I’m back after some lazy months. I regular skipped practicing, because I had to deal with stressful situations, and I felt like I was not enough centered to enter AYP sesssions properly. When I did, I couldn’t not focus and enter in DM, or maybe just poorly.
For a few weeks ago I felt like the stress has to be burned away, and I got myself back into sport (run,swim, bike). What follow had been huge. Swimming helped me recover my breath, and increased the internal flow of energy in my body. My nights are filled with beautiful bright dreams and the morning I feel full of energy. My medidation practices were also greatly enhanced. The witness is back again, as well as the dissolving, Pratyhara, heat and cold down the sushumna… and many others subtilities as well !
This made me come to following conclusion: The outer practices (sports) is as important as the inner practices (AYP meditation). In that way it would be close to the Yin/Yang philosophy. Furthermore, if Samyama is done effectively, (for exemple with visualisation techniques) it would do wonders to the training sessions. Asanas are great, but for me they always played a minimal role in comparison to cardio training or weight lifting. However the Surya Samaskar is excellent for stretching after a run.In AYP, exercising is mentionned as an addition to asanas, which are not core practices. For me I realized that things are going differently. I wanted also to know how you relate to this: Have you experienced that sports can help you on many aspects of the sitting practices ?
I do think there is a connection between physical fitness and yoga.
At the most basic level, we know asanas help, though maybe not as a standalone practice. Stretching the nadis improves energy flow.
As Yogani described in the Secrets of Wilder novel, it seems like intense cardio can also give you a “runner’s high” (I have experienced).
And strengthening the muscles I think also helps achieve “whole body mudra.”
Overall, I think we can conceive of the body and mind as being on a continuum, not a binary, so while simply strengthening the body in various ways is generally not enough, neither is it a good idea to neglect the physical fitness of the body as if one could “focus” on cultivating the mind or spirit in isolation.
Interesting topic and I can relate to your experience, too. This might depend on the bodily constitution of the practitioner. Yogani wrote in lesson 69:
There are three factors affecting the way kundalini energy moves in us - bodily constitution, lifestyle, and practices. These factors determine our tendencies for kundalini energy to be balanced or unbalanced.
This principle certainly doesn’t only apply to kundalini, but to balancing our sitting practices in general.
So regarding to the ayurvedic principles of tridosha, people whose bodily constitution is dominated by Pitta find equanimity by spending their energy in exhaustive physical exercise. That is the reason for Pitta types to often be naturally athletic. Because they are drawn to sports. They need it to cool down. I find this equanimity to be the foundation for AYP practices to get smooth right from the beginning. Being a Pitta type myself, I would agree that going unbalanced into AYP practices feels like a waste of time. It’s like tying a boy to the school chair in order for him to be more attentive.
On the other side I don’t think that this applies to everyone. From my own observations, people attending spiritual groups are mostly Vata types. This constitution does not seem to have that predisposition and some people can’t relate to the use of physical activity at all. Furthermore pitta loses its grip as we are maturing.
From this perspective I find it very interesting that Bodhidharma, the historical Indian monk and founder of Chan/Zen-Buddhism, seemed to have recognized a necessity for physical exercise too. From his monastery the Shaolin Kung Fu and Shorinryu Karate traditions derive. This might account for the fact that you can’t catch fiery young men with prospects of sitting in a cave. But when Pitta is spent, one is ready to sit down and be still.
The 3 body constitutions in ayurveda match the 3 body constitutions in weight training
Pitta , vatta , kapha are mesomorph , ectomorph and endomorph respectively
Each has its pros and cons
It is true that pitta people excel at sports and like exhausting sports.. .so they cool down and sit
But also vatta people and kapha people have issues that can be solved through physical activity which will improve also their spiritual practices
Vatta people are anxious and move too fast…so they need sports to calm down their mind …their performance whether in cardio or muscle training will not be as good as the pitta people…
Kapha people have a well built frame but tend to be sluggish and gain weight, so they need sports for mind and body benefits too(like any other dosha)
Also there is an important factor called the personality which will help choose the sports that you enjoy and be consistent in them
For me, now asanas became a way to stretch the body after the sports one has chosen according to his her taste and the body capacity according to the dosha
As a vatta person, I hate jogging as a sport…it is debilitating physically and mentally for me….I enjoy low intensity cardio like swimming and walking..also I love weight training which grounds my proneness to anxiety ….all of them ground my kundalini
Noting that there are lots of vatta people that enjoy jogging….so personality is very important…there are no rules
Excellent conversation! I was actually thinking of posting something related to this, so I’m glad it’s come up.
I recently started my asana practice again after finding an excellent studio for my (apparently) very Pitta disposition, and this has dramatically helped my overall practices. I think moving all that energy through intense physical activity acts as a means to exercise my devotion and get things flowing.
I agree this must be different for everyone depending on their energetic disposition. Most of the yoga where I live is restorative. Most people I know love this, but it drives me crazy and leaves me unengaged. I’ve (somewhat jokingly) said for years that if my asana practice doesn’t leave me with a puddle of sweat and feeling like I might die, then it’s not for me.
My studio does a combination of vinyasa flow with HIIT and dancing all in a hot room. I can really engage my edge in that environment and it helps to ground my emotions by giving them a productive outlet. I think the high energy flux from intense physical practices does make it harder to focus during meditation, but that feels like a much healthier condition to deal with than the faux “peace” that comes from me not using that Pitta fire.
I’m going to be thinking about this Pitta thing now. It helps me understand a longstanding frustration I’ve had with feeling like I often look like I’m going in the opposite direction of what would be advised by many meditative schools. How do I explain that I’m both peaceful and slightly psycho?
I definitely would say that exercise has helped aspects of my practice. There is something special going on, when you mix the ecstatic conductivity with the training and it can feel really great!
I would say I’ve thought quite a bit about how bodyweight/strength training specifically integrates with spirituality over the last two years. I used to go to the gym regularly years ago, but stopped at some point, because some things didn’t feel right. When I eventually came back to exercising, there were some things I found I needed to tweak.
The main one is the level of exertion. If we follow science-based exercise, we see that intensity is key. The usual narrative is that we should give each set our best shot and get reasonably close to failure to make measurable progress in maximum strength and also in muscle. And honestly, I don’t doubt that this is true. Same thing for the principle of progressive overload, where you are asked to progressively increase your repetitions and or weight over time.
However, precisely not doing that and not having the pressure to take each set into that range was the vital ingredient, which makes my exercise routine really work these days. I feel that it is really important to listen to what the body is telling you, and when it says that it’s tired on a given day, it might be a good idea to reduce the intensity. This takes a lot of pressure away from you, and it makes things much more enjoyable.
I found that as you get used to certain movement patterns, your body will fairly naturally have some days where it will want to really exert itself. I also have much more stability and less tension/inner contraction, while performing the movement, which I think is important. I don’t think the “clench your teeth and push through” approach is that good, it promotes tension and disconnection.
This all speaks to having a more loving relationship with your body when exercising. Exercise being an exploration of your body and an exploration of ecstatic conductivity.
At the same time, I think it’s really important to understand that exercising is something that mostly has to do with the body and health. It doesn’t have anything to do with the explicit pursuit of truth. It won’t release identification with the thoughts in your mind. And it can in no way replace a deep meditation or a self-inquiry practice - I would say it is actually most enjoyable when done together with spiritual practice.
