Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Do you shower after practice?; Reality as surface current and undertow

Classes started here in Idaho yesterday. Between getting to know where everything is on campus and how things work and preparing for classes, there hasn't been much time to stop and think about too much, much less blog. Practice has been something which I get done with in the morning, and then it's time to shower and get dressed and go to campus...

Speaking of which, I seem to remember reading somewhere (it may be a recent report on a recent conference with Sharath, though I cannot be sure) that Sharath recommends showering before practice; the idea is that practice is not exercise, but a spiritual offering, so it is good to practice with a clean body (saucha). I also remember reading somewhere that it is common practice for many people who practice in shalas to shower before arriving at the shala for practice, and then change into a new set of clothes before going straight to work from the shala.

Maybe it's just me, but I just can't get around the idea of not showering after practice. It just seems to me that the idea of not cleaning myself after sweating so much, and going out to face the world with a possibly stinky and sticky body just seems... icky. And besides, as much as I like to believe otherwise, I am pretty sure that my sweaty body is not odor-free, and it would be wrong and inconsiderate to impose the, ahem, fragrance of my body onto others around me. Perhaps one day, when I finally stop eating garlic and onions and adopt a strict Pandava diet, I might then consider not showering after practice. But for right now, I'll stick to cleaning myself after practice.

What about you guys out there? Do you normally shower after practice? Or are you totally comfortable with just changing into a fresh set of clothes and going off to work from home or the shala? If the latter, have you ever had feelings of stickiness or ickiness come up during the course of the day? Just curious. If this is too personal to share, please feel free to comment anonymously.

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On a different note, I have discovered that there is something about beginning a new semester (especially beginning a new semester in a new place) that brings this fresh flowing energy into my life. I go to my new classes, get a new bunch of students excited about philosophy (hopefully, they will continue to stay excited when the mid-semester grind kicks in...), and in the process, get myself excited about philosophy all over again. The external reality of my career situation (for more details, see previous post) has not changed one bit, but somehow, this external reality seems less pressing, almost less significant in the face of the fresh energy of learning that I am presently swimming in.

To carry the swimming image further, we can think of it this way. I am presently swimming in an ocean of reality. On the surface, there is a powerful fresh current, the current that carries the energy that one experiences at the beginning of an academic semester. But below the surface, there is another current, an undertow, if you will. This is the current that carries the energy of my overall career situation. I don't feel it quite as acutely at the present, because when one is swimming in the current of the fresh energy on the surface, when one is really needed at one's workplace (even if not on a permanent basis), one does not really feels the sharpness of the undercurrent. But I suppose the undercurrent is still there.

Here's one question I have been pondering: Which current is more real? Is the surface energy more real, because it is concretely what is happening in front of my eyes right now (as opposed to the many what ifs and whys and hows that characterize the somewhat murkier undercurrent)? Or is the undercurrent more real, because the surface energy will fade at some point, leaving the undercurrent to resurface?

I hope this is not too vague and woo-ey. But sometimes, analogies and images are a good way to get across a point that would otherwise be too fluid to describe directly.  

27 comments:

  1. i am among those who tend not to shower after practice. that's what old spice was made for. the hatha yogapradipika says, if i remember correctly (maybe it was in the commentary), that if your life, diet, etc., is truly pure then everything that is excreted (with the exception, of course, of the solid waste) is also pure (that includes urine, unfortunately) and is only "waste" to the extent that it wasn't used. that's why you rub the sweat back into your skin and, if you're hardcore, you drink your urine. i don't drink my urine, for the record. interestingly, this is a very reason why heroin addicts never shower. they covet it so much that are reluctant to part even with the metabolized after product so they don't want to wash it out. now that's really icky

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    1. Wow, Patrick, I don't know what to say here... well, let's begin with this: I just learned something that I did not previously know about heroin addicts :-)

      Everything you say about the HYP would makes sense if my life, diet, etc, is truly pure. The problem is, it's not. I'm guessing that unless and until I stop eating garlic and onions and drinking beer, I probably will not stop stinking without showering after practice.

      As for drinking urine, uh... let's just say I'm not there yet.

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    2. Your response is scientifically inaccurate. Sweat does not smell because your body is "impure" as you suggest. Sweat has an odor because your skin is covered in bacteria (pure lifestyle or not) that thrives in a moist environment and breaks down your sweat secretions. The bacteria and the byproducts they create are what leads to the odor. So - try as you may and believe what you may, your sweat smells - like everyone elses.

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    3. Additionally - "rubbing sweat back into your skin" is also quite confusing and inaccurate. Sweat is not secreted to get rid of waste. Sweat is excreted to cool your body down. When you sweat, the molecules with the most energy will evaporate from your skin - thus lowering the overall thermal energy in your body. In reality, by rubbing the sweat into your skin, all you are accomplishing is spreading it out so it can evaporate faster.

