Hatha Yoga

I love to be in Half Moon pose. Ardha Chandrasana, as it's known in Sanskrit, is a balancing pose and cultivates a sense of centeredness and inner strength.

Asana, the art of a yogic pose, concerns and nurtures our minds as much as our bodies. The mental focus required of a yogi is called drushti, and with this gift of focused attention, the mind stabilizes and composes itself right along with the body.

A stable structure is one in which opposite forces are balanced and free of strife. Hatha Yoga, the practice of asana, incorporates and reconciles the opposing energies of the sun and the moon. Ha means sun in Sanskrit, and calls to attention the creative, active forces within, and Tha means moon, and recollects the passive, receptive energy that makes us whole. As our attention is made steady, we overcome the separation of the two, finding that divine, lush place where the endless oscillation ceases.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the most sacred pose is Padmasana, or meditative pose. It is the position of the great meditating Yogi, Lord Shiva. It is here, in this paradigmatic posture, fixed on the cushion, where all dualistic distinctions are finally overcome. It is here, where the grand, epic battle described in the Bhagavad Gita, the brawl that lies within, the private soap opera, the endless game of tug of war, played by what my teacher calls, the picking and choosing mind, is finally dissolved. This was the Grand Canal for Patanjali, the eigth and final step of Raja Yoga, the Royal Path. It is the posture for which all the others prepared you. The great Raja Yogi, Buddha, found Nirvana in this pose. Perhaps there are no rainbows in this magical place, nor pools of creamy, chocolaty-mint blended concoctions, nor effortless flights through the clouds on unicorns and giant toucans with huge wings made of bergundy velvet. Perhaps it's not a geographical place at all.

It's a state of mind where the most relentless dualism of them all evaporates. The separation of the self from the rest of the universe. The one that is so ingrained in our beings and that defines our sense of reality, so as to be intrinsic and unquestioned. It is our very identity. It doesn't seem, on the surface, to be toxic. But on closer inspection, it reveals itself as the source of all the trouble and malady in our worlds, the root of ego, which sprouts in turn, the sickening poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance.

To practice Yoga is to overcome obstacles, to overcome the physical resistance encountered in moving into and holding certain poses, and more, to overcome the mental resistance to stillness. But it is in this stillness, the Yogis say, where we find ourselves. And also, where we lose ourselves. Freedom. Moksha. Freedom from ourselves. I keep looking, not so I can find, but so that I can lose.