Look at your current challenge from a different angle: Fresh perspectives yoga practice
There was a farmer whose horse ran away. That evening the neighbors gathered to commiserate with him since this was such bad luck. He said, “May be.”
The next day the horse returned, but brought with it six wild horses, and the neighbors came exclaiming at his good fortune. He said, “May be.”
And then, the following day, his son tried to saddle and ride one of the wild horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. Again the neighbors came to offer their sympathy for the misfortune. He said, “May be.”
The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the army, but because of the broken leg the farmer’s son was rejected. When the neighbors came in to say how fortunately everything had turned out, he said, “May be.”
(Source: Tao: The Watercourse Way, by Alan Watts)
I love this Taoist story because it beautifully illustrates the concept of cognitive reappraisal (pratipaksha bhavana). How we feel and react truly is a matter of perspective.
In this yoga practice, we literally turn your point of view upside down and then reframe it in a different way. This practice uses movement, breath awareness, chanting, and meditation to release body tension and clear your head. It gives you a chance to view your current issue from several other perspectives in hopes of assigning a different meaning to your current challenge.
This practice is pretty strong and might not be appropriate for you if you have shoulder and wrist issues; please use suggested pose modifications or just skip the poses that call for bearing weight on your hands.
Scientists estimate that an average person has about 60,000 thoughts per day, and about 90% of those thoughts are repetitive. This means that about 90% of our mental activity involves spinning in circles and revisiting the same stuff over and over again. The yogis call it chitta vrtti or “the vortex of the mind.”
Thanku for this awesome meditation and for sharing neuroscientist Freeman’s thought
Wow, I just did this yoga practice via your app (which I absolutely love by the way; use it often) and it really helped me see a situation I’ve been grappling with from a different perspective. The meditation on the pedestal really was helpful and I can see using this when I’m feeling stuck. I enjoyed the physical practice as well and when I found myself “upside down” I considered my vantage point, how it felt, what I was seeing and thinking (when not chanting). Thanks Olga.
I love this. Is it shared on the sequence builder? I can’t find it.