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Visiting the Hindu Temples of South India: The Source of Yoga

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Ellen Saltonstal, Meenakshi Amman Temple

Ellen Saltonstall, Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai, India

When I returned from a recent trip to South India, my students asked,  “What was the spiritual significance of your trip?”  It’s a good question, worthy of ongoing contemplation. We visited 18 temples, ranging from a small outdoor one (just a platform under a tree), to the enormous Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, which covers 45 acres.  It was definitely a pilgrimage for me to visit the birthplace of yoga and to feel its strong presence in 21st century life.  In particular, we spent a fabulous day at the Nataraj Temple in Chidambaram, which I’ll describe later.

I’ve been a meditator and student of yoga for over 40 years. If you think yoga is just an exercise class, you’re missing out on a huge range of practices and traditions. I began meditating in 1974 within the non-dual Shaivite branch of Hindu yoga, that is, centering on Shiva, one of the Hindu deities. Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Minakshi, Ganesh – these deities and others are all representatives of cosmic functions and human qualities.  Hinduism is generous in saying that you can align with any of the deities that appeals to you, since they all represent aspects of the highest truth. Each temple we visited had dozens of depictions of these deities in sandstone, granite, wood, and paintings.  They become like familiar friends after a very short time.

The underlying teaching of Hindu non-dual philosophy: Everything is comprised of the same consciousness in different forms. The highest reality, the Absolute, is not separate from the concrete reality that we experience in daily life – it is interwoven through it. In other words, all life is sacred, and we can connect with that sacredness in our everyday world.

My experiences in the temples we visited made that very clear. In the active temples, devotees were streaming in and out, participating fully in whatever was going on. Rituals that have been performed for centuries are maintained and offered for anyone to witness and participate in.  Far from being just about the performance of a task, the authenticity of these rituals is palpable.

Plan_of_Meenakshi_Amman_Temple_Madurai_India Ellen Saltonstall Yoga

Plan of Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai, India.

I love that Hindu temples are designed to mirror the layers of the human body. Put your western anatomical thinking aside for the moment, and consider this: We each are made of five concentric sheaths, or layers of being, called koshas. The outermost layer is the sheath of food, the physical body. Next is the more subtle sheath of breath, followed by the still more subtle sheath of thinking, followed by the sheath of understanding. The most subtle and central core sheath is of bliss, in which we revel in our own being in the most profound way.  We practice yoga to traverse gradually and systematically through these koshas.

The temples are constructed in concentric courtyards to represent these sheaths. The first entrance and courtyard have the bustle of regular life, but as you get closer to the central area, there’s a strong feeling of vibrating stillness, like what we can experience in meditation.   The inner sanctum is often dark and partially hidden, pulling us in like a magnet.

The Nataraj Temple in Chidambaram was the main focus of my pilgrimage; I had heard about it for years, and it was thrilling to be there. Its history goes back to the second century BCE and, among Shiva devotees, it is the pinnacle of sacred places.

Chidambaram Ellen Saltonstall Yoga

At Chidambaram Temple. (clockwise, left to right): Ellen and family; Fire ceremony; Nataraj.

Nataraj is the name given to the form of Shiva dancing the cosmos into creation. He has four arms and two legs, and each limb is performing a cosmic function: creation, sustenance, destruction, concealment, and revelation.  The temple’s architecture has correspondences to the human body: the golden roof over the inner sanctum is made of the same number of tiles as the number of breaths we take every day. The central shrine can be entered from two sides, symbolizing the flow of blood in and out of the heart. The outer walls of the temple have nine entrances, corresponding to the orifices of the human body.  The iconography on the major towers (gopurams) depicts the 108 dance forms of Bharanatyam.  Honoring the sanctity of the human body is built right into the temple.

This temple, covering 35 acres of land, is cared for by a democratic and hereditary group of 300-400 priests who perform all the rituals and attend to visitors to the temple. We had one priest as our host, a charismatic man with a dynamic energy and huge heart. He guided us through our day there with great generosity and compassion. We watched many ceremonies, and I was particularly mesmerized by the chanting of mantras and sacred texts. Sometimes I could recognize words and could chant along, and other times I just bathed in the sound.  It felt both very exotic and also very familiar, as if I had been here before.  It also felt nourishing at a very deep level. After each ritual, the priest would say: “Happy?” And I was. The chanting had a purifying effect, burning away the dross of mundane distractions and worries to reveal a wellspring of underlying joy.  What a gift!  Seeing the practices of yoga in their historical context of these south Indian temples gave me a potent reminder of the power and diversity of this path, for which I’m profoundly grateful.