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  2. I bath before. But I also clean my bare skin that makes contact with the floor after. Plus I clean my practice area daily. But then again I'm terrified of ringworm. Which thrives in places like sweaty yoga mats. Talk about icky!

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    1. Thanks for sharing, Jen. Yes, ringworm is indeed a terrifying prospect... Good that you are taking care of yourself.

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  3. Before I started Ashtanga, I always showered after working out, but I practice in a shala that does not have showers, and I do not have time to go back home and shower before going to work, so I am now in the camp of those who shower before practice and then change and go straight to work. I was surprised to find this, but I have actually NEVER gotten an "icky" feeling, and it's certainly not from lack of sweating. When I change at the end of practice, I've showered pretty recently, and once all the sweaty clothes are off and new ones are on, it all feels fine. And I work LONG hours in a very dressy, professional atmosphere. I am no worse for wear than when I used to shower after a workout.

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    1. Thanks for sharing, Anonymous. This is certainly eye-opening, the possibility of not feeling icky even after not having showered after practice. Just curious here, but do you follow any particular dietary restrictions (e.g. some version of the Pandava diet)?

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  4. I take a salt and/or herbal bath the night before or early in the morning before practice and ALWAYS shower after practice. Like you, I really can't imagine not showering before heading out into the world. My skin is usually a little sticky after practice, and my hair is so thick and absorbent, it would be wet with sweat for hours. Gross. Plus, the after-practice shower feels great! If one doesn't have time, that's one thing, but if one does, then why not?

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    1. Indeed, indeed! There is nothing like an after-practice shower. I don't know if this is purely psychological, but I can't help feeling that an after-practice shower is more... cleansing than any other kind of shower.

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  5. i shower after practice whenever possible..way too gross feeling otherwise to skip (though i notice that the sweat doesn't really smell anymore when i practice). plus sometimes i need it for a transition back to the outside world of nyc. it is ironic because, before i started practicing ashtanga..i HATED to shower, etc in the morning...and now i have 2 a day..and a salt bath at night..crazy.

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    1. I also notice that my sweat doesn't seem to smell very much (or maybe even at all) anymore. But I'm still not ready to make that leap to not showering after practice.

      "plus sometimes i need it for a transition back to the outside world of nyc."

      Interesting. Perhaps showering isn't just physical cleaning, but is also a ritual of transition to the outside world?...

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  6. I bathe before practice to prepare myself, mentally and to loosen my muscles. I always bathe after, I do not wish to offend:) Plus it just makes me feel better to be all clean and fresh after sweaty practice:) Good luck with the new gig:)

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    1. Thanks for sharing, JayaKrishna. My sentiments exactly :-)

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  7. I bathe before, with dry brushing and oil self-massage. My shala doesn't have showers, so I usually just dry off and clean up as well as I can, put on some deodorant and clean clothes, and I usually never feel icky. But, if I teach later in the day, I always shower before.

    As for your other question - I went back and read your last posting, and I'm very sympathetic to your career angst, Nobel! It's got to be incredibly stressful to feel so "tenuous" about your life situation. May I humbly suggest - listen to some Eckhart Tolle talks. He puts it all into great perspective (and he's a better speaker than writer, imho.)

    Here's a good one to start with:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shpYcwmPcPg

    In it, he says (and I'm paraphrasing), "Sometimes our problems require focused thinking, you might have to think "what are the possible solutions to this situation" but before you do that you become present. Still. And out of that stillness arises the action we need to take."

    I think it is kind of like approaching the challenge of a difficult posture - like karandavasana. We are moving through in the world of Ashtanga forms when we practice, yes? Making these lovely forms, which manifest, evolve and dissolve with our breath. We are present in the now (hopefully) when we create the forms. We find places of deep stillness and presence - deep concentration that goes beyond the "thinking" mind and into the intuitive, true Self. And then, we take action and move our bodies into these forms. And we dwell there for a short time in presence, with our breath. Stillness.

    Ashtanga practice is a metaphor for life, really. We can take the lessons of practice - awareness, deep stillness, concentration, presence, the aliveness of the body - and apply these same tools to what we do in our lives.

    (Hope that's not too woo-woo! I've been flat on my back for the last three days with the flu, and I've been watching a lot of Eckart on youtube, LOL!)

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    1. Thanks for sharing and for your kind thoughts, Michelle. But I have to be honest with you here: Eckhart Tolle just doesn't do it for me. I think he has some very useful insights, especially in A New Earth. But I think that the problem is that you really can't work at becoming present, no matter how mcuh you meditate or (pardon me) how many Eckhart Tolle talks you listen to. If you're present, you're present. If you're not, well... you're not. I think the beauty of Ashtanga is that it recognizes this paradoxical nature of presentness, and instead of trying to make us present, the practice gets us to do these crazy gymnastic moves that seemingly have nothing to do with being present. And the paradoxial result is often that you become present without even intending to!

