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My blog has been a great daily writing discipline. It was one of my goals to set aside time everyday to write, and India was an excellent awakening influence. Friends and family are also asking me if I will continue as it has become a bit of a soap opera! And so the sprouting sage saga continues...

I went to yoga last night for the first time back. Despite jet lag, travel tightness and a hamstring 'on strike', I thought I should continue with my India inspired daily practice. Before, I was soooo impatient and would push myself into poses. This time, I gently just went into the poses with grace and ease, not minding how far and deep I could go. I actually felt more flexible in certain poses and blissful at the end. Finally a savasana that I fell deeply into. Not like the 2 minute savasana at the shala...

I copied this beautiful excerpt from Tara Bray, Shambhala Sun, July 2003:

"I've finished my two-hour ashtanga practice, and my hair is soaked in sweat. Every inch of my body is exhausted. I lie down on my mat, open my palms for the final position, let the bandhas go. My body feels completely alive, yet growing cool, the muscles gone lax with something more powerful than sleep.There are no words for the space I enter. It is not death, but I am still. It is not a dream, but I am lying down, my eyes closed. There is a certain vividness.

Savasana. Which translates into "corpse pose." Dead still. This is the final posture. Practice your yoga, then lie flat on the floor and die to what you've done, feet falling open, hands turned palms up. The body should grow long and still and should become weightless. The bones should sink to the ground as the torn heart opens so the sky dwellers may look down and see this world as it is, bloody and rhythmic. The breath should move without effort. The skin should open its tiny, hidden mouths and let the air stream through in small, silent gasps.

Savasana is a position we know well, stretched out and lying on our backs as if sleeping, but it is said to be one of the most difficult of the poses. A perfect savasana needs perfect discipline. It is not only very uncomfortable to the brain, but it makes the body feel like a piece of dry dead wood.

Consider some of the guidelines for entering savasana:
Imagine a straight line running from your chin to your sternum to your pubic bone. Allow your bottom teeth to drop away from the top ones. When each toe grows limp, quiet your sacrum. Make each nostril wide. Let your head be the last thing to plunge like a stone. Remember, a stone is mute. The path downward can feel like a perfect dream. It is not real until everything shuts down into nothingness. The ground is a friend to the spine. Be there.

And maybe savasana is like coming to the edge, the border between one world and another so you can remember what it means to be alive. The truth is, there's just so much I'll never know. For now, I am tired. My breath is slowing down, and I am thankful to have been allowed my practice one more day. Another day: it is enough."
Beautiful!

I finally relented and picked up a book in India that kept drawing me in. "Jesus lived in India". I thought it may be sacrilege. Then Rachel told me she was reading it, and I saw it as a sign. She explained the theory of Jesus being a yogi, which he studied during his youth, accounting for the lost years in the Bible. One of the explanations for His ability to heal others, surviving the crucifixion and walking on water. At the London airport, the flight agent saw my book and laughed. In his British accent he quipped, "Jesus lived in India? I don't think sooo!"

There are so many mind blowing acts that advanced yogis are capable of doing. Levitating while in a trance and other miracles that defy the laws of nature. Like Jesus' lightness to walk on water. "The ancient yogis worshiped lightness. There are stories of them becoming so light that when they ran across the earth, their bodies lifted off the ground. Some had to attach iron chains to their ankles to keep them earthbound. Even in Westernized asana classes, we are instructed to be light-to float from pose to pose." (Another quote I found interesting from the above article)

Well I did get get lighter doing yoga 6 times a week. I was cuddling Damian and he remarked, "I see you sharpened your hip bones while in India!"

Great site: http://www.shivarea.com
See an amazing video of yoga moves...