep yourself healthy through times of movement.

This is the beauty of the Asana practice.   As long as we show up on our mats we have the opportunity to be students of our own bodies and minds.

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Fake News in Your Practice?

A few months ago I was listening to J Browns podcast with Barbara Benagh and she mentioned a concept of “Fake News” in yoga.  I have not been able to stop thinking about it.

Yup its true… the yoga world is full of “fake news” too.   I confess I have been part of the fake news trend.   YES!  I have yoga photos on this Very site.  Just like most people, I love photos on Instagram, websites and Facebook.  Beautiful people doing amazing poses in awe inspiring locations.  So inspiring!

While I find these images inspiring I question how much yoga is really in most of those photos.   Maybe it is my Photo Director background that always jumps to the reality of the photo shoot.  How hard the rock must feel on their forearms in Pincha?  Yikes how much sand gets stuck to them during beach shoots?   Even how long did that person have to hold that very uncomfortable pose for the sake of a beautiful photograph and how does their body feel today?  I spent years creating the illusion of health and beauty for Various Magazines.

Don’t get me wrong… I love the illusion,  I just don’t want it to invade my actual practice or my students practice.   Our practice needs to be real with real healthy results or why would we come back?   I aspire that every student in my class walks away from their practice feeling strong and free from restraint in their physical and/or mental body.  We practice in a room without mirrors because how WE feel has to take priority to how the practice looks.   

So as we approach our practice this month lets go deep and explore where in our practice we create a space where we are selling ourselves short with “Fake News”.    Lets banish the idea that one pose is bigger or better than another.  Lets choose a practice that allows us to explore exactly who we are and allows us to acknowledge that each of us is whole and complete exactly as we are (even if our bodies aren’t interested in Rajakapotasana).