Day 35. As I sit down to write this I’m still a little out of breath from today’s practice. The shortest of Yoga Journal’s 21-Day Yoga Challenge, the email said in fine print (“–but potent nonetheless”). Potent? It makes me think of sharp cheese or cocaine or something with more of a kick, but not yoga.
The point of today’s challenge was “connecting with your inner joy.” (Again: potent?)
Lilias Folan, the instructor leading today’s practice, guides us through a series of asanas–star pose, triangle, and so forth. I struggled with the balances, but I reasoned that was because I was in wool socks on a thick rug sans my yoga mat. (I wasn’t planning on doing the challenge until bedtime, but I was at a friend’s house and had a few spare minutes.)
After repeatedly triangulating there was Utkata Konasana: Victory Goddess.
I had never done Victory Goddess before and, aside from feeling silly as I stuck my tongue out à la the demon from Insidious, I was curious as to how I could benefit from this pose.
YogaOutlet.com says that “this pose strengthens the entire lower body, including the glutes, hips, thighs, calves, and ankles. It opens the hips and chest, stretches the thighs, and elongates the spine.”
As I stood firmly, my legs wide and my tongue out, we were told to let out a long stream of air. My breath was warm and thick (say: rejuvenating!).
Finishing the practice in savasana, Lilias says:
“Ponder all the blessings in your life.”
We started the practice today with the something similar: “What am I grateful for?” She asked. “Let sweet memories and thoughts come to you…feel a warm, healing energy fill your chest.”
I pictured my family–my parents, sisters, brothers, nieces & nephews; I saw my friends: all still images from various hikes, camping trips, parties, et cetra. There were trees with rays of sunshine streaming through their deep green canopies; and the sound of rain behind my eyes (I’m a proud pluviophile). I reminded myself–as I often do–how blessed I am to have my health and a job and supportive loved ones.
Lying on the floor, I let happy thoughts continue to ebb and flow, but I kept coming back to a theme that, for the past few days, has been reverberating within my mind like a singing bowl: the importance of loving oneself.
First there was the documentary “Yoga Is: A Transformational Journey” in which journalist-turned-psychologist Suzanne Bryant looks for peace in the wake of her mother’s imminent death. Through yoga she learns that bliss is within, bringing calmness in the midst of chaos.
“We are yoga,” Sharon Gannon says in the same documentary. “We are boundless joy.”
I’m learning that we must love & embrace our flaws and to be content in our skin. Other yogis touched upon the practice and it’s ability to alleviate stress, in turn, giving one the ability to change his or her life.
Bryant says: “Change forces us to look within; to stop and face our truth.” It’s one element that is constant; inevitable.
Then there was this quote from Linda Sparrowe I read earlier:
“Yoga helps [us] become friends with ourselves. We learn through yoga that we are perfect just the way we are.”
I guess these “stumbling-upons” are serendipitous or perhaps just sheer coincidence. But they were there. That’s the truth. And the more potent something is the less you can ignore it.
Namaste.
Day by Yoga 