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Greetings!
Greetings from the Saint Paul Yoga Center! Our fifth session of 2010 started Sunday, August 1st. Our next session begins on Sunday, Sept. 12th.
Our new website is up! Many thanks to student Cathy Roberts-Martin for her excellent work on the site. We think it is more user-friendly and more attractive. We also have a Facebook page, where we can quickly add content and post notices. We're also planning to place suggestion boxes in both studios to elicit your feedback and ideas.
Our studios are getting a face lift. Our use of low-VOC paints reflects the St. Paul Yoga Center's ongoing commitment to environmentally friendly practices, which includes the green cleaning crew we use. Thanks also to the students who helped us replace worn bolster covers and paint the studios. We'll post a fuller thank you on the website and on our Facebook page. We also recently had additional full-spectrum lights installed in the Selby studio and are making improvements to the front of the studio. We want our spaces to feel welcoming.
Just a quick reminder of our first summer special. For session V *only* (Aug. 1-Sept. 11) we lowered the drop-in class rate to $13 and discounted the full session cost to $11/class. Dozens of students have taken advantage of the Unlimited Class Pass for session V for $100. Please join us when you can.
We hope your summer has been satisfying and rich so far and that it has included a healthy dose of yoga.
Namaste, Saint Paul Yoga Center
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Yoga, Brevity and Containment
I spoke briefly with Jim S., a student at the St. Paul Yoga Center, regarding the article about time in the last newsletter. I acknowledged that the article was rather long, even though I had shortened it quite a bit. In response, Jim produced a wonderful quote from Blaise Pascal written December 4,1656. "I would not have made this (letter) so long except that I do not have the time to make it shorter."
Mark Twain is credited with saying "that he could speak for a couple of hours with a few minutes notice, but that if he had to limit his speech to less than a half-hour, he needed several weeks to prepare." So brevity, it seems, does not necessarily imply rushing. ("If you bring that sentence in for a fitting, I can have it shortened by Wednesday." ~M*A*S*H, Hawkeye, "The Gun")
Containment and Restraint
Brevity invites us to focus, creating a "container" both structurally and energetically. Haiku is a great example of this, as is Sumi-e painting. Brevity can connect us to this concept of containment. To contain something is to hold it, to keep it within limits--restrain it. When we contain something, we check its expansion, or outward movement. (Nietzsche wrote that his "free spirit" must learn "the value of keeping its energy and enthusiasm in bounds." -Keith Pearson, "Nietzsche-The Free Spirit"
Restraint is a vital skill that we develop in yoga practice. Pranayama, the fourth limb of yoga sage Patanjali's ashtanga yoga ("ashtanga" is literally "eight limbs"), is often described as breathwork, but may be more literally translated as "restraint of the breath" or "restraint of prana". Prana is the vital life force that animates us and is pervasive throughout the universe.
The fifth limb is pratyhara, which can be described as "restraint of the senses." This harnessing of the senses allows us to conserve energy, but also to re-direct that "pranic" energy, along with our attention. Otherwise, the senses tend to be outwardly directed, and the mind tends to follow the senses outward. This outward flow of awareness dissipates energy and moves us away from our center.
The use of bandhas, energetic locks, contains and re-directs prana. The first two limbs, yamas (universal ethical principles, or restraints) and niyamas (codes of personal conduct, or observances), in a sense set the stage for the containment of prana. When we follow these guidelines for conduct, we begin to reduce the dissipation of prana that unhealthy behavior causes. (In Hindu mythology, Yama is the god of death. "Yama" means "the restrainer.") So it seems that our relationship to prana is central to yoga practice and to how we manage and express our lives.
Is Brevity Enough?
Our use of language provides an important opportunity to practice containment. Containment suggests brevity, but brevity does not necessarily include all of the qualities of containment. Brevity describes length (shortness), but it doesn't say anything about content. In a sense, brevity is a quality that deals with quantity.
Patanjali's Yoga Sutras offer a classic example of brevity with its nearly 200 terse aphorisms. Countless books have been written to try to explain Patanjali's text, many going on at great length. Patanjali added depth to brevity.
Conciseness brings clarity to brevity. To clarify something is to concentrate it or to distill it to its essence. ("If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" -Albert Einstein) The practice of quoting others acknowledges not only the words chosen and their arrangement, but also their conciseness.
