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Yesterday, after my usual practice, I indulged myself in some heels-on-the-dune, arms rolling out to the side dropback practice.  MS talks about the arms-down dropback option, I believe — you don’t do namaste hands, nor do you put hands overhead. Instead, you curl back and let your hands kind of hang back down around the backs of your calves. Then roll them out (external rotation) to complete the dropback. Eh, not a great explanation. Tell me if you are curious and confused and I’ll try to figure out a way to explain. Anyhow, after the arms-down dropbacks, I wondered, “What if I dropback and come up halfway and then go back down again?”

Answer: It feels really good. (And don’t forget, I’m using the dune, so it’s hardly the super-hero move that it might sound like.)

Then I had a little thought about how difficult it is to get my arms back in kapotasana (yeah, and dropbacks, too), and I looked at the ropes and had a little brainstorm. This didn’t feel as good as the dropbacks, but it seems likely to be efficacious. All I need to do is wait patiently.

Yes, another dark photo (Hey, I have a style!). You can see my elbows, and my shins are running up the wall, and when I woke up this morning, I had to try to recall what I’d done that I could feel so distinctly (but not painfully) in my shoulders. Voila.

***

After coffee this morning, I realized today is Friday, and was pleased to do a nice, grounding primary session.

Practice was marvelously launched and supported by these words from an anonymous cybershalamate in the Ashtangasphere:

Yoga is not about looking a certain way or being able to do certain things with your body – these are (happy) side effects to a practice whose purpose is to make you so comfortable in your body that you can ignore it while you meditate. Ditto with the chatter in your mind – once you stop taking it so seriously, it doesn’t take up your attention to the exclusion of everything else, and you are more comfortable in your mind.

Sometimes I read something before practice and it really resonates with me and informs my experience. This particular paragraph reminded me that the preparation of the body for meditation, and the subsequent stilling of the mind, is not the end of practice. The purpose of practice is to prepare the body and still the mind (i.e., set aside one’s biases and preconceptions and body- and mind-graspings) in order to go out into the world. Just like at the end of the Ten Zen Oxherding Pictures, when the realized being goes back to humanity, ready to set his or her self aside and help others.

Because, really, once you get square about the nature of the universe, what else would make sense but to engage with and love other beings?

Entering the Market Place with Helping Hands

Barechested, barefooted, he comes into the market place.
Muddied and dust-covered, how broadly he grins!
Without recourse to mystic powers,
withered trees he swiftly brings to bloom!