Trust Your Knee to Tree

Physical therapy for my post-surgical knee began Saturday.

I received some wise words and instruction, for which I am grateful, from my PT guy, Brian.

Some of what he gave me is yoga. Here goes. This is what he said:

1) Let it heal. It's good that it's moving. But don't over-do it.

The doctors had their surgical tools moving around in there. So now it's got to heal.

He pointed to the three scabs on my knee skin and said, "Hey, see those? They haven't healed on the outside. You can be sure you're not done healing on the inside."

2) One of our big goals is to get the inflammation and swelling out of the knee joint. As long as it's there, tissue is irritated.

(I'll tell you in my next Daily Yoga Tip the "yoga" he wants me to practice to get this swelling gone. Yes, I mean in addition to the usual MICE - movement, ice, elevation, and compression.)

3) I was so proud of the fact that I could really bend my knee.

Brian burst my bubble, telling me the next big thing is not how well I can bend it, but whether I can straighten it--really straighten it.

He surprised me by demonstrating to me that I could not straighten my right leg as well as my left. That pesky culprit inflammation is the cause. See item 2 above.

4) Strengthen your leg muscles later. Big quads are beautiful, but for now, focus on propriorecptive exercises. "These will train your brain to trust your leg again," he said.

So what's involved in "proprioreceptive exercise" you ask?

Tree poses. That's right. Vrksasana.

He had me lift one foot off the ground and balance with my arms out to the sides for 15 seconds, once on each foot.

Then, instead of practicing with my arms out, he had me cross my arms in front of my chest and touch the opposite shoulder with my fingers. I held these for 15 more seconds, on each side.

Finally, the big kahuna. I did vrksasana, both sides, 15 seconds, with my eyes closed.

My foot wobbled and I could hear all sorts of popping and clicking. Apparently my brain hasn't been trusting my leg for quite a while.

I've known for a long time that tree pose is good for balance and strengthening legs. I've known it's good for avoiding twisted ankles.

But I've never really understood that I was training my brain to trust my leg.

This is a problem I'd like to solve for other poses, too.

For instance, I can teach a whole lot of people to be in the other tree pose, adho mukha vrksasana (downward facing tree pose), hand-stand.

But I'm much less successful at teaching people to kick up into hand-stand unassisted.

I've believed for a long time it's because their brains don't trust their arms.

I'd like to figure that one out. I'm wondering what we can practice so that the brain knows the rest of the body is ready to toss the legs up over the hands. Until I do...

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was janu. Janu means knee, as in parivrtta janusirsana, the revolved knee head pose.

p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is chatura. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.s., I wrote about MICE in my Daily Yoga Tip on November 9, 2005. It's called "RICE or MICE" You can read it here.

p.p.p.p.s., We're getting ready to announce some fun free give-aways for everyone who has signed up for the Daily Yoga Tip by email. Sign up today, so you'll be the first to hear about the fabulous prize that'll we'll mail out to free, if you ask for it. And, as always, please let your friends know about my Daily Yoga Tip. They'll want our special gift, too. Thank you.

p.p.p.p.p.s., In the spirit of journalistic integrity, that picture above of the knees is not me. But my legs looked just like that a few days after my surgery.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

Evert to Avert Knee Pain

A few days ago I took my first yoga class since arthroscopic surgery on my right knee (10 days prior).

I'm feeling really good.

But I noticed that my knee was tender and a bit unstable in poses in which I was down on the floor with my knee bent and thigh externally rotated.

Specifically, I very carefully did agni stambhasana (fire log pose), eka pada raja kapotasana variation (one-leg lord of the pigeon pose), janu sirsasana (knee head pose), and simple cross-legged sitting, like sukhasana (easy pose).

In each of these poses I tended to point my toe and invert the ankle so that the sole of my foot faced up.

If you look at the pictures that are linked to each of the Sanskrit pose names above, you'll see that in all but one the yogi has his or her toe pointed and the sole of the foot facing up, just like me.

What does it mean to invert the ankle? Many call this "sickling." It's when you 'turn' the foot so the outside of your ankle bulges out. When you do it, the foot is shaped like a sickle.

Even we who know zilch about old agricultural techniques know what a sickle looks like. It was the symbol of the former USSR. I saw it all the time when I was a kid.

