balance

Last night during my yoga practice, I discovered that while standing in tadasana (mountain), I can ground my legs if I drop my tail bone ever so slightly so my pubic bone lifts. In this stance, I can lift one knee, or stand in Vrikshasana (tree), or  in Nataraja asana (king dancer) and not lose my balance. So I stood firmly grounded on my left foot and lifted my right knee and played around with my arms in different positions, and never lost my balance! It was so amazing to me that an infinitesimal change can result in a picture-perfect pose. Later, while getting ready for bed, I did my tree pose in my pajamas in the middle of my bedroom and felt totally centered.  I noted that despite my pajamas' silky texture, I did not flail about and fall! Now I can get into a tree pose anywhere--in my office, in the grocery store, in the airport. This is the best pose when you have to deal with queues!

Stop and enjoy the present moment

Stop and enjoy the present moment, advises Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk. As I am getting ready for my semester, I am taking this advice seriously. Why? Because my job demands so much of me. I am expected to be on my feet attending to a million things. When I feel overwhelmed, I try to breathe and simply focus on the breathing. This helps to center me. Right now, I am enjoying writing this string of sentences about stopping and enjoying the moment.  When I think about the present moment, the moment and the item in it is all there is. Everything outside of this moment fades away. We call this attention. I have been trying to practice this attention in each thing I do. But it is hard sometimes when there is a to-do list beckoning me to hurry in different directions. I try to still this "hurrying" mind and state, "That can wait. We need to breathe right now and take in the present moment and enjoy it." I try to keep saying that to the maverick mind and get it lie down like a dog that has given up begging for tidbits. But, let's see how my current week fares and if I am able to continue to practice attending to the here and the now and enjoying this feeling of being fully in the present.

ardha chandrasana

I enjoyed transitioning from trikonasana (triangle) to ardha chandrasana (half moon) today. My body felt light, my knees did not lock, nor did they bend like they used to.  Looking up at my hand, I felt I was really gazing up at the moon. This pose felt normal today.