Down To Earth Yoga

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April Review-Working with Resources

As we started April and our second quarter, I asked everyone to reconnect with their year long vision and check in with the first set of milestones.  I suggested that the places where people were consistently hitting their targets were related to how much they actually feel connected to the value of those targets.  Often we have a target in life that we think we want but don’t go after.  I think this is a function of not really emotionally understanding the value of reaching it.  Getting emotionally connected to the target means really knowing why I want to reach for it, personally.  What does it mean to me, specifically?

I asked the visioning question, “If you had unlimited time and money for a month, what would you do that you are currently not doing?”  The answer to this question can illuminate places where, because of a belief in scarcity, I have needs which are not being met.  Targets are a way of meeting needs, so how can I set targets that actually address my own personal needs more clearly?  For example, my answer to the visioning question is that I would travel.  What does travelling represent to me?  Adventure, learning, discovery, being out of my comfort zone.  So, how can I set targets here and now that will create those experiences for me?  Maybe I need to take on a bigger challenge, or take a new class, or go on a road trip to somewhere I’ve never been.

We then returned to our original working definition of leadership:  The ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of goals.  We brainstormed all the different inner and outer resources we could think of.  Examples of inner resources were patience, clarity, courage, talents, determination, imagination, etc.  Outer resources included other people, institutions, technology, nature, etc.  We saw that resources are truly abundant, both within us and in our environment.

Money and time created an interesting question, since most of us tend to think of them as external.  In truth, it is our internal resource of consciousness that determines how we experience money and time.  Money is simply a way in which we determine value, and value is subjective.  (A dollar bill, in other words, has no value of its own independent of our experience of it.  It is just a piece of paper.  Its value comes from what I want to do with it.)   The mindset and consciousness that we have about money and also the skills with which we manage it are happening entirely within us.  Similarly, time is a function of our minds.  How we spend the resources of our time and money reveal more about what we personally value than anything about the nature of money and time themselves.

Time as a Resource

I suggested some concrete ways to begin to manage time as a resource:

• Devote sufficient time to planning.  I cannot overstate the importance of this.  The extra time you spend planning prior to taking action will save you a bundle in the long run.
• Take some sort of action, no matter how small, toward to completion of your goals and realization of your vision EVERY SINGLE DAY.  The investment of your time is cumulative.
• Reduce your plans into small steps.
• Coordinate your tasks to avoid duplicating your efforts.  Group like tasks together (all your email, all your phone calls, all your errands) rather than doing them sporadically.
• Focus on doing one thing at a time.   MULTI-TASKING IS A MYTH.  Splitting your focus not only decreases your skill level at whatever you’re doing, it is a huge time gobbler.
• Attend to the 80/20 principle, which states that 80% of your results are coming from 20% of your actions.  In other words, not all of your actions are producing equally beneficial results.  Focus your energy on actions that create rich results.
• Complete whatever you begin.  If it’s a large project, have a clear sense of what “done for today” looks like, and focus on that.  Leaving things incomplete is exhausting.
• Don’t procrastinate, but take action now.  The amount of energy it takes to put something off is always going to be more than the cost of just doing it.

All of this can be summarized in two practices:  getting better about prioritizing and choosing your targets, and getting better at hitting them.

Next I reminded everyone that, while summer is quickly approaching, winter is just 6 months away.   It’s important, as a good gardener, to plan 3, 6, 9 months in advance.  What kind of autumn do I want to have?  What kind of harvest do I want?  What sorts of resources will I need in the winter?  How can I use the summer months to set myself up for a good, rich, nourishing winter?  (In my experience of 15 years of teaching, I have seen many people become mindless in the summer, distracted by the season and its activities.  They invariably drag themselves into class in the fall exhausted, and end up having very depleted reserves for the winter.  This can be avoided by practicing  mindfulness and planning.)

I then broke down the flow chart describing the cycle of karma and where actions come from.  It may seem like all these exercises in targeting are just a kind of cool, fun activity that we’re doing, but in truth, every time I set a target that challenges me, I am put into a direct relationship with my habits.  For example,  I realized one day a few months ago that I had only had one glass of water the entire day.  This was a disturbing realization, because it meant that I had been so mindlessly out of my body as to not even realize I was dehydrated.  The mindlessness is what is disturbing and what needs correcting.  How do I do it?  By setting the 8 glasses a day target.

The flow chart looks like this:

For a full explanation of this chart, please click here.

