Yoga
SCOTLAND
MAGAZINE
Issue 48 • September 2015
Theme: Practising Ahimsa: Living with Animals
PUBLISHED BY YOGA SCOTLAND
www.yogascotland.org.uk Scottish Charity Number SCO20590
sportscotland
Governing Body for Yoga in Scotland
Yoga SCOTLAND
Practising Ahimsa: Yin Yoga: The Healing Art of Paulie Zink by Eileen Kragie Photos: Maria Zink
to experience the true depth of this practice...and the fun. Becoming attuned to the seasons and the alchemical elements has changed how I move through my days. Every moment is an opportunity to practise and to learn from the animals and nature around me. Walks with my dog become occasions to move like an animal, to observe other animals in their natural habitat and to hold postures in order to grow more, instead of just sitting or standing like humans normally do. With a little imagination I can weave my yoga practice into my daily activities, even using the stairs to hop up like a frog. Growing and preserving my flexibility, strength, fluid movement and also developing a deeper connection with everything around me has become an integral part of my life.
My first experience with Yin yoga was eleven years ago when I purchased a Sarah Powers’ DVD. I loved the quiet longer holds of postures. The emphasis was on the lower part of the body and the practice was done from floor positions. Seeking out her teacher, I found Paul Grilley and his first book which presented photos of the postures along with an outline of the theories he was studying at the time. This was my first introduction to the Chinese meridian theory. I then followed the source to Grilley’s teacher, Paulie Zink. Reading through Paulie’s website about what he had accomplished in his practice and watching his video clip demonstrations made me want to study only with him. His fluidity and flexibility are captivating and inspiring. The first workshop I attended with Paulie showed me what this practice he teaches is really all about. It is not simply a quiet practice of long, still holds. That is the foundation from which evolves the ability to move fluidly and gracefully from posture to posture. The full practice invokes the energetics of animals and so much more. The five elements of the Chinese medical system are explored through the practice in a variety of ways. The workshop concluded with a walking meditation of the birthing cycle of the five transforming energies. At the end of it I could feel the chi (life force) radiating between my hands and my body was invigorated and full of energy. That first time I met Paulie I asked him, ‘Were you always this flexible?’ He answered, ‘No, I had average flexibility as a teenager. I started practising Hatha yoga in my teens and grew some but it wasn’t until I met my Master when I was in college and really started training intensively that my flexibility developed to the point where it is now. The style of kung fu that was handed down to me required extraordinary flexibility to master it. I practised six to eight hours a day for ten years.’ After attending several week-long training sessions with Paulie I feel I am only beginning to scratch the surface and
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The Tao of Paulie The complete art of Yin yoga taught by its founder Master Paulie Zink goes far beyond the image of Yin yoga as it is commonly held by many yoga practitioners and teachers. This is a dynamic, potent practice. It is a healing art and one designed to restore the primal nature of the practitioner, that nature which is curious, strong, adaptable and instinctual. Being awake to one’s primal nature means being fully present in the body without the distraction of abstract analytical thought processes and self-limiting preconceptions. Paulie’s Yin yoga is rooted in the traditional Taoist healing arts of China which have their earliest beginnings in ancient shamanic practices. The complete art of Yin yoga is premised upon the energetics of animals and elemental forces. It incorporates the concept of yin and yang and the five element theory that is the basis of the Chinese system of acupuncture and herbal medicine. In various styles of yoga it is common for poses to be identified with an animal name, but what does that really mean? In Paulie’s Yin yoga the focus is on the energetics of the animals. It’s about the alchemy of embodying their spirit. So the name of an animal is not just a convenient way to identify a posture. It describes the attributes of the posture. Embodying the energetic qualities of animals is an
Yoga SCOTLAND invigorating technique for transforming and enhancing the experience of our own physicality, how we feel and move in our bodies and how we relate to our surroundings. When practising the art of Yin yoga the way it’s taught by Paulie and you assume a Seal posture, you begin to become one with the sensations of being a seal. You aren’t merely mimicking a seal, you ARE the seal. Lying quietly and still, you feel the sand or stone beach underneath you. You feel heavy on land. You move by twisting and undulating your belly and thighs and using your arms like flippers. The sensation of flinging or heaving yourself evokes an experience that is unique to yourself, in your own body. There is no judgment. There is only the fun and freedom of being who you are. As another example, by doing the Monkey postures and movements you become as a monkey is: agile and mischievous. In the way you sit or stand or run about, the movements are those of the monkey, twisting, reaching, climbing and scampering along the ground. You spontaneously become joyous, curious and playful.
