The Strength of Determination

Perseverance, determination, consistency and discipline are virtues we need to realise our intentions successfully. Only through discipline and regular repetition does knowledge become a skill and a value we contribute to those around us. Through yoga practice, we learn to awaken the sharpness of determination and clarity of movement in the body, strengthening these virtues. We repeat sequences to feel the power of true patient endurance,Patient Endurance,a principal quality of emotional maturity. We strengthen the centre, torso, oblique abdominal muscles, legs and kinetic chain and stabilise the spine. We awaken determination that is as sharp and clear as anger but contains no resentment.

Mindfulness: Right Intention, or Right Thought, is one element of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It guides us in recognising which thoughts to think and strengthen and which to release. Although this sounds simple, like everything in the mind it is hidden beneath many layers, so it is important to uncover the intentions behind our reactions. Contemplating Right Intention is our theme this month, helping us say as clearly as possible: this is YES, and this is NO.

Yoga therapy for: 

• loss of core strength
• strengthening the muscles along the back
• strengthening the oblique abdominal muscles
• connecting the centre and periphery
• strengthening after surgery
• healthy anger and determination

INTRODUCTORY TALK AND YOGA CLASS ON THE MONTH’S THEME – 75 MIN

THE STRENGTH OF DETERMINATION

First, we explore the concepts of strength, determination and the intentions from which we act and place them upon a scale. Everything exists on a scale of intensity, while health is the Middle Way of healthy balance and flow and ease in receiving and releasing.

Understanding and becoming aware of our intentions and what drives our reactions is the key to a happy life because it allows us to choose what we strengthen.

Consistency means carrying determination into action persistently. 
May our discipline arise from love, willingness and joy rather than guilt and aversion towards ourselves. For example, am I practising yoga to eliminate pain I dislike in the body, or do I begin by accepting that pain is present and that I do not currently know how to resolve it, while making an effort to approach it with special attention and patience? Through yoga, we decide to strengthen the torso and centre, including the abdominal, oblique and back muscles, naturally from a strong base in the pelvis and legs. The class is calm. We calibrate slowly and remain in poses for longer while clearing the breath through the central channel. Breath can also become lost, scattered and indecisive, or it can be clear, calm, long and consciously chosen. From the beginning, we introduce Planks, Warriors and targeted exercises that strengthen the side body.

40 MIN

1. UPRIGHTNESS WITHOUT EFFORT

In today’s class, we emphasise the upper back muscles, trapezius, neck and shoulder blades. Our intention is to use simple strap exercises to lower the shoulder blades, strengthen the muscles beneath and between them and open the chest forwards.

Arranging the body this way helps it maintain alertness, openness and uprightness without effort.

We practise two strap exercises during the opening warm-up, repeat them within Sun Salutations and finally hold them in asanas. The exercises are simple. One directs the shoulder blades down and chest forwards; the other works with rotation through the upper back. We add several Dolphin Downward Dogs, strengthening the shoulder girdle and developing external shoulder rotation. 

The class is precise. Seek opposing forces through the shoulders and arms, holding the strap firmly so that you can extend strongly between its ends.

60 MIN

2. DETERMINATION IS STRENGTH

We set the intentions: “May my yoga become a practice of decisively holding clear and right intentions.” “May I know in which direction to activate the body so that I decisively realise what I intend.” “May I descend into pure feeling, the body’s honest way of knowing what is happening.” “May my breath express the most subtle relationship with what I feel.”

We carry these intentions through the class and repeatedly remember that we want to awaken healthy, calm, joyful determination through the way we hold the body. The practice emphasises mobilising the shoulder girdle and opening the chest.

We move through Sun Salutations calmly and use a strap to increase the range of arm circles. We open the chest in Warrior and other poses. Naturally, we settle at the end and reset the lower back with Navasana and several abdominal exercises.

MINDFUL SLOW FLOW CLASS – 40 MIN

3. DEEP PEACE

We begin in a calm seated position, close the eyes and lower attention to the breath. We practise fundamental yogic breathing according to several guidelines: 
– inhalation and exhalation are equal in length;
– the breath is continuous, with no sudden section followed by “a little more”;
– there is no pause between inhalation and exhalation;
– breath flows with ease; 
– the breath fills and empties the abdomen through diaphragmatic breathing.
Breathing this way creates the balanced curve of coherent breath. Imagine a parabola forming symmetrical waves.

We have already changed our energy. We then mobilise the hips through several movements and asanas, move into a seated position and Yoni Asana, then relax backwards onto the floor and naturally arrive in Reclining Butterfly. We soften further and continue through a sequence: supported small Bridge on a block, legs extended with the pelvis on a block. 

Enjoy and surrender deeply, and bring peace into your cells.

40 MIN

4. A LINE OF OPENNESS

Today, we again use a strap to expand the chest and align the shoulders. We warm up standing with several circles and twists while holding the strap, then move through Sun Salutations with added details. In the standing asanas, we take the strap again, repeat rotations and opening, add a forward bend, then more twists and a forward bend with a twist. Our intention is to feel the body expanding in every direction. We seek to arrange ourselves this way, expanding as though made of rubber, or better, as though we were energy radiating in one direction, rather than pushing ourselves into length and forcing a pose through the muscles. 

