Cognitive Yoga by Tony Chase

"I believe that an experience is not even possible without reflection..."

- C. G. Jung, MD, Terry Lecture, New Haven, 1937

Is it easy? Yes.

Is it difficult? Yes.

Is it social? Yes.

Is it solitary? Yes

Is it sweaty and gross? Yes.

Is it cleansing and purifying? Yes.

Do the muscles contract? Yes.

Do the muscles stretch? Yes.

Is it spiritual? Yes.

Is it sensual? Yes.

Is it austere? Yes.

Is it aesthetically rich? Yes.

It is hard to think of another human activity which is such a whorl of contradiction...well, there is marriage, of course. And raising the tormented teen. And gardening. Politics. Reading ancient philosophical texts in a frozen hut.

Perhaps yoga's effectiveness has to do with the fact that it is grounded in reality. We are at once the scientist and the lab rat, the experiment and the researcher. We take nothing for granted because it happens to us.

Yoga is absolutely grounded in reality. It is one with the rest of the real world: the one with hot summers and frozen winters, drought and flood, aging parents and premature babies, war and peace, boom and bust.

The practitioner is toned, but also tuned, The deeper the practice, the more satisfying this world seems to be.

Verge Yoga students and writer, Tony Chase, has studied at Brown and Yale and the University of Paris and has taught at the Univesity of Delaware and Haverford College. As a nature and adventure writer for Conde Nast Traveler he's visited five continents and the Arctic Ocean and his work has been translated into several foreign languages.

Creating Space – Part 2

In order to create space in our lives, we need to learn to manage our clutter. Most of us have cluttered minds, bodies, homes and offices. Living with clutter, I believe, blocks our potential. According to Wikipedia, clutter is: a confusing or disorderly state of collection. We collect and store physical and emotional “stuff” and it weighs us down and holds us back.

I continue my thoughts on creating space from my last blog by looking at clutter.

Our physical space can be cluttered, i.e. office, home, car. Our physical being can be cluttered, i.e. toxic, imbalanced, stressed and/or tense. Our mental state can be cluttered, i.e. busy, frantic, distracted and our emotional state can be cluttered, i.e. nervous, worried, doubtful, fearful. There are, undoubtedly, many more parameters where can clutter set in. For this blog, we’ll stick with just four of the many: physical space, physical body, mental body, emotional body.

We have all experienced how clearing space in one area of our lives immediately affects us in another. I feel calmer and more relaxed when my home and office are clean. I feel mentally clearer after a vigorous yoga practice that has cleansed my body. I feel more emotionally accepting of myself after a meditation practice that stabilized my mind.

Clearing clutter and creating space is about throwing stuff away (mentally, physically and emotionally). Try taking baby steps for they will lead us to the big leaps.

Feeling crowded mentally? How about drinking a big glass of water to cleanse the body. Feeling disorganized at work? How about a ten-minute breathing meditation to clear and organize the mind. Feeling physically cluttered? How about cleaning up your car or desk?

I would like to call this Creating Space Therapy. It is simple, easy to do and best of all it’s free!

For more info on “de-stuffing” your life, check out the 100-Thing Challenge http://www.guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge.html