There are many dozens of postures and variations contained in the complete art of Yin yoga, including those of mythical beings such as the Dragon and the Phoenix. When embodying a dragon, you begin to feel as though you are filled with the might of a dragon, the ability to breathe fire and shred metal with massive claws. The Dragon posture (also described as a lunge posture) is used to develop ankle, hip and thigh flexibility, among other things. With consistent practice the ankle joints grow increasingly flexible, enabling the practitioner to perform very low-to-the-ground stances. This becomes particularly useful when flowing from posture to posture, such as with the Monkey and the Rabbit series of movements.
Whether you are taking on the characteristics of a mythical creature or a real animal, each one imbues not only physical traits to the practitioner but also energetic and spiritual qualities. A sense of magic and mystery comes over you. You begin to live in the moment, not thinking, simply being. Developing awareness of the subtle energy of chi, our vital life force, is at the heart of Yin yoga. The theory of the five transforming energies lays the foundation of the art. These are the elemental forces of Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. Each of these elements express distinct characteristics in the energetic field of our body and emotions, such as calm, strength, fluidity, springiness and lightness, respectively. These elemental attributes can be cultivated and manipulated. For instance, the Phoenix posture is of the
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Yoga SCOTLAND
fire element. Fire energy has the quality of lightness and being ungrounded. It is always in motion, always expanding and reaching upward. With the Phoenix posture you start from a crouching position poised on the balls of the feet with arms tucked under the armpits liked folded wings. Then by invoking fire energy you gracefully rise in one fluid motion, unfolding your wings as you come up to a standing position. From there, with wings outstretched, you finish by balancing on one leg. ‘I taught a form of Toad-Frog-Phoenix sequence to my yoga class’, says Linnea Larson, a Yin yoga teacher trained by Paulie, ‘and one of the 55-year-old guys who has bad arthritis in his knees and hips was simply ecstatic that he could move from Phoenix straight up with his arms overhead. He said he never would have imagined he could have done this and he has not done that kind of movement in fifteen years.’ Incorporating the energy of an element or creature can make the practice seem effortless, as evidenced by animals who lie relaxed and nearly motionless until they need to leap up and race off to evade the pursuit of a predator. So too, through this practice, we bring our body back to its primal nature, one which is relaxed and at ease with gravity, yet always prepared to respond in an instant. In the popularised version of Yin yoga it is commonly understood as being a practice done from the waist down with static poses. ‘Unfortunately there are a lot students who have learned only this fragment of my art,’ Paulie explains, ‘and think that is all there is to it. By only working the lower part of the body you are neglecting all the joints of the upper body and this causes an imbalance in the whole system of the body. The idea of Yin yoga is to become totally flexible and resilient, to move the entire body in graceful unison. It is important for all the joints to be open and mobile in order for chi, or the life force, to flow efficiently.’ Yin yoga involves all the tissues of the body, not just the connective tissue. Muscles, tendons, ligaments, veins and arteries, cartilage, bones, and even the organs are all stimulated by the practice. The circular and spiral designs and movements found in nature are integral to the practice and are similar to those used in tai chi and other chi kung disciplines. The more static postures are used to grow flexibility. Yet the ability to flow fluidly and comfortably in
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and out of them is equally important, if not more so. Standing and balancing postures are also a significant component of the practice. Another common misconception about Yin yoga is that it is an ‘easy’ yoga. However, many of the poses can be quite strenuous, especially in their advanced form. Yin yoga develops muscular strength, and the weight-bearing movements of the animal postures temper the bones. Bones are living tissue and generate new cells. They are capable of growth and adaptation. Every joint of the body is worked in this practice. Attention is paid to the fingers, wrists, toes and ankles, along with the back, shoulders and neck. The continuous transitions from tight contracted postures to open expanding ones allow the body to move through and extend its full range of motion. Paulie sees the infinite potential in all of his students; but the onus is on the student to let go of the constraining mindset, the belief in limitation. Paulie says, ‘If you believe you are limited, then you will be.’ This practice is designed to take us out of the obsessive thinking and judgmental mind in order to restore and to enliven our primal essence that modern convention has alienated us from in many ways. It is our birthright, the wild spirit of keenly attuned senses and empowered physical awareness that is unfettered by social conditioning and which returns us to being in harmony with the natural world, her rhythms and cycles. This is a life-long practice undertaken to keep ourselves healthy and connected with our own individual nature and with all of life in which we are an inextricable part.
