Once I stumbled onto the yoga mat blindfolded, not knowing where the practice would lead me, what it would bring, and mostly, what it would take away from me.
Now, twenty or so more later, I am inviting others to join me. It requires a special sort of courage, because now I very well know that I do not control what breath and movement synchro will bring to the territory of a particular being.
Will join soar or will sadness arise? Shall a well of anger be triggered off with the mighty opening of the solar/heart region? Or nothing so special and then it is me who is triggered, asking myself a question if what I am offering has any worth and value? The difference from the years before is that I now allow myself to feel more, a part of protective layers and armour have been peeled off the practice. Some slowly, some abruptly. The guardian angel whispering Drop worries, just do the first breath, the first move synchronised with inhale and exhale. The atmosphere in the room gradually changes, as the rhythms unify. I know I do not control, in life, and on the mat, what the sequence does to each of us.
Yoga is evolving as we are involving. Not anymore so much a panacea, a way to control emotions or to improve the backbone and digestion situation, it is a choice of Let’s practice and see. If it is not for you, find your unique way, yoga whispers.
The yoga weekend with the full moon at the end of May in a Belgium village Achet brought us into a stone house with a glass floor room, lots of whites and light greys contrasting with the spring greens. The robot Robert the Mower has its own schedule, sometimes interfering with ours.
Sometimes yoga improves the sleep, sometimes it rips sleep off. Nothing can be secured and fixed and it is liberating to know that. Even though the protector/manager part of our system screams and hits the alarm off. Instead of being shut down, this part is welcome, too.
This is a meditation practice that I have been using for some time, and it often times lifts me towards lightness:
Imagine a beautiful airy ballroom with tall windows letting the light pour in. Imagine a Gracious Intuition being a hostess at the banquet, standing tall and luminous, and inviting everybody to the ball. All parts of your being may enter and are welcome with equal joy. Yes, also the scruffy and smelly ones, Mr. Guilt and Mrs. Shame, Mr. Belittled and Mrs. Not Enough. They all come, hesitant, at the beginning perhaps, as they were used to be shunned. Now, Intuition, Inner Wisdom says Come in, you belong here and you are loved.
We mirror each other, in our relationships, on yoga mats. We allowed touches and pulls and connectedness, and that, my friends, is another way of saying: I love, I allow, I embrace, I dare, I lean towards.
For respectful, gentle practice, I often choose Yoga with Adriene (and Benji)
The newer, the slower and more meditative are Adriene’s practices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41_j1bkP0sc
For effective, short and self-relying tapping into own nervous system and treating the fascinating fascias I go for:
For restauration and conscious sleep I love Kristyn Rose, a yoga nidra teacher: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-1SPMUX9xj0_fRky-xwb2w
Veronika, you were and will forever be with me at every session on every mat.
Grateful to all teachers carrying yoga wisdom and tradition throughout the centuries and millennia.