When your feet are sickled, the peroneus longus muscle that runs down the outside of the lower leg, is lax. Wake up the peroneus and you add stability and integrity to the knee. And for me, knee pain disappeared.

You wake up the peroneus by flexing the ankle (or more technically correct, dorsiflexing) and everting the heel.

When you evert, the outside of the ankle no longer bulges out. It draws in. The area under the outside ankle bone is hollowed. And running down the outside edge of your lower leg you'll see what I call a "racing stripe". It's a long trough that indicates the peroneus muscle is active.

Look at the first picture in this Daily Yoga Tip. You'll see the woman doing agni stambhasana has her feet flexed and both heels everted.

By creating this action, she protects her knees. You can do it, too.

Evert. It does your knees good. (Hint: Look back at your ankles in downward facing dog pose. Are the sickled? Or everted?)

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was pada. Pada means foot or leg, as in eka pada rajakapotasana, the one-leg lord of the pigeons pose.

p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is janu. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.s., I wrote about some other things you can do to help nix knee pain in my Daily Yoga Tip on May 31, 2005. It's called "More Knee Pain?" You can read it here.

p.p.p.p.s., Join us for the "Foundations of Teaching Yoga" workshop this Saturday in Fulton, MO. If you have a desire to teach yoga and you currently study and practice yoga, you're invited to participate in this 6-hour workshop. It's by donation only.

You must register in advance by calling Sandy Conner Otto at Natural Focus Yoga Studio. She is our host for the day.

Email me, or call, if you have questions at info@experienceyoga.org.

And, we'll be coming back the next day, Sunday afternoon, for a 3-hour session of meditation and yoga philosophy. It begins at 1:00 pm. Again, this workshop is by donation only. Please call Sandy for more information and to register.

p.p.p.p.p.s., When I wrote the "Sing Your Yoga" Daily Yoga Tip a few days ago, I didn't expect to hear so many responses from you, my wonderful readers. Thank you.

I mentioned in that Daily Yoga Tip that you can sometimes get extra focus by saying what you want to do as you do it.

I especially loved a message I got from Beth in Northern Virginia. She said, "I also wanted to mention the power of silent practice. Sometimes I get distracted in yoga class by all of the instructions. I want to know the intructions but at the same time, a silent class, in which you are practicing together with other people yet everyone is left to connect to his or her own center without having to come outside to attend to words, can deepen your experience temendously and heighten your inner awareness nad your connection between mind and body."

I couldn't agree more.

Yoga literally means to integrate opposites. So maybe it's not so odd to one day advise you to talk while doing yoga, and the next day suggest you remain silent.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

Sing Your Yoga

After an enjoyable summer off, I was back in the choir loft singing at church this morning.

(If you've never developed a pranayama practice, join the choir. Many of the same benefits of pranayama are found in singing.)

Unlike a few of my early experiences in the church choir, I find now that because of the extra focus I bring to bear (to follow the choir director, tune up my pitch, keep rhythm), I participate more fully in the liturgy and I get more out of it. My experience of our parish gathering is richer. And it has more lasting impact.

I've found the same general rule applies to teaching yoga, when compared to simply practicing yoga.

In order for me to teach yoga, I've really got to focus. I concentrate.

I've found that much of the time that added level of focus allows me to do some things that I'm usually not able to do when I'm just practicing yoga.

I'll grant it to you that teaching yoga, at least the way I do it, is a highly verbal activity. Doing yoga, on the other hand, is not.

Yet, while teaching, my focus is often so distilled, I can simply say a phrase like, "relax your jaw" and my jaw goes slack right then and there.

Could listening be the key? Paying attention?

When I teach yoga, I'm not only saying what I'd like my students to do, but I'm listening to what I'm saying. (If you've never taught yoga before you may be unfamiliar with how important this is.) Likewise, when I'm singing at church, I'm listening to what I'm singing.

It's self-awareness.

Want to add a new dimension of focus to your yoga practice? Try saying out loud what you need to say in order to get yourself to do the thing you want to do.

Don't just think the thoughts. Say the words and listen. You'll be surprised at how difficult it is to say what you want. But when you master the concentraion required to say only what is needed, you'll see that it pays off in your practice.

