In This Chapter

V Finding peace in a stressful world

V What meditation teaches us

V Reaching the yoga zone of flow

V Flow in an actual yoga pose

Life is not a war, it's not a contest, and it's not a race. Life is being. Yoga helps you see this truth and live it each moment. The need to name, label, evaluate, and analyze everything we come into contact with can be debilitating to the spirit. Yoga teaches you to look without classifying, to listen without judging, to feel without losing control, to learn without assuming you already know—simply, to be.

Everything is subjective. Realizing this will help bring peace to your busily categorizing mind and help you see the truth in difficult situations, people, and even yourself. Labels make perception seem easy, but perception isn't easy, so banish the labels and look harder and closer at yourself and the world. Let yoga show you how.

A Fight-or-Flight World

There's no doubt about it—we live in a stressful world! The human animal has a specific way to deal with stress, and it's called the fight-or-flight response. When confronted with a stressful situation, your adrenaline starts pumping. Your muscles tense. Your

senses heighten. In essence, your body becomes primed to deal with the stress in two ways: either fight with the utmost energy and strength, or get away as fast as possible. How can fight or flight help you? It gives you energy. It gives you a quick reaction time. Your mind is sharper and clearer. If you recognize all this and work with your body, your experience of a stressful situation—say, presenting a new product line at work or teaching a class to a new group of students—will be vibrant and exciting.

The problem with the fight-or-flight response comes when it's engaged too often. Bodies can take only much stress, and if your body and mind are forced into a constant elevated state of stimulation, muscle tension, and excess energy, you're bound to break down. Maybe you'll get sick, collapse from exhaustion, or just plain lose your ability to communicate so that others can understand you. The problem with our world is that it constantly bombards us with stressful situations. What's more, our culture rewards those who take on the most stress. Who do you admire more—your colleagues who are always taking on projects and coming up with new ideas, working late every night, and helping everyone else who gets behind? Or the colleagues who relax at their desks talking on the phone, leave at five with overflowing in-boxes, and never seem in a hurry to get anything done?

We want the overachievers on our team: the high-powered, assertive, I-can-do-anything types. With that kind of pressure, it's no wonder we're all under so much stress.

Enter yoga! In a fight-or-flight world, yoga is like a daily trip to the spa. Not only will it relax you and calm your mind, it can fine-tune the fight-or-flight response. With yoga, you learn to clear your mind and listen. You learn to focus, concentrate, and tune in. Obstacles that confuse us and prohibit us from seeing clearly are gently washed away with yoga. When the fight-or-flight response kicks in, the yoga practitioner can channel it so that it's as productive as possible. When your muscles tense, you're aware of them and can direct their energy to stand straighter, move more quickly, and react more deftly. As your senses heighten and your thinking sharpens, you'll see how to clear your mind of everything but the task at hand. Answers will come to you. The perfect combination of words will flow effortlessly from your mouth. You'll be able to perceive your situation clearly—the motivations of others, your position in the circumstances, and what should be done. Panic is replaced by confidence.

Yoga isn't magic. It doesn't turn you into someone you aren't—but yoga is the key to making the fight-or-flight response work for you, because it gives you control over your physical and mental responses to this instinct.

Concentration, Relaxation, Meditation

Meditation is an important part of yoga. But maybe you aren't interested in meditating. That's fine—just practice the asanas. Chances are, however, that the more you progress through the asanas, the more interested you'll become in meditation. Meditation can do wonderful things for your mind and your body.

Perhaps you aren't sure what meditation is. Really, it's a simple concept. Meditation is the process of attaining total awareness through the cessation of thought. You begin by relaxing. You concentrate on relaxing. Perhaps you feel like a wave relaxing into the ocean, because that's what you are. You are a part of the universe the way a wave is part of the ocean. In fact, repetition of the mantra Om even sounds like waves on the shore. Soon your thought waves decrease and become still. The wise Indian sage Patanjali said, "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind." We say "Still waters run deep."

