“I think that’s part of the practice. To be receptive of what arises within you. But you start to notice, there’s cycles. There’s cycles within your practice. There’s a time when you feel like you’re really building, building. Then there’s a time of a little bit breaking down. Hopefully it’s like an upward spiral and sometimes it goes down a little bit, then we build again. But I think when things break down again, it’s an opportunity to build differently. To build more intelligently.” - Laruga Glaser
I'm sure you've noticed that the focus from Ekaminhale is typically more on the "why" to practice rather than the "how". When I sat down with Laruga there was just no way I couldn't ask her how she has such a strong practice. If you don't know what I mean then check out this video that Allessandro and Laruga did called "The Impossible".
To find out her answer to my question plus a ton of other inspiring insights like being in relationship, practicing with low energy watch the video interview No Turning Back Part 2 or keep reading the post. Derick edited out me asking the actual question about a strong practice but it's at the part where she says of all things......Ekam. Inhale.
Enjoy!
A Sense of Doubt
So now I've been practicing Ashtanga for about 18 years. In the beginning, it was a lot of enthusiasm, so much enthusiasm. And I still have that. There was a time that I went through, like I was starting to struggle a bit with my practice, like with my energy. Also, there's some things going on with my back. Through the years I have a very temperamental back. Sometimes it's super open and strong, other times it feels really vulnerable and navigating through, that has been interesting.
There was a time when I was doing the practice and I was having a lot of doubt actually. Is it good for me? Is it good for women? You know. And then also you hear the chattering of other people and I did go through a time that I was really doubting the practice but then I still did it like I was still doing it but I was a little skeptical . And when I went to Mysore, it’s so easy to kinda go. It’s like, it’s easier to focus. You’re in this space like everyone else is quite focused. And when my mind and these thoughts started to kind of lessen or the frequency of them started to lessen. I just noticed that my body quite felt better.
Economy of Energy
Before I could really generate the energy and it was like flying out of me and it was just like I’m burning it. I had to learn to keep watch over my energy, how to contain it and I think I’m the type of person that I can really let it drain out of me . Even in day to day to day life, I can really give out my energy a lot and I had to learn to keep watch over it. I learn to acquiesce “Okay, it’s not here. The energy isn’t here to be a hundred percent, to be even at 80%. So let me do what I can, let me soften around it and then let me stop it here for today.” I think that’s part of the practice. To be receptive of what arises within you. But you start to notice, there’s cycles. There’s cycles within your practice. There’s a time when you feel like you’re really building, building. Then there’s a time of a little bit breaking down. Hopefully it’s like an upward spiral and sometimes it goes down a little bit, then we build again. But I think when things break down again, it’s an opportunity to build differently. To build more intelligently.
Building A Strong Practice
"My experience with the practice is every- every part of it matters to me. Even ekam inhale - the first movement to me, I’m just as invested in that very first movement. In the smallest movements that I am in doing a very difficult arm balance. I like to have that sense of unity throughout the whole entire practice. " - Laruga Glaser
Doing the poses and the movements, I like to feel from the tips of my fingers to the very tips of my toes. Just the energy flowing throughout my whole entire body. And when that happens, I feel this sense that something is carrying me. And I even joke to some people that’s why my hair is curly, because it’s engaged, too. There’s definitely many days that I come to my mat that I feel like nothing’s working. And that’s the beauty of the repetition of the Ashtanga yoga practice. You work with these ebbs and flows.
Life Partners in Practice
I think that it’s just we both wanna be as conscious as possible. We’re like any couple. We have our disagreements and we’ve had hard times and we definitely have many good times. But what keeps us united is the fact that we just wanna be conscious and that we really want to deepen, we wanna be spiritually connected so it’s important that when we’re bumping heads, when we have our disagreements that we actually grow from it. That we kind of know where it’s coming from, and we like to investigate on why. That’s a really important part of our process. We do our best, we try our best at it. It’s been a beautiful thing. I really feel that we both have grown quite a bit, practicing this and having this sense of consciousness with each other. Your partner is like a mirror to you, and so many issues can come up. So when you can heal them with someone... ah! It’s amazing! Its amazing how much you can grow together.
Find out more about Laruga like where she is teaching workshops, inspirational blog posts and lots of amazing photos and videos at her website - Larugayoga.com
Also check out her Instagram here
Check out the first part of our interview with Laruga.