April 27, 2010   Posted in: 2010 Lessons  No Comments

March Review-Wood Element and Self-Esteem

Wood Element

We began the spring session talking about the wood element, which predominates in Nature during this time of year.  Aspects of the wood element are similar to what we experience in the dawning of spring, including:

• strength and flexibility (like bamboo)
• a return of warmth, generosity and fecundity
• a strong seeking to grow and expand
• budding of ideas (as opposed to the seed of ideas, governed by autumn’s metal element or full flowering governed by summer’s fire element)
• a turning outward after the introversion of winter

Because the wood element governs early growth, its primary emotional component is anger (the frustration of meeting obstacles to growth or having growth thwarted).  When it is balanced, however, it also governs benevolence–goodwill– and patience.  The patience of wood is connected to it’s function as the developer and executor of clear plans.  It is the wood element that figures out how to work around obstacles, how to maintain perspective, how to keep a long view in the process, and at the same time how to focus step by step on the development of a creative project.

The tendency for wood element when out of balance is to either become to attached and rigid about one’s plans that one cannot adjust laterally and move around obstacles.  The result is a kind of belligerence:  ”My plan must be followed, regardless of the costs to myself and others.”   The other imbalance of wood might show up as a timidity in the face of obstacles:  ”What’s the point in trying?  Nothing I do ever bears fruit anyway.”

The wood element is often compared to a general, creating a strategic plan to fulfill the inner potential of the emperor (heart).  The ability to translate one’s deep vision in a step by step process in the world required a level of self-accountability and self-esteem, both of which are also governed by wood.

In the yogic model, these energies are embodied in the Manipura Chakra, the naval center.  Strengthening this area of the body (the core strength) is a good way to develop stability in the wood element and its functions.

Self-esteem and Targets

Self-esteem (unlike self-worth, which is absolute and intrinsic) can increase of decrease according to our actions.  Last year I suggested as a mindfulness practice asking the question, “Will this choice make me feel better or worse about myself?”  Notice, the question is not, “better or worse” but “better or worse about myself.”  This is a simple way to begin to build self-esteem–to start from the end point of the action and track back.  There are lots of things that might make us feel better that do not make up feel better about ourselves, and conversely, lots of things that might momentarily make us feel worse actually make us feel better about ourselves (like having the courage to confront a bad habit, leave a bad situation, etc.).  These kinds of actions create a sense of being able to trust in ourselves and our ability to take real care of ourselves and our lives.

I suggested that everyone look at his or her targets and make sure that they are challenging into limiting beliefs and habits, not just reinforcing them.  Setting difficult targets helps us to develop real self-esteem because it calls up courage, patience, and determination.

At this point in the session, I returned to the topic of left/right brain coordination (the deeper work of hatha yoga) and asked everyone to look at how they might use their targets to help create greater integration and balance.  This might look like setting more targets in your non-dominant style (such as left-brainers including more play activities and artistic targets and right-brainers organizing and creating more structure), but also approaching your targets more holistically, so from your non-habitual tendencies.

April 26, 2010   Posted in: 2010 Lessons  No Comments

February Review: Leadership and rubberbands

We began February further clarifying our vision for 2010. The first three rounds of visioning involved three criteria which I supplied:

1) What is nourishing to me?
2) What is inspiring to me?
3) What is realistic for me?

The fourth round of visioning involved looking at one’s own values criteria, what I refer to as the “Big V” vision. Everything one aspires to create in one’s life matrix (the eight categories we are working with: lifestyle, health, creative expression, self development, social life, intimate relationships, career, and finance) needs to be clearly connected to one’s own deep values. In other words, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s important to me.

At this point, I instructed everyone to establish four milestones toward each of their clear goals. For example, if my health vision is to be strong and flexible, then a goal which might demonstrate that is running a 5k marathon at the end of the year.  Well, a 5k is a little more than 3 miles. If I break up my year into quarters, then by March 31, I want to be able to run, say, 1 mile comfortably. By June 30, 2 miles. By September 30, 3 miles. This is the rough sketch of my strategic plan.   I want to do this for each of the areas of my matrix–get some clear targets.

I also suggested at this time that a visioning board is a great tool.  Gathering pictures from magazines or online of my completed goals, and putting them on a poster board as a collage is like seeing what my garden will look like in full bloom.  Images are more powerful creative tools than words.  (Think about cooking a new recipe–if you have a photo of the completed dish, it is easier than just following verbal instructions.)

Finally, I stressed the imperative to stay entirely focused only on those parts of my process over which I have control.  More creative energy is lost trying to change things beyond my control than on any other bad habit.  The only appropriate response to things beyond my control is to accept them.  Period.  Then, get back focused on my vision.

