Urban Sadhu Exploration November 2024
BG 10.20 aham ātmā guḍākeśha sarva-bhūtāśhaya-sthitaḥaham ādiśh cha madhyaṁ cha bhūtānām anta eva cha
Meaning: I am seated in the heart of all living beings. I am the beginning, middle, and end of all entities. – Interpretation, Austin Sanderson
Out of all the asanas, inversion practices are some of the most powerful and transformative. Inversions can have many benefits physically, emotionally, energetically, and mentally, but most of all spiritually. When we turn our bodies upside down, we are literally turning our world upside down and we are given the opportunity to see things from a different point of view. We are also giving ourselves the opportunity to allow the heart to rule over the head – he heart is a metaphor for our emotional sensibilities, and the head for our sober comparative thinking.
I remember when I first started my yoga journey at the age of 43. Like most people, I started that journey in a yoga class at a gym and was lucky enough to have that first class be with an amazing Jivamukti yoga teacher, Susan Steiner. Many of the physical asanas were new to me, and some were more challenging than others, but I found the inversion asanas to be the most difficult. At the same time I was transfixed by learning how to “be steady and joyful” when balancing on the top of my head.
Again, like many other people, when I started my yoga practice I was at a crossroads in my life. So many come to yoga for the first time looking to change their life and transform themselves. When I began my yoga journey, I knew that things in my life needed to change. Things around me that I could not control were already changing: my body was changing, my intimate relationships were changing, my career was changing, my friends were changing, and my own ideas of who I was and what I wanted my life to be like moving forward were changing, but there was a lot of uncertainty, and that was scary. I was very much in my own head, stressing out and anxiously overthinking and analyzing everything, yet somehow I knew that developing a deep yoga practice might give me some insights into the uncertainty. I quickly realized that if I was to move gracefully from one form to the next, I had to start a daily yoga practice, and practicing Salamna Shirshasana (supported headstand) was part of that yoga sadhana.
Of course, when I did yoga for the first time I wanted to know what fitness benefits I would get from practicing inversions. It is suggested that turning the body upside down causes the entire lymphatic system to be stimulated. Inversions are believed to strengthen the immune system, and turning upside down also stimulates a nd maintains the endocrine glands, especially the pituitary and pineal glands. When these glands are stimulated by the pressure created in inversions, the glands release hormones that help with cellular metabolism. Inversions can bring health, balance, clarity, vitality, and emotional optimism to the whole body/mind system on a physical level, but in truth it is the spiritual benefits and understanding that are so amazing about inversions. As my yoga sadhana deepened, I found myself less interested in the physical benefits and more interested in the spiritual benefits.
At first, I did not know that Salamna Shirshasana is considered the most important of all the asanas, often called “the king of the asanas.” Nor did I know that it’s the asana that activates the Sahasrara chakra – Sahasrara is a Sanskrit word that means “thousand-petals,” and this chakra is commonly known as the “crown chakra.” The Sahasrara chakra represents the practitioner’s karmic relationship with God. It is believed that Salamna Shirshasana stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands in the brain, which then trigger the release of hormones that expand consciousness and spiritual awareness. This gives the person practicing headstand an opportunity to let go of the “thinking brain” with its finite knowledge and instead opens a doorway onto the unlimited cosmic consciousness of the Infinite. Krishna states that he is in the hearts of all living beings, and Krishna is one of the many names for Infinity. Over time, as I became “steady and joyful” in headstand I started to practice headstand as an asana for meditation. I would slowly chant the mantra AUM 108 times while balancing on my head. I still do this as part of my personal yoga sadhana.
All inversion asanas have the energetic capability of allowing us to give our over-thinking head a break and let the heart take over. The heart is where the Divine-Self is seated in all beings. The heart is the center of compassion and unconditional love, both attributes needed to understand our own divine nature from within. Inversions are also a symbol for spiritual rebirth. When a child is born through natural childbirth, the newborn comes into the world head first, upside-down.
The major inversion asanas are Salamna Shirshasana (supported headstand), Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulderstand, the “queen of asanas” ), Halasana (plough), Adho Mukha Vrikshasana (handstand), Pinchamayurasana (forearm stand), and Viparita Karani (legs up the wall). If the major inversions are physically too challenging for a student new to inverting, Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward facing dog) and ardha Pincha Mayurasana (half feathered peacock or dolphin) are both inversions where the feet remain on the ground. Both asanas work on building strength in the upper body for more challenging asanas. But for the full effect, inversions should be practiced daily. It’s relatively easy to learn the physical techniques to invert the body. Balancing the body upside down in an inversion and staying for a full five minutes as part of the 15 Offerings of an Urban Sadhu Yoga Open Class is not an advanced yoga practice. The advanced part of inversion is allowing the heart to balance over the head and control what’s inside the head – we need to allow the heart to lead.
Austin Sanderson, Urban Sadhu
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