“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” – Dalai Lama
Weekly Focus: Daya (deep sympathy, compassion, empathy)
Daya is a virtue of the Yogic and Hindu practices translating as sympathy, compassion, empathy or mercy. Daya is not pity for the suffering of others, it is beyond simply feeling sorry for someone’s pain. Daya is the sefless desire to remove the suffering from all beings, seeing each being as one’s own self.
“Compassion is the wish to see others free from suffering.” (Dalai Lama) – another quote to express the depth of this word. Daya is not empty sympathy, but rather, it is a deeply selfless desire to see another’s suffering also as our own.
To practice daya, we recognize the suffering of ourselves and of all humanity as connected. This means that compassion and sympathy must first start with ourselves. When we allow ourselves grace, we may more easily recognize the grace that should be lent to others, leading to empathy and understanding. Yoga is union – this ideal reminds us that when others suffer, when the world suffers, it also becomes our suffering.
Where can we cultivate more compassion in our lives? Where do you struggle to lend compassion? What would cultivating a life of active sympathy look like?
Here is a simple practice in considering daya:
- Take a few minutes and journal on the following words, what comes up for you?
- Compassion
- Sympathy
- Empathy
- Grace
- Pity
- Keep your answers in a easily found place — the next time you find yourself feeling bad for another or even for yourself, pull out your responses and reflect on them. Are you acting in accordance with what you wrote? Do you agree still with what you wrote or have your reflections changed?
Passive Pose of the Week: Scorpion Stretch
Scorpion stretch is a big stretch for the shoulders that helps to broaden the heart space, opening our hearts and our gaze to the world around us.
- Begin lying on the floor on your belly.
- Reach your right arm out to the side, in line with your shoulder.
- Place your left hand near your face. Push into your left hand and roll open over the right shoulder.
- Take a few deep breaths, imagine breathing down the front of your right shoulder.
- Slowly come out and switch sides.
This pose has some great variations on it to change where you feel the stretch along your right arm and shoulder. For more of a tricep stretch, bend your arm to 90 degress, keeping the arm in line with the shouder. Explore bringing the arm to more of a “Y” position or bring it down lower than the line of your shoulder. Can you notice the subtle differences and variations in these stretches?
Active Pose of the Week: Catur Svanasana (dolphin pose)
Catur Svanasana allows us to to strengthen the heart space and to be reflective as we look back towards ourself.
- Begin in a tabletop position on hands and knees.
- Lower down onto your forearms. Either clasp your hands together in front of you, or press down through the hands and palms.
- Tuck your toes and extend your legs into a forearm plank position.
- Keep pressing down through the elbows. As you do, begin to walk your feet forward toward your elbows. The hips will begin to pike up naturally, similar to downward facing dog.
- Walk the feet in as close as is comfortable. Continue to resist the floor with your arms, so that your head stays lifted from the floor.
- Hold for 3 – 5 breaths.
- To come down, walk your feet back carefully, then lower the knees and find rest.
One of the trickiest parts to remember in Dolphin pose is to keep your arms activated so that you don’t begin to collapse into the shoulders. A fun way to practice this can be with the use of a resistance band. If you have a small resistance band (make sure it’s not too stiff, that will be really hard!) bring it around your forearms and then enter the pose. Once you find the position, try to press your arms into the band and notice what lights up! Can you find that same action even without the resistance band?
Join us in class this week to practice cultivating daya. See the full schedule HERE.
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