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Michael-

I’ve been thinking lately about the idea of ‘presentness’.  In my acting work, I am learning that one of the most important things is to be present in the moment and aware of what is going on around you.  When I am at my best, I feel an open, honest connection to the people around me.  I feel that there is a similar sensation in the Yoga practice.  Perhaps it is the personal energy, or the ’embodied’ sense.  I can feel it sometimes when we do the breathing exercises.  I would really like to put together a warm up for myself to use before beginning to do my acting work.  Would you mind helping me with this?  That would be great!

Physically, I am struggling with flexibility, as always.  Sorry about missing class today, I had a flat tire.

Zak

Michael!

I had a physical breakthrough with the work we did on wednesday!  I became much more aware of my muscular energy.  I think that the combination of muscular and organic energy are very important to dance.  I did an amount of dance in high school, and I feel an embodied connection between those performances, those classes, and the work we are doing in class.  There is a sort of “ready energy” I feel when I am simultaneously pulling my muscles in and lengthening and melting my heart.

Speaking of melting my heart, on wednesday I also felt a progress in utilizing my lower back!  As we were doing downward facing dog, I suddenly became aware of how to flex that portion of my spine slightly so that I could organically melt into the posture.  Your commentary during class has been so helpful: the reminders to melt my heart, to flip the sitzbones up, etc.  I’m very excited to feel even this small progress in my body.  Thanks!

Zak

Michael-

The quotes you gave us seem to relate to concepts of relativism.  I don’t know if I can reconcile that all experience is based on personal viewpoint.  I’d say it changes drastically depending on your viewpoint…  I am a theatre major.  Currently, I’m acting in a production staged in a thrust theatre, where the audience is seated on three different sides of the stage.  Each seat offers an essentially different view, and consequently, and different experience of the play.  That’s why sports enthusiasts fight over “good seats” at OSU football games, to have a better view of the action.  However, the action being performed is still essentially the same.  Everyone still sees the same “raw” play, or action, as viewed through their “lens”, the sum of where they sit, what they choose to look at, etc.  I don’t know that experience can be summed up in only what “you” see.  Instead, I think your experience as the seeker or perceiver limits your experience of the things that you experience.  Does that make sense?  Everything you experience only exists for you, but I think it is worth it to know that there is always more to the story than just your perception.  Perhaps then the experience of being a seeker is working to expand your own personal perception to include more of the whole event.

Hello again Michael-

I like this format of writing to you.  It feels like I am leaving you notes on the refrigerator.

In terms of the prompt you gave us, all about embodiment of reason and rejection of the dualism of “mind” and “body”, I find that I agree in many ways and disagree in few.  I do find that many problems have arisen from the separation of mind and body in the philosophy of the past.  But I cannot agree that the mind is entirely composed of the body.  In a very nuanced sense, I believe the mind operates on a principle of emergence: as a result of all the tiny cells, or even atoms in our bodies working, together they form a consciousness (basically the point of the article).  However, I would add that once the consciousness reaches a level of self-awareness or meta-awareness, then it is no longer just the sum of it’s parts but has some additional quality not present in its parts.

I wonder also if the mind-body split is not an innate state but a learned behavior, just like the “embodied” state can be learned.  Perhaps the mind-body connection is malleable, and depending on the environment of the subject it shifts.

Do you listen to Radiolab, Michael?  It’s a sort of holistic, science/art radio show on NPR that explores some of these concepts.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

I think you would really like the episodes called Emergence and Where Am I?.

Zak

Michael-

Hi.  I’m not really sure how to frame or structure this journal, so I’ll just write it to you, if you don’t mind.  Just so you know, I’m listening to music right now, and it’s pretty ambient. The group is called Stars of the Lid.  Do you know them?  I think they make music that could be excellent to play during Pranayama.  Just a thought.

Since we only began working fully on wednesday, I didn’t know exactly what to think.  I have done a few yoga poses in other classes (mostly movement or theatre classes) as warm ups, but never any positions as intensely as we did on wednesday.  I remembered on wednesday that I had done the sun salutation before, and run into a particular problem:  I always got a headache during or afterwards.  This wednesday, I didn’t.  I have wondered in the past if this came from some problem with my breath.  Any thoughts?

On monday, when we first started with Pranayama, I really enjoyed the meditation and breath exercise.  I became aware, almost uncomfortably, of my pulse in my body.  I could feel the heat from it and my veins expanding and contracting.  It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was strange.  Is that what you were talking about when you mentioned a “buzzing”, life energy?

Well, see you monday.  Please respond and tell me if this is what you were looking for.

Zak