Rodney Yee on Asana and Pranayama
"The beginning of learning is ignorance," Rodney Yee counseled as he began his talk on asana and pranayama, the third and fourth limbs of yoga. "Get used to saying 'I don't know.' How do you come to life as an empty vessel, so that every vibration is penetrating you? We don't want to be anesthetized any more."
The Yamas and Niyamas offer a mirror in which to look at yourself, he said, and asana is a practical way to embody them. Asana is a way of cleansing the body so that 'when the bell rings, it will shake you,' he said. He went on to explain that running or doing 108 sun salutations offers a gross cleansing, while pranayama offers a subtle cleansing.
He led us through a mini-practice, which he said he learned from Ramanand Patel, to enliven the legs and hips.
Dandasana (Staff Pose)
Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)
Upavishta Konasana (Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend)
Ardha Navasana (Half Boat Pose)
Baddha Konasana
Dandasana
We held each pose for a breath and kept moving.
Later, as we moved into a more traditional asana practice with a number of standing poses, Rodney reminded us to "Practice 'I don't know."
"Why don't we fall over in every pose?" he asked. "If we go to the point where we don't know, we probably will fall over. Children, when they learn yoga, they fall over a lot more than we do. So, get out of your comfort zone and get into the place where you don't know—see what that does for your yoga practice and for you."
We practiced Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) and Rodney asked us to practice it with a sense of discovery, not fearing or condemning the risk of falling. We then practiced Tadasana (Mountain Pose) with the same inquiry, and tried to play with the risk of falling out of the pose.
The key to pranayama, Rodney told us, is relaxation. "Learn how to do Savasana [Corpse Pose] in every moment of your life. Once you've mastered that—5 or 10 years into your asana practice—you'll be ready to learn the breathing practices." Nevertheless, he did lead us through a gentle breathing practice of long inhales and exhales.
Next came Gurmukh, to teach Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
posted by Kaitlin Quistgaard and Andrea Kowalski
photo credit: Todd Semo
As Americans we tend to take a lot for granted. We're politically and religiously free. We have an abundance of everything: nice homes, nice cars, and healthy food. But is it possible that all of these conveniences we have at our disposal could be taking away some of the most basic, natural aspects of living?
Rodney Yee is codirector of the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA. He is featured in 30 yoga videos and DVDs and is coauthor (with Nina Zolotow) of Yoga: The Poetry of the Body and Moving Toward Balance. Rodney conducts workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings worldwide.