Go Naked and Dance
By Lalla
The Soul, like the moon,
is new, and always new again.
And I have seen the ocean
continuously creating.
Since I scoured my mind
and my body, I too, Lalla, am new, each moment new.
My teacher told me one
thing, Live in the soul.
When that was so, I began
to go naked, and dance.
This poem reminds us that the
body and soul are in a constant state of renewal. I read an article recently
about the human body’s capacity to rejuvenate itself that said “Although people may
think of their body as a fairly permanent structure, most of it is in a state
of constant flux as old cells are discarded and new ones generated in their
place. Each kind of tissue has its own turnover time, depending in part on the
workload endured by its cells.” For example:
- The cells lining the stomach last only 5 days
- Red blood cells last only 120 days
- The epidermis, or surface layer of the skin, is recycled every 2 weeks
- The liver has a turnover time of 300 to 500 days
- The entire human skeleton is replaced approximately every 10 years in adults
(For more amazing facts,
check out the whole article here)
So now we know that we have
a new body every day, but this capacity for rejuvenation happens in all aspects
of our lives. As those who know me
know, I am a runner. I have not run a
race since my 3rd son was born almost 21 months ago, so to keep my
mind fresh and new along with my body I set a goal to run the 5K coming up in
my town in under 24 minutes. Racing is really a mental competition – when
you’ve trained and your body is prepared and capable of maintaining a certain
pace, the race becomes about the self-talk that keeps you going and motivated
when things get challenging. The race
was last Saturday and it was a humid morning, making breathing more challenging
but I was inspired as I always am by my fellow racers and cheerleaders. My sister had committed to the race with me
and we started off and kept our pace. As
we neared the finish line, breathless and tired from running hard, my sister
looked up and yelled “23:52 go, go, go!” - and we did. We crossed the finish line at 23:58 &
23:59 and it was exhilarating! I have
been running and racing for 25 years and have never won a medal, but we placed
2nd and 3rd in our age group and it felt really
good. When we set goals for ourselves
that challenge both our bodies and minds we tap into our capacity for renewal,
and our attitude more than our age determines our successes and failures. When
we examine our habits and patterns and define the ways they have become stale
and stagnant we become more active participants in the renewal of the mind.
This weekend was also
Mother’s Day, a day to celebrate Shakti, the feminine, creative force of the
Universe that brings everything into being.
Shakti acts within us at the level of the energy-body or the soul. It’s not like Shakti acts and we are born and
then that’s it, we’re on our own. The
energy of Shakti is working continuously and constantly, every moment of every
day, and when we awaken to this energy flowing within ourselves we tap into our
own creative abilities. We recognize
that in every moment we have the ability to renew ourselves. Shakti is the force that breathes us, so with
every breath we have the capacity to be born anew, to make a choice to make a
shift or change in the direction of the life we wish to live. When we recognize that this process of
rejuvenation is going on all the time, we can choose to align ourselves with it
and celebrate the potential renewal of our soul in every action we take, every
choice we make. As Mellen-Thomas Benedict said “Humans are immortal beings who have been alive
forever. Our bodies come from an unending stream of life....humans are part of a natural living system that recycles
itself endlessly."
Off
the Mat:
Examine
the aspects of your life that feel stale and stagnant. In what ways can you bring renewal to old
habits and patterns? It doesn’t
necessarily mean giving them up – sometimes that is the right choice, but often
we can make a small shift in our thinking or behavior that connects us to our souls' innate capacity for rejuvenation and awakening.
On
the Mat:
We worked with deep twists this week, as twists are refreshing and
renewing poses. On the physical level they massage and wring out the internal
organs, flushing out toxins and allowing new blood and other vital fluids to
rush in and revitalize organs and muscles.
On a mental level, they turn us one way then the other, balancing the
hemispheres of our brains and helping us to see the same pose from 2 different
perspectives and directions. When we
twist, the movement initiates from the back body on the opposite side that we
are twisting to (so for example, if we are twisting to the right, the twist
begins from the lower left back waistline).
Our back bodies represent our connection to the Divine, or Shakti, so
the pose itself originates from this deep energetic connection to our creative
source and our ability to align with it. We worked towards
Baddha Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, leading in with twisted lunges, parivrtta
Trikonasana, twisted Eka Pada Rajakapotasana prep, and a sweet study of Vira I which brought us into a deeper
relationship with our subtle energy body and the way we can use it to move our
outer physical forms.
Open To Grace: Feel your
inner body grow brighter as you expand it with your breath.
Feel your soul fill your
body.
Let the in-dwelling presence
of your soul fill your body with a feeling of renewal.
Breathe in and soften into
the knowledge that the universe, in it’s constant process of renewal, is unfolding
exactly as it is meant to.
Muscular Energy: Hug to the
midline and the newness of your body in this moment.
Firm your muscles inwards
all the way to your soul.
Hug from your skin to the
muscle to the bone to the subtle energy body.
Twisting: As you exhale and
turn, wring out the old, making space to revitalize yourself.
Twist from the level of your
soul, the deepest part of yourself and your deepest desire for renewal.
Initiate your movement from the place where Shakti dwells, deep in the back body, connecting you to your souls capacity for creative renewal.
Organic Energy: Expand into
new possibilities with confidence in your souls ability to continuously create
anew.
Shed the clothing of your
skin and feel your soul dance with the beauty of this moment, this pose.
Live in your soul and let it
be reflected from the inside out in your pose.
