Remembering Your Roots

"To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul."  -Simone Weil

Our bodies are made up of energy. When any part of that energetic make up is disrupted, that disruption is manifested in various ways, including the way in which we live our lives and respond to our life's circumstances.  Addressing the chakras are but one way to return the free flow of energy back into our subtle body. The chakras are energy centers within the body. There are seven all together, each one corresponding to a specific position in the body and governing certain aspects of how we live our lives.  The chakras begin at the base of the spine, at the pelvic floor, and move up the spine ending with the crown of the head. 

It makes sense, of course, to begin at the beginning, with the base or earth chakra, the Muladhara chakra. The Muladhara chakra represents, as its nick name implies, the earth. Our Mother Earth, from which we came and to where we will eventually return. Usually, when I teach a yoga class, I begin in Child's pose, close to the earth, signifying our roots and our beginnings.  Muladhara represents our origins, our heritage. It is here where the seeds are planted that grow into the person we become. Because it is our roots, the Muladhara chakra relates to our stability, our balance, our feeling of grounded-ness and security. It affects how we deal with our relationships, friends, and family. 

When the Muladhara chakra is balanced and the energy is flowing freely through it, we have a sense of centeredness and stability. We recognize our lives as having a solid foundation and we find ourselves more content and at peace with what we have. Attachment to material belongings and expectations for how we think our lives should be going fade away. Grounded-ness brings us peace. 

Just as a tree needs strong roots to weather a storm, so too do we need a solid foundation to withstand any storms that come into our own lives. 

Life Happens Now

"If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath." ~Amit Ray

This time of year, although joyous and exciting, is for many, also very stressful. There are decorations to hang, gifts to be bought, friends and family to entertain, and for those with minimal resources, these holiday expectations become even more burdensome. Its easy to get wrapped up in all that we have to do and to forget to enjoy these moments for what they really stand for - celebration, peace, giving, and spending time with loved ones. To help bring us back down from the flurry of activity, to regain our grounding and our balance, it helps to bring our awareness to a single point or a fixed moment, this moment, and to focus fully and completely on it alone.

In yoga, this practice is referred to as Dharana.  Dharana is translated as "concentration" and is the 6th limb of the Eight Limbed Path in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.  The previous 5 limbs such as Pranayama (4th limb), or breath, and Asana (3rd limb), or the poses, all work together to prepare us for Dharana. In Dharana, we bring our attention to a single point, a drishti, or a task, such as breathing, or a mantra. We focus on this and nothing else. In practicing Dharana, we continually bring the mind back to a single point again, and again, and as often as it takes. The mind loves to wander. Our yoga practice teaches us to reign in those unceasing thoughts, to acknowledge them, and then to let them go. 

In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali says “Dharana is the binding of the mind to one place, object or idea.” It is a practice intended to bring peace, steadiness, and inner stillness. As you train your mind to be steady and calm, you begin to find deeper states of meditation, of balance, and of tranquility.  We draw ourselves closer to our true nature. Dharana steadies our wandering mind and brings us into the present moment. On our yoga mat, this focused concentration helps us to find our foundation, our grounding, and our balance. As we move into and out of poses, we focus our gaze on a fixed point. It allows us to move fluidly and with grace.  In meditation, we may bring our full attention to a mantra. Away from our mat, this practice keeps us grounded in our lives.  Its a reminder to focus on this moment and to move with and be at peace with the tasks and lists of things to do that come our way.  Dharana teaches us to weather the storms that may occur on the outside while finding the stillness and the serenity within. 

As we move through this holiday season remember that this moment is where life happens. Right now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but now.  The only thing is this world that we have is this moment. Live it well. 

~Namaste.

Living Freely

I've been thinking a lot about inversions lately. One reason for this is that I've taken them out of my practice until after the baby arrives (May 26th!).  At first, I saw this as a set back.  But it's not, it's just a change, and like everything, it's temporary.  Letting go of my inversion practice wasn't easy. For one thing, they are my favorite poses to practice. I love being upside down. It makes you strong and balanced, it makes you happy because blood flow to your brain is both calming and energizing which is helpful when you feel stressed. It keeps your bones strong and increases blood flow to your lungs which helps you breathe better. We also see things from a different perspective since we're literally upside down. When we can breathe, find balance and strength, and see things from a different point of view, life becomes much easier, and much more joyful. We learn that nothing holds us back except our own thoughts or our expectations about our situation.

On our mat, when we let go of our expectations of what our practice should look like or feel like and instead simply accept what ever happens, acknowledging that each day is different, and no matter what happens on any given day, we can either resist or be open and accepting, then we free ourselves. We give ourselves permission to walk the path of peace and happiness.

