Heart in Action. Clarity through purification & compassion.
8/26/2024
Hello Monday kind friends,
I awoke today with definite clouding of the senses, the true felt sense of the residues of lived experience, a dulling, and an inertia. The challenge of meeting the day. Overly tamasic we say in yoga. Each breath- an invitation to bring attention to the mood, the energetics, and the possibilities. As we come toward the latter days of summer, the transition of August to September, this week and next, I want to bring us to meet the moments with our continued honing of kind focused. Moreover- A discerning heart in action. How we can bring nourishing self-discipline to purify our vessel with compassion? Heart in Action.
Centering
Lets take a few moments to tune inward. As we do. Come into your supported upright seat. Feel into contact with surfaces of support beneath you. Where your feet, your seat are supported. Let gravity allow for effortlessness, settling. Bring attention to the collar bones, and beneath it, the greater heart space. You might bring one hand to rest here. Draw in a deep breath to fill the chest. Open your mouth and release all the air out. Close the lips and breath in and out through the nose if available.
Notice the rise and fall of your hand on your chest. Without force, offer a gentle inquiry toward this part of yourself, without expectation. Ask if there is anything it would like you to know in this moment. Let the inbreath rise to meet your hand. As if offering more life, more prana, to fill this space. A subtle expansion. Take as many rounds of breath as you'd like, perhaps close the eyes.
Then. Let this part of you know, "I see you".
"I see you". You might offer a tapping of the hand on the heart space and when ready bring a final, full breath into your chest, filling the space all the way back between the shoulder blades. As you exhale- residue out. "I see you." And let it be.
"I am allowed to exist, just as I am." - Grace Selene
Reflections
Yesterday I needed to receive from my teachers'. I took shared space to experience my embodied yoga practice and community accountability. I also chose to later connecting with a greater local teacher's sangha- to share on the ways can liberate our hearts from the very real emotions, moods, and hurts that come from the human experience. Reconnecting to yoga in this way, this sense of union of mind, body, spirit, breath, in community, was nourishing and supporting of my wellbeing. And. Human experience continues. Longings and some unrest still exist, parts are unresolved, residue still lingers. And. I am a bit more clear, closer to center, with more access to the evenness of temperament for what is- we say equanimity or upeksha. Contented toward the growing capacity to hold my parts and to witness that we all share in this practice, this connection to source.
It's important to acknowledge that even when we make choices in alignment with our well-being, what we know is best, we can honor and respect what is still suffering and causing pain, what feels true within us. The human experience asking for our attention. Anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, envy, stuck-ness or unsteadiness. Dis-content. And. I've found yoga can bring us closer toward what is most true within us. A remembrance- we say smriti- that we are all connected. Returning to Ananda- a ever-present, boundlessness of heart, an expansiveness- a love for what is. That is unconditional.
Learning & Applying
In Western Astrology, the season of Virgo is upon us. She brings with her gifts of earth, grounded nurturance and pragmatics. She brings with her a shift in attention toward cleaner living and prioritizing well-being. The opportunity to harness summer joys, heat and hone inward to what is efficient, kind, and steady.
As I feel into this transition toward fall- with Ananda at center- I'm brought to compassion in practice. How might this look? How can we bring heart in action to support our wellness? We often connect with compassion as a way to meet ourselves, our overly taxed nervous systems or depleted spirit, our relationships with each other- with tenderness, rest, softening & understanding. Yes. And. I'd like us to get curious and bring a bit more rajas- a more directly energetic quality of compassion to life. Rajas is the movement that brings our seeds potential out of their tamasic state and into growth & transformation. From sleep, we rise and burn away the unnecessary residue- to digest and transform. To then flower- embodying the qualities of equanimity, balance, and contentment- the state of Sattva.
These next two weeks lets bring compassion- the heart in action- toward servicing our wellbeing through purification practices. To cleanse and prime our bodies, minds, and spirit. Those practices that purify or cleanse us. Saucha we say. And invoking a discernment, a nourishing & steadfast self-discipline. Tapas we say.
Invoke tapas by taking the small, accountable actions in the daily practices that support purifying yourself. With compassion.
What does a commitment toward your well-being and purification look like? Clean your tongue upon waking each morning? Drink a glass of water w/ Himalayan salt and a splash of lemon or lime? Take in that walk outside to meet the elements- even if you aren't feeling it? Lion's Breath? Start your evening routine 30 mins earlier? What might this look like for you?
I welcome you to join me online or in person, in community or one-on-one. Book out for the next 6 weeks online! Note- Monday is a holiday in studio.
Group Class & Yoga Therapy offerings here
"Our bodies are home to a soul, to divine bits of stardust gleaming through word and deed. When this vessel is clean, our intentions are connected and our minds are protected. Clarity within mirrors clarity without." - Lisette Cheresson & Andrea Rice.
Take in a wholehearted week. Here with you in practice. In love & light.
-Maya