The chin mudra after a class full of shakti

29March11, 7:15am: Bodypump with Luis
30March11, 7-8am: Hot yoga with Bernadette Leung
30March11, 9:30-10:30pm: Hatha yoga with Michael Lau
31March11, 7:15: Bodypump with Kelvin
1April11, 7-8am: Hot yoga with Martina Lee
1April11, 6:15-7:15pm: Hatha yoga with Michael Lau
2April11, 9-10am: Hot yoga with Bernadette Leung
3April11, 11:30am-3:30pm: Hiking Hong Kong trail with Nat and Esther
4April11, 7:15-8:15pm: Hatha yoga with Deva Biswas
5April11, 2:30-3:30pm: Shakti hatha yoga with Michael Lau

Ok, I thought I'd go back to the pre-blog fitness/yoga update so I stop forgetting. I have had such long, emotional thoughts (despite being more infrequent) the past few posts that I forgot for several posts. Thus, I had an immensely long list on the last post! This one isn't the shortest, though, either, as I was doubling up a few days. It just felt good. I just finished a fantastic shakti (energy of the universe) hatha yoga class and decided to sit here in the PURE lounge and write and drink water (hello slightly neglected goal #3).

So, I've been promising my virtual world as well as, most importantly, myself that I'd write about how touched I am by the chin mudra. It's been a few months, and I'd like to say that this connection came following a yoga class with a teacher I'd never worked with before... thank you goal #1!!! I was taking a particularly difficult hot yoga class with Keiki To, an instructor at PURE that is originally from Vancouver! Small world! As a side note, after class I spoke with him for a minute or two, introduced myself, told him I was from Vancouver, and the first thing he said was: "Wow, I bet you miss being able to find so much organic food!" I must exude healthy lifestyle... YES!!! I digress...

Keiki was the first to bring my awareness to the meaning behind the chin mudra, and it was this "aha!" moment where I felt as if I finally realized why I always felt this profoundly connected feeling when I saw sculptures depicting the chin mudra. Since this class back mid-February, I've thought a lot about the chin mudra, and so I'll start with my interpretation. The index finger is thought to symbolize or represent the ego or even judgment. The index finger comes together to touch the thumb, which represents intention. Bringing the ego and intention together is the purpose of the chin mudra. What does this mean to me? Well, I think that I (we) have trouble letting our ego get in the way of our intentions, letting it almost cloud our intentions. However, the ego can be for good... can give us power, strength, commitment, and so when it is brought together with our intention, we can focus our greatness in a positive, intentional way. Don't remove your ego from the equation, so to speak, but rather use it for good and never forget the role of intention. I almost always use the chin mudra when I start my yoga practice, as it allows me to bring my focus to the start of the practice, helps me with my distractions that may have been running my mind before practice started. I sometimes use the chin mudra at the end of my practice, too, as it helps if something caused me to feel particularly emotional, or if I have a challenging day ahead of me. Perhaps most importantly, in yoga at least, I incorporate the chin mudra during a particularly challenging asana or even when I'm in an asana that I do particularly well. It's not important that I do as good as the woman on the mat in front of me that can bend her feet behind her head... my intentions are not to become her. It is also not important that I already do something well. My intention is not to come to yoga to show everyone how good my left side dancer's/standing back-bend pose is. Big deal. There is someone out there that does it better. That would be my ego talking both times there, but what I can get out of that if I bring my ego and intentions together is recognizing that I can harness my strengths and use them to help me with postures that are more difficult for me and use them to balance out my other strengths, e.g. work on my right side dancer's pose. Does that make sense? Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly confident in a pose, I bring the chin mudra to my hands and occasionally, I'll fall. It's kind of funny, though, as it's a wake-up call to me that I'm leading with my ego. When I use the chin mudra, I ask myself: "What is my intention?" Sometimes I do this in the middle of a posture, and I ground myself, bring myself back to the reason I'm doing a post or the sole reason I'm in the class that particular night or at all!

Clearly the concept behind the chin mudra can be applied to anything in life. The hand position is just a means to bring our awareness to the idea behind it. Since this revelation, so to speak, I've become drawn to sculptures of the chin mudra. There is a restaurant here in HK that has several on the wall and a few sitting on the bar, and elsewhere in the restaurant. They are gorgeous and I look for one similar at every market I encounter. Ask any of my HK friends, they all know I look for "my hand." But also since this revelation, I've been reading more and more about the chin mudra, looking at images (thanks Google image) and continuing to feel connected to it. Here is what I have found so far, but in my own words...