      But what really, really gets to me about Tolle is his view that we do not need hope. I'm paraphrasing, but he says in The Power of Now that if you are truly, truly in the present moment, why would need hope for the future? I'm sorry to say this, but I really think this is symptomatic of an inhuman degree of detachment from reality that I both cannot achieve, nor have any desire to ever want to achieve. I mean, what good is being present if it causes us to lose that part of us that makes us most distinctly human (hope for the future)? I think I'll just do my practice, and try my best to deal with what life throws at me, presence or no...

      My apologies for the rant.

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  8. I take a quick rinse off bath before practice, and shower afterwards. I cannot imagine not taking a shower after practice, but I notice people at the showerless shala getting dressed in work clothes and heading out without a shower. It totally shocks me, and then I just get kind of sad that I have some sort of stinky, high maintenance body. :( But a shower sure does feel good, and I sweat a LOT. Also, my hair gets really curly and sopping wet from sweat when I practice. I look at others who don't sweat, and have dry hair, and I am totally amazed.

    Tara

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    1. Hello Tara,
      I hear you: I have a high maintenance body too. I have dry curly hair that turns sticky after practice. I also sweat quite a bit, although in the last year or so, I have noticed that both the smell and the quantity of the sweat seems to have subsided: Perhaps the purification/chikitsa is working. But I think I'll continue to shower after practice for the foreseeable future.

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  9. No apologies necessary. To each his own.

    I, too, prefer my practice vs. reading a book - or listening to spiritual teachers spout off, and prefer discovering the "truth" for myself. The gifts that have arisen through my practice - perseverance, compassion, wisdom, clarity - most likely would have not arisen if I wasn't doing the practice. No matter how many Eckhart video's I watched!

    I haven't read the Power of Now - I started it and couldn't finish it, frankly. But, I've listened to a great many of his talks, and there is "something shining through" him that speaks the truth to me. I've never heard him say we don't need "hope" but I'll take your word for it. I have heard him say this: rather than being indifferent or inhumanly "detached", you are the opposite - you are fully present with whatever arises as it's arising - complete acceptance of what is happening right now, in this moment, even if everything your mind tells you says you should reject what's happening or label it as "bad". This is the path to freedom.

    I think he's not alone in this teaching.

    (and, btw, a quick internet search, I did find the quote: "Hope is what keeps you going, but hope keeps you focused on the future, and this continued focus perpetuates your denial of the Now and therefore your unhappiness." I guess I have to meditate on the validity or erroneous nature of that statement before I can form an opinion about it.)

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    1. I'm pretty sure that quote is from the Power of Now.

      I do see a certain beauty to the spontaneous joy that can arise from being fully present--there's something very Taoist about it. I just don't think that you can get there from listening to talks or reading books about being present.

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    2. It is from the Power of Now - that's where I pulled it from during an online search.

      And, I am in agreement with you: I don't think I stated that listening to Eckhart makes you spontaneously enlightened or present. (Wouldn't that be nice and convenient?!)

      I was merely offering you a contemporary avenue has helped me recognize obsessive thinking or anxiety about my life situation in the past. I apologize if you felt I was being patronizing.



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    3. Hello Michelle,
      no, I don't think you are being patronizing. You are just saying what you think and feel about things, and giving reasons for them. As am I. And I don't think Eckhart is really wrong about anything (except maybe that part about hope...). But it's just like that zen saying, "Do not mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon." In the same way, talking about being present is not the same as actually being present :-)

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  10. Hey, Nobel. As to which is more real - I would say they are both equally real. But of course, I don't really know. I do know this: I'm in the post-practice shower camp, which is not problem because I practice at home. I like to take a hot bath the night before when possible.

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    1. Welcome to the post-practice shower camp :-)

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  11. Hi Nobel!
    I shower before-hand to wake up, warm up and loosen muscles. I don't shower after, when I do I feel as if I'm washing away the practice, I like to wallow in it, I like feeling the glow and the look and feel of post-practice. I might be weird but that's just me!!

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    1. "I don't shower after, when I do I feel as if I'm washing away the practice"

      Very interesting. I haven't thought of it this way; there is a certain similarity here to what Patrick said about heroin addicts not showering (see Patrick's comment above), although we are of course talking about a very different kind of experience. Hmm... I think I'm going to wallow in your words here (pun totally intended) and see if anything soaks in :-)

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  12. Hi Nobel,

    It's standard that you're not supposed to shower after practice. I think it's even in the hatha yoga pradipika. Nor do you wipe off sweat (unless its getting in your eyes). You let it dry or rub it back into the body.

    If you shower directly before practice (not the night before), the sweat comes through unclogged pores and is clean. Plus showering beforehand warms up the muscles and is respectful to the teacher and those around you. It's easy to tell who didn't!

    I can't practice without a shower right beforehand, it feels disgusting. But I never shower afterwards, and have never once felt gross.

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