Nurturing the heart in times of pressure.

5/6/2024

In the wet persistence of our local spring season, we are met with the season of the rain. At times, this can bring a tone of heaviness, water and earth creating mud. In ayurveda, we say kapha dosha out of balance here can present within us like lethargy, fatigue, or a sluggishness. Kapha sometimes needs a little push to get going, to get growing. If we are to carry ourselves as the earth, experiencing the rain, it can feel refreshing, enlivening, and nourishing. This rain can also feel really intense, volatile, unsteady with varying tempos and a constancy of pressures.

Melody Beattie writes that "sometimes we need a little pressure to get moving, but sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves." Pressure to do more. And faster. And better. She continues, "We have responsibilities, time frames and commitments to others...there are times when we need to get the job done. But the most pressing job can be done best when we're relaxed. The most urgent decision can be made most clearly when we're at peace. It doesn't help to force ourselves to go faster, be somewhere else, or be someone we're not. The more pressing the situation, the more pressing the need to be present for ourselves, and be present for each moment."

In the practice of being present, lets take the pressure off. Invite the lessons of Lao Tzu: simplicity, patience, and compassion. To simplify the moment and bring patience. This is not about becoming static or waiting. As Gabrielle Harris offers, its about "moving into harmony with the speed of nature and what life is presenting to you."

Invoke the life imperative of courage and compassion offered by the 4th chakra- Anahata- the chakra of the heart. The heart is layered with lessons of self compassion for meeting whatever is arising within. Strength in self-ish-ness, the muscle of the heart cares for itself first and then moves out to the rest of the body to care and nourish. Deeply collaborative with breath, the heart is the bridge of living, loving, and even dying at all once. It is the union of the upper and lower level chakras as well as union of male and female energies. "Nahata" means boundlessness or unbroken.

For our season of Kapha, when we can feel that heaviness take hold, we can bring Kapha dosha back to it's home- which is in the heart. In the heart, Kapha's gifts of fullness, steadiness and stamina, caring, cooling, loving and relaxation thrive.

And so we welcome practices that open the chest, the lungs, the heart and let life in. I'd invite you to interlace your fingers and sweep your arms overhead for a stretch, melt the shoulders away from the ears and take 5 steady rounds of belly breath. Maybe close the eyes. 5 steady rounds. Your last in breath- Hold at the top. Pause. And a slow exhale out, widening arms and hands to that sides, and slowly back in for a self embrace.

Whatever pressures might be meeting you, might you bring in these teachings of the heart. Simplicity, patience and compassion.

"Let off some steam. Release your emotions. Clear the pathway to the heart. The answer will come. The job will get done." Melody Beattie.

Here with you in practice. From my heart to yours. In love and light.

-Maya

Inspirations from: Lao Tzu, Melody Beattie, Gabrielle Harris, and my yoga teachers.

Come embody these practices this week with me.

Offerings here 💕