Top Ten Spelled Out Benefits of Practicing Hatha Yoga
by Mahalene Louis
Think of your body as your ultimate tool for expression… Isn't it in fact what carries you from place to place, what allows you to be a mother, a father, a daughter, or a son to someone, what permits you to do the work you do, and offer the gifts you are here to offer? Would you see a benefit to increase the peace of this instrument, its general state, and thus its effectiveness? If you answer "yes" to that question, read on and decipher the secret language of your body… How? Possibly the keys to that communication are in the Yoga poses, which resemble letters, and have the power to assist the rewriting of health, at all levels of one's being.
1) A as in Acceptance
I am starting my practice. It maybe that I have suffered a back injury… I may be that I have not slept last night… I may be that I have overeaten for lunch… It may be that my sciatica is a bit overactive… It may be that the body I see is not my ideal version of what it could be… It may be that I have been a bodybuilder for years… In an instant, it won't make a difference; the next following 90 minutes are between me and myself, and no one else. Acceptance has handled the plague of comparison in one single stroke, first, of me to others, and finally, of me to myself. Even that has to go: reality rules, and today is all I have, in this body, at this time! A question for you: How present are you to what is?
2) B as in Balance
It is one thing to understand theoretically that balance is the exact point of equilibrium between strength and flexibility. It is another to live it in the body, experientially, and have the discipline to simultaneously lock your knee so that your leg becomes like a pillar of strength, and to stretch your other leg, your arm(s) so that you become perfectly still, as a statue. Balance (and statues) can have a bad wrap, as they are associated with death. That perception would be valuable if death was the opposite of life, and it is not. Death is the opposite of birth, thus if attaining balance is experiencing death, then it marks also an end and a beginning. A question for you: How ready for change (death) are you at this time?
3) C as in Control
The big word has been pronounced: Control! You want to have control on your life, you don't want to lose it… Yoga teaches you to let go, to surrender: there is no control, none whatsoever! Touching your forehead on the floor one day does not mean that you will be able to do it everyday from now on. You think you have control? Think again! The good news is that when you surrender control, you can know grace. One day, out of the blue, you perform this particular twist you could not do before, and O Beloved Gods of Asanas and Other Yoga Postures, you can touch your left knee! A question for you: How comfortable are you with letting go?
4) D as in Discipline
Being a disciple is being willing to learn. That is a huge commitment, as it implies to persevere in spite of adversity while simultaneously being patient. Huge commitment, indeed! In any initiation, that is, in any learning, there is a moment when the candidate is asked to confront fear, and show utmost trust in obeying the divine call. Discipline is in the Doing, day after day, practicing obedience to the heart rather than egoic rebellion. From this under-standing, which is the position and disposition towards humility, comes understanding. A question for you: Do you DO whatever it takes to reach your goals?
5) E as in Embrace
Wisdom of the ages has taught, mens sana in corpore sano, meaning "a healthy mind, in a healthy body." It also has been said that there are no physical problems, only mental problems… I believe the contrary to be also true, that a healthy body promotes a healthy mind, and that they both work in tandem. Hatha Yoga has an all-encompassing effect on the body-mind: it energizes and restores the skeletal, muscular, digestive, cardio-vascular, glandular and nervous systems, which in turn assist the mind. One embraces and supports the other, just as it is meant to be! A question for you: Are you in a full partnership with your body?
6) F as in Focus
Focus, or the power of concentration, may be where the interaction of body and mind are the most obvious, and where instantaneous manifestation is the clearest. For example, you may have experienced being ready for a relationship, and, kaboom, here is your mate! The same applies for the darling pink dress you were looking for… To the extent that you are totally (emphasis is on "totally") ready for it, "it" shows up effortlessly. Yoga gives continuous instances of this concept. I have the thought, "I can't stretch any further," and, kaboom, the body comes out of the pose! If on the contrary I focus on the thought "I can do it" and never allow me to touch the next doubtful thought, I remain in the posture steadily. A question for you: How responsible and willing are you in practicing mind over matter?
7) G as in Gratitude
For me, it never misses. I come to the triangle pose, whose magical Sanskrit name is Trikonasana, and my heart fills with gratitude. Maybe it is because it is the apex of the particular practice I follow, Bikram Yoga. Maybe it is the moment where the top of my being is attained. Maybe it is because this particular pose exercises all organs equally. Yet each time I come to triangle pose, no matter that it is a demanding pose, I rejoice, as I know the gates of gratitude are about to open. The feeling is unlike any other; as if a little voice inside me is singing "I am in, I am in!" Incomparably delicious! A question for you: Do you wake up everyday, happy to be in your body and looking forward to serve?
8) H as in Hatha Harmony
Ha is the Sanskrit for "sun", tha means "moon" and Yoga represents the union of the two. Thus Yoga brings harmony between opposites. The moon evokes the changing (flexible) aspect of life, whereas the sun (strength) has always been associated with steadiness and reliability. These two energies, the moon and the sun, the feminine and the masculine, the right brain and the left brain, co-exist in the body. Ultimately, the two opposite paths are meant to meet in the middle path, the spine, and live happily forever after. In the meanwhile, one can be amazed at the difference between getting into a position from the right side of the body, or from the left side. A question for you: Are you equally exercising both parts of your brain, and also both parts of your body?
9) I as in Integrity
The particular flavor of Yoga I delight in is called "Bikram Yoga", and is a sequence of 26 poses in between 2 breathing exercises. "Just like there are 26 letters in the alphabet," Yogi Bikram would say, "my Yoga has 26 postures." Out of these 26 letters/postures, the story of health writes the wholeness of itself in all integrity: it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It restores and renews, which is the meaning of the Latin "integrare", the life to the body. We spoke earlier of balance as death… There is another form of death, and thus of rebirth in Yoga: the dead man pose, Savasana, in Sanskrit. It is the restful pause meant to balance the work, the stress. Dying in Yoga, dying to Yoga can be the supreme integration. A question for you: Do you know when to stop?
10) J as in Jubilee and Jubilation
I am about to celebrate a Jubilee of sorts. Although not a 50th anniversary, I am a few days from celebrating 60 days of Bikram Yoga in a row. I decided. I decided that I would commit, meaning that I would obey, and then understand. And I did it, day after day, which, for someone who had opted early on to be an intellectual rather than an athlete, was not a small feat! As the days have passed, I have come to understand what healing can mean, beyond the agenda I had on what a healed "body" looked like. I have come to really accept, balance, not control, discipline myself again and again, embrace, focus, give grace, harmonize… I have come to more integrity I have ever had. I have come to write this Top Ten piece, in my heart, my body and my soul. Just so that I could share it with you, and ask you a final question: Whether it is in marketing yourself or in the way you treat your body, will you commit, will you respond "I do", will you marry the Sun and the Moon of yourself, so that this earth can heal?
Mahalene Louis, inspirational anchor, author, and teacher, has created a powerful mini-movie as a result of 22 years of study and experience in creativity, communication and human development. Become inspired, share in the abundance that the Tree of Life has to offer being in present consciousness, love, and gratitude. She recently authored “CraQKing the QKabbalah QKode: How Healing the Jewish Agenda Connects (Your) Life!”
All articles used with permission courtesy of www.mahalenelouis.com
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