Once you've taught yourself some yoga, experiment with teaching others. Share your yoga experience. Don't keep it to yourself. Sing it out. It's rewarding to give to others what you have received.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was nidra. Nidra means sleep, as in yoganidrasana, the sleep of the yoga pose.

p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is pada. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.s., I wrote about some of the effects of singing in Daily Yoga Tip from June, 2005. It's called "'Old Friend' Became Deep Throat for More Energy Than Ever." You can read it here.

p.p.p.p.s., Sallie Keeney and I sat down yesterday for a very inspiring session of preparation for the "Foundations of Teaching Yoga" workshop were doing this Saturday in Fulton, MO. If you have a desire to teach yoga and you currently study and practice yoga, you're invited to participate in this 6-hour workshop.

This workshop starts at 9 am and finishes at 4 pm. We'll take a 1-hour break for lunch.

Here's the cool part: it's by donation only. You pay what you want. Or you pay nothing at all. You won't want to miss it.

At this workshop we won't be teaching yoga poses, we'll be teaching about teaching. So come prepared to teach.

You must register in advance by calling Sandy Conner Otto at Natural Focus Yoga Studio, in Fulton, MO. She is our host for the day.

Please bring an audio recorder/play-back device (e.g., cassette recorder, digital recorder, dictaphone, etc.) if you have one, and your three favorite yoga pose books. If you like notes, bring a pen and a notebook. We won't be giving any cue sheets or handout materials.

See you there. Email me, or call, if you have questions at info@experienceyoga.org.

And, we'll be coming back the next day, Sunday afternoon, for a 3-hour session of meditation and yoga philosophy. Again, this workshop is by donation only. Please call Sandy for more information and to register.

p.p.p.p.p.s., Yesterday morning I took my first yoga class since my knee surgery 10 days ago. It felt great to be back studying yoga again. After yoga, I went to my first physical therapy session. My physical therapist was very happy, as I have been, with the progress I've made.

I asked you all for your prayers. It seems obvious to me now that you did. Thank you. I am grateful beyond words.

I want to write tomorrow about the knee pain I felt in yoga class, and just what I did about it. Later on this week, I'll be writing about what I learned from my physical therapist about how to clear swelling and inflammation out of my joint. Stay tuned.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

Yoga Amateur

It's no surprise to you. If you've been taking my Daily Yoga Tip for any time at all, you know I'm a "word nerd." I know at least one of you has called me by that term of endearment.

So you'll not be surprised that I've always liked a book I read a long time ago called Amo, Amas, Amat. It's a book of Latin phraseology, amusing and provacative.

The title conjugates the verb to love. "I love, you love, he/she/it loves," the book cover announces. (We all love Latin! Or, the little voice way back there seems to whisper, we should love it.)

I recalled this a fews days ago while listening to an inteview with Karen Armstrong, a beautiful woman and scholar who refers to herself as an "amateur theologian."

She made use of the term amateur in a way that occurs for me like an attempt to rehabilitate it from the perjorative by pointing me to its etymological origins. Hidden in the word amateur, previously unseen by me, lurks the Latin word amat.

An amateur is not some bush league hopeful who didn't quite make it into the realm of real professionals. Rather, an amateur is someone who truly loves what he or she does, regardless of rank or revenues.

I love yoga.

But only when I do it.

In this regard, I am a happy amateur.

Won't you join me?

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was go. Go means cow, as in gomukhasana, the cow-face pose.

p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is nidra. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.s., For those of you who might be interested in a blast from the past I wrote about sequencing back in April, 2005. The Daily Yoga Tip is called "Sequence and Intention." You can read it here.

In that Daily Yoga Tip I refer to a web site that tracks the 86,800 most frequently used words int he English language. What's fun is that the web page displays all of the words graphically. And you can search for words, too.

Just for your information, today "love" is ranked 384. It is surrounded by "economic" and "means." "Yoga" is ranked 18,879, exactly where it was back in 2005. Hmmmm.

p.p.p.p.s., Our Experience Paradise yoga vacation in Yelapa, Mexico is coming up in February, 2007. Watch for more details in future Daily Yoga Tips.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

Van Gogh Do It

Here's a quicky. I couldn't resist this.

Someone sent me an email today with this quote in it, attributed to Vincent Van Gogh:

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

How's that for a kick in the seat of the pants?

