Integration/Authenticity quote- Remski

In deep meditation you can witness
how experience is woven together.
Such witnessing leaves traces.
Your hidden aspects become integrated.
A feeling of authenticity arises.
It is deeper than what you can hear or study.
It begins to unravel future patterning.
Bearing no future patterns, you become unbound.

Mindfulness (and other deeper states) triggers a self-reflexive loop-- feedback-- in which becoming aware of autonomic and perceptual processes calms and soothes these processes,  which then become continued objects of awareness.... As integration deepens, the stresses of consciousness-- maintaining a self-sufficient story along with an identity to tell it-- resolve into equanimity, so that the changes of life, things rising and dissipating, are not only tolerated, but expected, and perhaps even quietly enjoyed.  Like watching waves on the sea.

- from threads of yoga, by Matthew Remski, p. 164-5

Digestion quote- Remski

Breath relaxation can be instantly deepened through peristaltic release.  This is easiest to accomplish through conscious release of the tongue and jaw.  Softening the tongue relaxes peristalsis all the way down the GI tract, so that breathing is no longer cramped by digestive gripping.  (The small intestine is "grahani" in Sanskrit: "the seizer", not only of nutrition but of desires and goals.)  The tongue is also continuously quivering with unconscious subvocalization: to release its muscular tension can slow down or even stop thought.

- from threads of yoga by Matthew Remski, p. 122

threads of yoga book excerpt

Who am I?  What is true?  No pre-modern human being asks these questions, because there is literally no separate internal agency to ask them, [Jayne suggests].  But the social mask will give birth to an inner person, and when, like a three-year-old, that inner person begins to ask the unanswerable, yoga must be born: a quest to commune, to rejoin, to feel grounded in a simpler mood.

- from threads of yoga, by Matthew Remski, p. 62

Vyana Vayu

Vyana vayu is situated in the heart and lungs.  It moves throughout the body as an energy of expansion. It moves down all of our limbs and out, as our vibration or aura.

Vyana supports all four of the other vayus.  It aids in circulation of all substances throughout the body.

To experience vyana vayu, bring your awareness to your heart and something that you love.  Feel this love move through your body and out, touching those around you.

Practice big, expansive shapes in your asana practice.  Feel the energy flow through you: from your heart outwards.  Feel the expansiveness of balance as you rest deeply in savasana.

Udana Vayu

Udana vayu is situated in the neck and head.  It governs speech and self-expression.  It is also related to  the spine and your ability to "hold yourself up" and, more generally, your ability to be yourself.

Udana is a spiraling current that flows in the neck and head and spins outward.  I understand it not as our spinning thoughts, but as a deeper current that is our authentic self-expression.  We access this current often, in moments of calm and love.

Samana Vayu

Samana Vayu is located in the abdomen, with the center at the navel.  It is a wind that circulates in a spiral, and draws inward.

It is associated with Fire element.

Samana has to do with digestion and circulation, even of thoughts and emotions.  Do we hold memories and pain until they harden, or do we let them move through us and become assimilated and free?  Movement is what we want; freedom, waves, fluidity, breath.

Samana Vayu is an inward movement.  Draw your attention inward, rest it on your navel center, and imagine a spiral that flows and moves freely.

Poses that build heat and draw in cultivate this vayu.  Spinal twists, abdominal work.

Soften and expand the abdomen in restorative poses, like supported bridge and legs up the wall (with a bolster under your pelvis).  Let the energy circulate freely.

The Vayus are linked to the chakras; you can learn more about this vayu by studying the manipura chakra.

Apana Vayu

Apana Vayu is the downward flow of energy.  It is associated with the exhalation, elimination, and release of bodily fluids.

It is associated with Earth element and Water element.

Apana Vayu is seen in the root system of plants.

It's center is in the pelvic region.

Freedom of movement in the pelvic region is associated with health in the reproductive organs.

Cultivate Apana Vayu through hip openers, grounding through the legs and feet, restorative poses.  There elements are steadying, cooling, and relaxing.