May the FORCE be with you

The following are excerpts from an article, from a Fit Yoga magazine, entitled The Journey Inward  by Elizabeth J. Neuse given to me by my buddy, Becky.

"It's 6pm on a Tuesday--rush hour.  Car horns honk, and trucks and buses rumble down city streets, but through the yogic practice of pratyahara all becomes quiet.  The term pratyahara, which means withdrawal of the senses into the mind, is the fifth of the eight limbs of yoga.  Ancient yogis practiced pratyahara as a way to conserve mental energy, so they could connect to God or a higher mind.  But pratyahara also has practical benefits for 21st century city-dwelling yogis and yoginis. 

Think about the energy we expend when we pay too much attention to the sound of a car horn, or when our eyes dart from one billboard to the next.  We assault our senses of taste and smell with artificial flavors, manufactured foods, breath-freshners, and perfume.  We wear out our ears with iPods and cellphones.  We even weaken our sense of touch with heat, air conditioning , and synthetic fabrics.

Pratyahara isn't about getting RID of the sense objects.  It means drawing your senses away from distraction and into the mind.  As Baron Baptiste explains, "It's an intentional attempt to go deeper into ourselves and turn our attention from the external world and our experience of that to our internal world and a higher level of consciousness."  Pratyahara happens in three stages...the first stage is simply becoming aware of bodily sensations.  The average person comes to their first yoga class denying the way his or her body feels.  The first stage is to just take stock of what the body is feeling.  And at first, it's like, Oh my goodness, what a mess!  If I'm really doing yoga, then I am practicing pratyahara.  For me, the whole practice is about quieting my mind to get more in touch with the way my body moves on many different levels.  It's a constant journey inward, and I haven't found the end of it yet.  I don't think I ever will. 

The journey starts with an INTENTION.  If I find my breath, I find my asana.  In other words, if I am huffing and puffing or holding my breath then I am reaching for something outside, but if I can breathe then I am staying connected inside."

We are energy... in yoga, we use the word Prana... from Star Wars, and the wise Yoda... It's an energy that..."surrounds us and binds us.  Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.  You must feel the FORCE around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere... Yes, even between the land and the ship."   So... we use different words for this energy, but it is all the same. 

When I read this article, I was SO excited because THIS is what my intention is for this Wednesday evening class of Gentle yoga/Restorative/Yoga Nidra.  To connect to our deeper selves and with this soften the distractions we face on a daily basis... of always being "connected" to our computers, our cell phones,  Facebook, Twitter, etc.  I remember a time when we had none of those distractions.  May the FORCE be with.