So many times it's an idea, a thought, just that and nothing more, that gets in the way of what you want to do. Even if what you want to do is something as simple as having fun.

Do the thing. The thing that's in front of you to do.

Do the splits.
Write your novel.
Forgive.
Propose.
Start over.

You know what it is.

Don't let the voices that say

I'm not strong enough.
My butt's too big.
That hurts.
It won't work.
________________. (Insert your thought here.)

stop you.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was kona. Kona means angle, as in utthita trikonasana, the extended three-angle pose. Triangle pose is the answer the question I posed yesterday. I think triangle pose is one of the roughest on the knees because lots of people hyper-extend their knees in the pose (ouch!) and they do this pose all the time.

p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is go. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.s., I wrote about stopping back in August, 2005. The Daily Yoga Tip is called "Stop Stopping." You can read it here.

p.p.p.p.s., Our Experience Paradise yoga vacation in Yelapa, Mexico is coming up in February, 2007. Watch for more details in future Daily Yoga Tips.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

More On Knees, Please

Here's part of an email I got a few days ago from a Daily Yoga Tip reader in Maryland:

ps. Blessings for you speedy recovery for your surgery.
pps. With your experience. what poses do you think are most harmful to knees?

You've gotta love someone who gets right to the heart of it, don't you?

Without question, lotus pose, padmasana, is the pose most harmful to the knees, if you attempt to practice it regularly.

Lotus pose, and those that are similar to it, require open hips, specifically that the femurs rotate externally (laterally) in the hip sockets.

Because they practice it all the time, ballerinas are really good and lateral rotation of the femurs.

The thighs are hard to grab when you attempt to manually turn the thigh bones in the lotus pose.

So, by hook or by crook we grab the feet and lower legs and we wrestle with them until we pull ourselves mercilessly into the pose.

Then, we attempt to look cool and calm as we sit and pretend to meditate. Ouch.

This is not the recipe for samadhi. It's a recipe for overstretched lateral collateral ligaments and the surgery that follows.

Roger Cole wrote an article published in Yoga Journal that I can't recommend enough. You can find it here. But you may have to register with the Yoga Journal site to view it. Be sure you click on the graphics to see the large and up-close view of a strained lateral collateral ligament and the crushed medial mesicus that goes with it.

Here's a big BUT: I see bunches of students every week who never try padmasana. They don't even think about it. So...they can't hurt their knees with a pose they don't do.

There is a pose they do all they time that could cause a different sort of damage.

I'll write about it next time.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was ananda. Ananda means bliss. I think some of the anesthesia medicine I was given during my surgery Wednesday really plugged into my bliss receptors! I haven't been in such a good mood in a long time!

p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is kona. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.s., I wrote about knees and poses that are related to padmasana back in June, 2005. The Daily Yoga Tip is called "Wild Fire, Burning Desire." You can read it here.

p.p.p.p.s., Our Experience Paradise yoga vacation in Yelapa, Mexico is coming up in February, 2007. Watch for more details in future Daily Yoga Tips.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

Crocodiles, Sea Monsters, Dolphins & Locusts

If you've practiced locust pose, salabhasana, you know that as a part of a well-rounded yoga routine, this asana can really help folks with some types of low back pain.

The vertebrae in the low back, the lumbar region, are ideally aligned so that the curve is concave. If your hamstrings are snug, or if you do a lot of sitting, the top of your pelvis may regularly tip backwards. If you do this chronically, your low back starts to lose its natural indented curve.

Some folks end up with a flat lumbar spine or even one that bulges out. For many, this can be painful.

Locust pose can strengthen the low back and re-establish the natural, healthy curve.

To do locust pose, you lie on your tummy and stretch your arms backwards along side your torso. Then lift your legs up off the floor, and your torso too. Keep the spine long and the tailbone tucked.

If you're new to back strengtheners like this, I don't recommend you begin with locust pose. Practice "baby" cobra poses and sphinx for a while, first.

Then, once you're comfortable with locust pose, you can progress on to a more challenging version of salabhasana called, makarasana. Makarasana looks just like locust pose except for the fact that the hands are clasped behind the head and the elbows are opened out to the sides.

My last two Daily Yoga Tips have been about crocodiles, a theme prompted by Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.

