upside down

i went to a yoga class as city yoga today, where they teach anusara yoga, which is a unique approach to hatha yoga where the spirit of the heart powerfully blends with the precision of biomechanical alignment. the word “anusara” originates from a line in the tantric text called the kularnava tantra, “shaktipata-anusarena shishyonugraham arhati”, which means: by entering the current of divine shakti’s descent into the heart, the true disciple becomes capable of receiving grace. uh, yeah.

anyway, it was quite nice. we spent some time talking about the upcoming daylight savings time, and how, contrary to urban legend, it’s not about farmers (who actually opposed it) or school children, but was actually conceived and instituted to save energy, by matching up people’s waking hours with the changing daylight hours in the summer. likewise, the practice of yoga is about seeking alignment and making sure your body is properly aligned, which will give you more energy to do what you want to do.

the interesting idea is that if you lived in alaska during the winter, you’d only get like two hours of light a day, right? if that’s the case, would you change your life so you could at least get out and play during those two hours? would the daylight be that important for you to structure your life as to not miss it? why not?

then again, i guess if it were really that important, you’d just move to somewhere with more sun. closer to the equator.

oh, and i did my first yoga handstand today! hooray!

Posted at April 2, 2004 4:29 PM