Compassion and Steadiness- Meeting prana with equanimity and balance
7/15/2024
“To be an open-hearted human means that we have to come to terms with the fact that there will be some pleasure, there will be some pain, and we don’t have much control over that. And so, equanimity grows over time, with perspective. “ – Tempel Smith
As I offer these words, the sun of the day begins again- journeying to dissolve the cool sheets of clouded gray that covered our morning sky.
Welcoming you to arrive and drop into a practice of open heartedness. Just as above, perhaps you are finding yourself just off moments of pain or pleasure, apathy or contentment, or somewhere in-between. Let’s tune inward. Adjust your posture, nestle into your support, the points of contact on the ground. Your feet. Your seat. Your Center. Take in fresh breath, new prana to cleanse through the nose, out the mouth. 3 times. Soften the eyes and let your breath inform you to the rhythm of your inner experience. Gently focus your attention as you allow the breath to fill into your body. And watch with care as the breath returns out, into is natural release. Let your breath have it’s time, for a few cycles. Let yourself gather any scattered parts of attention back into your stable center with each exhale. Draw in toward your seat, your space of homecoming, of belonging. As the observer, let any parts that feel resistance know, you are here.
Offer one hand to the heart, perhaps the other to the lower abdomen. Let your heart know you’d like to ask it a question. In this moment, how dim or how bright is your heart? How is your experience of life-force, your prana at this moment? Simply listen, and suspend the need to fix or alter in response. Give a few more breaths toward any resistance. Kindness toward what is there. Reminding yourself there are others also practicing, reading, listening and getting curious, practicing suspending judgement toward what is.
Send some gratitude for what came into your awareness for this short practice.
In the words of TonyaLynne of thecouragepractice, a reminder: “You are brilliant. You are kind. You are deserving. As you are. It isn’t only about the highlights or the outcomes. The dirt and the climb are just as illuminating as all they create. You are magnificent in every part of your journey.”
Bring the courage of open heartedness, the practice that nurtures our capacity for equanimity. In yoga, we call this upeksha—an evenness of regard toward the fluctuations in our human experience. Over the past weeks, we’ve been learning into the winds, the vayus of prana—life force. We’ve been exploring how prana moves around us and within us.
Revisit Here: Directional Winds of Prana.
This week, may you find yourself witness from the space of upeksha, of evenness. As summer brings its heat, joys, activities, varied temperaments, and potential displeasures toward responsibilities or conflicts, let's cultivate more compassion and steadiness. In this season of inherent joy, aliveness, expansion, and heart, we are invited to balance by returning to support and belonging found in the roots of the first chakra, Muladhara.
The practices of the heart—compassion and loving what is—are inherently governed by the fourth chakra, Anahata. There is a deep connection between the root and heart, the first and fourth chakras. Soften into the support of foundation, stability, and belonging, both within yourself and with all of us on this path to greater healing, connection, and adventure.
Here with you in practice. In love and light.
-Maya
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