8/31/24 Live Session Recording

Reflecting on the discussion of Saucha brings me to thoughts of my environment and how I can make this a place that encourages growth and learning.  I continue daily practices of cleansing my physical space and keeping a positive attitude in the process.  I also am reflecting on how I am going to clear my mind and space when I return home very soon to foster healing and growth opportunities within myself, spiritually, with my family and community. 🤗 

Postures and movement I considered offering for Strength and Mobility is beginning with mountain pose, sweeping arms up while breathing in and breathe out as letting arms down, doing this a few times.  Then I would offer stepping a leg back standing the long way on the mat, setting up for Warrior II.  Stepping 1 leg back toes pointed toward the side of the mat and one leg in the front toes pointed forward towards the front of the mat.  I would then go through a few rounds of side angle and reverse warrior poses.  I would then offer downward dog and cleansing breaths.  I would then repeat Warrior II on the opposite side, downward dog and cleansing breaths.  Connection and Focus section I would transition from downward dog to chair pose lifting arms ups breathing in and exhaling to bird I would offer this a few times.  Then I would offer mountain pose with 2 breaths and then eagle and hold.  I would then do a quick centering of one hand on the chest and one on the stomach.  Integration and relaxation I would offer lowering to the ground and do supine twist slowly with breaths on the left side and hold on the right side and hold.  I would then offer supported bridge for a few rounds of breaths.  Legs up wall for a few rounds of breath and then a full-length supine body stretch with a few breaths and then shavasana.

Beginning this recording, my initial thoughts on purity were of frustration and anger. It brought up ideas of being “pure” for marriage and relationships, being seeing as “not pure” due to sexual history, and a culture of modesty. This lecture really made me look at the societal samscara and stigma of purity and reframe the idea of purity for myself. I appreciated the reframe of purity and clarity. These words are so similar, yet clarity makes me think of seeing clearly and contacts/glasses. The lecture really challenged me to release this stigma and associations I have with language and take another look at the word purity.

This challenge presented to me in the lecture really brings my awareness to language and its importance. The language we use is so important and can build or break the relationships we form and the feelings one has about themselves. I am reflecting on my own use of language and when it has been ineffective. I run a DBT skills group on my unit and my patient last week challenged my statements stating I was trying to force a viewpoint on the group. I had to take a step back and realize this wasn’t my intention, however the examples and language I used had left this impact. I then took my own accountability and attempted to alter my language in a way that was more correlated with what I was attempting to say. By allowing ourselves to be open and accepting of language and release stigma associated by words, we may be able to communicate more effectively or at least have less judgment about language which was true for me and the word purity today.

I was really invested in the conversation on our gut instincts. I greatly rely on my gut instincts and feel they are so needed, however teach and recognize my gut instincts sometimes are related to my trauma responses so hearing this in our lecture was very validating. I nerd out a bit when it comes to neurobiology and trauma’s influence on the body and teach this to my patients and coworkers all the time. My gut instinct has kept me safe and has been activated when I feel someone is not being truthful or may cause harm on the unit, however I do have to investigate this gut feeling as it does get activated when reminded of trauma I have witnessed on the unit. I must use my gut instinct surrounding external stimuli and my internal sensations. I have been in supervision where I have referred to myself as feeling “hypervigilant”, but others have reframed this for me as being vigilant in an environment in which harm and violence does occur and has been witnessed. I loved the conversation of working through our own experiences to achieve purity and viewing self-regulation as purity in the moment. These are concepts that I will continue to sit with and explore.

Creating sequences to share is something that provokes some anxiety in me. I sometimes feel I do not know what should be used as Strength & Mobility, Connection & Focus, and Integration & Relaxation. Even writing this out, I must sit back and remember not to hold myself back due to a feeling of lack of competency, because this is a learning process and that was stated in this lecture as well. For strength and mobility, I have found myself integrating poses such as goddess, pyramid, and warrior poses in these sections. Connection and focus I find myself drawn to poses such as tree, chair, and eagle poses. For integration and relaxation sections I can see myself utilizing poses such as seated forward fold and butterfly poses into body scans and savasana.