The following week, I returned to the rubber bands that I had given everyone the first week of class as a clue to the year’s topic.  I asked everyone to place their matrix (which looks like a cross between a pie chart and a bulls eye) at the end of his or her mat, and to place the rubber band in front of him or herself.  I asked the question, “How will you get your rubber band to your target?”  Everyone experimented will assorted ways, from throwing it, to carrying it, etc.  I then asked, “What is the most efficient way?”  Most people said, “Carry it there.”  I pointed out that carrying the rubber band meant that I had to exert all the energy, but that shooting the rubber band made use of the rubber band’s potential energy, and was therefore the most efficient way.  “But what if I miss the target?” several asked.  “That’s just a function of practice,”  I replied.

I then demonstrated:  I placed my target at the end of my mat.  I placed the rubber band in front of me.  I picked up the rubber band, stretched it to test its potential, and then wrapped one end around my left index finger and the other end around my right index finger.  I aimed at the target, made a few adjustments, increased the tension, took a deep breath, and released the rubber band.  If I missed (which I did a couple of times), I simply went through the process again, making appropriate adjustments.

This process of assessing, activating, harnessing, directing, and releasing energy toward targets is called LEADERSHIP.

Each person is the leader of his or her own life.  You LEAD your life.  Any time someone attempts to bring his or her vision into the world, it requires leadership.  Inevitably, there will be conflict and resistance, and how that conflict and resistance is handled is a function of leadership.  So, looking at my own vision, at my own targets, the only way they will materialize is if I lead myself to them.  It’s me, the rubber band and the target.

If my target is a mile away, I will get there one shot at a time, and the distance of that shot will depend upon both the potential of both my rubber band (external resources) and my own strength, focus, patience, adaptability, persistence, etc. (internal resources).  “The ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals,” (Ken Ogbonnia) is an excellent way of defining leadership.

For homework I asked everyone to think of examples of leaders that they both admired and had antipathy toward, and to identify what characteristics they saw being demonstrated that created those reactions.  When we discussed this homework the following week, I told everyone to look at the positive leadership qualities as the very potentials they themselves would need to call up in order to reach their visions.  AND I mentioned that the negative leadership qualities would also need to be worked with as the shadow potentials, or blind spots, that would hinder their reaching their goals.

What we all agreed upon was that inspiring leaders all work with a clear understanding of the interconnectedness of life, whereas poor leaders always operate through dividing and splitting.  Dividing and splitting (win/lose, me vs. you, us vs. them, etc.) is not a sustainable strategy.  All of Nature fights against it, as the nature of Nature is wholeness.  When our own plans align with wholeness, all of Nature supports us.  When I understand how my good supports the greater good, I have access to power than I lack when it is my good vs. the greater good.

I offered some questions to help clarify commitment at this point:  Looking at my goal, why do I want to accomplish this goal?  Why is it important to me?  What opportunities will I gain by achieving this goal?  What will I miss if I don’t achieve it?  How am I well suited for this goal?  What do I already have going for me?

Finally, last week, we started talking about distraction.  I asked everyone, “What do you habitually use to distract yourself from your goals?”  The list was varied, from TV and internet, to worry, other people, emotional dramas, reading, procrastination, and on and on.  We all agreed that these distractions served the purpose of avoidance, to which I raised the question, “Why am I avoiding taking action on goals which I myself chose?

Fear.  Right now, I feel secure in my habits.  They create a certain quality of stability, even if unpleasant or even painful.  If I start taking different actions, I will have different results.  Things will change.  I will change.  My relationships will change.  Since I cannot predict and control outcomes, there is uncertainty.  This is scary, especially to the ego whose whole job it is to create some semblance of security for me.  So the first thing to realize is that fear is a part of the creative process.   It needs to be acknowledged when it arises.  But fear is not a stop.  The question is not, “Will I be afraid?”  The question is, “What will I do fear comes up?”  This, too, is a fundamental question of leadership.

I suggested as a mindfulness exercise that everyone begin to witness and label four distinct distractions:

1) Getting seduced by more immediate gratification.  I planned to cook a wholesome meal for dinner, but I ended up getting take-out.

2) Being paralyzed by fear in all its forms.  This includes perfectionism, procrastination, worry, etc.

3)  Being unable to ask for and obtain the support, cooperation and help that I need.  No one lives in a vacuum, and no one is able to materialize one’s vision alone.

4) Getting overwhelmed and not knowing what to do first.

The assignment was to simply notice when these four distractions arose, and to label them. “This is me being seduced by immediate gratification.”  Putting the lights on is the first step.

