Yoga PT (Personal Training) & our past Meditation Retreat [Part IV] - by Talia

 

Yeongdeok Dawn Meditation Center, South Korea

In Personal Training with Wongjanim (the Yoga director at our studio), we have been focusing on grounding.

What does "grounding" mean?

The Teachers keep saying 'press your hands down' when we are in Downward Facing Dog.

'Yoga is effortless effort'

I can see my effort on my mat. It could not have been effortless then. I keep trying to do, instead of just being...

As I stood in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold) yesterday Wongjanim said 'press your hands down', and then 'you cannot feel your hand pressing, can you?' She brought my hands forward a little. My palms are now flat on my mat. I've done this before, but suddenly I notice that I'm still not pressing my hands down. It's a half-hearted effort; like I am resting [half-sleep or half-awake].

When the Teachers say 'press your hands down', they mean be aware of your whole palm. 

In Cobra pose, Wongjanim showed me how I come down onto my knees, then chest and chin, each time leaning forward. I go forward, not down. I am looking forward. I am not where I am. I am not in the present. I am reaching into somewhere else. I am trying to make a shape.

Yoga is not about a shape.

There is only one definition of yoga postures "asana" in the the scripture:

'Asana is steady and comfortable'

Then how to be steady and comfortable?

From the ground, and only then going up. The ground is the place you start; just from where you are now. So first, feel it and be present.

There on the rocks it was not too comfortable. The rocks poke into me, but I can just aware of those sensations. I don't create suffering and identify with it as pain. It is just a sensation. I found a comfortable place as I sat there, and just watched whatever came up. Steady and comfortable on the rocks, feeling grounded.

The Rocks & Ocean

Aware of my whole hand

Aware of my whole foot

Aware of my heart

Aware of my whole body

Aware 

of my breath

Next stop:  

Yeongdeok Dawn Meditation Center

Part V to follow!