As you let your mind relax, notice the thoughts that come to you. Acknowledge them, then let them go. This is difficult at first. We are so used to having busy minds. Especially if you've never meditated before, you may find it virtually impossible to stop following and obsessing over the thoughts racing through your mind. You may think about

chores you should be doing, a problem at work, a fight you had with your spouse or child, what to make for dinner, or what you plan to do that weekend. We are conditioned to believe that every minute should count and that we should always be getting as much done as possible. But yoga disagrees with this notion. Yoga says that the mind needs to be stilled occasionally to keep it working at peak efficiency. Face it: You wouldn't leave all the appliances on in your house all day long every day and expect them to work properly for a long period of time. Things would go haywire, burn out, blow out, blow up, or break down.

Ouch!

Even meditation can be counterproductive. Although you probably won't pull a muscle while meditating, it's possible to stay stressed, or even to become more stressed, in your efforts to relax! Don't think. Don't worry that you aren't meditating correctly. Feel your body, feel your breathing, and feel who you are. Let your thoughts flow through your mind like pictures on a movie screen, flickering and passing on. Gently, lovingly, let each thought go. Ahhhh!

So why should your mind be any different? It isn't a perpetual motion machine. If you don't learn how to calm and still your mind, it's bound to need some loving care and maintenance. We're not saying that if you don't meditate, you'll go nuts (though it's possible!). What we're saying is that a neglected mind is one that doesn't work as well as it could. Meditation is mental maintenance. Teaching yourself how to relax your mind and release it from the stress of thought for a short period each day keeps it clear and clean. You'll think better. You'll see more accurately and with more insight. You'll be able to concentrate and focus on things like never before. You'll be able to truly relax. In fact, you'll probably be amazed at the mind power you never knew you had.

From Full Mind to Mindfulness

What is stillness? Simply a lack of movement? As you move through your daily life, stillness would probably not be an adjective you would use to describe your mental state. You are busy, you have responsibilities, and you are good at what you do. This takes a full mind, a mind always thinking about what to do next. A mind prepared to deal with conflict. A mind ready to tackle anything, whether it's a toddler's temper tantrum or capturing a multimillion-dollar account for your company. Who has time for stillness when you've got so much to do?

You do, because stillness will take your full mind; empty it out; give it a good, thorough cleaning; and transform it into a mindful mind. What does that mean? A mindful mind is like a mirror that is meticulously polished. It reflects what is really there and nothing else. When you become mindful, you learn to suspend everything you believe about yourself, others, and the world. Your limits, your shortcomings, your fears, what people have told you that you can and can't do—all these are put on hold. What's left is the real you, and your possibilities are limitless. Mindfulness takes courage. It can be scary to look at the real you. But if you take a good look, you'll have new power. You'll understand who you are like never before.

And, as your self-concept expands, so will your concept of the world. Everything is within your grasp. Yet you aren't grasping—you're simply living, achieving, and being the best person you can possibly be. Have you heard the phrase "optimize your hard drive"? That's not just for your personal computer. Yoga optimizes the hard drive in your head! This involves extending your meditation to your daily life. Once you've made meditation a part of your life, you can gradually learn to carry its principles with you throughout your day. When negative feelings arise, gently push them away as if they were balloons. Look at them, note them, acknowledge them, and then let go of the string. If people are unkind, unfair, or judgmental of you, you can learn to gently push these balloons away, too.

Meditation in daily life means remembering the peace and stillness you've learned to achieve during regular meditation, then finding that peace and stillness throughout the day. The real you will shine through best when you're in touch with this inner peace.

Wise Yogi Tells Us

To help yourself meditate, think of all the definitions of yourself you know. "I am a teacher." "I am a father." "I am bad at math." "I am talented." "I am shy." "I am lazy." "I am well-meaning." "I am jealous." Now pretend these definitions are untrue. Just pretend. Then look beyond. What's left is the real you, and you may be surprised at what you see. Surprised and pleased, as if you've met an old friend you haven't seen in years ... maybe even in lifetimes!

Relax Past Your Boundaries

What are your boundaries? We all have them, and they are all branches of avidya, or our false perceptions of life and of ourselves. Boundaries limit us from the truth and from our potential. Some of the boundaries we impose upon ourselves are known as asmita, or ego; raga, or attachment; dvesha, or rejection; and abhinivesha, or the survival instinct.