Join me on March 5 & 6 for the Bodymind Ballwork Workshop where we use we use rubber balls of varying sizes and textures (as small as a walnut and as big as a melon) to support, massage and stretch localized areas of the body. Experience a positive mental and physical shift!

Look for Anatomy for Yoga Teachers and Students and Bodymind Ballwork, two new titles by Ellen Saltonstall to be published in 2016.

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Photo credits:
Plan of Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai, India : https://en.wiki2.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Amman_Temple
Image of Naturaj figurine: http://www.chidambaramnataraja.org
All other photos by Ellen Saltonstall

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Release Shoulder Tension with Bodymind Ballwork

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This is one of the best stress-busters I know of.  Who doesn’t have tightness in the upper shoulders?   Working on a computer, carrying things or children, worrying, getting inadequate sleep, and having less-than-ideal posture—these all contribute to chronic contraction in the trapezius, a superficial muscle spanning your entire upper back and neck.  When you let go of tension here, with the help of balls, it does a huge service to your state of mind—not to mention helping to dissolve headaches and neck tension.

You’ll need two balls about the size of tennis balls (2-3” diameter), a place to lie on the floor, and a yoga block, if you have one. You might also want a bolster to rest your hands on, if your shoulders are tight, and a yoga mat for padding.

Lie on your back with the bolster above your head on the floor and the block near you. Take a moment to settle yourself, releasing unnecessary tension as much as possible while breathing fully. Notice how your shoulders feel.

Then place the balls under your upper shoulders, one on each side, in the area between the base of your neck and your shoulder blade. This is the upper trapezius, as well as some other deeper muscles. Bring your arms up in front of you and bend your elbows, pointing them toward the ceiling. This position brings more weight onto the balls and keeps them in place. You can rest your hands on your forehead or the floor behind your head.

There are two movements, each done very slowly and with awareness and care.  Notice as many details of sensation as you can. Don’t rush.  The benefit comes from the balls’ pressure on your tissues, the slow movement, and your attention.

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1) Move your arms slowly up and down toward the ceiling, in a movement called protraction of the shoulder blades, which move away from the spine. Take special care to release your arms back to your rest position, feeling them settle onto the balls.  Do this for several minutes.

 

IMG_02592) Extend your arms overhead, resting your hands on the bolster or on the floor. Settle in this new position, and feel the difference in sensation where the balls are. If they have slipped out of place, just reach back with one hand to reposition them.

Now move your shoulders and upper back slowly and carefully off to one side, shifting sideward rather than turning. Keep your weight on both balls if you can. It’s a small movement, just enough to work into the muscles laterally.  Return to center and repeat to the other side, and continue like this as long as you like.

Try this variation: place the block under your pelvis and feel how this changes the balls’ contact with your trapezius muscle. Then repeat #2, slowly moving from side to side to massage the muscle. If you find a trigger point, you can stay on that spot for a longer time, or go back and forth over it.  Be careful to keep your movements slow and steady.

After 5-10 minutes, remove the balls and feel your shoulders as you lie flat on the floor. Is there a change? What do you feel?  This is the beginning of the trapezius technique, which you can read more about in my upcoming book, Bodymind Ballwork.

If you have questions or want to tell me how it feels, please write me via the contact page. Look for another blog coming soon with essentials for shoulder alignment and strengthening.

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Self Care for the Holidays, Inside and Out

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OMThis time of year gets busy, whatever holidays you do or do not celebrate. Year-end tasks, family visits, shopping, changing seasons, school events – it can be overwhelming. We all need some self-care, but we think we don’t have time. My message to you is: YOU DO HAVE TIME – perhaps just 10-15 minutes a day – and it will pay off with more centeredness to go about your day and your week.

Why do we procrastinate and delay the very things we know are good for us? Maybe it’s because we doubt that we’ll enjoy doing them, or that we’ll be successful at them. Or something else is “more important”. We all do this. Procrastination and avoidance can apply to self-care like meditation or exercise, chores around the house, professional tasks, or even big life changes like changing where you live, whom you live with, and what you do with your time.