Finally, this week, I shared my own technique that I have been working with.   Every Sunday, which I consider the beginning of my week, I envision my week ahead.  I write down what part of my plans need to happen next.  For example, part of my lifestyle vision includes some specific improvements in my house, one of which is clearing my basement and turning it into a workspace.  At the beginning of February, my basement was full of old boxes and packing material, and other junk.  I knew that that needed to be cleared out first.  So, I enlisted my mother’s help to break down the boxes, and began to  put out a percentage of the trash each week with my regular trash to be picked up.  This week, I had as part of my plan to put the last round of boxes and packing material out.

My plan for this week also included going to the gym three times for 30 minutes of cardio, since keeping my lungs and heart healthy is a part of my big vision of growing old well.  I did not say which three days, since in my experience this is a trap.  Suppose I’m planning to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but Wednesday I wake up with a splitting headache?  I need to give myself flexibility within my plan.  I also put down a date I planned to go on, drinking 8 glasses of water a day, picking up paint samples for repainting my downstairs, and many other assorted things.  These all went into the weekly plan.

Each morning, I write morning pages (those of you unfamiliar with “The Artist’s Way,” these are at least 3 pages written freehand first thing every morning.)  I take the time in the morning to envision my day ahead, and then I make a to-do list of which things from my weekly plan will be executed that day.  I mark next to each of the things on my list which part(s) of my life matrix is being nourished by this action.  Gym nourishes health.  Date nourishes social life.  Paint samples nourish lifestyle and creative expression.  I can see in black and white the actions I will take to take care of myself and move toward my vision.

This practice is incredibly grounding.   My day then unfolds by me simply following my own lead.  As I complete the things on my list, I check them off.  This also builds confidence, will and self-esteem, since I can see in front of me my own progress and capacity to take action on my own behalf.

At the end of my week, Saturday, I do an evaluation:  what worked, what didn’t work, what’s next?  I look at my results and use them as feedback for adjustments I need to make in the new week’s plan.  What I’ve discovered is that in any area where I am having troubling results, it is always because I did not take the time to plan in advance.  Anything I want to do is going to require resources, internal and external.  Those resources need to be budgeted in advance in order for me to be successful.  I need to know how much time to set aside, how much energy I will need, and when the best moment is to take action vs. to rest.

This also means I need to know myself well, know my own rhythm, limits, needs, priorities, etc..  For example, I budget into my day a period of rest.  I know I need some down time, to do some restorative yoga or take a hot bath or a catnap, in the afternoon before I teach in order to have energy for my students.  I include that in my plan.  I also include open space, time to do nothing, to watch TV, to play video games, to hang out with my dog, to read for pleasure because these are all things that I enjoy and find nourishing.  They are only troubling if I am using them as a distraction, as an avoidance.  In and of themselves, they are not a problem.  How I use them is the issue.

Operating with this technique is like target practice.  I choose every day what I’m going to be shooting for.  Some days I hit all my targets cleanly; others, not so much.  But when I miss, I just reset the target, reestablish my focus and resources, and take another shot.

February 24, 2010   Posted in: 2010 Lessons  No Comments

January 24: Visioning, Next Round

1/20/2010 Yoga Notes (thanks, Laurie)

Third criteria - Is my vision realistic?
How do I know if it’s realistic? Having a realistic sense of myself, my world, my gifts, my limitation–these are loving assessments, not wet blankets that I’m throwing on my creative dreams.

1. I am not in denial of the reality of my physical conditions. I am clear about what actually can grow in my garden (i.e. We can’t grow tropical fruits up here in CNY, but we grow great apples. Similarly, I’m too old to realistically have a vision of becoming an Olympic gymnast, and am too short to play in the WNBA.)

2. I’m clear about what would I have to pay for it. I’m clear about the resources that will be required (time, energy, money, people’s cooperation and support) and have a plan for how to gather and disperse those resources.

3. I have taken into account pre-existing commitments that are important to me (for example, commitments to children, jobs, etc.)
4. I am clear about what I can and cannot control in the process, the things that can and cannot be changed. My vision is grounded in this wisdom.

5. I am not expecting myself or someone else to become a completely different person.

6. Because of forces beyond my control, it’s possible that I can do everything right and still not get the result I want. Accepting this reality in advance, I practice non-attachment to results.
7. Finally, I am clear that my vision doesn’t rely on magical thinking. I can see that my vision will materialize as the outcome of my own planning and actions, not metaphysical voodoo or any kind of wishful thinking.