Know Your Sanskrit

Avidya (pronounced ah-VEE-dyah) is the word for incorrect comprehension. The opposite of avidya is vidya (VEE-dyah), correct understanding. Avidya inhibits our perception in many ways—through automatic, learned responses; dependency on habits; and negative self-talk. Avidya is like a cloud in front of the sun. Learning to recognize avidya and dispel it is one of the goals of yoga. Asmita (ah-SMEE-tah) is the ego, raga (RAH-gah) is attachment, and dvesha (DVEH-shah) is rejection.

Ego is a boundary difficult for most Westerners to avoid. Your ego is what gives you a sense of who you are to the world. To say, "I am the smartest one in this class," is ego. To say, "I have to win this game," is ego. To say, "I am beautiful," or "I am right," or even "I am good at my job," is ego. To most Westerners, some expression of ego seems natural and even productive. Why not be proud of what you do, how you look, or what you've accomplished? You certainly should be proud of who you are. But asmita means being proud of the wrong things—the things that limit you, such as material possessions, physical appearance, beating out someone, or being the best, which implies you're better than others.

Deep inside, you're a jewel. You're a beautiful soul that's part of a beautiful universe. Getting caught up in the petty and nonlasting aspects of life can only hold you back from your true potential. Maybe you still think you have to be competitive to "win," but yoga can help you to see winning in a new, more fulfilling light.

Attachment is related to ego and involves desire. Do you know what it's like to want a cookie or a piece of cake, not because you're truly hungry but just because you want the pleasure? The desire for pleasure can overcome you, and you can be fiercely single-minded until you get what you want. If you've experienced this feeling, then you know what raga is. Attachment also involves material possessions—that sort of "fever" you get when you see something you really want. It can consume your entire mind—the desire for that new dress, stereo system, or hot red sports car. Attachment to any material possessions, sensual sensations, addictions, desires, or even an obsessive attachment to another person is a boundary that holds you back from truth and the true knowledge of yourself. Attachment gets in the way of who you really are.

Rejection is like the opposite of attachment and is called dvesha. Your spouse left you, so you refuse to get involved in a relationship again. You were thrown from a horse, so you refuse to ride. You were in a car accident, so you vow never to drive another car. All these are dvesha. Rejecting experiences, people, or thoughts that have caused you pain in the past blocks you from the future. But dvesha needn't be so drastic, and we all experience it. You refuse to try okra because you think it will taste unpleasant. You don't go to a party because you know the social interactions will be stressful and you just don't have the energy. This isn't to say that you can't make the decision not to do certain things, but when you reject things out of a fear of discomfort, pain, or inconvenience, rather than rejecting things simply because you don't want or need them, then dvesha has become a stumbling block in your life.

The final obstacle is the survival instinct, or abhinivesha. This instinct may seem to be a positive one at first, but it is actually a stumbling block between you and enlightenment. This intense desire to remain alive is related to the fear of death (although they aren't the same). You probably want to remain you. You may fear death, but you also enjoy your life (for the most part) and so fear any kind of change in your existence. Enlightenment, involving release from the material world and tangible existence, is both mysterious and scary. Does enlightenment mean that life as we know it will

Wise Yogi Tells Us

"Heart breathing" is a technique that can be very renewing. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Notice your breathing, but don't try to control it. Feel your chest expanding and contracting. Now imagine the breath is flowing out of your heart with each exhalation and pouring into your heart with each inhalation. Don't think about anything. Just feel the breath flowing in and out of your heart. Imagine the breath is pure love. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes, then slowly open your eyes, get up, and move on. Remember the feeling throughout your day. Then do it again tomorrow!

Yoga helps dispel abhinivesha (the survival instinct), as well as the other aspects of avidya (incorrect comprehension) that cloud our perception and inhibit our growth. Sure, you'll probably always have occasional bouts of ego, attachment, rejection, and the instinct to cling to your material existence. You are only human—and not only human, but deeply, magnificently human. Through yoga, you can become even more deeply connected to your true humanity. You can learn to recognize your incorrect comprehension for what it is, then you can blow out the incarnations of your incorrect comprehension like matches. No more delusions!

