Upeksa
Had a little tiff with a family member over the phone. And as I was listening to them get angry at me, I felt the "alien" monster in me rise up and want to lash out at them.
But, I paused.
Took a deep breath.
And responded, instead of reacted.
I said, "Thank you; I'll think of what you said and consider it." And hung up.
Earlier in the day, I had just read a quote from a book my friend Tony had given to me, about quotes from Ram Dass. One of them struck me, "Treat everyone you meet as if they were God in drag." What a great quote! The quote was marinating in my consciousness as this family member was challenging me. And I paused, thinking, what if they were God in drag? What if part of what they are saying is true? Hmm. Slowly, I started to experience a bigger perspective that the Buddhist and yogis refer to as "upeksa" or evenness of mind, equanimity. Upeksa is seeing the big picture, having an eagle-eye point of view instead of getting caught up in all the little details. It is such an important quality that the Buddha considered it one of the four Brahma-Viharas (the other three are mudita, metta and karuna).
So I taught classes about having evenness in our postures.
Continued going deep into the hips and some strange arm balances.
I find that arm balances are the least graceful of all the poses. I kind of huff and puff my way in and out of them. So they are a great field to explore the quality of evenness in.
Theme: Upeksa
Focus: Muscular Energy
"As we are seated noticed if you are favoring one side more than the other."
"Find evenness in the cycle of your breath."
"Most poses in yoga are asymmetrical, so find balance between your strength and your freedom."
Sequence:
Child's Pose, Down Dog, Uttananasana
Suryas with shoulder stretches
Crescent with arms backs, fingers interlaced. Go to Ostrich
Garudasana
Trikonasana to Ardha Chandrasana to Ardha Chandra Chapasana to Revolved Ardha Chandrasana to Pigeon prep #1
Forearm Balance with a block between the wrists and the palms up.
"Hug in towards the part of you that is always centered."
Gomukhasana; add twist
All fours take one leg into lotus, go to AMS (down dog) and then into Kasyapasana
Agnistambhasana
Eka Pada Galavasana prep
Eka Pada Galavasana
Baddha Konasana stretch with block
Mayurasana
Triangmukahikapada Paschimottanasana
Krounchasana
Bharadvajasana #2
Lotus
Supta Padangusthasana
Savasana
Anusara Poster Project Pose: Mayurasana, Kasyapasana, Eka Pada Galavasana
I hear you. Craig Hamilton calls it looking for what you don't already know.
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I love that Cate!
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