We all hold ourselves to certain expectations, and that's not a bad thing. But as with everything (on and off the yoga mat), we must find balance. It's an ever unfolding dance of setting high expectations and working to meet them while being able to accept and forgive ourselves if we don't.  About 2 years ago I saw someone doing Scorpion pose and I made it my goal to learn that pose. A year later I still hadn't mastered it and I was discouraged and annoyed because surely by now with all my practice I should be able to do it! Two years later I still haven't mastered it and I won't be attempting it again for some time. Only this time, I'm not discouraged or annoyed. Instead I'm grateful to have found other things: my off-the-wall headstand and my on-the-wall handstand and forearm balance. I'm grateful to have found acceptance for what I can do each day instead of resistance towards what I cannot.

There is great strength in letting go of the expectations we set for ourselves. This doesn't mean we are lazy or unmotivated, it means we are accepting of our path. We move forward, without resistance, with whatever might come our way. It means we are present. We are honoring this moment. Eckhart Tolle says, "The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life. The pain that you create now is always some form of non-acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is." Each day, we must face whatever comes our way. Some days are easy. Other days there is resistance. But each day we must breathe, let go, and live fully and freely. 

"Most of us have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within. Between the two stands resistance." Steven Pressfield

A Courageous Heart

"A brave person is a yogi who will withdraw all the senses inwardly and try to realize the inner purity. By watching others, we have lost ourselves and lost our inner purity. With yoga practice, you slowly get detached from everything and look inside and try to realize the purest form within." ~ R. Sharath Jois 

The act of simply stepping onto our yoga mat takes courage. It is here where we often come face to face with our greatest fears, our past hurts, and our most deeply stored emotions.  To address these things takes a courageous heart. Yoga teaches us to bring our awareness deep within ourselves, to cultivate compassion and love for ourselves, and to maintain a steady, calm, and serene mind in the face of our greatest challenges. 

Each time you practice, you come closer to yourself. And when we get to know ourselves, then we truly begin to cultivate compassion for ourselves. The practice of ahimsa (non-harming) applies to social ethics and how we treat the world around us, but it also addresses how we use and treat our own body. Fighting through pain (true pain, as opposed to discomfort) or forcing our way into poses our bodies haven't opened up to yet only do damage. They create bad habits, samskaras, or marks, essentially, that get etched into our being and hold us back. Yoga helps us to erase those old marks by focusing on what lies deep within. 

I love balance poses for the single-pointedness that it insists we find. In a balance pose we address the practice of Dharana, in which we focus on a single point (a drishti) or a task, such as breathing.  With calm, focused concentration, we rid our minds of distractions, in other words, our thoughts. When our thoughts interrupt the steadiness of our mind, they also interrupt our physical balance.  Our physical body needs things for balance such as core strength, but it is our inner state that has the biggest impact. It is within, without thoughts from the external world, radiating from the very center of our heart, that we find our true courage and our strength.

Finding balance on the mat requires us to come to our center. It requires a steady mind, steady breath, and a steady gaze. When our world feels out of balance we tend to forget to breath. Yoga reminds us to find and mindfully use our prana, our life giving energy, and to direct it to the parts of our body that need it. Outside of our practice, it's easy to become overwhelmed by challenges and tasks. We forget to look within and remember what is truly important. Yoga teaches us to direct our energies mindfully and purposefully, sending it to things that need it and letting go of those things that do not.

In doing so, we begin to clear the clutter - in our mind and in our lives. We begin to build a strong, steady, and clear, mind.  With a clear, pure mind, we can accomplish anything. We will not falter when we come up against challenges. Instead, we will face them with serenity and calm.  Yoga invites us to focus our attention inward and to direct energy into those places of the body that need it. It shows us that our job is not to waste energy on things that are not ready to receive it but to send our energy to all that is open to it. We remember what is important when we draw inward and connect with our courageous heart. 

As we draw deeper into our practice, stripping away the veils of the external world that have covered our eyes, we may want to bring our new-found understanding to the rest of the world. When we are faced with resistance, especially from those we love or who are close to us, we may feel angry or disappointed that they won't see things our way...but this is where we must stop and remember all that yoga has already shown us. Our energy is wasted on those not ready to receive. "Your work is not to drag the world, kicking and screaming into a new awareness. Your job is simply to do your work...Sacredly, secretly, silently...and those with 'eyes to see and ears to hear' will respond." (The Arcturians)

~Namaste