When we know how much of what we perceive is a trick of the light of our own perception, we are that much closer to witnessing from a more spacious, and thus more compassionate, consciousness.
It has been my experience that there are times when a hug feels like too much or not right or that it will not ease what hurts. First there is a need for an openness of heart, a little intrinsic brightness, some recognition of worthiness to receive the love, before a strong embrace feels right. In Anusara, we are taught to practice the opening, brightening, expanding principle of “opening to grace” before we draw in with the embrace of muscle energy.
“Shoulder loop” helps us refine muscle energy and by drawing the shoulder blades onto the back of the heart and then lifting and expanding the chest, it can be incredibly powerful and healing. My experience with shoulder loop, though, especially when I have active shoulder or neck pain, is that if I am at all collapsed, if I am not doing maximum “inner body bright” shoulder loop feels OK, but it it is much harder to access and receive. When I open to the possibilities by radically filling with light and energy, especially around the back of the heart — in a word, meeting the possibility of embrace from the inside out — then the embrace of shoulder loop is almost instantly healing and empowering.
If you are in town today and feeling the need for some R&R, please come join us at Capitol Hill Yoga (scroll down the page, past the Itsy Bitsy workshops, for SS info) today for this month’s Serenity Saturday.
It has been a long work week, and yesterday I though that I’d like to be taking a two hour afternoon restorative workshop myself this weekend. Last night I gave my self serenity Friday night (not so alliterative).
I’d been feeling a bit testy, and my thoughts were starting to be somewhat all over the place. I stepped back and thought about all that I’d put into my consciousness in the past couple of weeks: how many work telephone conferences and meetings in which I’d participated, how much the email and other computer communications, how many errands, movies I’d seen, parties I’d gone to, etc.
Diagnosis: overstimulated. So instead of going out and getting more stimulated (which can be the immediate reaction to feeling like one wants to get away from work and errand thoughts), I stayed home, cleaned the house, and did a long combination restorative, recumbent, and forward bending practice. This morning I woke up refreshed and newly receptive, ready to teach all day and share the yoga.
From left to right: Viragyapata, Vashista, Patanjali. At the Meenakshi Temple, Madurai.
I think a lot about what leads people to get injured on and off the mat. Often it is that desire for a certain goal or distraction keep us from the sensitivity and mindfulness that enables us to appreciate and act on the principles of cause and effect before the injury or accident occurs. One of the great benefits of a steady practice of yoga and meditation is that it can help us be more sensitive and aware of where and how we and all the things around us relate in space and time, the critical awareness for preventing injuries in the first instance.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
