March 30, 2026 - Something to Push Against
We began this week’s class with a discussion addressing the intensity of the times. Some of us may feel a great weight pressing in on us, a kind of massing inertia. The intensity of stimulation and the uncertainty of our times are a heavy burden. Sometimes, understandably, we feel that we may buckle under its weight. That we are drowning in the world’s confusion caused by the cacophony of chatter. The yogic tradition has mapped this feeling very well, identifying it as one of the three fundamental qualities of the our material world (which includes the mind). It’s called tamas (coming from the root “dark) and is one of the three gunas.
Classically, tamas is thought to be a negative quality and an impediment to the realization of enlightenment. However, in contemporary traditions this isn’t always the case. Reinterpretations of the older strains of yogic practice give us room to think about the possibilities of tamas’ heaviness, darkness, and confusion as a source of necessary inspiration for the path to self-understanding.
My sister loves a quote by Alice Walker relating to personal growth and its difficulties. I can’t remember it in its entirety, but it goes something like this. Walker uses the metaphor of a tiny seed buried under the weight of the dark earth. The seed, she says, will only grow because of the great mass pushing down upon it. In order to flourish it needs, as she says, “something to push against.” In other words, if things didn’t feel hard, if there was no inertia or darkness of confusion, would we ever be inclined to grow into ourselves and meet the world as it is rather than as we wish it to be? And furthermore, if there was no black soil enrobing us, how would we ever be able to root down and understand ourselves?
To jumpstart this process, we need two types of heat. Recall the sun warming the soil in Spring signalling the seeds to start to making their way up and out of the earth. The first heat is the result of our own work pushing upwards into the soil, the friction between us and the inertia and our own inner drive to keep pushing. This is called tapas. The second heat is that sun, the cultivation of warmth to dry the mud and bring light into the darkness. This is called rajas, which is the second guna.
Our practice focused on introducing heat in a gradual way through personal effort and the literal cultivation of inner fire through breathing practice (pranayama). We started with:
Seated breathing. We began with ujjayi, a gently warming breath to set the tone for practice. From there we transitioned into warm ups including:
Basic spinal movements - torso extension, flexion (cat), extension (cow), side bending, and twisting.
We transitioned into larger warming movements including downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana), forward fold (uttanasana), half forward folds in a stronger squatting variation, gate pose (parighasana) with rotations, and more.
From there, we went into our second pranayama, kapalabhati, the shining skull breath. This is meant to cultivate warmth and send energy to the skull to clarify the mind. It’s traditionally done in a seated position. After a full round of breath, we inhaled to half our lung capacity and then released 20 short, sharp exhales through the nose. We did three rounds in total.
Afterwards, we went into our standing poses:
Low lunge
Kneeling lunge with spinal rotations
Warrior II (virabhadrasana) shifting laterally into side angle pose (parsvakonasana), held and then with shoulder rotations.
Goddess or temple squat with balancing heel raises.
We transitioned into agnisara pranayama, the fire breath. This is a strong breathing practice done in a standing wide legged squat (like goddess). It’s performed using the three axial bandhas (seals) at the pelvic floor, the navel, and the throat. With hands on legs, we inhale fully, exhale completely, and then hold the breath while engaging the three bandhas (approximating a kegel, an abdominal contraction, and the chin moving towards the collarbones). When there’s air hunger, we inhale and leave the pose. This is a breathing practice specifically designed to light the inner fire which, yoga argues, lives in the belly. By compressing the organs in the abdomen and sealing the energy within ourselves, we physically flush the organs when we inhale and release the abdomen and retain prana (vital energy) in the belly.
After that, we moved into our final asana series:
Hip opening in hindolasana (baby’s cradle pose)
Hip flexor opening over a block
Hinging and articulating bridge (lifting hips up and rolling up through the spine)
To close, we revisited an old favorite: partner supported bridge. We did this in groups of three. One person lies on the mat, one comes to their feet placing their hands behind the top of the calf, and the other comes behind the bridger’s head, looping a strap underneath their upper back, threading it up through the armpits, and then hold the straps. As the person lying down comes up to bridge, the other two gently pull on the calves and the strap, tractioning the spine by lengthening the bridger in both directions. Good times were had by all.
To close, we practiced a gentle ujjayi breath with bandha work, engaging the three axial seals on exhale and releasing on the inhale to gather more energy into the self. We finished with a long savasana.
Thank you to all of you who came out. This practice was marked by my friend and mentor’s passing. She was important to me on my yoga path. I’m honored I could share some of the things Susanna taught me, and I hope you’ll take her teachings out into the world. May her memory be a blessing.
Saprema,
Joey