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| Yoga: The Champagne of Life |
Article first published as Yoga: The Champagne of Life on Technorati. Over the last few years, I gained an indescribable sixth sense through my yoga practice. As a ballerina, heightened physical awareness is a given. However, these days my awareness is sharper than the sharpest tool in the shed encompassing my emotional and energetic fields of awareness. The effects of a regular yoga practice penetrate deep from the outside in since we have direct access to what we see, touch, feel, hear and taste. Yogis begin by contorting their bodies into silly shapes and poses and holding them for what can often seem like an eternity. Many people turn to yoga strictly as a form of exercise as I first did. When physical limitations are met, yogis learn to stay focused, resist aversion to physical and/or psychological discomfort that might arise and as a result a shift in perception occurs. This feeling can be exhilarating and liberating and is considered by all yogis to be where the true yogic journey begins. The yoga poses, called asanas in Sandskrit, are merely metaphors for life. Asanas are situational and subject to change much like daily life. They generate the same aversions or attachments experienced in daily life. We identify and enjoy certain asanas more than others, just like we enjoy certain people, relationships and situations more than others. Yoga is a powerful tool because it brings about a revelation in the practitioner. There comes a point where suddenly one becomes fully aware of hard-wired habits and automated thought processes, which is scary… No one wants to be confronted with one’s self.Asanas are designed to purge the physical body of toxins in order to get to the hard-to-reach spiritual and emotional toxins. Emotional toxins lay in the very muscle fibers we stretch and tone during a yoga practice. This is precisely why it is imperative to properly align your asanas as you move through your yoga practice. Aside from reducing risk for injury and maximizing the benefits of your yoga practice, when the asanas are structured correctly from the ground up, the joints stabilize and as a result the muscles, tendons, and ligaments can lengthen safely. How many times during your busy day do you stop to feel both feet on the ground? How many times do you stop to feel both hands on your desk at work? Acute sensory awareness gradually builds after honestly and consistently practicing yoga, attaching itself to your daily experiences as it lurks at the periphery of your consciousness. The ability to spread your awareness throughout your entire body is profound. Ponder this analogy. A mindful and intentional yoga practice is like a champagne fountain. If you have ever seen a champagne fountain you will notice that the glasses are aligned meticulously with one on top of the other so that once the champagne pours from atop the glasses fill evenly and without spillage. In my teaching experience I found that the best way to talk about yoga is through the use of metaphors and analogies because the unique beauty of it lies in the notion that yoga is all things everywhere. Yoga is ever present. Yoga is. |
Comments
Just be patient, it will happen. Stay with it and when you least expect it you will experience a noticeable shift. You may not even understand or realize it, but it will happen when you are ready.