A question I have regarding sequencing is how many poses are usually associated with each section? I feel I try to jam too many poses into a session not allowing for ample time for exploration. This may stem from my own anxiety of filling time. I also wonder if there are any PYP resources that give examples of the poses to use in each of these sections? It may be in the modules.. but I am catching up on those.

@kaliskodack 

Thank you for this reflection! In response to your sequencing questions, the postures you are considering for these sections are completely appropriate. I would offer that 2-3 postures in each of these sections works well and provides time to explore. If you are offering a session that is shorter, less than 45 minutes, you may want to only offer 1 or two postures to still allow time for participants to connect to their experience. For a class that is more than an hour, I would suggest adding more in the dynamic warm up and integration and relaxation sections, rather than adding more postures. Please feel free to connect to discuss further!

Week 8: Soucha (8/31)

When thinking about the topic of Soucha, I appreciate the shift of wording from purity to clarity because, as a woman, it makes the feeling of societal judgment disappear.

After finishing my semester, which included lots of psychological theory, the discussion brought thoughts of Carl Rogers and humanistic approaches to healing. I always want to draw connections between psychological theory and more ancient wisdom.  I have always liked Carl Rogers, and he has greatly contributed to the therapy world regarding how the therapist relates to the client.  He believed that people were ultimately good by nature, and they would continue to grow in positive ways unless they became injured.  The idea of a ‘gut feeling’ is similar to Rogers's idea of OVP (Organismic Valuing Process) or visceral reactions to environmental stimuli, which are meant to guide behavior.   His theory said that when people are in touch with their OVP or visceral reactions to things, they know what is right for them, and they can self-actualize (a vague term that I understand to mean positive personal growth).  He thought that people often become confused and unable to make good decisions because they become separated from their OVP when conditions of worth are placed on them (or they begin to think that they need to do and be certain things to be loved and accepted).  Rogers additionally believed this process started very early in development.  In other words, if what feels good to a child is looked down upon by the parent, they will change their reaction to things to match what will be seen as acceptable.  Rogers said that a therapist’s job is to get people in touch with their OVP, and then they will know what to do. My professor of Theory for Psychological Intervention trained under Rotter (social learning theory), who worked at the same university as Rogers for a time and held opposite views from him.  Rotter was a behaviorist who said that people behave in ways they believe will maximize pleasure and reduce pain and that unhealthy behavior patterns result from a bad learning history.  When it comes to societal ills, I can see that both. of these theories are important. However, there is also the additional consideration of power.  Studies have shown that having money/ power increases the belief that this is right and fair.  Even people who play Monopoly when they know the game has been rigged for them increasingly believe they deserve their wins the more they win.  In addition, having more power/money has also been shown to reduce people’s tendency for empathy.  So there are a variety of things that can affect a person’s ability to be connected to themselves and to others, and it interesting to think about the connections between these different theories and yoga theory

Sequence:  Strength and mobility, concentration and focus, integration and relaxation

This is my attempt to incorporate the above elements into a flow using standing poises and considering it may be difficult for some individuals to move. up and down easily.

Standing Hip Circles (right and left)

Standing Side Stretch (right and left)

Standing forward fold w/ chair prop

Downward Dog with Chair Prop

Standing Chair pose w/ arms on the back of the chair

One-legged chair pose: first alternating tiptoes, then lifting one foot slightly (if comfortable)

Step back to high lunge (one side then the other)

Warrior III w/ hands-on seat of the chair (one side then the other)

Standing Downward dog w/chair

Tabletop – then invert wrists – then back to the regular tabletop.

Revolved tabletop (each side)

Bound ankle

Revolved bound ankle (each side)

Seated neck stretch

Supine Spinal twist

Supported bridge and/ or corpse pose with/ attention to breathing.