pay attention

'It's a constant, continuous, spectacular world we live in, and every day you see things that just knock you out, if you pay attention.' 

-- Robert Irwin

pay attention

It's a constant, continuous, spectacular world we live in, and every day you see things that just knock you out, if you pay attention. 

Robert Irwin (quote found thanks to evencleveland).

Simple practice.

Your first job when approaching movement is to lose tension.
Tension = unnecessary effort in any given movement or shape.
The skill is in moving without bringing your old tension with you. Ofcourse, this takes time and regular interested practice.

Whatever your 'movement practice' is today can you watch for when unnecessary holding/griping/tension creeps in and then repeat the movement without tension if necessary? Make your practice about the quality of the process rather then a final shape or number of reps or time held.

Ofcourse this process is about developing awareness more then anything else, and the intention is that that awareness seeps into every aspect of your moving life - not just the way your knee is pointing in a squat...

Where there is quality and attention there is LOVE. 

“I think of empathy as a set of cumulative effects, ideally—that it can be a force shaping your habits, shaping where you put your attention and then—if you’re hard on yourself, in good ways—pushing you to translate that attention into action, on whatever scale. That’s interesting—like, what good is “awareness” on its own? Is it good on its own?” 

 

— The Rumpus Book Club Chat With Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exam. 

Nice read!

Do Stuff

Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.

-- Susan Sontag

Practice.

When moving what do you chose to  focus on?
The small details or the bigger picture?
Watch how your attention shifts between the two.
What happens to the movement when your focus is broken? Can you keep bringing it back to the task in hand?

It is the moment by moment focus on how you feel as you are feeling it that will keep you safe. 

(Illustrations by Lauren Nassef)

Pose of the week

Savasana (Corpse Pose)

Savasana is a pose of total relaxation, which can make it one of the most challenging poses to be in.

  

After a balanced practice, the entire body will have been stretched, contracted, twisted and inverted. Savasana allows the body a chance to regroup and reset itself.  This means that even the deepest muscles will have the opportunity to let go and shed their regular habits, if only for a few minutes. Most importantly the physiological benefits of deep relaxation are numerous.

In the classic pose you lie out flat on the ground, like the image above, with no support, but this isn't a truly comfortable position for us all. Comfort is essential in the pose! The fairy tale of The Princess and the Pea always comes to mind when preparing for this pose. The slightest point of discomfort can be endlessly distracting. There are a few things you can do to support the body in this posture, for example placing a bolster or rolled blankets under the knees to help relax the low back, or placing a blanket under the head to help lengthen the neck and release tension at the base of the skull. You might also like to have something over the eyes, if that helps you soften the face,  and make sure you are warm enough.

Savasana can come at the beginning and/or at the end of a practice. I often start and always finish my practice with a version of corpse pose, and there are loads of visualisations for relaxation out there, but i like the simplicity of melting, with a focus on the breath.

When you come into the pose it's nice to start by internally patrolling the body, you cannot release tension until you know where it is! See if you can let go of that tension bit by bit, from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes. Have the idea of simply allowing your body to melt as a whole, like butter, into the floor.

As you continue to let go you'll feel like your body is spreading into the ground, the whole of the back of your body literally taking more and more space.

Just enjoy watching all your muscle tension melt with gravity and an easy breath into the ground. It's bliss!

One of the most challenging aspects of this pose is keeping your attention on what you are doing as you are doing it...a challenge in all yoga asana!

Your attention often seems to want to run ahead of you, so that you feel like you are constantly trying to keep up with it. It may help to think of your attention as a young and eager puppy. Every time you catch yourself wandering off call your attention to heel so that it follows what is happening rather then trying to lead. Over time you'll find that you've trained it into to staying with you for longer and longer.

Last of all, and most importantly (i think) is to be careful not to judge what you you come across when relaxing. See if you can be with yourself without judgement and accept what ever you come across in each moment. Let yourself be, allowing your attention to linger in the places that you feel it might benifit from most. 

image from here

Keeping your attention on what you are doing as you are doing it is the BIGGEST challenge in yoga. Even when you are seemingly still.

(image found here)

There is ecstasy in paying attention.

~   Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Pose of the week

Savasana (Corpse Pose)

Savasana is a pose of total relaxation, which can make it one of the most challenging poses to be in.
  
After a balanced practice, the entire body will have been stretched, contracted, twisted and inverted. Savasana allows the body a chance to regroup and reset itself.  This means that even the deepest muscles will have the opportunity to let go and shed their regular habits, if only for a few minutes. Most importantly the physiological benefits of deep relaxation are numerous.

In the classic pose you lie out flat on the ground, like the image above, with no support, but this isn't a truly comfortable position for us all. Comfort is essential in the pose! The fairy tale of The Princess and the Pea always comes to mind when preparing for this pose. The slightest point of discomfort can be endlessly distracting. There are a few things you can do to support the body in this posture, for example placing a bolster or rolled blankets under the knees to help relax the low back, or placing a blanket under the head to help lengthen the neck and release tension at the base of the skull. You might also like to have something over the eyes, if that helps you soften the face,  and make sure you are warm enough.

Savasana can come at the beginning and/or at the end of a practice. I often start and always finish my practice with a version of corpse pose, and there are loads of visualisations for relaxation out there, but i like the simplicity of melting, with a focus on the breath.

When you come into the pose it's nice to start by internally patrolling the body, releasing tension bit by bit, from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes. Have the idea of simply allowing your body to melt as a whole, like butter, into the floor.
As you continue to let go you'll feel like your body is spreading into the ground, the whole of the back of your body literally taking more and more space.

Just enjoy watching all your muscle tension melt with gravity and an easy breath into the ground. It's bliss!

One of the most challenging aspects of this pose is keeping your attention on what you are doing as you are doing it...a challenge in all yoga asana!
Your attention often seems to want to run ahead of you, so that you feel like you are constantly trying to keep up with it. It may help to think of your attention as a young and eager puppy. Every time you catch yourself wandering off call your attention to heel so that it follows what is happening rather then trying to lead. Over time you'll find that you've trained it into to staying with you for longer and longer.

Last of all, and most importantly (i think) is to be careful not to judge what you you come across when relaxing. See if you can be with yourself without judgement and accept what ever you come across in each moment. Let yourself be, allowing your attention to linger in the places that you feel it might benifit from most. 

image from here

When moving through your asana practice, can you try resting your attention on, or in, any part of the body which feels like it may benifit?