When we are nagged internally by those things that we want-but-don’t-want to do, one approach is to examine the task or project or situation, and find a small – and specific – step in the right direction. A little bit goes a long way.

Let’s say you want to meditate, but you never seem to get around to it. The first step is to pick a time and place – both need to be quiet (although once you are a practiced meditator, you can do it anywhere). The next step is to choose a method – will you use awareness of breath, or a mantra, or some other method?   Sally Kempton’s book, Meditation for the Love of It, is a great source of ideas. Also, set a realistic time frame – I recommend at least 15 minutes to start with.

Then you need to drop your expectations of having some huge breakthrough right away. Meditation is a slow process of reconnecting to more subtle layers of awareness. In normal Western culture, we are not trained to turn inside and see what’s behind the thinking mind. There’s a one-liner about meditation: “It’s not what you think….” Give yourself a chance to find out, to let something emerge. Do a little bit at a time. Even if your mind races at first, watch it lovingly and breathe. Your mind will calm down and there is a deeper part of your awareness – the witness – that can watch the process.

To help the mind and breath to slow down, try chanting the syllable ‘OM’ for a few minutes. Pick a comfortable pitch, feel the vibrations inside of you, and allow your mind to become absorbed in those vibrations. Picture them healing and cleansing you inside. See how you feel afterward. It may be much easier to drift into meditation.

How about practicing yoga asana? Many of my students love coming to class but don’t manage to practice regularly at home. My advice: choose three things you’ve learned in class that feel good, and follow the same steps – find a time and place, and drop your expectations, and just DO IT. Your body will thank you and remind you to do it again.

My ballwork students tell me how much they gain from doing the ballwork in class, yet they don’t do it at home. Again, just 10 or 15 minutes can make such a big difference in your state of mind and your connection to your body. Releasing tension, opening up the breath, and simply tuning into yourself is immensely powerful as a re-set to your day, and money in the bank of sanity. You can do it anytime in the day – beginning, middle or end.

One more little thing that can make a difference in your state of mind – your physical environment, your home or office. Maybe you can reorganize a shelf or tabletop that’s covered with clutter, or get a bunch of flowers to brighten up the room. These little touches of beauty and order can be an undercurrent of coherence in a complex life.

Remember:

1) Pick a time and place
2) Choose a method of meditation or other practice
3) Set a realistic time frame
4) Drop your expectations and be present

Will power is a muscle – it gets stronger with use.

Look for Anatomy for Yoga Teachers and Students and Bodymind Ballwork, 2 new titles by Ellen Saltonstall to be published in 2016.

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The ABCs of Yoga: Awareness, the Balance of opposites, and Creative expression

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vrksas back

B is for Balance of Opposites: Tree Pose, Vrksasana.

B.K.S Iyengar said, “The study of asana is not about mastering posture. It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself.” My teacher, Mary Dunn, taught her own version of this:  “First you learn about the asanas, and then you learn about yourself in the asanas.”

I have pondered this a lot over my 34 years of practice. What are we really practicing? We are not just making shapes, stretching, getting a workout – there’s so much more to it.  My thoughts have been greatly influenced by my teachers, but at a certain point I felt the need to distill my personal approach into a paradigm. It can be summarized as ABC:  Awareness, the Balance of opposites, and Creative expression.

We focus on the ABCs in my upcoming workshop, Yoga Anatomy and Therapy.

A for Awareness

In asana, the practice of awareness can take many forms. The first and most important step is to become aware of yourself in the present moment. When practicing asana, we move our awareness into our bodies. We exercise our “muscles of awareness” in relation to sensations, thereby increasing our ability to be aware in all other areas of our lives.

As you practice asana, here are some questions that might trigger your awareness.

Important note: Awareness is separate from analysis and judgment!  Try to let all sensations and thoughts register without categorizing them or giving yourself a scorecard. 

What is your state of being, your energetic presence right now? Do you feel focused or distracted?  Tired or energized?

What body sensations are you aware of?  Listen to find out if parts of your body talking to you, either to relay that they are feeling good, or that there is some pain or compression or strain.  Is there any area of the body that might need extra care today in your practice?

Feel the pull of gravity on your body, and notice if it feels like a burden, or more like a comforting sense of grounding.