January 24, 2010   Posted in: 2010 Lessons  No Comments

January 14: Visioning Questions

Courtesy of Laurie Jerva’s great note taking:

1/13/10

January 14, 2010   Posted in: 2010 Lessons  No Comments

Ever wonder about your classmates’ notes?

Here are mine.  These are my notes from the session that ran from 9/16-11/4 of this year. A glimpse into the kinds of notes I take during class. Any thoughts? Laurie

notes-9-16-through-session

November 18, 2009  Tags: 4 primary emotions, anger, elements, fear, grief, hurt, joy, metal, sadness, stages of grief, sympathy  Posted in: Laurie Jerva  No Comments

After the Storm

Leaf detached

from Tree today;

a powerful 5 a.m. storm

set her free

Gentle Wind carried Leaf

in fanciful flight;

released from its

summer home,

Sky,

cradled by Wind,

Leaf

looped/tumbled/rose/fell

Earth waited,

ready to catch her;

a snowfall

of crimson, russet, gold

also came to rest

in a colorful, patchwork carpet

for Earth

Leaf creates soil;

nourishment for Tree

Winter:

hibernation

preparation

restoration

Spring, once more;

variations on green

Leaf appears

Tree lifts Leaf

to Sky

SKS

October  2009

November 14, 2009   Posted in: Sue Scolaro  No Comments

Karuna

Like a caress.
Like an old, worn blanket, wrapped around the shoulders.
Like a smile from a true friend.

There will always be a sense of sadness about her.
Behind the eyes, it will remain, quiet and poised.
The difference is, now she knows this is not all she is; it does not define her.
For so long, she accepted karuna as who she was.
No chance of escape.
Like a dark cloak, it enveloped her; it carried her through her days–
   heavy,
   laden,
   burdened.
She did not know there was another choice.

Impossible now to imagine.
Yet, it was as it was, for many reasons.

When light has gone from your world, it is difficult to believe it will ever return.  When it begins to filter through, there is resistance.
You argue for what you know; for the familiar.

Karuna can be seductive.

It takes courage
   to unwrap yourself
      from its warm embrace.

Karuna calls to you like a siren song.

As the shadows clear, you begin to feel again.
As the light grows stronger, you begin to see
   that all that stops you
      from being free
         is Yourself.

SKS
September 2007

In this instance, Karuna is defined as sadness.

October 24, 2009   Posted in: Sue Scolaro  No Comments

Grief

Grief is
pain, deeply imbedded,
rising to the surface,
unexpected,
quick,
sudden.

Grief is not
self-indulgent,
self-absorbed,
selfish.

No, it is none of those.

It is connection
with our lost past,
our lost hopes,
our lost people.

When grief comes upon us,
the cause is often
just a word,
a flash,
a note.

We do not sit and wait
for its visitation.

It takes us unaware;
washes over us.

Time is of no consequence;
images may even sharpen, in time.

I believe it is a continual process,
one grief enfolding into the next.

Once it has occurred,
it is part of who you are now.

Do not abandon it;
do not believe you must.

Allow it to enter,
experience it,
remember all of it.

It is yours.

SKS
February 14, 2008

October 5, 2009  Tags: grief  Posted in: Sue Scolaro  No Comments

Sweet

Like the taste of the Rasas, yoga itself has a particular flavor.

If you can let go
of preconceptions,
of long held beliefs,
of resistance,
you will be allowed
to savor
its sweetness.

All roads lead here,
in one way
or another.
There are myriad ways
to arrive.
We make it difficult; it is really
quite simple.
Each lesson is just
another road.
You get to choose
which is best
for you.

Whether through the supplicant child’s pose
or the jubilant flying bird;
whether through chant or Ganesh;
whether through examination of thought and action
or listening to another’s story;

All roads lead to Oneness.

It does not matter if the asana is perfect;
it is your pose for that day.
It does not matter if you grasp a concept;
at some point, it will make sense.
It does not matter if you believe all or none
of what you hear;
if you show up, you are then part of
what is,
for that time and place.

This is the Sweetness of yoga. It just is.
We are all striving to be better human beings;
trying to understand what that means.

Each class is a microcosm of the big picture.
If you can experience that, for even a few
moments, you will have done something good,
not only for yourself but for each life you touch.

Slip into yoga gently:
let go of inner dialogue;
let go of time limits;
let go of not feeling like it.

It will be worth it.
It will feel good.
It will be Sweet.

SKS

September 2007

Though written two years ago, this poem seems
to be appropriate for this new fall session.

September 9, 2009   Posted in: Sue Scolaro  No Comments

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