Makarasana, like yesterday's pose, nakrasana, is also translated by many as "crocodile pose."

Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar calls makarasana the crocodile pose in his book Light on Yoga.

But many contend that this is a mistake, they believe, caused by the similarity of the two Sanskrit words.

Some say that makarasana is more properly translated as "sea monster," "sea serpent," or "dolphin." Here's a picture of the legendary sea serpent carved in a sandstone roof beam.

I'm no expert, so I can't solve this dilemma. But I can bring it to your attention so that you can use this controversy to make it more memorable.

Whether you remember the difference between makarasana and nakrasana won't change the fact that if you do makarasana your back will get stronger.

One thing's for sure, if you practice, you can master both crocodile poses, by any name.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was makara. Makara, as you now know, means crocodile (or sea monster or dolphin), as in makarasana.

p.p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is ananda. I'll tell you what it means next time, when I tell you a little bit more about anandamide.

p.p.p.p.s., My knee felt great all day today, until the local pain med wore off at about 3 pm. Oh well. I'm up and moving around with a cane. And so far the swelling has stayed down.

I received a great request yesterday to write about yoga poses that can be particularly rough on the knees. Stay tuned. It's a great topic. I'll get to it later this week.

p.p.p.p.p.s., Our Experience Paradise yoga vacation in Yelapa, Mexico is coming up in February, 2007. Watch for more details in future Daily Yoga Tips. If you're curious take a look here for just a taste of things to come.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

After While, Crocodile

Shortly after my wife and I began taking yoga classes (nearly 20 years ago!), we heard about a yoga vacation in North Carolina.

One week of expert yoga instruction, two classes per day, in the Smokey Mountains sounded great to us.

Since we were new to yoga, we really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but off we went.

We weren't accustomed to two nearly three-hour long yoga classes per day. So when we finished our second session each day we retreated back to our side of the duplex cabin and we vegged out. Really vegged out.

Napping. Sitting on the porch. Reading. Napping. Did I mention napping?

But each afternoon, right after we settled into La-Z-Boy mode, a ruckus of floor-pounding, shouting and laughter would commence just on the other side of the paper-thin wall that separated us from our neighbors.

On day one, curiosity arose. On day two, we detected a pattern. (Maybe this will happen every day? Are they nuts?) On day three, we caved in to a mix of nosiness and mild irritation and paid a visit to our neighbors, three women from Pittsburgh.

They invited us in to observe that the furniture had been shoved up against one wall and one at a time, while the other two cheered, each would bound across the floor, progressing a few inches at a time, "hopping" from a low push-up position.

Nakrasana, they told us--the crocodile pose.

They were actively involved in some sort of on-going challenge with their yoga teacher back home. So while they were off on vacation they didn't want to lose any of the progress they had made. Even though they were tired too, they bounced across the floor, without fail, every day. It was a spectacle the likes of which I'd never seen before.

I owned a copy of Light on Yoga at the time, but I'd never seen this pose in there. Lo and behold, it is in there. There they were, on page 106, pictures of Mr. Iyengar, airborne, in the dreaded chaturanga dandasana position.

I tried it. It takes some getting used to. But it works. And it makes you strong fast.

What I found out was this: if you're facing a pose that's challenging and you find your self dreading it, work on a slightly more challenging version of the pose. It makes the thing you dread seem easier and less daunting.

Chaturanga dandasana is tough. But if I practice nakrasana, chaturanga dandasana seems like a walk in the park.

Sometimes I dread downward facing dog pose. So I practice one-legged downward facing dog pose. Then the original pose feels like a treat, a resting position!

Speaking of resting position. After I did nakrasana that day, I went back to my side of the cabin for a nap. (Don't skip the relaxation at the end of your yoga practice.)

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was nakra. Nakra means crocodile, as in nakrasana, the crocodile pose.

p.p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is makara. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.p.s., Thank you, all of you who emailed me yesterday about Steve Irwin and yesterday's Daily Yoga Tip. You inspire me.

p.p.p.p.p.s., My knee surgery went well today. So far, I have no pain and I'm moving around cautiously. I trust my legs. But I don't trust the after-effects of general anesthesia. There's something seductive and powerful about narcotics. Maybe tomorrow I'll write about anandamide, a neurochemical that...well check back tomorrow to see what comes out in the wash.

p.p.p.p.p.p.s., If you missed our announcement yesterday about the Foundations of Yoga Teaching workshop coming up Saturday, September 23 in Fulton, Missouri, click here. It's by donation only. You can't beat the price.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737

Au Revoir, Crocodile Hunter

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, is gone.

