Week Four ~ Yoga Stories, Vrksasana (Tree Pose)
Hello everyone,
Thank you all for being there last Sunday at Thrive for what was a lovely balancing eagle practice in both our Hatha and Soft Stretch classes; a chance to strengthen your legs and stretch out your wings/shoulders :) This Sunday our pose of the week will be Vrksasana, Tree Pose ~ a simple beginner shape that, when practiced with feeling and awareness, is simultaneously very advanced ~ because it embodies the expansion of the universe (woah...) and teaches the poise and presence required for cultivating intrinsic balance. Skip down below to read the fantastic story behind this ancient balancing shape!
We have just two more Sundays of Hatha Flow and Soft Stretch yoga at Thrive before I take some summer holidays! Please let me know if you'd like to come to either class this Sunday June 17th (5pm or 6:30pm) as a drop in ~ it is €17 for a single class and all the mats and props are provided :)
Now, for the great story behind Vrksasana ~ a tale of how Sage Markandeya was eaten by a child and spat out again during the end of the world ;)
The bridge between heaven and earth...a tree.
Sage Markendeya had been meditating peacefully for thousands of years when the apocalypse came down upon the world. An enormous storm swept over the earth and destroyed everything in its path. The cosmos itself was collapsing, as it does from time to time, and Markendeya knew that all would soon end.
Markendeya was a practiced meditator, however, and the end of the world did not bother him. He sat in awe for a time, slowly coming out of his long meditation, his eyes blinking awake. He admired the fantastic waves that crashed over the world and enjoyed the sensations of salt spray and rain pouring from the heavens, soaking his skin. He was soon carried away by the current.
Like a seagull sitting on a great wave in a storm, he was brought calmly from one place of destruction to the next ~ at this point, the world was covered entirely with deep and roaring water, and the rain had not stopped for many days. He floated to the top of a tsunami wave, with nothing but water all around him, and that was when he saw ~ very strangely ~ a thriving banyan tree in the middle of the wave. The current carried Markendeya to the base of this banyan tree, growing and thriving at the centre of the ocean, and there he saw a child sitting happily on one of the tree's branches.
Believing at this point that perhaps he was hallucinating, Markendeya approached the child cautiously. But as he did, the child took a deep breath in. Just like the current had swept Markendeya away, now this child's inhale pulled Markendeya with great force inside the child's mouth! The child's mouth transformed into an enormous cave, just like the caves where great masters have always dwelled in to seek enlightenment, and inside the cave Markendeya saw the world as it was before the storm. Beautiful fields, forests, jungles, mountains, and great desserts. He looked up and beheld the amazing expanse of sky and stars and moon. He closed his eyes and felt the rays of sunlight upon his skin, encouraging him to grow and reach for light. Opening his eyes again he saw past the stars and solar system and gazed out upon the entire universe in all its glory. He realised then that he must be inside the mouth of the great god Visnu, who pervades the universe and is said to wrap himself around it when time is at its end.
Too soon, the child exhaled and Markendeya was sucked back out into the dying world. He sat at the base of the banyan tree and felt a profound peace, despite the great storm around him. He was thankful for this majestic tree that gave him solace, this tree that held such divine presence within it. It kept him centered and calm even as the cosmos collapsed and was born again.
Wow! Make what you will of this story :) but I love it! It holds within it one of the most foundational teachings in all of yoga (and much of eastern philosophy) ~ which is that resistance is suffering. True peace is unconditional. That means that things don't have to go your way in order for you to feel okay. Woof!
This is a really difficult lesson to accept if you're a type A maniac like me. It takes practice. But I like that the physical shape of the tree pose, which is essentially a pose where you are asked to balance on one leg and stand up tall, embodies this teaching perfectly and also simplifies it. AKA ; it is okay to fall. Falling forces you to surrender. In that surrender, you get to see what's true. And then you have a choice; you can resist it - beat yourself up, give up, get angry that you fell, or that things didn't go your way - or you can accept the present moment with grace, forgive it, and yourself, laugh it off, and begin again. Come right back into the tricky balancing shape. That's what this story teaches, I think.
Serendipitously this week I happened upon a teaching from Thich Nhat Hanh that read something like this: Imagine walking through a beautiful and peaceful forest that was thriving with life, flowers, trees, and animals. Now imagine seeing one or two dead or dying trees on your path, and feeling sad that things are not so perfect. You begin to think about death and imperfection, and how everything ends eventually, and you worry about how nothing is ever perfect. This end ups ruining your lovely walk. Now imagine living your whole life like that.
"Even if there are a few things in the present that you dislike, there are still plenty of positive conditions for your happiness. When you walk in the garden, you may see that a tree is dying. You may feel sorry about that and may not be able to enjoy the rest of the garden that is still beautiful. You allow one dying tree to destroy your appreciation of all the other trees that are alive, vigorous, and beautiful. If you look again, you can see that the garden is still beautiful, and you can enjoy it"
Thich Nhat Hanh, From Happiness, Essential Mindfulness Practices.
Le grá,
Macha
