The Subtle Body
I’m home after my month of intensive training with Prajna Yoga foundersTias and Surya Little. Happy to be back in New England! If you’ve readthese posts over the past month, you have a sense of what my time waslike. If you’ve seen me back teaching in the past few days, you mightsense how renewed I feel, and how happy I am to be back in my own homeSangha of UVY.
Here is what I posted on UVY facebook, shortly before leaving:
And so my month of training and learning at Prajna Yogafinishes. These two amazing teachers pictured below, Tias and SuryaLittle, were endlessly patient, inspiring, compassionate, kind, exactingand brilliant. I'm so grateful and humbled; and exhilarated to bereturning to my home Sangha of Upper Valley Yoga. It's been anincredible ride. And 2 minutes ago, after a month of relentless heat anddrought, the skies opened and the rain is now just soaking down in thesweet relief of monsoon. It's beautiful and so perfectly timed, to markour transition from this incubator of love and learning, back to ourlives of, well, hopefully the same! So many amazing people shared thisjourney and I'll miss each one, and continue to hear their voices in myhead. Like the desert getting its long awaited drink, I feel quenchedand renewed. I hope to see you soon at UVY. Love and Namaste, Leslie
Our final module was “The Subtle Body” and was a deep dive into both thestructural and energetic elements that involve the shoulders, neck andcranium (think inversions and pranayama). This was a plunge also intothe supremely and infinitely subtle play of the mind and the senses; andthe deep, nurturing work of “Satya”—an amalgam of Feldenkrais andThomas Hanna’s Somatic movement, developed by Tias.
In this module we returned full circle to Tias and Surya’s uniquebraiding together of the wisdom traditions of Zen Buddhism and yoga. Wewere invited to embrace states of “not knowing”, both in our practice ofvipassana and of yoga asana. “not knowing” is opening oneself up topossibility. Otherwise, we can easily be held hostage to expectation.Open to possibility, we can more accurately determine right action, andright effort. “Upaya” is when we can act in the way we actually need (itmeans skillful, or right, action). Upaya comes about through this kindof “not knowing”. In teaching, and practicing yoga, this is when thingscome alive, feel dynamic and authentic and keep us in the flow ofpresence.
I’m still in the sorting out process, what I learned, how it affectswhat and how I teach. I do know that I will do more training in Satyamovement, because I believe strongly that along with all the other kindsof asana practice, slowing down and refining our ability to feel/senseon more subtle levels is invaluable. The effects of the Satya work made alasting and nurturing imprint on my nervous system.
In my own practice, I have established a solid, regular meditationpractice, which feels so good and so necessary. I am hopeful it willstick more solidly this time around. I have a renewed commitment todaily practice of headstand/shoulderstand, as I find the practice ofinversions vital and essential to my well being. I’m still struggling tomake handstand and half arm balance workable and less painful again, inmy very unstable shoulders, but I approach the poses each day with anopen mind and open heart (and props). As one student remarked at the endof the training, after mastering a pose she has struggled with foryears and years: “I’ve told myself for so long I cannot do that pose.Now I find myself wondering what else in my life I’ve told myself Ican’t do.”
I’ll leave you with the seven “roots” that Prajna Yoga defines as itscentral teaching. They are plucked from the two wisdom traditions,buddhism and yoga. They feel like true expressions of the two peoplethat lovingly guided, supported and sometimes pushed me, over the courseof the month:
Maitri, or metta. Kindness
Prashna. Inquiry
Aparigraha. Non-clinging
Pratiya-samutpada. Seeing onself as relative to the whole
Aprapti. No final attainment
Virya. Having energy and courage
Vishvasa. Trusting the way.