Prashanti the Philosopher

Back to the topic of Parinama or Transformation....

At the risk of injuring my husband who will fall off his chair laughing when he reads this....I am learning to be a morning person.

Part of that is creating new samskaras...new habits and that is a step down the path of transformation.  

Rising at 5:30 to make coffee, snack on some muesli, fruit and "curd" as yogurt is called here, helps to get things going.  Follow that with the brisk walk to and through our beautiful park to get to class, ideally by 6:30, seals the deal.  Class begins at 7 am sharp, and I want to get a good spot in the hall.

The main reason to get up so early is this:  I REALLY want to be fully alert for Prashant's classes because to take in the gems of the philosophical monologue that will weave through as we practice the sequence he calls out requires a high level of attentiveness to the words (he invents many), the ideas and how they affect the experience of the pose. 

We jump into what ever pose he calls out, and with rapid fire delivery begins the exposition of his thoughts on what is yoga.  At first he challenged us to do with no instruction, not because we don't need it, but because we should be alert to our state of body, mind and breath and determine how to work in the pose based on that.   Are you sleepy?  Are you stiff? Does you hip hurt?  Are you angry, sad, happy?  Do you need to work in your legs or your back?  If in your legs, is the front of the leg or the back of the leg you need to focus on?  While this goes on, you ponder and do and observe.  

But then your attention is drawn back out:  "Now, ALL OF YOU, listen here!", he says, and paraphrasing:  The needful practice of linking your mind-body is good, but notice what happens as you add the breath awareness.  What if you move on the inhalation, what happens then?   Ok now during the exhalation go deeper.  Now at the pause after the inhalation.  Try it with an uddiyana bandha.  Where does the mind go?

Silence while we work and try to let it sink in.  Then again we are drawn outside of our selves:  

"ALL OF YOU!  Come here and sit."   

Prashant has many stories this week about his father, all told with a smile in his eyes.   Some make us laugh, others offer an insight into Guruji or an "ah ha" moment.  Every photo of Guruji from Light on Yoga is on the wall above us.  In our third class with him, Prashant points to a photo and notes that these were done to try to capture what he wanted to teach, but were just a single moment, a "photasana".  How different the pose might look if he were practicing it for the body, mind and breath union.  

"How would YOU do differently", he asked us, "if you were doing this pose during a scan of the brain?"  He then points to the photo of Savasana - Corpse pose and reveals that Guruji instructed the photographer how to know that he was truly in the pose and not take the photo before he saw those qualities.  The face has a look of deep relaxation, the skin soft and fluid.  "That", Prashant notes, "is NOT photasana."  

Each early morning class with Prashant brings a new twist (no pun intended) to the practice, moving closer to the goal of yoga, transforming how to think not just about practice, but also the self in the many layers of our being - physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.