Here's an example of communication that is neither clear nor brief: "It is my job to ensure proper process deployment activities take place to support process institutionalization and sustainment. Business process management is the core deliverable of my role, which requires that I identify process competency gaps and fill those gaps." (Translation: "I'm the training director.") -Dave Griffiths, "Effective Business Communication Connects Brevity and Clarity, and Media Training That Works"
Being brief and clear is efficient, and it requires us to hone our language skills. Mastering language, like mastering anything, is ultimately about self-mastery-- and clearer (and more beautiful) self-expression. Yoga uses repetition (with awareness) to develop self-mastery. The Sanskrit word for practice is abhyasa, which literally means "repetition." ("Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Nature, from which we are created, by which we are sustained, and to which we return, is beautifully efficient. Acting with the least amount of effort is one of yoga's aims. Yoga has thus been described as effortless effort. BKS Iyengar has used a wonderful phrase for this: "Every move to purpose."
One principle of yoga is to work on as gross a level as necessary and as subtle a level as possible. With language this can mean using as many words as you need to in order to convey your message, but as few as you are able to. Metaphor and imagery can help us condense our language. (Sometimes I feel like I'm using a thousand words to try to create the effect of one image.)
The Practice of Right Speech
Brevity can bring efficiency to language. While this is an important quality, yoga (as well as other traditions) asks us to bring additional qualities to our use of language. The third factor in the Noble Eight-fold Path of Buddhism is right speech, or samma vaca.
To be considered right speech, something must be true, necessary, and kind. This connects to the yoga concepts of satya (truthfulness), aparigraha (non-hoarding-only what's needed) and ahimsa (non-harming) . When I use language unmindfully, I cheapen it and disrespect its power. This harms me and others.
Gossip is a classic example of harmful speech. My teacher Lar taught me that gossip occurs any time someone talks about a person who isn't present. The challenging part of this definition for me is that it doesn't matter if what is said is considered positive or negative. Either way, it's considered gossip. Our society has turned gossip into a national pastime. Refraining from gossip is an excellent way to practice containment.
When I remember the practice of right speech, I am struck by how few words I would use if I always observed it. It is truly a mindfulness practice. We could say that right speech transforms brevity into containment.
"Bring your face up close to his ear, and then talk only about what you want deeply to happen." -Kabir
Summer: Lightness and Containment
When I was first introduced to the concept of containment, in my twenties, the concept was very foreign to me. The power and importance of it were conveyed to me clearly enough for me to begin to take it in, despite the fact that I was in a stage of my life that very much corresponded to summer and its expansive, energy-dissipating tendencies. As I've aged, the idea of containment has become more attractive.
The light, expansive qualities of summer encourage lightness in our behavior. We favor lighter meals and read "light" novels. This expansiveness can also encourage us to over-do and spread ourselves too thin. Bringing some of the energy of winter into our summer experience can include anything that grounds us, slows us down, and helps us to contain our energy. (If you're a reader, try something denser than your usual summer fare.)
By the time August rolls around, we're overdue for restorative yoga practice, especially if we haven't let up on the break-neck pace of summer. My body and nervous system tell me to slow down and be still more. As we inch toward fall, this becomes increasingly more important.
At Least the Conclusion is Brief
Now I've written a fairly long article about brevity. The irony is inescapable. An old Chinese proverb gives another compelling reason for brevity: Talk doesn't cook the rice.
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-Paul Busch, St. Paul Yoga Center Instructor
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About Saint Paul Yoga Center
The Saint Paul Yoga Center has been serving the Twin Cities metro area for over 15 years. We are grateful for your support and look forward to many years of continued service to our community.
1162 Selby Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104
Saint Paul Yoga Center
651-644-7141
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Frog Haiku by Matsuo Basho
Trans. by Donald Keene
Ancient Pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water
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Haiku by Basho
Summer grass
Great warriors
Remains of dreams
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Haiku by Kobayashi Issa
Trans. by Asataro Miyamori
Do not tread on the grass
Where fireflies glowed
Last night.
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Haiku by
Yosa Buson
In seasonal rain
along a nameless river
fear too has no name
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Haiku by Masaoka Shiki
relieved of a burden
in the everyday life
an afternoon nap |
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Poem by Mechtild of Magdeburg
Of all that God has shown me
I can speak just the smallest word,
Not more than a honey bee
Takes on his foot
From an overspilling jar
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Poem by Antonio Machado
It's possible that while sleeping
the hand that sows the seeds of stars
started the ancient music going again
-like a note from a great harp-
and the frail wave came to our lips as one or two honest words.
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"You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude, so that's what you call me. Or maybe His Dudeness, or Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing."
-The Dude, The Big Lebowski
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Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.
~William Shakespeare, Hamlet
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Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. - George Eliot (1819-1880)
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"Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity." -William Zinsser
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"Clutter is the disease of American writing." -William Zinsser
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The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ~Thomas Jefferson
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Good things, when short, are twice as good. ~Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
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It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books - what other men do not say in whole books. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~Robert Southey
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A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ~William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918
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