The chin mudra (or janana mudra, as it is also called) is thought to be a connection point between the individual soul and the universal soul (God?). More specifically, the finger is thought to represent the self, rising above worldly concerns, karma or spiritual concerns, and the ego or personal concerns... to meet with the higher self or some form of a God. The thumb is understood as the utmost in connection, evolutionary progress (if we want to go scientific here), as it has the most capacity for complex function out of any part of the body. As humans, as higher vertebrates, I won't go as far to say the apex of evolution like some, but still... we have this opposable thumb for very intricate actions, and so of course it would represent intention.

I've seen it where the hand is facing upward or down against the leg or against the heart. The upward motion is perhaps to "receive" something from the universe, which I've always interpreted as receiving transferred energy. When the palms are facing upwards, it is additionally thought of as an opening of one's heart. I've also seen, when in a sitting position and utilizing this chin mudra, the hands positioned so that the palms are facing the thighs, perhaps circling one's inner energy through the body, transferring it into the body This could possibly be a good position when getting ready for a practice...??? Apparently connecting the finger and thumb to form this mudra is metaphorically like completing a circuit too, connecting the energies (prana), maintaining the flow, circling them through the hand, the body, the heart, the mind. Some even place one hand on the ground and the other in chin mudra at the chest, which symbolizes the connection we all have to the entire universe and reminds us that, although we foolishly hope to become as independent as possible, we are all interdependent. I also believe that true independence is a myth, rather we are all connected with each other in a circle that never ends, and realizing and finding your own interdependence is the ultimate achievement. Finally, there are a few pages on the internet that talk about the meditative qualities of this particular mudra, as there are such supposed "powers" of every mudra, but I'm of the opinion that it is up to your own interpretation. Some say that practicing with the chin mudra increases memory power, sharpens the brain, enhances concentration, and can aid with insomnia. I think that any form of meditation could do this if you're willing to give it a chance. It's personal, that's for sure, but when you find something that really resonates with you like I have in my yoga and now incorporating the chin mudra... you just embrace!

Trying your best or trying your hardest?

8Jan11, 9am: Hot yoga with Deva Biswas

9Jan11, 9am: Hot yoga with Vikram Karunanidhi (a.k.a. please don't break my arm, teacher)

9Jan11, 1:30pm: 4-hour walk through the Wai Po World Wildlife Federation nature preserve

9Jan11, 2.5 bottles of water

Try your best.

Try your hardest.

Do these statements mean the same thing? I don't think so, but I do thing they can apply to the same situation depending on your state of mind. I often... ok, let me rephrase that... I will, more often, instead of telling myself the above statements, instead ask myself these two questions:

Am I doing the best than I can do in this given situation right now?

Is this the hardest I've ever worked at this task?

I'm going to say "no" is my answer for a lot of the things I'm doing in my life right now. That's pure honesty. And because I am finding so many life parallels with my yoga practice right now, I'll use an example from Sunday's practice.

I had hot yoga with a male teacher called Vikram Karunanidhi. I thought I had one of his classes before, but I now know that I hadn't. I was speaking with friends all weekend about how different all of the teachers I've had for yoga have been, and how I find that through their unique teaching styles, a different part of me is satisfied. Sunday was one of those times. In all honesty, if I hadn't already signed up on my online account for morning yoga, I would have bailed. PURE yoga's policy is that they require a 2 hour cancellation notice, which is impossible if you don't get up 2 hrs. before your class begins and because the website is only operable between 9am and 11pm. Therefore I would have had to cancel the night before, by 11pm. Didn't happen. So, you may be thinking, what's the big deal? Why not just skip? You're an adult! Well, along with their 2 hr. cancellation notice, they also will remove online class booking from your account for one month if you have three no-shows or late cancellations in a months's time. That option is far too convenient for me, and I respect that they have these types of policies (especially in this city) to keep the business running well. It may sound a little extreme, but trust me, it is necessary here.

I digress... anyway, I went to hot yoga. If I look at the class as a whole, I know that I did the best that I could do and tried the hardest I could... on that day at that time in this body. If I break it down into postures, I probably can't say that. However, I found myself knowing for certain in one particular posture that I tried my absolute hardest and possibly a bit beyond that.