If you haven't heard by now, the famous Australian, known for his enthusiasm for wild animals and made popular by his Discovery Channel show, met his untimely demise yesterday at the "hands" of...

Wrong! It was not a crocodile. It was a stingray.

Talk about Kundalini rising! He was stung right in the heart.

Crocodiles, and most wild animals of any size and ferocity, are terrifying to us. But this guy faced them all, with humor, dexterity and passion.

I'm thinking of the Bhagavad Gita in which the Pandava prince Arjuna is standing on the battle field filled with doubt. He realizes that the combatants he faces are his friends, close relatives and beloved teachers.

Here's what he says: "As I see my own kinsmen, gathered here, eager to fight, my legs weaken, my mouth dries, my body trembles, my hair stands on end, my skin burns, the bow Gandiva drops from my hand. I am beside myself, my mind reels." (from Stephen Mitchell, The Bhagavad Gita: a New Translation, 1.29-1.30)

Frightening. It sounds like he came face to face with a crocodile. He's facing death.

But Krishna, his charioteer, replies with these most beautiful words:

never have I not existed,
nor you, nor these kings;
and never in the future
shall we cease to exist. (2.12)

Contact with matter make us feel
heat and cold, pleasure and pain.
Arjuna, you must learn to endure
fleeting things--they come and go! (2.13)

When these cannot torment a man,
when suffering and joy are equal
for him and he has courage,
he is fit for immortality. (2.14) (from Barbara Stoler Miller, The Bhagavad-Gita)

Doesn't that sound like the Steve Irwin we saw on TV, stomping around in water and muck undaunted by hot or cold, storms or desert winds, and courageous and joyful while being charged or swiped at by an animal thrice his size?

Like Arjuna the warrior, he did his duty, and we benefitted from it.

Here's a picture of Steve in what looks to me like warrior pose!

If you're thinking of Steve Irwin being "gone," the Gita, the Song of Life says his atman, his Self, will never cease to exist.

That's why I called this Daily Yoga Tip "Au Revoir, Crocodile Hunter." Au revoir means until I see you again.

Yoga helps you see your true Self and that same greatness in others. May we all be as bold and alive as the Crocodile Hunter.

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., The Sanskrit Word of the Day from my previous Daily Yoga Tip was mukha. Mukha means mouth or face, as in gomukhasana, the cow face pose. Go means cow.

p.p.p.s., Today's Sanskrit Word of the Day is nakra. I'll tell you what it means next time.

p.p.p.p.s., Tomorrow I'll tell you about my very first encounter with crocodile pose. Don't miss it.

p.p.p.p.p.s., On Saturday, September 23, Sallie Keeney and I are teaching a 6-hour workshop called "The Foundations of Teaching Yoga." This workshop starts at 9 am and finishes at 4 pm. We'll take a 1-hour break for lunch.

Here's the cool part: it's by donation only. Pay what you want. Or pay nothing at all. You won't want to miss it.

At this workshop we won't be teaching yoga poses, we'll be teaching about teaching. So come prepared to teach. This workshop is designed for yoga teachers, teacher trainees, or folks who are considering becoming a yoga teacher. If you don't currently do yoga, this workshop is not for you.

You must register in advance by calling at Sandy Conner Otto at Natural Focus Yoga Studio, in Fulton, MO. She is our host for the day.

Please bring an audio recorder/play-back device (e.g., cassette recorder, digital recorder, dictaphone, etc.) if you have one, and your three favorite yoga pose books. If you like notes, bring a pen and a notebook. We won't be giving any cue sheets or handout materials.

See you there. Email me, or call, if you have questions at info@experienceyoga.org.

p.p.p.p.p.p.s., I'm going under the knife tomorrow for minor arthroscopic repair of the meniscus in my right knee. Your prayers and blessings are welcomed and appreciated.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
Kevin Perry
Mo Yoga LLC
1305 Elmerine Ave
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 680-6737