May the body expand by itself into the directions offered when we give it the opportunity.

Simply begin, armed with loving determination that what you are doing is genuinely beneficial and that it is worth making an effort when things become difficult. This is Right Effort carrying us in a healthy direction.

60 MIN

5. SIDE STRENGTH

Today, we strengthen the side torso, including muscles used less often in daily life that offer great support for upright posture. We begin awakening them gently during the standing warm-up, add Planks to Sun Salutations to connect the entire front body and continue with more demanding asanas. We naturally bend laterally left and right, usually holding a strap, and seek precision to target these muscle groups. We move slowly up and down because slower movement engages calm strength more deeply.

Because the class contains many Planks and holds the arms away from the body, it is more intense. Make an effort and give your best. Naturally, you may skip a round of pulses or modify, but continue so that you complete the class. 

We discuss returning attention to the heart, the most sincere and pure place where we can rest from our wounds. 

40 MIN

6. NOURISHING THE TORSO

The juicy title says it immediately: we strengthen the abdominal muscles and nourish them with movement. We begin by warming up and practising several exercises that connect the kinetic chain and torso strength. Within Sun Salutations, we introduce movements from Warrior II to Reverse Warrior, precise lateral movements performed slowly to engage the oblique abdominal muscles. We repeat and hold these exercises a second time with a strap. The strap connects the body’s lines and provides better leverage from our own body. It also helps us lengthen and stretch from within. We add strengthening of the oblique abdominal muscles from a Side Dolphin Plank, if that is what we call it, then lower onto the abdomen and practise several exercises for the back and side-back muscles.

The body appreciates these movements and strengthening this area. Torso and side-body strength offer great support for overall integrity.

60 MIN

7. RIGHT EFFORT

The practice of Right Effort is one of the eight elements of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It means preventing thoughts and intentions that lead in an unhealthy direction from arising, releasing those that have already appeared and lead in an unhealthy direction, generating thoughts and intentions that lead well and maintaining them.

We need to recognise an intention, understand where acting upon it will lead and decisively carry into action only those that are useful.

With this in mind, today’s class emphasises connecting the kinetic chain and activating the lower torso. We practise several High Lunges with pulses and slow lifting and lowering, connecting the torso and legs. Warrior III also works with the body’s kinetic chain, followed by several seated forward bends interrupted by a pulse from a small Navasana.

40 MIN

8. SUPPORT FOR THE HEART

The heart is why we do everything and why feeling well matters most: we want to be well in the heart. We want to open and live open-heartedly, with HEART. It is therefore essential to have support so that the heart can rely on the security of our decisions and Right Intentions.

The heart contains no craving or aversion; it wants to open to every experience, from pain and misunderstanding to joy.

Like a child’s heart, we open to what is here now, feel and love, and build action from acceptance of the present. We practise with a block that extends the arms, helping us lengthen the back more effectively in several poses and open and stretch the chest in others. The block also lets us feel support behind the back. We hold it between the shoulder blades in several asanas, lean against it and try to lengthen along its surface. At the end, we surrender completely and relax lying on the block. 

60 MIN

9. DIAGONALS

Precisely that: diagonals of the kinetic chain through the body. We strengthen connections between opposite sides across the centre. We explore this principle in several poses and movements, some intense and strong, others relaxed and better suited to stretching. Can we lift the opposite arm and leg in Plank? If not, keep only the leg lifted, remain in regular Plank or rest with the knees on the floor. We practise Half Moon for balance and length through opposite diagonals, then lift the opposite leg and arm while lying on the abdomen to strengthen the same diagonal through the back. 

There is no need for a lengthy description. As always, we move in different directions and strengthen the body in ways that daily life rarely provides. We use a yoga strap, so have it ready.

40 MIN

10. CLARITY

We begin by setting the intention: “Through this practice, as I move my body, may I awaken determination and clarity so that I feel and understand the intentions from which I act, choose not to respond to those that do not serve me and follow those that do.”

With this in mind, we begin practice and focus on the abdomen, placing the palms there to bring awareness to this chamber from which movement arises and which gives us stability. We practise many poses and movements from Dolphin Plank, a repeated theme throughout the class. We also have two sequences from Warrior I with high twists and one from Prasarita Padottanasana, also with a twist. At the end, we practise several exercises on the abdomen and back and then rest. Remain in Shavasana for another five to ten minutes.

60 MIN

11. PLANES OF THE BODY

We begin with exercises that open space for breath, then sit on the floor for introductory breathing. We first use calm inhalations and exhalations of equal length, followed by alternate nostril breathing, left and right,Nadi Shodhana. We begin movement through waves of the spine and Sun Salutations enriched with a one-legged Plank. If this is difficult, remain in regular Plank. From a Warrior II base, we practise Parsvakonasana and Reverse Warrior with a strap to lengthen and expand in every direction. We become aware of the body’s planes by settling into a pose, closing the eyes and feeling the body in space, including the relationship between front and back and the body’s lines and surfaces.

We orient ourselves in space through pure feeling; the body knows it is here because it feels where it is.

Enjoy and offer your attention and the peace through which tension and contraction become easy to see. From peace, we can choose what we do and do not want to respond to. Peace is the true ground for living our Right Intentions.