Yoga And The Four Desires

Dear Yogis,

This week, I started reading Rod Stryker’s The Four Desires, his book about ‘mental prosperity’ and ‘the yoga of fulfilment’. Y’know, I always found these huge promises of yoga quite unobtainable. Fulfillment? My best life? Really? Yoga isn’t huge; For most people it’s the subtle change that happens while you’re doing other things like posture practice. However, in the first few pages I knew I could trust Mr Stryker’s book which, by the way, is a workshop book and has tasks for the reader.

Stryker’s four desires are: Dharma, or the desire to become who you are meant to be; Artha, or the desire for the means to help fulfill your Dharma; Karma, or the desire for pleasure; finally, Moksha, or the desire to be free from the burdens of the world.

I know that I’m going to be friends with this book when Stryker shows how these four things work in a single day. It’s not lofty  vedic, ancient and irrelevant. It’s workable. This is how yoga should be: bringing huge, fantastical, unobtainable, enlightenment down to the heartbeat and pulse of everyday life. I will paraphrase him and apply the Four Desires to my day.

On waking up, one might think about duties, worries, and juggling competing needs and expectations. Therefore, the first thought might reflect the desire to be free from troubles, wrongs and pressures. This corresponds to the desire for freedom from worldly constraint - Moksha. Next, the simple desire to ward off hunger or to be warm means you eat, dress, turn on the heating. These are desires to ensure your survival - Artha. Karma, is also a simple desire (once upon a time): meeting friends for a coffee, teaching yoga, (and today) seeing happiness in class. And finally, ‘informing all of these is your soul’s desire that your day, and all the days of your life, be deeply satisfying’. This desire is Dharma.

Exactly as posture practice should be, yoga philosophy can also go slowly and surely!

Training

I’ll be doing the Paul Grilley online workshop ‘yin yoga: the five archetypal poses’. It's on Saturday 9 May 17:00 - 18:30 for £20. He says 'These archetypes target the fascia of the hips, thighs, knees, and vertebrae. For a yin practice to be complete, all five of these poses must be included.' Interesting, eh!

Home Studio Zoom Classes

Today is the first day of the 4.30pm Ashtanga-based class. (One or two wanted earlier or later but 4.30 was the clear favourite.) It suits friends in France and India too! Hopefully, this is a class I’ll keep long-term at this time.

Friday Meeting ID: 878 8401 4068

Friday Password: 830624

Most of you have seen the super duper new conferencing equipment. Let’s do one more week of free classes then I’ll have a new charging system. I’ve pretty much decided on how much to charge for a class but I’d appreciate your opinion. Let me know what you think an online class should cost... and then your ideal price! And would you prefer to pay class by class or a monthly amount?

Free classes today and up to /including April 1st. Note the time of the evening classes - 7.00-8.00pm, Monday to Thursday. If you’re not a yogi and shy of trying, keep your camera off. No problem. Details below.

Yoga in the news

Business Insider has: Why you should practice yoga regularly. Check this out... ‘in a 2015 study, women practiced a type of hatha yoga, which involves positions like downward dog and triangle pose. They practiced 90 minutes each week for around 16 weeks straight. And by the last week, they could reach four centimetres closer to their toes than before thanks to those loose hamstrings.’

The Navhind Times has: Yoga: The natural immunity booster. This is a nice article, telling us about posturs and Pranayama ‘that strengthen and support the immune system’. For example Cobra Pose... ‘A stiff spine interferes with all nervous impulses sent from the brain to the body and vice versa. By arching the spine, improving circulation in the back region and toning the nerves, better communication between the brain and body results’.

The Times of India has: Bond with your partner over a session of yoga. Some ideas for you in lock down!