Become aware of your breath – its texture, rhythm, and degree of comfort or discomfort.  Observe it without judgment.

Observe the activity of your mind.  Perhaps there are worries, plans, or other distractions, or perhaps your mind is calm and focused.  It’s natural for the mind to generate thoughts, but we can take a step back and observe it.

What do you want to offer today with your practice, and what do you want to receive?  Acknowledge your goals for your practice – for both your body and your mind.

Can you catch a glimpse of your own consciousness as part of something much bigger – the community of humanity and the cosmos?

With this breadth of awareness, notice how your practice becomes fuller and richer than simply “exercise”. Be open to expanding your awareness and learning about yourself while you practice, rather than just performing a task.

B for the Balance of Opposites

After the first step of becoming aware, there are guidelines help us do the physical work of the asanas without letting the process become simply making shapes. Without intention and attention, mind tends to wander to what’s on your agenda for later in the day, or a dozen other topics. I’ve found that balancing pairs of opposite actions in the body and attitudes in the mind can be very engaging, keeping me in the present moment for my practice. Here are some examples of pairs of opposites to consider.

1. Rooting and Rising

Every pose has a base, whether it is in the feet, the hands, the pelvis, the shoulders, or some other part of the body. In every asana we can simultaneously reach down into that base (“root”), and lift up away from it (“rise”).  The more we connect downward to the base, the more we can lift up. For instance, in a standing pose, the pelvis and legs root down into the earth, while the torso and spine rise up. We feel simultaneously both solidly grounded and yet expanded and light.

2. Integrating and Expanding

The body needs both integration for stability and expansion for freedom. Each of us has characteristic types of connective tissue and patterns of muscular use that will determine whether our body is more loose and flexible, or more tight and compact. During asana practice we work to bring balance to the tissues of the body and to the pose itself. We explore each posture by becoming aware of the axial lines of energy that both integrate and expand simultaneously in opposite directions.

Try this with your arms extending to the sides. With your muscles firm, draw your arms into the shoulder sockets and magnetize into your spine. Feel the stability that gives to your joints.  Then add another current of equal energy that extends from your spine all the way out to your fingertips, expanding your reach.  With those two opposite directions balanced, you’ll have tremendous strength.

3. Wrapping Inward and Outward

In the pelvis and legs, inner rotation of the hip and thigh widens the pelvis, including the sacro-iliac joint, and it tips the top of the sacrum forward which maintains a good lumbar arch.  We balance that rotation with outer rotation to bring stability and length to the sacrum, hips and lower back.

In the arms, especially in weight-bearing poses like Downward Dog, we balance inward and outward rotation as well. Placing our hands palms down onto the floor requires inner rotation, to which we add an outer rotation in the upper arms to support the shoulders well (see another blog post coming soon with more detail about safety for the arms and hands in weight-bearing poses).

4. Front and Back

Often in a pose, our attention is drawn to the front of the body. It’s what we can see in the mirror, and what others can see.  Or, perhaps in other poses, our attention goes to the back because that’s where the most muscular work is happening.  For example, in Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) we might focus on the contracting sensation in the back body in order to create the backbend shape.  Bringing attention to elongation in the front body can make space for a deeper and more comfortable backbend.

5. Core and Periphery 

I define “core” as the part of the body closest to the center. In daily life, we often move from the periphery, such as picking up a cup of coffee, or reaching a foot forward to take a step. When we’re not aware of it, our core is supporting us in whatever movement we do. To refine and strengthen our movements, we need to attend to what the core is doing.

When performing yoga poses, moving from the core is more efficient, more stabilizing and much safer for the body than moving from the periphery. For instance, when doing a twisting pose, the effects are deeper when we move from the torso and spine rather than pulling ourselves into the twist with our arms or legs.

6. Effort and Surrender

Any pose can be an exploration of a balance between holding firm and yielding. For instance, in a balancing pose, we create stability in the core of the body and the key joints that are holding us up, and yet we also leave room for yielding to the slight sway that will happen as we readjust our balance.  You can observe this in Tree Pose, Vrksasana.

