My Grandpa is a retired sea captain and when I ask him the right questions he will tell me stories about his years at sea.
Today, he told me that the term bitter end originates from a nautical term. A bitt is a wooden or iron post that is fastened through the ship's deck in order to secure the anchor. If all of the anchor cable has been released into the water you have come to the bitter end.
I love languages. They intrigue and excite me. I speak French and Dutch and can converse in American Sign Language and am always interested in learning new words in new languages.
Sanskrit is the language which makes up the traditional names of our yoga asanas. Sanskrit is strongly linked with Hinduism and is considered one of India's official languages. I love hearing the invocation to Pantajali sung in Sanskrit. It is beautiful. I would love to be able to learn more of the language one day.
I was watching this video yesterday of Kino MacGregor discussing the Yoga Sutras. (The Yoga Sutras are ancient texts written around the 2nd century BC by Patanjali discussing the 8 limbs of yoga.) Kino speaks the sutra in Sanskrit, has the class repeat the words and then gives a full description of her translation of the sutra. One word that I kept hearing her use in her discussion was Chitta.
Chitta (Sanskrit: memory)
- derived from the root Chit, "To be concious"
- the subconscious mind, the store house of memory
- where we store our memories and experiences and what define us
Mum passed this word on to me the other day, with the comment that this is what we are trying to achieve in Savasana. So true.
I've started noticing this feeling while I practice Ashtanga at home. While I move and breathe through the asanas, I try to focus solely on what my body is doing. The closest I come to thinking is counting my breaths and stretching or lengthening my body. Anoesis doesn't necessarily last for my entire practice or Savasana but when my mind starts to wander, I come back to my breath and try to focus on my body moving.