Let me back up a bit. I know I am potentially singled out quite often in my yoga classes, as I am usually the only white person. How's that for a change? So, during this particular class, I found myself getting more attention than anyone else in the class of 50 or so Chinese/Hong Kong-ese students. I looked around, and it wasn't necessarily that I was the worst at yoga nor the best. I welcomed the adjustments and suggestions however, until this one asana...

Baddha Utthita Parsvakonasana

By the way, this is not me in this photo because a) I did not have a camera, and b) I never made it this far, and so the photo would have been me laying on the mat in confusion instead. This woman is doing a good job at this binding-twisted-extended-side-angle, which I think is how it translates. I however, could not get my right arm to go under my right knee like that and bend underneath to reach my left arm. It didn't seem like the whole class was getting it either, but this was one of the times that Vikram Karunanidhi singled me out to make an adjustment to help me reach the asana correctly. Fair enough, but he worked on my right shoulder, which is apparently tight, for a full minute trying to get my arm to twist so that my elbow could bend in the proper direction underneath my bent leg. He forced it so much that I swear I was moments from dislocating my shoulder, tearing a rotator cuff, breaking a collar bone, etc. Moments!!! He was sure I could do it, however, which made me feel good.

From him and from Deva Biswas, both more from an Indian background than any of the other teachers, I notice a tough demeanour, but they will give you that subtle nod or say "exactly" when you are doing a good job. However, I reached a point where I was sure I could NOT do this bind. For a moment, this was a failure, but immediately after that moment, I thought to myself,

"Yes! I finally did something where I know I reached a physical limitation (for now)!!!"

I really need to ask myself the above questions more often, in all aspects of my life. Granted, it may be a bit more difficult to quantify if bones aren't moments from snapping, but still... turning apparent failure into success can't be a bad thing!!

Starting to send off 2010...

25Dec2010, 9:30am: Hot Yoga with Shirley Wong

26Dec2010, 11:30am: Power Yoga with Michael Lau

As I spend the next week reflecting on 2010, which I think has been the best year of my life, I would like to make a conscious effort to think about 2011 as well. I remember ringing in 2010 and saying to myself this is going to be the best year! I had so many plans for the year, so many exciting happenings, and I chartered my path from day one. I do plan to take this approach for 2011. This leads me to mention something that my yoga teacher said on Christmas day during hot yoga, which was for me a really special way to start my day. She said the following:

"Take a moment now and in life to think about what you want for the future before you make your next move."

This is clearly so appropriate for a yoga class. My

postures of the day were tree (vrikshaasana)

and dancer (natarajasana ) asanas. I thought about the acute meaning of this phrase when taking my tree posture (vrikshaasana) from having my hands in prayer (is it called namasté for prayer hands?) to another level. I extended my arms and hands upward, straightening them, reaching up into the air like branches growing out of a strong, rooted trunk, and looking up to the sky as if to grow, right there from feet, legs, torso rooted right into the yoga studio floor... reaching for the light. This is actually quite an easy posture for me, but I notice that if, during that transition with my hands and arms, I do not think about what I am doing and where my body is going, I lose balance. My strong, rooted tree wavers.

This seems like the perfect state of mind in which to address the second step of effective goal setting:

2. Balanced goals for a balanced life

Set goals in all areas of your life:

-- Career

-- Health

-- Personal

This touches on the idea of balance, which is extremely important to me and has directed some of the most important decisions in my life (as it should, I'm finally learning). This step of goal-setting also touches on an idea I'd like to explore more within myself in the new year of 2011. That is the idea of living congruently. If someone is not living congruently, there is a disconnect between these three (or more) major areas of your life (career, health, and personal). For example, what happens when you are brilliant and achieve so much in one aspect of your life (e.g. career) but struggle with another (e.g. health and fitness)? I see that rampantly within the higher levels of academia and I've never been able to understand it. I thought that in order to be extremely successful in one branch, you had to forsake others. Furthermore, it is not just about being successful, per se, and goal-oriented in these three branches of your existence, but also adhering to your core values in all aspects of your life. I think that is what I'd most like to explore, keeping consistency in my values across career, health, and personal avenues of my life. Sometimes when goal setting, it's also important to re-visit your values and make adjustments as needed. I also think it's important to have goals in all divisions. I will be doing just that this week as we start to finish this chapter of life called 2010 and begin a new, exciting decade!

I look forward to continuing to share my goals and progress and hope you will continue to join me as well!