In your practice as a whole, can you find the right degree of effort without working too hard or not working hard enough? Notice where you need to hold firm and where you can soften, in the body and in the mind.  Which parts of a pose will be more successful with more effort, and which parts with more surrender? Notice where you fit on the spectrum of making effort or surrendering. Are you a person who pushes very hard, or prefers to take it easy?  Find the right balance through the practice.

7. Aspiration and Acceptance

It’s good to have a goal: I want to relax, I want to become more flexible, I want to be able to fully stretch my legs and arms in Downward Dog, or to balance in headstand, or to straighten my arms in a full backbend (Urdhva Dhanurasana). These are healthy aspirations that keep us growing, reaching for our full potential, while having fun with the challenges that yoga offers. In yoga practice the aim is to balance these aspirations with an acceptance of who we are, what body we live in, our age, and what is realistic to expect. My practice in my sixties is different from what I did in my twenties. Finding this balance involves knowing ourselves and making realistic intentions while fully accepting who we are.

8. Discipline and Playfulness

Anything worth learning requires and deserves some discipline. With yoga, that discipline can take the form of doing the practices regularly, practicing some poses and techniques that are not easy for you, or holding poses for a longer time. Discipline could also mean being particularly precise with your alignment and actions as you perform the poses.

But lest you get too serious, temper that discipline with playfulness. Play with your sequencing, the speed of the practice, and even the form of the poses. Practice outdoors, in the water, or some other unusual location. Mix up the discipline with something fun.

C for Creative Expression

Each of us has a unique practice, even though the vocabulary of asana might be relatively consistent around the world. We can express our individuality and our best qualities in how we perform the asanas.

How is your yoga practice expressing something about you as an individual? Even though some aspects of yoga are centuries old, we create the practice each time we go onto the mat.  Even the act of applying these principles can be creative, not rote.

It’s good to modify poses to adapt to your needs and desires, while remaining safe.  Make a standing pose into more of a backbend, a twist, or a forward bend. Find variations that stretch you in a new way. Use props to experiment with challenging arm balances. Connect poses in creative ways. Use music to find a refreshing rhythm in your body. Practice inversions and backbends on a hillside.

Shaking things up and trying things “out of the box” is a good way to keep the practice fresh and alive.  It’s not just flexibility of the body that yoga can offer.  Tap into your creative self to keep the practice true and alive for you.

Look for Anatomy for Yoga Students and Teachers and Bodymind Ballwork, 2 new titles by Ellen Saltonstall to be published in 2016.

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Gratitude for the practices

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Every time I practice, I feel better, more alive, more connected to myself and therefore more able to connect to others. The practice could be just ten minutes, or better yet 30 minutes, an hour or more. “Practice” for me means not just asana, but meditation, chanting, and Kinetic Awareness ballwork.  I usually manage to do each of these every day.

Any one of these practices brings about a shift in energy, an inner resonance, a movement of prana that has a direct effect on how I feel physically and emotionally. Even when I’m dealing with a physical injury or a major life issue, something feels better. The inner subtle channels open, and whatever needs to happen at that time, can happen more clearly.  The challenges are often still there – physical pain, strong emotions, decisions about work or relationships, the long to-do list – but I feel connection to the inner resources I need to meet the challenges.

Sometimes the practice is fueled by happiness or excitement, other times by frustration, anger, or even fatigue.  Sometimes it’s pure discipline – doing it because of a commitment I’ve made to myself. These are all different forms of energy, always fluctuating, and often manifesting as reactions to situations. There are two yogic words for these fluctuations that I like to remember: “vrrtis”,  meaning the quicker movements of the mind and emotions – and “vasanas”,  the word for deeper tendencies in our character that recur over and over. Vrttis and vasanas can be positive, negative, or a combination of both. We all have them ! The question is, can we recognize them and ride the waves while remembering the stillness of our deepest self underneath them?  That’s where practice is so useful and such a refuge.

As a gift for yourself in this season, I invite you to take time for whatever practice connects you to your deepest self.  You won’t regret it, and it’s well worth the time.

Here’s what Judith Lasater says about practice in her book Living Your Yoga: “To practice is to pay attention to your whole life: Your thoughts, your bodily sensations, and your speech and other actions. As you do, you will discover that nothing is separate from anything else. Thoughts are the sensations of the mind, just as sensations are the thoughts of the body. Each moment of your life is a moment of potential practice.” 

Ellen Saltonstall

Photo: Paula Court

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