Q. Sharath, can you talk about the benefits of taking practice before the sunrise?
The answer, as I don't have the technology to record the response, I will give in my own words. My teacher did, as expected, bring up Brahmamahurtha, God's Hour. This was at the end, and all he said was the practice is more "energetic" at that time. Like his Grandfather, he is a man of few words when it comes to expounding on concepts of "energy."
Sharath also did mention the purity of the atmosphere in terms of quiet. As we spoke about in the first B-Mahurtha post, the senses remain undisturbed when the world is quiet.
But he was more into talking about the air. Air quality, in India, is huge. "If your breathing is disturbed, your mind will be disturbed also," he said. At 4AM, people have not yet started their vehicles- auto rickshaws with the 2-stroke diesel are disgusting culprits, and then you must imagine the increasing number of personal automobiles expelling their exhaust into humid air on skinny, overcrowded streets. In rural areas, it is the cookfires. There are still a majority of people here, "workers" who farm, clean, etc., who don't have electricity, or enough money for propane and gas stoves. When I have sat on high at the sunrise, I have watched the haze begin to form over the land as millions of little fires are started to warm the chai and cook the rice.
So it's practical then, the 2:30 wake-up. Ashtanga Yoga is a breathing system, and the quality of our air is paramount. It's like eating, the sensation of building Prana from good breathing. I feel it coming in the nostrils sometimes, and when the air is good, and the channel is clear, it's the most nourishing thing on earth. Truly. I've had a flu/cold bug since Tamil Nadu this year, and I notice my breath is shallow and my throat is tight. The all-important "free-breathing" has been a challenge and requring my full attention. So, I guess it's true that Im happy to practice first batch, in the pure atmosphere. It is quiet, with all 50-some of us moving and breathing, working and aspiring together. This human life. A procession of mornings like this one, breathing in Prana. Pulling it through from the other side of whatever crap is lodged, moving out, or just beginning to gain a place in my tissues and channels. The other side of existance, the land of pure Prana and pure consciousness. I can't believe it is limitless, this gift of vitality and dancing of form and formless. And I can't believe I resist it sometimes, forget it, turn my back on it, it would seem.
I will say, for whatever slogging through I must do here on the sub-continent this year, I am taking benefit. Think of us in Mysore when you pull in that air next time in whichever fine city you find yourself today. Dedicate your practice to the families at the cookfires in the fields.
The answer, as I don't have the technology to record the response, I will give in my own words. My teacher did, as expected, bring up Brahmamahurtha, God's Hour. This was at the end, and all he said was the practice is more "energetic" at that time. Like his Grandfather, he is a man of few words when it comes to expounding on concepts of "energy."
Sharath also did mention the purity of the atmosphere in terms of quiet. As we spoke about in the first B-Mahurtha post, the senses remain undisturbed when the world is quiet.
But he was more into talking about the air. Air quality, in India, is huge. "If your breathing is disturbed, your mind will be disturbed also," he said. At 4AM, people have not yet started their vehicles- auto rickshaws with the 2-stroke diesel are disgusting culprits, and then you must imagine the increasing number of personal automobiles expelling their exhaust into humid air on skinny, overcrowded streets. In rural areas, it is the cookfires. There are still a majority of people here, "workers" who farm, clean, etc., who don't have electricity, or enough money for propane and gas stoves. When I have sat on high at the sunrise, I have watched the haze begin to form over the land as millions of little fires are started to warm the chai and cook the rice.
So it's practical then, the 2:30 wake-up. Ashtanga Yoga is a breathing system, and the quality of our air is paramount. It's like eating, the sensation of building Prana from good breathing. I feel it coming in the nostrils sometimes, and when the air is good, and the channel is clear, it's the most nourishing thing on earth. Truly. I've had a flu/cold bug since Tamil Nadu this year, and I notice my breath is shallow and my throat is tight. The all-important "free-breathing" has been a challenge and requring my full attention. So, I guess it's true that Im happy to practice first batch, in the pure atmosphere. It is quiet, with all 50-some of us moving and breathing, working and aspiring together. This human life. A procession of mornings like this one, breathing in Prana. Pulling it through from the other side of whatever crap is lodged, moving out, or just beginning to gain a place in my tissues and channels. The other side of existance, the land of pure Prana and pure consciousness. I can't believe it is limitless, this gift of vitality and dancing of form and formless. And I can't believe I resist it sometimes, forget it, turn my back on it, it would seem.
I will say, for whatever slogging through I must do here on the sub-continent this year, I am taking benefit. Think of us in Mysore when you pull in that air next time in whichever fine city you find yourself today. Dedicate your practice to the families at the cookfires in the fields.
Thank you so much for asking and reporting back, very interesting!
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, right?
ReplyDeleteSuch great stuff Kate - such great writing, great stories, great truths. We love that you share this. All of it is pertinent practice! thank you
ReplyDelete