Yoga helps you relax, think more clearly, and see the inner you that is a part of the universe and all that is good. Yoga helps reveal avidya for the impostor it is. And if you can perceive the stumbling blocks in your path clearly and without doubt, you can confidently step around them.

Find the Zone—and Move In!

We've already talked about the zone. The zone is that place you go when your skill is suddenly heightened, your mind is sharp, and you can do no wrong. Athletes know about the zone. When an athlete is in the zone, he or she has reached peak performance. The mind is thinking quickly, sharply, and accurately. Success is effortless.

Artists know about the zone. It's the place where nothing else exists but the task at hand. A painting seems to paint itself. The words to a novel flow effortlessly. The sculpture emerges, the actor becomes the character, and the dancer becomes one with the dance.

Students know about the zone. It's that rare time when the answers to a test are obvious to you, and all the information you've studied seems immediately available. Your brain exceeds itself, the words to an essay write themselves, and the meanings to formulas suddenly become clear.

Another word for the zone in contemporary culture is flow. Anyone can achieve flow, but some achieve it more often than others. You have flow when you become completely absorbed in what you're doing. Time seems to stop, nothing else exists, and you become one with your work. During flow, you can accomplish things you never thought you could.

Wouldn't it be nice to achieve flow whenever you wanted—to move into the zone and live there all the time? For most, flow comes and goes, seemingly according to its own whim. But for the experienced yoga practitioner, the zone is a place to go whenever you choose. Because yoga uses control of the body to still the mind and control of the mind to manipulate the body, body and mind become integrated not only with each other, but also with the external world. If you're one with your work, your art, or your sport, you've achieved flow. You're in the zone.

Yoga is like a key to the secret door into the zone. Open it, and you'll live beyond your limits, finding new productivity, creativity, efficiency, and true delight.

Go with the Flow Right Here, Right Now

It's fine to read all about getting into the zone, but how do you actually get there? By cultivating mindful awareness and focus.

Would you like to try it? Let's take a basic yoga pose, called the cobra pose (Bhujan-gasana, in Sanskrit), and practice getting into and out of it. Look at the following picture of the pose and read through the step-by-step instructions before you try it. Make sure you are wearing comfortable clothes that don't constrict your movement. Place a towel, blanket, or mat on the floor.

Before you jump into the pose ...

1. Let's sit for a moment. Sit comfortably on the floor and breathe. Don't worry about breathing deeply. Just notice your breath. Give your breath your full attention. You can probably "hear" lots of thoughts rattling around in your mind, somewhere behind the sound of your breathing. Note them, but don't let them engage you. Back to the breath.

2. After you've been sitting for a minute or two with your mind focused on your breath, move into a lying-down position on your stomach. But don't just move thoughtlessly. As you move, really pay attention. Keep your mind centered on how you feel, on how your body moves, on which parts are going where as you come down to the floor. Your body is all that matters right now, and a great yoga pose like this deserves all your concentration. With every step of this pose, keep pulling your focus back to your body; the way the pose feels; the way you move and breathe as you get into, hold, and get out of the pose. You are practicing mindfulness. You are in flow training.

a. Lie on your stomach, flat on the floor, with your heels and toes together. Place your hands on the floor on either side of your chest. Your face should be resting against the floor.

b. Inhale, and lift your forehead, then chin, then shoulders, and then chest off the floor. Keep your hips pressed against the floor and your elbows bent, shoulders down and away from your ears.

c. Look upward and take a few slow, deep breaths. Then try sticking out your tongue and opening your mouth wide, to help release your face. Finally, slowly come back down and return to the starting position.

d. To test the strength of your spine, lift your palms off the floor, as you see in the lower figure in the drawing. See how much of your body comes down—if it's a lot, your arms are doing too much of the work. Focus on the spine instead. The emphasis of cobra pose is to strengthen the spine.

e. Now, slowly push yourself out of cobra by pushing up with your hands and sitting back on your heels. Rest your forehead on the floor and relax, giving your spine a chance to stretch in the opposite direction. This position is called child's pose.