Eileen Kragie has received a 500-Hour Advanced Level II Yin Yoga Teacher Certification with Paulie Zink. She teaches Yin Yoga in Virginia, USA. For more information about Paulie Zink’s Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings see YinYogaCertification.com TheYinYogaInstitute.com PaulieZink.com
Yoga SCOTLAND
Editorial Walking down the street the other morning on my way to get bread and books, I found myself (as so often) having to stop and swerve as the person in front of me decided to stop dead in the middle of the pavement to look at and reply to a text. His eyes fixed on his little screen, I had assumed he was paying no attention at all to me. A little way down the street though, I heard him approaching, apologising profusely for having been so rude and saying he hated it when people did that, so why had he just done it? Thanking him for his words, I congratulated him on having noticed what he had done and went on my way, reflecting on our brief encounter and the power of a little consideration for others to make us feel good. If such examples of simple consideration and kindness for other humans are too often in short supply, how much more lacking can kindness to ‘non-human animals’ be, in spite of the plethora of charities in the UK working to help and protect them. There seem to be endless examples of cruelty, some of which reach the news, although of course so many don’t – a dog abandoned at a railway station, a tortoise sold on eBay and sent through the post, a cat put in a wheelie bin…And so on. Of course agreeing that such treatment is cruel is selfevident, but when it comes to responses, attitudes diverge, falling into two broad categories: on the one hand animal welfare (improving the situation) and on the other rejection of the notion that humans are in any way superior to and have rights over animals (more revolutionary). So where the first approach involves taking care of animals and ensuring they are happy and well-treated, whilst not ruling out the possibility of eating (some of) them at some point, the second embraces vegetarianism or veganism and in some cases even goes as far as seeing any use of animals (as pets or guide dogs for example) as ‘specieist’ and exploitative. That view will of course be too extreme for many, but does at least have the merit of encouraging us to think about our relations with animals and the small steps we could all take to be more aware, more mindful, kinder. Ahimsa is very much at the heart of yoga, whether in relation to human or non-human animals, and this issue endeavours to take a variety of perspectives on the question. Alexis Beddoe reminds us that vegetarianism or veganism are routes taken by many yogis who feel that it fits with their practice of ahimsa, whilst for others a different kind of diet feels ‘right’; Mark Biddiss also discusses the complexity of endeavouring to lead a ‘non-harming’ life; Manjulika Singh writes about her personal experience, whilst Sharon Gannon argues that veganism is the only way to fully practise ahimsa and respect the natural world. Thoughts on ways of living with animals rather than eating them are offered by Nicola Pazdzierska, from an innovative and aptlynamed business project ensuring that cows have a happy life; Nikki Biddiss reflects on the psychological benefits of both pets and wildlife and Eileen Kragie explains how Yin Yoga can bring us closer to the natural world and the animals on whom so many of the postures are modelled.
Once again views, on both the theme and on other subjects, come from within and outwith Yoga Scotland, from Scotland and from further afield, and if there is anything you wish to agree or disagree with, praise or criticise, please get in touch. Likewise do contact us should you wish to contribute to our January issue on the Ethics of Teaching Yoga, in which we would like all traditions and all perspectives to be represented. May ahimsa be at the heart of your autumn. Joy Charnley Editor
Cover photo Paulie Zink demonstrating Monkey pose. Photo by Maria Zink. Please send us any photos you have which depict any aspect of yoga.
Upcoming Themes Future issues will focus on the following themes. Your contributions (and suggestions of other themes you would like to see covered) are very welcome. January 2016 (deadline 15 November 2015): The Ethics of Teaching Yoga
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