3. Stay in this last position for a few minutes.

How was it? Did you stay focused on your body, your movements, how the pose felt? Are you still focused on your body? As you rest in this ending position, let your body feel the aftereffects of the cobra pose. What do you notice? How does your mind feel? At any point during the process, do all those clattering thoughts in the back of your mind recede? Do they stop clattering altogether?

Maybe you got a little taste of flow during this exercise. Maybe you didn't. But if you practice yoga every day with this kind of attention, eventually you'll experience flow. You have it in you.

Practicing yoga poses is a kind of meditation itself. With this approach, you can train your mind to be flow-ready. It will happen more and more. You'll finally know what it's like to be yourself!

Release Your Inner Delight

Joy, bliss, ecstasy—whatever you want to call it—is yoga's big payoff. Maybe you consider yourself a happy person, or maybe you suffer from depression. Maybe you had a happy childhood, or maybe you've been hurt in the past. It doesn't matter: No matter

who you are, no matter what has happened to you in your life, you have the capacity for joy. Deep inside you, bliss waits for you to find it. Yoga will ferret out that joy with relentless persistence. Through yoga, you can find that joy and release it.

But make no mistake: It isn't easy to release your inner delight. A body that's undisciplined, weak, and lazy saps all your inner energy to keep it maintained. A mind fraught with chaotic thought is too absorbed on the surface level to delve deep enough to find inner joy. But with persistent yoga practice, the body becomes strong, controlled, flexible, and disciplined. The mind becomes quiet, calm, and tranquil. A restless body that at one time struggled to maintain the lotus position for an extended period and a mind that regularly wandered without purpose now both respond with focus and commitment.

Wise Yogi Tells Us

The symbolism of the lotus flower is extremely important in yoga. The lotus flower is a beautiful circle of petals that floats on a lake. The lotus's roots, however, are deep in the mud. This mud provides the nutrients to help the lotus grow and achieve its beauty. To yogis, the lotus represents human life. Our lives are submerged in "mud"—in the material world, in striving and grasping, in worry and pain. Yet we can use these challenges the way the lotus root absorbs nutrients from the mud—sending up a shoot that will ride to the top of the murky lake and bloom on the surface in perfect beauty.

Maybe inner joy isn't what you're looking for. Maybe you don't even believe it's something that's possible for you to find. Yoga doesn't turn you into anything you aren't. Yoga simply releases you so you can find the joy that everyone has inside. Yoga is a personal journey, and you go at your own pace. All you have to do is follow the map; that is, practice the postures. Meditate, if you feel like you're ready. Gradually, as you become prepared, the joy—the inner delight—will come.

The Least You Need to Know

V Yoga uses the fight-or-flight response to your benefit.

V Yoga teaches mindfulness.

V Meditation is simply relaxation for your mind.

V Meditation stimulates vidya—correct understanding—and dispels negative thoughts, feelings, and actions.

V Practicing yoga poses with your full attention can help you learn how to achieve flow, or total absorption and optimal skill in whatever you are doing.

Part 2

Let's Get Spiritual: Growing with the Tree of Yoga

This section begins with a mini history lesson. Yoga has been around for thousands of years, and in all that time, it has branched into various types, from studious Jnana Yoga to active Karma Yoga to mystical Kundalini Yoga. Learn about how yoga came to the West and why our culture is coming to a point in its evolution where yoga will become a powerful and pertinent tool.

Next we introduce you to yoga's comprehensive guidelines for living. Far from hard-and-fast "commandments," yoga's yamas (abstinences) and niyamas (observances) point the way along the path that will most enhance your yoga journey. Patanjali's Eightfold Path (of which the abstinences and observances are the first two aspects) is laid out in an easy-to-follow format, explaining the eight important facets of a yogi's life—from keeping the body fit to mastering detachment, concentration, and meditation.

Controlling the breath keeps body and mind operating at peak efficiency. In Chapter 7, "Can You Breathe?" we explain the how's and why's of the yoga system of breath control called pranayama. Chapter 8, "Hatha Yoga: May the Force Be with You," goes on to describe the details of Hatha Yoga, a system of yoga emphasizing control of the body and the most popular form of yoga in the West.